More Debian 8 for Beginners

More Debian 8 for Beginners

By Ed Hurst

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2015 by Ed Hurst

Copyright notice: People of honor need no copyright laws; they are only too happy to give credit where credit is due. Others will ignore copyright laws whenever they please. If you are of the latter, please note what Moses said about dishonorable behavior – be sure your sin will find you out (Numbers 32:23)

Permission is granted to copy, reproduce and distribute for non-commercial reasons, provided the book remains in its original form.

Cover Art: Paste up of Open Source and Public Domain art, created by the author using GIMP on a Debian computer. Background image is Public Domain (source). Debian art logo is licensed under Creative Commons 3.0; source. Cover art falls under CC 3.0 and is freely available upon request in several electronic formats, including a version without the text.

Other books by this author include Debian 8 for Beginners, CentOS: The Commercial Grade Linux Desktop and The Shortest Path to Linux.

More Debian 8 for Beginners

Table of Contents

This is the second volume in a two-book series; the first volume is Debian 8 for Beginners.

Introduction

1. Firewall and Little Extras

2. Windows Software, Part 1

3. Windows Software, Part 2

4. PIM: Calendar and Email

5. Networking with Windows

6. File Formats

7. Lynx: Safest Surfing

8. Anything Else?

Introduction

This book is the companion or sequel to Debian 8 for Beginners. This volume assumes that you have read the first already, or that you at least understand what is taught there. It is not that the subjects covered here are more advanced, but they are more of the same level of tutorial that covers things not appropriate for a bare introduction. This volume takes you farther along the same beginner’s path.

As with the previous volume, I recommend you read through the book before trying any of it.

1. Firewall and Little Extras

The firewall is simple. You probably understand the original concept: There is something you really need to use, but which is troublesome. So you build a barrier between yourself and the trouble to reduce damage when it catches fire. So it is with computers and the Internet. Unless you have no use for the global communications network, you'll need an electronic firewall to prevent damage to your computer when you connect.

It would be impossible to cover every sort of connection people use to get online. There are two configurations most common today: laptops with wifi and home computers with routers. A great many people combine the two, with wifi routers in their home. Frankly, the intermittent connection of