Login, Logout and shutdown the linux system

I think you have installed the Linux on your system properly. Now the next step is logging in, out and shutdown of your system.

It is very simple when you have installed a GUI based Linux distro. But if you dont have the GUI based system then as you start your system then a login prompt will appear on the black screen.

Here you type the user name which password you know and press 'enter' now there will be a password prompt then give the respected user password you will get logged in.

If you logged in with 'root' user then you are the super user having all the authentication of the system. But if you are not a 'root' user then you have the limited rights assigned to the user with which you logged in. If you want to switch to the 'root' user then no problem.

Write 'su' on the command prompt and press 'enter'
then give the root password you will get in with root account....

*you can enter in other user mode even by su followed by the user name and give the password of that user.

To come back on the previous level(or logging out of root account) use 'exit' command.

To change the root password do as below:

root@ubuntu:/home/sachin# passwd
Enter new UNIX password: your password
Retype new UNIX password: repeat above password
passwd: password updated successfully

Now you have new root password.

Shutting down your Linux system:

You can shutdown a Linux by using the 'ALT+CTRL+DEL' key combination but it does not work in every system it depends on the 'init' program. But the following are the commands which generally works on most of the system if you are logged in as root user.

shutdown -h now --will shutdown your system immediately
shutdown -P now -- will work as above command
shutdown -r now --will make your system to reboot immediately
shutdown -r +10 --will make your system to reboot in 10 minutes
shutdown -r 14:00 --will make your system down and reboot at 2:00pm

Starting with Linux

Before starting the linux you must be having the linux on your system so in this post i am going to tell you how to install the linux on your system,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

You can start with any distro on your system but if you are a beginner i will suggest you to install ubuntu on your system because is easy to install and use and having a good GUI even. For the same you will not feel odd first time on linux due to rich GUI of it.

So we start with installation .........


If you want to install it with of the CD/DVD then simply put the disk into the ROM and restart the computer and start the installation following the GUI instructions it will be very simple.

It will be same if you install it with USB pen drive even so no need to worry.

But as you come on the partition creation part there are two choice one to install by default. In this way the ubuntu will create the partition according to the setting done by the ubuntu community or developer team.

If you want to make partitions according to your choice the here are some basics to be kept in mind otherwise you will get in a great trouble or you may lose your existing data on the hard drive so be careful about it and follow as below....

There are two main partitions a Linux need one is Linux swap partition and other is Linux native partition. You can install Linux with other OS like Windows 98 ,NT ,2000, vista, xp but if you install it with NT or 2000 then extra care is to be taken because NT bootloader may conflict with LILO (Linux bootloader).

How much is to be assign to each partition:

Swap Partition:
It is the partition which is used by the Linux as the temporary memory to store the data when a processing need the RAM more than its capacity. Linux transfer the data temporarily on the swap partition which not frequently used. Generally the swap partition should be twice the capacity of your RAM or it depends on the architecture of your system. You can even create multiple partitions.

Native Partition:
In case of the Ubuntu you need to select the native partition atleast of 5GB the internal partition of this will be done by the Ubuntu itself. But if you are setting up a dedicated high performance server then you are recommended to do as follow..
1) / -Root size of 200MB
2) /usr -Holds local software. Min. 700MB and recommended 1.7GB or more..
3) /var -Holds mail, spool, log files recommended size 400 MB
4) /home -Rest of the disk where most of the data will be stored (user storage and multi user system)

Mounting Point:
A mounting point is the directory where the partition of the device is attached. For you Linux installation you need to specify the mount point. During installation you need to set the "/"(Root) as the mount point for your filesystem.

Now go next your installation will get start and you will be ready with your Linux system within few minutes based on the performance of your system. So enjoy it.

Switch from windows to linux

I am writing this blog for them who wants to switch Windows to LINUX .

But before going to the Linux you must be known about the basics of the Linux.

When I was in B.tech first year I came to know about the Linux first time through a workshop of Nibble Computer Society of my college Which taken by one of the senior. It was the workshop which made me interested towards Linux.

I switched to the Linux due to the following reason....

I had a IBM desktop which cd rom was not working (due to my merciless experiments over it) and its motherboard does not support the usb booting so i was in a great trouble because windows got corrupted every 25-30 days it was very big problem with me to format the system with borrowed cd rom
So After attending the workshop I came to know about the linux which gets corrupted very rarely then i decided to install the linux in my pc. In starting I faced many problem because I had no internet connecton which is very much required for the linux installed system but afterwards it became normal to me.

Now I enjoy the linux so much that I never dare to open the windows even because of the so many features of the linux.


Now I discuss the some of the features of linux over windows.....

1. The first thing of it, I like, is freely available and whole world contributes for its improvement so it is better as compare to the paid windows where a limited Engineers with limited minds works over it.

2. Require the least hardware ( a linux can run over 64MB of RAM, 512MB HD, and very low resolution monitor)

3. Can run for long time without restart or reboot of the system so good for the server puropse....

4. More secure as compare to the windows.

5. No fear of the virus threats and rarely get corrupted or hanged up.

6. Less risk of data lose due to power cuts as compare to the windows.

7. Whole source code is available so you can modify it according to your wish.

8. Supports multi user and multitasking.

9. Have a good interaction with hardware.

8. Now linux is available in various distro with very intacting gui even(like fedora,ubuntu,redhat,mendriva etc.).

After all this why should we go for windows(wasting of money). And I am sure that once you experience the linux you won't go back to the windows as myself.....I really hate windows.

How to make bootable pendrive

Sometimes if your laptop's CD/DVD rom get dead then it is very difficult to install the operating system......because there is no boot media so we need a boot media ....we may use pendrive for this purpose (bootable pendrive) but the question is that how to create the bootable usb media........



Don't worry i am going to tell you the procedure for various operating systems



First of all I will explain you about the linux it is easiest to make the bootable usb media for the linux..



Step1:

Take pen drive minimum 2GB put it into your desktop/laptop and transfer the data to your system because it is going to format.

Now right click on the icon of usm on the desktop and click on the 'format' option in the pop up menu.

After the format complete.



Step2:

Go to the 'Startup Disk Creator' by the following way......

System -> Administrator -> Startup Disk Creator click it a new window will open



Step3:

Select the source IMAGE of the CD/DVD by clicking on the other and click the 'Make Startup Disk'



Now the process will start and within 2-3 minutes you will be ready with 'Startup Bootable Usb Drive'