New Linux User's Guide to Managing Your Files

When we install computers for our kids at The HeliOS Project, one of the main sources of confusion is the differences between Windows and Linux file systems.  Most Windows users don't know much about their Program Files or Win32 folders but they do know about My Documents.  In most cases, this is where their personal files, pictures, movies and music reside.

Because you are used to doing things one way doesn't mean that an alternative is any more difficult.  In fact, the Linux file system hierarchy is really much simpler once you understand it.  We're not going to worry about the entire file system here.  We will focus on the files you use most...your personal files

It only takes most people a few minutes to understand how the Home Directory in the Linux file system works, and in Linux, your Home Directory is where your personal files are stored.  Let's take a look at what we have.

There's No Place Like Home.

When we set up your computer, we create a "Home" directory.  The Home directory is your main folder.  When we assign a User folder for your computer, we simply name it "linux".  In most cases when you receive a machine from us, your user folder will be named "linux" and it will be inside the Home folder.
 

Because we use only the Gnome Desktop Environment on our installed computers, we will be focusing on your native file manager and that is called Nautilus.  In Windows, your file system was manipulated in Windows Explorer.  Nautilus is basically the same thing.  It is the tool a user such as yourself uses to view, access and manipulate your files.  There are other file managers available but because Nautilus is the one that comes with your Linux computer, we are going to be working with it here.


First off, how do you access Nautilus?  There are a few ways.

 Click on the picture to the right and you will see a picture of my desktop.  Depending on your desktop, you will have three drop-down menus at the top left of your computer or at the bottom left.  In my case, it is at the top left.  It reads:




Applications  Places  System

As you can see above, I have clicked on the "Places" drop-down and exposed the file systems on my computer. The top folders are the same ones available to me in my home directory.  Many of you won't be concerned with multiple hard drives so don't let that confuse you.  For right now, I just want you to look at the top third of that drop-down.

You will see the basic folders in your home directory.  They are:

Home Folder
Desktop
Documents
Music
Pictures
Videos
Downloads

These are the basic folders that are already in your Linux Home Directory.   As you use your system, you can create folders as you need them.  Say you have a school project that requires you to research the Apollo Space Program.  To keep things organized, you would right click a blank spot inside Nautilus, click "create folder" then name it so you can recognize it as your project folder and store anything you do for that project in that folder.

As you can see from my Home Folder, I have created many folders for my use.  As well, some programs or applications you install will automatically create folders for their specific data.  For example, if you were to install the file sharing program Frostwire, the installation process will place a folder called Frostwire in your home directory and store anything you download within it.


  Back to the drop-down menu mentioned above...If you were to click on the "Home Folder" link in that drop-down, Nautilus would open, showing you the exact same folders.  Linux gives you a way to access these folders individually using the drop-down instead of opening your home folder then opening the folder you want.  Why do in two clicks what you can do in one?

Another way to access your home folder is to open Nautilus and hold-left-click your home folder and drag it onto your desktop.  While it is good to have a shortcut to your home folder on your desktop, it isn't always the handiest way get to it.  Most often you already have stuff opened on your computer and it can be a hassle to drop everything down just to get to your files.

A better way is to place a shortcut of your favorite folders in your panel.  As you can see from the first picture I offer, I have two panels...one at the top and one at the bottom.  If you have a small screen, you might want to consider only using one but in my case, I have a large monitor and screen real estate is plentiful.

The Gnome panels are the little strips you see at the top and bottom of my screen and they hold file and program icons.  You can add and remove things from your panel to suite your needs.  In my case, I find it best to create panel shortcuts for the most-used applications and places on my computer.  Click on the picture below to see an example of my top panel.

You can easily create a shortcut to any number of folders from your home folder by opening Nautilus, hold-left-click the folder and drag it to the panel.  You can then right click the folder, click "move" and then position it where you want it.  To make things easier and to make sure it doesn't "float"  right click it again and click "Lock to Panel".  I've chosen to place my home folder shortcut in the middle of the panel so I don't have to look for it among the other icons.

Getting Organized

There will come a time when you will want a file or folder inside another folder.  Lets say you downloaded a picture of your Aunt Cecilia and it ended up in your download folder (Firefox does this automatically but you can change that folder destination if you want).

The problem is, you don't want it in your download folder, you want it in your picture folder.  There are several ways to do that as well.

Note that the major folders in your home directory are listed on the left panel in Nautilus.  I find it simple to hold-left-click the picture and then slide it to the left panel and place it on the picture folder.  Once the picture is over the picture file folder, it will show lines on the top and bottom of that folder, indicating that it has been targeted. (see example to the right)  Let go of the left mouse button and bingo...the picture moves from your download folder into your picture folder.

You can also do it the old fashioned way if you want.  Maybe you want to work with several files in your download folder and move them into your picture folder.  You might find it easier to drag multiple files all at one time into your target folder.

 In this case, you can open two instances of Nautilus and get a better idea of what is being moved where.  You can right click any folder in Nautilus and see the options available to you (picture left).  The top options are to either open the folder in a new tab or a new window.  In this case, you would click open in a new window.

When you have two Nautilus windows open, you can choose the files you want to move.  Doing them one at a time can be time consuming, depending on how many you want to move.  If you want to move multiple pictures or files from one folder to another, you can choose them by holding down the control button on your keyboard (ctrl) and while holding the ctrl button, click the files one at a time until you have all of them chosen.  You can then left-click one of the chosen files and drag them to the target folder.  That will move all of them into the folder in the other Nautilus.

EDIT...

If you don't want to open two instances of Nautilus, you can simply open one instance, press the F3 button and that will create a "split view" window.  Each of the split views have individual navigation tools so you can choose different directories or file folders in each one.  Thanks for the anonymous poster who brought this to our attention.

Let your fingers do the walking

Sometimes, moving your hand between the keyboard and mouse can be a time waster.  Many of the commands available to you on a right click of the mouse are also available to you in keyboard shortcuts.  In some cases, using keyboard shortcuts can be invaluable, especially if you are moving a lot of files or text lines from one place to another.  Let's start with the copy command.

Ctrl-c  Ctrl-v and Ctrl-x and Ctrl-a

These are some of the handiest shortcuts you will use.  Ctrl-c is used to copy a file to your clipboard (think of it as short term memory) and allow you to paste it elsewhere.  While we will be using it here to copy and paste files between Nautilus windows, remember it can also be used to copy lines or complete pages of text.

If you have multiple files to copy, simply highlight them by holding your ctrl button down and clicking on them until all the files you want to copy are chosen.  If you want to choose all the files in a folder to copy, click Ctrl-a and it will highlight all the files in that folder.

Then simply press ctrl and the letter "c" at the same time.  Then you can open the folder you want to copy the files to.  You can also use your keyboard to paste them.  You still have your hands next to the keyboard, right?  Why move them back to the mouse to right click and choose paste.  Simply use the ctrl button and the "v" button at the same time and it will paste those copied files where you want them.

An important note here though.  If you have two Nautilus windows open, you need to make sure that the target window is "focused".  Most often, when you open a new Nautilus window, the focus of the mouse or keyboard will be on the new window.  You need to make sure the focus is on the file folder you want the files to copy to.  If not, you will get copies of the files in the same window you copied them from.  That can be frustrating.  Usually, the best way to insure that the focus is in the right window is to simply click your mouse on an open part of the window.

Maybe you don't want to copy the files from one folder to another...maybe you want to physically move them.  In this case, you can hold down the Ctrl button and choose the files you want to move then once chosen, press the Ctrl button and the "x" button at the same time.  This will "cut" the files from the folder they are in.  You can then open or choose the folder you want the files moved to and press Ctrl-v.  That will then move those files into your target folder.

An important note, in your file system, when you press the Ctrl-x keys, the files you chose to move will not "disappear" from your folder until you actually paste them with the Ctrl-v keys.  They stay highlighted until the actual moving of the files.  Sometimes, if there are large files, your desktop will show a bar that represents the files being moved, how many are being moved and how long it will take.  Moving large files across folders or hard drives can take some time so be patient and don't interrupt the process until it is finished.

This has been an extremely simple tutorial on how best to move or copy files on your Linux computer.  Many expert Linux users read and contribute to this blog so its a good idea to follow the comments made by our readers.  Sometimes they have better or more efficient ways of doing things so watch the comments below.

If you have any questions or if we can be of any assistance, please email us by going to http://www.heliosinitiative.org and clicking the "contact us" button.

All-Righty Then

How We Choose Political Candidates and Software.

Many of us who are well "seasoned" will remember the first Kennedy/Nixon presidential political debate.  Not so much for the debate itself, but for the fact that it was the first nationally televised political debate of any kind.

While the use of this medium was inevitable, it changed the way we look at our political candidates and ultimately, the way we vote and choose our leaders.

As a college student, I took a political science class just because I needed to offset my less than stellar performance in algebra.  GPA matters.   Of course in that era, there was no Youtube...the internet did not exist, so we had to use printed transcripts of the debate to study the event itself.

You can see for yourself here.  While Nixon seemingly had a better grasp and overall understanding of the issues, he bounced between obvious discomfort and outright aggression or defensive posture during the debate.  Kennedy on the other hand looked composed, comfortable and was the obvious more attractive candidate on stage.

Did that matter?  The attractive part?

Apparently so.

A poll after the debate was taken between Television viewers and radio listeners.  As the link above will state, those who listened to the debate on radio thought Nixon to be the obvious winner.  Those who viewed the debate on television chose Kennedy.

Let's look at part of a recap from that debate:

"Perhaps the most crucial aspect of Kennedy’s victory, however, was his superior handling of the new medium of television. Having spent the first part of September campaigning in sunny California, the already handsome, athletic Kennedy entered the debate looking especially vivacious and fit. Nixon, by contrast, had lost weight during an extended hospital stay, refused studio makeup, sweated visibly, and appeared altogether less healthy and appealing. As historians and commentators have pointed out, many of those who listened to the debate on the radio, only hearing the voices of the candidates, thought Nixon was the victor, with his authoritative speech and mature voice. But unfortunately for Nixon, the debate was televised, and Kennedy’s calm, attractive demeanor and expectation-defying performance won the day. "

So, do we choose our leaders based simply on how they look?

It's looking that way


In the past 5 months, I've been doing some polling of my own.  Of course it's not on a national or global level.  In fact, it's been an extremely small sampling, but the outcome of this experiment have led me to some conclusions that I think are important enough to share.

We do between 300 and 400 computer installs for disadvantaged kids in the Austin Texas area a year.  During that time, I have the undivided attention of both the parents and the kids.  When I see that I have a friendly and open audience, I ask those over 17 to take a 10 minute poll of sorts.

I have to date a sampling of 78 people.

Hardly a large number, but it's what I have.

I ask them what software they are used to using, how often they use a computer and in what environment they use it. 

I then explain to them that I am going to show them picture-sets of 3 different applications.  We've found that the most-used apps are the browser, the word processor and the music/MP3 programs.

Let me state that this is no where near a controlled or scientific endeavor...I simply choose participants on their willingness to do this.

 The Browser...A virtual Wash.


The results here were pretty much split down the middle.  Both of the shown screenshots were taken in VirtualBox in order to maintain font and consistency.
37 people chose Internet Explorer 8 while the remainder of the people chose Firefox.  Please note, my observations show that besides some icon theming, the two browsers render themselves almost identical in these screenshots.


Theming seems to be the key here in many of the things we discovered.  We did not discuss much about the different browsers except that Microsoft Explorer comes "bundled" with Windows and Firefox is a stand-alone browser that can be installed in most any recognized Operating System.



In A Word...

The Microsoft Office component, Word got the nod from 53 people in contrast to the 25 who chose the OpenOffice offering of Writer.  Very little was explained to the viewers except that Word, bundled in the latest Microsoft Office offering could cost them in excess of $200.00 US while OpenOffice was free to use and modify.



It didn't seem to make much difference.

 Cosmetically, one could see why people chose Word over Writer at 2-1.  It has a pretty blue theme contrasted by the rather stark and blocky presentation of Writer.  But again, to a point this is more of a theming issue I believe.   Some interesting things happened when we moved on to the music apps.




Music makes the world go around...

Consistently, whether it's a teenager or an adult,  our experience shows few applications on a computer share use as much as music programs.  Of course, Windows dominance prevails in this area as well.  Most people we talk to define their computer music experience as being dominated by Windows Media Player.

 But we cannot definitively say that it's because it is a superior application.


 It seems that looks matter here as well.

We played with this a bit, simply because a direct comparison between one open source application against WMP didn't tell the whole story.

First we showed them the default music player in Ubuntu,  Rhythmbox.  Then we showed them the default WMP application (above).  64 people out of the 78 polled immediately chose WMP over the open source offering.  When asked why, 71 percent of them said that it looked better.  Many of that number asked why one had "pictures" on it and the other did not.



They were of course talking about the album art that showed up in WMP.  That app automatically queries the net for the appropriate album cover while Ryhthmbox needs configuration in order to do so.

71 percent based their choice on how the application looked.

When we went further to explain the the open source offering did not encumber their experience with (explained) DRM, that number improved by another 9 percent.  We then showed these folks the default picture of Ryhthmbox  along side of the differently themed version with album art enabled and told them it was the exact same application.  We explained to them that Linux allowed them to change themes with a couple of clicks.

The majority of them showed various degrees of surprise or disbelief until I actually re-themed their Linux boxes on the fly.

Then they understood.

Now where things got interesting is when we did a comparison between WMP and Amorok.

Amorok won that contest 56 to 22.

When we asked why they thought that Amorok was a better application, the majority of people said that it offered some cool features and that it looked good.



All of this was done of course in a Gnome environment, on our customized version of Ubuntu 10.4.


I'm not sure any of this bears significance except to note that some computer users are first drawn to an application from physical appearance.


But then again, apparently this is how many of us choose our political leaders and most likely our spouses.

No real surprises here.

Maybe some of the battles can be won with a simple default makeover.

Maybe not.


All-Righty Then

Temporarily Suspending our Activities

The HeliOS Project has suspended operations for a 30 day period.  We will be honoring all outstanding installs.  We hope to resume work in time for the Holiday season if funding allows.

Getting Linux Into The Right Hands...

1159

That's the number so far.

As of today, that is the number of Linux-based computers The HeliOS Project has placed in the homes of disadvantaged Austin kids.

That number will reach 1168 as this weekend comes to a close.


From a relative point of view, I suppose that might represent the proverbial drop in the bucket.

Until you consider what forming that drop entailed.

Each of those machines represents at least 4 man hours.  From the time we receive a machine until the time we walk out of a fresh computer install, we've invested a substantial amount of time into it.

That doesn't touch on the fuel and parts costs involved in making it happen.

So in the larger scope of things, yeah...I suppose it is a drop in the bucket.

But try telling that any of the people we've served.

And as a brief aside...that raging argument about Linux not being a drop-in replacement for any other desktop OS?

Let it die here.

It's worked for our kids, and it works for the majority of people who use it.  You can nitpick the small details all you want.  The fact remains that our kids have been able to successfully use Linux as their Desktop from elementary school up through graduate school.

Granted, there are times when our kids do need a specific MS application and for that we try to find a legitimate copy of XP SP3 to run in VirtualBox.  Unfortunately, Microsoft's best offer to us comes with a price tag of $50.00 per license.  We are on pace to consistently place 400 computers annually.  The math is simple...we cannot come close to meeting that cost.  In a way, this has been a good thing.  It has led us to explore viable Open Source alternatives to these MS-specific apps and for the most part, we've been successful.  

We announced recently that I-Tech Electronics is sponsoring a computer drive for The HeliOS Project on December 11th.

We are out of computers to fix and give away.  The holiday season brings us dozens of requests to be filled from the middle of November right up to Christmas day.

We've submitted PSA's to the major radio stations and have even invited AISD to get involved.  So far, quite a few people have dropped off early donations for that event.  We've gotten some fairly good stuff.

Unfortunately, many of these donations are laptops that are either missing power adapters, have depleted batteries or have 256 megs of RAM.

We're not talking dinosaurs either...at least from a usability perspective.  We have HP and Dells with large single core chips up to core duo's.  These are machines well worth fixing or upgrading.

But we need some help getting them serviceable. 

We've needed to spend some money recently in getting our new vehicle registered, past an emissions test and inspected in order to get it legal and on the road.  Unfortunately, that's left us little to work with.  I wanted to make a point in letting you know about our computer drive and that we could use a hand in getting these donated computers up and running so we can deliver them during the Holiday Seasons.

If you are interested in helping, simply click the HeliOS icon at the middle left column of this page or just click here.  We have also set up a HeliOS Project storefront on Amazon.  We have offerings on ebay as well.  Picture to the right shows our offerings there so if interested, email me for details.   We might have something you want and your purchases go to support what we do.

We will be spending money this year primarily on batteries and  DDR 400 SODIMM RAM in 512 sticks or above.  If you have any laying around, you can ship it directly to us.  You can find our contact information here.

As well, if you'd like to help with the drive or just come hang out with us, let me know.  This won't be anything but a computer gathering event so no L337 skillz needed.  We'll just hang out and have a good time.

I am looking forward to it.

All-Righty Then

It Doesn't Take a Zealot...

Most of us have our pet causes...

Things we have a deep need to assist or support.

Outside of my obvious conjunction, I try to contribute annually to an organization working to find the cure for cancer.


Why a cure and not treatment?

I personally believe that there is too much money already corrupting this process.  Call me cynical but I believe that the major players in this drama have rigged the game.  I believe that the money is in "treating" cancer.

Not curing it.  There are those who see the financial benefit in treatment...finding a cure isn't in their best interests.

That would bring their gravy train to a tablecloth-staining end.  Entire University departments and research corporates would lose their funding.  They are not concerned with finding the cure...let's treat the disease and all make a superb living doing so.

Or so thinks me.

Of course I would think this way.  I am to this point a cancer survivor so my bias is clear.  The means to treat my cancer has been in use for 30 years.  Nothing new...nothing innovative...so in my case, billions have been given and spent for what...?

Blindly giving money and time for something may make us feel better about ourselves but I think we need, from time to time, to check in on the progress of that thing.

There will always be those who work or give to something simply because they think it's doing some good...regardless of the reality.  

But there is always an exception...there is always someone who sees a cause or an effort and steps up to help because they know their immediate action will have immediate results.

And they don't always have to be aligned with that particular cause.

Just over a year ago, we purchased a Jeep Grand Cherokee for The HeliOS Project.  It was mostly due to one particular donor that we were able to do so.
It was something we badly needed at the time and we were (and still are) exceptionally grateful.

But it didn't take long to find out that our "great deal" wasn't so great.

Problems, and I mean large, expensive problems began to manifest themselves.  The bottom end of the motor developed an ominous knock.  The transmission started to slip and the steering box became unstable.

When the vehicle became unsafe and unreliable, we took it back to the person who sold it to us and for almost a year, that person provided us a loaner car to do our work.  He began looking for something to replace the jeep...and he was doing so out of his own pocket.

But it never happened.  He was happy to "loan" us a running vehicle and seemingly forgot his promise to get us another.  As the date on the state inspection sticker came closer and closer to expiration, I got a bit nervous.

I foresaw a problem looming...and one that we were in no position to fix.

That's when Adam Schneckloth stepped in.

Adam doesn't have any real affiliation with The HeliOS Project, The Linux Community or FOSS in general.  He works in the mortgage industry and is pretty much an everyday kind of guy.

Except for one thing...

He steps in to help when he believes the cause is right.

Adam heard about our problem through a friend of a friend.  Adam had a 96 Ford Explorer he purchased as a "project car".  The vehicle had been sitting on blocks, in mothballs since 2006.  It had relatively low miles and was in superb shape.  It runs great.  It has the 5.0 8 cylinder engine,  intact leather upholstery and full electronic controls throughout the vehicle.

It was, in a phrase..."a find".

And after hearing of our problem, Adam Schneckloth gave us the Explorer.

No tax receipts

No caveats

No conditions.

He signed over the title and solved a huge problem for us.

Of course, Adam is someone who will help anyone or anything in need of his help.

Some will think this a bit sappy, but bear with me...it accentuates what kind of a man Adam Schneckloth is.

He and his co-workers were out behind his building taking a smoke break this last year.  They commented to themselves that they were hearing a "bleating" sound.  That wouldn't be uncommon.  Behind their office building was a large expanse of undeveloped forest with its array of wildlife.

Between civilization and that forest was a large concrete irrigation ditch.  it was 4 feet deep and shaped in a "V".  While the others in his group dismissed the sound, Adam went to investigate.

He jumped down into the concrete ditch and walked toward the sound.  About 200 feet from his building was a small, and obviously helpless fawn.  She had tried to jump the ditch and failed to negotiate the jump.  The V-shape of the ditch would not allow her to escape.

Adam approached the fawn, gathered it into his arms and crawled on his backside to solid ground.  Some of his friends had followed to find Adam and when they caught up with him, they found him holding that fawn.

With the mother nowhere in site, Adam set the animal free on the forest side of the ditch and watched it scamper and disappear into the trees.

So sappy?  Maybe, but then again, how many of us would ignore the sounds of the forest, even though one of them might have been a sounding call for help...?

Or how many of us would give of themselves something worth thousands of dollars simply because we know it would be the right thing to do.

Adam Schneckloth did, and we are eternally grateful.







All-Righty then,

Be Teh G33k of Teh W33k

The Blog of helios has been in existence, in one blog format or another since 2005.  Now in general timelines, that isn't much.  In the blogging world though, it's a moderate success.


Success being relative.




I've often stated to you my reasons for writing this blog.  It isn't to bestow upon you my opinion...

It's because I want to learn from yours.

Many of you have concluded that I am some geek extraordinaire, laboring at this machine for hours, squinting at 4 open terminals and writing scripts to cure heartburn and the occasional nasty bout of gout.

As much as I would like to take a bow for doing so, nothing could be further from the truth...

You think I got the nickname "General Parsing Error" on a whim?

The comments on this blog hold intellectual gold.  People like Carla Schroder, Derrick Devine, Richard Stallman, Joe Brockmeier, Caitlyn Martin, Robbie Williamson and Glyn Moody have left insightful and well thought-out comments here.

They don't always agree with my point of view, but isn't that the point?

We're supposed to grow beyond our limited perspectives.

So starting a week from today, The Blog of helios will publish Teh Geek of Teh Week - Your Name Here...

And stop it...I've already cycled through all the jokes mentally.  None of them end well.

If you have something insightful, interesting or moderately pertinent to say, let me know and I will submit it on the following Tuesday.

That's the day for Teh Geek of Teh Week.


Batter up.


And oh...speaking of opinionated people with excellent writing skills and a long-suffering, tortured soul...


Congratulations to Larry Cafiero and his World Champion San Fransisco Giants.  If there were ever an example of second effort and tenacity, they are a textbook case.

Never give up.


They did the damn-near impossible and they did it with style.



All-Writey then...