Basic configurations

If you have setup your system correctly, you're ready to go. One of the first things you will probably do is fire up a browser and check out the Internet. Here you can see the old version of the Dedoimedo index page inside Firefox.

And here's the new version:

Another thing worth mentioning is the accessibility of core functions. The K panel has links to some of the most commonly used applications, from left to right: Show desktop, Home folder, Configure desktop, Control Center, Synaptic Package Manager, and Firefox.

Synaptic

The second thing we will do is to get acquainted with the package manager. PCLinuxOS uses the tremendously simple and effective Synaptic as the front-end and APT as the actual manager, leased from Debian and also used to great effect in Ubuntu.

Control Center

Control Center is the same centralized management application that you have seen and used in Mandriva. It offers easy and quick access to all system functions and configurations. Again, it is meant to put the Linux newbies at easy, by saving them from using the command line too often until they get comfortable with Linux.



Like all modern distros, PCLinuxOS aims at providing you with the necessary drivers without having to look for them all over the Internet. Much of this section has already been explained in the Mandriva guide.

Sharing

Although I have already written about this in the Kubuntu article, this is a nice chance to refresh the memory. Furthermore, in the best tradition of Dedoimedo of introducing a new thing in each article, I will show you how you can share files between PCLinuxOS and a Window machine, using Samba. 

Note: I have never used PCLinuxOS before. Both you and I are new users. Hopefully, this little demonstration will show how simple things are.

For more details about network sharing, please read Highly useful Linux commands & configurations.

In the Control Center, under Mount Points, click Set up sharing of your hard disk partitions. We will select the Custom option and click OK to proceed.



We would like to use Samba, which is the preferred choice for multi-OS environment. Click OK to proceed.



However, we get this error message ...



This means we do not have the Samba server installed. No worries, we'll install it. This should also demonstrate the simplicity and the power of apt.

First, we will have to change our user to superuser. Unlike, Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS does not support sudoing as well and works best when administrative functions are done as superuser. Next, we will update the list of repositories where we look for packages to install. And lastly, we will install the Samba server.

That's it.



Once the Samba is installed, we need to setup Samba shares.

Control Center > Mount points > Manage configuration of Samba

By default, a placeholder called homes will be present in the list of shares under File share. We will remove it (Remove) and create a new share (Add).



Please note that you have the ability to create shared folders through this utility. I do not recommend it. You will be running the wizard as root - and consequently, the folders you create will have root permissions. This means that you will not be able to manipulate these folders as standard user. Therefore, you should create shared folders manually, within your home folder.

Add a new entry. Point it to the directory that you wish to share (click Open and browse). The Comment is also required. Once finished, click OK.



Now we have created our share (it's called wShare), but it is not yet fully configured. We will have to modify it a bit.



Continued on the next page.