Nt1430

Chapters 1, 2, 3 & 11
Chapter 1, pp. 20-21, Exercises 1, 4
1) What is free software? List 3 characteristics of free software.
Free software is when all of the source code is free. Three characteristics of free software are
that it is free to study, modify and redistribute.
4) What is the Free Software Foundation/GNU? What is Linux? Which part of the Linux
operating system did each provide? Who else has helped build and refine this operating
system?
The Free Software Foundation is a nonprofit with a worldwide mission to promote computer user
freedom and to defend the rights of all free software users. GNU is a Unix-like operating system
Linux is the name an operating system kernal developed by Linus Torvalds. Torvaldss kernel and
GNUs tools work together as the Linux operating system.

Chapter 2, p. 50, Exercise 1

1) Briefly, what does the process of installing an operating system such as Fedora/RHEL
involve?
An empty partition on your hard disk and it can create a dual boot installation
Chapter 3, p. 86, Exercises 1, 4, 8
1) What is a live system? What advantages does it have over an installed system?
A live system is a Linux session you run on a computer without installing Linux on the computer.
Some advantages it has over an installed system are it gives the user a chance to preview
Fedora without installing it. It does not write to hard disks.

4) Where on the disk should you put your /boot partition or the root (/) partition if you do not
use a /boot partition?
Put /boot at the beginning of the drive (partition 1) so that there is no issue of Linux having to boot
from a partition too far into the drive.
8) When does a Fedora/RHEL system start X by default?
This depends on the default run level which is set.

Chapter 11, p. 498, Exercises 1, 3, 7

1) How does a single-user mode differ from multiuser mode?
When the system is in single-user mode, you can log in only at the console. When the system is
in single-user mode, you can log in only at the console. Not all of the file systems are mounted,
and many daemons are not running. With the system in multiuser mode you can log in at any
terminal or workstation that is set up for login, most or all of the file systems are mounted, and all
of the daemons that your system is set up to run are running.
3) What do the letters of the su command stand for? What can you do with su besides give
yourself root privileges? How would you log in as Zach if you did not know his password but
knew the root password? How would you establish the same environment that Zach has when
he first logs in?
Su stands for switch user.
You can give yourself privileges of any user whose password you know (or any user when you
are running as root). You can also execute a command (other than a shell) as the specified user.