Introduction to LinuxIntroduction to Linux

Recap

Installing programs

Introduction to Video Editing with Linux

Windows vs. LinuxWindows vs. Linux

Windows's design is ease of use, people with minimal computer knowledge.

Relies heavily on GUI components and wizards.Hides kernel messages from the user.

Unix's design is to be simple and stable.Uses simple commands that does only 1 thing.Displays all diagnostic, warning messages and notices.

Windows is good at creating and managing threads.Unix is good at creating and managing processes.

OS KernelsOS Kernels

Traditional OS design uses the monolithic approach.Which means once the kernel is loaded, you may not modify it without recompiling a new kernel and reloading it.Modern OS uses a modular approach, where modules can be loaded by the kernel without recompiling and reloading it.Another OS design is called micro kernel.In a micro kernel OS, the kernel is only responsible for bare minimal tasks like process management, threads.

More on KernelsMore on Kernels

A monolithic kernel can be very stable.A modular kernel can have modules loaded on the fly.A micro kernel can be recovered from a crash very quickly.

Different OSDifferent OS

Windows uses a modular and micro kernel design.Most modern unixes uses a monolithic kernel with modular capabilities.QNX, a famous OS used by 911 emergencies uses a micro kernel design.BeOS, the OS that created the T-1000 in the movie Terminator 2 uses a micro kernel with modular design.

User managementUser management

The file /etc/passwd stores user account informations on all unixes.Traditional unix stores the encrypted password in this file, too.Modern unix stores the file in a shadow file.While /etc/passwd is just a regular text file, it is not recommended to edit it directly.To edit this file, use the vipw command, it creates a lock on the file, which allows safe editing.Certain unixes offers some script (adduser/useradd) to ease the process of adding users.

Linux hardware supportLinux hardware support

Linux supports single and multiple 32 and 64-bits i386 compatible CPUs.Linux is also ported to Alpha and SPARC processors.Linux supports most modern hardwares including video cards, network cards and sound cards.Linux supports windows modems with linmodem. (http://www.linmodems.org)Linux also supports windows network card drivers via NDIS wrapper.Linux also supports Power Management features.

Runlevels in LinuxRunlevels in Linux

Runlevel 0 is halt the system and runlevel 5 is to restart the system.You can change the runlevel anytime by using the init command.But, to shutdown or restart the computer, it's NOT recommended to directly invoke runlevel 0 nor runlevel 5.The shutdown command does something else before invoking the appropriate runlevel.

Installing programsInstalling programs

On windows, there are basically 2 ways to install programs.

Binary form with some installshield like wizard.Binary form packaged in a compressed archive.

On unix, there are 3 ways to install programs.Packaged binary form.Binary form with custom installation wizard.Source code form.

Installing the easy wayInstalling the easy way

The easiest way to install a program is to use a packaged format.Different distributions may have their own packaging format.The standard format is the rpm package, which all unixes support.When downloading a software, choose the rpm package format for easy installation.There can be multiply rpm packages for full installation, minimal installation or typical installation.

Binary format with custom wizardBinary format with custom wizard

Some developers offer their software with a custom installation wizard.Example is Sun's Java program, which comes with its own text based installation wizard.

The best way to install a programThe best way to install a program

The best way to install a program is by getting the source code and compiling the software yourself.By compiling the software yourself, you get a software that's specific for your machine.You can also choose only certain options be installed.You will end up with a software that's very specific to your needs.

Compiling a softwareCompiling a software

After getting the source code from the website, consult the documentation on how to compile the software and post-configure it.Generally, the steps to compile a software are:

./configure --options --more_optionsmake*make install

To see list of configuration installation options, use ./configure --help

* Some softwares requires GNU make, Linux, being a GNU OS, uses GNU make, but other unixes generally does not.

RecommendationsRecommendations

Generally, if the software is included in the distribution medium, install the software from there.If the software is not included, then installed from the source.If you are unable to install from the source*, get the binary package and install from the package.

*You may not be able to install a software from the source if you are missing the required developmental tools and/or libraries.

Introduction to Video EditingIntroduction to Video Editing

Two programs that can do video editing are:Kino (http://kino.schirmacher.de/)LiVES (http://www.xs4all.nl/~salsaman/lives/)

Kino is used for editing video taken from a mini DV. (Doesn't seem to be able to edit anything else.)Lives can be used to edit a wide variety of video formats from your computer or from an external source.