Lab Activity – GUI Linux

Linux is a powerful operating system that is widely employed in server environments, as well as in embedded systems. This includes set-top boxes and the Android operating system, for example. It can also be used as a desktop environment and it supports similar functionality to Microsoft Windows.

Learning Objectives

Completing the activity, you will be able to compare graphical Linux applications with corresponding Windows applications.

Laboratory Report

Undertaking these activities students are required to maintain a lab book. Please see this post for more details: http://alexanderkist.com/keeping-a-lab-book/. All important steps and answers to the background research questions have to be logged. The documentation has to include enough information that another person can reproduce the results.

Setup and Lab Environment

In this activity, you have access to a CentOS 7 Linux system (Rho1). It is connected to other nodes on the same network. However, for this exercise that is not important. The network topology is depicted below.

Important Notes

• Note that instructions given herein are only in abbreviated form, you are required to consult secondary resources to complete this activity.
• There is a great variability in the quality of the resources that can be found online. Please use your professional judgement when using the wealth of online information.

Background

In the past, Linux installations were a tedious process, requiring detailed hardware understanding and advanced knowledge of Linux. Today, this process is as simple as installing software under Windows.

Linux comes in many flavours, called distributions. CentOS is used for this exercise. Main differences between the distributions include configuration, stability, release cycles, support cycles, ease of use and popularity. Ubuntu (www.ubuntu.com), for example, is another excellent distribution for general-purpose use. The popularity of distributions is changing over time. You can find a list of popular distributions here.

Getting Started

• Once you open the activity, virtual machines are booted. That might take moment. Sometimes the “Guacamole” does not connect the first time a page loads. In this case, you can simply click on “reconnect”. If the system does not connect after a few tries, please come back another time.
• Sessions are limited to 30 minutes and changes are lost between sessions as the system is restored to the default state.
• The credentials to log into the system are username – linuxuser and password usqz220;-)
• Log on to host A1.
• Open a command shell (terminal).

GUI Linux

In this first activity, you will explore a graphical Linux interface. Linux provides software tools for almost any task. Standard office tools have been installed with CentOS. These are shown in the table below. Most of these applications are also available for Windows.

Table 1: Linux Software and corresponding Windows Tools.

For each tool, open it, complete a few tasks and answer the following questions stating your personal opinion:

• How does this tool compare to the Windows equivalent?
• Would you use the tool? Why? Why not?

Firefox

Firefox [1] is a web browser, widely used under Windows. You can access it by clicking on the blue/orange ball (earth with a re-fox) on the menu bar.

LibreOffice

LibreOffice is an open-source, free opensource software suite that includes tools for many tasks, e.g. word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics and databases. Write a short document and play with the options. Note that you can save MS Office compatible documents. Try also Impress and build a short presentation.

The GIMP

The GNU (General Public License) Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) is a free tool to retouch photos, compose and author images.

Thunderbird and Evolution

Thunderbird is mail and address book tool. Initially, you have to configure an email account. Evolution is an alternative email application.

Engineering Applications

There are a large number of free applications available that can assist with engineering problems. Many of these free applications are also available under MS Windows. Two examples include. GNUOctave and Scilab. Octave is a well-developed alternative to Matlab and it is installed on the test system.