Point & Click Linux!

Product Author Bios

About the Author

Robin "Roblimo" Miller started writing professionally in 1983 as a freelance reporter and feature writer in Baltimore, Maryland. He first wrote about Linux in 1997, and by 1998 he was a full-time Linux user, working as a reporter, columnist, and editor for Andover News Network, which later become the OSTG (Open Source Technology Group) division of VA Software.

Roblimo, as he has been known online since the mid-1990s, was one of the first reporters to cover the Linux phenomenon. He has spoken at computing and Internet conferences in Saudi Arabia, Mexico, India, Trinidad, Jordan, and at least a dozen U.S. states. He's been "the computer expert" for the award-winning Rise and Shine morning show on Baltimore's WJZ TV, and has been a guest on many radio and several cable TV talk shows.

Point & Click Linux! is Roblimo's second book. His first, The Online Rules of Successful Companies, was published by FT Prentice Hall in 2002. He has written over 2000 articles for various newspapers, magazines, and Web sites on topics including Linux (of course!), child support, college campus drug use, metallurgy, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), software development, telemarketing, crime prevention, tax policy, online business, TV news reporting, taxi driving, and political shenanigans.

Before becoming a full-time writer and editor, Roblimo worked as a limo owner/driver (hence "Roblimo"), taxi driver, electronics technician, soldier, and auto mechanic. He is currently editor in chief of OSTG, and lives with his wife, the artist Deborah Miller, in Bradenton, Florida.

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Video

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Download and find out about the 6 Basic Linux Commands.

Download and find out about Opening and Closing Programs with KDE.

Trailer

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"Robin's book will show you the benefits of switching to Linux immediately. Your computer will run faster and more reliably than you ever believed possible. Surfing the net will no longer be an exercise in paranoia. And you'll discover a whole new world of powerful, free software that can run rings around the programs available for Windows."

From the Foreword by Leo Laporte, Host of Call for Help on G4TechTV Canada and The Tech Guy on KFI 640 AM Los Angeles

The perfect gift for that Linux beginner in your life!

Have Linux up and running in 5 minutes or less with the incredible SimplyMEPIS bootable CD-ROM

Easy-to-follow videos on DVD

Linux made easy... incredibly easy!

Tired of Windows viruses, spyware, licensing hassles, and high costs? Try Linux!

Not sure Linux is up to the job? It is. Not sure you can learn Linux? You can. Linux expert and Open Source Developers' Network (OSDN) editor-in-chief, Robin "Roblimo" Miller, will teach you Linux the easy way: using the point-and-click skills you already have!

With the bootable SimplyMEPIS Linux software included on CD, you'll be running Linux in 5 minutes...no formatting, no partitioning, no technical hassles... just insert the CD, reboot your computer, and you're ready to go!!!

You don't need to be a computer expert! With Roblimo's step-by-step instructions and how-to videos, you'll master everything from word processing to the Web and email, instant messaging to CD burning... you name it.

Linux has never been this easy, this productive, or this much fun!

• Navigate Linux visually, the easy way, with KDE

• Get on the Web, send email, even build your own Web sites

• Create Microsoft Office-compatible documents with OpenOffice.org

• Instant-message and chat with all your friends—no matter what network they're on

• Import, edit, and manage your digital photos

• Burn CDs and DVDs

• Play the world's best open source games

• Download all the free software you'll ever need

• Coexist easily with Windows users

• CD features SimplyMEPIS Linux: start running Linux in 5 minutes, and get all the software you need to be productive!

• DVD features Roblimo explaining all you need to know in bite-sized video tutorials. All the Linux skills you really need are covered here... just watch, and do!

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful OK for a one-time read and introduction to desktop Linux, January 16, 2005 By  Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews             This review is from: Point & Click Linux! (Paperback) If you have never been exposed to Linux and you'd like to see what it's all about, you might want to check out Point & Click Linux! by Robin Miller. It's a high-level intro to Linux using a bootable Linux CD. Chapter List: What You Can Do with Linux; Running the SimplyMepis CD; Working with Linux: KDE and KWrite; Installing MEPIS Linux on Your Hard Drive; KPPP - Easy Modem Dialer Application; Mozilla: Your Key to the Internet; Setting Up and Using Mozilla E-mail; Mozilla Web Browser; Making Web Pages with Mozilla; Introduction to OpenOffice.org: Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Slide Presentations, Graphics, and More; OpenOffice.org Writer; OpenOffice.org Presenter; OpenOffice.org Draw; OpenOffice.org Calc: Spreadsheets; OpenOffice.org, Microsoft Office, and StarOffice; CheckBook Tracker - Simple Bookkeeping with Linux; Kopete - IM, IRC, and General Chat; gFTP - An Easy, Powerful FTP Program; K3B - Easy CD Burning Program; The Gimp - Full-featured Graphics Application;... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you?  Report abuse | Permalink  Comment 16 of 16 people found the following review helpful At Last, A Simple Distribution, December 1, 2004 By  John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews    This review is from: Point & Click Linux! (Paperback) It's about time. Linux has been the tekkies choice for operating systems for some time. But making it to the desktop is necessary before it can really grow up. Finally, people are beginning to put together simple to install systems that don't take a lot of reading about strange acronyms. This book uses MEPIS. It's software on a CD that just like the title says you point and click. You put the MEPIS CD in a PC and in a few minutes you have a graphical screen asking you just a few questions (and in English) and then you have a graphical (I hate to, but I've got to use the word) window in front of you. No the screen isn't exactly like the other Windows, but it's fairly recognizable. You have a bunch of icons on the screen that correspond to the programs that were automatically installed on the system. Unlike Big Windows, MEPIS comes with most of the applications you'll need for traditional desktop use. This includes word processing, spreadsheets, presentation... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you?  Report abuse | Permalink  Comment 12 of 12 people found the following review helpful Promising, but some flaws in the execution, March 12, 2005 By  R. Lodato "grey geek" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews    This review is from: Point & Click Linux! (Paperback) One of the roadblocks to the proliferation of Linux to personal desktops is the perceived difficulty in installing and using Linux. Robin 'Roblimo' Miller addresses the novice Linux user with his book Point & Click Linux!, published by Prentice Hall PTR. The book comes with both a distribution of SimplyMEPIS Linux on a bootable CD and a DVD with tutorials featuring Roblimo himself. Robin is the Editor in Chief for the Open Source Technology Group. Point & Click Linux! takes a simple, top-of-the-trees format to get readers involved in Linux enough to be interested, but not so much as to make them afraid of the potential complexities. After a brief rundown of the types of things a casual user can do with Linux, Robin takes the reader through the process of running SimplyMEPIS from the CD. After a short overview of KDE and KWrite, Roblimo launches into the installation process. SimplyMEPIS is designed to install quickly and easily, and it's shown by the fact that only 9 pages... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you?  Report abuse | Permalink  Comment

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Praise For Point & Click Linux!

"I got the book today and it's honestly the best introduction to Linux that I have seen in a while." - Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli

"I find this book to be an excellent introduction to Linux. Being a relative newbie, I have read a number of introductory texts and this is by far the
easiest and most convincing to become a full time Linux user." - Jerry Bellomy

Online Sample Chapter

K3b—Easy CD Burning Program for Linux

Index

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Foreword

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Table of Contents

Forward.

SECTION I: GETTING STARTED.

1: What You Can Do with Linux.

2: Running the SimplyMepis CD.

3: Working with Linux: KDE and KWrite.

4: Installing MEPIS Linux on Your Hard Drive.

SECTION II: LINUX APPLICATIONS.

5: KPPP — Easy Modem Dialer Application.

6: Mozilla: Your Key to the Internet.

7: Setting Up and Using Mozilla E-mail.

8: Mozilla Web Browser.

9: Making Web Pages with Mozilla.

10: Introduction to OpenOffice.org: Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Slide Presentations, Graphics, and More.

11: OpenOffice.org Writer.

12: OpenOffice.org Presenter.

13: OpenOffice.org Draw.

14: OpenOffice.org Calc: Spreadsheets.

15: OpenOffice.org, Microsoft Office, and StarOffice.

16: CheckBook Tracker — Simple Bookkeeping with Linux.

17: Kopete — IM, IRC, and General Chat.

18: gFTP — An Easy, Powerful FTP Program.

19: K3B — Easy CD Burning Program.

20: The Gimp — Full-featured Graphics Application.

21: Digikam — Importing and Organizing Digital Photos.

22: Games! — Amusements Included with the SimplyMepis CD.

23: Other SimplyMEPIS Applications.

SECTION III: BEYOND THE BASICS.

24: Downloading and Installing Software.

25: Cooperating with Windows.

26: Customizing Linux.

27: Dipping a Toe Into the Command-line Waters.

28: Joining the Linux Community.

APPENDICES.

Appendix A: Guide to Other Popular Linux Distributions.

Appendix B: Books that Can Help You Become More Proficient with Linux.

Appendix C: About MEPIS and the SimplyMEPIS CD.

Downloadable Sample Chapter

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