2. About this User Guide

We wrote this to give you a better understanding of the Mandriva Linux system. In it we focus on graphical applications which allow you to perform your daily tasks, such as writing documents and e-mails, surfing the web and listening to music. We also show you how to configure your desktop to your liking, install software, and finally, we give you some tips and tricks to help you fix common — and not so common — problems.

We start off with Instalando o Mandriva Linux, where we discuss what you need to know before you actually install Mandriva Linux onto your system (see Capítulo 1, Notas de Instalação, and Capítulo 2, Before Installation). Then we show you how to correctly install and configure your Mandriva Linux distribution (Capítulo 3, Instalando com o DrakX) by describing the preparation, installation and post-installation procedures.

The next part (Descobrir) is an introduction to Linux basics. We discuss the Linux paradigm by comparing it to other OSes in Capítulo 4, Migrating to Linux from Windows® and Mac OS® X. In order to help new users, we wrote Capítulo 5, Linux for Beginners. In it we describe the first steps a new user must master and we explain concepts such as “logging in and out”, security tips, and more. The following chapter (Capítulo 6, Accessing Documentation) guides you through a fairly exhaustive list of documentation sources which you can consult to attain a better understanding of Linux. A Mandriva Linux-specific section points to numerous in-house resources which you can find on the Net. We close this part by speaking about the popular KDE graphical environment (see Capítulo 7, Using KDE).

We then tackle Internet applications (Utilizando a Internet). We explain how to send e-mails using the KMail component of the Kontact suite (Seção 1, “Writing E-mails and Reading News”), how to read news and RSS feeds with Akregator (Seção 1.2, “Akregator”) and how to browse the web using Firefox (Capítulo 9, Surfing The Web With Firefox).

The next part (Uso) discusses the OpenOffice.org suite (see Seção 1, “Word Processor”, and Seção 2, “Spreadsheet”), file managers (see Seção 3, “Managing Your Files”) and printers (see Seção 4, “Printing and Faxing from Applications”). We then explore the world of multimedia by reviewing audio and movie applications (see Seção 1, “Audio Applications”, and Seção 2, “Movie Applications”), as well as CD burning (see Seção 3, “CD Burning”).

Finally we go through more technical aspects of the Mandriva Linux system (Uso Avançado):