Linux Mint Essentials -- Table of Contents -- Linux Mint Essentials -- Credits -- About the Author -- About the Reviewers -- www.PacktPub.com -- Support files, eBooks, discount offers and more -- Why Subscribe? -- Free Access for Packt account holders -- Preface -- What this book covers -- What you need for this book -- Who this book is for -- Conventions -- Reader feedback -- Customer support -- Errata -- Piracy -- Questions -- 1. Meet Linux Mint -- Why choose Linux? -- What is a distribution? -- Is Linux hard to learn? -- What Mint does differently -- Releases and support -- Mint-specific tools -- Interacting with the Linux Mint community -- Creating community and forum accounts -- Meet the community -- Summary -- 2. Creating Boot Media and Installing Linux Mint -- Which version to download -- The Linux Mint KDE edition -- The Linux Mint Xfce edition -- The Linux Mint MATE edition -- The Linux Mint Cinnamon edition -- The different methods of installing Linux Mint -- Creating a bootable DVD -- Creating a bootable USB flash drive -- Testing your live media -- Planning your partitioning scheme -- The installation process -- To encrypt or not to encrypt -- Summary -- 3. Getting Acquainted with Cinnamon -- Getting familiar with Cinnamon -- Logging in to Cinnamon -- Launching programs -- Monitoring tasks -- Utilizing workspaces -- Notifications -- Creating launchers -- Bundled applications -- File management with Nemo -- Configuring the settings of Cinnamon -- Changing the default search engine in Firefox -- Changing themes -- Summary -- 4. An Introduction to the Terminal -- Why should we use the terminal? -- Accessing the shell -- Executing commands -- Navigating the filesystem -- Managing files -- The nano text editor -- Reading manual pages with the man command -- Searching for files -- Using the watch command -- Introduction to scripting.

Summary -- 5. Utilizing Storage and Media -- Accessing removable media -- Formatting flash drives -- Mounting and unmounting volumes -- Automatically mounting volumes at boot time -- Analyzing disk usage -- Understanding gibibytes versus gigabytes and mebibytes versus megabytes -- Burning CDs and DVDs -- Using the USB Image Writer -- Understanding how Universally Unique Identifiers work -- Summary -- 6. Installing and Removing Software -- Managing packages in Linux Mint -- Using the Mint Software Manager -- Installing new applications -- Frozen Bubble -- FileZilla -- Minitube -- Steam -- Removing applications -- Using the Synaptic Package Manager -- Configuring software sources -- Advanced package management -- Keeping your system up to date -- Summary -- 7. Enjoying Multimedia on Mint -- Understanding issues concerning codecs -- Playing music files -- Ripping an audio CD -- Editing MP3 tags -- Playing video files -- Playing a DVD -- Viewing photos -- Editing photos with GIMP -- Accessing your webcam -- Recording your desktop -- Summary -- 8. Managing Users and Permissions -- Creating new users -- Changing passwords -- Revoking access temporarily -- Removing user accounts -- Running commands or programs as other users -- Administrative access via sudo and visudo -- Understanding file and directory permissions -- Modifying file and directory permissions -- Summary -- 9. Connecting to Networks -- Connecting to a wired network -- Setting up a static IP -- Connecting to a wireless network -- An introduction to SSH -- Accessing your system via SSH -- Accessing FTP servers -- Sharing files with Samba -- Sharing files with NFS -- Summary -- 10. Securing Linux Mint -- Choosing secure passwords -- Encrypting your home folder -- Configuring and testing the iptables firewall -- Installing and configuring ClamAV -- Blocking access to specific websites.

Backing up and restoring important data -- Creating and restoring snapshots -- Hardening your system -- Summary -- 11. Advanced Administration Techniques -- Creating command aliases -- Making aliases persistent -- Killing processes -- Setting up cron jobs -- Preparing to move to a new release -- Exporting and importing package lists -- Using variables and conditional statements in Bash -- Monitoring resource usage -- Monitoring CPU temperatures -- Sending system reports via e-mail -- Summary -- 12. Troubleshooting Linux Mint -- Performing the initial triage -- Troubleshooting in Software Rendering Mode -- Diagnosing boot issues -- Recovering data -- Perusing system logs -- Reinstalling GRUB -- Testing the RAM -- Pinpointing audio issues -- Solving problems with networking -- Solving slow frame rates in games -- Getting help from the community -- Summary -- A. Reinstalling Mint while Retaining Data -- Considering LTS releases -- Why an upgrade utility isn't included -- Preparing for the migration -- Installing Linux Mint while retaining /home -- Importing a list of packages for reinstallation -- Summary -- B. Using the MATE Edition of Linux Mint -- Introducing MATE -- Understanding the differences between MATE and Cinnamon -- Launching applications -- Customizing MATE -- Desktop background -- Screensaver -- Panel applets -- Desktop themes -- Summary -- C. Using the KDE Edition of Linux Mint -- Understanding the KDE desktop -- Using Dolphin - KDE's file manager -- Adding Plasmoids to the desktop -- Discovering Mint KDE's default applications -- Utilizing Activities and Virtual Desktops -- Configuring network connections -- Summary -- Index.