What is this book about? Beginning Fedora 2 teaches you everything you need to know in order to install, configure, use, and maintain Fedora. This book targeted primarily at readers who are using (or planning to use) the Fedora Linux operating system for the first time. It offers the simple, plain-speaking guidance you need as you begin to explore the vast potential of open source software. The key features of the book include the following: * Installing Linux, especially how to prepare so that you don't get any nasty surprises halfway through * The basics of Linux, including a tour of the desktop interface and how to use user accounts, the Linux file system, hardware configuration, and managing your machine's resources * Configuring your Linux machine to connect to the Internet, or to a local area network, so that you can start to send and receive e-mails and use the Internet * Installing new packages, upgrading packages, and removing packages * Exploring the many applications to perform everyday tasks, such as web browsers, office applications, and MP3 players * Explaining how to use the shell, including combining commands into a script, defining the input to (and output from) a script, and how to build logical structures into scripts, get them to run in specific circumstances, and manage multiple tasks at the same time * A detailed explanation of the Linux file system, how to manage your files and directories, and how to use the shell to generate and manipulate the output from predefined or custom scripts * Configuring your Linux machine to provide services to other machines on a network, such as how to set your machine up as a FTP server, a Web server, a file server, a printer servers, a mail server, or a DHCP server * Administration topics, such as how to analyze system log files and use them to track down problems with the system, backups and archives, tarballs, and explore how to customize and recompile the Linux kernel * Using scripting, specifically Perl, to automate the common task of managing the log files * Securing your machine using a firewall New features include how to participate in the Fedora community, strategies for working in an unsupported environment, how to keep up with Core releases, and more!