266 lines
5.8 KiB
HTML
266 lines
5.8 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
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<HTML
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><HEAD
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><TITLE
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>The user interface</TITLE
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><META
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NAME="GENERATOR"
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CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK
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REL="HOME"
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TITLE="Introduction to Linux"
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HREF="index.html"><LINK
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REL="UP"
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TITLE="What is Linux?"
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HREF="chap_01.html"><LINK
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REL="PREVIOUS"
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TITLE="History"
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HREF="sect_01_01.html"><LINK
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REL="NEXT"
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TITLE="Does Linux have a future?"
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HREF="sect_01_03.html"></HEAD
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><BODY
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CLASS="sect1"
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BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"
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TEXT="#000000"
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LINK="#0000FF"
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VLINK="#840084"
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ALINK="#0000FF"
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><DIV
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CLASS="NAVHEADER"
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><TABLE
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SUMMARY="Header navigation table"
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WIDTH="100%"
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BORDER="0"
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CELLPADDING="0"
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CELLSPACING="0"
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><TR
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><TH
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COLSPAN="3"
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ALIGN="center"
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>Introduction to Linux: </TH
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></TR
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="sect_01_01.html"
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ACCESSKEY="P"
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="80%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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>Chapter 1. What is Linux?</TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="sect_01_03.html"
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ACCESSKEY="N"
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>Next</A
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></TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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><HR
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect1"
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><H1
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CLASS="sect1"
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><A
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NAME="sect_01_02"
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></A
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>1.2. The user interface</H1
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="sect_01_02_01"
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></A
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>1.2.1. Is Linux difficult?</H2
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><P
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>Whether Linux is difficult to learn depends on the person you're asking.
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Experienced UNIX users will say no, because Linux is an ideal operating system
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for power-users and programmers, because it has been and is being developed by
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such people.
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</P
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><P
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>Everything a good programmer can wish for is available: compilers,
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libraries, development and debugging tools. These packages come with every
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standard Linux distribution. The C-compiler is included for free - as opposed to many UNIX distributions demanding licensing fees for this tool. All the
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documentation and manuals are there, and examples are often included to help you
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get started in no time. It feels like UNIX and switching between UNIX and
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Linux is a natural thing.
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</P
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><P
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>In the early days of Linux, being an expert was kind of required to start
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using the system. Those who mastered Linux felt better than the rest of the
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<SPAN
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CLASS="QUOTE"
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>"lusers"</SPAN
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> who hadn't seen the light yet. It was common practice to
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tell a beginning user to <SPAN
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CLASS="QUOTE"
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>"RTFM"</SPAN
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> (read the manuals). While the
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manuals were on every system, it was difficult to find the documentation, and
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even if someone did, explanations were in such technical terms that the new user
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became easily discouraged from learning the system.
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</P
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><P
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>The Linux-using community started to realize that if Linux was ever to be
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an important player on the operating system market, there had to be some serious
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changes in the accessibility of the system.
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="sect_01_02_02"
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></A
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>1.2.2. Linux for non-experienced users</H2
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><P
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>Companies such as RedHat, SuSE and Mandriva have sprung up, providing
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packaged Linux distributions suitable for mass consumption. They integrated a
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great deal of graphical user interfaces (GUIs), developed by the community, in
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order to ease management of programs and services. As a Linux user today you
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have all the means of getting to know your system inside out, but it is no
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longer necessary to have that knowledge in order to make the system comply to
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your requests.
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</P
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><P
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>Nowadays you can log in graphically and start all required applications
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without even having to type a single character, while you still have the ability
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to access the core of the system if needed. Because of its structure, Linux
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allows a user to grow into the system: it equally fits new and experienced
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users. New users are not forced to do difficult things, while experienced users
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are not forced to work in the same way they did when they first started learning
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Linux.
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</P
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><P
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>While development in the service area continues, great things are being
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done for desktop users, generally considered as the group least likely to know
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how a system works. Developers of desktop applications are making incredible
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efforts to make the most beautiful desktops you've ever seen, or to make your
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Linux machine look just like your former MS Windows or an Apple workstation.
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The latest developments also include 3D acceleration support and support for USB
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devices, single-click updates of system and packages, and so on. Linux has
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these, and tries to present all available services in a logical form that
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ordinary people can understand. Below is a short list containing some great
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examples; these sites have a lot of screenshots that will give you a glimpse of
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what Linux on the desktop can be like:
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</P
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><P
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></P
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><UL
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><LI
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><P
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><A
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HREF="http://www.gnome.org"
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TARGET="_top"
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>http://www.gnome.org</A
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>
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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><A
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HREF="http://kde.org/screenshots/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>http://kde.org/screenshots/</A
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>
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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><A
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HREF="http://www.openoffice.org"
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TARGET="_top"
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>http://www.openoffice.org</A
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>
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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><A
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HREF="http://www.mozilla.org"
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TARGET="_top"
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>http://www.mozilla.org</A
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></P
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></LI
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></UL
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></DIV
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
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><HR
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
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SUMMARY="Footer navigation table"
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WIDTH="100%"
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BORDER="0"
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CELLPADDING="0"
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CELLSPACING="0"
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="sect_01_01.html"
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ACCESSKEY="P"
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="34%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="index.html"
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ACCESSKEY="H"
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>Home</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="sect_01_03.html"
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ACCESSKEY="N"
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>Next</A
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></TD
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></TR
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
|
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="top"
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>History</TD
|
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><TD
|
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WIDTH="34%"
|
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ALIGN="center"
|
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VALIGN="top"
|
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><A
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HREF="chap_01.html"
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ACCESSKEY="U"
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>Up</A
|
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></TD
|
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><TD
|
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WIDTH="33%"
|
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ALIGN="right"
|
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VALIGN="top"
|
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>Does Linux have a future?</TD
|
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></TR
|
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></TABLE
|
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></DIV
|
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></BODY
|
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></HTML
|
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> |