What this book covers

Chapter 1, Meet Linux Mint, discusses what Linux Mint is and what sets it apart from other distributions. We'll also talk about some reasons you'd want to choose Linux in the first place.

Chapter 2, Creating Boot Media and Installing Linux Mint, will walk you through the process of installing Linux Mint on your computer. Several methods of installation, such as bootable DVD and bootable flash drive, are covered in this book, and you'll also learn about some of the best practices for the installation of Linux Mint, including tips on partitioning your hard disk.

Chapter 3, Getting Acquainted with Cinnamon, discusses Cinnamon, a fresh and exciting desktop environment (a graphical user interface) that is taking the Linux community by storm. In this chapter, we'll tackle this interface head-on.

Chapter 4, An Introduction to the Terminal, will explain how to navigate the filesystem, execute commands, search for files, and even work through an introduction to scripting. Although using a Terminal is not required in order to use Mint, learning the basics of the terminal will further empower your skills.

Chapter 5, Utilizing Storage and Media, discusses how to work through the examples of accessing various types of media in Mint. The examples shown in this chapter include formatting and mounting removable storage, along with analyzing disk usage, burning CDs and DVDs, and utilizing Mint's USB Image Writer.

Chapter 6, Installing and Removing Software, discusses how to work through the examples of installing and removing software on our Mint installation, as it features a large repository of free software packages. Also, several different methods of software management will be covered, with examples of both graphical programs and terminal commands.

Chapter 7, Enjoying Multimedia on Mint, is all about enjoying multimedia on Mint. This chapter covers features such as listening to MP3s, ripping audio CDs, editing audio tags, watching DVDs, and more!

Chapter 8, Managing Users and Permissions, talks about users and permissions. You'll learn how to create/remove users and groups, as well as how to configure user access to administrative commands with sudo.

Chapter 9, Connecting to Networks, is all about networking. Concepts such as wired and wireless networking will be covered, as well as accessing your machine via SSH and also how to share files.

Chapter 10, Securing Linux Mint, will work on hardening our Linux Mint system with concepts such as choosing strong passwords, encrypting your home folder, blocking access to specific websites, and even backing up and restoring important data.

Chapter 11, Advanced Administration Techniques, will cover advanced concepts for managing your installation. In this chapter, setting up cron jobs, moving to new Mint releases and killing processes, and monitoring resources will be covered.

Chapter 12, Troubleshooting Linux Mint, concludes our journey with Mint by providing certain tips and tricks for what to do when things go wrong. In this chapter, you'll learn about dealing with problems such as booting issues, audio and networking woes, as well as how to access system logs for troubleshooting.

Appendix A, Reinstalling Mint while Retaining Data, discusses a technique on how to move from one release of Linux Mint to another, as Linux doesn't really feature a direct utility for you to do this.

Appendix B, Using the MATE edition of Linux Mint, discusses another edition of Linux Mint, MATE. In this appendix, we'll explore the various specific features of the MATE edition, which runs better on older hardware.

Appendix C, Using the KDE edition of Linux Mint, discusses another popular desktop environment, and Mint features it as the default desktop edition. In our final appendix, we'll explore the KDE Mint flavor.