Linux academy: Part two - Open source it

If you cannot find the software you need, you may need to add a repository. The repositories managed by PLF (Penguin Liberation Front) are especially valuable for Mandriva users. The website explains how to add these. Non-experts should be wary of repositories for work in progress, often described as unstable or ‘less tested’. Avoid putting these on your main system.

Installing Thunderbird
Two of the best Linux programs are the Firefox web browser and Thunderbird, an email program. Firefox was most likely installed as part of the default Mandriva install, but Thunderbird is less likely to be present. The following steps refer to Thunderbird, but similar steps apply to other software packages.

First open the K Menu by clicking on the star at the bottom left of the screen. Click on System, then Configuration, then Configure your Computer. Make sure the Software Management tab is active, and click on the option to ‘Look at installable software and install software packages’.

On the next screen, type the name of the software to be installed, in this case Thunderbird, and click on Search. Mandriva shows all the Thunderbird installation packages and updates. Select the most recent version, and click in the check box. Control Centre will show it with a green download icon. Click on Apply to download and install. Mandriva may list some further packages needed to satisfy dependencies. Click on Yes to install these as well.

Once Thunderbird is installed, it must be set up for your email account. Several pieces of information are needed. Typically you can find these details on your Internet Service Provider’s (ISP’s) website or in the documents you received when setting up with your ISP. Another idea is to copy it from the account settings in your Windows email client. The details you will need are as follows:

• Email address
• Email username. This is usually the first part of the email address, before the @ symbol
• Outgoing email server. This is a computer name, such as mail.someisp.co.uk
• Incoming email server. Usually the same as the outgoing server
• Email password

Start Thunderbird from the K Menu, choosing Internet, then Mail, then Mozilla Thunderbird. The first time you run Thunderbird a wizard prompts for basic account information. Enter the details as above. You can also name the account; by default this is the same as the email address but can be changed to something more descriptive, such as ‘Work email’.

When the setup is complete, click on Get Mail to try out the settings. Thunderbird will let you know if there are errors. Edit the settings by choosing Account Settings from the Edit menu.

Keeping email in sync
Most home email accounts delete email from the internet mail server as soon as it is collected. This can be awkward if you start using an email client on more than one PC. You could end up with some emails on one computer, some on another, and no obvious way in which to synchronise them.