Some day, computers will probably be as easy to use as televisions are
today.
At present, though, you can't simply turn off your computer when you're
finished. You can always log out from your account, which will return
you to your login screen, but if you want to completely shut off your
machine, you've got a couple more steps to take.
Here's why: Even though you may not be typing, listening to music or
browsing with Netscape, your machine is still working on a variety of
processes in the background. (A
process
is a
program which is being executed. Multiple processes are running all the
time on your system.)
Tip:
Curious to take a peek? Just go to a shell prompt and
type
top
. You'll see the processes that are
currently running (see
Figure 2-14
). To
quit this view, type
Q
.
(To learn more about the top command, type
man
top
at the shell prompt; to move forward a screen, press
the
Spacebar
; to move back a screen, press
B
; to quit, press
Q
. You'll
learn more about these
man pages
later in
this chapter.)
Like a faithful assistant, your Linux system is carrying out tasks
silently all the time. You can't just turn out the lights and lock the
door on your assistant. Instead, you've got to give them time to put
away their work and make sure everything's in its proper place before
saying "good night."
You can shutdown or reboot in a couple of ways while you're in GNOME:
From your GNOME session: Click on the
Main Menu
Button
, choose
, select
,
or
. You can also check
Save
current setup
, which will preserve your desktop and
running applications for the next time you log in. Before
proceeding, you'll be asked to verify your decision by typing in
your password. (If you're in your user account, you can type in your
user password.)
From the graphical login screen: Go to
=>
=>
or
You'll be asked whether
you're sure you want to halt or reboot the machine. Click on
Yes
to proceed (a password isn't required).
You can also reboot or halt your system from the shell prompt. In both
cases, you'll be asked to provide your password to verify that you want
to proceed with your decision.
To reboot from the prompt, type:
(See
Figure 2-15
.)
Or, if you want to exit from your system and turn off your machine,
type:
The
-r
option stands for "reboot," while the
-h
option means "halt." Stating
now
means that you want to perform this action
immediately.
Please Note:
Remember to save your work and exit from any applications which may be
running before you perform a shutdown from the shell prompt, because you
could lose work.
If you choose to halt the system, you'll see a list of messages about
which services are stopping; then, you'll see a message similar to:
If your computer's BIOS supports the feature, you won't even have to turn
off your machine; Red Hat Linux will simply "power down" the system. Now
everything's put away and it's safe to turn off your computer.
Tip:
Try substituting
+5
for
now
; you'll find that you've just commanded your
assistant to put everything away and stop working in five minutes.
You can learn more about the shutdown command by typing:
at a shell prompt. You'll be presented with a "man page," which will
tell you about this command.
To go forward a screen, press the
Spacebar
; to go back
a screen, press
B
; and to quit, press
Q
.
Summary:
To shutdown or reboot from GNOME, from the login screen, go to
=>
=>
or
.
From within your X session, go to
Main Menu
Button
=>
,
or
.
From the shell prompt: Log in as root, and type
shutdown -r
now
(to reboot) or
shutdown -h now
(to
halt).
