Running Linux, 5th Edition - Matthias Kalle Dalheimer [147]
Specify the hostname of the server to be used for queries, the port it listens on (the default should be fine), and a so-called base DN, which is the place in the LDAP hierarchy where searches should start. The choice of base DN can help tailor the LDAP queries to the needs of your users. If, for example, your company has a global address book with subtrees for each of its five continental branches, you might prefer to search only your local branch instead of the full directory. Your site's administrator should be able to tell you the values to be entered here. If the server only allows queries by authenticated users, enter your credentials as well.
Figure 8-49. Adding a new LDAP host in Kontact
With LDAP access set up, you can try opening up a mail composer in Kontact, for example, and typing someone's name in the recipient field. After a second or so a list of possible matches that were found in the central LDAP addressbook should be shown. You can then simply select the one you were thinking of from the list. Additionally all groupware suites offer the ability to search for and display someone's contact information, if you just want to look it up. In Kontact, the query dialog can be shown by clicking the LDAP Lookup button on the toolbar or from the Tools menu.
Managing Your Finances
By now you may have noticed there is an open source application for just about anything you could want to do with a computer. Managing finances is one of the most common things people do with their computers, so it should not come as a surprise that an open source application exists to do just that — it's called GnuCash.
GnuCash is the open source world's answer to popular personal financial applications such as Microsoft Money and Intuit's Quicken. Although it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of those applications, GnuCash has everything you need for keeping track of your money. With GnuCash you can keep tabs on your income, expenses, checking and savings accounts, debts, investments, and assets such as cars and houses. You will be able to see into the past to figure out where all your money has been going, keep an eye on your balances in the present to make sure you don't suffer any nasty surprises, and forecast your financial well-being into the distant and not-so-distant future.
If you use an off-the-shelf application such as Money or Quicken, you're in for a few surprises when you try GnuCash. Compared with those applications, the interface is extremely simple and straightforward. There are no fancy embedded web pages or advisors. You won't find endless options dialogs and wizards, and you can't pay your bills electronically from inside GnuCash . Instead, when you start GnuCash you are presented with a simple list of accounts. Double-clicking on an account opens an account register (which looks exactly like the one in your checkbook). You enter transactions in the account register, and the balance of each account is shown in the accounts list. You can view several reports to get an at-a-glance view of your financial life. That's almost all there is to GnuCash.
This simplicity is an asset, not a liability. When it comes to finances, simpler is better. The other major difference between GnuCash and those other applications has to do with the way you keep track of your money. We cover that in detail in "The Account," later in this chapter.
Getting Started
Start GnuCash from the desktop menu, if GnuCash is present there, or from the command line by typing gnucash. The GnuCash splash screen appears, showing you which modules are loading. The splash screen is then replaced by the Tip of the Day screen and the Welcome to GnuCash! dialog box.
The Tip of the Day screen presents a different piece of information each time you start GnuCash. You can also peruse the tips one at a time by clicking either the Prev or Next buttons. I would keep this screen around for a while because the information can be useful, but if you prefer not to see it you can always disable the feature by unchecking