Users who are new to Linux and have a background battling viruses in Windows are often shocked when long time Linux users advise them not to worry about viruses in Linux. "Linux has no viruses" is often said and many new Linux users have a difficult time believing it.

"Why does Linux have no viruses?"

The nature of the setup of a Linux, UNIX, BSD, or even a Mac makes having and running viruses on your system difficult to impossible. *nix operating systems are much more securely designed then Windows. Many functions in Windows can be accessed by services very easily and without a password prompt. Most Linux users can't even change the time of day on the computer without a password prompt. While at times annoying, this level of security is what keeps what few viruses that do exist in Linux under control.

There are some Linux viruses, but not many. Last time I checked there are only about 20 viruses that can infect a Linux box versus the several hundred thousand viruses that can infect a Windows box. All of the Linux viruses exploit various known holes in Linux. All the holes I know of have been patched. So if you run a recent version of Linux, and you keep it patched, you can't be infected by any of them. The structure of Linux makes writing a virus very difficult as it requires root access to do anything of significance. For a virus to run it would have to be granted root access with a password request. If you fail to give it root access then the most a virus could do, if anything, is damage your home directory. It is unlikely it could even run again so it would die there in your home directory. Most smart Linux users grasp the power of root access and would question why an unknown program is suddenly requesting root access. (You don't enter your password for just ANY prompt do you? Only for programs YOU have called up, right?)

Plus each Linux distro is different, so it is difficult to write a virus that would run on say Red Hat and also be able to run on a Debian platform (or SuSE, or Slackware, or Mandrake?...). This further limits the chances of an outbreak. This variety is one of levels of protection that Linux users have that Windows does not. All Windows boxes are very much alike and that common ground makes for a very ripe breeding ground for viruses.

"Ok so I'm safe from any so called Linux virus, but all those Windows viruses can hurt me because I can read my FAT32 partition, right?"

Not really. A virus isn't magic. It's just a computer program. It is an evil program, but still just a program. Programs can't run on systems they aren't designed for. You can't run a Windows program on a Mac or in Linux or on an IBM Mainframe. If the virus is a Windows virus then in can only infect a Windows system and only when Windows is booted up and running. Why, because Windows is the only thing that can run the code. Can you put an infected file on a Linux system? Sure, but it can't do anything. To Linux it is gibberish. Just like you can't run KDE on Windows or run Microsoft Word on a Linux box.

Linux can't be hurt by Windows viruses however it can host them. For example if you use Linux as a mail server then it can pass the virus around just like any other mail server. Note that passing a virus in an email is not the same as infecting the server. A virus is just a program and it can not infect a system unless it is run on it. But if you have an office full of Windows clients and you use your Linux box as an in house mail server or as a file server and one of the Windows clients gets infected then all the other Windows computers are at risk of infection via the Linux box and the email. So if you're running a mail server you might need to consider AV for the server. Otherwise it really isn't an issue. Even with a mail server the Linux server ITSELF can't be infected just all the Windows boxes that connect to it. (Which is bad enough?)

"So what do I need to do? I need to do something, just in case. Don't I?"

The best way to keep your system secure against viruses is by keeping your software updated and patched, by making sure that your system doesn't run unneeded services and a by running a firewall.


--------------------
Nathan Williams, N-Line Computers

Just another note about restoring the boot loader for dual boot systems,
after Windows messes it up. In Linux, the "dd" command can read and
write to/from raw disks and files. If you have a floppy drive, creating
a boot disk is as simple as putting a floppy in the drive and typing
this:

$ su
<type password>
# dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 count=1

This makes an exact copy of the MBR of the first hard drive, copying it
to a floppy disk. You can boot directly from this floppy, and see your
old boot menu. You can restore it by switching the "if=" and "of="
(input file, output file) parameters.

If you don't have a floppy drive, you can back it up to a file with
this:

# dd if=/dev/hda of=/home/john/boot.mbr bs=512 count=1

Then you can boot into a CD-ROM distribution such as Knoppix, or often
use your Linux distribution's installation CD to boot into rescue mode,
and restore it with:

$ su
# dd if=/mnt/hda5/john/boot.mbr of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1

(you'll need to find and mount the partition containing the directory
where you backed up the MBR for the "if" parameter--this is an example).

Cheers,
--
John Locke

For that open up a konsole, log in as ROOT and follow the below :

Mandrakelinux 10.0: to Burn or not to Burn

The linux kernel 2.6, the default one in Mandrakelinux 10.0, has introduced some changes in the way burning is done.

A release note was published to explain the new behavior, but it seems not explicit enough to explain what changed and what is now the best way to burn under Mandrakelinux 10.0.

First, let have some technical facts. Basically all the burners have the same interface, which is a SCSI one, because the IDE commands are just too basic to do anything with a burner. However SCSI interface is not as widely available as IDE one, and is more expensive because you need an extra adapter ; so nowadays most of the burner sold have an IDE interface. To be able to send complex SCSI command over the IDE bus, the ATAPI standard has been developed.

This ATAPI standard just described how to send SCSI commands via an IDE bus, however under the linux kernel 2.4 the ATAPI support was not present into the default IDE driver, but into the ide-scsi one, specifically developed for that matter.

As far as burning programs are concerned, under Mandrakelinux the burning tools are either cdrecord or dvd+rw-tools. All the graphical burning interfaces, k3b, xcdroast, or others are using either cdrecord or dvd+rw-tools in background. Until recently, the more versatile and used has been cdrecord, but the free version only allow to burn CD-R and CD-RW, however I have been able to maintain an extra patch to be able to burn any kind of DVD media, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R and DVD+RW. To burn with cdrecord you need to specify the interface and the device you want to use on the command line, for example dev=sg:1,0,1 (or just dev=1,0,1) to burn on the SCSI bus 1, target 0, lun 1 (each SCSI device is defined with these 3 numbers).

This SCSI emulation under linux 2.4 was the reason of this 'hdc=ide-scsi' thing you must have met into your bootloader command line if you once wanted to burn under a GNU/Linux system with an ATAPI burner. cdrecord also supported to burn without this SCSI emulation with the 'dev=ATAPI:1,0,0', but unfortunately this method does not allow to use Direct Memory Access (DMA), which impacts the performances and basically does not allow to burn at anything faster than 16x speed. So we were stuck and had to use this ide-scsi emulation to be able to correctly burn under GNU/Linux.

This is now past! With the linux kernel 2.6 a new ATAPI interface has been developed and directly available with the IDE driver. This interface is shortly known as the ATA interface, which is also supported by cdrecord. So forget about this SCSI emulation, ATAPI interface or whatever, just now use the more logical way you would have first imagine, which is to just specify the device name of your burner, for example dev=/dev/hdc, if your burner is the first device on the second IDE bus of your computer.

You can scan your buses with "cdrecord -scanbus" to know which devices are detected, note that the Mandrakelinux cdrecord automatically default to the new ATA interface if the SCSI interface does not find anything, you can check that with the "scsidev: 'ATA'" line in the scanbus command output. If you want to be sure to scan only the ATA bus, just use "cdrecord dev=ATA -scanbus".

To specify the device, you can use 'dev=/dev/hdc' or something like 'dev=ATA:1,0,0' from the scanbus output. These both syntax are internally the same thing, and the new ATA interface will be used (and allow DMA burning and the maximum speed of your burner).

To conclude, with the new Mandrakelinux 10.0, just forget about anything you know about burning with this SCSI emulation, and just remember that you only need to know one thing, the name of the device representing your burner (you can easily find this out with a "cat /proc/sys/dev/cdrom/info" or "dmesg | grep CD" commands). So be careful not to use this ATAPI interface under your favorite burning tool, and do not take care about their messages regarding SCSI emulation, they are outdated (xcdroast has been patched to be able to use the ATA interface, I am not sure about k3b).

Go to a console, log in as 'su' and paste the line after the prompt and hit enter.
Now it should work and get the list . . . be patient, it takes a while.
Then as you get the prompt back, close the console ( Ctrl+d , 2x ).

Now that we have added the source to your software manager, we can have a look at all the packages:

Go to the MCC --> Software Management --> 'RpmDrake helps you install software packages' ( the icon with the + ). Now you will see the text : 'All packages' under the search-box., 'All packages' 'by group' change the by group in: 'by medium repository' and you will get a list with the sources you can choose from: CD1, CD2, CD3 and also the Update source and the just added source. Click in the little triangle in front of the new source, and a list will fold out with all the packages you can choose from . . . . FUN, MAGIC, BLISS !

Boot from Win XP Cd ( you will get setup inspecting hardware configuration)
Will come to screen to setup or repair existing install press R to enter recovery console
You will be asked to choose install to repair enter number and you will get prompt for admin password followed by C:WINDOWS>
at this point type FIXMBR or HELP will give you list of options.

Normally, ls outputs the modification date & time of files & folders
in the following (locale-dependent) format:

$ ls -l /etc/profile.d
total 84
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 790 Jun 1 10:26 colorls.csh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 785 Jun 1 10:24 colorls.sh
...

i.e., ls outputs the date & time in the format:
"Month Day Modification_Time", when the modification time is recent, and in the format:
"Month Day Year", when the time is further in the past.

By issuing "ls -l --time-style=long-iso" at the command line, the
date & time output changes to a ISO standard format (in any case, users are given the choice...):

$ ls -l --time-style=long-iso /etc/profile.d
total 84
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 790 2004-06-01 10:26 colorls.csh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 785 2004-06-01 10:24 colorls.sh
...

To have ls use this format permanently, in Fedora Core 2, edit the
files shown in the example output, adding "--time-style=long-iso"
at the lines beginning with "alias ll=" (and -- optionally -- at
the lines beginning with "alias ls="), as follows:

#!/bin/bash
Eterm --trans -x --shade=15 --scrollbar=0 --buttonbar=0 --geometry=80x52+30+30
#End Script

The latest addition to D*** Small Linux is the so called "DSL extensions". These are extra applications not present on the 50MB CD, but available for installation with a simple command that fetches and installs the desired application from a central repository:

"During our last release we incorporated a system which makes it easy to add extensions to DSL. Over the last couple of weeks our user base has made several interesting live CD packages which can be boot from the CD, or any other place which the distro is able to read (hard drive, pen drive, etc). The users have done some good work getting these applications packaged so that they are a drop-in and there are some nice files already available."

Some of the "nice files" include Quake 2, GIMP, MPlayer, OpenOffice.org, Ruby, Samba and many others.

$ su
Password:
[root@jupiter bruno]# sensors-detect

This program will help you determine which I2C/SMBus modules you need to
load to use lm_sensors most effectively. You need to have i2c and
lm_sensors installed before running this program.
Also, you need to be `root', or at least have access to the /dev/i2c/*
files, for most things.
If you have patched your kernel and have some drivers built in, you can
safely answer NO if asked to load some modules. In this case, things may
seem a bit confusing, but they will still work.

We can start with probing for (PCI) I2C or SMBus adapters.
You do not need any special privileges for this.
Do you want to probe now? (YES/no): YES <---------------------------------------- !!
Probing for PCI bus adapters...
Use driver `i2c-viapro' for device 00:11.0: VIA Technologies VT8233A/8235 South Bridge
Probe succesfully concluded.

We will now try to load each adapter module in turn.
Load `i2c-viapro' (say NO if built into your kernel)? (YES/no): NO <---------------------------------------- !!
Do you now want to be prompted for non-detectable adapters? (yes/NO): NO <---------------------------------------- !!
To continue, we need module `i2c-dev' to be loaded.
If it is built-in into your kernel, you can safely skip this.
i2c-dev is already loaded.

We are now going to do the adapter probings. Some adapters may hang halfway
through; we can't really help that. Also, some chips will be double detected;
we choose the one with the highest confidence value in that case.
If you found that the adapter hung after probing a certain address, you can
specify that address to remain unprobed. That often
includes address 0x69 (clock chip).

Some chips are also accessible through the ISA bus. ISA probes are
typically a bit more dangerous, as we have to write to I/O ports to do
this. Do you want to scan the ISA bus? (YES/no): YES <---------------------------------------- !!
Probing for `National Semiconductor LM78'
Trying address 0x0290... Failed!
Probing for `National Semiconductor LM78-J'
Trying address 0x0290... Failed!
Probing for `National Semiconductor LM79'
Trying address 0x0290... Failed!
Probing for `Winbond W83781D'
Trying address 0x0290... Failed!
Probing for `Winbond W83782D'
Trying address 0x0290... Failed!
Probing for `Winbond W83627HF'
Trying address 0x0290... Failed!
Probing for `Winbond W83697HF'
Trying address 0x0290... Failed!
Probing for `Silicon Integrated Systems SIS5595'
Trying general detect... Failed!
Probing for `VIA Technologies VT82C686 Integrated Sensors'
Trying general detect... Failed!
Probing for `VIA Technologies VT8231 Integrated Sensors'
Trying general detect... Failed!
Probing for `ITE IT8705F / IT8712F / SiS 950'
Trying address 0x0290... Success!
(confidence 8, driver `it87')
Probing for `IPMI BMC KCS'
Trying address 0x0ca0... Failed!
Probing for `IPMI BMC SMIC'
Trying address 0x0ca8... Failed!

Some Super I/O chips may also contain sensors. Super I/O probes are
typically a bit more dangerous, as we have to write to I/O ports to do
this. Do you want to scan for Super I/O sensors? (YES/no): YES <---------------------------------------- !!
Probing for `ITE 8712F Super IO Sensors'
Failed! (0x8705)
Probing for `SMSC 47M10x Super IO Fan Sensors'
Failed!
Probing for `SMSC 47M14x Super IO Fan Sensors'
Failed!
Probing for `VT1211 Super IO Sensors'
Failed!
Probing for `Winbond W83627HF Super IO Sensors'
Failed!
Probing for `Winbond W83627THF Super IO Sensors'
Failed!
Probing for `Winbond W83637HF Super IO Sensors'
Failed!
Probing for `Winbond W83697HF Super IO Sensors'
Failed!
Probing for `Winbond W83697UF Super IO PWM'
Failed!

Now follows a summary of the probes I have just done.
Just press ENTER to continue:

Driver `it87' (should be inserted): <-------------Important info !!
Detects correctly: <-------------Important info !!
* ISA bus address 0x0290 (Busdriver `i2c-isa') <-------------Important info !!
Chip `ITE IT8705F / IT8712F / SiS 950' (confidence: 8) <-------------Important info !!


I will now generate the commands needed to load the I2C modules.
Sometimes, a chip is available both through the ISA bus and an I2C bus.
ISA bus access is faster, but you need to load an additional driver module
for it. If you have the choice, do you want to use the ISA bus or the
I2C/SMBus (ISA/smbus)? ISA <---------------------------------------- !!

To make the sensors modules behave correctly, add these lines to
/etc/modules.conf: <----------------------------------------See below !!

NOTE: I made the important sections we need later BLUE

#----cut here----
# I2C module options
alias char-major-89 i2c-dev
#----cut here----

To load everything that is needed, add this to some /etc/rc* file: <-----------------------------------See below, in /etc/rc.d/rc.local !!

#----cut here----
# I2C adapter drivers
modprobe i2c-isa
# I2C chip drivers
modprobe it87
# sleep 2 # optional
/usr/local/bin/sensors -s # recommended
#----cut here----


WARNING! If you have some things built into your kernel, the list above
will contain too many modules. Skip the appropriate ones! You really should
try these commands right now to make sure everything is working properly.
Monitoring programs won't work until it's done.

Do you want to generate /etc/sysconfig/lm_sensors? (YES/no): YES <---------------------------------------- !!
Copy prog/init/lm_sensors.init to /etc/rc.d/init.d/lm_sensors
for initialization at boot time.
[root@jupiter bruno]#

[root@jupiter bruno]# modprobe i2c-isa <------------------------------------Loading the module !!
[root@jupiter bruno]# modprobe it87 <---------------------------------Loading the module !!
[root@jupiter bruno]# sensors <---------------------------------------The test-run!!
it87-isa-0290
Adapter: ISA adapter
VCore 1: +1.63 V (min = +1.53 V, max = +1.87 V)
VCore 2: +2.49 V (min = +2.25 V, max = +2.75 V)
+3.3V: +6.58 V (min = +2.96 V, max = +3.60 V) ALARM
+5V: +4.94 V (min = +4.50 V, max = +5.48 V)
+12V: +12.08 V (min = +11.36 V, max = +13.80 V)
-12V: -19.31 V (min = -15.86 V, max = -13.40 V) ALARM
-5V: +0.56 V (min = -10.13 V, max = -9.44 V) ALARM
Stdby: +4.91 V (min = +4.50 V, max = +5.48 V)
VBat: +3.21 V
fan1: 4821 RPM (min = 3000 RPM, div = 2)
fan2: 0 RPM (min = 3000 RPM, div = 2) ALARM
fan3: 0 RPM (min = 3000 RPM, div = 2) ALARM
M/B Temp: +31°C (low = +20°C, high = +60°C) sensor = thermistor
CPU Temp: +49°C (low = +20°C, high = +60°C) sensor = thermistor
Temp3: +18°C (low = +20°C, high = +60°C) sensor = invalid

[root@jupiter bruno]# vi /etc/modules.conf <---------------------------------------The edits: add the part in BLUE !!
[root@jupiter bruno]# vi /etc/rc.d/rc.local <---------------------------------------The edits: add the part in BLUE !!

An extended partition is the only kind of partition that can have multiple partitions inside. Think of it like a box that contains other boxes, the logical partitions. The extended partition can't store anything, it's just a holder for logical partitions.
The extended partitions is a way to get around the fact you can only have four primary partitions on a drive. You can put lots of logical partitions inside it.

hda is the whole drive
hda1 is a primary partition
hda2 is a primary partition
hda4 is an extended partition
hda5 is an logical partition
hda6 is an logical partition

You will never see hda4 mounted, just hda5 and hda6, in this case. Note that Linux numbers primary partitions 1-4, logical partitions start at 5 and up, even if there are less than 4 primary partitions.

LINUX VIRUS and CHEESE

Because there are a lot of posts lately about Anti Virus Software for Linux . . . I would like to make a few points before I describe how to use the F-Prot Virus scanner in the second post in this thread.

1). If you only run Linux you do NOT need AV software

2). If you dual boot Linux / Windows and get a virus infected mail in Linux it can NOT jump to your Windows partition ( nor can it spread over the local network to other systems ) . You can even store the attachment in your /home and open the zip ( or whatever the file is ) and it will be dead in the water, it gets no oxygen ( This is also why Linux AV progs do not have a "live guard" module in them: the virus does not execute or move ) . . you can leave it there as long as you want, nothing will happen, your Windows will not get infected as long as you do not deliberately copy it over there of course.

3). If you dual boot you better get a good AV program for Windows

4). Only if you are running a mail server you can use a Linux AV program, not because the server will be infected but only because you do not want to pass on a virus to Windows systems. ( good social behavior )

I mean: be reasonable: If you have 2 warehouses, and you use the first one to store cheese . . . are you going to place mouse-traps in the second one where you only store stainless steel ??
Don't let the mouse-trap vendors drive you crazy: Mice do not eat stainless steel !!!


So I hope I was clear . . . Slow down, Keep Cool, Relax, Life is too short: don't let unfounded fear spoil your FUN in Linux . .

See also This real good article by Nathan !

Bruno

F-PROT Antivirus version 6.2.1.4252 (built: 2008-04-28T16-44-10)
FRISK Software International © Copyright 1989-2007

Engine version: 4.4.4.56
Virus signatures: 2009012417050d8623145b0e9b4e6504018ced311e43
(/usr/local/bin/f-prot/antivir.def)

F-PROT Antivirus version 6.2.1.4252 (built: 2008-04-28T16-44-10)
FRISK Software International © Copyright 1989-2007

Engine version: 4.4.4.56
Virus signatures: 2009012417050d8623145b0e9b4e6504018ced311e43
(/usr/local/bin/f-prot/antivir.def)

Scanning: \

Results:

Files: 148439
Skipped files: 0
MBR/boot sectors checked: 0
Objects scanned: 253494
Infected objects: 0
Files with errors: 0
Disinfected: 0

Running time: 08:12

ndiswrapper tries to solve this by making a kernel module that can load Ndis (Windows network driver API) drivers. The goal is not to implement all of the Ndis API, but to implement the functions needed to get cards without Linux drivers to work.

Basic Steps

Make sure you have kernel 2.4.20 or higher (2.6 recommended), with all sources !!!

Also, make sure you have a PCI or PCMCIA (PC-Card) wireless adapter. USB doesn't really work too well at the moment. I have a NETGEAR WG311v2 and it works perfectly.

Download the latest version of NdisWrapper from its SF.net Project Page.

Save it to your home directory.

Extract it using gunzip ndiswrapper-0.1.0.tar.gz && tar -xvf ndiswrapper-0.1.0.tar (substitute 0.1.0 for whatever version you have).

su root so that you can be administator.

Move NdisWrapper to (root's) home folder: mv ndiswrapper-0.1.0 ~

cd ~/ndiswrapper-0.1.0

To compile it, run: make && make install
(The documentation says only use the latter, but that doesn't seem to work on Slack.)

Now, insert your driver CD and mount it. cd to wherever the Windows XP driver is. Now, run: mkdir ~/wireless-driver && cp -r * ~/wireless-driver from the Windows XP folder.

cd ~/wireless-driver

(Better still be root )

Run ls *.inf. After you find the .inf file, run: ndiswrapper -i ./filename.inf. (filename being the .inf file's filename, of course ) If it worked, ndiswrapper -l will report if your driver and hardware have been found.

Has the driver been found? Run modprobe ndiswrapper to load the kernel module.

Use iwconfig to configure your card; the NdisWrapper INSTALL file (which I've based most of this on) and man iwconfig will be able to tell you more.

Once it's configured, run ifconfig wlan0 up (or wlan1 or whatever your system uses).

ndiswrapper -m should automate the process.



Extra Steps for Slackware

(No slacking off here! )

It took me forever to get my wireless card working on Slackware, because it failed to automate the first hundred times, but I got it working. The trick is to create a file called /sbin/startwireless and then set /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 to run this new command. Make sure it's executable!! (chmod 755 /sbin/startwireless)

Now, the commands I have are:


You can change the IP address on the third line; this is the card's address, and you should obviously change it for each system if you have more than one. I prefer this one because it doesn't interfere with my other devices, and it lets me have a fixed internal IP address on my network for if I want to set up port forwarding to run a Web server on my PC or something. (I've done it before.)

By the way...

Don't forget the very last line!! That's the most important one!! (The one that took me forever to find ) It sets up DHCP on the wireless card, which is very important!!

Another source of slow downs is currently the kernel swappiness,
which let the kernel swap to disk even if there is no need
(at least IMHO) for doing that; there is a parameter called
vm.swappiness, which defines the attitude of kernel to swap.
Currently the default value is 60, but lowering to 10 or 5 would cause
the machine to be better responsive, e.g. adding "vm.swappiness=10" to "/etc/sysctl.conf"

CUPS Parallel Port lp and Slackware - Linux.

Slackware v10: To enable CUPS to recognize the Parallel Port 'lp' in this Distro you will need to edit the following file with a text-editor.

/etc/rc.d/rc.modules and go to the headers indicated here by the ####, and activate these two lines (Remove the red #) and 'Save'.



Ensure the Printer is plugged-in and turned on, then re-boot. This should 'detect' both the port and the printer. You will still need to manually install the Printer drivers.


Canon BJC255SP and Slackware - Linux.

There is a lot of information on the Net that refers to the .pdd file Canon-BJC-255SP-bjc250gs.ppd as being suitable for for the above printer using Linux. I have found that NOT to be the case when activating the printer using Slackware CUPS.

The .pdd file Canon-BJC-600-bjc600.ppd is used by Mandrake, SuSE and Yoper for the above printer, and I found it was also the suitable one for Slackware. But! it has to be imported into Slack using the CUPS 'other' option.

If you need this .ppd file, you can try the link below, or find it in the /etc/cups/ppd directory of other Distros.

http://www.linuxprinting.org/

Do NOT try to cut-&-paste these files as they have embedded Codes / Commands in them and they WILL be corrupted. Download them or copy to floppy if 'borrowing' them locally from another Distro.


Edit:
Also, don't be fooled by the name BJC-255SP being used by CUPS as the 'Installed' drivers. The Distro gets this title / name from 'reading' the printer BIOS and appends it to CUPS. And that is why it is sometimes confusing as to what .ppd file is the proper one to use for a particular Distro - Printer combination.

Assuming you've registered for an account at http://www.freeworlddialup.com (FWD), you'll have received an email with your new FWD telephone number. Now all that's left to do is configuring kPhone to be able to call and receive calls.
In order to be able to do so, you'll need to adjust the configuration of your Guarddog firewall amongst others. Let's try to guide you through the necessary steps to set up kphone step by step.



Step 1
In order to adjust the Guarddog firewall settings, open up a konsole as user and type the below code:



The guarddog firewall application window opens now, head over to the tab shown in the screen shot below :

. . . .

In order to be able to call and receive calls the Netmeeting - H.323 chat option needs to be checked. After you have checked the option box, click Apply : a new window will open asking for your confirmation, click Continue. Again a new window will open telling you the firewall rules were modified, simply click ok to dismiss that window. Now click ok in guarddogs' main window.

Back in the konsole, type two times the exit command to get out of the root mode and close the konsole as user:




Step 2
Open up kphone: if there's not an icon in the kmenu to be found, instead of searching for the program's icon, click on "Run command ..." in the kmenu, and type in "kphone" - without the quotes of course: kphone's little main window will then open. It looks like the screen shot below:

. . . .

Do not pin your self down yet as to what your kphone copy displays behind the sip: line, kphone isn't configured yet.

To configure it, in the kphone main window click File > Identity ... in the menu bar - see the screen shot below :

. . . .


Now just fill in here all of your user credentials like you did when you registered for an account at FWD. Note : "your FWD number" consists of six numeric characters like 123456.
The FWD number is what you'll have received in the email after registering with FWD.

When you're ready click ok.

TIP : Your FWD telephone number actually consists of 2 parts : the picture below explains this.


. . . .



Step 3
Go to Preferences > SIP Preferences ... in the menu bar. See the screen shot below left:

. . . .

Check those settings! Click ok.



Step 4
Go to Preferences > Audio preferences ... in the menu bar : See the screen shot above right; check the settings: note the settings for Device for WriteOnly or ReadWrite. Click ok.



Step 5
Go to Preferences > Video preferences ... in the menu bar Screen shot below :

. . . .



Step 6
KPhone is configured now: repeat the steps above and check your settings once again. By now, in kphone's main window, the line behind sip will be filled with something else, namely your FWD telephone number followed by @fwd.pulver.com;

Now plug in a microphone and a headphone: back in the main window of kphone, type in 612@fwd.pulver.com, in the address field, - screen shot below - and click the first icon to the right of the address/number field (left from the video camera) : a new window will pop up asking your password - so fill it in, your user name will already be filled in automatically. Click ok.

After a few seconds you'll hear the spoken time and date through your headphones. After that is completed, the connection will be cut off automatically.

. . . .

Back in the main window of kphone, instead of 612@fwd.pulver.com, type in 613@fwd.pulver.com, and click the first icon to the right of the address/number field again (left from the video camera), just like you did above;

After a few seconds you'll hear a ringing tone: once the other side connects, you'll hear a message with instructions to test the echo cancellation mode.

Once the settings are to your liking, hit the Hangup button: screen shot below. You will be disconnected immediately.

. . . .

Once these tests are over, you'll be ready to make your first real VoIP telephone call.

Happy FWD-ing / calling!