Jump to content

Tips for Linux Explorers


Bruno

Recommended Posts

INSTALLING FIREFOX IN LINUX

Step by step instruction

 

Because installing Firefox is different from all other install-routines I made a step by step instruction for it.

 

- Download the file to your "/home/bruno" directory

 

You can get the lastest file Here

( Get the one that has Linux and does NOT have "installer" in the name )

 

After downloading it go to your home directory, open a terminal/console and type

$ su
< password >
# mv firefox* /usr/local/bin/
# cd /usr/local/bin/
# tar -zxvf firefox*

 

-Log out root: Ctrl+d

 

-Type "kmenuedit" and you'll get a GUI where you can add an entry in --> Internet --> Web Browsers.

 

( NOTE: kmenuedit is for KDE based distros . . for distros that use the Gnome desktop use either "alacarte" or the "gnome-menu-editor" )

 

- Make a new menu entry, call it Firefox and fill in as command: /usr/local/bin/firefox/firefox

 

-Save

 

-Close Menudrake

 

-Close the console

 

-And have a look in your "menu" it should be there !

( you can drag a shortcut from the menu on your desktop or "taskbar" )

 

-If everything works okay you can delete the .tar.gz package from /usr/local/bin:

# rm /usr/local/bin/*.tar.gz

 

Happy browsing !

 

B) Bruno

 

PS: See comments ( and extra tips ) on these instructions Here

Edited by securitybreach
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 375
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Bruno

    321

  • greengeek

    5

  • havnblast

    4

  • Peachy

    4

THE TRICKS IN KDE ¨HOME¨

( most of these only in Mandrake)

 

 

As you klick on the Home icon on your desktop konqueror will open and show you the contents of /home. Right clicking on an empty space and selecting ¨new¨ will give you a context menu with several choices, at the bottom you will see the most interesting ones: ¨Link to application¨ and ¨Link to harddisk¨.

 

Lets start with the last one, imagine you want to access your windows partition very often, a direct link to your ¨C¨ drive might come in handy.

Rightclick, select ¨new¨ and choose ¨harddisk¨ , a window will pop up, on the first tab you fill in ¨Win C¨ and on the last tab you look for the partition of your C-drive. Click O.K. And youre done !

 

Now the ¨link to application¨, Lets suppose that you want to be able to start your favorite game while browsing your /home directory you can do the same as above but you have to know the ¨path¨ to the application.

 

Rightclick on an ISO file and you can directly choose to burn it to CD

 

Rightclick on a zipped file and you can unzip it.

 

Rightclick a directory or file to zip it.

 

Drag a file, link or directory on the ¨Desktop icon¨ and it will put a link on your desktop.

 

Point with your mouse to a sound file ( wav, mp3, ogg ) and you´ll hear music. ( if preview is enabled, see below )

 

Next to all this fun you can choose preview in the ´view¨ menu to have thumbnails from all your pictures, text documents, html files etc.

 

Put a music CD in your drive, click on the yellow star in the side bar and you can rip the CD to ogg files in seconds.

Acces the KDE ftp sites by clicking on the globe in the same sidebar.

 

Konquror is a great FTP client and sure you can use konqueror to browse the net too.

 

There is much much more to tell about konqueror. Send me tips in a PM and I´ll edit them in the text.

 

 

cool.gif Bruno

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BACKUP your WINDOWS in LINUX

 

 

If you have enough space on your linux partition you can make a full backup of your Windows ! ( no Ghost-image needed )

And easy to restore if you ever need to. ( would not be the first time would it ? )

 

Here is what we do, first we have a look if we have enough space:

$ df -h | grep /win

 

Look at the second number, the first is the total space, the second the used space the third is the available space on your C drive.

 

Then do a:

$ df -h

 

To see where there is enough space in your /home or /backup partition.

 

Now the fun starts :

$ cp -p /mnt/win_c /home/bruno/backup/

(or wherever you want to save the backup)

 

That´s it ! Easy as pie. Backup is made, you´re safe from fatal injuries.

 

To restore: Delete all the files on your C partition ( do this in Linux ) and:

$ cp -p /home/backup/win_c /mnt/

 

and tell it to overwrite the existing win_c if it asks you !

 

You can also restore just one file ( registry ) or just all the \system files.

 

NOTE: The -p argument preserves the time and date stamps of the files.

 

To save space you could also compress the files, time and date will stay in tact without any added argument:

Peachy @ Forum 2003

Another alternative is to use tar to create a compressed image of your Windows partition:

 

$ tar -cvzf win_backup.tar.gz /mnt/win_c

 

This command will do it because the -z parameter will automatically use gzip to do the compression.

 

To restore you simply do "tar -xvzf win_backup.tar.gz"

 

cool.gif Bruno

Link to comment
Share on other sites

DMESG: DEBUG MESSAGES

 

 

Now after 59 tips, for once we will go into something more complicated, I´ll keep it short because there are other people who can explain this far better to you.

 

The command:

$ dmesg >message.txt

 

This will make a text file in your home directory, a long file of messages where in case of troubles with your computer you could look for information.

A good site to help you understand those debug messages is:

 

http://linuxgazette....59/nazario.html

 

My advice: execute the command and give the text file a glance, just so you know what ¨dmesg¨ can do for you. As long as your computer runs O.K. don´t bother with the fineprint, but in case of serious problems go in there head first !

 

cool.gif Bruno

 

PS: there is more interesting things to read on that site.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BACKUP your WINDOWS in LINUXIf you have enough space on your linux partition you can make a full backup of your Windows ! ( no Ghost-image needed )And easy to restore if you ever need to. B) ( would not be the first time would it ? )Here is what we do, first we have a look if we have enough space:$ df -h | grep /winLook at the second number, the first is the total space, the second the used space the third is the available space on your C drive.Then do a:$ df -hTo see where there is enough space in your /home or /backup partition.Now the fun starts :$ cp -p /mnt/win_c /home/bruno/backup/ ( or where ever you want to save the backup )That's it ! Easy as pie. Backup is made, you're safe from fatal injuries.To restore: Delete all the files on your C partition ( do this in Linux ) and:$ cp -p /home/backup/win_c /mnt/and tell it to overwrite the existing win_c if it asks you !You can also restore just one file ( registry :) ) or just all the \system files.NOTE: The -p argument preserves the time and date stamps of the files.To save space you could also compress the files, time and date will stay in tact without any added argument.We Linux users like to keep our Windows clean ! :):) Bruno
Another alternative is to use tar to create a compressed image of your Windows partition. Really useful if you are tight on space.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

nlinecomputers

Peachy,Uh I think that TAR doesn't compress. It only assembles the files into one big file. You got to run Gzip to get compression.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

tar -cvzf filename.tar.gz /mnt/win_cwill do it because the -z parameter will automatically use gzip to do the compression.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Peachy, would you mind if I edit that line in the actual Tip about backing up Windows ?B) Bruno

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Peachy, it's done ! B) :) BrunoPS: After a remark from AbeL a slight change has been made in the "Tricks in KDE Home ". ( for those of you who print these tips, you may want to print these two; backup windows and tricks KDE, again ! )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

nlinecomputers
tar -cvzf filename.tar.gz /mnt/win_cwill do it because the -z parameter will automatically use gzip to do the compression.
D'oh!I forgot you can invoke Gzip from Tar. Don't use the command much except in script files that once written who needs to look at them again...:)There is a reason my copy of Linux in a Nutshell is so dogeared. Who can remember all this stuff.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

GKRELLM WEATHER APPLET

 

With a long weekend like this one, only one thing is super important: no rain and lots of sunshine !

 

For anyone interested in the weather outside whilst sitting at his computer, the Gkrellm Weather plugin is easy to configure.

( Gkrellm, my favorite system-monitors, see link at bottom of this tip. )

 

Get the 4 letter station ID at http://www.nws.noaa....g/siteloc.shtml of your regional weather station. Choose the way you want the wind speed to show ( km/h, m/s or beaufort ).

 

And it will show :

- Temperature, Relative Humidity

- DewPoint, Pressure (altimeter)

- Wind Direction, Wind Speed

- Sky Condition (if available)

- The Name of the Station

 

If you´re ever stuck for things to talk about, the weather sure is a topic.

 

cool.gif Bruno

 

PS: You will find the Gkrellm system monitors and plugins on your CD or Here

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3D ACCELERATION TEST

 

If, after going through all the pain of installing your Nvidia drivers, your system boots up and shows you the Nvidia splash, you have that feeling: ¨YES, I did it !¨ It then you would like to know the actual numbers, the Frames Per Seconds ( FPS ) here is the trick to do it.

 

In a console as normal user:

$ glxinfo | grep rendering

 

This should return: ¨direct rendering: Yes¨

 

Now type:]

$ glxgears

 

( If you get an error message you have to install ¨MESA¨ and the ¨MESA demo package¨ it´s on your CD )

 

If gears is installed a window will pop up with turning wheels in it, just drag it a bit to the side and watch your console all kind of numbers will appear:

 

From my GeForce FX 5200 card:

13553 frames in 5.000 seconds = 2710.600 FPS

13569 frames in 5.000 seconds = 2713.800 FPS

13594 frames in 5.000 seconds = 2718.800 FPS

 

Without 3D acceleration your FPS would be around 60.000 FPS

 

Sit back, see those numbers and finish that sixpack with a grin on your face !

 

cool.gif Bruno

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hey, great thread. been messing with linux for over 2 years and have learned more in the last day reading this thread than the entire last 2 years. way to go dude, thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If, after going through all the pain of installing your Nvidia drivers, your system boots up and shows you the Nvidia splash, you have that feeling: "YES, I did it !"
actually, my first thought was "hey, how can i REMOVE that ugly nVidia splash screen" B) come on, Bruno, you know EVERYTHING. please tell. :blink:
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice to hear that Riff ! Thanks.Welcome to the Linux forum, hope you will feel at home here quickly.B) Bruno-- Prelude: very simple my friend, just remove the Nvidia-drivers :D --

Link to comment
Share on other sites

actually, my first thought was "hey, how can i REMOVE that ugly nVidia splash screen"  :D come on, Bruno, you know EVERYTHING.  please tell.  B)
Prelude... Just install YANC... It's a great program to have anyway if you're using an NVIDIA card...http://yanc.sourceforge.net/index-en.htmlI'm pretty sure there's an option to remove the Splash screen :D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

 

Here are the results of a thread that invited everybody to send in their favorite keyboard shortcuts.

 

I started off myself to give an example:

Ctrl+F1 to Ctrl+F5 = to change desktops I am using at the same time

Ctrl+r = to refresh Mozilla or Galeon

F9 = to get mail in Evolution

Ctrl+r = to reply a mail in Evolution

Ctrl+Enter = send mail in Evolution

 

Greengeek did send us:

For lefthanders with arthritis one click and hit enter is easier than a double click. Only works well for leftys unless you can get a lefty keyboard.

OK it's a piece of useless information but if you've ever tried a double click on a cold morning you'll know exactly what I mean.

 

Havnblast knew that the old windows ones work in Linux to:

Ctrl + C ( copy )

Ctrl + V ( paste )

 

Or even more convenient are the ones Philippe showed me:

CTRL + INSERT ( copy )

SHIFT + DEL ( cut )

SHIFT + INSERT ( paste )

 

twistedcranium came up with only one, but a very good one:

CTRL-N opens a new Mozilla (and likely Netscape too) browser window!

 

Chr1s offered us his input:

CTRL+SHIFT+N - New Tab in konqueror (KDE Web Browser/ File Manager)

CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE - Restart "X" (GUI)

Windows Key - Opens KDE Menu (on my system anyway - Mandrake 9.1)

ALT+TAB - Switch between open applications (yes, it works in Linux too!)

 

Greengeek also gave us two links to sites that have far more of them:

http://www.tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/shortcuts.html

http://www.computerhope.com/ushort.htm

 

pc-tecky posted:

Alt+F2 will open the "run command" dialog

 

From Jodef:

Alt + F1 : K menu

Alt + F3 : Active window menu ie maximize,minimize etc.

Alt + F4 : Close active window

 

And closing of the series myself again:

F11 = fullscreen ( in Mozilla browser)

Ctrl+w = close tab ( in mozilla browser )

ctrl+d = bookmark page ( in mozilla browser )

Ctrl+s = save ( in OpenOffice.org, press it from time to time if you don´t want to be retyping your text all the time ! )

 

I had to come to the conclusion, that keyboard shortcuts are not as popular as they used to be, people just love their mouse and the more buttons it gets, the less they start to use the board that has ALL the buttons on it.

 

cool.gif Bruno

 

*anyone wishing to see his name added to the list above, just send me a PM with your shortcuts and I will edit them in

Link to comment
Share on other sites

MORE KNOPPIX CHEAT-CODES

 

Here is the full official list of Knoppix cheatcodes and other useful information.

For all of you still having troubles running this unique distro from CD.

Most of you will never need this, just because on most hardware Knoppix does not need anything else then: ¨ knoppix lang=en¨ to get the English version.

These options (can be combined) work from the SYSLINUX bootprompt:

 

knoppix lang=cn|de|da|es|fr|it|nl specify language/keyboard

knoppix lang=pl|ru|sk|tr|tw|us specify language/keyboard

knoppix alsa (or alsa=es1938) Use ALSA sound driver (at your own risk)

knoppix desktop=fluxbox|icewm Use specified WM instead of KDE

knoppix desktop=kde|larswm|twm Use specified WM instead of KDE

knoppix desktop=wmaker|xfce Use specified WM instead of KDE

knoppix screen=1280x1024 Use specified Screen resolution for X

knoppix xvrefresh=60 Use 60 Hz vertical refresh rate for X

knoppix xserver=XFree86|XF86_SVGA Use specified X-Server

knoppix xmodule=ati|fbdev|i810|mga Use specified XFree4-Module (1)

knoppix xmodule=nv|radeon|savage|s3 Use specified XFree4-Module (2)

knoppix xmodule=radeon|svga|i810 Use specified XFree4-Module (3)

knoppix 2 Runlevel 2, Textmode only

knoppix floppyconfig Run "knoppix.sh" from a floppy

knoppix myconf=/dev/sda1 Run "knoppix.sh" from a partition

knoppix myconf=scan Try to find "knoppix.sh" automatically

knoppix home=/dev/sda1/knoppix.img Mount loopback file as /home/knoppix

knoppix home=scan Try to find knoppix homedir automatic.

knoppix no{apic,agp,apm,audio,ddc} Skip parts of HW-detection (1)

knoppix no{firewire,pcmcia,scsi} Skip parts of HW-detection (2)

knoppix no{swap,usb} Skip parts of HW-detection (3)

failsafe Boot with (almost) no HW-detection

knoppix pci=irqmask=0x0e98 Notebooks, if PS/2 mouse doesn't work

knoppix pci=bios Workaround for bad PCI controllers

knoppix ide2=0x180 nopcmcia Boot from PCMCIA-CD (transmeta notebooks)

knoppix mem=128M Specify Memory size in MByte

knoppix dma Enable DMA for ALL IDE-Drives

knoppix noeject Do NOT eject CD after halt

knoppix-txt No framebuffer at startup

knoppix vga=normal No-framebuffer mode, but X

knoppix blind Start Braille-Terminal (no X)

knoppix brltty=type,port,table Parameters for Braille device

knoppix wheelmouse Enable IMPS/2 protocol for wheelmice

knoppix nowheelmouse Force plain PS/2 protocol for PS/2-mouse

fb1280x1024 Use fixed framebuffer graphics

fb1024x768 Use fixed framebuffer graphics

fb800x600 Use fixed framebuffer graphics

knoppix keyboard=us xkeyboard=us Use different keyboard (text/X)

knoppix testcd Check CD data integrity

expert Interactive setup for experts

Hint: Using the default DE-bootimage, SYSLINUX boots with german keyboard

layout. The '=' letter is located at Shift-0 on this keyboard (just in

case you want to change keyboard and language with lang=us).

 

If your KNOPPIX CD makes strange noises during boot, or you see

frequent errors like "cloop: read error", or programs on your KDE

desktop keep crashing randomly, then your CD image is probably defective

or incomplete, or your CD-burner created a defective CD due to wrong

writing speed or bad media. This is the most common error reported.

Please boot with "knoppix testcd" to check if the CD is OK, and/or even

better, verify the MD5 checksums that are present on the mirrors before

writing the CD. Also, please read the KNOPPIX-FAQ.

 

In case of a failing hardware autodetection, try booting with any of

the "no-" options as shown in the table above, like in

knoppix noagp noddc noapm noapic nodma nopcmcia noscsi nousb

to skip some critical parts of the autodetection system.

 

The "noswap" option is useful for a forensic analysis without touching

existing swap partitions.

 

Some Boards apparently don't pass the proper memory size to the

linux-kernel. It may cause the message "Panic: cannot mount root file

system" and the system hangs. Use "knoppix mem=128M" to solve that

problem if your system has 128MByte memory for example (caution:

you MUST use a capital "M" here).

 

Try "knoppix pci=irqmask=0x0e98" if (you have a notebook and) your PS/2

mouse doesn't work. (Possibly caused by a BIOS-flaw on your board.)

 

The "expert" mode provides a very simple and not yet well tested interface

to loading additional Kernel modules from floppy disks (ext2 or vfat),

plus interactive configuration of mouse/keyboard/soundcard/xserver.

"expert" mode supports the same boot options as "knoppix".

 

The "floppyconfig" or "myconfig=/dev/partition" options allow you to

reconfigure the system after autoconfiguration by running a bourne

shell script called "knoppix.sh" from the root directory on the given

device (or floppy). There is a GUI to create such a configuration

floppy disk calles "saveconfig" (also located in the KDE menu under

"KNOPPIX", but experts also know how to do this by creating their own

shellscripts. From Version 2.1 and up, a file called "knoppix.sh", if

located in the toplevel KNOPPIX directory on CD, will also be executed

at startup. This makes ist easier to create customized versions without

having to change anything on the compressed filesystem KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX.

 

Starting from Version 2.0, SCSI-Emulation is active for all CD-Roms,

so IDE CD-Writers should work with the installed versions of cdrecord

and cdrdao (or the graphical frontends thereof, cdbakeoven, xcdroast

and gcombust).

 

If your BIOS does not support el torito booting from CD, you can create

a bootable floppy disk by issuing (on Linux)

dd if=mounted_cdrom_directory/KNOPPIX/boot.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=18k

or, in case of DOS, use the rawrite.exe program provided in the

KNOPPIX directory on CD.

 

If you wish to remaster the CD, please don't forget to specify

-b KNOPPIX/boot.img

for the german version of the bootfloppy, or

-b KNOPPIX/boot-en.img

for the english version, as option to mkisofs. Otherwise your CD

won't be bootable. The directory KNOPPIX, containig the compressed

filesystem file "KNOPPIX", must be located in the top level

directory of the CD.

 

Caution: X-Screensaver: Don't start xlock or any screensaver that

requires a password. There are no default passwords on KNOPPIX,

i.e. all accounts are LOCKED unless you explicitly set a password.

See also README_Security.txt about this issue.

If you accidentially hit the screensaver button in KDE,

switch to one of the textconsoles by Control-Alt-F1 and kill

the screensaver (or just set a password for the knoppix user).

 

If you would like to edit your X-Server configuration manually

(/etc/X11/XF86Config-4 for XFree86 V4.x), use "knoppix 2" to boot

into runlevel 2 (textmode only) and type "ls /usr/X11R6/bin/XF*"

to see a list of all available X-Servers. Once you verified

that your X-Server is working correctly, you can run the X startup

script with "/etc/init.d/xsession start".

 

Have fun with your Knoppix !

 

cool.gif Bruno

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry to disturb tips thread but I don't recall sending you any keyboard shotcuts??

Zox did send us:For lefthanders with arthritis one click and hit enter is easier than a double click. Only works well for leftys unless you can get a lefty keyboard.OK it's a piece of useless information but if you've ever tried a double click on a cold morning you'll know exactly what I mean.
I am not using any keyboard shortcuts since it would be too much for me to handle.At work I've got used to Mac shotcuts, on Windows they are not that intuitive but I remembered couple of them and now Linux, .. no way.My small brain will burst in flames if I acquire any more shortcuts. :)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry ZoxHe had the same avatar as you for a long time, need stronger specs, it was Greengeek. Sorry I'll change it immedeately.:) Bruno

Link to comment
Share on other sites

LIVE CDs

 

For those of you who first want to check if their hardware is supported under Linux, before trying to install a distro: Check out a ¨Live CD¨.

Live CD´s are distro´s that run completely from CD, nothing is written to harddisk, no real install, but a fully functional operating system.

You have to see it to believe it, in less then 10 minutes, you´ll have a Linux desktop.

The really BIG advantage of a Live CD is the checking of supported hardware, once you see that your internet connection, monitor, keyboard, mouse, sound etc. are functioning, you can be sure that the distro you will choose after will support those items as well.

 

Here is a few of the major ones:

 

Based on Mandrake/Mandriva: PCLinux OS, The absolute best Live CD Homepage ( Includes Nvidia drivers, dvd codecs, browser plugins like flash, java etc. 700 MB )

 

Based on Debian: Good hardware support and well known is Knoppix, Homepage, ( 700 MB )

 

Based on Slackware: Really nice is Slax, Homepage ( 200 MB ) ( Read the doc´s ! )

 

Based on SUSE: There is SuSE Live evaluation, Homepage, ( 700 MB )

 

Based on Slackware: VectorLinux suited for ¨old¨ PC´s Homepage ( 180 MB )

 

Based on Debian: The smallest of them all, D*** Small Linux Homepage ( Only 50 MB and you get a Fluxbox GUI !! )

 

Have fun with your Linux testflight !

 

NOTE: For a long list of Live CD's and their homepages see FrozenTech.com

 

cool.gif Bruno

Link to comment
Share on other sites

CHECKSUM ISO´s IN WINDOWS

 

Ryan did send us some useful info about the checksum of ISO´s in Windows:

Thought you might want some info about md5sum for Windows . . . . it's very easy to do . . . . just go here and download the file http://www.etree.org/md5com.html

 

You want to copy the file to the proper directory:

Windows 95/98/Me: Download md5sum.exe to c:\windows\command

Windows NT/2000/XP: Download md5sum.exe to your c:\winnt\system32

 

Then open a command prompt:

 

Windows 95/98/Me: Start -> Run... -> command

Windows NT/2000: Start -> Run... -> cmd

 

Then browse to wherever you downloaded the .iso file:

ex: c:\downloads

 

type the following command: md5sum [filename].iso

 

it will then spit out the check which you can compare to the check listed at the download site.

 

*NOTE* Make sure you do this with the .iso file before you burn it!

 

Now there is no more excuse not doing a checksum . . . .

 

Thanks Ryan,

 

cool.gif Bruno

Link to comment
Share on other sites

SLACKWARE TIPS ( 1 )

( not really for beginners )

 

Wheelmouse in Slackware

 

(This works also on other distro´s, but the location of your xorg.conf file might be different ! Do a ¨locate xorg¨ to find out where to find it.)

 

Do not start X stay in text mode.

 

Login as root ( not typing ¨su¨, but ¨root¨ )

 

First back up the old xorg.conf file for as things go really wrong:

 

(NOTE: In Slackware versions before 10 the file is /etc/X11/XF86Config !!)

# cd /etc/X11/
# cp xorg.conf xorg.conf-OLD

 

Then:

# vim xorg.conf

 

Find the mouse pointer section, and change/add :

Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2" ( add IM )
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux" ( # /dev/mouse, uncomment /dev/psaux )
Option "Resolution" "300" ( add full line )
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" ( add full line )
Option "Buttons" "3" (add full line )

 

Note: Space between the "4" and the "5" !

 

Save the file: ¨Esc¨ and ¨ZZ¨

 

exit ( to logout as root )

 

Login as normal user

startx

 

Now your mouse scroll wheel should be functional !

 

GUI login in Slackware

 

As root:

# vim /etc/inittab

 

Change the default runlevel in /etc/inittab from 3 to runlevel 4

id:4:initdefault

 

NOTE: other disto´s runlevel 5 !

 

Shutdown / power off in Slack

 

On some hardware: Slackware does not power off by default as you give the command ¨shutdown -h now¨.

To address that problem:

# vim /etc/rc.d/rc.modules

 

Look for the APM section and

 

uncomment the line ¨# /sbin/modprobe apm¨ ( delete the # )

 

Save the file ( give the command /sbin/modprobe apm if you don´t want to reboot ) and next time you do ¨shutdown -h now¨ as root your computer will power off as usual.

 

Slocate in Slackware

 

SonicDragon did send us the following addition:

I just noticed that for "locate" to work in slackware it won't let you do "su" and "updatedb". You will have to do "su" and "slocate -u" first.

 

After running "slocate -u" first, the "updatedb" command should work normally.

 

That might be helpful to have added to the Slackware and Searching tips, (if this is happening to other users and not just me).

 

Happy Slacking !

 

cool.gif Bruno

Link to comment
Share on other sites

NAVIGATING WINDOWS PARTITIONS

 

Let´s say you are browsing Scot´sNewsletterForum using your brand new Firebird in Linux.

And suddenly you would like to have some nice music in the background, but all your favorite music is stored on your Windows C:\My Music . . . .

 

No problem, just start ¨xmms¨ ( the Linux ¨winamp¨ ) click on the top left corner and select ¨play directory¨. You will get a window where you can browse /mnt ( will take a bit of time, just be patient ) /win_c and then My Music or any subdirectory in there, click OK and the music will start: you can play ¨London Calling¨ from the Clash and read ¨The Tips¨ from Amsterdam at the same time !

 

With the same trick you can also use that nice background picture stored in MY Pictures on your Windows partition as background in Linux.

 

Or open a document.doc (or .xls ) stored in My Documents in OpenOffice and work on them, copy them to Linux /home/bruno, drag and drop, any trick in the book.

 

Linux allows you full access to your C D E F etc. windows partitions, if they are Fat32 you can read and write them, NTFS formatted partitions sometimes do not allow writing to them, reading is however always possible. ( only remember as you click on /mnt it needs some time to ¨automount¨ the partitions. )

 

A pity it´s a one way street; from windows you can´t even see the Linux partitions, I think that they just prefer to ignore them

 

cool.gif Bruno

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are doing these things on the command line and have to type "My Documents", Linux will read that space in the name as the end of the command (Linux has no spaces in names)

To avoid this we use the "escape sign" "\" . . so we type "My\ Documnets" . . this way Linux knows the next character is to be seen as part of the name of the file/directory and not as a space.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

MODEMS AND LINUX

 

Sure you want to go on the internet with your Linux computer, here are however a few things you will have to take in account:

 

- - - Dial-in modems:

 

High on the list of incompatible hardware in Linux are dial-in modems, winmodems or so called software-modems.

( printers and scanners take a good second place )

 

Software modems are internal PCI card modems that fully depend on Windows-drivers to make the connection. These drivers are not Open Source.

 

An external modem is the thing you want to be able to dial your ISP.

But even not all external modems will run 100% in Linux, most of them do, however there are exceptions.

The site explaining this issue is Winmodems are no Modems ( Also have a look Here )

The best advice is, before buying a modem check the Modem Database of tested modems.

Also USB modems have issues with Linux so always do check the list !

 

More info on on Linux drivers for winmodems you can find: Here

For PC-tel and Conexant there are sometimes experimental Linuxdrivers available, but installing them can be extremely hard and in most cases they are only compatible with older kernel versions. So do yourself a favor and stay away from them, because every time you´ll upgrade your disto you will run into the same problems over and over again.

 

- - - Cable and ADSL modems:

 

If you´re on cable or have an ADSL ethernet-modem, all these problems won´t affect you.

( WARNING: Conexant PCI ADSL modems are incompatible ! The Speedtouch USB is supported but needs work to be done before you can get online. )

 

Next I will give you a list with compatible NIC´s ( fast ethernet cards )

 

cool.gif Bruno

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Fran, You're always so good in encouraging me . . . I still try to get a tip in every day . . . there is just so much to tell about Linux !:D Bruno

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FAST ETHERNET CARDS

 

In addition to the story about modems yesterday, here is list of Linux supported Ethernet Cards ( NIC´s):

3Com 3c503 (3c503 driver), 3c505 (3c505 driver), 3c507 (3c507 driver), 3c509/3c509B (ISA) / 3c579 (EISA);

 

3Com 3c501 - (avoid like the plague) (3c501 driver);

 

3Com Etherlink III Vortex Ethercards (3c590, 3c592, 3c595, 3c597) (PCI), 3Com Etherlink XL Boomerang (3c900, 3c905) (PCI) and Cyclone (3c905B, 3c980) Ethercards (3c59x driver) and 3Com Fast EtherLink Ethercard (3c515) (ISA) (3c515 driver);

 

3Com 3ccfe575 Cyclone Cardbus (3c59x driver);

 

3Com 3c575 series Cardbus (3c59x driver) (most PCMCIA cards should be detected);

 

AMD LANCE (79C960) / PCnet-ISA/PCI (AT1500, HP J2405A, NE1500/NE2100);

 

ATT GIS WaveLAN;

 

Allied Telesis AT1700;

 

Allied Telesis LA100PCI-T;

 

Allied Telesyn AT2400T/BT (“ne” module);

 

Ansel Communications AC3200 (EISA);

 

Apricot Xen-II / 82596.

 

Cabletron E21xx;

 

Cogent EM110;

 

Crystal LAN CS8920, Cs8900.

 

Danpex EN-9400;

 

DEC DE425 (EISA) / DE434/DE435 (PCI) / DE450/DE500 (DE4x5 driver);

 

DEC DE450/DE500-XA (dc21x4x) (Tulip driver);

 

DEC DEPCA and EtherWORKS;

 

DEC EtherWORKS 3 (DE203, DE204, DE205);

 

DECchip DC21x4x “Tulip”;

 

DEC QSilver's (Tulip driver);

 

Digi International RightSwitch;

 

DLink DE-220P, DE-528CT, DE-530+, DFE-500TX, DFE-530TX.

 

Fujitsu FMV-181/182/183/184;

 

HP PCLAN (27245 and 27xxx series);

 

HP PCLAN PLUS (27247B and 27252A);

 

HP 10/100VG PCLAN (J2577, J2573, 27248B, J2585) (ISA/EISA/PCI);

 

ICL EtherTeam 16i / 32 (EISA);

 

Intel EtherExpress;

 

Intel EtherExpress Pro.

 

KTI ET16/P-D2, ET16/P-DC ISA (work jumperless and with hardware-configuration options);

 

Macromate MN-220P (PnP or NE2000 mode);

 

NCR WaveLAN;

 

NE2000/NE1000 (be careful with clones);

 

Netgear FA-310TX (Tulip chip);

 

New Media Ethernet.

 

PureData PDUC8028, PDI8023;

 

SEEQ 8005;

 

SMC Ultra / EtherEZ (ISA);

 

SMC 9000 series;

 

SMC PCI EtherPower 10/100 (DEC Tulip driver);

 

SMC EtherPower II (epic100.c driver).

 

Sun LANCE adapters (kernel 2.2 and newer);

 

Sun Intel adapters (kernel 2.2 and newer);

 

Schneider and Koch G16;

 

Western Digital WD80x3;

 

Zenith Z-Note / IBM ThinkPad 300 built-in adapter;

 

Znyx 312 etherarray (Tulip driver);

 

Further sources of information: The hardware database of your favorite distro´s : Mandrake/Mandriva, Redhat, SuSE

 

For general hardware info: Linuxhardware has an archive of reviews on all kinds of Linux compatible hardware.

 

Checking hardware support is always wise, either you run a ¨Live CD¨ either you check the databases, these are the best ways to be prepared for the ¨big step¨.

 

cool.gif Bruno

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...