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14 KiB
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394 lines
14 KiB
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<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<TITLE>
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KDE GUI Login Configuration HOWTO
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</TITLE>
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</HEAD>
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<BODY BGCOLOR=white>
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<HR>
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<H1>KDE GUI Login Configuration HOWTO</H1>
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<H2>John P. Meshkoff,II
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<A HREF="mailto:johnm@sivakalpa.org">johnm@sivakalpa.org</A></H2>v1.03 2003/04/13 update icon notes and kde 3.1 handbook notes
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<HR>
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<P>
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<B>Archived Document Notice:</B> This document has been archived by the LDP.
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</P>
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<HR>
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<EM>This is the KDE GUI Login Configuration HOWTO, a tutorial on customizing the GUI login screen. Topics include:
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How to add other window managers to the drop-down selection list;
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how to enable user selection icons in the login window;
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and requiring root permission for system shutdown.</EM>
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<HR>
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="toc1">1.</A> <A HREF="#s1">Copyright</A></H2>
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="toc2">2.</A> <A HREF="#s2">Introduction</A></H2>
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="toc3">3.</A> <A HREF="#s3">Adding new window manager selections to the drop-down list</A></H2>
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="toc4">4.</A> <A HREF="#s4">Enabling user selection icons in the login dialog box</A></H2>
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="toc5">5.</A> <A HREF="#s5">Requiring root permission for shutdown</A></H2>
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="toc6">6.</A> <A HREF="#s6">Bibliography</A></H2>
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<HR>
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<H2><A NAME="s1">1.</A> <A HREF="KDE-GUI-Login-Configuration-HOWTO.html#toc1">Copyright</A></H2>
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<P>Copyright (c) 2002 by John Meshkoff </P>
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<P>Please freely copy and distribute (sell or give away) this document in any format. It's
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requested that corrections and/or comments be forwarded to the document maintainer. You
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may create a derivative work and distribute it provided that you: </P>
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<P>1. Send your derivative work (in the most suitable format such as sgml) to the LDP (Linux
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Documentation Project) or the like for posting on the Internet. If not the LDP, then let
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the LDP know where it is available. </P>
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<P>2. License the derivative work with this same license or use GPL. Include a copyright notice
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and at least a pointer to the license used. </P>
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<P>3. Give due credit to previous authors and major contributors. </P>
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<P>If you're considering making a derived work other than a translation, it's
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requested that you discuss your plans with the current maintainer.</P>
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<HR>
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<H2><A NAME="s2">2.</A> <A HREF="KDE-GUI-Login-Configuration-HOWTO.html#toc2">Introduction</A></H2>
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<P>This info is based on my RedHat 6.1 default KDE Workstation installation. If you are using
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another distribution, or even another version of RedHat, or a different Workstation install,
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then you may have to do some detective work. Hopefully, this info will give you what you need
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to start detecting! This HOWTO began as the result of wondering how to add another window manager
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or desktop environment to the drop-down list on the GUI login screen; further investigation
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revealed other configuration options.</P>
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<P>I began my own "detective work" when I found a reference on a RedHat List which
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mentioned <CODE>/etc/inittab</CODE>, and its role in system startup. In
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<CODE>/etc/inittab</CODE> I found the following entries, which define how the
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X Window System is started in my distribution and version:</P>
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<P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
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<HR>
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<PRE>
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# Run xdm in runlevel 5
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# xdm is now a separate service
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x:5:respawn:/etc/X11/prefdm -nodaemon
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</PRE>
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<HR>
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</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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</P>
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<P>Here is what prefdm looks like:</P>
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<P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
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<HR>
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<PRE>
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#!/bin/sh
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PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin
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# Run preferred X display manager
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preferred=
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if [ -f /etc/sysconfig/desktop ]; then
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if grep -q GNOME /etc/sysconfig/desktop 2>/dev/null; then
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preferred=gdm
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elif grep -q KDE /etc/sysconfig/desktop 2> /dev/null; then
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preferred=kdm
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elif grep -q AnotherLevel /etc/sysconfig/desktop 2> /dev/null; then
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preferred=xdm
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fi
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fi
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if [ -z ":$preferred" ]; then
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if which gdm >/dev/null 2>&1; then
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preferred=gdm
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elif which kdm >/dev/null 2>&1; then
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preferred=kdm
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elif which xdm >/dev/null 2>&1; then
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preferred=xdm
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fi
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fi
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if [ -n "$preferred" ] && which $preferred >/dev/null 2>&1; then
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exec `which $preferred` $*
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fi
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exit 1
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</PRE>
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<HR>
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</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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</P>
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<P>No changes to prefdm are necessary; it determines which display manager is the
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system default, and which runs the GUI login. During boot-up, prefdm parses
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<CODE>/etc/sysconfig/desktop</CODE> and selects the display manager listed there;
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in the case of my KDE Workstation install, this is kdm (KDE Display Manager).
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Note that gdm (Gnome Display Manager) is not installed on my system; xdm (X
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Display Manager) is installed by default as part of the X Window System, and
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was apparently used by older versions of Red Hat. </P>
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<HR>
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<H2><A NAME="s3">3.</A> <A HREF="KDE-GUI-Login-Configuration-HOWTO.html#toc3">Adding new window manager selections to the drop-down list</A></H2>
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<P>WARNING: The procedures explained in this HOWTO involve making changes to system
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configuration files; if you are not experienced in making such changes, some
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caution is required. Introducing errors into such files may make your system
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unstable, or cause it to crash. The procedures explained in this HOWTO have
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been tested and should not cause problems if used correctly.</P>
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<P>If you have KDE 2.2 or higher, and you are not comfortable with manual editing of system files, you may open a
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terminal window (xterm or konsole) from your user desktop (NOT the root
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desktop), then type and enter:</P>
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<P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
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<HR>
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<PRE>
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su -c 'kcontrol'
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</PRE>
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<HR>
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</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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</P>
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<P>Enter your root password at the prompt, and make the changes from within the
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KDE Control Center that appears: go to <EM>Applications ==> Login Manager</EM>. Choose
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the appropriate configuration tab; you can easily configure every aspect of
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the login screen from there. In Earlier versions of KDE, kcontrol can modify
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kdmrc, but cannot modify Xsession which is used in those versions; see the
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note below about changes from KDE 2.2 and higher.</P>
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<P>To see how to manually configure some of these, and see what these
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configuration files do, proceed as follows:</P>
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<P>(Caution: Some configuration files have changed since the version of kdm
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I'm using, particularly since KDE > 2.0:</P>
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<P>The following is quoted from
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<A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/x11-wm.html">the FreeBSD Handbook-X11:</A></P>
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<P>"Note:
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In KDE 2.2 this has changed: kdm now uses its own configuration files. Please
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see the KDE 2.2 documentation for details.")</P>
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<P>Note:
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KDE 3.1 has added kdm documentation, see
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<A HREF="http://docs.kde.org/en/3.1/kdebase/kdm/">The kdm Handbook</A></P>
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<P>Much of the material in this new handbook applies to the older versions;
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new features are also described therein.</P>
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<P>Check the documentation for your version to identify the current configuration
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files if you want to manually edit these, or just want to see how they work. </P>
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<P>Do <EM>not</EM> use a <EM>word-processor</EM> program for editing system configuration
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files; such programs introduce special formatting characters which will corrupt the files.
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Use a <EM>text-editor</EM>, particularly one which can handle long lines without introducing
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extra carriage-return or line feed characters into existing code. Suitable editors include
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vim (vi improved), vi, and emacs. There are others, but these are usually installed by default
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in Linux workstation installations; they each have features which make them especially suitable for
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writing and editing computer code. See the bibliography section at the end of this HOWTO for
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more information. </P>
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<P>IMPORTANT: Before making changes to <EM>any</EM> system configuration files, you should make
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back-up copies of the originals, so you can restore them in case of serious errors!</P>
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<P>The files which we will be changing here are <CODE>/usr/share/config/kdmrc</CODE>, which
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is where we add selection labels to the drop-down list on the login screen, and
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<CODE>/etc/X11/xdm/Xsession</CODE>, which is where we add the path to the executables
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for our labels (if you are using a different distribution, the path to these
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files may be different; just do "<CODE>locate kdmrc</CODE>" and "<CODE>locate Xsession</CODE>"
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in the shell [i.e., in a terminal emulation, such as <EM>xterm</EM>, or KDE's <EM>konsole</EM>]
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to find them). </P>
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<P>The default line to change in kdmrc looks like this: </P>
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<P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
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<HR>
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<PRE>
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SessionTypes=kde;gnome;anotherlevel;default;failsafe;
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</PRE>
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<HR>
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</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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</P>
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<P>After adding selection labels for two new window managers, windowmaker and blackbox, the line looks like this:</P>
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<P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
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<HR>
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<PRE>
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SessionTypes=kde;gnome;windowmaker;blackbox;anotherlevel;default;failsafe;
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</PRE>
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<HR>
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</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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Notice the positions where I have added the labels for the new window managers; all
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entries will appear on the drop-down list in the same order as they
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appear in the SessionTypes list. Next, the actual choosing takes place in
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<CODE>/etc/X11/xdm/Xsession</CODE>. Here is what the appropriate section of
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Xsession looks like before adding the new entries:</P>
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<P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
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<HR>
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<PRE>
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# now, we see if xdm/gdm/kdm has asked for a specific environment
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#
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case $# in
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1)
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case $1 in
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failsafe)
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exec xterm -geometry 80x24-0-0
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;;
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gnome)
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exec gnome-session
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;;
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kde)
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exec startkde
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;;
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anotherlevel)
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# we assume that switchdesk is installed.
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exec /usr/share/apps/switchdesk/Xclients.anotherlevel
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;;
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esac
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esac
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</PRE>
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<HR>
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</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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</P>
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<P>Here is what this section of the Xsession file looks like after adding the new
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entries (NOTE that the selection labels <EM>must</EM> be <EM>exactly</EM> the
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same in Xsession and prefdm, i.e., spelling and case must be identical):</P>
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<P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
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<HR>
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<PRE>
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# now, we see if xdm/gdm/kdm has asked for a specific environment
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#
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case $# in
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1)
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case $1 in
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failsafe)
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exec xterm -geometry 80x24-0-0
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;;
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gnome)
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exec gnome-session
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;;
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kde)
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exec startkde
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;;
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windowmaker)
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exec wmaker
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;;
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blackbox)
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exec blackbox
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;;
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anotherlevel)
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# we assume that switchdesk is installed.
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exec /usr/share/apps/switchdesk/Xclients.anotherlevel
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;;
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esac
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esac
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</PRE>
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<HR>
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</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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Note that when the executables are installed in one of the paths shown below, only the
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executable name is required after "exec"; otherwise the full path must be included,
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as shown for "Xclients.anotherlevel" (above): </P>
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<P><CODE>/usr/bin/</CODE> </P>
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<P><CODE>/usr/local/bin/</CODE> </P>
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<P><CODE>/usr/X11R6/bin/</CODE></P>
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<P><CODE>/usr/bin/X11/</CODE></P>
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<P>These examples should be enough for you to add your favorite window manager(s) to the
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KDE graphical login, or to give you a starting point to find out how it's done in your
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particular installation. </P>
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<HR>
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<H2><A NAME="s4">4.</A> <A HREF="KDE-GUI-Login-Configuration-HOWTO.html#toc4">Enabling user selection icons in the login dialog box</A></H2>
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<P>In RedHat 6.1, the default KDE login window shows a dialog box with a space to
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type in the user name, one in which to type the user password, and a drop down
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list to select the window manager/desktop environment of choice. By making the
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following changes to <CODE>/usr/share/config/kdmrc</CODE>, user icons will appear in
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the top of the login box.
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Here is what the default lines that control user icon view in kdmrc look like (other
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lines between these two are not shown, and are represented by "..."):</P>
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<P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
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<HR>
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<PRE>
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#Users=root;johndoe
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...
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UserView=false
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</PRE>
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<HR>
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</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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</P>
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<P>Here are the same lines after editing; delete the comment character ("#") in
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front of "Users=..." and change "johndoe" to your username (if there are more
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user accounts on your system, you may add their usernames here, separated by semi-colons
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as shown). Change "UserView=false" to "UserView=true" as shown here:</P>
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<P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
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<HR>
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<PRE>
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Users=root;johnpipe
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...
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UserView=true
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</PRE>
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<HR>
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</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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</P>
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<P>Now, when you login, you may click on an icon with the mouse to enter the user name; you must still type in your password.</P>
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<P>You can add your own icons in place of the default icons; place you own icons
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in /usr/share/apps/kdm/pics/users/. They should be of size 64 x 64, according
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to the kdm handbook; in KDE 1.x, the default icons are 62 x 63, and my new user icon is 60
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x 60, so if icons are reasonably close to the specified 64 x 64 size, they
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will work OK. The handbook says "kdm is able to handle icons of different
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sizes, but the result looks messy.", so there is evidently some leeway here.
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Your icons should be named 'username.xpm', for example my username is
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"johnpipe" and my new icon is named 'johnpipe.xpm' </P>
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<P>NOTE: at some time since kde 1.x, the icon format has been changed from '.xpm'
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(XPixMap) to '.png' (portable network graphic).</P>
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<HR>
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<H2><A NAME="s5">5.</A> <A HREF="KDE-GUI-Login-Configuration-HOWTO.html#toc5">Requiring root permission for shutdown</A></H2>
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<P>The default for the shutdown button on the login box allows anyone to use it to shutdown the system.
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The section in <CODE>/usr/share/config/kdmrc</CODE> controlling who may use this button looks like this:</P>
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<P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
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<HR>
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<PRE>
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#ShutdownButton=RootOnly
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ShutdownButton=ConsoleOnly
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</PRE>
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<HR>
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</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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</P>
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<P>To enable only the root user to shutdown the system, change the lines as shown below:</P>
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<P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
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<HR>
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<PRE>
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ShutdownButton=RootOnly
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#ShutdownButton=ConsoleOnly
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</PRE>
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<HR>
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</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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</P>
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<P>Clicking the shutdown button will now prompt for the root password before shutting down the
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system.</P>
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<HR>
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<H2><A NAME="s6">6.</A> <A HREF="KDE-GUI-Login-Configuration-HOWTO.html#toc6">Bibliography</A></H2>
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<P>For more HOWTO's, see
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<A HREF="http://www.tldp.org/">The Linux Documentation Project</A></P>
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<P>Recommended reading: </P>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI>
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<A HREF="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/XWindow-User-HOWTO/">XWindow-User-HOWTO</A></LI>
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<LI>
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<A HREF="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Emacs-Beginner-HOWTO.html">Emacs Beginner's HOWTO</A></LI>
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<LI>
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<A HREF="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Vim-HOWTO.html">Vim Color Editor HOW-TO (Vi Improved with syntax color highlighting)</A></LI>
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</UL>
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</P>
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<P>Depending on your Linux distribution and version, you may already have the
|
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above HOWTO's installed on your system. If not installed, you may have them
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on your installation CD.</P>
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<HR>
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</BODY>
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</HTML>
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