255 lines
8.1 KiB
Plaintext
255 lines
8.1 KiB
Plaintext
Configuration HOWTO
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Gilbert O'Sullivan <mailto:gearloose@fastwebnet.it>
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v1.99.8 2006-05-10
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This HOWTO would be the main doc from which every others can refer to
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configure most common hardware and services.
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______________________________________________________________________
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Table of Contents
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1. Introduction
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1.1 Copyright
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1.2 Disclaimer
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1.3 Credits
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1.4 Description
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2. Configuration tools
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2.1 Control Center
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2.2 Display
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2.2.1 Step 1
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2.2.2 Step 2
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2.3 Keyboard
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2.4 Users
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2.5 Mouse
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2.6 Printer
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2.7 Bootloader
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2.8 Firewall
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3. Others
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3.1 Scanner
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3.2 Tablet
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______________________________________________________________________
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1. Introduction
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This document is one of the most important for LDP, because by
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configuring hardware and software you can get your own Linux box.
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This HOWTO was born in the Golden Age of developers, mainly for the
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command line. As it became too big and old for the current distros, I
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rewrote it more simple as I could.
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Fundamentally, to configure the system, Linux users have to write some
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configuration files. To do it easyer, today programs and wizards are
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avaliable to manage them. This programs may be quite different for the
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various distributions.
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In this HOWTO, I will speak about Mandrake-Linux and about Red Hat.
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1.1. Copyright
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This document is Copyright © 2006-03-16 Gilbert O'Sullivan.
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Permission is granted to copy and distribute this document under the
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terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License. This license is
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available from http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html. Please note that
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the LGPL terms don't allow any modifications except for the
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translations.
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1.2. Disclaimer
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This document is provided "as is". I put great effort into writing it
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accurately, but you use contained informations at your own risk. In
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no event shall I be liable for any damages resulting from the use of
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this work.
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1.3. Credits
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Many thanks to all other HOWTO authors and man pages writers, from
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which I have got my knowledge, and to all people who provided me with
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feedback.
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1.4. Description
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Even if the earlier versions of this document discussed about several
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distributions, I chose Mandrake-Linux and Red Hat, because they are
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the most representative, with kernels range from 2.4.3 to 2.6.11, of
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wich last release you can easily purchase. For more informations, or
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if you don't understand anything, you can refer to other HOWTOs, among
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which is available the source code of this document, at Linux
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Documentation Project <http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-
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INDEX/howtos.html> site. The hardware we shall go to configure is for
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x86 architectures: modem, printer, scanner. A tablet is very common
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also.
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2. Configuration tools
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Fundamentally, this document is made in two sections: the first, for
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the machines with a big hard disk and a working graphical interface,
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the second, for other which are in low resources, forced to work by
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typing from the command line.
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2.1. Control Center
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Of course, if you have a working graphical interface, to configure
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everything is very easy. As a matter of fact, starting from release
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8.0, each Mandrake-Linux release comes with drakconf package. Other
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disrtibutions have their own control-center. This wizard allows to
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change the settings of
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· Users
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· Bootloader
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· Disk management
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· Display
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· Firewall
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· Network
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· Keyboard
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· Mouse
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· Printer
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· Services
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2.2. Display
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Now let me explain how you can change X server configuration through
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the following two steps.
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2.2.1. Step 1
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Linux operating system uses a Graphical User Interface (GUI) called
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XFree, just because it is a free version of X windows system, wich was
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developed by X.org website members, also getting some IBM
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contyibutions. Today, X server configuration is totally automatic, so
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in the end of your new Linux system installation, if you are lucky,
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you can reboot, without having anything to do. Nevertheless, often it
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happens that, in spite of an installation of a lot of packages, it
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display a message saying that you are not able to start X server. The
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reason why this happens is that your monitor, or your graphic card, is
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not rightly detected. So you have only to update the whole
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installation, until to the Summary. Here, you can change your
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graphical interface settings, but, be very careful, when the
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opportunity knocks: when ask, disable the automatic starting Option
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for X server after the reboot. This allows to use your PC in text
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mode, so if you want to start X server, you have manually to run
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"startx" command.
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2.2.2. Step 2
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If X server doesn't work yet, try with
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# XFdrake
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It allows to change current settings with minimal ones:
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Monitor: SVGA (not interlaced) 1024 x 768
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Frequency: 60 Hz
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Graphic card: VGA standard
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Resolution: 640 x 480
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Colours dept.: 8 bpp
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You can increase these values, by degrees, but without overclocking
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frequency speed. It may damages your monitor! When you are ready, run
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XFdrake again and select to start Xfree, upon booting. This has
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always worked for me, so I suggest you to write down these values,
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before.
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2.3. Keyboard
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First of some old raw applications, upon which was built current
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control-center. Of course if you work by typing from command line, it
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is very important to set your keyboard accordingly. For many countries
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and keyboard types appropriate keymaps are available already. So you
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can give "loadkeys" command followed by the two last letters of any
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your country URLs.
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2.4. Users
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Expecially if you want autologin, you have to add an user. Type
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"adduser" command, then set up his password whith "passwd -n",
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followed by the user name.
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2.5. Mouse
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If you chose to work by typing from command line only, you have no
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need to configure your mouse. Nevertheless, whith a working graphical
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interface you cannot use itself to change wrong settings. Open a
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console as a root user and type "mousedrake".
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2.6. Printer
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Lastly, if you want to set up your printer, you have to install CUPS
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driver. Type "printerdrake".
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2.7. Bootloader
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The program which loads the kernel into the memory at the boot time is
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called bootloader. The bootloaders that come with Linux distributions
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are LILO and GRUB. If you want change LILO configuration, you have to
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open the file /etc/lilo.conf. using your favorite editor. In this file
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each line has its meaning.
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boot=/dev/hda Install LILO in the MBR
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prompt If you want select another section
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timeout=50 Wait five seconds before booting
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default=linux The section to boot after the timeout
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image=/boot/vmlinuz-x.x.x
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label=Linux Name we give to this section
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read-only Start with a read-only root
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root=/dev/hda3 Location of the root filesystem
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other=/dev/hdaX The host where Windows is installed
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label=windows
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Typical is how GRUB refers to hard drives and partitions.
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2.8. Firewall
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If your system is attached directly to Internet, or is on a large
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public network, enable it to help prevent unauthorized access.
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3. Others
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These have their own websites, where you can find everything you need.
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3.1. Scanner
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SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy) package, offers the suppport for
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scanners. It can be downloaded from ftp://ftp.mostang.com/pub/sane.
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Documentation are avaliable at SANE <http://www.mostang.com/sane>
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webpage, where you can also find several frontends and backends.
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3.2. Tablet
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Today at The Linux Wacom Project <http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net>
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website there are useful tools to manage a Wacom pen tablet: drivers,
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libraries, documentation for configuring and getting it running. Not
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only but also diagnostic applications and of course mailing lists and
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FAQ. This website is maintained by John E. Joganic j-arkadia.com>
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