5 May 2007
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Robert B. White
5 May 2007 |
These are my notes from installing SuSE Linux on a "tower" using 2.4 GHz P-IV, 1GB RAM, 2xIDE HD, etc. Linux is the primary OS. Some of the "recipes" following are specific to my machine(s), but most apply generally and even the specifics can be understood as recommendations.
If you're installing Linux for the first time, have a hard disk which you can use just for this so you can experiment. Even if this is an update, you should have a spare HD for experimentation. Updates are NOT a "slam-dunk"! You will probably make more than 1 "initial" installation before you're satisfied with the result, so don't destroy your existing system. Linux (at least SuSE) includes all the tools you need to easily set up multiple boot systems. Since Linux can read Windows file systems, you will be able to access all your existing files from Linux. Windows, however, cannot access Linux file systems.
Please note this is a "what to do" which needs some prior knowledge of how to carry out the actions recommended. A full "how to" for a new first time installer is more than I want to write now!
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Under the Windows OS's through Win 2000, you're allowed one "primary" partition and an optional "extended" partition. In the extended partition you can make as many (within some limit) "virtual" partitions as you want.
Under most (all?) Linux distributions you're allowed up to 4 "primary" partitions, each of which can be further divided into many "virtual" partitions. There will be a provision in the installation software to specify these partitions and whether you want them formatted.
In order to properly prepare a hard disk for suspend-to-disk on your laptop, you will need to make sure there is enough space free to accommodate an additional hibernation partition. The hibernation partition must be a primary partition (1-4), and the required size will be determined by the amount of physical and video RAM in your laptop. To determine the size you need to make the partition, as root run:
lphdisk --probeonly
Having created a primary partition of the proper size using a disk partitioning utility, you should set it to type A0 hex (identified by fdisk as "IBM ThinkPad Hibernation", though "Phoenix NoteBIOS Hibernation" would be a more correct label).
lphdisk will then locate, verify, and format this partition for use. At this point you will need to reboot the system so that BIOS can locate and use the new hibernation partition.
Here are my recommendations (remember to add a "primary" partition on a laptop if you want to be able to suspend it):
If 2 disks aren't possible, don't worry about it, user data will automagically appear in the same place in the file system and you can upgrade later.
As a minimum, create 2 primary partitions on the first disk: swap and / (root), in this order. If your BIOS requires that the bootable partition fit within the first 1024 cylinders of the disk, then you may want to create 3 primary partitions in the order /boot, swap and / (root). The installation program will connect all these together correctly. Be sure to make the / (or /boot if you use it) bootable. You always want swap near the beginning of the disk to avoid having to work the heads over the whole radius of the drive. The file system tries to concentrate data towards the beginning of each partition.
Specify the "Reiser" file system for /, and for /home if you have this on a separate disk or partition. /boot does not need to be Reiser, it's not big enough nor used very often. Reiser file systems allow files larger than 2GB, are faster than "ext3", and better protect their data. Look up the documentation for more information than I want to present here. The bottom line is just do as I recommend on this one.
There is no really firm rule for swap partition size. It should be as large as memory, some OS's recommend 1.5 times memory. If your distribution recommends a value or you have a rationale for a value, use it. Otherwise use at least as much as memory size, or up to 1GB if memory is less than this.
Always format, it cleans up whatever cruft is already on the disk.
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These are un-routable addresses and will help protect your computers. Normally you use an address in the last range, which is for "Class C" networks. Your hardware firewall should do the necessary Network Address Translation (NAT). If there's an option to do NAT, enable it. If your hardware firewall doesn't do NAT, replace it with one that does.# Request for Comments: 1918 # Address Allocation for Private Internets # # From: http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc1918.txt # # 3. Private Address Space # # The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) has reserved the # following three blocks of the IP address space for private internets: # # 10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255 (10/8 prefix) # 172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255 (172.16/12 prefix) # 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255 (192.168/16 prefix)
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However, during tar | tar to retrieve saved data from Fire-Wire drive, transfers would repeatedly hang with the Ethernet card in lower slot. Succeeded by removing card for these transfers. Later experience indicates (32 bit) network cards will not work for long in the (16 bit) lower slot.
27 Aug 2006: attempting to copy /home to the Firewire disk
for transfer to the test SuSE 10.1 installation.
Initially disabled Ethernet port and removed PCMCIA card from upper
(32 bit ?) slot, replacing it with Firewire card.
The disk was not eager to connect and run in this configuration, and
shortly hung all processes attempting to access it.
Rebooted, disconnected the Ethernet cable from it's PCMCIA card
(required to physically insert Firewire card), and inserted Firewire
card in lower PCMCIA slot.
This works OK.
On the laptop, installing "ifplugd" to enable switching between network cards rendered the Ethernet card "eth0" non-startable. Even with "eth0" configured:
yast2: Network Devices -> Network Card -> {Change | Configure} -> Edit -> Advanced -> Detailed Settings "At Boot Time"
to start at boot and "ath0" (wireless) configured to start on hotplug (which required "ifplugd"), "eth0" could not be found.
These appear not to be needed for SuSE 10.1, but are reported here to preserve the information.
Use the following kernel parameters, and ensure they are installed through boot loader (these work for me, you may need something different. You can safely omit them and let the installation program figure out what to use.):
acpi=off apm=on,inupower_off
Additionally, boot parameters should include:
vga=791 (1024x768, 16 bit color: splash screen covers startup messages)
or
vga=792 (1024x768, 24 bit color: splash screen does not cover startup messages)
The relation between vga= and splash behavior varies with framebuffer VGA capabilities. Choose a value which gives the startup display you want.
Accept default SW load initially, being sure sure to include:
Productivity -> Networking -> Other -> rsh-server.
rsh-server must then be enabled in:
yast2 -> Network Services -> Network Services (xinetd)
to be functional.
Then go back and adjust from running system.
Be sure to configure display at initial load.
Be sure to include "gftp", a graphical FTP tool comparable to window's "FileZilla". gftp works well with the one web hosting site on which I've tried it.
On desk-side, have scanner connected and on before installation, be sure to install S/W for it. I have not been able to get the scanner to work with the laptop, though it used to. Still works fine on desk-side.
The following change allowed the scanner to work long enough to hang the system during setup using yast2 -> Hardware -> Scanner After that it was no longer detected.
From: http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2004/04/thallma_scsiscanner_91.html
You want to set up your SCSI scanner in SUSE LINUX, but your scanner
model is not detected by YaST.
The kernel module for the support of generic SCSI devices is not loaded
on your system. Currently, the reason for this error is unknown. Possibly,
the problem may be related to block devices (hard disk, CD-ROM, etc.) that
are also connected to the SCSI bus.
The temporary solution will not work after you reboot the system.
Proceed as follows in order to load the module automatically when the
system is booted. This procedure places the kernel module "sg" in the
initial ramdisk. Subsequently, the module will be loaded automatically.
1. Open the YaST Control Center and go to the following dialog:
* System
* Editor for /etc/sysconfig Files
2. Open the following path in the /etc/sysconfig editor:
* System
* Kernel
* MODULES_LOADED_ON_BOOT
3. Append the value "sg" to any existing values in the input field to
the right. The individual values must be separated with blank spaces.
4. Click "Finish".
5. Confirm the "Modified Variables" dialog by clicking "OK".
6. Close the YaST Control Center.
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Reboot at this time may not be necessary, but some aspects of setup work better if you do. Also, if you do an on-line update which installs a new kernel, ALWAYS reboot after kernel installation before doing anything else- you do want the new kernel running, don't you? Installing a new kernel is about the only change which requires a reboot.
Have given up on getting laptop to work w/SCSI scanner. (24 Jan 2005) Might be worth trying the following before attempting to install scanner:
yast2 -> Network Services -> Network Services Inetd
Enable SANE port
yast2 -> System -> Runlevel Editor
Enable SANE
Remaining actions can be done in approximately the sequence given. Exact order given is not required for most of the rest, I've ordered the steps as were convenient for me and may change this in the future.
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Desktop -> Window Behavior: set "focus follows MouseO and un-check "click to raise". You may prefer other settings, please use what works for you!
System Administration -> Login Manager -> Convenience: Preselect user and focus on password.
Edit /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/XOsview: set "*disk:" to True.
On a laptop, also in this file set "*battery:" to "True".
(Or not: in SuSE 9.2 XOsview displays the battery monitor without the above
change and without +battery on the command line!)
Unfortunately this DOESN't cause XOsview to display
the battery monitor.
The reason is the behavior of /usr/bin/X11/xosview, which is a shell
script.
It's deductions about battery fail in SuSE 10.0 and 10.1 (though they were correct for
9.2 based on not needing to set "*battery:" to "True").
A quick fix, on a laptop, is to change in the last line of xosview $bat
to +bat, thereby forcing battery display.
To accommodate the longer display, in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/XOsview
change the display's geometry from "184x158" to "184x250".
Edit /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/XTerm: comment out ScrollBar
yast2: System -> Sysconfig Editor: run updatedb as root.
Set up network initially on 192.168.2.x, getting x from another
system's /etc/hosts.
But it looks as if it's still necessary to edit /etc/hosts to install
the new machine's IP address.
After installation ftp in the complete file from another machine.
As a minimum, the following will be useful to access other machines
on the home network to get a copy of /etc/hosts (you use addresses for your network):
192.168.2.1 router.my-home router 192.168.2.12 rel-home.my-home rel-home 192.168.2.16 bob-port.my-home bob-port 192.168.2.20 print-serv.my-home print-serv
Network printer can be set up if it's IP address and queue are supplied: 192.168.2.20 (in my case). This printer should be identified as lp (default) on all machines.
I've experienced problems with color printers. A (refurbished) Epson Stylus Photo R300, for example, printed the gray bars of the YaST / CUPS color test pattern as tan. Prints using the MacBeth color chart (gretagmacbeth_colorchecker-rgb-cmy-dkblks_v1.tif) were not correct. See Color Targets for Digital Imaging. Applying a gamma of 1.6 to the printer helped a bit, but was still not correct. Printing from gimp was much worse, and proved to be unusable for accurate (or even acceptable) color rendition. The Epson printer which preceded this one was VERY good for color until its ink channels dried up and it quit printing.
Replacing the Epson R300 with an HP 8250 improved color rendition to acceptable (except from gimp). Printing the MacBeth chart from the printer's native Windows software produced good colors which were matched very well by printing from gwenview in Linux. The CUPS driver for HP 8250 does not have any color adjustment, and does not allow selecting the printer's maximum resolution. Gimp has only 2 HP drivers, 1000 and 1100. These will drive the 8250, but very badly.
This is really slick: it sets your clock on every boot-up.
yast2: Network Services -> NTP client: set up to use Public NTP
server.
See ntp.conf,laptop for servers.
Have used these:
## 20 Sep 2005 revised order to match current responders. rbw server clock.sjc.he.net # 216.218.254.202 Hurricane Electric, San Jose, California Contact: support@he.net server zorro.sf-bay.org # 192.83.249.28 Added 20 Sep 2005 because it has been responding. rbw ## 20 Sep 2005 neither time.berkeley.netdot.net nor 216.27.190.202 are found within 30 hops by traceroute ## server time.berkeley.netdot.net # 216.27.190.202 Berkeley, CA Contact: Caleb Haley (chaley@netdot.net) ## 20 Sep 2005 ntp1.sf-bay.org resolves to zorro.sf-bay.org but the IP address is not found in 30 hops (traceroute) ## server ntp1.sf-bay.org # 207.126.97.57 US CA ntp1.sf-bay.org San Jose, CA # Contact: Scott Hazen Mueller (clockmaster@sf-bay.org)
In the following, be sure to start xinetd (inetd) before using the Runlevel editor. xinetd cannot be started from Runlevel editor until it has been enabled through the Network Services setup.
Shutdown, remove SCSI card, insert network card. Restart, configure network and printer. yast2: Network Services -> Network Services (inetd) set up desired services, THEN use System -> Runlevel editor.
yast2: System -> Runlevel Editor: enable what's needed.
Unfortunately pure-ftpd is omitted from the 10.1 distribution.
See MISSING UTILITIES
for how to get a copy and install it.
(VERY OPTIONAL!) On laptop: shutdown, put SCSI card in lower slot and network card in upper. Then connect scanner and boot machine. LEAVE SCANNER CONNECTED UNTIL LAPTOP IS SHUT DOWN! SuSE claims disconnecting or connecting scanner from live OS is bad, and certainly on 8.1 this "poisoned" scanner access. Configure the scanner: yast2: Hardware -> Scanner
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This was needed on the laptop, and reported from 9.2. I haven't yet tried this with 10.1. The "Firewire" works in the "tower" machine using the drive's USB 2 port. This is more convenient because I have a pair of USB extensions on my desk near where the disk can sit. Be sure to plug the disk into a USB 2.0 connector, NOT USB 1! I haven't tried the disk on the "tower" machine with Firewire as of 27 Aug 2006. The module "sg" is needed for the (non functioning) scanner but not for the FireWire disk, so it's not in the following list.
From notes for SuSE Linux 7.3 on support portal: http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2003/03/mlasars_firewire.html Add these modules to the list at:
The disk should have been powered long enough to start before plugging the FireWire adapter into it's PCMCIA slot. 5-10 seconds after plugin cat /proc/scsi/scsi will identify the disk and a few seconds after that it will be automounted as /media/ieee1394-*yast2 -> /etc/sysconfig Editor -> System -> Kernel -> MODULES_LOADED_ON_BOOT ohci1394 sbp2
On the deskside with KDE, the Firewire disk starts on being plugged into a USB port. It is automatically recognized as a "Memory Stick" and a Konqueror window opened for it. I have found no provision to unmount it after use. Closing the disk's Konqueror window before disconnecting it seems to be adequate. The drive must then be powered off at it's power button.
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In addition to the following change, 10.1 completely disables connecting to the X-Server from external machines. Per Bug 130439 in Novell's Bugzilla, this can be overcome by changing an entry in
/etc/opt/kde3/share/config/kdm/kdmrc
ServerArgsLocal=-nolisten tcp
ServerArgsLocal=
The parameter must be left in place with it's former value removed. Then reboot to make the new setting effective. This must be done by editing, I found no way in YAST tools.
Per Novell TIDSuSE89, 28 Jun 2004 As of SuSE 9.1 the XFree server no longer accepts any remote access. This has been disabled by the option "-nolisten tcp" which is passed as a start argument.
To re-enable remote access, set the following variable in the file
/etc/sysconfig/displaymanager
to "yes":
The changes become effective after executing SuSEconfig and restarting the XServer.DISPLAYMANAGER_XSERVER_TCP_PORT_6000_OPEN
Be sure to include in ,cshrc or equivalent some instructions to set DISPLAY, or remote access to the X-Server still won't work. SuSE 10.1 changes who version again, so another version test has to be added. I'm currently using in .cshrc the following snippet:
set PCOUNT = 6
who --version | grep 5.3 >>& /dev/null && set PCOUNT = 5
who --version | grep 5.93 >>& /dev/null && set PCOUNT = 5
set WMI = `who -m`
if ( $PCOUNT <= $#WMI ) then
set DP = `echo $WMI[$PCOUNT] | tr -d '()'`
if ( ':0.0' =~ $DP ) then
else
setenv REMOTEHOST $DP
set DP = `echo $WMI[$PCOUNT] | tr -d '()'`:0
setenv DISPLAY $DP
## echo "#2 set DISPLAY"
endif
else
## this is a local login on a tty and is OK.
endif
unset PCOUNT
unset DP
unset WMI
Parameter position in who output varies with version, so check position if this code doesn't work for you.
so dosemu will display correctly. Restart X-Server to make this font effective.cp -p vga_cyr8x16.pcf.gz /usr/X11/lib/X11/fonts/misc/vga.pcf.gz cd /usr/X11/lib/X11/fonts/misc mkfontdir
I strongly recommend using dosemu version 0.98.1. More recent versions work well and may not need the font file installation mentioned here, but believe the drive is network mounted and so will not allow running defrag and scandisk.
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(in all KDE logins) If Firefox or ThunderBird are installed add their desktop icons.
For a good on-screen clock, try:
xclock -d -update 1 -bg green &
and position it conveniently.
Initiate it from Run Command... in the Gecko menu.
KDE will remember this command and subsequent position for your next login.
Should you inadvertently kill the clock, you'll have to restart it
from the above command.
Possibly one would want to add it to
Utilities -> Desktop in the Gecko menu.
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xine does not play DVD's out of the box.
Remove it if installed.
But it's different again with 10.1.
I'm not completely sure what's needed to make Xine work, but
the following at least is needed.
This information came from Jem Matzan's article
"Hacking OpenSUSE"
referenced at the end of this file.
Be sure to read the article!
These packages need to be installed:
xine-lib took a very long time to build. Remember to install as root! xine installs in /usr/local/bin, so it will be called from the appropriate Gecko sub-menu.
After installation the system will auto-start Kaffeine (if installed) upon inserting a video DVD. On my system Kaffeine could not play a video DVD, so I un-installed it. To play a video DVD, start xine from the Gecko menu, then click "DVD".
Use /sbin/hdparm -t to test disk access times on your system. See also the man page. hdparm did not yield significant improvement, so I did not add the following to /etc/init.d/boot.local.
# 22 Nov 2004 Attempt to set hdparms at boot time since # '-k1' appeared to not persist over reboot. rbw /sbin/hdparm -c1 -u1 -d1 -k1 /dev/hda /sbin/hdparm -u1 -d1 -k1 /dev/hdc
Also add the following to the same file to speed up DVD writing (may not be needed with 10.1, but WAS for 9.0):
# 22 Nov 2004 added per "IDE CD Writer" FAQ on SuSE website. rbw # /sbin/modprobe ide-scsi
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Sound driver worked correctly :out of the box".
Kaffeine (/opt/kde2/bin/kaffeine) plays audio CDs and can produce louder volume than other players. It's track lister is a bit flaky getting started. It's equalizer is non-functional on rel-home at least.
alsamixergui (/usr/X11R6/bin/alsamixergui) is a good mixer, but
don't use alsamixer.
The default KMix (under the loudspeaker icon at the right of the taskbar)
works quite well, so alsamixergui may not be needed.
Ensure after replacing a DVD or CD drive that the audio cable goes
to the CD / DVD connector on the sound card and isn't hiding on
some other connector!
When the default CD player is running it's interrupt rate is frequent enough to
make the Gecko menu unusable.
Fortunately, if the player is killed the CD keeps on playing...
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Classic ftpd is no more with this distribution, nor is pure-ftpd.
Secure ftpd allows only anonymous connections with no cd capability.
Use instead pure-ftp (not in the distribution, see
MISSING UTILITIES ).
BUT: DON'T use pure-ftp with SuSE 8.x.
pure-ftp will have to be started by boot.local.
Be sure to NOT remove xinetd if you clean out xine to replace it
with a (working) version from outside the distribution DVD!
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KDE no longer allows changing the window manager list in the control -> session manager tab. In particular, olvwm no longer exists.
In each user's home directory need to remove the existing .xinitrc which forced olvwm and copy in a fresh version of .xinitrc.template to enable any window manager to start.
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VMWare: needs kernel sources to install. Updating a kernel requires re-installing VMWare, so use the following instructions. An apparently successful sequence is:
cd /usr/src/linux make cloneconfig ; make prepare-all depmod -a (was not used by Joe Harmon, may not be needed.)
submount is not the problem, and I still don't know what is. However, the distribution DVD works correctly from a root login. It usually does not work from YaST invoked from a non-root login. This behavior changed by 1 July 2006, possibly with installation of SuSE 10.0. It's another case of "used to work".
SuSE 9.2 installations have not seen this problem, even with submount installed. The bottom line is: install with an rpm command line like:
rpm -i VMware-workstation-5.5.2-29772.i386.rpm
Do you want networking for your virtual machines? (yes/no/help) [yes] <- yes . vmnet0 is bridged to eth0 Do you want to be able to use NAT networking in your virtual machines? (yes/no/help) <- yes Do you want this program to probe for an unused private subnet? (yes/no/help) <- no What will be the IP address of your host on the private network? inet addr 172.16.64.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 . vmnet8 is a NAT network on private subnet 172.16.64.0. Do you wish to configure another NAT network? (yes/no) [no] <- no Do you want to be able to use host-only networking in your virtual machines? <- yes Do you want this program to probe for an unused private subnet? (yes/no/help) <- no What will be the IP address of your host on the private network? inet addr 192.168.47.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 . vmnet1 is a host-only network on private subnet 192.168.47.0. Do you wish to configure another host-only network? (yes/no) <- no You can now run VMware Workstation by invoking the following command: "/usr/bin/vmware".
This step is REQUIRED before reboot with VMware 5.x also. Deceptively, the computer will run normally without this step, but will have major problems finding modules on the next boot.cd /lib/modules depmod -a
VMWARE 5.x no longer uses Samba for connection to the host Linux system. Printer connection worked "automagically" on firing up an existing installation, needing only (as Administrator) to correct the queue on the remote printer server.
Connection to the host file system is through a share, which will need to be set up for each user.
Initially leave the floppy connected. For the CD/DVD select /dev/hdc and legacy emulation. After installation, set both floppy and CD/DVD to disconnect at startup. In some cases leaving the CD/DVD connected invites the Guest OS to check the drive for a new disk about every 4 seconds. These checks briefly hang the Guest OS and are extremely annoying.
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Set up the virtual machine initially with only Bridged Networking. After installing the guest OS (in this case Windows 2000 Professional), get the first update for Internet Explorer. Following the obligatory reboot, defrag the windows disk. Continue alternating updates with defrag until all updates are installed (approximately 60 in May 2005).
Any time after the first IE update, shut down the virtual machine. Edit VM settings to add a second Ethernet adapter for Host-only Network. After restarting the guest OS, it should discover the new adapter and install a driver. Now the host's file system should be available. If you have set up SAMBA access accounts you can test this from "Network Places" or "Windows Explorer".
VMWare has for several versions omitted connecting to the host's printer system through "SAMBA Lite". This omission prevents printing from the guest unless the local network has printer(s) on it. If it does, the following settings in Guest OS printer set-up will provide printer access.
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VMWare 5.x no longer provides "Samba Lite". Fortunately, as noted above, it's not needed. Connection to host file system works by shares.
The solution below from SDB:VMware failed.
Try instead from:
http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=489640
Novell has changed USB structure in 10.1 :-( . You've to (under root):
mount -t usbfs /dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb
You can also add a line in fstab (to mount it at system reboot)
but add this line after the line containing /proc
/dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb usbfs defaults 0 0
The above connects the Panasonic voice recorder to the emulated windows,
but attempting to access the recorder from it's application program abends Windows.
Problems connecting USB 2.0 devices through VMWare's USB 1.1 "port" have been mentioned. However, usbview describes the recorder in question as a 1.1 device, so there is some other problem. SuSE 10.0 on the deskside machine has a related problem in that the recorder does not connect through at least one of the 4 external USB ports, but does connect through at least one other of them.
So try from:
http://www.vmware.com/community/message.jspa?messageID=442117
Adding to <filename>.vmx:
usb.present = "TRUE"
(THE FOLLOWING IS THE LINK CORRESPONDING TO YOUR USB:)
usb.generic.devfsPath = "/proc/bus/usb"
usb.generic.skipsetconfig = "true"
usb.generic.autoconnect = "true"
This one needs further checking.
From http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:VMware_-_USB_support
SDB:VMware - USB support
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SuSE's "update" patch to mozilla 1.7.13, which appears to be the last mozilla version ever posted to mozilla.com, puts the plugins directory in /opt/mozilla/lib/plugins instead of the expected /opt/mozilla/plugins, with the result that no plugins are reported by about:plugins. Furthermore, the Real Player and Flash plugins are linked instead of copied, which has been found to produce a slow or inoperative plugin. Moving /opt/mozilla/lib/plugins to /opt/mozilla/plugins makes the plugins visible.
In Mozilla and Firefox, use the url about:config to view and control settings not available from the Edit -> Preferences menu. In Linux, Firefox doesn't know how to start Thunderbird for a mailto:. See "Launchy" below for a workaround.
Following browser installation (Firefox at least, also Mozilla if you use it) several plug-ins need installing: Thunderbird is a mailtool only. I don't know which of these it needs. Thunderbird setups should be similar to the following. I recommend installing to /opt/firefox, /opt/mozilla, etc. to reduce clutter in /usr and /usr/local. Java will take care of itself, and It's a large and complex enough installation. I recommend letting it go to the default location, even if there is a choice. Check for what's there by entering "about:plugins" in the browser's URL window and hit "Enter".
When setting up Thunderbird, or Mozilla's mailtool, observe the following cautions:
user_pref("mail.server.server1.login_at_startup", true);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.directory", "/home/<user>/.mozilla/<path_to>/Mail/<name_of_mail_server>");
user_pref("mail.server.server1.directory-rel", "[ProfD]Mail/<name_of_mail_server>");
This is the easiest. Your distribution should have both runtime and development versions. Install at least runtime package (JRE) java-1_4_2-sun or later, install j2sdk for development.
Get updates from http://java.sun.com/
Do the following as root: Following installation run "updatedb". Then cd to each browser's plugin directory, for example:
cd /opt/mozilla/plugins cd /opt/firefox/plugins
and run the command:
locate libjavaplugin_oji.so | grep gcc32
if this returns exactly one line, then run the command:
ln -s `locate libjavaplugin_oji.so | grep gcc32`
If there is more than one response, you get to figure out which one to use.
This has multiple versions, with current Linuces you'll need "RealPlayer 10", which is in SuSE 10.1 at least.
NB: it's tempting to "ln -s" instead of "cp -p", and linked files will work. However, linked files drastically slow Firefox's response to changing selections from, for example, bbc.co.uk/radio based on tests 14 Apr 2005- use 'cp -p'!
Do the following as root: Following installation run "updatedb". Then cd to each browser's plugin directory, for example:
cd /opt/mozilla/plugins cd /opt/firefox/plugins
and run the command:
ls -lt `locate nphelix.so` | grep -v '^l'
Copy the resulting file into the plugins directory.
Then cd to each browser's components directory, for example:
cd /opt/mozilla/components cd /opt/firefox/components
and run the command:
ls -lt `locate nphelix.xpt` | grep -v '^l'
Copy the resulting file into the components directory.
Starting October 2005 I've noticed many annoying pop-up ads could not be blocked by Firefox. These ads were presented by Shockwave. You may wish to NOT INSTALL SHOCKWAVE to prevent these ads from appearing. The extension Adblock can mask Shockwave pop-ups, but cannot prevent them. Best control is to not install Shockwave / Flash.
Version 7.x is in SuSE 9.2 at least. Possibly no action is required other than installing the package "flash-player". Check each browser with "about:plugins". If "flash-player" is installed but not recognized by a browser, then do the following as root:
Following installation run "updatedb". Then cd to each browser's plugin directory, for example:
cd /opt/mozilla/plugins cd /opt/firefox/plugins
and run the command:
ls -lt `locate libflashplayer.so` | grep -v '^l'
Copy the resulting file into the plugins directory.
Then cd to each browser's components directory, for example:
cd /opt/mozilla/components cd /opt/firefox/components
and run the command:
ls -lt `locate flashplayer.xpt` | grep -v '^l'
Copy the resulting file into the components directory.
This is an extension which can enable Firefox to launch Thunderbird for a mailto:. Unfortunately, Mozilla cannot be similarly started because of conflicts in it's start-up script (it wants to run mozilla-bin from the firefox directory). Possibly come creative environment setups for MOZILLA_HOME and MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME can correct this failure.
You will need to install launchy, then provide instructions to start Thunderbird.
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Versions starting with 2.0 have rpm packages which are thinly disguised installer file sets. At least installation (and removal!) are more convenient. 2.0 makes the OpenDocument file formats available. Shifting to these is a one-way trip. Saving to 1.x file formats is (currently) an option. 1.5 is the last 1.x version. Downloaded versions of this have installers instead of an .rpm package. The version in the SuSE distribution is packaged.
When replacing the distro copy with one from openoffice.org, first un-install the distro's package(s). Contrary to information given with 2.0, running this version before completely removing all configuration files and directories from 1.x resulted in hanging OO (as I remember). If using an installer, use the command:
./setup -net
Install it to /opt/OpenOffice.org<version number>, then link /opt/OpenOffice to this directory.
Set all .alias and .*menu* references to OpenOffice to use this link instead of the specific version.
After installation AND each user has started the new version for the first time:
cd /home/<user_dir>/.kde/share/applnk
and remove older directories with names in the form of:
'OpenOffice.org <version_number>'
and YES, that IS a SPACE in the middle of the directory name, hence the single quotes.
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SuSE 10.1 lacks rup (remote uptime) and the companion rstatd which responds to rup requests. Consequently the local network can not be readily probed to determine which computers are up. If all machines on the network are listed in the local /etc/hosts file, the following perl script emulates rup sufficiently to announce which machines are up:
#!/usr/bin/perl
# this is needed for SuSE 10 which inexplicably lacks rup, rstatd, etc.
# 5 Jan 2005 Robert B. White
#
$DOMAINNAME = `dnsdomainname` ;
chomp $DOMAINNAME ;
open ( HOSTS, "</etc/hosts" ) or die ( "Cannot open /etc/hosts" ) ;
while ( $_ = <HOSTS> )
{
if ( $_ !~ m/#/ )
{
if ( 1 < index ( $_, $DOMAINNAME ) )
{
@my_line = split ;
## print $my_line[ 2 ] . "\n" ;
print `ping -c 1 -W 1 $my_line[ 2 ] | grep from` ;
}
}
}
close ( HOSTS ) ;
Fortunately, rup / rstatd are available from
sourceforge
as a tarball.
After following the instructions in INSTALL, also (as root) execute the
command:
make install-man
to install the man pages.
Then install (as root) the following file as /etc/xinetd.d/rstatd:
# default: off
# description: The rpc.statd server implements the NSM (Network Status Monitor)
# RPC protocol..
service rstatd
{
rpc_version = 1-5
socket_type = dgram
protocol = udp
wait = yes
user = root
group = root
server = /usr/local/sbin/rpc.rstatd
type = RPC
type = RPC
type = RPC
flags = IPv4
}
Finally, use
yast2 -> Network Services -> Network Services (xinetd)
to toggle rstatd on and save the configuration.
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SuSE 10.1 lacks qps, a visual process manager. This utility is a more powerful version of top, and allows sorting the display by any column head, for example PID, %CPU, or CMDLINE; or ordering by process tree starting with PID 1, init. QPS can also send signals such as STOP, KILL, etc. to a process. Fortunately qps from SuSE 9.2 works correctly, and should be copied into /usr/bin/qps and added to K Menu -> System -> Monitor.
A possible source for QPS is:
YoLinux
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SuSE 10.1 lacks pure-ftpd, a very convenient ftp server for local networks.
pureftpd.org
has sources available, for example:
pure-ftpd-1.0.21.
Follow the included instructions to install.
pure-ftpd installed this way cannot be started from xinetd.
Instead, add the following to /etc/init.d/boot.local
# REMEMBER THE '&', ELSE BOOT HANGS HERE!! /usr/local/sbin/pure-ftpd &
Why should you care about this? gxditview is the on-screen PostScript viewer for groff. Without it groff is broken for all output to screen. The alternatives xditview and gv do not accept piped input. ghostview is also not supplied in SuSE 10.1. Instead use the similar kghostview.
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olvwm does not exist. While this window manager is getting old, it allows mapping the desktop to a virtual window several times larger than the screen, stretching windows to fill any position and area in the virtual desktop. Most usefully it lets the user COMPLETELY customize workspace menus, specifying any tree structure, pinning any menu to the desktop (comparable to a "tear-off" menu), executing any arbitrary command from a menu button, and specifying a default commend for each sub-menu (which can be executed just by dragging to the menu). It can also automatically construct a menu from all files in a directory, which is both convenient and allows dynamic menu changes.
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Starting with SuSE 10.0 enscript, contrary to its man page, does NOT default to character set ISO-8859-1. enscript command lines must now explicitly specify the font, as in:
alias enscript '/usr/bin/enscript -X 88591 '
which you might want to insert into .aliases or .cshrc or .tcshrc if you use csh or tcsh, or an equivalent file for other shells.
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After replacing a CD or DVD drive,
yast2 -> Software -> Software Management may not
be able to find the installation CD / DVD.
The URL cited appears to be correct, and matches that claimed by
yast2 -> Software -> Installation Source.
Corrective action appears to be to start yast2 -> Software -> Installation Source,
ensure the desired source is selected.
Then left-click "Edit", and on the drop-down menu which appears click "Refresh".
Following this same CD or DVD drive replacement,
yast2 -> Hardware -> CD-ROM Drives
will show an entry for each "new" appearance of a drive,
possibly including multiple appearances of some drive(s).
If any entry shows a mount point for a drive which is no longer present,
select the entry and click the "Remove" button.
If no mount point is shown for a currently present drive, select it's entry
and click "Add".
I don't know a means to remove obsolete entries from this list.
Possibly something under /var/adm/YaST/InstSrcManager will help.
While the above actions may help, submount is not the problem, and I still don't know what is. However, the distribution DVD works correctly from a root login. It usually does not work from YaST invoked from a non-root login. This behavior changed by 1 July 2006, possibly with installation of SuSE 10.0. It's another case of "used to work".
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Now it's time to read Jem Matzan's article "Hacking OpenSUSE" on Desktop Linux.com.
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