27 Oct 2007
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Robert B. White
27 Oct 2007 |
Have a look at this MAJOR resource for Linux help: http://www.howtoforge.com/.
These are my notes from installing DEBIAN Linux on a WinBook W245 laptop Linux is the primary OS, though the laptop can boot Windows 2000. 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 --probeonlyHaving 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):
/home, which is where all user
data lives.
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).
A /boot partition does not have to be very large, mine currently uses 15MB, so a 50MB
allocation should be plenty.
If all partitions are "ext3" /boot would need to be separate only
in case of cylinder limits mentioned above.
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.
If you want to run DOS-emu, version 0.98 gives better disk access than more recent ones. This version also allows copy and paste via mouse, and generally works better than running DOS in a VMware emulation. Provide a primary partition, 100MB to 500MB should be plenty. Make this the first partition of you want to boot DOS directly.
Similarly, if you want a dual-boot system with Windows, allocate the first partition as a primary one and specify a windows file type. Install Windows before installing Linux. Linux can use entirely secondary partitions. DOS-emu could then be in the second primary partition. DOS would then not be bootable, but will work fine in DOS-emu.
With 10.2 "Reiser" is no longer the default file system, and has declining support. Take the "ext3" default unless you have a good reason to do otherwise (and there could be good reasons...).
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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If you're running a private or home ether-net (and you SHOULD be doing this on the LAN side of a hardware firewall even if you have only 1 computer!) set up your home network / DHCP server to use one of the following address ranges:
# 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)
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.
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One SERIOUS problem noted immediately is that the X11 display system presents a 1024 x 768 display despite all SAX settings at 1280 x 768. This can be corrected!
Look for commands in /sbin incorporating the name "resolution", as:
ls -l /sbin | grep resolution
Assuming you get "915resolution",
as root run the command:
915resolution -l
and note which mode corresponds to your current display (in my case 58).
Experimentation suggets the best result is to select by horizontal pixel
count and color depth, then modify vertical pixel count to suit.
Then do the following:
Unfortunately, while this works it isn't "permanent", needing to be done
every boot.
This command needs to be added to /etc/init.d/boot.local as:
# REMEMBER THE '&', ELSE BOOT HANGS HERE!! /sbin/915resolution 58 1280 768 &
Thanks to "User:Jvdoever" at http://en.opensuse.org/User:Jvdoever for the analysis which led to this correction!
Running W2K within VMware resulted in approximately 80MB of memory swapping in a 256MB system. This makes VMware effectively useless for Laptops (or any other machine) with less than 512MB memory, and 1GB is a whole lot better.
On the laptop, have the SCSI and Fire-Wire cards (in general everything other than networking cards which you expect to use) inserted initially so they will be detected by hardware probes and the drivers installed from the distribution. After initial SW load remove the SCSI card and install the network one (yes, in the lower slot...) before setting up the network. (It seemed to work OK, if not error free, during a trial installation 21 Jan 2005.)
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 hot-plug (which required "ifplugd") "eth0" could not be found.
These appear not to be needed for SuSE 10.2, 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=0X791 (1024x768, 16 bit color:
splash screen covers startup messages)
or
vga=0X317 (1280x768, 32 bit color:
splash screen covers startup messages, but shutdown screen is garbled)
vga=0X792 (1024x768, 24 bit color:
splash screen does not cover startup messages)
The relation between vga= and splash behavior varies with
frame-buffer 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 a SCSI scanner to work with the laptop, though it used to. Still works fine on desk-side. A USB scanner works correctly on both desk-side and laptop.
The following change allowed a SCSI scanner to work long enough to hang the
laptop during setup using yast2 -> Hardware -> Scanner
After that it was no longer detected.
From: htt://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.
As soon as possible after this reboot, copy
/usr/share/doc/packages/gvim/gvimrc_example.vim to
/etc/gvimrc
Then edit the file and change the line "set guifont=monospace"
to "set guifont=monospace\ 8" for a laptop or 9 for deskside.
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Desktop -> Window Behavior: set "focus follows Mouse" 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 /etc/X11/app-defaults/XOsview: set "xosview*net:" to True.
On a laptop, also in this file set "xosview*battery:" to "True"
Unfortunately this DOESN't cause XOsview to display
the battery monitor.
This moved to:
Edit /usr/share/X11/app-defaults/XTerm: comment out ScrollBar
yast2: System -> /etc/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.
Akkana Peck, author of "Beginning GIMP From Novice to Professional", says that GIMP's printing mechanism causes the color problems I've indicated. The best cure is to NOT print directly from GIMP.
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.
The HP 8250 has another problem: printing to it from acroread ALWAYS rotates the page image to landscape, regardless of what combinations of page orientation I've used in acroread, printer setup, and the program which generated the original file. Page orientation on the Brother HL-5140 is always OK.
Printer drivers can be a problem in Linux. See Linux Foundation's Open Printing Web page for what is likely to work and where to get drivers. Thanks to Smart Computing Magazine, July 2007,page 44 for this tip.
This is really slick: it sets your clock on every boot-up.
yast2: Network Services -> NTP Configuration: 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 (xinetd)
set up desired services, THEN use System -> Runlevel editor.
yast2: System -> Runlevel Editor: enable what's needed.
Unfortunately pure-ftpd is omitted from the 10.2 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 10.2. 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:
yast2 -> /etc/sysconfig Editor -> System -> Kernel -> MODULES_LOADED_ON_BOOT
ohci1394 sbp2
The disk should have been powered long enough to start before plugging
the FireWire adapter into it's PCMCIA slot.
5-10 seconds after plug-in cat /proc/scsi/scsi will identify
the disk and a few seconds after that it will be automounted as
/media/ieee1394-*
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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DEBIAN by default completely disables connecting to the X-Server from external machines.
The following seems to enable connections.
FWIW, attempts to run gvim as root elicited the error message before implementing
the following change but did not afterwards:
(vim:6378): GnomeUI-WARNING **: While connecting to session manager:
Authentication Rejected, reason : None of the authentication protocols specified are supported and host-based authentication failed.
Running gvim as a non-root user elicits no error message.
/etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc contains:
exec /usr/bin/X11/X -dpi 100 -nolisten tcp
Change this to:
exec /usr/bin/X11/X -dpi 100
Reboot may be needed after this, in any case I did.
However, the version of who has changed again, so see the
changes to .cshrc below.
Be sure to include in .cshrc or equivalent some instructions
to set DISPLAY, or remote access to the X-Server still
won't work.
DEBIAN has yet another version of who, so another version
test has to be added.
But there's a more efficient way to detect remote logins:
`who -m` returns:(hostname) for a remote login, this can be
detected directly. It will be the last parameter in the return.
I'm currently using in .cshrc the following snippet:
set PCOUNT = 6 # SuSE 9.2
who --version | grep 5.3 >>& /dev/null && set PCOUNT = 5 # SuSE 10.0
who --version | grep 5.93 >>& /dev/null && set PCOUNT = 5 # SuSE 10.1
who --version | grep 5.97 >>& /dev/null && set PCOUNT = 5 # Debian
who --version | grep 6.4 >>& /dev/null && set PCOUNT = 5 # SuSE 10.2
set WMI = `who -m`
if ( $PCOUNT <= $#WMI ) then
# echo $WMI[6]
set DP = `echo $WMI[$PCOUNT] | tr -d '()'`
if ( ':0.0' =~ $DP ) then
## setenv DISPLAY `hostname`:0
## echo "#1 set DISPLAY"
else
setenv REMOTEHOST $DP
set DP = `echo $WMI[$PCOUNT] | tr -d '()'`:0
setenv DISPLAY $DP
## echo "#2 set DISPLAY"
endif
## echo DISPLAY = $DP
else
## actually this is a local login on a tty and is OK.
## echo 'zu kurz'
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.
DOS-emu run on an external machine displayed correctly without
installing the font as described here, so you may not need to
do it.
However, I had already installed DOS-emu from Debian's extensive package
collection, so this may have installed an appropriate
font.
If you want to run DOS-emu (xdos), you may need to
(as root) install the font
vga_cyr8x16
as follows:
cp -p vga_cyr8x16.pcf.gz /usr/share/fonts/X11/misc/vga.pcf.gz
cd /usr/share/fonts/X11/misc
mkfontdir
so DOS-emu will display correctly. Restart X-Server to make this font effective.
I strongly recommend using DOS-emu 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. I have not tried the version installed by Debian.
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Debian provides it's own versions:
Firefox becomes Iceweasel
Thunderbird becomes Icedove
Iceweasel started correctly and found my Firefox bookmarks.
Icedove, however, did not find my existing Thunderbird mailfiles.
I need to try importing on startup to see if that finds the files.
(in all KDE logins) If Iceweasel or Icedove 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... right-click desktop (it's no longer 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.
.openwin-init.Xresources.xinitrcmv .openwin-init .not.openwin-init.mv .Xresources .not.Xresourcesmv .xinitrc .not.xinitrccp -p /etc/skel/.xinitrc.template .xinitrc
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xine does not play DVD's out of the box.
Remove it if installed.
Be sure to NOT remove xinetd if you clean out xine to replace it
with a (working) version from outside the distribution DVD!
But it's different again with 10.2.
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, and from instructions at www.xinehq.de.
Be sure to read Jem's article!
su root
rpm -i <files_listed above>
Remember to install as root!
After installation the system should auto-start Kaffeine (if installed) upon inserting a video DVD. To play a video DVD with xine, start xine from the Gecko menu, then click "DVD".
If xine does not start automagically on inserting a Video DVD, first remove any
existing .xine directory, then start xine from a command line
and let it rebuild the .xine directory.
Also be sure to set:
GekkoMenu -> Configure Desktop -> KDE Components -> File Associations -> media -> dvdvideo
Use /sbin/hdparm -t to test disk access times on your system.
See also the man page.
hdparm did not report significant improvement to the WinBook laptop.
However, DVD Video motion on the laptop was slightly jerky without the following
command for /dev/hdc, and distinctly smooth with it, so I added the line.
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 10.2, 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 recording using "krecord" worked well on the deskside machine (under SuSE 10.0) AFTER removing a SondBlaster card and using instead sound drivers built into the motherboard. Sound recording on the WinBook 245 resulted in a very annoying ringing from transients and high pitched (3KHz to 5KHz?) sounds. It was essentially unusable. 10.2 is at least as bad, for example a piano sounds like a harpsichord.
Sound driver worked correctly "out of the box".
Kaffeine (/opt/kde3/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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DEBIAN does not install an ftp daemon by default.
Search for and install gftp and pure-ftpd.
This is TBD:
pure-ftp will have to be started by boot.local.
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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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On 9 May 2007 VMware 6.0 appeared at http://www.vmware.com/ It installs per the instructions given below for 5.x. Unfortunately the toolbars at the top of VMware's window are no longer unpinnable, costing about 0.5" of height. On a deskside machine this makes no difference, but on a laptop it hurts! This VMware version retains the USB connection restored in a recent Kernel patch (to 2.6.18.8-0.3 ). The good news is this version runs Vista. There is still no capability to copy or paste by mouse in a DOS emulation.
Attempt to install VMWARE per
http://www.howtoforge.com/debian_sarge_vmware_server_howto
The .rpm package had already been converted to .deb
using aliae and installed using:
dpkg -i vmwareworkstation_5.5.5-56456_i386.deb
apt-get install kernel-headers-`uname -r` libx11-6 libx11-dev x-window-system-core x-window-system xspecs libxtst6 xlibs-dev
resulted in:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
E: Couldn't find package kernel-headers-2.6.18-5-686
Installed kernel headers are 2.6.18-7 (!!).
VMware does not establish host file system connections when the Ethernet
adapter is swapped out for Wi-Fi.
No DHCP servers are started on any virtual Ethernet.
Furthermore, from the Workstation 5 User's Manual, page 309,
Additionally, wireless network bridging is supported for Windows hosts.
Note: NOT for Linux hosts!
Making a fresh install with the Wi-Fi adapter running instead of the Ethernet
one at least allows both vmnet1 and vmnet8 to start and run.
This configuration, with NAT selected instead of bridged, allows external network access.
Unfortunately this does not allow access to the host file system from the
guest Windows OS.
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* (which should be all)
linux, as:
ln -s linux-source-2.6.18 linux
vmware-config.pl
do the following as root:
This is abstracted from "How to install VMware 5.0 workstation on SUSE Linux 10.0"
By Joe Harmon, 9 Sep 2005.
http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/15963.html
cd /usr/src/linux
make cloneconfig && make prepare-all && depmod -a
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-5.5.4-44386.i386.rpm
vmware-config.pl
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".
vmware-config.pl):
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.
192.168.2.20)
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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.
Kernel 2.6.18.8-0.3, delivered in a patch installed 3 May 2007, restores
/proc/bus/usb.
This directory is empty, but is available as a mount point.
Thus, adding to /etc/fstab, after the line containing /proc,
the line:
/dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb usbfs defaults 0 0
makes USB again accessible to VMware guests.
This solution is from:
http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=489640
Novell has changed USB structure in 10.1 :-( . You have to (under root):
mount -t usbfs /dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb
You can also add a line in fstab (to mount usbfs 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.
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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.
Firefox from the distribution CD / DVD installs into /usr/lib/firefox,
starts from firefox.sh instead of firefox,
and automagically knows about Flash.
If you install Firefox from the distribution CD / DVD you will be forever plagued
by popup ads.
I recommend downloading Firefox from
mozilla.com
and installing it into
/opt/firefox.<version>, which is linked by /opt/firefox
.
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:
Edit -> Account Settings -> Server Settings (Thunderbird)Edit -> Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings ->
Server Settings (Mozilla)prefs.js for Thunderbird or Mozilla mail tool ensure a line like:
user_pref("mail.server.server1.login_at_startup", true);
prefs.js for Thunderbird or Mozilla mail tool ensure lines like:
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 `locate /firefox | grep '/plugins$'` ; pwd
cd `locate /mozilla | grep '/plugins$'` ; pwd
If these commands return more than one response, you get to figure out which one
to use.
In each directory run the command:
ln -s `locate libjavaplugin_oji.so | grep /java | grep -v gcc`
This has multiple versions, with current Linuces you'll need "RealPlayer 10", which is in SuSE 10.1 at least.
NB: it's tempting to "ln -s" instead of "cp -p", and linked files
will work.
However, linked files drastically slow Firefox's
response to changing selections from, for example, bbc.co.uk/radio
based on tests 14 Apr 2005- use 'cp -p'!
Do the following as root:
Following installation run "updatedb".
Then cd to each browser's plugin directory, for example:
cd `locate /firefox | grep '/plugins$'` ; pwd
cd `locate /mozilla | grep '/plugins$'` ; pwd
If these commands return more than one response, you get to figure out which one
to use.
In each directory run the command:
ls -lt `locate nphelix.so | grep /lib/`
Copy the resulting file into the plugins directory.
Then cd to each browser's components directory, for example:
cd `locate /firefox | grep '/components$' | grep -v extensions` ; pwd
cd `locate /mozilla | grep '/components$' | grep -v extensions` ; pwd
and run the command:
ls -lt `locate nphelix.xpt | grep /lib/`
Copy the resulting file into the components directory.
Starting October 2005 I've noticed many annoying pop-up ads could not be blocked by Firefox. These ads were presented by Shockwave. You may wish to NOT INSTALL SHOCKWAVE to prevent these ads from appearing. The extension Adblock can mask Shockwave pop-ups, but cannot prevent them. Best control is to not install Shockwave / Flash.
If you install Mozilla or Firefox from the distribution media instead of by
download from mozilla.org, in SuSE (at least) Flash will be found "automagically"
without the following installation steps.
This is because the distribution versions (at least) know to look for plugins in
/usr/lib/browser-plugins.
Renaming libflashplayer.so and flashplayer.xpt
does NOT hide them!
Fortunately, moving these files to a different directory does hide them.
Version 7.x is in SuSE 9.2 at least. Possibly no action is required other than installing the package "flash-player". Check each browser with "about:plugins". If "flash-player" is installed but not recognized by a browser, then do the following as root:
Following installation run "updatedb".
Then cd to each browser's plugin directory, for example:
cd `locate /firefox | grep '/plugins$'` ; pwd
cd `locate /mozilla | grep '/plugins$'` ; pwd
If these commands return more than one response, you get to figure out which one
to use.
In each directory run the command:
ls -lt `locate libflashplayer.so | grep /lib/`
Copy the resulting file into the plugins directory.
cd `locate /firefox | grep '/components$' | grep -v extensions` ; pwd
cd `locate /mozilla | grep '/components$' | grep -v extensions` ; pwd
ls -lt `locate flashplayer.xpt | grep /lib/`
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.
Unfortunately as of 20 Jan 2007 Launchy 4.2.0 does not work with Firefox 2.x,
only through 1.5.0.
When it does work, the following should install it.
You will need to install launchy, then provide instructions to start Thunderbird.
Tools -> Add-ons -> Get Extensions
launchy.xml file to tell launchy
how to start Thunderbird.
You will need to know exactly how you start Thunderbird.
Use the .xml file builder provided by Launchy:
Tools -> Extensions
launchy.xml
file for your needs.
chrome
directory used by Firefox.
Identify the directory by looking for a current copy of prefs.js.
launchy.xml belongs in the chrome sub-directory of this directory.
/home/rbw/.mozilla/firefox/dp3r1rh2.rbw/chrome, not the
/home/rbw/.mozilla/rbw/z05h6qxg.slt/chrome expected from the instructions
on the launchy home page.
mailto: in a web page displayed by Firefox,
right-click the link instead of left-clicking it.
This will bring up Launchy's menu with an option to start a Thunderbird compose window.
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18 September 2007 IBM announced it's version of "OpenOffice", Lotus Symphony, downloadable from: http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.jspa You will have to sign up to to this, which means leaving your email, name, address and phone number. While the on screen layout is different from OpenOffice 2.x, and its internal construction is wildly different, a quick test indicates it can read OO 1.1.5 files and shares the same problems reported next for 2.x. It has its own internal web browser. It lacks the File -> Properties... dialog box of OpenOffice.
OO_2X (as of OOo_2.1.0_LinuxIntel_install_en-US.tar.gz) has no apparent means to specify web browser, email tool, etc. as did OOo_1.1.5_LinuxIntel_install.tar.gz. Konqueror becomes the default, and therefore only, web browser.
Fonts are rendered larger on screen than in OpenOffice 1.1.5, resulting in printed text occupying less page height than displayed on screen.
Furthermore, while the mail merge function can deliver it's output into a single file, each "envelope" is 2 pages. The second page was hidden and not deleteable, but would print to a .pdf file.
Web browser startup from hyperlinks in spreadsheets became corrupted after installing the FamilySearch Indexer, which uses Java WebStart. Don't know what is the connection here, except that attempting to use a hyperlink now starts javaws. There may be a connection through konqueror, which for unknown reason(s) is the browser used by OO 2 if WebStart can be disabled. The best result I could get was for OO 2 to start konqueror with a pop-up to specify the application, and then specify konqueror with the parameter %f.
Based on the above malfunctions, time to restore OO 1.5.x...
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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DEBIAN does not by default install 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.
Search for and install rstatd and rstat-client to
get these capabilities.
If DEBIAN doesn't offer a means to start rstatd, add to following
to /etc/xinetd.d/rstatd or equivalent:
# 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
}
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DEBIAN has qps, a visual process manager but does not
install it by default.
Search for and install qps.
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.
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DEBIAN has pure-ftpd, a very convenient ftp server for local networks
but does not install it by default.
Search for and add pure-ftpd.
If pure-ftpd does not start "automagically",
add the following or equivalent to /etc/init.d/boot.local or equivalent
# 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 DEBIAN.
Instead use the similar kghostview, which package you will need to add.
DEBIAN supplies xditview and many other utilities in the
xbase-clients package which is selected by default.
gxditview is in the groff package which you
will need to add.
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DEBIAN lacks xv.
This is a small, quick program which displays a wide variety of
image files.
Whether there is an acceptable substitute is TBD.
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olvwm is available in DEBIAN!.
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.
enscript will then print German special characters correctly.
Unfortunately specifying the character set does not eliminate "artifacts"
which enscript appends to some characters, apparently starting with SuSE 10.2.
These "artifacts" appear not to come from enscript since
a .pdf file which does not display them in acroread will display them
when printed.
The answer to this problem is the PPD File for the printer, see the next item.
PPD file selection for Brother HL-5140 defaults to
Brother/HL-5140-lj4dith.ppd.gz
instead of the recommended
Brother/HL-5140-hl1250.ppd.gz.
The default file offers inferior capabilities (e.g. 600 DPI printing insead of
1200 x 600 DPI), and produces artifacts randomly (but consistently) attached
to some characters.
When setting up this printer DO NOT accept the default PPD file, specify the recommended one!
Acroread versions as of 14 Jun 2007
do not correctly render Arial and Times New Roman as produced
by Legacy 6.0 (Genealogy S/W for Windoze) if
Edit -> Preferences -> Page Layout is set to Single Page.
With this setting left in Automatic these fonts render correctly.
Other settings of Page Layout need to be checked.
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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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In April 2007 while testing software for the SPAUG CD I discovered a MAJOR resource for Linux help: http://www.howtoforge.com/. This site helps with 7 major Linux distributions and indexes 15 general topics, etc. Definitely try it!
Now it's time to read Jem Matzan's article "Hacking OpenSUSE" on Desktop Linux.com.
Also see Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols' article "Putting openSUSE 10.2 through its paces" on Desktop Linux.com.
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