Chip 1998 September/CHIP Eylül 1998.iso/Slackwar/docs/Config-HOWTO

Text File | 1997-11-17 | 33KB | 1,027 lines

  Configuration HOWTO
  By Guido Gonzato, [e-mail]
  v0.99.3, 4 November 1997

  This HOWTO aims at making the fine-tuning of your newly installed
  Linux box quicker and easier. Here you will find a set of configura¡
  tions for the most common applications, so you can start to work with
  a well-usable system.

  1.  Introduction

  I have installed Linux on many PCs, and I've noted that current
  distributions are terrific, but often come with annoying lack of basic
  configuration. Most programs will work out of the box, but some won't.
  This is a shame: I don't see any reason why the newcomer should bear
  with the old and trite ``backspace problem'', or think that emacs
  doesn't have colours, or list directories contents in black and white.

  To help myself remember what needs to be configured first, I wrote a
  summary that I later expanded to become this HOWTO. Here you will find
  a handful of configuration examples for the most common applications.
  These examples are based on my personal experience installing Red Hat-
  based Linux boxes, so if you use other distributions, be aware. Please
  don't take any tips in this work as gospel: they just happen to work
  for me. In any case, if you want to know more you'll have to read the
  package docs and one of more HOWTOs on the subject. This HOWTO is just
  a summary---hopefully, handy and useful.

  There can be endless hardware configurations for a PC, but in my
  experience one is quite common: a PC fitted with a large HD split into
  three partitions (one for DOS/Windows, one for Linux, one for the
  swap), modem, CD-ROM drive, printer, mouse. This is the hardware I'll
  assume you want to configure, but it's easy to adapt the following
  tips to different configurations. It's implicitly assumed that you'll
  be root when editing/fixing/hacking.

  And now, sleeves up.

  2.  General System Setup

  2.1.  Keyboard

  First of all, how to configure the keyboard. If you missed this step
  during installation or have changed your keyboard, you'll have to:

  ╖  choose a suitable key table from /usr/lib/kbd/keytables/; for
     example, it.map selects the Italian keyboard

  ╖  edit the file /etc/sysconfig/keyboard so as it reads:
     KEYTABLE="/usr/lib/kbd/keytables/it.map"

  ╖  to set up the keyboard repeat rate and delay time, add this line to
     /etc/profile or to one of your rc files :

       /sbin/kbdrate -s -r 16 -d 500  # or whatever

  ╖  and finally, do this to get the permission to set up the keyboard:

       ~# chmod 666 /dev/port

  Upon the next reboot, the keyboard will work fine.

  2.2.  Kernel

  IMHO, the first thing to do next is build a kernel that best suits
  your system. It's very simple to do but, in any case, refer to the
  README file in /usr/src/linux/. Hints:

  ╖  consider carefully what your needs are. It's more productive to
     choose a suitable kernel and to apply patches once and for all,
     instead of reconfiguring and recompiling each month; this is
     especially true if your Linux box is a server. Don't forget to
     include support for all the hardware you might likely add in the
     future;

  ╖  if your PC is a Cyrix-based one, apply appropriate patches to
     improve performance. Information on
     http://www.linuxhq.com/patch/20-p0591.html;

  ╖  notebook users will want to improve legibility of their screen by
     applying the noblink patch;

  ╖  again for notebook users, if you plan to use a PCMCIA modem/fax
     don't compile serial support as a module; compile it in the kernel
     or your PCMCIA modem won't work.

  2.3.  Bootup Messages

  If you want to customise the bootup messages, check whether your
  /etc/rc.d/rc.local overwrites /etc/issue and /etc/motd. If so, get
  your hands on your editor and go.

  2.4.  Hostname

  Issuing the command hostname new_host_name is not enough. Edit
  /etc/sysconfig/network and change the hostname therein.

  2.5.  Sendmail Lock

  On some systems, sendmail locks the machine at boot time. Make sure
  your /etc/hosts contains a line that reads

       127.0.0.1 localhost

  2.6.  Device Drivers

  Devices in /dev (or better, links to the actual device drivers) may be
  missing. Check what devices your mouse, modem, and CD-ROM drive
  correspond to, then do what follows:

       ~# cd /dev
       /dev# ln -s /dev/cua0 mouse
       /dev# ln -s /dev/cua1 modem
       /dev# ln -s /dev/hdb cdrom

  and, if you want, do chmod 666 to these devices to make them fully
  accessible by every user. Tip: in some laptops the mouse device is
  /dev/psaux: take this into account also when configuring X11.

  In addition, you'll want to make the floppy accessible by non-root
  users with chmod 666 /dev/fd*. This is bound to cause security
  problems, but I don't know the details. Comments on this are welcome.

  2.7.  Mouse

  gpm mouse services are useful to perform cut and paste in console and
  to use the mouse in some apps. Check that you have a file called
  /etc/sysconfig/mouse and that it reads:

       MOUSETYPE="Microsoft"
       XEMU3=yes

  Moreover, you must have a file /etc/rc.d/init.d/gpm. Of course, make
  sure this configuration is right for your mouse type. Tip: in some
  laptops, MOUSETYPE is ``PS/2''.

  2.8.  Mount Points

  It's handy to have mount points for the floppy, the CD-ROM, the DOS
  partition, and other devices. For example, you may do the following:

       ~# cd /mnt
       /# mkdir a: ; mkdir floppy ; mkdir cdrom ; mkdir win ; mkdir zip

  This creates mount points for an MS-DOS floppy, an ext2 floppy, the
  CD-ROM, the DOS partition, and the parallel port Zip drive.

  Now edit the file /etc/fstab and add the following entries:

       /dev/fd0        /mnt/a:         msdos           user,noauto 0 1
       /dev/fd0        /mnt/floppy     ext2            user,noauto 0 1
       /dev/cdrom      /mnt/cdrom      iso9660         ro,user,noauto 0 1
       /dev/hda1       /mnt/dos        msdos           user,noauto 0 1
       /dev/sda4       /mnt/zip        vfat            user,noauto 0 1

  Obviously, you must use the correct device in the first field. To
  access Win95 long names, use vfat instead of msdos in the last line.
  This doesn't (yet) apply to vfat32, though.

  2.9.  LILO and Loadlin

  Many users want their PC to run both Linux and DOS/Windows, and want
  to choose at boot time which os to use. Let's suppose that /dev/hda1
  contains DOS/Windows and that /dev/hda2 contains Linux.

  Do what follows:

       ~# fdisk
       Using /dev/hda as default device!

       Command (m for help):a
       Partition number (1-4): 2

       Command (m for help):w
       ~#

  This makes the Linux partition bootable; this step ought to be carried
  out by activate when running LILO's QuickInst, but it won't work with
  my Red Hat.

  Write this basic /etc/lilo.conf file:

       boot = /dev/hda2
       compact
       delay = 50
       # message = /boot/bootmesg.txt  # write your own
       root = current
       image = /boot/vmlinuz
         label = linux
       other = /dev/hda1
         table = /dev/hda
         label = dos

  Now issue /sbin/lilo and you're set. Being LILO a crucial part of your
  installation, you're strongly advised to read its documentation
  anyway.

  To boot Linux from DOS without resetting, put LOADLIN.EXE in a
  directory (in the DOS partition!) included in the DOS path; then copy
  your kernel to, say, C:\DOS\VMLINUZ. The following .BAT file will boot
  linux:

       rem   linux.bat
       smartdrv /C
       loadlin c:\dos\vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 r

  I you use Windows 95, set the properties of this .BAT so as it starts
  in MS-DOS mode.

  2.10.  Printer Configuration

  Red Hat has a fine configuration tool that worked wonderfully for my
  HP DeskJet 400; if you don't use Red Hat, manual configuration
  follows.

  Let's suppose you have a non-PostScript printer you want to use to
  print raw text (e.g., C source files) and PostScript files via
  GhostScript, which is assumed to be already installed.

  Setting up the printer involves a few steps:

  ╖  check which one the parallel print device is: try

       ~# echo "hello, world" > /dev/lp0
       ~# echo "hello, world" > /dev/lp1

  and take note which one works.

  ╖  make two spool directories:

       ~# cd /var/spool/lpd
       /var/spool/lpd/# mkdir raw ; mkdir postscript

  ╖  if your printer exibits the ``staircase effect'' (most inkjets do),
     you'll need a filter. Try printing two lines with

  ~# echo "first line" > /dev/lp1 ; echo "second line" > /dev/lp1

  if the output is like

       first line
                 second line

  then save this file as /var/spool/lpd/raw/filter:

       #!/bin/sh
       # This filter does away with the "staircase effect"
       awk '{print $0, "\r"}'

  and make it executable with chmod 755 /var/spool/lpd/raw/filter.

  ╖  make a filter for PostScript emulation. Write the following filter
     as /var/spool/lpd/postscript/filter:

       #!/bin/sh

       DEVICE=djet500
       RESOLUTION=300x300
       PAPERSIZE=a4
       SENDEOF=

       nenscript -TUS -ZB -p- |
       if [ "$DEVICE" = "PostScript" ]; then
               cat -
       else
               gs -q -sDEVICE=$DEVICE \
                       -r$RESOLUTION \
                       -sPAPERSIZE=$PAPERSIZE \
                       -dNOPAUSE \
                       -dSAFER \
                       -sOutputFile=- -
       fi

       if [ "$SENDEOF" != "" ]; then
               printf "\004"
       fi

  (in this example an HP DeskJet printer is assumed. Fix it to suit your
  printer).

  ╖  finally, add the following entries in /etc/printcap:

       # /etc/printcap
       lp|ps|PS|PostScript|djps:\
               :sd=/var/spool/lpd/postscript:\
               :mx#0:\
               :lp=/dev/lp1:\
               :if=/var/spool/lpd/postscript/filter:\
               :sh:
       raw:\
               :sd=/var/spool/lpd/raw:\
               :mx#0:\
               :lp=/dev/lp1:\
               :if=/var/spool/lpd/raw/filter:\
               :sh:

  For more complex or exotic printing configurations, the Printing-HOWTO
  awaits you.

  For Red hat users: be aware that the GSDEVICE chosen by Printtool will
  work, but is not necessarily the best for your printer. You may
  consider fiddling a bit with the file postscript.cfg; for instance, I
  changed GSDEVICE from cdj500 to djet500 and now my prints come out
  much quicker.

  3.  Software Configuration

  3.1.  bash(1)

  To tailor bash's behaviour, these are the files to edit:

  ╖  /etc/bashrc contains system wide aliases and functions;

  ╖  /etc/profile contains system wide environment stuff and startup
     programs;

  ╖  $HOME/.bashrc contains user's aliases and functions;

  ╖  $HOME/.bash_profile contains user's environment stuff and startup
     programs;

  ╖  $HOME/.bash_logout contains actions to be performed at logout;

  ╖  $HOME/.inputrc contains key bindings and other bits.

  Examples of these files are shown below. First, the most important:
  /etc/profile. It's used to configure a lot of features in your Linux
  box, as you will see in the following sections.

  ______________________________________________________________________
  # /etc/profile

  # System wide environment and startup programs
  # Functions and aliases go in /etc/bashrc

  # This file sets the following features:
  #
  #   o path
  #   o prompts
  #   o a few environment variables
  #   o colour ls
  #   o less behaviour
  #   o keyboard settings
  #
  # Users can override these settings and/or add others in their
  # $HOME/.bash_profile

  # set a decent path

  echo $PATH | grep X11R6 > /dev/null
  if [ $? = 1 ] ; then   # add entries to the path
    PATH="$PATH:/usr/X11R6/bin:$HOME/bin:."
  fi

  # notify the user: login or non-login shell. If login, the prompt is
  # coloured in blue; otherwise in magenta. Root's prompt is red.

  USER=`whoami`
  if [ $LOGNAME = $USER ] ; then
    COLOUR=44
  else
    COLOUR=45
  fi

  if [ $USER = 'root' ] ; then
    COLOUR=41
  fi

  # put a real escape character instead of ^[
  PS1='^[[$COLOUR;37;1m$HOSTNAME:^[[37;40;1m\w\$ '
  PS2="Continue> "

  # no core dumps, please

  ulimit -c 0

  # set umask

  if [ `id -gn` = `id -un` -a `id -u` -gt 14 ]; then
          umask 002
  else
          umask 022
  fi

  # a few variables

  USER=`id -un`
  LOGNAME=$USER
  MAIL="/var/spool/mail/$USER"
  EDITOR=jed
  HOSTNAME=`/bin/hostname`
  HISTSIZE=1000
  HISTFILESIZE=1000
  export PATH PS1 PS2 USER LOGNAME MAIL EDITOR HOSTNAME HISTSIZE HISTFILESIZE

  # enable colour ls

  eval `dircolors /etc/DIR_COLORS -b`
  export LS_OPTIONS='-F -s -T 0 --color=tty'

  # customize less

  LESS='-M-Q'
  LESSEDIT="%E ?lt+%lt. %f"
  LESSOPEN="| lesspipe.sh %s"
  VISUAL=jed
  LESSCHARSET=latin1
  export LESS LESSEDIT LESSOPEN VISUAL LESSCHARSET

  # customise the keyboard

  /sbin/kbdrate -s -r 16 -d 500

  for i in /etc/profile.d/*.sh ; do
          if [ -x $i ]; then
                  . $i
          fi
  done
  ______________________________________________________________________

  This is /etc/bashrc:

  ______________________________________________________________________
  # /etc/bashrc

  # System wide functions and aliases
  # Environment stuff goes in /etc/profile

  alias which="type -path"
  alias d="ls"
  alias dir="d"
  ______________________________________________________________________

  This is .bashrc:

  ______________________________________________________________________
  # $HOME/.bashrc
  # Source global definitions

  if [ -f /etc/bashrc ]; then
          . /etc/bashrc
  fi

  # this is needed to notify the user that they are in non-login shell

  COLOUR=45
  # put a real escape character instead of ^[
  PS1='^[[$COLOUR;37m$USER:^[[37;40m\w\$ '

  # aliases

  alias cp='cp -i'
  alias l=less
  alias lyx='lyx -width 900 -height 700'
  alias mv='mv -i'
  alias rm='rm -i'
  alias x=startx

  # A few useful functions

  inst() # Install a .tar.gz archive in the current directory.
  { gzip -dc $1 | tar xvf - }

  cz() # List the contents of a .zip archive.
  { unzip -l $* }

  ctgz() # List the contents of a .tar.gz archive.
  {
    for file in $* ; do
      gzip -dc ${file} | tar tf -
    done
  }

  tgz() # Create a .tgz archive a la zip.
  {
    name=$1 ; tar -cvf $1 ; shift
    tar -rf ${name} $*
    gzip -S .tgz ${name}
  }
  ______________________________________________________________________

  This is .bash_profile:

  ______________________________________________________________________
  # $HOME/.bash_profile

  # User specific environment and startup programs
  # This file contains user-defined settings that override
  # those in /etc/profile

  # Get aliases and functions
  if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
          . ~/.bashrc
  fi

  # re-get PS1 settings

  if [ $USER = 'root' ] ; then
    COLOUR=41
  else
    COLOUR=44
  fi

  # put a real escape character instead of ^[
  PS1='^[[$COLOUR;37;1m$HOSTNAME:^[[37;40;1m\w\$ '

  export PS1
  ______________________________________________________________________

  This is .bash_logout:

  ______________________________________________________________________
  # $HOME/.bash_logout
  clear
  ______________________________________________________________________

  This is .inputrc:

  ______________________________________________________________________
  # $HOME/.inputrc

  # key bindings

  "\e[1~": beginning-of-line
  "\e[3~": delete-char
  "\e[4~": end-of-line
  # (F1 .. F5) are "\e[[A" ... "\e[[E"
  "\e[[A": "info \C-m"

  set bell-style visible         # please don't beep
  set meta-flag On               # allow 8-bit input (i.e, accented letters)
  set convert-meta Off           # don't strip 8-bit characters
  set output-meta On             # display 8-bit characters correctly
  set horizontal-scroll-mode On
  set show-all-if-ambiguous On
  ______________________________________________________________________

  To make the backspace and delete keys work correctly in in xterm and
  other X11 applications, the following is also needed:

  ╖  put this in your .xinitrc:

       usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap
       xmodmap $usermodmap

  ╖  put this in your .Xmodmap:

       keycode 22 = BackSpace
       keycode 107 = Delete

  this fixes the console. To fix xterm:

  ╖  put this in your .Xdefaults:

       xterm*VT100.Translations: #override <Key>BackSpace: string(0x7F)\n\
               <Key>Delete:        string(0x1b) string("[3~")\n\
               <Key>Home:          string(0x1b) string("[1~")\n\
               <Key>End:           string(0x1b) string("[4~")\n\
               Ctrl<Key>Prior:     string(0x1b) string("[40~")\n\
               Ctrl<Key>Next:      string(0x1b) string("[41~")

       nxterm*VT100.Translations: #override <Key>BackSpace: string(0x7F)\n\
               <Key>Delete:        string(0x1b) string("[3~")\n\
               <Key>Home:          string(0x1b) string("[1~")\n\
               <Key>End:           string(0x1b) string("[4~")\n\
               Ctrl<Key>Prior:     string(0x1b) string("[40~")\n\
               Ctrl<Key>Next:      string(0x1b) string("[41~")

  More info in bash(1) and readline(3) man pages.

  Don't expect every application to work correctly! If you run joe in
  xterm, for instance, some keys won't work; the same goes for rxvt.
  Rumour has it that it's a termcap problem.

  3.2.  ls(1)

  ls can display directory listings using colours to highlight different
  file types. To enable this feature, add these lines to /etc/profile:

       eval `dircolors /etc/DIR_COLORS -b`
       export LS_OPTIONS='-F -T 0 --color=tty'

  This sets the environment variable LS_COLORS that contains the colour
  list set up in /etc/DIR_COLORS. Note: don't ask me why, but this won't
  work with some versions of rxvt; use some flavour of xterm instead. It
  looks like rxvt has a bug that prevents it from inheriting the
  environment correctly in some circumstances.

  3.3.  less(1)

  With this excellent pager you can browse not only plain text files,
  but also gzip compressed, tar and zip archives, man pages, and so on.
  Its configuration involves a few steps:

  ╖  to use it with the movement keys, have this plain ASCII file
     .lesskey in your home directory:

       ^[[A   back-line
       ^[[B   forw-line
       ^[[C   right-scroll
       ^[[D   left-scroll
       ^[OA   back-line
       ^[OB   forw-line
       ^[OC   right-scroll
       ^[OD   left-scroll
       ^[[6~  forw-scroll
       ^[[5~  back-scroll
       ^[[1~  goto-line
       ^[[4~  goto-end
       ^[[7~  goto-line
       ^[[8~  goto-end

  then run the command lesskey. This creates a binary file .less con¡
  taining the key bindings.

  ╖  write the following file as /usr/bin/lesspipe.sh:

     ___________________________________________________________________
     #!/bin/sh
     # This is a preprocessor for 'less'.  It is used when this environment
     # variable is set:   LESSOPEN="|lesspipe.sh %s"

     lesspipe() {
       case "$1" in
       *.tar) tar tf $1 2>/dev/null ;; # View contents of .tar and .tgz files
       *.tgz|*.tar.gz|*.tar.Z|*.tar.z) tar ztf $1 2>/dev/null ;;
       *.Z|*.z|*.gz) gzip -dc $1  2>/dev/null ;; # View compressed files correctly
       *.zip) unzip -l $1 2>/dev/null ;; # View archives
       *.arj) unarj -l $1 2>/dev/null ;;
       *.rpm) rpm -q -p -i -l $1 2>/dev/null ;;
       *.1|*.2|*.3|*.4|*.5|*.6|*.7|*.8|*.9|*.n|*.man) FILE=`file -L $1`
         FILE=`echo $FILE | cut -d ' ' -f 2`
         if [ "$FILE" = "troff" ]; then
           groff -s -p -t -e -Tascii -mandoc $1
         fi ;;
       *) FILE=`file -L $1` ; # Check to see if binary
         FILE1=`echo $FILE | cut -d ' ' -f 2`
         FILE2=`echo $FILE | cut -d ' ' -f 3`
         if [ "$FILE1" = "Linux/i386" -o "$FILE2" = "Linux/i386" \
              -o "$FILE1" = "ELF" -o "$FILE2" = "ELF" ]; then
           strings $1
         fi ;;
       esac
     }

     lesspipe $1
     ___________________________________________________________________

  and remember to make it executable with chmod 755 lesspipe.sh.

  ╖  put these lines in /etc/profile:

       LESS="-M-Q"                     # long prompt, silent
       LESSEDIT="%E ?lt+%lt. %f"       # edit top line
       LESSOPEN="| lesspipe.sh %s"     # filter
       VISUAL=jed                      # default editor---insert your favourite
       LESSCHARSET=latin1              # display accented letters if needed
       export LESS LESSEDIT LESSOPEN VISUAL LESSCHARSET

  The variable LESSCHARSET depends on the fact that I live in Italy and
  want to use the ISO 8859/1 character set. You fellow Americans,
  Japanese, Russians and so on had better not set it.

  3.4.  emacs(1)

  Some emacs distributions don't come preconfigured for colours and
  syntax highlighting. Write this in your .emacs:

       (global-font-lock-mode t)
       (setq font-lock-maximum-decoration t)

  This only works in X11. I'll leave it to you to peruse all of emacs'
  documentation to discover how to tailor it to your
  needs---potentially, it can take months of hacking...

  3.5.  joe(1)

  Check in /usr/bin/ whether jmacs, jstar, and jpico are symlinks to joe
  or standalone binaries; in the latter case, you may turn them to
  symlinks to save some disk space:

       ~# cd /usr/bin
       /usr/bin# ln -sf joe jmacs ; ln -sf joe jstar ; ln -sf joe jpico

  Then, all you have to do is copy /usr/lib/joe/joerc to your home dir
  as .joerc and tailor it.

  3.6.  jed

  This is my favourite editor: it does what I need, it's lighter and
  easier to configure than emacs, and IMHO emulates other editors quite
  better.  Many users at my university want jed to emulate EDT, VMS'
  system editor.

  The configuration files are .jedrc and /usr/lib/jed/lib/*; the former
  can be adapted from jed.rc in the latter directory.

  ╖  to make jed use some keys correctly, create
     /usr/lib/jed/lib/defaults.sl whose only line reads:

       () = evalfile("linux");

  ╖  edit /usr/lib/jed/lib/linux.sl; remove the comment from the line
     that reads Info_Directory = "/usr/info"; and add /bin/mail after
     UCB_Mailer =;

  ╖  configuring jed to make it emulate EDT (or other editors) is
     straightforward: you just have to edit a couple of lines in .jedrc.
     If you want to use the numeric keypad `+' to delete words instead
     of a single character, add this in .jedrc:

       unsetkey("\eOl");
       unsetkey("\eOP\eOl");
       setkey("edt_wdel", "\eOl");
       setkey("edt_uwdel", "\eOP\eOl");

  after the line that reads () = evalfile("edt");.

  ╖  making xjed use the numeric keypad for EDT emulation requires
     inserting the following in .Xmodmap:

       keycode 77  = KP_F1
       keycode 112 = KP_F2
       keycode 63  = KP_F3
       keycode 82  = KP_F4
       keycode 86  = KP_Separator

  Moreover, make sure that your /etc/X11/XF86Config contains the follow¡
  ing lines:

       #    ServerNumLock  # must be commented out
           XkbDisable

  This applies to XFree 3.2. Unless you use a standard American keyboard
  though, note that ``XkbDisable'' brings some little problems. You'll
  find out by yourself.

  ╖  colour customization for xjed is done adding lines like these in
     .Xdefaults:

       xjed*Geometry: 80x32+150+50
       xjed*font: 10x20
       xjed*background: midnight blue

  More info in xjed.doc, included in the package.

  3.7.  TeX and Friends

  I'll assume you have the TeTeX distribution. Just a couple of things
  here:

  ╖  To configure the hyphenation pattern for your language, edit the
     file /usr/lib/texmf/texmf/tex/generic/config/language.dat, then do:

       ~# texconfig init ; texconfig hyphen

  ╖  If you add a LaTeX package, after adding the files under
     /usr/lib/texmf/texmf/tex/latex/ run the command texhash to make
     TeTeX recognise the new package.

  ╖  To tailor dvips, the file to edit is
     /usr/lib/texmf/texmf/dvips/config/config.ps. Be aware that the
     fields regarding the default resolution also affect xdvi's
     behaviour; if you experience annoying attempts to create fonts each
     time you run it, put in .Xdefault the line

       XDvi*mfmode:

  This should help.

  3.8.  PPP

  I'll take it for granted that your kernel has PPP + TCP/IP support
  compiled in, that loopback is enabled, and that you already have the
  pppd package correctly installed. (These requirements should be there
  by default.) There are now two ways to get PPP to work: a) manual
  configuration, and b) using a program that automagically sees to it.
  First, the manual option.

  Let's suppose that your ISP's specifications are the following:

  ╖  Phone number: 1234567

  ╖  Name server: 123.231.112.111

  ╖  Mail server: mbox.supernet.edu

  ╖  Domain: supernet.edu

  ╖  Remote hostname: www.supernet.edu

  ╖  Your username: John

  ╖  Your password: _Loo%ny

  To configure manually your PPP connections, you'll do:

  ╖  write this file /usr/local/bin/ppp-on, which will be used to
     connect to your ISP:

       #!/bin/sh
       # ppp-on: script to connect to an ISP
       INIT=ATX3  # or whatever your modem wants
       PHONE=1234567
       /usr/sbin/pppd connect "/usr/sbin/chat '' $INIT OK ATDP$PHONE \
       CONNECT '' " user John

  then make it executable with chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/ppp-on. If your
  ISP doesn't use the PAP protocol, the following script applies:

       #!/bin/sh
       # ppp-on: script to connect to an ISP
       INIT=atx3  # or whatever your modem wants
       PHONE=1234567
       /usr/sbin/pppd connect "/usr/sbin/chat '' $INIT OK ATDT$PHONE \
       CONNECT '' 'ogin' John 'word' _Loo%ny ''" /dev/modem 38400 \
       modem defaultroute

  ╖  write this file /usr/local/bin/ppp-off, used to terminate a ppp
     session:

       #!/bin/sh
       # ppp-off
       DEVICE=ppp0
       if [ -r /var/run/$DEVICE.pid ]; then
         kill -INT `cat /var/run/$DEVICE.pid`
         if [ ! "$?" = "0" ]; then
           echo "removing stale $DEVICE pid file."
           rm -f /var/run/$DEVICE.pid ; exit 1
         fi
         echo "$DEVICE link terminated" ; exit 0
       fi
       # link not active
       echo "$DEVICE link is not active" ; exit 1

  then make it executable with chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/ppp-off.

  ╖  write this file /etc/ppp/options:

       # /etc/ppp/options
       /dev/modem
       38400
       lock
       crtscts
       modem
       asyncmap 0
       remotename www.supernet.edu
       defaultroute

  ╖  if your ISP uses the PAP protocol (most ISPs do), write the file
     /etc/ppp/pap-secrets:

  # /etc/ppp/pap-secrets
  # username     remotehost           secret
  John           www.supernet.edu     _Loo%ny

  ╖  edit /etc/resolv.conf:

       # /etc/resolv.conf
       search supernet.edu
       nameserver 123.231.112.111

  ╖  edit /etc/sendmail.cf. Look for the line starting with DS, and make
     it like the following:

       DSmbox.supernet.edu

  Phew! If you're lucky, this should work. Otherwise, be prepared to
  study the PPP-HOWTO.

  So much for manual configuration. There's a fine package that makes
  all this drudgery a thing of the past, though: it's called ezppp and
  you'll find it at  http://www.serv.net/~cameron/ezppp/index.html .
  Download it at once.

  3.9.  POP Client

  To retrieve your mail from a POP server, use a POP client like
  fetchpop or fetchmail. The latter is probably the only option if your
  provider's PPP server has problems with the command LAST.

  To configure these clients:

  ╖  fetchpop: the first time you run it, you'll be prompted for some
     information. Answer the questions and you're set.

  ╖  fetchmail: adapt this sample .fetchmailrc:

       # $HOME/.fetchmailrc
       poll mbox.supernet.edu with protocol pop3;
         user john there with password _Loo%ny is john here
         mda "/usr/bin/procmail -f fetchmail"

  The last line may not be required. You must set the permissions to
  this file with the command chmod 600 .fetchmailrc, otherwise fetchmail
  will rightly refuse to start.

  3.10.  X Window System

  Once you've managed to make X work (right video card etc.), there are
  endless possibilities of configuration; it depends on the window
  manager you use. In any case, it's all down to editing one or more
  ASCII files in your home directory. As for the window manager:

  ╖  fvwm: copy /etc/X11/fvwm/system.fvwmrc to your home directory as
     .fvwmrc, browse it and start experimenting. This contributed
     system.fvwmrc is IMHO a wee bit too simple and doesn't do justice
     to fvwm.

  ╖  fvwm95-2: copy /etc/X11/fvwm95-2/fvwm2rc95 to your home as
     .fvwm2rc95, then edit it. The contributed example is quite good.

  ╖  TheNextLevel: this is rather harder to configure. Copy
     /etc/X11/TheNextLevel/.* to your home dir, browse them carefully,
     then try and tailor them. The first one to look at is
     .fvwm2rc.defines.

  In addition, be sure you have a proper .xinitrc. An example:

       #!/bin/sh

       # $HOME/.xinitrc

       # set a few keys correctly

       usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap
       xmodmap $usermodmap

       xset s noblank  # turn off the screen saver
       xset s 300 2    # screen saver start after 5 min
       xsetroot -solid "medium blue" &

       # rxvt saves memory, but has a few bugs:
       #   - home and end keys are not recognised;
       #   - backspace and delete don't work as in console;
       #   - colours are not properly inherited by the environment;
       #   - problems with the environment in general;
       # xterm is therefore better in many cases. However, rxvt is best
       # for running some colour apps like mc.

       xterm -ls -bg black -fg white -sb -sl 500 -j -ls -fn 10x20 -fb 10x20bold \
       -title "Color xterm" -geometry 80x25+150+0 &

       fvwm95-2

  3.11.  Fortran

  In my experience, if you need Fortran a good alternative to g77 is the
  Fortran-to-C translator f2c and the front-end yaf77.

  Get yaf77 from
  ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/devel/languages/fortran/yaf77-1.4.tgz
  and its mirrors.

  3.12.  Users' Configurations

  It's a good idea to let new users have a few configuration files ready
  when they first log in. Put the following files in /etc/skel: bashrc,
  bash_profile, bash_logout, inputrc, less, xinitrc, fvwmrc, fvwm2rc95,
  Xmodmap, Xdefaults, jedrc, joerc, emacs.

  (Note: due to formatting problems, I had to remove the leading dot
  (`.')  from each of these files.)

  Note that .pinerc can't be fully tailored; make sure that at least the
  fields user-domain, smtp-server, and nntp-server are set up.

  4.  The End

  4.1.  Copyright

  Unless otherwise stated, Linux HOWTO documents are copyrighted by
  their respective authors. Linux HOWTO documents may be reproduced and
  distributed in whole or in part, in any medium physical or electronic,
  as long as this copyright notice is retained on all copies. Commercial
  redistribution is allowed and encouraged; however, the author would
  like to be notified of any such distributions.

  All translations, derivative works, or aggregate works incorporating
  any Linux HOWTO documents must be covered under this copyright notice.
  That is, you may not produce a derivative work from a HOWTO and impose
  additional restrictions on its distribution. Exceptions to these rules
  may be granted under certain conditions; please contact the Linux
  HOWTO coordinator at the address given below.

  In short, we wish to promote dissemination of this information through
  as many channels as possible. However, we do wish to retain copyright
  on the HOWTO documents, and would like to be notified of any plans to
  redistribute the HOWTOs.

  If you have questions, please contact Greg Hankins, the Linux HOWTO
  coordinator, at [e-mail] via email.

  4.2.  Feedback

  Perhaps even more than other HOWTOs, this one needs and welcomes your
  suggestions, criticisms, and contributions. Not only is feedback
  welcome: it's necessary. If you think something is missing here,
  please email me. If you have a distribution other than Red Hat and
  your config files are different or placed in other directories, please
  tell me and I'll include your tips. My aim is making life with Linux
  as easy as possible.

  Linux has a huge number of packages, so it's impossible to include
  directions for all of them. Please keep your requests/suggestions
  pertinent to the ``most reasonable'' programs---I'll leave it to your
  common sense.

  4.3.  Disclaimer

  ``Configuration HOWTO'' was written by Guido Gonzato,
  [e-mail].  Many thanks to all other HOWTO authors and
  man pages writers/maintainers, whose work I've cheeklessly pilfered.

  This document is provided ``as is''. I put great effort into writing
  it as accurately as I could, but you use the information contained in
  it at your own risk. In no event shall I be liable for any damages
  resulting from the use of this work.

  I hope you'll find this work useful. Whenever I install a new Linux
  box, I actually do...

  Enjoy,

  Guido   =8-)