home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Chip 2000 May
/
Chip_2000-05_cd2.bin
/
docu
/
ascii
/
suselxen
/
slxen-01.txt
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
2000-03-11
|
65KB
|
1,185 lines
Bodo Bauer, R¿udiger Berlich, Daniel Bischof, Michael Burghart, Roland Dyroff,
Christian Egle, Karl Eichwalder, Stefan Fent, Werner Fink, Klaus Franken, Fritz Ganter,
J¿urgen Geck, Rolf Haberrecker, Marc Heuse, Carsten H¿oger, Dirk Hohndel, Richard Jelinek,
Florian La Roche, Volker Lendecke, Hans Lermen, Hubert Mantel, Arndt Mehlhorn,
Jay Migliaccio, Jordi Jaen Pallares, Christoph-Erdmann Pfeiler, Peter Reinhart,
Marc R¿uhrschneck, Martin Scherbaum, Adrian Schr¿oter, Burchard Steinbild, Gabriele
Strattner, J¿org Strebel, Steve Tomlin, Klaus G. Wagner, Thorsten Wandersmann, Udo Weber,
Michael Weyrauch, Stefan Wintermeyer, Christian Zoz
SuSE Linux 6.4
Installation, Configuration and First Steps
Support contact see: page 493
SuSE Inc.
580 2nd Street, #210
Oakland, CA 94607
USA
Toll free phone number
within the US and Canada: 1-888-UR-LINUX (1-888-875-4689)
Phone.: +1-510-628-3380
Fax.: +1-510-628-3381
email: info@suse.com
orders@suse.com
isupport@suse.com
webmaster@suse.com
WWW: http://www.suse.com
Europe:
SuSE Linux Ltd.
The Kinetic Centre
Theobald Street
Borehamwood, WD6 4PJ UK
Phone.: +44-20-8387-4088
Fax: +44-20-8387-4010
http://www.suse.co.uk
SuSE GmbH
Schanz¿ackerstr. 10
D-90443 N¿urnberg
Germany
Tel.: +49-911-740 53 31
Fax.: +49-911-741 77 55
e-mail: suse@suse.de
WWW: http://www.suse.de
Bodo Bauer, R¿udiger Berlich, Daniel Bischof, Michael Burghart, Roland Dyroff, Christian Egle,
Karl Eichwalder, Stefan Fent, Werner Fink, Klaus Franken, Fritz Ganter, J¿urgen Geck,
Rolf Haberrecker, Marc Heuse, Carsten H¿oger, Dirk Hohndel, Richard Jelinek, Florian La Roche,
Volker Lendecke, Hans Lermen, Hubert Mantel, Arndt Mehlhorn, Jay Migliaccio,
Jordi Jaen Pallares, Christoph-Erdmann Pfeiler, Peter Reinhart, Marc R¿uhrschneck,
Martin Scherbaum, Adrian Schr¿oter, Burchard Steinbild, Gabriele Strattner, J¿org Strebel, Steve
Tomlin, Klaus G. Wagner, Thorsten Wandersmann, Udo Weber, Michael Weyrauch,
Stefan Wintermeyer, Christian Zoz
Installation, Configuration and First Steps with SuSE Linux 6.4
17th revised edition 2000
SuSE GmbH
Copyright
This work is copyrighted by SuSE GmbH.
You may copy it in whole or in part as long as the copies retain this copyright
statement.
Layout: LATEX2
English Translation and Editing: Steve Tomlin
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. XFree86 TM is a registered
trademark of The XFree86 Project, Inc. MS-DOS, Windows, Windows 95,
Windows 98, and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark of X/Open Company Limited.
Other trademarks and registered trademarks are: Clipper of Computer
Associates, dBASE of Borland, Foxbase of Microsoft, Compuserve, T-Online of
Deutsche Telekom, SuSE and YaST of SuSE GmbH . Other products
mentioned in this manual may be trademarks of the respective manufacturer.
Contents
1 Foreword 1
1.1 What Is Linux? . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Purpose of this Book ¡ Notes on Usage . . . 2
1.3 Typographical Conventions ¡ or What on Earth Does
"earth: # ls" Mean? . . . . . . 4
1.4 The Struggle with the Number of Pages . . . 5
1.4.1 Support Database . . . . . . 5
1.4.2 Hypertext Help . . . . . . 5
1.4.3 Texinfo . . . . . . . . 5
1.4.4 Manual Pages . . . . . . . 5
1.4.5 FAQ's, HOWTO's and README's . . . 6
1.4.6 Free Books . . . . . . . 7
1.5 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . 7
I Installing SuSE Linux 11
2 Your first SuSE Linux installation 13
2.1 The Fast Track to Success . . . . . . 13
2.1.1 Getting Ready . . . . . . . 13
2.1.2 Now We Can Begin: the Welcome Screen . 14
2.1.3 YaST2 is Here! . . . . . . 15
2.1.4 Selecting a Language . . . . . 15
2.1.5 Selecting the Mouse . . . . . 16
2.1.6 Defining Your Location: Keyboard and Timezone 16
2.1.7 New Installation or Update? . . . . 17
2.1.8 Preparing the Hard Drive . . . . . 17
2.1.9 Selecting Software . . . . . . 18
2.1.10 LILO ¡ Boot Manager for the System Start . 19
2.1.11 User Information . . . . . . 21
i
Contents
2.1.12 Determining the `root' Password . . 21
2.1.13 Confirming Settings ¡ Starting the Installation . 21
2.1.14 Preparing the Graphic Interface . . . 22
2.1.15 Configuring System Components . . . 23
2.1.16 Logging In for the First Time . . . . 23
2.1.17 Perspectives and Working on the System . . 23
2.2 Installation Using the Text-based YaST (YaST 1) . 24
2.2.1 The Starting Point . . . . . . 24
2.2.2 Now We're Starting: the Welcome Screen . 24
2.2.3 The Basics: linuxrc . . . . . . 25
2.2.4 Starting YaST . . . . . . . 29
2.2.5 Partitioning and Formatting the Hard Drive . 30
2.2.6 Installation of Software Packages . . . 31
2.2.7 Selection of the Base Software . . . 32
2.2.8 Installing System Software and Programs . 32
2.2.9 Selecting a Kernel for the System . . . 33
2.2.10 Base System Configuration with YaST . . 34
2.2.11 Logging in After Your First Installation . . 38
2.3 How Should SuSE Linux Be Started? . . . . 39
2.4 Installation Without a Supported CD-ROM Drive . 41
2.4.1 Installation from a DOS Partition . . . 41
2.4.2 Installation from a Source in the "Net" . . 43
2.5 Installation Using setup and loadlin . . . . 44
2.5.1 Putting Windows 95/98 into DOS mode . . 44
2.5.2 Invoking setup and First Steps with setup . . 45
2.5.3 How Do I Boot the Base-Linux from setup? . 45
2.5.4 Installing loadlin and Loading Base-Linux . 46
2.6 Partitions . . . . . . . . . 47
2.6.1 Creating Space for Linux (Partitioning) . . 47
2.6.2 Booting with CD 2 . . . . . . 50
2.6.3 Creating a Boot Disk In DOS . . . . 50
2.6.4 Creating a Boot Disk with UNIX . . . 51
2.6.5 Does Linux Support My CD-ROM? . . 52
2.7 Problem Description . . . . . . . 52
2.7.1 Files Cannot Be Moved . . . . . 52
2.7.2 No English Keymaps in DOS Mode . . . 53
2.7.3 No CD-ROM Driver in a Windows 95/98 DOS Win-
dow . . . . . . . . 53
2.7.4 CD is Damaged . . . . . . 53
2.7.5 ATAPI CD-ROM Hangs While Reading . . 53
ii
Contents
2.7.6 Problems with CD-ROM Drives on Parallel Port 54
2.7.7 Problems with "Proprietary" CD-ROM Drives . 55
2.7.8 Thinkpad "Sleeps" While Installing . . . 55
2.7.9 Loadlin Doesn't Have Enough Memory to Load the
Kernel . . . . . . . . 55
2.7.10 Loadlin Doesn't Start . . . . . 56
2.7.11 DOS Runs in Protected Mode . . . . 56
2.7.12 Label of CD-ROM Drive Has Changed . . 56
2.7.13 General Hardware Problems . . . . 56
2.8 Partitioning for Novices . . . . . . 58
2.9 Partitioning for Experts . . . . . . 60
2.9.1 Size of Swap Partition . . . . . 61
2.9.2 Computer Used as Standalone Machine . . 61
2.9.3 Optimizations . . . . . . . 62
2.10 Configuring Your Hard Drive Manually . . . 64
2.10.1 Configuring Partitions . . . . . 64
2.10.2 Filesystems and Mount Points . . . . 66
3 YaST ¡ Yet another Setup Tool 71
3.1 Basic Usage . . . . . . . . 71
3.2 The YaST Main Menu . . . . . . 71
3.3 Adjustments of Installation . . . . . . 72
3.3.1 Selecting the Language . . . . . 72
3.3.2 Selecting keyboard layout . . . . 73
3.3.3 Installation Medium . . . . . 73
3.3.4 Installation from CD-ROM . . . . 74
3.3.5 Installation from a Hard Drive Partition . . 74
3.3.6 Installation via NFS . . . . . 74
3.3.7 Installation from a Reachable Directory . . 76
3.3.8 Installation via FTP . . . . . . 76
3.3.9 Partitioning Your Hard Drive . . . . 77
3.3.10 Setting Target Partitions/Filesystems . . 79
3.3.11 Configuring the Logical Volume Manager . 82
3.3.12 Installation to a Directory . . . . 82
3.4 Determining the Size of the Installation . . . 83
3.4.1 Load Configuration . . . . . . 83
3.4.2 Save Configuration . . . . . . 84
3.4.3 Changing Your Configuration . . . . 84
3.4.4 What if... . . . . . . . 86
3.4.5 Start Installation . . . . . . 86
iii
Contents
3.4.6 Checking Package Dependencies . . . 87
3.4.7 Index of all Series and Packages . . . 87
3.4.8 Searching for Packages . . . . . 87
3.4.9 Installing Packages . . . . . . 88
3.4.10 Deleting Packages . . . . . . 89
3.5 Updating the System . . . . . . . 89
3.6 System Administration . . . . . . 89
3.6.1 Integrating Hardware into the System . . 89
3.6.2 Kernel and Boot Configuration . . . 92
3.6.3 Network Configuration . . . . . 95
3.6.4 Configuring the Live Filesystem CD-ROM . 96
3.6.5 Settings for susewm . . . . . 97
3.6.6 Login Configuration . . . . . 98
3.6.7 User Administration . . . . . 99
3.6.8 Group Administration . . . . . 100
3.6.9 System Security Settings . . . . . 101
3.6.10 Configuring XFree86(TM) . . . . 101
3.6.11 Changing the YaST Configuration File . . 101
3.6.12 Creating Backups . . . . . . 102
4 Booting and Boot Managers 103
4.1 Booting a PC . . . . . . . . 103
4.2 Different Boot Concepts . . . . . . 104
4.3 An Overview of LILO . . . . . . 105
4.4 Configuring LILO . . . . . . . 108
4.4.1 Structure of lilo.conf . . . . 108
4.4.2 Other LILO Configuration Options . . . 111
4.5 Installing and Uninstalling LILO . . . . . 114
4.6 Creating a Linux Boot Disk . . . . . . 116
4.7 Sample Configurations . . . . . . 117
4.7.1 DOS/Windows 95/98 and Linux . . . 117
4.7.2 Windows NT and Linux on One Hard Disk . 118
4.7.3 OS/2 and Linux . . . . . . 119
4.7.4 DOS, OS/2 and Linux . . . . . 120
4.8 LILO Problems . . . . . . . . 121
4.8.1 Diagnosis of Errors: LILO Start Messages . 121
4.8.2 The 1024-Cylinder Limit . . . . 122
4.8.3 Special Boot Problems with Kernels from 2.0 On-
wards . . . . . . . . 123
4.9 Starting via loadlin . . . . . . . 125
iv
Contents
4.9.1 Necessary Steps for all loadlin Users . . 125
4.9.2 Setting up Boot Menus . . . . . 126
4.9.3 Starting Linux from Within Windows . . 127
4.9.4 The Windows Boot Menu . . . . 128
II Network configuration 131
5 Networking Linux 133
5.1 Configuration Using YaST . . . . . . 136
5.2 Manual Network Configuration-Where Do I Find What? 137
5.2.1 Configuration Files . . . . . . 137
5.2.2 Startup Scripts . . . . . . 142
5.3 Routing Under SuSE Linux . . . . . . 142
5.4 NIS, Yellow Pages on a LAN . . . . . 144
5.4.1 What is NIS? . . . . . . . 144
5.4.2 Installing an NIS Client . . . . . 144
5.4.3 NIS Master and Slave Server . . . . 145
5.5 NFS-Distributed Filesystems . . . . . 145
5.5.1 Importing Filesystems . . . . . 145
5.5.2 Exporting Filesystems . . . . . 146
6 Connecting to the World-and Then What? 149
6.1 PPP . . . . . . . . . . 149
6.1.1 Requirements for Using PPP . . . . 149
6.1.2 Further Information on PPP . . . . 150
6.2 ISDN Configuration . . . . . . . 150
6.2.1 Setting up ISDN - Step by Step . . . 151
6.2.2 Overview . . . . . . . 152
6.2.3 Configuring ISDN Hardware . . . . 153
6.2.4 Configuring ISDN Hardware with YaST . . 154
6.2.5 Setting up an ISDN Internet Connection . . 157
6.2.6 ISDN Messages . . . . . . 161
6.3 Cable Modems . . . . . . . . 161
6.3.1 The Basics . . . . . . . 161
6.4 T-DSL, T-ISDN-DSL, ADSL. . . . . . . . 162
6.5 Connecting a Modem . . . . . . . 162
6.6 Connecting to the Internet: PPP with wvdial . . 163
6.6.1 Configuration of wvdial . . . . . 163
6.6.2 Using Different Providers with wvdial . . 166
v
Contents
6.6.3 ISDN Terminal Adapter . . . . . 166
6.6.4 Configuring PCI Modems . . . . 168
6.6.5 Manual PPP Configuration for Experts . . 169
6.7 Masquerading and Firewalls ¡ Friends and "Friends" . 173
6.7.1 The Basics of Masquerading . . . . 174
6.7.2 The Basics of the Firewall . . . . 174
6.7.3 Configurating Masquerading and/or the Firewall 174
6.8 Let's Write-Configuration of e-mail . . . . 176
6.9 News: Brand-New Messages from USENET . . 179
6.9.1 The Leafnode News System . . . . 179
6.10 Faxing with Linux . . . . . . . 181
6.10.1 SuSEFax-a HylaFAX Fax Client . . . 181
6.10.2 Automatic Generation of the Fax Cover . . 189
6.10.3 Fax Spooling on UNIX/Linux . . . . 190
6.10.4 HylaFAX ¡ Distributed Faxes . . . . 190
7 Let's Dance the Samba . . . 197
7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . 197
7.2 Installation of the Server . . . . . . 199
7.3 Installation of Clients . . . . . . . 202
7.4 Optimization . . . . . . . . 202
III The X Window System 205
8 The X Window System 207
8.1 Configuration Using SaX . . . . . . 208
8.1.1 Installing for the First Time . . . . 208
8.1.2 Re-configuring . . . . . . 215
8.1.3 Troubleshooting . . . . . . 216
8.1.4 Starting the X Window System . . . 216
8.1.5 Checklist for Installing Graphics Cards . . 216
8.2 Configuration Using xf86config . . . . . 218
8.3 Optimizing the X Window System . . . . 225
9 The Window Manager-Window to Your Machine 229
9.1 Some Theory . . . . . . . . 229
9.1.1 General . . . . . . . . 229
9.1.2 What Does a Window Manager Manage? . . 232
9.1.3 Starting Different Window Managers . . 233
9.2 KDE ¡ the K Desktop Environment . . . . 234
vi
Contents
9.2.1 Installation Overview . . . . . 235
9.2.2 kdm-a Graphical Login . . . . . 235
9.2.3 So What's So Special About KDE? . . . 237
9.3 The fvwm2 Window Manager . . . . . 239
9.4 Fvwm2 Settings . . . . . . . . 241
9.4.1 Autoraise . . . . . . . 245
9.5 Configuring the Window Manager Using susewm . 246
9.5.1 Adding Entries to the Menu . . . . 247
9.6 Customizing Your Configuration . . . . . 250
IV Linux and Hardware 253
10 Linux and Hardware 255
10.1 Preliminary Notes . . . . . . . 255
10.2 Cards . . . . . . . . . . 255
10.2.1 ISA and PCI Cards . . . . . . 255
10.3 Sound Cards . . . . . . . . 259
10.3.1 OSS / OSSdemo . . . . . . 259
10.3.2 How Are Sound Cards Configured in Linux? . 259
10.4 Ports on a Computer . . . . . . . 266
10.4.1 PS/2 Ports . . . . . . . 267
10.4.2 Serial Ports . . . . . . . 267
10.4.3 Parallel Ports . . . . . . . 267
10.4.4 USB ¡ Universal Serial Bus . . . . 269
10.5 Removable Drives . . . . . . . 269
10.5.1 Floppy Disk Drives . . . . . . 269
10.5.2 LS-120 Drives . . . . . . 269
10.5.3 ZIP Drives . . . . . . . 269
10.6 Modems . . . . . . . . . 270
10.6.1 External Modems . . . . . . 270
10.6.2 Internal Modems . . . . . . 271
10.7 Scanners . . . . . . . . . 272
10.8 Tape Drives . . . . . . . . 273
10.9 TV Cards . . . . . . . . . 274
11 Notebooks ¡ PCMCIA, APM, IrDA 279
11.1 PCMCIA . . . . . . . . . 279
11.1.1 Hardware . . . . . . . 279
11.1.2 Software . . . . . . . . 280
vii
Contents
11.1.3 Configuration . . . . . . . 280
11.1.4 Configurations for Changing ¡ "Schemes" . 282
11.1.5 If Things Still Don't Work . . . . 284
11.1.6 Installation via PCMCIA . . . . . 286
11.1.7 Other Help Programs . . . . . 287
11.2 APM ¡ Power Management . . . . . . 287
11.2.1 Fundamentals . . . . . . . 288
11.2.2 The Correct Kernel . . . . . . 288
11.2.3 The APM-Daemon . . . . . . 289
11.2.4 More Commands . . . . . . 289
11.2.5 Pause for the Hard Drive . . . . . 289
11.3 IrDA ¡ Infra-red Data Association . . . . 290
12 Printers 293
12.1 Overview: Interfaces, Queues and Spooling . . . 293
12.2 Printer Queues: Running and Configuring . . . 294
12.3 Printer Filters ¡ the "apsfilter" . . . . . 298
12.4 Network Printers with apsfilter . . . . . 304
12.5 Some Words on Ghostscript . . . . . 305
12.6 List of Supported Printers . . . . . . 307
12.7 Printer Checklist: apsfilter . . . . . . 312
V The Kernel and Its Parameters 315
13 The Kernel 317
13.1 Kernel Sources . . . . . . . . 317
13.2 Kernel Modules . . . . . . . . 318
13.3 Kernel Configuration . . . . . . . 320
13.4 Settings in the Kernel Configuration . . . . 321
13.5 Compiling the Kernel . . . . . . . 321
13.6 Installing the Kernel . . . . . . . 322
13.7 Creating a Boot Disk . . . . . . . 323
13.8 Cleaning Your Hard Drive After Compilation . . 323
14 Kernel Parameters 325
14.1 Drivers in the Kernel . . . . . . . 325
14.2 Some Tips . . . . . . . . . 326
14.3 The Parameters . . . . . . . . 326
14.3.1 Notations and Meanings . . . . . 326
14.3.2 Kernel Parameters at the Boot Prompt . . 327
14.3.3 CD-ROM Drives on Proprietary Controllers . 337
14.3.4 modprobe Parameters . . . . . 339
viii
Contents
VI SuSE Linux: Updating and Special Features 357
15 Updating the System and Package Management 359
15.1 Updating SuSE Linux . . . . . . . 359
15.1.1 Preparations . . . . . . . 359
15.1.2 Updating with YaST2 . . . . . 360
15.1.3 Updating with YaST1 . . . . . 360
15.1.4 Updating Single Packages . . . . 362
15.2 From Version to Version . . . . . . 362
15.2.1 From 4.x to 5.0 . . . . . . 362
15.2.2 From 5.0 to 5.1 . . . . . . 363
15.2.3 From 5.1 to 5.2 . . . . . . 363
15.2.4 From 5.2 to 5.3 . . . . . . 364
15.2.5 From 5.3 to 6.0 . . . . . . 365
15.2.6 From 6.0 to 6.1 . . . . . . 365
15.2.7 From 6.1 to 6.2 . . . . . . 366
15.2.8 From 6.2 to 6.3 . . . . . . 366
15.2.9 From 6.3 to 6.4 . . . . . . 368
15.3 RPM-the Package Manager . . . . . 370
15.3.1 Managing Packages: Install, Update and Uninstall 370
15.3.2 RPM Queries . . . . . . . 371
15.3.3 Installing and Compiling Source Packages . 373
15.3.4 Other Tools for Working with RPM Archives . 375
16 Special Features of SuSE Linux 377
16.1 Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) and Linux Standard
Base (LSB) . . . . . . . . . 377
16.1.1 Example Environments for FTP and HTTP . 377
16.1.2 teTeX ¡ TEX in SuSE Linux . . . . 377
16.2 Booting with the "initial ramdisk" . . . . 377
16.2.1 Concept of the Initial Ramdisk . . . 378
16.2.2 The Order of the Booting Process with initrd . 378
16.2.3 Boot Loaders . . . . . . . 379
16.2.4 Using initrd in SuSE . . . . . 380
16.2.5 Possible Difficulties ¡ Self-Compiled Kernels . 381
16.2.6 Prospects . . . . . . . 381
16.3 linuxrc . . . . . . . . . 382
16.4 The SuSE Linux Help System . . . . . 386
16.4.1 Standalone and Server Configuration . . 387
16.4.2 Client Configuration . . . . . 388
ix
Contents
16.4.3 Using the Help System . . . . . 389
16.5 The SuSE Rescue System . . . . . . 389
16.6 Hints on Special Software Packages . . . . 392
16.6.1 package cron . . . . . . 392
16.6.2 package curses . . . . . . 393
16.6.3 Manpages . . . . . . . 393
16.7 Keyboard Layout . . . . . . . 393
17 The SuSE Linux Boot Concept 395
17.1 The init Program . . . . . . . 395
17.2 Runlevels . . . . . . . . . 396
17.3 Changing Runlevels . . . . . . . 397
17.4 Init Scripts . . . . . . . . . 397
17.5 /etc/rc.config and /sbin/SuSEconfig . . . 399
17.6 The Variables in /etc/rc.config ¡ System Configura-
tion . . . . . . . . . . 400
VII Security and Getting Started 411
18 Security is a Matter of Trust 413
18.1 Basics . . . . . . . . . . 413
18.1.1 Local Security . . . . . . 414
18.1.2 Network Security . . . . . . 417
18.2 Tools . . . . . . . . . . 418
18.2.1 Local Tools . . . . . . . 418
18.2.2 Networking Tools . . . . . . 421
18.3 Security in SuSE Linux . . . . . . 425
18.4 General Rules . . . . . . . . 426
19 First Steps with Linux 427
19.1 Logging in, the User "root", Adding Users . . . 427
19.2 Shutting Down and Booting the System . . . 428
19.3 Commands ¡ Entries on the Command Line . . 429
19.4 Virtual Consoles . . . . . . . . 430
19.5 Directories and Filenames . . . . . . 431
19.6 Working with Directories . . . . . . 431
19.7 Working with Files . . . . . . . 432
19.7.1 Information on Files . . . . . 432
19.7.2 Wildcards . . . . . . . 433
19.7.3 Contents of Files . . . . . . 434
x
Contents
19.7.4 Hidden Files . . . . . . . 434
19.7.5 Copying, Renaming and Deleting Files . . 435
19.7.6 Searching for Files and for Strings Within Files 435
19.7.7 Symbolic Links . . . . . . 436
19.7.8 Archiving and Saving Data . . . . 436
19.8 Permissions . . . . . . . . 437
19.9 Man Pages . . . . . . . . . 438
19.10System Information . . . . . . . 440
19.10.1 The df Command . . . . . . 440
19.10.2 The free Command . . . . . 440
19.10.3 The Command ulimit . . . . . 440
19.10.4 The w Command . . . . . . 441
19.10.5 The du Command . . . . . . 441
19.10.6 The kill Command . . . . . 441
19.10.7 The ps Command . . . . . . 442
19.10.8 The pstree Command . . . . . 442
19.10.9 The top Command . . . . . 442
19.11 Filesystem Types in Linux ¡ mount and umount . 442
19.11.1 Overview . . . . . . . 442
19.11.2 Mounting and Unmounting Filesystems . . 444
19.12DOS Commands in Unix with mtools . . . . 445
19.13Summary of Commands in Unix . . . . . 446
19.14What Next? . . . . . . . . 448
19.15The vi editor . . . . . . . . 449
A Important keys 451
B Glossary 453
C The Directory Tree 467
C.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . 467
C.2 Important Directories . . . . . . . 468
D Important Files 469
D.1 Device Files in the /dev Directory . . . . 469
D.1.1 CD-ROM Drives . . . . . . 469
D.1.2 Tape Drives . . . . . . . 470
D.1.3 Mice (bus and PS/2) . . . . . 470
D.1.4 Modems . . . . . . . . 471
D.1.5 Serial Interfaces . . . . . . 471
D.1.6 Parallel Ports . . . . . . . 471
xi
Contents
D.1.7 Special Devices . . . . . . 471
D.2 Configuration Files in /etc . . . . . 472
D.3 Hidden Configuration Files in home . . . . 472
E Manual Page of e2fsck 475
F SuSE Linux-FAQ 477
G The GNU General Public License 485
H Support and Services of SuSE GmbH 493
H.1 60-Day Installation Support . . . . . . 493
H.1.1 No Installation Support Unless You Register! . 493
H.1.2 Extent of Our Installation Support . . . 493
H.2 The Fastest Way to Get Help! . . . . . 494
H.2.1 How Can I Reach the SuSE-Support Team? . 496
H.3 SuSE Professional Services . . . . . . 497
H.3.1 Individual Projects and Consulting . . . 498
H.4 Training . . . . . . . . . 498
H.5 Feedback . . . . . . . . . 499
H.6 Further Services . . . . . . . . 499
xii
Chapter 1
Foreword
The Linux story reads like a modern-day fairy-tale: in 1991 the Finnish
computer science student, LINUS TORVALDS begins programming his own
version of Unix. In the rapidly spreading Internet he published not only
the binaries, that is, the runnable programs in machine language, but also
the source code belonging to them. And indeed, hundreds of programmers
from all around the world took up his invitation to work on the development
of Linux ¡ without payment and in their spare time. It is not driven by
commmercial interest, but by the pleasure of solving problems alone and in
a team, and of adding new functions to try and perfect the operating system.
The only condition: the work - including the modified source code - must be
made available to the general public. The legal basis for this is provided by
the GNU General Public License (GPL) found in appendix G.
Those who choose Linux have good reasons for doing so: stability, security
and performance are usually mentioned first; but its extensive networking
capabilities, with whose help Linux is conquering the Internet and the entire
server market, make a close second. Linux insiders highly value the free
source code and the independence and flexibility which this implies. Because
of the free sources, you are no longer helpless, or at the mercy of a software
manufacturer, but free to carry out individual customizations and extensions
yourself. It should not be forgotten, of course, that Linux has no licensing
costs, irrespective of whether the operating system is used at home, for private
use, or for any number of staff in the company.
Apart from these arguments, however, a huge demand and great interest on
the part of Linux users has encouraged many hardware and software manu-
facturers to actively support Linux. Siemens, IBM and Compaq ¡ to name
just a few "big" names, have at last discovered Linux.
In addition to countless free applications, commercial software is becoming
increasingly available for Linux: both database companies, such as Oracle,
Informix, Software AG and Sybase, as well as providers of office solutions,
such as Applix, Corel or Stardivision also offering their products for Linux.
Linux is good, is getting even better and costs nothing! If you take into
consideration the Linux community, with more than 10 million users, and
growing rapidly, as well as their enthusiasm, you will realise: Linux possesses
the best qualifications and prospects to become an industry standard.
But that is not all: with KDE and GNOME, there are not one, but two, free
and comfortable graphical desktops available which themselves make the call
1
1. Foreword
for "Linux on the desktop" ever louder.
1.1 What Is Linux?
The actual "Linux" is the kernel, the "heart" of every UNIX operating system.
But the kernel alone does not constitute an entire operating system. Especially
in UNIX there is a huge amount of free software available; this means that
practically any standard tools in Unix are also available in Linux. It is these
programs which make the operating system what it is.
Many of these tools are GNU versions (GNU) of these Unix programs:
many of these offer enhanced features over the originals. Of these, the GNU
C/C++ compiler, one of the best compilers available, is probably the most
famous program. And we should not forget the many tools, small and large,
which can be used on the command line, in shell scripts or as fully fledged
programs; from the shell, file and text utilities such as sed, awk and perl to
editors like vi or complete work-environments like Emacs.
What makes Linux complete is XFree86 TM (current version, 3.3.6), the X
Window System (currently X11 Release 6.3) for PC-based UNIX systems.
This port is part of the official X11 R6.3 distribution of the X Consortium,
Inc., and therefore fully compatible with that standard.
All these components, together with many other tools, applications and
amusements (e. g., games), make up the system known as Linux. There is
a large amount of free software available, and there are many ways to put a
Linux system together.
At this point the Linux distributions come into play, in this case, SuSE Linux.
A distribution is a selection from a wide palette of Free software. The end
product is, in the case of the SuSE Linux CDs, over 1000 software packages.
SuSE Linux includes, in addition to free software ¡ software in which the
source-code is included on the CD-ROMs ¡ software packages that, for
different reasons, SuSE can only offer in compiled form.
Due to the fact that distributions are offered free on the Internet, updating
your system does not necessarily mean buying a new distribution.
1.2 Purpose of this Book ¡ Notes on Usage
We have conceived this book as an aid to installation. It should not, and
cannot, be a replacement for more detailed literature, which should allow an
interested user to dig deeper into the fascinating world of high-performance
computing ¡ for this, refer to the bibliography at the end of the book.
For a first-time installation it should be sufficient, initially, to read the practi-
cally oriented chapter 2. Under no circumstances, however, should you jump
into the adventure as a Linux novice without reading anything at all. The
more you read, the more your efficiency will increase, and the more you will
avoid frustration ¡ so at least browse through chapter 19 before you start . . .
The dynamics of Linux and of free software is a big challenge as far as writing
a handbook is concerned. It must keep up with the most recent developments,
2
1.2. Purpose of this Book ¡ Notes on Usage
and, at the same time,remain suited for those new to the Unix world ¡ without
boring experienced Linux users. The book in front of you attempts to do
justice to all these requirements.
The aim of this book is to allow Linux beginners an encouraging start on a
voyage of discovery through the new system.
The book is basically divided into the following sections:
Installation This section guides the Linux novice with a documented exam-
ple installation (Chapter 2 page 13). It points out possible sources of error
and provides concrete help with problems. YaST , the SuSE installation
and administration tool, is covered in Chapter 3 page 71, and Chapter 4
page 103 explains how to boot the kernel.
Network Configuration As soon as the base system is up and running we
move on to the configuration of your network (connection to the Internet).
Graphical User Interface Activating and setting up the XFree86 TM is the
subject of Chapter 8 page 207 to Chapter 9 page 229.
Sound, Scanner, Notebooks, Printing etc. In Chapters 10 page 255 to 12
page 293 the capabilities of your hardware are explained.
The Linux Kernel Here we get down to the heart of the matter. The Linux
kernel is introduced in Chapter 13 page 317 and Chapter 14 page 325,
providing you with a guide on how to compile and install your own kernel.
Update, Software Packages, Booting Several update strategies as well as
software management are introduced (Chapter 15 page 359), special fea-
tures of SuSE Linux are covered and the boot concept is explained (Chap-
ter 17 page 395).
Security and Getting Started Security concepts (Chapter 18 page 413) and
first steps are combined in this section, giving you a first exposure to
commands and more in Linux.
Technical Appendix In the appendix you can find a list of the most impor-
tant configuration files, the most frequently used key combinations, ex-
ample files, a licensing agreement, the most frequently asked questions
about SuSE Linux (FAQ, Appendix F page 477) and much more.
Support The tasks of installation support and the opportunities for more
extensive "Professional Services" are described in Appendix H page 493
¡ please read through the details of these before getting in touch with us!
Glossary, Bibliography and Index If there is something you still haven't
found yet, you should consult the extensive appendix and glossary (Ap-
pendix B page 453), either to find the place which explains important con-
cepts, or simply to increase your general knowledge about Linux, Unix or
computers, with the help of the glossary.
3
1. Foreword
1.3 Typographical Conventions ¡ or What on Earth Does
"earth: # ls" Mean?
The typographical conventions used in this guide are explained in Table 1.1.
Text layout Meaning
LINUS TORVALDS important persons
GNU Emacs (emacs) the program GNU Emacs, is invoked
with the command emacs
Adabas D the product Adabas D
/etc/passwd file or directory name
<file> when entering a command, file
should be replaced by the actual
value; you should not enter the an-
gled brackets!
<file> the variable with the name file
PATH the environment variable with the
name PATH
192.168.1.2 value of a variable
ls the command ls
`news' the user `news'
earth: # susehelp `root'-shell in the directory
(` ' stands for the "home direc-
tory" of the respective user, Home
directory), you should enter the com-
mand susehelp ¡ here earth is
an example of the name of a com-
puter (hostname).
newbie@earth:/tmp > ls in the shell of the user `newbie' in
directory /tmp, type the command
ls
C:\> fdisk at the DOS prompt, type the com-
mand fdisk
Alt key to press, here the key "Alt"
Ctrl + Alt + Del when `+' is "added" all keys are to
be pressed at the same time; keys to
be pressed sequentially are separated
by a space only
"Permission denied" system messages
`System update' menu entry `System update'
Duesentrieb company "Duesentrieb"
reference to the glossary in the ap-
pendix
Table 1.1: Typographical conventions used in the text layout
4
1.4. The Struggle with the Number of Pages
1.4 The Struggle with the Number of Pages
There is a limit to the number of pages this book can contain; the amount of
software available for Linux, however, is slowly growing to infinity. For this
reason, a pointer to the documentation available online is appropriate at this
point. However, as well as including a large amount of necessary technical
information about the system, we have tried to ensure that the "first steps"
of becoming a user of Linux (logging in, copying, editing and deleting files,
using CD-ROMs and floppy disks etc.) are clearly described (see Chapter 19
page 427 pp.).
1.4.1 Support Database
Many solutions to well-known problems are already available. These are
presented in our Support Database at
http://www.suse.de/sdb/en/html/
We recommend that you look there first!
Besides the online Support Database, the complete Support Database can also
be found in package sdb en, series doc on your SuSE Linux CD. Those
articles can be read using any WWW browser (e. g., arena, lynx, or netscape).
1.4.2 Hypertext Help
A major part of the documentation is available in hypertext form. To start
the hypertext system, run susehelp. Depending on whether X Windows
is running, an additional program (a browser) to read the documentation will
be started. In the X Window System this is Netscape (Figure 1.1 on the next
page), and in the text console, lynx (Figure 16.7 page 387).
Additional options to the help system can be displayed by invoking
newbie@earth:/home/newbie > susehelp --help
You can find the help system in package susehilf, series doc1 (Docu-
mentation).
1.4.3 Texinfo
Some program packages include documentation in Texinfo format, which is
another hypertext variant. These files can be read with Infoviewer (info) or
by using the Emacs (emacs) info mode. In X Windows, you can use tkInfo
(tkinfo) or the older xinfo.
1.4.4 Manual Pages
The usual way to get information about programs or commands is to invoke
the command man.
newbie@earth:/home/newbie > man <command>
displays the manual page1 for the entered command, which usually lists all
command options and explains the command's usage. The manual pages
Manual Pages ¡ often abbreviated to "manpages" ¡ can be read via the SuSE
help system; see section 1.4.2.
1 hereafter referred to as "manpage"
5
1. Foreword
Figure 1.1: Homepage of the help system (Netscape)
1.4.5 FAQ's, HOWTO's and README's
The directory /usr/doc contains subdirectories with information about the
corresponding packages. There you will often find the missing command
option, the name of the configuration file you could not find anywhere else,
or the name of the developer's dog. In any case, it is worth looking there
before deleting the software.
The FAQ on SuSE Linux deserves special mention ¡ it can be found in
Appendix F page 477 pp.
The directory /usr/doc/faq should be pointed out, in which lists of
6
1.5. Acknowledgments
frequently asked questions and appropriate answers on a wide variety of
problems if the package manyfaqs, series doc is installed. The direc-
tory /usr/doc/howto contains "recipes" explaining how to install certain
packages or what to do when you encounter problems.
In the directory docu on the first CD the latest (at the time of of the CD going
to press) versions of the HOWTO files can be found. It might be of interest to
look there. In Linux the program less is used to read files. Although the file
is compressed (.gz), less is smart enough to handle this.
newbie@earth:/home/newbie > cd /usr/doc/howto
newbie@earth:/usr/doc/howto > less DOS-to-Linux-
HOWTO.gz
In the directory docu/howto on the first CD there can be found the most
current versions, at the time of the CD going to press, of the most important
Howto files. It is certainly worth taking a look in this directory! These
files are uncompressed; they can therefore be read comfortably, even before
installation (in DOS, for example, with type). Kernel-specific questions and
answers can be obtained from
/usr/src/linux/Documentation. This is only available if you have
installed the kernel source (package linux or package lx suse), which is
highly recommended anyway. Furthermore, there are many useful hints in the
kernel source subdirectories (such as for sound drivers). And for the brave,
even the kernel sources themselves.
If you have a question which is not answered in this book, please look at the
sources for more information, since the scope of this book is limited. Because
the development of Linux continues at such a fast pace, this printed document
can only be up-to-date for a very limited time.
1.4.6 Free Books
The package books, series doc1 (Documentation) contains some books in
PostScript format. You can view these books with the package gsview,
series gra1 (Graphics) or package gv, series gra1 (Graphics) ¡ if you don't
care about trees you can print them as well. Before printing, you should ask
yourself whether it might be more economical to buy the book.
1.5 Acknowledgments
Besides everyone who has contributed to the large success of Linux, we would
like to especially thank FLORIAN LA ROCHE, whose contribution has been
invaluable to us. His experience and knowledge helped us to first build a
Linux system. Thanks to his long experience with his jurix distribution, he
was able to participate in the creation of SuSE Linux. Without his help this
distribution certainly would not have been possible in its present form.
Also, many thanks to HARALD KOENIG of the XFree86 team, who gave
us valuable tips and advice concerning the X Window System, and to EBER-
HARD MOENKEBERG, who was very helpful with CD-ROM driver problems.
Many thanks go to Hans Lermen, author of the well-known loadlin.exe,
which allows Linux to be started from DOS, and the DOS setup.exe of this
Linux system.
7
1. Foreword
Thanks also to all those who sacrificed their spare time for making Linux
available to a vast number of international users by helping translating YaST
and linuxrc texts: Gunay Arslan, Zbigniew Baniewski, S┤andor B┤ar┤any,
Olaf Borkner-Delcarlo, Michael Bravo, Michael Burghart, Franca Delcarlo,
Jochen Depner, Benedek Hermann, Ib┤an Jos┤e Garc┤ia Castillo, Dora Geor-
garou (with Romy the barking dog), Pablo Iranzo G┤omez, Krzysztof Hotiuk,
Milan Hromada, Arthur Kerkmeester, Ralf A. Lanz, Franc╕oise Lermen,
Zolt┤an Lev┤ardy, Nuno Lima, Tomas Morkus, Carmen Mar┤in P┤erez, Matts
Nordman, Aleksey Novodvorsky, Razvan Cristian Oprea, Gerco Oudhof,
George Papamichelakis, Alexey Pavlov, ┤Akos R┤atkai, Voula Sanida, Aleksey
Smirnov, Steve Varadi, P. Vlachodimitropoulos, Joao Teles, Nuno Vieira,
January Weiner and I Made Wiryana.
And many thanks, of course, to the dauntless beta testers who risked their
running systems: Andreas Koegel, Christian H¿uttermann, Dirk Ulbrich, Eber-
hard M¿onkeberg, Frank Hofmann, Georg C. F. Greve, Harald K¿onig, Har-
ald Wieland, Karlo Gross, Jens Frank, Lutz Pressler, Martin Hehl, Mar-
tin Konold, Martin Schulze, Michael Kleinhenz, Norbert Eicker, Oliver Zen-
del, Ralf Geschke, Stefan Bliesener, Thomas W¿orner, Ulrich Goebel, Ul-
rich Windl, Volker Lendecke, Wolfgang Barth, and the KDE Team.
A big thanks to those who helped proofread the English: Chris Mahmoud,
James Samuel, Edith Parzefall, and especially Roger Whittaker, and to Ken
Wimer for additional translations.
Good tips ¡ and text material ¡ have been given by the following: Hol-
ger Achtziger, Harald Bertram, Thomas Biege, Peter Findeisen, Matthias
Fr¿uhauf, Kurt Garloff, LenZ Grimmer, Carsten Gro▀, Berthold Gunreben,
Bernhard H¿olcker, Kevin Ivory, Klaus K¿ampf, Karsten Keil, Wolfgang Kern,
Thorsten Kukuk, Johannes Meixner, Petr Pavlik, Bj¿orn Pfeiffer, J¿urgen Schei-
derer, and Robert Adrian Walczak.
The first line of technical production support is Holger Dyroff, Christian Egle,
Frank Sundermeyer and Claudio Taulli. Thanks and keep up the good work!
And the many important people without who, this would never have been
possible: Adrian, Agathe, Alexander, Alexander, Alexander, Alexandra, Ali,
Anas, Andrea, Andreas, Andreas, Andreas, Andreas, Anita, Anita, Antje,
Arnd, Barbara, Beate, Bernd, Bernd, Bernhard, Bernhard, Berthold, Bet-
tina, Birgit, Brigitte, Burchard, Carlos, Carsten, Carsten, Carsten, Carsten,
Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian,
Christoph-Erdmann, Claudia, Claudio, Costin, Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, David,
Dieter, Dieter, Dirk, Dirk, Dirk, Dragan, Edith, Edith, Erich, Erich, Evelyn,
Florian, Francisca, Francoise, Francoise, Frank, Frank, Frank, Frank, Frank,
Frank, Frank, Friedrich, Gabriele, Gema, Georg, Gerlinde, Ghayss, Gregor,
Harald, Harald, Hardo, Hartmut, Heidi, Heiko, Helene, Helmut, Hendrik,
Holger, Holger, Hubert, Hubert, Ines, Ingo, Ingo, Jan, Jan-Hendrik, Jens,
Jens, Jesko, Joachim, Jochen, Johannes, Jordi, J¿org, J¿org, J¿org, J¿org, J¿org,
J¿org, J¿org, J¿org-Gerald, J¿org-Olaf, J¿urgen, J¿urgen, J¿urgen, Kadriye, Kai,
Karin, Karin, Karin, Karine, Karl, Karl-Heinz, Katrin, Kenneth, Klaas,
Klaus, Klaus, Klaus, Konrad, Kurt, Kyung Ae, Lars, Lenz, Manfred,
Manuela, Marc, Marco, Marco, Marco, Marcus, Marcus, Mario, Marius,
Mark, Mark, Markus, Martin, Martin, Martin, Martin, Martina, Martina,
8
1.5. Acknowledgments
Martina, Matthias, Matthias, Matthias, Matthias, Matthias, Meike, Melanie,
Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael,
Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michaela, Michaela, Milisav,
Miriam, Nadin, Nessim, Nicolas, Nicolaus, Nicole, Nina, Norbert, Olaf,
Oliver, Oliver, Oliver, Patricia, Peter, Peter, Peter, Peter, Peter, Peter, Peter,
Peter, Petra, Philipp, Pia, Ralf, Reinhard, Reinhard, Remo, Renate, Roland,
Rolf, R¿udiger, R¿udiger, R¿udiger, Sabina, Sabine, Sabine, Sebastian, Silke,
Silvia, Simon, Stefan, Stefan, Stefan, Stefan, Stefan, Stefan, Stefan, Stefan,
Stefanie, Steffen, Stephan, Stephan, Stephan, Stephen, Sven, Sylvia, Tanja,
Tatjana, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Thorsten,
Thorsten, Tilman, Timo, Ulrich, Ulrich, Uwe, Uwe, Uwe, Uwe, Volker,
Waldo, Walter, Waltraud, Werner, Werner, Wittawat, Wolfgang, Wolfgang,
Wolfgang und Wolfgang ¡ an all a big, big THANK YOU!
Further thanks go to STEFAN ENDRASS, who computed the cover picture of
the CD.
For the mathematically interested, here a few words of explanation:
The Barth Decic
Consider the equation
8 x2 - 4y2 y2 - 4z2 z2 - 4x2 x4 + y4 + z4 - 2 x2y2 + y2z2 + z2x2
+(3 + 5 ) x2 + y2 + z2 - 1 2 x2 + y2 + z2 - (2 - ) 2 = 0,
where = (1+ 5)/2 denotes the golden ratio. It defines a degree 10 surface
(decic) found by W. Barth (Erlangen) in 1994. This surface is remarkable be-
cause it has 345 double points, which is a world record. Due to a complicated
theorem of the japanese mathematician Y. Miyaoka any degree 10 surface can
have at most 360 double points. But nobody has ever seen more than 345.
The above equation is made up from so called icosahedral invariants, which
were already known to E. Goursat (1858-1936) two centuries ago. Therefore
the Barth-decic admits the symmetries of the icosahedron.
*
* *
*
The global team of Linux developers is still working intensively on Linux ¡
most of them on a voluntary basis. We want to thank them for their efforts ¡
this CD distribution would not exist without them. Our work aims at making
their work accessible to a large number of interested users.
Last but not least, special thanks to PATRICK VOLKERDING for supporting
our work and, of course, many thanks to LINUS TORVALDS!
And last, but not least: Frank Zappa and Pawar!
Nuremberg, 11th March 2000
Have a lot of fun!
Your SuSE Team
9
1. Foreword
10