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Configuration HOWTO By Guido Gonzato, guido@ibogeo.df.unibo.it v1.2.6, 19 January 1999 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. ______________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents 1. Introduction 1.1 Why This HOWTO 1.2 What We Will Be Configuring 2. General System Setup 2.1 Keyboard 2.2 Kernel Matters 2.3 Sendmail Lock 2.4 Hard Disk Performance 2.5 Parallel Port Zip Drive 2.6 Device Drivers 2.7 Login Messages 2.8 Hostname 2.9 Mouse 2.10 Mount Points 2.11 lilo(8) and LOADLIN.EXE 2.11.1 Security Tip 2.12 Mail Capabilities 2.13 Printer Configuration 2.14 SVGATextMode 3. Software Configuration 3.1 bash(1) 3.2 ls(1) 3.3 less(1) 3.4 emacs(1) 3.5 joe(1) 3.6 jed(1) 3.7 efax(1) 3.8 TeX and Friends 3.9 Avoid PPProblems! 3.9.1 A Quick Start with eznet 3.10 POP Client 3.11 X Window System (XFree86) 3.11.1 Setting Up the X Server 3.11.2 Keypad 3.11.3 Graphical Login with xdm 3.11.4 Window Manager 3.12 Users' Configurations 3.13 Upgrading 4. Configuration Software 5. The End 5.1 Copyright 5.2 Feedback 5.3 Disclaimer ______________________________________________________________________ 1. Introduction 1.1. Why This HOWTO I have installed Linux on many PCs and noted that current distributions are terrific but, annoyingly, lack some basic configuration. Most applications will work out of the box, but others won't. Moreover, I have noted that the same questions crop up on c.o.l.setup over and over again. To try and remedy this situation, and to have a memorandum for fresh installations, I wrote a do--this--and--that list that I later expanded to this HOWTO. Here you will find a handful of configuration examples for the most common applications, programs, and services, which should save you a fair amount of time and work. A few of the examples outlined in this HOWTO depend somehow on the distribution. I only have access to Red Hat, Caldera OpenLinux, and S.u.S.E. installations, so don't take any of my tips as gospel if you have Slackware, Debian or other distributions. In any case, reading documentation and the HOWTOs always pays off, so you're advised to do so anyway. My reference distribution is Red Hat; to avoid repetitions, ``AT2YD'' stands for ``Adapt This to Your Distribution''. A final note: I hope that this HOWTO becomes obsolete as soon as possible. The current trend in Linux distributions is to provide configuration tools rather than leave the sysadm alone with a pile of docs. Therefore, whenever possible I'll point you to the right tool. The most recent revision of this document, including some translations, is available on <http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO>. 1.2. What We Will Be Configuring 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), sound card, modem, CD--ROM drive, printer, mouse. A parallel port Zip Drive is also very common. 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, lads, 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/rc.d/rc.sysinit (Red Hat) or /etc/rc.d/rc.boot (Caldera) or /etc/rc.d/boot (S.u.S.E.): /sbin/kbdrate -s -r 16 -d 500 # or whatever you like To load the key table, issue /etc/rc.d/init.d/keytable start (AT2YD). Other special keys will be considered in the following sections. To enable NumLock on by default, add these lines to /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit (AT2YD): for tty in /dev/tty[1-9]*; do setleds -D +num < $tty done 2.2. Kernel Matters 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/ or the Kernel HOWTO. Hints: ╖ consider carefully your needs. Choosing a kernel configuration, applying the patches, and compiling it once and for all is more productive than 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 (e.g. SCSI, Zip, network cards, etc); ╖ if your PC is based on a Cyrix CPU that is not properly recognised as such by the kernel, apply appropriate patches to improve its performance. Information on <http://www.linuxhq.com/patch/20-p0591.html> ; ╖ notebook users will want to improve their LCD screen legibility. I used to suggest that a kernel patch should be applied, but SVGATextMode (see Section ``SVGATextMode'') is probably the best solution. Anyway, the Big Cursor kernel patch is on <http://www.linuxhq.com/patch/20-p0239.html> ; ╖ 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, otherwise your PCMCIA modem won't work; ╖ if you use PCMCIA cards, remember to compile those modules as well; also, don't forget to edit /etc/pcmcia/network.opts if you use a PCMCIA network card; ╖ if you get those pesky messages from modprobe indicating that some modules can't be located, that means that your /etc/conf.modules needs mending. For instance, if you don't use the ipx and appletalk modules, add these lines: alias net-pf-4 off alias net-pf-5 off ╖ to save time the next time you reconfigure and recompile the kernel, it's a good idea to save your configuration on a file and keep it in a safe place. Beware: if you upgrade your kernel this config file is bound to be useless, because it doesn't contain the features of the new kernel. 2.3. Sendmail Lock On some systems, sendmail hangs the machine for a couple of minutes at boot time. There are two cases: 1) the machine is not directly connected to the Internet, 2) the machine is connected, and has a permanent IP address. Quick fix for the first case: make sure your /etc/hosts contains a line that reads 127.0.0.1 localhost For the second case: the lock is caused by /etc/hosts containing a line like 127.0.0.1 localhost your_host_name which you will split this way: 127.0.0.1 localhost w.x.y.z your_host_name See also Section ``Hostname''. 2.4. Hard Disk Performance Your (E)IDE hard disk's performance can be greatly enhanced by carefully using hdparm(8). If your Linux distribution doesn't include it, you'll find on <ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/hardware> ; look for a file called hdparm-X.Y.tar.gz. Since many details depend on your hard disk and HD controller, I can't give you a general recipe. As you risk to toast your filesystem, please read the man page carefully before using some of the options. At its simplest, you could add the following line to /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit: /sbin/hdparm -c1 /dev/hda # first IDE drive assumed which enables (E)IDE 32-bit I/O support. As for the `-m' option, this is what hdparm author Mark Lord emailed me: (...) if your system uses components from the past couple of years [< 1997], it will be fine. Older than that, there *may* be a problem (unlikely). The really buggy chips were the CMD0646 and RZ1000 chips, used *extensively* on 486 and (early) 586 motherboards about 2-3 years ago. 2.5. Parallel Port Zip Drive To use the parallel port version of the Zip drive you can use the default driver that comes with recent (2.x.x) kernels. During kernel configuration, make sure that SCSI support and SCSI disk support are enabled. Remember, there can be conflicts between the printer and the Zip drive on the same parallel port, so you will want to use kernel modules. Zip disks are sold preformatted on partition /dev/sda4. To enable the Zip, all you have to do is issue #~ chmod 666 /dev/sda4 # everyone can access the Zip Drive #~ insmod ppa and the Zip can now be mounted as usual (better write the last line in /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit). You also access the Zip drive via mtools adding this line to your /etc/mtools.conf: drive z: file="/dev/sda4" exclusive There's a better ppa driver than the standard one, though: have a look at <http://www.torque.net/~campbell> . 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 ttyS0 mouse /dev# ln -s ttyS1 modem /dev# ln -s hdb cdrom Tip: in some notebooks the mouse device is /dev/psaux: take this into account when configuring X11. If you want, do chmod 666 to such devices as /dev/cdrom, /dev/floppy, /dev/modem, etc. to make them fully accessible by every user. Security problems ahead! Alternatively, create the ``cdrom'' group, make /dev/cdrom owned by root.cdrom, then add users to this group. A similar procedure applies to other devices. 2.7. Login Messages If you want to customise the login messages, check whether your /etc/rc.d/rc.local overwrites /etc/issue and /etc/motd. (RedHat does.) If so, get on with your editor. 2.8. Hostname Issuing the command hostname new_host_name may not be enough. To avoid the dreaded sendmail lock, follow these steps (only valid for a stand--alone machine): ╖ edit /etc/sysconfig/network and change the hostname therein (e.g. new_host_name.localdomain); ╖ edit /etc/HOSTNAME appropriately; ╖ append the new hostname in the line in /etc/hosts: 127.0.0.1 localhost new_host_name.locadomain 2.9. Mouse gpm mouse services are useful to perform cut and paste in tty mode, and to use the mouse in some applications. For Red Hat, 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, where you'll put additional command line parameters. Mine reads: ... daemon gpm -t $MOUSETYPE -d 2 -a 5 -B 132 # two-button mouse ... Obviously, make sure this configuration is right for your mouse type. In most notebooks, MOUSETYPE is ``PS/2''. For Caldera, all you have to do is append this line to /etc/rc.d/rc.boot: /usr/bin/gpm On S.u.S.E., gpm options go in /etc/rc.config; on Debian, you'll edit /etc/gpm.conf. If you like to use menus in console with Ctrl-button, then configure gpm-root. Edit the default menu in /etc/gpm-root.conf , then launch gpm-root from /etc/rc.d/rc.local (AT2YD). 2.10. Mount Points It's handy to have mount points for the floppy, other devices and NFS- exported directories. For example, you can do the following: ~# cd /mnt /mnt# mkdir floppy; mkdir cdrom; mkdir win; mkdir zip ; mkdir server This creates mount points for a DOS/Win floppy, an ext2 floppy, the CD--ROM, the Windows partition, the parallel port Zip drive, and a NFS directory. Now edit the file /etc/fstab and add the following entries: /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy vfat user,noauto 0 1 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 1 /dev/sda4 /mnt/zip vfat user,noauto,exec 0 1 /dev/hda1 /mnt/win vfat user,noauto 0 1 server:/export /mnt/server nfs defaults Obviously, you must use the correct device in the first field. Recent kernels support fat32 partitions natively; for older ones, there's a kernel patch on <http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/people/chaffee/fat32.html> . man mount for further information. You're strongly advised to install mtools for accessing DOS/Windows floppies! 2.11. lilo(8) and LOADLIN.EXE Many users run both Linux and DOS/Windows on their PC, and want to choose at boot time which os to use; this should be done at install time, but in case, do what follows. Let's suppose that /dev/hda1 contains DOS/Windows and that /dev/hda2 contains Linux. ~# 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. Then write this basic /etc/lilo.conf file: boot = /dev/hda2 compact delay = 50 # message = /boot/bootmesg.txt # write your own, if you will root = current image = /boot/vmlinuz # boot linux by default as this entry comes first label = linux read-only other = /dev/hda1 table = /dev/hda label = dos Now issue /sbin/lilo and you're done. Being lilo a crucial part of your installation, you're strongly advised to read its documentation anyway. To boot Linux from DOS/Windows without resetting, put LOADLIN.EXE in a directory (in the DOS partition!) included in the DOS path; then copy your kernel to, say, C:\TEMP\VMLINUZ. The following simple .BAT file will boot Linux: rem linux.bat smartdrv /C loadlin c:\temp\vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro If you use Windows 9x, set the properties of this .BAT so as it starts in MS--DOS mode. 2.11.1. Security Tip Making a backup copy of your MBR before installing Linux is a safe move. Use restorrb (included in the FIPS package) before installation, or a Linux rescue floppy to issue this command: rescue:~# dd if=/dev/hda of=MBR bs=512 count=1 then make at least two copies of the file MBR on floppies. Should disaster strike, you'll be able to restore your old MBR by issuing: rescue:~# dd if=/mnt/MBR of=/dev/hda bs=446 count=1 assuming that a floppy containing MBR is mounted under /mnt. Alternatively, use a DOS rescue floppy to issue FDISK /MBR. 2.12. Mail Capabilities You will want to be able to read mail messages written in HTML or containing exotic file formats. Make sure you have two files: /etc/mime.types and /etc/mailcap. The first one lists file types and related extensions, like: application/postscript ps eps image/jpeg jpe jpeg jpg text/html html while the second one tells the mail client how to display that file type. You may receive mail from people who use Microsoft Outlook, whose messages are in multi--part MIME format. These two lines, put in etc/mailcap, should let you read those messages: text/plain; less %s; needsterminal text/html; lynx -force_html %s; needsterminal 2.13. Printer Configuration All distributions I know have a configuration tool for setting up the printer (printtool, yast, or magicfilter); if you don't have it, this is a basic manual configuration. Let's suppose you have a non--PostScript (non ``Windows-only'' too!) 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: ╖ find out 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 to print two lines with ~# echo "first line" > /dev/lp1 ; echo "second line" > /dev/lp1 if the output is like this: first line second line then save this script 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. If you use printtool, be aware that the GSDEVICE chosen by Printtool will work, but not necessarily at its 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. 2.14. SVGATextMode This utility, available on <ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/sources/sbin> , can be used to change the console screen resolution, font, and cursor shape. Users whose language include accented characters will be able to use them in console applications, while notebook users may change the cursor shape to make it more visible. Edit /etc/TextConfig or /etc/TextMode, starting with the default VGA definition. Europeans should be happy with this ``LoadFont'' section: Option "LoadFont" FontProg "/usr/bin/setfont" FontPath "/usr/lib/kbd/consolefonts" FontSelect "lat1u-16.psf" 8x16 9x16 8x15 9x15 FontSelect "lat1u-14.psf" 8x14 9x14 8x13 9x13 FontSelect "lat1u-12.psf" 8x12 9x12 8x11 9x11 FontSelect "lat1u-08.psf" 8x8 9x8 8x7 9x7 Once you're done, try your configuration with a command like ~# SVGATextMode "80x34x9" and if everything appears to be working fine, remove the warnings from /etc/TextMode and include this line in etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit (AT2YD): # SVGATextMode /usr/sbin/SVGATextMode "80x34x9" Please note that the block cursor only works with some modes; on one of my machines, "80x32x9". 3. Software Configuration These are the the configuration files we are going to custimise: /etc/profile /etc/bashrc .bashrc .bashrc .bash_profile .bash_logout .inputrc .less .lessrc .xinitrc .fvwmrc .fvwm2rc95 .Xmodmap .Xmodmap.num .Xdefaults .jedrc .abbrevs.sl .joerc .emacs . Don't add users until you have completed your system configuration; you'll put the dot files in /etc/skel. 3.1. bash(1) Arguably, the most important piece of software after the kernel. To tailor bash's behaviour, these are the main 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 aliases and functions; ╖ $HOME/.bash_profile contains user environment stuff and startup programs; ╖ $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. Please look out for reverse quotes! ______________________________________________________________________ # /etc/profile # System wide environment and startup programs # Functions and aliases go in /etc/bashrc # This file sets up the following features and programs: # # o path # o prompts # o a few environment variables # o colour ls # o less # o rxvt # # Users can override these settings and/or add others in their # $HOME/.bash_profile # set a decent path (including Kde) PATH="$PATH:/usr/X11R6/bin:/opt/kde/bin:$HOME/bin:." # notify the user: login or non-login shell. If login, the prompt is # coloured in blue; otherwise in magenta. Root's prompt is red. # See the Colour-ls mini HOWTO for an explanation of the escape codes. USER=`whoami` if [ $LOGNAME = $USER ] ; then COLOUR=44 # blue else COLOUR=45 # magenta fi if [ $USER = 'root' ] ; then COLOUR=41 # red PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/bin" fi ESC="\033" STYLE=';1m' # bold; choose which one to use # STYLE='m' # plain PS1="\[$ESC[$COLOUR;37$STYLE\]$USER:\[$ESC[37;40$STYLE\]\w\\$ " PS2="> " # 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" NNTPSERVER=news.iol.it # put your own here VISUAL=jed EDITOR=jed HOSTNAME=`/bin/hostname` HISTSIZE=1000 HISTFILESIZE=1000 export PATH PS1 PS2 USER LOGNAME MAIL NNTPSERVER export VISUAL EDITOR HOSTNAME HISTSIZE HISTFILESIZE # enable colour ls eval `dircolors /etc/DIR_COLORS -b` export LS_OPTIONS='-s -F -T 0 --color=yes' # customize less LESS='-M-Q' LESSEDIT="%E ?lt+%lt. %f" LESSOPEN="| lesspipe.sh %s" LESSCHARDEF=8bcccbcc13b.4b95.33b. # show colours in ls -l | less export LESS LESSEDIT LESSOPEN VISUAL LESSCHARDEF # fix the backspace key in rxvt if [ "$COLORTERM" != "" ] ; then stty erase ^H # alternative: ^H fi for i in /etc/profile.d/*.sh ; do if [ -x $i ]; then . $i fi done # call fortune, if available if [ -x /usr/games/fortune ] ; then echo ; /usr/games/fortune ; echo fi ______________________________________________________________________ This is a sample /etc/bashrc: ______________________________________________________________________ # /etc/bashrc # System wide functions and aliases # Environment stuff goes in /etc/profile # For some unknown reason bash refuses to inherit # PS1 in some circumstances that I can't figure out. # Putting PS1 here ensures that it gets loaded every time. USER=`whoami` if [ $LOGNAME = $USER ] ; then COLOUR=44 # blue else COLOUR=45 # magenta fi if [ $USER = 'root' ] ; then COLOUR=41 # red fi ESC="\033" STYLE=';1m' # bold # STYLE='m' # plain export PS1="\[$ESC[$COLOUR;37$STYLE\]$USER:\[$ESC[37;40$STYLE\]\w\\$ " export PS2="> " export CDPATH="$CDPATH:~" alias which="type -path" alias ls="ls $LS_OPTIONS" ______________________________________________________________________ This is a sample .bashrc: ______________________________________________________________________ # $HOME/.bashrc # Source global definitions if [ -f /etc/bashrc ]; then . /etc/bashrc fi # this is needed to notify the user that they are in non-login shell if [ "$GET_PS1" = "" ] ; then COLOUR=45; ESC="\033"; STYLE=';1m'; # STYLE='m' USER=`whoami` export PS1="\[$ESC[$COLOUR;37$STYLE\]$USER:\[$ESC[37;40$STYLE\]\w\\$ " fi # 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. { tar -zxvf $1 } cz() # List the contents of a .zip archive. { unzip -l $* } ctgz() # List the contents of a .tar.gz archive. { for file in $* ; do tar -ztf ${file} done } tgz() # Create a .tgz archive a la zip. { name=$1 ; tar -cvf $1 ; shift tar -rf ${name} $* gzip -S .tgz ${name} } ______________________________________________________________________ This is a sample .bash_profile: ______________________________________________________________________ # $HOME/.bash_profile # User specific environment and startup programs # This file contains user-defined settings that override # those in /etc/profile # Get user aliases and functions if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then GET_PS1="NO" # don't change the prompt colour . ~/.bashrc fi # set a few `default' directories export CDPATH="$CDPATH:$HOME:$HOME/text:$HOME/text/geology" ______________________________________________________________________ This is a sample .inputrc: ______________________________________________________________________ # $HOME/.inputrc # key bindings "\e[1~": beginning-of-line "\e[3~": delete-char "\e[4~": end-of-line # (F1 .. F5) are "\e[[A" ... "\e[[E" "\e[[A": "info \C-m" set bell-style visible # please don't beep set meta-flag On # allow 8-bit input (i.e, accented letters) set convert-meta Off # don't strip 8-bit characters set output-meta On # display 8-bit characters correctly set horizontal-scroll-mode On # scroll long command lines set show-all-if-ambiguous On # after TAB is pressed ______________________________________________________________________ To make the backspace and delete keys work correctly in xterm and other X11 applications, the following is also needed: ╖ put this in your .xinitrc: usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap xmodmap $usermodmap ╖ then your .Xmodmap will contain: 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~") rxvt is a wee bit more complicated, as some compile--time options influence its behaviour. See the above /etc/profile. 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 holds for versions of rxvt older than 2.4.5. 3.2. ls(1) ls can display directory listings using colours to highlight different file types. To enable this feature, you just need a couple of lines in /etc/profile as seen above. However, this won't work with rxvt older than v. 2.21; use some flavour of xterm instead. It looks like rxvt has a bug that prevents it from inheriting the environment correctly in some circumstances. rxvt 2.4.5 upwards is OK. Caldera's ls doesn't have colours, but there's an equivalent color-ls. Add this in /etc/bashrc: alias ls="color-ls $LS_OPTIONS" 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 what have you. 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. (These are escape sequences for vt100-like terminals.) This creates a binary file .less containing the key bindings. ╖ write the following file as /usr/local/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 -qpil $1 2>/dev/null ;; *.cpio) cpio --list -F $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 $1 | grep text > /dev/null ; if [ $? = 1 ] ; then # it's not some kind of text strings $1 fi ;; esac } lesspipe $1 ___________________________________________________________________ then make it executable with chmod 755 lesspipe.sh. ╖ put the necessary variables in /etc/profile as seen above. 3.4. emacs(1) I rarely use emacs, so I have only a couple of tips for you. Some emacs distributions don't come preconfigured for colours and syntax highlighting. Put this in your .emacs: (global-font-lock-mode t) (setq font-lock-maximum-decoration t) This only works in X11. Moreover, to enable accented characters you'll add this line: (standard-display-european 1) I'll leave it to you to peruse all of emacs' documentation to find out how to tailor it to your needs---potentially, it can take months of hacking. The Dotfile generator (Section ``Configuration Software'') is a good helping hand. 3.5. joe(1) Some versions of joe don't work with colours in console, and some special keys don't work either. To my knowledge, no one has found a solution to these small nags. A quick and dirty (and inelegant) solution to the former problem is this: ~$ export TERM=vt100 ~$ joe myfile (edit your file) ~$ export TERM=linux Configure joe editing .joerc, .jstarrc or your favourite emulation; you can start from the system-wide config files in /usr/lib/joe. 3.6. jed(1) This is my favourite editor: it does what I need, it's lighter and easier to configure than emacs, and emulates other editors quite well. Many users at my university use jed to emulate EDT, VMS' system editor. jed's 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 the special keys correctly, write the file /usr/lib/jed/lib/defaults.sl whose only line reads: () = evalfile("linux"); ╖ if xjed apparently doesn't recognise the DEL key, add these lines to your .jedrc: #ifdef XWINDOWS x_set_keysym (0xFFFF, 0, "\e[3~"); setkey (``delete_char_cmd'', "\e[3~"); #endif ╖ edit /usr/lib/jed/lib/linux.sl to specify Info_Directory = "/usr/info"; and /bin/mail after /UCB_Mailer = "/bin/mail";; ╖ to make jed emulate EDT (or other editors) all you have to do is edit a couple of lines in .jedrc. If you want 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") (or similar); ╖ to make xjed use the numeric keypad for EDT emulation, insert the following in .Xmodmap: keycode 77 = KP_F1 keycode 112 = KP_F2 keycode 63 = KP_F3 keycode 82 = KP_F4 keycode 86 = KP_Separator ╖ colour customization for xjed is done adding lines like these in .Xdefaults: xjed*Geometry: 80x32+150+50 xjed*font: 10x20 xjed*background: midnight blue # and so on... ╖ the ``abbreviation'' feature is an invaluable timesaver. Write a file like the following as $HOME/.abbrevs.sl: create_abbrev_table ("Global", "0-9A-Za-z"); define_abbrev ("Global", "GG", "Guido Gonzato"); create_abbrev_table ("TeX", "\\A-Za-z0-9"); define_abbrev ("TeX", "\\beq", "\\begin{equation}"); define_abbrev ("TeX", "\\eeq", "\\end{equation}"); % and so on... and type ESC x abbrev_mode to enable it. To have the abbreviation enabled by default, add entries like these to your .jedrc: define text_mode_hook () { set_abbrev_mode (1); } % define fortran_hook () { set_abbrev_mode (1); use_abbrev_table ("Fortran"); } % and so on... 3.7. efax(1) This package is probably the most convenient for simple sending/receiving of faxes. You'll have to tailor the script /usr/bin/fax; easy job, but a couple of quirks caused me quite an headache: ╖ DIALPREFIX: chances are that simply putting `T' or `P' won't work in some countries (in Italy, at least). Put `ATDT' or `ATDP' instead; ╖ INIT and RESET: these strings contain the initialisers `-i' and `-k', needed by efax. If you want to add an AT command, add it to the appropriate string leaving out `AT' and preceding the rest with either `-i' or `-k'. Example: to add the `ATX3' command to INIT, you'll append `-iX3'. 3.8. 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 so that teTeX recognises 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 the line XDvi*mfmode: in .Xdefault. This should help. 3.9. Avoid PPProblems! 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 and, if you will, suid root. Obviously, your ISP must support PPP. There are now two ways to get PPP to work: a) manual configuration, and b) a configuration program that automagically sees to it. Whichever option you choose, have the following information on hand: ╖ your ISP's telephone number; ╖ your ISP's name, mail and news server address; ╖ your ISP's domain; ╖ your username and password. Manual configuration is a drudgery. It's about editing files and writing scripts; not too much work, but it's easy to make mistakes and newcomers are often intimidated. The PPP HOWTO is there for you. Alternatively, there are tools that ask for the information above and do all the work. You'll be surely better off if get hold of one of the following nice tools: ╖ an X11--based tool is EzPPP, whose home page is <http://www.serv.net/~cameron/ezppp/index.html> . Very easy to use, almost self--explanatory, but requires you to write the connection script; ╖ for tty--based connections, theere are tools available on <ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/network/serial/ppp>. One of the finest is pppsetup-X.XX.tar.gz. Script required here; ╖ the simplest configuration tools to date are surely wvdial and eznet. You feed them your ISP's phone number, your username, your password, and you're in business. Their home pages are at <http://www.worldvisions.ca/wvdial> and <http://www.hwaci.com/sw/eznet>. My preference goes to the latter. 3.9.1. A Quick Start with eznet First of all, create an /etc/resolv.conf like this: nameserver w.x.y.z where you'll insert the address of your ISP's nameserver. To create an account with eznet, issue the following command: #~ eznet add service=YOUR_ISP user=NAME password=PASSWORD phone=PHONE then try to dial your ISP with eznet up YOUR_ISP. If the modem waits for the dial tone and won't connect, then try this command: #~ eznet change YOUR_ISP init0=atx3 To hang up, the command is eznet down. That's all! 3.10. POP Client To retrieve your mail from a POP server, you use a POP client like fetchpop or fetchmail. The latter is more advanced, and is probably the only option if your ISP's PPP server can't deal with the command LAST. They're available on <ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/mail/pop>. 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.myisp.com with protocol pop3; user john there with password _Loo%ny is john here One user reported that adding ``smtphost localhost'' to the second line improved performance dramatically. You must set the permissions to this file with the command chmod 600 .fetchmailrc, otherwise fetchmail will rightly refuse to start. This example is very basic and assumes that you have a running sendmail; there are endless possibilities of configuration. Check out on . 3.11. X Window System (XFree86) 3.11.1. Setting Up the X Server Come on, it's not difficult as it used to be... All major distributions include a tool for setting up X11 (e.g. XConfigurator, sax, XF86Setup, or at least xf86config). X configuration is virtually automatic these days, but a few video cards may refuse to work. Each time I experience problems setting up X on a system, I resort to a simple method that has always worked: ╖ make sure that the plain VGA server is installed; ╖ go to <ftp://ftp.XFree86.org/pub/XFree86/current/binaries> , cd to the proper Linux subdirectory, and download the archives X_version_bin.tgz, X_version_set.tgz, and all the servers. Amongst other programs, the first one contains the most up-to-date SuperProbe; ╖ unpack X_version_bin.tgz to a temporary directory, cd to it, and run ./SuperProbe. If your video card is recognised, chances are that you'll be able to set it up. Otherwise, hard luck; ╖ install the servers and X_version_set.tgz from /usr/X11R6/, then run XF86Setup. This has always worked for me, but your mileage may vary. Please note that most times X11 won't configure because the specs you choose for your monitor are too low! Start with conservative settings, i.e. 800x600 and 256 colours, then pump it up. Warning: these operations are dangerous and your monitor might be damaged! 3.11.2. Keypad We have seen above how to make a few special keys work. The sample file .Xmodmap works well if you want to use Xjed, but it makes the keypad unusable. You'll then need another config file, which we'll call .Xmodmap.num: ! Definitions can be found in <X11/keysymdef.h> keycode 77 = Num_Lock keycode 112 = KP_Divide keycode 63 = KP_Multiply keycode 82 = KP_Subtract keycode 86 = KP_Add keycode 79 = KP_7 keycode 80 = KP_8 keycode 81 = KP_9 keycode 83 = KP_4 keycode 84 = KP_5 keycode 85 = KP_6 keycode 87 = KP_1 keycode 88 = KP_2 keycode 89 = KP_3 keycode 90 = KP_0 keycode 91 = KP_Decimal Make sure that your /etc/X11/XF86Config does not contain these three lines: ServerNumLock Xleds XkbDisable and in case, comment them out. To re-enable the keypad, you'll issue the command xmodmap .Xmodmap.num. 3.11.3. Graphical Login with xdm To be greeted by a graphical login, edit the file /etc/inittab, which should include a line like this: x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/X11/xdm -nodaemon where 5 is the runlevel corresponding to X11 (S.u.S.E. uses 4). Modify the line that defines the default runlevel (usually 2 or 3), changing it as above: id:5:initdefault: The number of colours is specified in /etc/X11/xdm/Xserver (AT2YD): :0 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X -bpp 16 # 65k colours If you already have .xinitrc, copy it to .xsession and make the latter executable with chmod +x .xsession. Now issue the command telinit 5 and you're in business. 3.11.4. Window Manager Once you've managed to make X work, there are endless possibilities of configuration; it depends on the window manager you use - there are tens to choose from. Mostly, it's all down to editing one or more ASCII files in your home directory; in other cases you don't have to edit a thing, and use an applet or even a menu. Some examples: ╖ the fvwm family: copy /etc/X11/fvwm/system.fvwmrc (or similar) to your home using the appropriate name, browse it and start experimenting. You may waste a lot of time before you get the precise look and feel you like; ╖ WindowMaker: it has several config files that live under $HOME/GNUstep, and a cool configuration applet; ╖ KDE: nothing to edit manually here: everything can be done via the menu. In short: if you don't mind editing config file, choose something like icewm, fvwm*, blackbox etc; if you do mind, the choice is currently restricted to KDE and WindowMaker. It's important to have a good .xinitrc. An example: #!/bin/sh # $HOME/.xinitrc usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap xmodmap $usermodmap xset s noblank # turn off the screen saver xset s 300 2 # screen saver start after 5 min xset m 10 5 # set mouse acceleration rxvt -cr green -ls -bg black -fg white -fn 7x14 \ -geometry 80x30+57+0 & if [ "$1" = "" ] ; then # default WINMGR=wmaker else WINMGR=$1 fi $WINMGR Although it doesn't appear to be strictly required, make it executable with chmod +x .xinitrc. This .xinitrc lets you choose the window manager: try $ startx startkde # or other w.m. (it doesn't work with some S.u.S.E. versions, though). 3.12. Users' Configurations When you're done editing the dot files, copy them to /etc/skel as seen in Section ``Software Configuration''. Note that .pinerc can't be fully tailored; make sure that at least the fields user-domain, smtp- server, and nntp-server are properly set up. 3.13. Upgrading If you upgrade your machine, do your backup as usual and remember to save a few additional files. Some could be /etc/X11/XF86Config, /usr/bin/fax, all the stuff in /usr/local, the kernel configuration, the whole /etc, and all the mail in /var/spool/mail. 4. Configuration Software There are several programs that make Linux easy to setup and configure. Some are becoming sort of standard: Red Hat, Caldera and other distributions ship with apps like printtool, netcfg, usertool, etc, while S.u.S.E. ships with a comprehensive configuration program called YAST. Other useful programs are: ╖ The Dotfile Generator: fine X app with modules to configure packages like emacs, bash, procmail and more. Its page is on <http://www.imada.ou.dk/~blackie/dotfile> ; ╖ Linuxconf: the ultimate configuration tool. It can do everything, both in console and under X. Go to <http://www.solucorp.qc.ca/linuxconf> at once. 5. The End 5.1. 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 Tim Bynum, the Linux HOWTO coordinator, at tjbynum@sunsite.unc.edu via email. 5.2. 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 or wrong, please email me. If you have a distribution other than Red Hat or Caldera 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. 5.3. Disclaimer ``Configuration HOWTO'' was written by Guido Gonzato, guido@ibogeo.df.unibo.it. Many thanks to all other HOWTO authors and man pages writers/maintainers, whose work I've shamelessly pilfered; and to all people who provided me with feedback. 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, though. Whenever I install a new Linux box, I actually do... Enjoy, Guido =8-)