I'm now using Suse for a Linux home desktop and find that many of the old Red Hat problems are not present in Suse. Samba, for example, is easy to set up and works great.
Red Hat is a nice distribution to use for a home desktop; but I found that it needed some customizing to suit my needs. Here are the tricks:
You can select custom or home desktop at install and then customize the packages to suit your needs. If you want to play MIDI files, I found I needed to install Kmidi (included in the KDE multimedia package in Red Hat 9.0) and Timidity++. You can install ntp if you want so you can synchronize your clock to a time server over the internet even if you plan to be rarely online. Add one or two users so you can do auto login later.
If on startup and shutdown, you get the message: modprobe: can't find char-major-10-135. This apparently means /dev/rtc (the real time clock) cannot be found (even though it is listed on your system). This may mean that enhanced real time clock support is not enabled in the kernel. The workaround is to edit /etc/modules.conf and add this line: alias char-major-10-135 off. This tells Linux not to modprobe for the RTC.
The other possibility is that the RTC is not working because of a conflict with an ISA card. I noticed an error something like rtc: I/O error, port 112 not open. Since I use an ISA modem, I figured that might be the source of the problem. I disabled my serial, usb, and parallel ports in the BIOS to free up IRQ s since I am not using these ports. That solved the problem; and now I get a message something like rtc: device driver 1.01e. This also solved my Linux clock problem described below.
Linux syncs the system time to the bios time at startup and then writes the system time to the bios clock at shutdown. The hwclock program did not work properly on my system and wrote the startup time to the bios clock at shutdown instead, thus messing up the time. Disabling hwclock at shutdown did not work. After correcting the problem with the RTC, hwclock works just fine; and my system keeps good time.
In the control center, click on peripherals and select mouse. You can select to use single click, a larger cursor, and a faster speed. I use 4x pointer acceleration.
If you like to use KDE, like I do, and want to use the KDE login manager instead of Gnome, you'll have to edit /etc/sysconfig/desktop and add DISPLAYMANAGER="KDE". This is explained in the Red Hat Readme.
If you don't want to have to enter a password to get into your own home computer, just set this up. In KDE control center, as root, select system, login manager, convenience and set up auto login for a user. You can also set up password-less login for users, and selected users so you won't have to type in the name. You can select different icons for the selected users.
In the main menu, go to system settings, server settings, services, and uncheck all the services that you know you don't need to have activated, and save. Then when you reboot, boot and shutdown will be faster.
I have an ISA 28,800 hardware modem that installs on com 5 if both onboard serial ports are enabled. With the serial ports disabled in the BIOS, the modem installs on com 1 (/dev/ttyS0) and works just fine. So, it's best to disable one or both serial ports if you don't need them. With the serial ports enabled, to get it to work, I have to do this: The first command finds the parameters for com 5. The second sets them to the values I found on my system, customize them for yours. The third creates a symbolic link to /dev/modem. The changes take effect after a reboot.
In a Linux terminal window:
Then in order to connect to the internet with Kppp as a user instead of as root, I have to do this (from the KPPP Development site): "Red Hat chose to install kppp as a so-called consolehelper application. This PAM based mechanism avoids a setuid root installation. A quick and dirty solution to revert to the original behaviour is to delete the link to consolehelper and make the real binary setuid root. Open a terminal window, su to root and enter the following commands:
Please refer to the Handbook for the security aspect of this setup."
If pppd dies on connect, in Kppp settings, uncheck lock file, set the modem timeout to 120s, the modem busy wait to 60s, the pppd timeout to 60s, and the connection speed to match your modem and that may help. Retrying and/or turning on debugging also may help. If it always dies just on the first try, but then connects on the second, you can turn on auto redial on disconnect; and then it will fail, redial, and then connect.
When you set up or edit your connection to your ISP, you can put in the name or location of your default browser under execute so it will launch when you connect. For Mozilla, this may be /usr/local/mozilla/mozilla if you have updated Mozilla to a newer version.
I have used a Best Data 56HP V.92 Winmodem with a Conexant chipset. This site has Linux drivers for Conexant Winmodems; and I found one there that worked for mine: http://www.linuxant.com/drivers/ . The auto configuration after install takes awhile, so be patient. The network configuration program would not see the modem, so I typed it in as /dev/modem; and then it worked. I also set it up in KPPP as /dev/modem. The V.92 is not supported by the Linux driver; but the modem otherwise works great in Red Hat 9.
The Linksys LNE 100TX ver. 5 networking card installs automatically in Red Hat as a DEC 21'40 and clones. You can use the default network settings, or go to main menu, system settings, network, and assign a fixed ip address. I use fixed ip addresses on my network, since it's faster. At first, I was not able to get Samba to work, so I set up a free ftp server program on the Windows PC. I use Quick'n Easy FTP Server from Pablo Software Solutions. Just follow the setup instructions; and then you can drag and drop in Konqueror to transfer files.
I have a faster V.92 winmodem in my Windows 98 SE PC, so I set it up for internet connection sharing. The instructions are at this site: http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/ics . Now I can use the web in Linux through the faster internet connection in the Windows PC.
Note that if you want to run a Linux server, go to main menu, system settings, security level and make sure ftp, etc. is not blocked.
If you install ftp with Red Hat, it uses vsftp. Put the flles and folders you want to share in the /var/ftp/pub folder, activate your network connection, then go to main menu, system settings, server settings, services, and turn on vsftpd. Now from a browser on the network, you should be able to ftp the ip address of the Linux PC and access the files. For example: ftp://192.168.0.1/
If you install the web server with Red Hat, it uses Apache. Put the flles and folders you want to share in the /var/www/html folder, activate your network connection, then go to main menu, system settings, server settings, services, and turn on httpd. The filename of your website's home page must be index.html. Now from a browser on the network, you should be able to http the ip address of the Linux PC and access the files. For example: http://192.168.0.1/
Samba allows Linux and Windows to communicate over a network. It can be tricky to get working. Red Hat 9.0 has a Samba configuration tool; and that worked for me. Samba Swat never did the trick. If you do it manually, smb.conf, smbusers, and smbpasswd files in /etc/samba need to be set up. Here are the smb.conf and smbusers files I use with the Linux user public at localhost with folder /home/public and the Windows 98 SE user Desk at MSHOME:
smb.conf:
[global]
server string = localhost encrypt passwords = yes workgroup = mshome guest ok = yes writeable = yes comment = Localhost security = SHARE path = /home/public
[public]
comment = Localhost path = /home/public writeable = yes guest ok = yes
smbusers:
public = Desk root = Desk
Then, under srvices, start smb; and then in a console/terminal window, as root, set the Samba password. For example, if user public has a password of xxx999, enter:
smbpasswd -a public xxx999
Right click on the /home/public folder in Konqueror and enable read/write permissions for users and groups. Restart smb now and every time you make changes to the setup. Localhost should show up in Windows Explorer under Network; and you should be able to copy and paste files to and from the public folder. If you can't get this Samba setup to work, the problem may be with the Windows setup. Windows needs a password for Samba to work; and even a blank one will do. Go to start and log off, then log back in by putting the cursor in the password box and hitting enter, not ok or cancel.
I use the Sound Blaster 16 PCI sound card. It works with Red Hat 7.3 and Mandrake 8.2 as well. If the sound doesn't work at first, you can run sndconfig. You can play MIDI files with Kmidi and set this as the default MIDI player in the control center. If you want to play mp3 files in Red Hat 8.0, you need to install the xmms mp3 rpm available from http://www.xmms.org/. You can set custom system sounds in the control center under sound, system notifications.
To get the Mac OS X look in my Linux Red Hat 8.0, I installed the acqua theme/style for KDE 3. It also works fine in KDE 3.1. You have to follow all the steps in the readme file and configure Icewm for acqua. Use the default_blue.jpg for the desktop wallpaper rather than the one in the acqua package. The resultant gui looks really nice. Here's the link: http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=153 . It looks even better with the Icosx Icons. Here's the link: http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=2242
To get the Windows XP look, you can install KDE 3.1 xp style. Here's the link: http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=1499
To add desktop icons, right-click on the desktop and select Create New, Link to Application. Put the following on the execute line for these icons:
Then you can customize the icon graphic by clicking on it and selecting a new one. To change an existing icon, right-click on it and select properties.
Tech TV explained the one click restart and shutdown for Windows in these articles: http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/answerstips/print/0,23102,3377901,00.html and http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/answerstips/story/0,24330,2330147,00.html
See also: http://www.igknighttec.com/Windowstip/oneclick.php
To see how much free space you have on your hard drive, go to control panel, information, block devices. Or, you can create a hard drive icon on the desktop. If your partition is not listed, select another; and then edit it. Then right-click on the desktop icon and select properties.
Right-click on the taskbar to customize. You can set auto hide and add or remove icons.
Linux would not turn off my pc even though I have an ATX system. I found this trick on the web; and it worked:
add apm=realmode-power-off to boot parameters. For lilo:
image=/boot/vmlinuz
label=linux
initrd=/boot/initrd.img
read-only
append="root=LABEL=/ apm=realmode-power-off"
then /sbin/lilo and reboot
If that doesn't work, you can do a workaround like I used to: I installed smart boot manager and set the default to shutdown in 30 sec. Now when I want to turn off the pc, I just click my reboot icon, turn off the monitor, and walk away. SBM will turn the pc off. SBM is a free download from: http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/
I'm using an old 14" Compaq Presario 1400 monitor that doesn't turn off with the pc even though I have it plugged into the back of the pc ATX power supply. I have not figured this one out yet.
I wanted to run both Red Hat 9 (on hard drive 1) and Red Hat 8.0 (on hard drive 2) on the same PC. I used Lilo and set up /etc/lilo.conf as follows:
On hard drive 1:
prompt timeout=50 default=redhat9 boot=/dev/hda map=/boot/map install=/boot/boot.b message=/boot/message linear
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.20-8
label=redhat9 initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.20-8.img read-only append="hdc=ide-scsi root=LABEL=/"
other=/dev/hdb2
label=redhat8
On hard drive 2:
default=redhat8 boot=/dev/hdb2 map=/boot/map install=/boot/boot.b message=/boot/message linear
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-14
label=redhat8 root=/dev/hdb2 initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.18-14.img read-only
This setup works fine on my system. If Linux tries to use the swap file from drive 1 when booting drive 2, edit /etc/fstab to remove the entry for it.
On another PC, I have Lilo on the MBR of drive 1 and can choose Windows or redhat9 at boot. To change Lilo, edit /etc/lilo.conf, then, in a terminal window, type /sbin/lilo. My dual boot /etc/lilo.conf setup with Windows 98 SE on the first drive and Linux on the second Linux partition of the second drive:
prompt timeout=50 default=Windows boot=/dev/hda map=/boot/map install=/boot/boot.b message=/boot/message lba32
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.20-8
label=redhat9 initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.20-8.img read-only append="hdc=ide-scsi root=LABEL=/ apm=realmode-power-off"
other=/dev/hda1
optional label=Windows
If you're using one of these drives, you'll need to edit your floppy drive icon to point to the device; and you'll have to right-click on the icon and click unmount to get a disk out of the drive. You can expect to see errors on shutdown after using the drive and even more if you forget to take the disk out of the drive before shutdown! When using Mandrake 8.2, I never got Mandrake's supermount to work properly with this drive -- apparently there are problems with supermount and the LS 120.
You can use Apt with the Synaptic GUI. I have Apt/Synaptic for system updates working great in Red Hat 9. The rpms are available at: http://freshrpms.net/ . It's a great way to update; and it takes care of the dependencies for you.
I'm running Red Hat 9.0 and 8.0 on a desktop pc with a Gigabyte GA 5-AX supersocket 7 ATX motherboard, the latest bios software, an AMD K6-2 400mhz processor, 96 mb of ram, a Boca Office communicator 28,800 ISA modem, a Sound Blaster 16 PCI sound card, a Linksys LNE 100TX Version 5 networking card, and an Nvidia chip Gforce 2MX graphics card with 32mb of ram. -JD