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<title>Configuration HOWTO
<author><url url="mailto:gearloose@fastwebnet.it" name="Gilbert O'Sullivan">
<date>v1.99.8		2006-05-10

<!-- Primary category: 2.1. {Configuration / Installation} -->
<!-- Keywords: X windows system, GUI, command line, installation -->
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<abstract>This HOWTO would be the main doc from which every others can refer to
configure most common hardware and services.</abstract>
<toc>  <!-- generate a table of contents here -->

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Revision v1.99.7             2001-11-06           Revised by: gg
Updated and fixed DocBook tags.
Revision v1.99.6             2000-08-31           Revised by: gg

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<sect>Introduction
<p>This document is one of the most important for LDP, because by
configuring hardware and software you can get your own Linux box.
This HOWTO was born in the Golden Age of developers, mainly for the
command line. As it became too big and old for the current distros,
I rewrote it more simple as I could.

Fundamentally, to configure the system, Linux users have to write some
configuration files. To do it easyer, today programs and wizards
are avaliable to manage them. This programs may be quite different for
the various distributions.

In this HOWTO, I will speak about Mandrake-Linux and about Red Hat.

<sect1>Copyright
<p>This document is Copyright &copy; 2006-03-16  Gilbert O'Sullivan.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute this document under the
terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License. This license is available
from http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html. Please note that the LGPL
terms don't allow any modifications except for the translations.

<sect1>Disclaimer
<p>This document is provided "as is". I put great effort into writing
it accurately, but you use contained informations at your own risk.
In no event shall I be liable for any damages resulting from the use
of this work.

<sect1>Credits
<p>Many thanks to all other HOWTO authors and man pages writers, from
which I have got my knowledge, and to all people who provided me with
feedback.

<sect1>Description
<p>Even if the earlier versions of this document discussed about
several distributions, I chose Mandrake-Linux and Red Hat, because
they are the most representative, with kernels range from 2.4.3 to
2.6.11, of wich last release you can easily purchase.
For more informations, or if you don't understand anything, you can
refer to other HOWTOs, among which is available the source code of
this document, at <url url="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/howtos.html" name="Linux Documentation Project"> site.
The hardware we shall go to configure is for x86 architectures:  modem,
printer, scanner. A tablet is very common also.

<sect>Configuration tools
<p>Fundamentally, this document is made in two sections: the first,
for the machines with a big hard disk and a working graphical interface,
the second, for other which are in low resources, forced to work by
typing from the command line.

<sect1>Control Center
<p>Of course, if you have a working graphical interface, to configure
everything is very easy. As a matter of fact, starting from release 8.0,
each Mandrake-Linux release comes with <em>drakconf</em> package.
Other disrtibutions have their own control-center. This wizard allows
to change the settings of <itemize>
<item>Users<item>Bootloader<item>Disk management<item>Display<item>Firewall
<item>Network<item>Keyboard<item>Mouse<item>Printer<item>Services</itemize>

<sect1>Display
<p>Now let me explain how you can change X server configuration through
the following two steps.<sect2>Step 1
<p>Linux operating system uses a Graphical User Interface (GUI)
called XFree, just because it is a free version of X windows system,
wich was developed by X.org website members, also getting some IBM contyibutions.
Today, X server configuration is totally automatic, so in the end
of your new Linux system installation, if you are lucky, you can reboot,
without having anything to do. Nevertheless, often it happens that,
in spite of an installation of a lot of packages, it display a message
saying that you are not able to start X server.
The reason why this happens is that your monitor, or your graphic card,
is not rightly detected. So you have only to update the whole
installation, until to the Summary. Here, you can change your graphical
interface settings, but, be very careful, when the opportunity knocks:
when ask, disable the automatic starting Option for X server after the
reboot. This allows to use your PC in text mode, so if you want to
start X server, you have manually to run "startx" command.
<sect2>Step 2

<p>If X server doesn't work yet, try with<p><tt>&num XFdrake</tt>
<p>It allows to change current settings with minimal ones:
<tscreen><verb>
Monitor:		SVGA (not interlaced) 1024 x 768
Frequency:		60 Hz
Graphic card:		VGA standard
Resolution:		640 x 480
Colours dept.:		8 bpp
</verb></tscreen>
You can increase these values, by degrees, but without overclocking
frequency speed. It may damages your monitor! When you are ready, run
XFdrake again and select to start Xfree, upon booting.
This has always worked for me, so I suggest you to write down these
values, before.

<sect1>Keyboard
<p>First of some old raw applications, upon which was built current
control-center. Of course if you work by typing from command line,
it is very important to set your keyboard accordingly. For many
countries and keyboard types appropriate keymaps are available already.
So you can give "loadkeys" command followed by the two last letters of
any your country URLs.
<sect1>Users<p>Expecially if you want autologin, you have to add an
user. Type "adduser" command, then set up his password whith "passwd -n",
followed by the user name.
<sect1>Mouse<p>If you chose to work by typing from command line only,
you have no need to configure your mouse. Nevertheless, whith a
working graphical interface you cannot use itself to change wrong
settings. Open a console as a root user and type "mousedrake".
<sect1>Printer<p>Lastly, if you want to set up your printer, you have
to install CUPS driver. Type "printerdrake".
<sect1>Bootloader
<p>The program which loads the kernel into the memory at the boot time
is called bootloader. The bootloaders that come with Linux distributions
are LILO and GRUB. If you want change LILO configuration, you have to open
the file /etc/lilo.conf. using your favorite editor. In this file each
line has its meaning. <tscreen><verb>
boot=/dev/hda              Install LILO in the MBR
prompt                     If you want select another section
timeout=50                 Wait five seconds before booting
default=linux              The section to boot after the timeout

image=/boot/vmlinuz-x.x.x
  label=Linux              Name we give to this section
  read-only                Start with a read-only root
  root=/dev/hda3           Location of the root filesystem

other=/dev/hdaX            The host where Windows is installed
  label=windows
</verb></tscreen> Typical is how GRUB refers to hard drives and
partitions.
<sect1>Firewall<p>If your system is attached directly to Internet, or
is on a large public network, enable it to help prevent unauthorized
access.
<sect>Others
<p>These have their own websites, where you can find everything you
need.
<sect1>Scanner
<p>SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy) package, offers the suppport for
scanners. It can be downloaded from ftp://ftp.mostang.com/pub/sane.
Documentation are avaliable at <url url="http://www.mostang.com/sane" name="SANE"> webpage,
where you can also find several frontends and backends.
<sect1>Tablet<p>Today at <url url="http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net" name="The Linux Wacom Project">
website there are useful tools to manage a Wacom pen tablet: drivers,
libraries, documentation for configuring and getting it running.
Not only but also diagnostic applications and of course mailing lists
and FAQ. This website is maintained by John E. Joganic
&lt;jej@j-arkadia.com&gt;
</article>
