Installing SUSE Linux - full tutorial

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,
I have written a full step-by-step guide how to install and configure SUSE Linux, including configuration of software packages, updates, graphic card drivers installation, internet connection sharing, and some more cool stuff.
I would kindly ask you to head on to my humble site and read the article and tell me what your impressions are. Personally, I think the guide can benefit anyone who would like yet hesitates to try Linux (SUSE in particular) or even people who use other Linuxes and have no experience with SUSE.
I would be grateful for any feedback, correction or errors, typos or anything, suggestions for improvement.

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/install_suse.html

You can also check other software articles:

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computer_software.html

I will soon write another article - about how to install VMware Server in SUSE, configure it properly to have NAT for guest operating systems and no conflicts whatsoever with other network devices, and then how to power it up and install Windows XP in it. This will allow you to fully migrate to Linux and still enjoy complete functionality for programs or websites that require Windows.

Have fun and enjoy.

Mrk

[Blackspear]

Very well done Mrk, impressive.

Cheers ;D

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,
Thank you.
Mrk

[sukarof]

Really nice Mrkvonic. Your site is hereby bookmarked :)

[Mr2cents]

Fantastic well written tutorial MrK :thumb: . I've also bookmarked your site.

[pvsurfer]

Mrk, you indeed make trying Linux quite inviting! As a Windows-literate, but Linux-ignorant computer user, I can't imagine why SUSE requires 5 CDs, when others (Ubuntu, just for example) require but 1 CD; can you explain this?

[Devinco]

Excellent Tutorial Mrk!! :thumb: :thumb:
Easy to read and follow along.
Your other articles are very good as well.

[Devinco]

-{ Quote: "can you explain this?" }-
I think it is because of all the optional free software that can be installed:
http://www.novell.com/products/linuxpackages/suselinux/index_all.html
Some cool programs in there too!

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,
Thank you for the feedback.
PVsurfer, as to why 5 CDs, SUSE comes with a ton of excellent programs, including office suite, media, games, graphics, cd/dvd utilities, programming, etc. You won't probably need to download much to complement the installation.
Roughly naked, SUSE needs only 500MB to install.
Mrk

[pvsurfer]

-{ Quote: "Hello,
Thank you for the feedback.
PVsurfer, as to why 5 CDs, SUSE comes with a ton of excellent programs, including office suite, media, games, graphics, cd/dvd utilities, programming, etc. You won't probably need to download much to complement the installation.
Roughly naked, SUSE needs only 500MB to install.
Mrk" }-
Mrk~ Can I simply download a 'naked version' of SUSE and then decide (afterwards) which open-applications fit my needs? ~pv

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,
No that I know. You need to download everything, then decide during the installation what you want or not. Besides, I would not recommend it. You need to know all of the dependencies to be able to install / uninstall everything properly. Your best choice is to install the package as is.
BTW, that is the limitation of GUI installation. If you do textual installation using tarballs and whatnot, then you can customize it to max., but then you definitely don't need my guide.
Ask yourself can you decide what part of Windows to install? Not unless you use something like nLite.
But why are you bothered with the download? Are you using dial-up? You can ask them to mail you the CD / DVDs. 3GB of installation is not much considering you get 700 packages and almost anything you need. Compare that with Vista that needs 15GB to install and you get practically nothing.
In SUSE, you can uninstall anything you don't like after the installation, too.
Mrk

[WSFuser]

-{ Quote: "Mrk, you indeed make trying Linux quite inviting! As a Windows-literate, but Linux-ignorant computer user, I can't imagine why SUSE requires 5 CDs, when others (Ubuntu, just for example) require but 1 CD; can you explain this?" }-
ubuntu only 1 cd? i thinks its the live version cause when i downloaded kubuntu i got the full dvd... ill have to check it out later.

i do wish SUSE (and kubuntu) was lighter tho.

thanx for teh guide Mrkvonic. i may try SUSE for the nth time. im hoping to switch completely someday or year.

[hiptech]

Thanks Mrk,

I too am impressed, you've helped answer a number of questions that have plaqued me for some time.

I have just completed a new PC build and spent months (don't ask how many) putting it together, configuring it and backing it up (Acronis True Image 9).

BTW, I immersed my self into slipstreaming and found numerous programs including Bart's PE among others (heard of nLite?) and created a custom Windows XP CD with nVidia Raid drivers, custom Windows setup screens, current hotfixes and updates, etc. (you know, stuff you will forget how to use before you use it again).

After installing Win XP Pro, MS Office 2003 and customizing the environment just the way I like I created an image backup so after the system becomes so polluted and bogged down I can restart without the hassels. Just to be cautious, I haven't even connected the system to the net. I transfered all my apps and files from my working system to an external drive and hooked it up to the new PC.

Now that I've gone through all this trouble, is there a way to transfer this setup to a laptop I have? Since the hardware is completel different I'm afraid I already know the answer... or can you share any secrets? I read on Acronis' site about using sysprep but wasn't sure if I interpreted it correctly?
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/faq.html#30

Thanks again and BTW, your site could use a name don't you think?

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,
The simplest answer would be to clone your hard driver - TI can do.
As to the name - it has a name - my corner of the web.
Mrk

[Meriadoc]

Excellent! - will recommend your tutorial Mrkvonic - clear and easy to follow, well done!

anything else(tutorials)in the pipeline?

[Mrkvonic]

-{ Quote: "Excellent! - will recommend your tutorial Mrkvonic - clear and easy to follow, well done!

anything else(tutorials)in the pipeline?" }-

Hello,
Lots and lots. Not just software but all categories.
Mrk

[hiptech]

-{ Quote: "Hello,
The simplest answer would be to clone your hard driver - TI can do.
As to the name - it has a name - my corner of the web.
Mrk" }-

Thanks again for the help Mrkvonic,

Wasn't sure I could "clone" current setup to different hardware?

Also, sorry about the site name fau paux, "my corner of the web" somehow just didn't seem intuitively obvious to me - anyway I too think it's an excellent site!

[sosaiso]

Great work Mrk.

I will refer all those who want to try Linux to your guide.

[eyes-open]

Much appreciated. I just replaced my Simply Mepis with Suse 10.1. Just being pointed straight to Yast when setting up my network saved me having to search around.:thumb:

[stapp]

Mrkvonic,
I found your site on the SUSE installation an extremely interesting read. You have written it in the way all installation instructions should be written.
Words and pictures, and no big hard to understand words!! Well done!!
If I decide to go down the Linux road, yours will be the map I will follow.

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,
Thanks for the kind words everyone.
Mrk

[pvsurfer]

-{ Quote: "Much appreciated. I just replaced my Simply Mepis with Suse 10.1. Just being pointed straight to Yast when setting up my network saved me having to search around.:thumb:" }-
As I'm trying to decide which distro to start leaning Linux, would you please tell me why you switched? Was it because of your network (as that's not a consideration for me)?
...I was just about to install Mepis. :-\

[dog]

-{ Quote: "As I'm trying to decide which distro to start leaning Linux, would you please tell me why you switched? Was it because of your network (as that's not a consideration for me)?
...I was just about to install Mepis. :-\" }-Both are great distros .... Mepis out of the box comes with mp3 support etc. (You can do it with any distro --- but not many come already installed/config'd) --- Go ahead with Mepis - You'll like it. ;)

[eyes-open]

-{ Quote: "As I'm trying to decide which distro to start leaning Linux, would you please tell me why you switched? Was it because of your network (as that's not a consideration for me)?
...I was just about to install Mepis. :-\" }-

No negative reason at all pvsurfer. I'd installed the simplymepis a while ago - no problem with it, I just felt like a swap. It's an old machine that I dual boot on - it's fairly expendable so I can afford to mess about with it.

As to the network - no that was fine, I found it useful to install a 3rd party software for my needs, but once done - I was up & running fine.

Regards
Andy :)

[pvsurfer]

Thanks for the feedback guys - as I definitely prefer the KDE gui, I think I will proceed with SimplyMepis for my first Linux installation (I was previously considering Kubuntu).

Btw, I'm planning on installing SimplyMepis as a virtual machine (VMware) - as other software I'm using prevents me from implementing a dual-boot configuration... Do you guys know of any problems (or extra-ordinary requirements) in my doing that? :-\

[pvsurfer]

I kind of hit a couple of 'stumbling blocks' and need some help from you Linux users....

1. While SimplyMepis 6 (latest build) sounds like just what the doctor ordered (for me), I can't seem to find the downloadable iso.

2. Since I can't use a dual boot configuration, I could use some guidance as to installing/running any Linux distro as a virtual machine under VMware.

Thanks for any help... pv

[dog]

-{ Quote: "
1. While SimplyMepis 6 (latest build) sounds like just what the doctor ordered (for me), I can't seem to find the downloadable iso. " }- Direct DL - http://mirror.cs.vt.edu/pub/MEPIS/SimplyMEPIS_6.0_i386.iso
Mirror List - http://www.mepis.org/node/1462
MD5 Checksum - http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/mepis/released/SimplyMEPIS_6.0_i386.md5sum

-{ Quote: "2. Since I can't use a dual boot configuration, I could use some guidance as to installing/running any Linux distro as a virtual machine under VMware. " }-If you have a floppy drive, install the bootloader to fd0 - it won't touch your MBR --- Then simply Insert the floppy on boot to load Mepis.

[pvsurfer]

-{ Quote: "Direct DL - http://mirror.cs.vt.edu/pub/MEPIS/SimplyMEPIS_6.0_i386.iso
Mirror List - http://www.mepis.org/node/1462
MD5 Checksum - http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/mepis/released/SimplyMEPIS_6.0_i386.md5sum

If you have a floppy drive, install the bootloader to fd0 - it won't touch your MBR --- Then simply Insert the floppy on boot to load Mepis." }-
Hey dog, thanks for the links (I sure couldn't find them)! As far as my having a floppy drive, exactly what is that? ...just kidding. :D

[iceni60]

i just installed SUSE 10.1 with gnome. here's some stuff i've done.

Yast, the package manager, is really, really slow, so i installed Smart instead. here's the guide i used to set it up. Smart is the package manager that might one day be 'the' Linux package manager, so i've heard, so far i think it's brilliant. when it was installed i did an update.
http://dev-loki.blogspot.com/2006/05/how-to-install-and-use-smart-on-suse.html

i did add some repositories to Yast though, i followed this guide for that.
http://www.thejemreport.com/mambo/content/view/254/42/

there's lots more on the page above too. i used it to install my nvidia drivers, although there's a small mistake - you don't need to make the Nvidia driver executable, this bit -
chmod +x ./NVIDIA

to get my media working i used the Ubuntu Wiki Restricted Formats guide, some of the packages have slightly different names to SUSE, but it got all my media working, the names are close enough. (here's the SUSE Restricted Formats guide too)
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RestrictedFormats
http://en.opensuse.org/Restricted_Formats

i installed alot of pakages to get SUSE working, but these are the main ones.
gcc
make
kernel-source
kernel-syms
kdeadmin3
compat-expat1
expat
checkinstall
python-devel

i wish i'd paid more attention to all the stuff i've installed but i can't remember the rest.

all the help i've had i got from irc - irc.freenode.net #suse

BTW, i used the DVD to do the install, i've about three of them from differnet Linux magazines.

[sosaiso]

How supported is SMART? From the page, it looks like a great innovation. Does it have a pretty GUI to make everything easier?

[iceni60]

-{ Quote: "How supported is SMART? From the page, it looks like a great innovation. Does it have a pretty GUI to make everything easier?" }-
smart has alot of respositories (lots of software) and has a GUI too, or you can just use the shell (in a root shell type smart install program_name

it's very, very fast. it launches and is ready to start in about 0.5 secs. everything thereon in is fast - searches, downloading and everything else happens instantly.

here's a picture of the GUI, it's very simple and easy to use - search for what you want, browse the results, then if you want something select it and click the install button.

[sosaiso]

Very nice. Thanks for the heads up!

How updates are the repositories?

[iceni60]

-{ Quote: "
How updates are the repositories?" }-
i don't know what you mean lol. i just had a look at the repo urls and noticed there are a lot of KDE apps and not gnome. i'll have a look for some gnome repos.

edit gnome apps are there too, in the packman and suser-guru repos

[sosaiso]

gah. spell check has stopped functioning lately.

"How up to date are the repositories?" was what I meant.

[iceni60]

-{ Quote: "gah. spell check has stopped functioning lately.

"How up to date are the repositories?" was what I meant." }-
they seem to be very up-to-date. since i started using it (1/2 days) it has already updated 3 programmes to the latest versions. 8)

[iceni60]

i'm just installing these scripts now. they only work if you use Nautilus (file manager in Gnome), but it doesn't matter which distro you use.

this first one lets you right-click a file and de/encrypt it. it's very secure
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=108513

this one lets you right-click and virus scan a file
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=104001

and i got the secure-file-delete from this page too
http://rob.pectol.com/myscripts/

even though they are scripts when you launch them they do have GUIs

[sosaiso]

Now if only someone could get that to work in KDE. Not that I have anything against Gnome, but I truly like the KDE style. Gnome is too scattered for my tastes. But those look like some great scripts in case I ever do switch to Gnome one day.

Thanks for the info about SMART. One last question about it [I hope.], does it include support for updating drivers and all that good stuff? I'm kind of disappointed Yast dropped Nvdia driver updating. Manually updating isn't too bad, but there's always that "ease of use" that is appealing.

[Alphalutra1]

-{ Quote: "Now if only someone could get that to work in KDE. Not that I have anything against Gnome, but I truly like the KDE style. Gnome is too scattered for my tastes. But those look like some great scripts in case I ever do switch to Gnome one day.

Thanks for the info about SMART. One last question about it [I hope.], does it include support for updating drivers and all that good stuff? I'm kind of disappointed Yast dropped Nvdia driver updating. Manually updating isn't too bad, but there's always that "ease of use" that is appealing." }-
It will work in kde, just install nautilus as your file manager and you are good to go.
Cheers,

Alphalutra1

[sosaiso]

Well, if that's not something to look into!

Very nice. Time for some reading later. :D

[iceni60]

-{ Quote: "Now if only someone could get that to work in KDE. Not that I have anything against Gnome, but I truly like the KDE style. Gnome is too scattered for my tastes. But those look like some great scripts in case I ever do switch to Gnome one day.

Thanks for the info about SMART. One last question about it [I hope.], does it include support for updating drivers and all that good stuff? I'm kind of disappointed Yast dropped Nvdia driver updating. Manually updating isn't too bad, but there's always that "ease of use" that is appealing." }-there are lots of nautilus scripts, like this one for converting audio to a different format here (http://g-scripts.sourceforge.net/nautilus-scripts/Multimedia/Audio/audio-convert), or this for checking a files md5 here (http://g-scripts.sourceforge.net/nautilus-scripts/File%20Processing/Handle%20md5/Check_md5), or root-nautilus-here (http://g-scripts.sourceforge.net/nautilus-scripts/Execute/Misc/root-nautilus-here), or you can just download all of them (about 50) from here (http://g-scripts.sourceforge.net/) - nautilus-scripts.tar.gz (http://g-scripts.sourceforge.net/nautilus-scripts.tar.gz)

there's also something called Nautilus-actions which does the same thing , but instead of right-clicking a file, selecting scripts, then the script you want, it just puts the action right into the right-click option along with a small icon 8)
http://www.grumz.net/

here's a menu with nautilus actions added (the options under send to...)
http://www.tux-planet.fr/blog/images/screenshots/nautilus-action6.jpeg

here are all the actions you can use. you can just important the action straight into nautilus-actions
http://www.grumz.net/?q=configlist

and, no Smart doesn't include support for updating drivers AFAIK, i'm using the Ubuntu livecd atm (i wanted to check the fonts compared to SUSE - i have to fix the fonts in SUSE i think lol) i'll have a look when i boot into SUSE next. i installed the nvidia drivers so can help, let me know when you want to do it and i'll explain how i did it.

[iceni60]

i improved the screen resolution by changing afew things. you can check pixels-per-inch with this command -
xdpyinfo | grep resolution
the output should be this
resolution: 96x96 dots per inch
mine wasn't so i did this to change it -

Configure X to run at 96 DPI:
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak <--- this makes a backup
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

added these lines to the end of the driver section in /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Option "UseEdidDpi" "FALSE"
Option "DPI" "96 x 96"

so this is how it looks like now -

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/6775/screenshotxorgconfbu7.png

save and exit. then restartx

then to make my fonts look better i added this file, attached, to my home directory.
.fonts.conf
NOTE i had to save it as fonts.conf (without the first dot) rename it to .fonts.conf and put it in your home directory. if you save the file to your desktop as .fonts.conf it will disappear because the . makes files hidden

[iceni60]

here's an RPM for SUSE 10.1 for nautilus-actions (the program which lets you put stuff in the right-click menu)
http://software.opensuse.org/download/home:/rodrigomoya/SUSE_Linux_10.1/i586/
use this to install
sudo rpm -Uhv nautilus-actions-1.2-5.1.i586.rpm

here's the nautilus-actions home page.
http://www.grumz.net/index.php?q=taxonomy/term/2/9
you can import any action you like, here's a list
http://www.grumz.net/?q=configlist&PHPSESSID=0cd0113d4c42cf92efa59878977b2ca2

[iceni60]

i'm doing a SUSE install now 8)

i added a GURU repo too, i picked one from the YaST2 Installation Sources from this page
http://linux01.gwdg.de/~pbleser/

also i installed all the build packages from the build section in YaST, i'll find out the proper name later. i'm adding the guru repo atm 8)

[iceni60]

this is how i got my nvidia card working -

added the Novell repo -

open yast>installation source. then added this -

Protocol: FTP
Server Name: : download.nvidia.com
Directory on Server: novell

then still using yast installed -

x11-video-nvidia
nvidia-gfx-kmp-"kernel-flavor"

NOTE: you can find your "kernel-flavor" by running uname -r (mine is smp) i think these are the options -
default/smp/bigsmp

i also added the kernel sources, i'm about %80 sure that's needed too!

then i got my nvidia driver from nvidia, you can check if you have the correct driver by clicking on the option which shows supported cards.

then i did ctrl-alt-F1 to get out of GUI mode, then chaged to 'init 3', if you get an error saying x is running you have to run this
su
rm -rf /tmp/.X0-lock

then cd to where the driver is and run it like this
sh driver_name.

that's it. my computer is totally slient now where i don't need the graphics card 8)

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,
You can also:
Go here and read http://www.suse.de/%7Esndirsch/nvidia-installer-HOWTO.html
In other words, download the file manually.
init3
sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86*.run -q * replace with adequate version
sax2 -r -m 0=nvidia
And that's it.
Mrk

[iceni60]

-{ Quote: "Hello,
You can also:
Go here and read http://www.suse.de/%7Esndirsch/nvidia-installer-HOWTO.html
In other words, download the file manually.
init3
sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86*.run -q * replace with adequate version
sax2 -r -m 0=nvidia
And that's it.
Mrk" }-
hi, i don't think that will work with 10.1. i had the drivers already because i have my home directory on another disk so i just did as you described from memory. but when i got an error i remembered i'd added the extra things which i mentioned in my post.

i asked on IRC too. these are the instructions for 10.1
http://www.suse.de/~sndirsch/nvidia-installer-HOWTO.html#3

actually, i think the instructions at the top of the page are the reason i installed the kernel-sources out of order, i saw them copied to a blog before i asked on IRC

[iceni60]

i just installed this which comes with SLED (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop)
http://linux.wordpress.com/2006/07/28/latest-sled-10-gnome-menu-in-your-vanilla-101-oss/

have alook at the screenshots. it uses beagle, the linux desktop search which indexes everything you want it to, so it finds anything you put in the search right away!!

[sosaiso]

-{ Quote: "hi, i don't think that will work with 10.1. i had the drivers already because i have my home directory on another disk so i just did as you described from memory. but when i got an error i remembered i'd added the extra things which i mentioned in my post.

i asked on IRC too. these are the instructions for 10.1
http://www.suse.de/~sndirsch/nvidia-installer-HOWTO.html#3 (http://www.suse.de/%7Esndirsch/nvidia-installer-HOWTO.html#3)

actually, i think the instructions at the top of the page are the reason i installed the kernel-sources out of order, i saw them copied to a blog before i asked on IRC" }-

I found that installing from YAST was enough to get 3d support. Did not have to change to init3 or anything. May not be the latest and greatest drivers, but for those new at Linux, it should prove less frightening than remembering a bunch of commands and filenames.

[iceni60]

-{ Quote: "I found that installing from YAST was enough to get 3d support. Did not have to change to init3 or anything. May not be the latest and greatest drivers, but for those new at Linux, it should prove less frightening than remembering a bunch of commands and filenames." }-
you really should give the other method a go because it's just a generic driver in Yast, not nvidia.

there are some instructions here (from - Installing the NVidia Kernel Module - to Install xgl and compiz)
http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/17174.html

i wish i'd made more notes about what i've done. here are some -

make root apps use your theme -
sudo ln -s /home/USERNAME/.themes /root/.themes

you can make root apps use your icons too, but i don't do that because i like root to look different so i don't forget i'm using it. but, here's how to do it -
sudo ln -s /home/USERNAME/.icons /root/.icons

so, this is how nautilus looks before it uses my theme -

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/3118/screenshotrootfilebrowser1us6.th.png (http://img208.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshotrootfilebrowser1us6.png)

this is it using my theme -

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/2636/screenshotrootfilebrowseroo5.th.png (http://img178.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshotrootfilebrowseroo5.png)

and this is how natuilus looks normally in user mode, if it used my icons it would still look different -

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/4371/screenshotfilebrowserqm0.th.png (http://img246.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshotfilebrowserqm0.png)

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,
XGL is still rather experimental. I would advise against using it ... yet.
Mrk

[iceni60]

-{ Quote: "Hello,
XGL is still rather experimental. I would advise against using it ... yet.
Mrk" }-
yeap, i agree. all i said was follow up to where it says Install xgl and compiz, not beyond.

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,
Sorry ... :)
Mrk

[iceni60]

-{ Quote: "Hello,
Sorry ... :)
Mrk" }-
no problem.

i just remembered i did this to help secure suse -

open a root terminal -
su

open yast -
yast2 &

then selected Security and Users>Local Security

and selected the configuration i have, i think i picked Home Workstation, but which ever you choose you can go through the settings and change them to what you want. you can Abort it too if you don't know what to pick!

i disabled root logins too.

here are all the channel mirrors -
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/stuntmanandy/all_channels.html

[iceni60]

-{ Quote: "
here are all the channel mirrors -
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/stuntmanandy/all_channels.html" }-
i just added all of them and went through the ones which were enabled, disabled some, and am doing an update now :D i'm not sure if anything will break when it's finished :ouch:

EDIT in the end i broke mp3 support in bmp/xmms and browser plugin support in firefox. i fixed everything apart from being able to play mp3s inside firefox, that's not a big problem though. i did get newer versions for alot of things though this was only a probelm because i'd locked a mozilla lib from updating, after unlocking it every worked fine. adding repos can break lots of stuff though, so don't do it lol

it tells you what to do somewhere on the second page here. i backed up all the smart stuff first though.
http://www.suseforums.net/index.php?showtopic=24308

i added this skin to bmp ;) Luna Element 5
http://www.customize.org/details/44309

[iceni60]

i added this repo to smart to install TOR, another version i had didn't work for me.

http://software.opensuse.org/download/security:/privacy/SUSE_Linux_10.1/

right now this is how to add it, when 10.2 comes out the url will change. in a root shell -
smart channel -y --add http://software.opensuse.org/download/security:/privacy/SUSE_Linux_10.1/security:privacy.repo

[iceni60]

here's how to get irssi working -

http://f0rked.com/articles/irssi
http://selcouth.com/irssi.php

some useful links -
http://f0rked.com/public/irssi-docs/help-full.html
http://www.irssi.org/documentation/manual
http://www.irssi.org/documentation/startup

scripts
http://www.irssi.org/scripts/

remember to make an apparmor profile for it.

[Reposed]

Easy enough installing and getting a basic configuration going. But try and install/configure a wireless pcmcia card with Linux as a new user!!! But I refuse to be discouraged.

Many Linux distros appear to be becoming much more user friendly, but the so-called myths (especially about the requisite technical expertise required) are not altogether dispelled for me.

[iceni60]

here's how to get conky setup -
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=205865
http://www.suseforums.net/index.php?showtopic=24669&pid=144272&st=0&#entry144272

here are some fluxbox setup links -
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Fluxbox
http://iphitus.loudas.com/fluxfaq.html

i used the script at the bottom this page to startup programs which need to startup after fluxbox, like the stuff in the panel.
http://fluxbox-wiki.org/index.php/Howto_edit_the_startup_file

the wiki
http://fluxbox-wiki.org/index.php/Fluxbox-wiki

http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/38/conkyxo6.th.jpg (http://img103.imageshack.us/my.php?image=conkyxo6.jpg)

when i configured the menu, mmaker missed out abit of the fluxbox menu so i made a backup of the original menu
cp /home/USERNAME/.fluxbox/menu /home/USERNAME/.fluxbox/menu.backup
then added it back when mmaker finished making the new one 8)

[iceni60]

i used this to get the printscreen button to take a screenshot and put the date and time in the name, then put it on my desktop. i changed where the image is saved from ~/screenshots to my desktop, and put
xmodmap -e "keycode 111 = F13"
in my fluxbox startup script instead of .xinitrc
http://gentoo-wiki.com/TIP_Make_a_Screenshot_with_PrintScreen_Key

here's some more stuff i used for setting up fluxbox keys
http://fluxbox-wiki.org/index.php/Howto_edit_the_keys_file
http://darkshed.net/files/rcs/fluxbox/keys.html

i should start a blog i suppose

[iceni60]

i just installed these icons, which i like -
Gconf-editor Vista Inspirate Icon theme
http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php?content=51253

[iceni60]

i just made this .bashrc file for my terminal. i installed lynx so the whatsmyip script works. i got the calculator and whatsmyip scripts from here -
http://www.bashscripts.org/downloads/Scripts/crouse/


# There are 3 different types of shells in bash: the login shell, normal shell
# and interactive shell. Login shells read ~/.profile and interactive shells
# read ~/.bashrc; in our setup, /etc/profile sources ~/.bashrc - thus all
# settings made here will also take effect in a login shell.
#
# NOTE: It is recommended to make language settings in ~/.profile rather than
# here, since multilingual X sessions would not work properly if LANG is over-
# ridden in every subshell.

# Some applications read the EDITOR variable to determine your favourite text
# editor. So uncomment the line below and enter the editor of your choice :-)
#export EDITOR=/usr/bin/vim
#export EDITOR=/usr/bin/mcedit

#############################################################################################
###################### STUFF I ADDED BELOW ##################################################
#############################################################################################

# check the window size after each command and, if necessary,
# update the values of LINES and COLUMNS.
shopt -s checkwinsize

# make less more friendly for non-text input files, see lesspipe(1)
[ -x /usr/bin/lesspipe ] && eval "$(lesspipe)"


###############
### aliases ###
###############

alias df='df -h'
alias h='history'
alias d='cd /home/iceni60/Desktop'
alias duck='du -skc * | sort -rn'
alias cpuu="ps -e -o pcpu,cpu,nice,state,cputime,args --sort pcpu | sed '/^ 0.0 /d'"
alias memu='ps -e -o rss=,args= | sort -b -k1,1n | pr -TW$COLUMNS'
alias pg='ps aux | grep' #requires an argument

# apt
#alias search='apt-cache search'
#alias agi='sudo apt-get install'
#alias agr='sudo apt-get remove'
#alias agu='sudo apt-get update'
#alias agg='sudo apt-get upgrade'
#alias sources='gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list'

# interactive
alias cp='cp -i'
alias mv='mv -i'
alias rm='mv --target-directory=$HOME/.Trash/'

# Directory navigation aliases
alias ..='cd ..'
alias ...='cd ../..'
alias ....='cd ../../..'
alias .....='cd ../../../..'

# Unpacking aliases
alias untarbz2='tar -xvfj'
alias untargz='tar -xvfz'

# display facts of the day
alias today='grep -h -d skip `date +%m/%d` /usr/share/calendar/*'

# network
alias net1='watch --interval=2 "sudo netstat -apn -l -A inet"'
alias net2='watch --interval=2 "sudo netstat -an --inet --inet6"'
alias net3='sudo lsof -i'
alias net4='sudo netstat -ano -l -A inet'
alias net5='watch --interval=2 "sudo netstat -tulpan"'
alias net6='sudo netstat -tulpan'
alias net7='watch --interval=2 "sudo netstat -utapen"'
alias ping='ping -c 10'

# listings
alias ls='ls --color=auto'
alias lls='ls -l -h -g -F --color=auto'
alias lc='ls -CF'
alias ll='ls -l'
alias lsp='ls -p'
alias lss='ls -shax'
alias lsss='ls -shax | sort -rn'
alias lst='ls -alt'
alias lst20='ls -alt | head -20'

# scripts
alias calc='sh /home/iceni60/scripts/calc.sh'
alias whatsmyip='/home/iceni60/scripts/whatsmyip.sh'

# chmod commands
alias mx='chmod a+x'
alias 000='chmod 000'
alias 644='chmod 644'
alias 755='chmod 755'

# lynx web browser
alias bbc='lynx -term=vt100 http://news.bbc.co.uk/text_only.stm'
alias nytimes='lynx -term=vt100 http://nytimes.com'
alias google='lynx -term=vt100 http://google.co.uk'

# WELCOME SCREEN
#######################################################

clear

echo -ne "Hello, $USER. today is "; date
echo -e "${WHITE}"; cal ; echo "";
echo -ne "${CYAN}";echo ""
echo -ne "${LIGHTBLUE}Uptime for this computer is ";uptime | awk /'up/ {print $3,$4}'


# NOTES
#######################################################

# To temporarily bypass an alias, we preceed the command with a \
# EG: the ls command is aliased, but to use the normal ls command you would
# type \ls

#################
### FUNCTIONS ###
#################

function ff { find . -name $@ -print; }

function rmd { rm -fr $@; }

function osr { shutdown -r now; }
function osh { shutdown -h now; }

function mfloppy { mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy; }
function umfloppy { umount /mnt/floppy; }

function mdvd { mount -t iso9660 -o ro /dev/dvd /mnt/dvd; }
function umdvd { umount /mnt/dvd; }

function mcdrom { mount -t iso9660 -o ro /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom; }
function umcdrom { umount /mnt/cdrom; }

function psa { ps aux $@; }
function psu { ps ux $@; }
function lpsa { ps aux $@ | p; }
function lpsu { ps ux $@ | p; }

function dub { du -sclb $@; }
function duk { du -sclk $@; }
function dum { du -sclm $@; }

function dfk { df -PTak $@; }
function dfm { df -PTam $@; }
function dfh { df -PTah $@; }
function dfi { df -PTai $@; }

function dmsg { dmesg | p; }

#####################################
# ##### ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES ##### #
#####################################

declare -x HISTFILE=~/.bash_history
declare -x HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth
declare -x HISTFILESIZE=50000
declare -x HISTSIZE=50000




############################## ##################################
# ##### PROMPT SECTION ##### ####################################
############################## ##################################

##PS1="\[\]\u:\w > \[\]"
##PS1="\[\][\[\]\u\[\]]\[\]\w > \[\]"
#PS1="\[\][\[\]\u\[\]]\[\]\w > \[\]"
#PS1="\[\][\[\]\[\]\u\[\]\[\]]\[\]\w > \[\]"
##PS1="\[\][\[\]\u\[\]]\[\]\w > \[\]"

###################### the above are a separate prompts which can be used instead of all below. NOTE: only ONE line at a time should be uncommented. so there are 5 different prompts above!!!!!

# color_name='\[\033[ color_code m\]'

rgb_restore='\[\033[00m\]'
rgb_black='\[\033[00;30m\]'
rgb_firebrick='\[\033[00;31m\]'
rgb_red='\[\033[01;31m\]'
rgb_forest='\[\033[00;32m\]'
rgb_green='\[\033[01;32m\]'
rgb_brown='\[\033[00;33m\]'
rgb_yellow='\[\033[01;33m\]'
rgb_navy='\[\033[00;34m\]'
rgb_blue='\[\033[01;34m\]'
rgb_purple='\[\033[00;35m\]'
rgb_magenta='\[\033[01;35m\]'
rgb_cadet='\[\033[00;36m\]'
rgb_cyan='\[\033[01;36m\]'
rgb_gray='\[\033[00;37m\]'
rgb_white='\[\033[01;37m\]'

rgb_std="${rgb_white}"

if [ `id -u` -eq 0 ]
then
rgb_usr="${rgb_red}"
else
rgb_usr="${rgb_green}"
fi

[ -n "$PS1" ] && PS1="${rgb_usr}`whoami`${rgb_std} \W ${rgb_usr}\\\$${rgb_restore} "

unset rgb_restore \
rgb_black \
rgb_firebrick \
rgb_red \
rgb_forest \
rgb_green \
rgb_brown \
rgb_yellow \
rgb_navy \
rgb_blue \
rgb_purple \
rgb_magenta \
rgb_cadet \
rgb_cyan \
rgb_gray \
rgb_white \
rgb_std \
rgb_usr

i'm not sure if there are many mistakes in it ??? i really like it though because it does so much stuff 8) this is how it looks when it starts up :o

[iceni60]

i just setup aide, the IDS, like this -

in a root shell run this -
# aide --init

that will create the databse.

then move that new database and make it the default database -
cd /var/lib/aide/
mv aide.db.new aide.db

the rules governing what and how things are checked are kept here -
/etc/aide.conf

to re-run and check for any changes run this from a root shell -
# aide --check -V2
i installed rkhunter too. i got these warnings after i updated it -
Check: SSH
Searching for sshd_config...
Found /etc/ssh/sshd_config
Watch out Root login possible. Possible risk!...
[ Warning (SSH v1 allowed) ] this is how i fixed it -
# gedit /etc/ssh/sshd_config
then changed this line -
# Protocol 2,1
to this -
# Protocol 2

and i changed -
# PermitRootLogin yes
to
PermitRootLogin no i'd already disabled sshd in yast though.

NOTE MAKE SURE TO EDIT THIS FILE - /etc/ssh/sshd_config and not this one - /etc/ssh/ssh_config (sshd, not ssh) first time round that's what i did and only noticed when i still got the same warning when i re-ran rkhunter.

this is how to make the whole sentece hilight when your nick is mentioned in irssi -
/hilight -line nickname you might need to run this too -
/toggle hilight_nick_matches

earlier today my theme manager tried to use a cursor theme for an icon theme ::) i fixed it by running these commands - gconftool-2 --unset /desktop/gnome/interface/gtk_theme gconftool-2 --unset /desktop/gnome/interface/icon_themegconftool-2 --unset /apps/metacity/general/theme i wanted to put it here incase i ever need it again.

[iceni60]

-{ Quote: "i'm not sure if there are many mistakes in it ??? " }-
i noticed i forgot some colour values when i looked through it. i wish i could just edit the post, but here is the file with some added colour variables -

i've added .txt to the end.

[iceni60]

i broke x i think because im abit lazy and didn't follow instructions. x broke when i did a kernel upgrade and the nvidia driver was being installed in the worng place. i fixed it by installing the lastest driver like this -
sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-xxxx-pkg1.run --x-module-path=/usr/lib/xorg/modules 8)

[iceni60]

i just did this stuff -
http://www.suseforums.net/index.php?showtopic=29698
http://www.suseforums.net/index.php?showtopic=29485

i changed my cursor theme by editting this file -
/etc/sysconfig/windowmanager

the cursors i'd added are here -
/usr/share/icons

i'm using a fedora one i think called - blueprint-cursor-theme

[Mrkvonic]

Hello guys and girls,

I have updated and improved the article, so it better reflects the changes since it was first posted, as well added some improvements to a number of sections, clarified a few things, added extra links and sources.

Here's the full changelog of all the changes added:

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/install_suse_changelog_1.html

- Added explanation regarding article's validity over time
- Added mini table of contents with links to major chapters in the article
- Added sub-titles for major chapters in the article
- Added links to GRUB site and manual
- Added link to Introduction to KDE article
- Added links to some of my other Linux articles (including Kubuntu, PPTP and command line tutorials)
- Added chapter about most common KDE applications, with brief introduction to the most popular ones
- Added how to replace YaST with SMART

- Changed parts of the Partitioning chapter to make it more clear

- Fixed minor spelling mistakes
- Fixed minor phrasing and semantics errors

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/install_suse.html

I hope this helps.

Enjoy,
Mrk

[wilbertnl]

-{ Quote: "Mrk~ Can I simply download a 'naked version' of SUSE and then decide (afterwards) which open-applications fit my needs? ~pv" }-
Since openSUSE offers an Internet Installation release (http://en.opensuse.org/INSTALL_Internet), I think that you are able to start the installation from a tinyl ISO and download most of your software selections from the internet.

[Mrkvonic]

That would work:

Provided you can connect to the net before that.
You know what you're doing and what packages to download.
How to solve some of the possible dependencies.

Ergo, if you can achieve these, you definitely do not need a tutorial to install an OS ...

Cheers,
Mrk

[wilbertnl]

Mrk,

I notice in your fine print OpenSUSE and Ubuntu.
Recently I spent some time with freeBSD 6.2, Sun Solaris 5.10/5.11, Xandros 4, Mandriva Discovery Spring 2007, Ubuntu/Xubuntu 7.04.

Besides the different desktops (KDE/Gnome/Xfce), how would you compare SUSE and Ubuntu?

[iceni60]

-{ Quote: "

Besides the different desktops (KDE/Gnome/Xfce), how would you compare SUSE and Ubuntu?" }-
1, ubuntu just installs one program for each function whereas suse installs 3 or 4.
2, suse uses both KDE and gnome libs whereas ubuntu just uses gnome stuff (which i think is better)
3, the way they deal with their packages is different. ubuntu freezes all it's programs and will only update them if there's a security update - suse updates programs as new releases come out.

i think ubuntu does 1 and 2 better and suse does 3 best.

suse/novell also delevops just about everything included in the distro, ubuntu just uses other peoples stuff mainly.

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,

wilbert, technical aspects aside, here's my impression so far:

SUSE with KDE, Ubuntu with GNOME:

SUSE is more robust and less prone to tiny errors here and there.
Ubuntu has a far friendlier package manager (Synaptic), apt-get is simply genious.
Performance and stability is roughly the same.
SUSE has better integration for drivers.
Ubuntu has better integration into networking with Windows.
SUSE is more detailed-oriented, more work-oriented.
Ubuntu is softer and more community-based.
Ubuntu forums are much richer.

That's it. I love them both. Love for Ubuntu is growing considerably though, and it's threatening to become my sweet cookie no. 1.

Mrk

[Nick Rhodes]

-{ Quote: "1, ubuntu just installs one program for each function whereas suse installs 3 or 4.
2, suse uses both KDE and gnome libs whereas ubuntu just uses gnome stuff (which i think is better)
3, the way they deal with their packages is different. ubuntu freezes all it's programs and will only update them if there's a security update - suse updates programs as new releases come out.

i think ubuntu does 1 and 2 better and suse does 3 best.

suse/novell also delevops just about everything included in the distro, ubuntu just uses other peoples stuff mainly." }-

KDE or gnome is a personal choice - IMHO Suse is a better distro for KDE and Ubuntu (vs Kubuntu which is the kde version of Ubuntu) is the better for gnome.

Ubuntu sticks to one version of stuff to fit onto 1 cd, though you can usually install as many versions of stuff as Suse.

I always thought Suse was release based like Ubuntu, do they split updates to the core system from software updates ?

I've only ever used Ubuntu as a live CD, which i think its great for, I prefer Debian (the testing branch (which is usually not as up todate as ubuntu !)).

PS I own a copy of Suse 6 !!

[iceni60]

-{ Quote: "
I always thought Suse was release based like Ubuntu, do they split updates to the core system from software updates ?
" }-i think so, at least that's how it is if you use the recommended repos, but it could be third party repos that do all the software updates i haven't checked.

arch does a rolling release i think where you just update the whole thing as you go. i don't know how good that is though because i've heard some people say they've had problems with arch stability. but, arch is the fastest OS i've ever used by a long way, and i really liked most things about it. you do a lot of stuff manually rather then use some GUI tool, that way you know how linux really works.

[Alphalutra1]

-{ Quote: "
arch does a rolling release i think where you just update the whole thing as you go. i don't know how good that is though because i've heard some people say they've had problems with arch stability." }-
The only stability problems I had were during large changes in which I failed to read the messages telling me what to change in order to get it to work, which left my system unbootable once :P . However, if you pay attention to the warning messages, then everything is alright.
-{ Quote: "
but, arch is the fastest OS i've ever used by a long way" }-
Crux I manages to beat it in my experience, however it is much more difficult and do it yourself then arch by a long way.

I actually love the rolling release system, but set releases are nice as well if the upgrading procedure is very smooth (such as OpenBSD's).

Cheers,

Alphalutra1

[Nick Rhodes]

I was running an install of Arch upto last week.
Really liked it.
Loved the simplicity of it.
Minor things break, like most recently a boost library update caused a few things to break that were dependant on the older version.
A smart enough admin can fix these issues without major hickup (you do test things after updating dont ya ?)

I had less problems with Arch Linux than I did with Mandriva.

Dont forget when they say bleed edge, they are talking bleeding edge of stable releases, not beta software.

[chew]

Thanks Mrkvonic for the full tutorial.

Just something I am looking for to start me with Linux ...

I am planning to learn Linux in 3 months time as I need to finish my work project first and am currently lurking around trying to shortlist the Linux (distro ... I think is the word) I want. I am a M$ user and never used any other OS before.

So far I am leaning slightly towards Ubuntu (because someone told me it's very easy to use) and am also looking at SUSE if it is free (last time I checked it was not free) but generally undecided. As there are so many to choose from my head just spins non-stop and I just want something that is "plug & play" ...

My friend has been advising me to get Apple Mac but the cost is too high for me for a new system so I am trying to consider Linux instead. But then my friend told me that with Linux hardware compatibility is usually the problem and I might need to use very old computer to run them. Not sure what he was on there.

I intend to use it as "multimedia system" and am planning to build up from scratch a system i.e. small form factor, if the hardware is compatible.

Oh ya ... if I get Linux it will be Linux OS on the machine only as I don't want to mix it around.

Arrghhh ... my head hurts ... need to learn as I am fed up with M$ ... if I strike jackpot I will get latest Apple but I have no luck so I need to build up a machine from scratch ... arrrghhh ...

Question: How long does it takes to learn Linux for a beginner especially one like me who has never used one before and is trying to build a system up from scratch ?

Question: How resource intense is Linux OS say Ubuntu and SUSE?

:wacko:

P/s: slight rant ... sorry ...

[wilbertnl]

-{ Quote: "...and am also looking at SUSE if it is free (last time I checked it was not free)" }-
openSUSE 10.2 (http://www.opensuse.org/) is free...
-{ Quote: "Question: How long does it takes to learn Linux for a beginner especially one like me who has never used one before and is trying to build a system up from scratch ?

Question: How resource intense is Linux OS say Ubuntu and SUSE?
" }-
When I needed to develop Unix skills for my job, I had to practice it 8 hrs or more a day. Vi is still my preferred editor.:thumb:
And I love shell scripts...

Resources depend on the desktop you want to use, KDE (http://kde.org/) is hungry, XFCE (http://www.xfce.org/) is lean.

I understand that you want a distro that works out of the box, but if you are concerned about resources, you should look for the distro that supports your preferred desktop.

[toxical2004]

Mrkvonjic, thank you for the very nice and detailed tutorial for installing SUSE, I just might try that one after spending shamefully lot of time trying to find the right drivers for my nVidia 8500 in Ubuntu :ouch: (EVERY one of them caused X to crash, even after doing everything required before install, and i'm not that experienced to FIX that in the console afterwards). I'm not an experienced Linux user, but have tried loads of different distros, some of them even working really well, multimedia 'n' everything, but after buying new machine with this graphic card, it all went downhill with linux :blink:
Anyways, since I'm all about 'give it another chance, even after it caused you to kick your machine', i just might try with this one and see what happens. And who knows......(ko pre devojci, sam u nju upada) ;D
Cheers!

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

chew:

Q1: Entirely dependent on your time, motivation, perception, devotion, previous skill and knowledge. I think that an average guy could master Linux after 100 hours of active use - roughly 2 months with about 1.5 hours daily. This means good intimacy with command line, confidence with working with configuration files, drivers, scripts etc.

Q2: SUSE and Ubuntu are approx. the same in performance. There's mainly difference in the desktop manager you choose. KDE is heavier.

toxical, why don't you try this:
http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/linux_commands.html#mozTocId211806

It might help you install the card.

P.S. It's Mrkvonic not Mrkvonjic ... Haj sa srecom

Cheers,
Mrk

[toxical2004]

Thanx for the link.
I already tried with Envy, but it seems to me that the new nvidia series 8 (and 7 maybe?) are not actually very well supported in inux yet. After spending hours finding a solution to make my HDA Intel sound card to work (made it), now i have this situation with graphics...........well-i'll just wait some time if i don't succeed, maybe it will be fixed soon.
Mrk, i see i gave you another name, my bad (Mrkvonjic was some sleezy minister here a few years ago, LOL) ;D

[chew]

Thanks wilbertnl & Mrkvonic for the extra info.

Guess I need to read up all those KDE, GNOME and other distros.

So many to choose from ;D and I guess it will keep me busy for a while.

:)

[iceni60]

i just installed webpin, i always use that site to find pre-packaged rpms for suse, but i never looked at the name before lol, i use pin too to help find dependencies i need. now i can search for rpms without going to the site 8)

here's the suse 10.3 version -
http://benjiweber.co.uk:8080/webpin/index.jsp?distro=openSUSE_103&searchTerm=webpin

and this is the 10.2 version -
http://benjiweber.co.uk:8080/webpin/index.jsp?distro=openSUSE_102&searchTerm=webpin

if you want it click on the url in the links, then i586, and it will be somewhere on that page.

here's a search for webpin using webpin -

194693

[iceni60]

i remembered i did this to drop packets to port 113 rather then the port just being closed, i know it's not needed but i didn't like the nmap results i always got when i checked the FW :|

su
gedit /etc/sysconfig/SuSEfirewall2
comment out this line -
FW_SERVICES_REJECT_EXT="0/0,tcp,113"
then still as root run this to update the rules -
# . /etc/sysconfig/SuSEfirewall2

[Riverrun]

Mrkvonic, ty for that. I 've already buned an ISO and I'm planning on installing SUSE pretty soon.

[Coolio10]

Just noticed how old this is. I hear a lot of good things about opensuse. But i see a lot of people are concerned about novell and microsoft. Opensuse looks better than Ubuntu.

[Longboard]

Get the SuSE 10.3 LiveCD iso: burn it : reboot it : rattle your paradigm :)

http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=04572

:thumb:

[iceni60]

this thread is old now, suse 10.3 came out a while a go, a lot of the stuff i've written can still be used with newer versions of suse, and other distros too.

earlier i showed how to improve the look of the fonts, one of the things i did was change the dpi to 96. i was justing looking through some settings in gconf-editor and noticed the dpi was set to 85 at desktop/gnome/font_rendering, i changed it to 96 and that made the fonts a bit bigger, so i changed the size of all the fonts in gnome-font-properties. the fonts look as good as i've seen in any distro now 8)

i'm sure i installed gnome-system-log at some time and it doesn't come in the default install. it's a system log reader for a GTK desktop.