Try to run (as root)
setup
The third button from the top ("sndconfig") sets up the sound card. Unless you have a very fancy sound card, this will work for you. At the end of the setup, Linus says how he pronounces "Linux". ("sndconfig" can be also run directly from the command line--type sndconfig -- useful under Mandrake, which does not have "setup".)
You may want to try your soundcard and cdrom using a command line cdplayer. Put a music CD to your CDROM and type:
cdplay
If this does not work, maybe you don't have /dev/cdrom? Check if you can mount a data CD as a root (look here) and create the device /dev/cdrom by linking it to the appropriate drive (most likely /dev/hdb), for example:
ln -s /dev/hdb /dev/cdrom
If cdplay works for root, but does not work for a regular user, maybe you need to give (as root) everybody the permissions to read and write to the the file /dev/cdrom :
chmod 666 /dev/cdrom
(The directory /dev is where all your devices appear as files.)
Now, that you got hooked on cdplay, you can play third song, try:
cdplay play 3
You can also use the command cdp for rudimentary command line interface to cdplay, but perhaps you prefer the interfaces available from under X-windows (e.g., from KDE "K" menu, choose: Multimedia-"CD Player").
To stop the music either press the button on you CDROM or issue one of these commands:
eject
cdplay stop
From the GUI login screen, logon as root. If X-windows is not running, start an X-windows session by typing (as root):
startx
Read here if your X-windows is not set up properly yet.
Start an X-terminal (the "two-computer" button on your K-bar) and type in it:
printtool
This program does a complete printer setup, you just have to fill up the information about your type of printer and where it is hooked up.
Specifying the proper printer port is the most important part. If you don't know which one is yours try:
on RedHat 5.2: lp1 (this is the first parallel port on RH5.2 ) or lp2 (this is the second parallel port on RH5.2) or lp3 (this is the third parallel port on RH5.2); on RedHat 6.0 (or later): lp0 (this is the first parallel port on RH6.x) or lp1 (this is the second parallel port on RH6.x) or lp2 (this is the third parallel port on RH6.x). After upgrading from RH5.2 to 6.0, the printing stopped working because the name of the parallel ports changed. I had to re-run the printool and adjust the port. The numbering of ports changed to bring it in line with numbering of other devices, which always starts from 0.
Try printing an ASCII test-page straight to the port. Only when this works set up the bells and whistles.
If you are setting up a remote printer, make sure that your machine has the permission to use the remote printer. The permissions are set in the file /etc/hosts.lpd (more secure) or /etc/hosts.equiv (less secure) on the machine to which the printer is attached. These files simply list the names of the remote computers that can use a local printer, one computer name per line. Mine looks like this:
hacker
mars
The file /etc/hosts.lpd did not exist on my system, so I created it.
For quick information about the printers on your machine, you may want to view the file /etc/printcap :
cd /etc/
cat printcap
Here is the meaning of some codes that I see in my /etc/printcap:
: | Field separator (separates the entries in the file). |
\ | (at the end of line) Continuation on the next line. |
lp | Name of the printer. "lp" is the name of the default printer on your machine. Subsequent printers are often, by default, given the the names lp0 or lp1, ... (or whatever you like) but this should not be confused with the name of the devices (parallel ports) to which they are connected. |
sd=/var/spool/lpd/lp | My spool directory (sd). |
mx#0 | Maximum size of print jobs (mx) in blocks. "0" means no limit. |
sh | I want headers to be suppressed (sh). Header is the page with your name that prints before your printing job (waste of paper if you print at home). |
rm=mars | Name of the remote machine (rm), which on my system is called "mars (my printer is connected to a different computer). |
rp=lp
or lp=/dev/lp0 | Name of the remote printer (rp), which is the name of the printer on
the remote machine ("lp" on "mars" on my home network)
or the name of the device on the local machine. "/dev/lp0" is the first parallel port on RH6.x (it used to be /dev/lp1 on RH5.2, the numbering of parallel ports changed). |
if=/var/spool/lpd/lp/filter | Input filter (if). Your printing job will be formatted by this "filter" before it is sent to the printer. |
sf | Suppress the form feed (sf) that is normally sent when printing is completed (use it if your printer keeps printing an empty page at the end of each jobs). |
The printer is controlled using the command lpc (as root). Type "?" to see the options. This program is notorious for its peculiarities, so don't get discouraged easily. The printer queue can be viewed with lpq and cleaned up with lprm, both of which work for a user (not only root). You can print from the command line using the command lpr. Under KDE, you can control the printer queue from the program available under the "K-button"-"Utilities"-"Printer Queue".
If you installed your printer in KDE using the printtool and it had a driver which works fine, set up Word Perfect to print using the "passthru postscript" driver.
Here is a listing of some system-wide configuration files that you I use most often:
SHELL DEFAULTS
/etc/bashrc - system-wide default functions and aliases for
the bash shell
/etc/profile - system-wide defaults for bash shell, including
system-wide environment variables.
ADMINISTRATIVE SETTINGS
/etc/passwd - contains passwords and other information concerning
users who are registered to use the system. It can be modified by root
directly, but it is preferable to use a configuration utility such as passwd
to make the changes. A corrupt /etc/passwd file can easily render a Linux
box unusable.
/etc/group - similar to /etc/passwd but for groups
/etc/crontab - setup for "cron", which runs commands periodically
(hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, etc.).
/etc/inittab - runs different programs and processes on star.
/etc/issue - message that accompanies login prompt. This is
often overwitten by the rc.local script.
/etc/issue.net - same as above, but used when login is attempted
over the network.
/etc/motd - "message of the day" file, displayed after a user
logs in.
NETWORK CONFIGURATION
/etc/hosts - contains a list of host names and absolute IP
addresses.
/etc/hosts.allow - hosts allowed to access Internet services
/etc/hosts.deny - hosts forbidden to access Internet services
/etc/resolv.conf - setups for a list of domain name servers
used by the local machine
/etc/inetd.conf - configures the inetd daemon to tell it what
TCP/IP services your machine should run.
/etc/exports - specifies hosts to which file systems can be
exported using NFS (network file system). man exports contains
information on how to set up this file for remote users.
HARDWARE CONFIGURATION
/etc/conf.modules - setup for the linux kernel modules. Modules
are like "device drivers" under MS Windows or DOS.
/etc/fstab - contains information on partitions and filesystems
used by system to mount different partitions and devices on the directory
tree.
/etc/mtab - shows currently mounted devices and partitions
and their status.
/etc/lilo.conf - configuration file for lilo boot loader.
/etc/printcap - setup for printers.
/etc/termcap - ASCII database defining the capabilities and
characteristics of different consoles, terminals, and printers. You typically
don't want to change those.
/etc/X11/XF86Config - X configuration file.
ls -l /dev/ttyS3
on my system produces the following output:
crwxr-xr-x 1 root tty 4, 67 Mar 13 22:59 ttyS3
The initial "c" indicates a character device. "b" would mean "block device", "p"=FIFO device, "u"=unbuffered character device, "d"=directory, "l"=symbolic link. The numbers "4, 67" mean that the device major number is 4 and the minor number is 67.
Here is a list of some common devices:
/dev/modem - the serial modem. In the typical case, a symbolic
link to /dev/ttyS1, /dev/ttyS2, /dev/ttyS3 or /dev/ttyS0, depending to
which serial port your modem is connected.
/dev/mouse - mouse. In the typical case, a symbolic link to
/dev/ttyS0 or similar (see above), depending to which serial port your
mouse is connected.
/dev/lp0 - printer on the first parallel port
/dev/lp1 - printer on the second parallel port
/dev/fd0 - first floppy disk drive
/dev/fd0H1440 - driver for the first floppy drive in high
density mode. Generally, this is invoked when formatting a floppy drive
for a particular density. Slackware also comes drivers that allow for formatting
a 3.5" diskette with up to 1.7MB of space. Red Hat and Mandrake do not
contain these device driver files by default.
/dev/fd1 - second floppy disk drive.
/dev/hda - first IDE hard drive .
/dev/hdb - second IDE hard drive.
/dev/hdc - third IDE drive. On many machines, the IDE cdrom
drive is attached here.
/dev/cdrom - typically, a symbolic link to the appropriate
hard drive, e.g. /dev/hdc.
/dev/tty1 - the first text console
/dev/dsp - digital audio, i.e., the sound card. "dps" stands
for "digital signal processing".
/dev/sndstat - do cat /dev/sndstat to learn about
the status of your sound devices.
/dev/null - used when you want to send output into oblivion.
/dev/random - used to read pseudo-random numbers.
For more info try:
less /usr/src/linux/Documentation/devices.txt
man MAKEDEV
Here is a short list of popular daemons with a short description:
anacron - checks `cron' jobs that were left out due to down
time and executes them. Useful if you have cron jobs scheduled but don't
run your machine all the time--anacron will detect that during bootup.
amd - automount daemon (automatically mounts removable media).
apmd - Advanced Power Management BIOS daemon. For use on machines,
especially laptops, that support apm.
arpwatch - keeps watch for ethernet/ip address pairings.
atd - runs jobs queued by the "at" command.
autofs - control the operation of automount daemons (competition
to amd).
bootparamd - server process that provides information to diskless
clients necessary for booting.
crond - automatic task scheduler. Manages the execution of
tasks that are executed at regular but infrequent intervals, such as rotating
log files, cleaning up /tmp directories, etc.
cupsd - the Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS) daemon. CUPS
is an advanced printer spooling system which allows setting of printer
options and automatic availability of a printer configured on one server
in the whole network. The default printing system of Linux Mandrake.
dhcpd - implements the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
(DHCP) and the Internet Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP).
gated - routing daemon that handles multiple routing protocols
and replaces routed and egpup.
gpm - useful mouse server for applications running on the
Linux text console.
httpd - daemon for the Apache webserver.
inetd - listens for service requests on network connections,
particularly dial-in services. This daemon can automatically load and unload
other daemons (ftpd, telnetd, etc.), thereby economizing on system resources.
isdn4linux - for users of ISDN cards.
kerneld - automatically loads and unloads kernel modules.
kudzu - detects and configures new or changed hardware during
boot.
keytable - loads selected keyboard map.
linuxconf - the linuxconf configuration tool. The automated
part of is run if you want linuxconf to perform various tasks at boot-time
to maintain the system configuration.
lpd - printing daemon.
mcserv - server program for the Midnight Commander networking
file system. It provides access to the host file system to clients running
the Midnight file system (currently, only the Midnight Commander file manager).
If the program is run as root the program will try to get a reserved port
otherwise it will use 9876 as the port. If the system has a portmapper
running, then the port will be registered with the portmapper and thus
clients will automatically connect to the right port. If the system does
not have a portmapper, then a port should be manually specified with the
-p option (see below).
named - the Internet Domain Name Server (DNS) daemon.
netfs - network filesystem mounter. Used for mounting nfs,
smb and ncp shares on boot.
network -activates all network interfaces at boot time by calling scripts
in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts
nfsd - used for exporting nfs shares when requested by remote
systems
nfslock - starts and stops nfs file locking service
numlock - locks numlock key at init runlevel change.
pcmcia - generic services for pcmcia cards in laptops.
portmap - needed for Remote Procedure Calls
postfix - mail transport agent which is a replacement for
sendmail. Now the default on desktop installations of Mandrake (RedHat
uses sendmail instead).
random - saves and restores the "entropy" pool for higher
quality random number generation.
routed - manages routing tables
rstatd - kernel statistics server
rusersd, rwalld - identification of users and "wall"
messaging services for remote users.
rwhod - server which maintains the database used by the rwho(1)
and ruptime(1) programs. Its operation is predicated on the ability to
broadcast messages on a network.
sendmail - mail transfer agent. This is the agent that comes
with Red Hat.
smbd - the SAMBA (or smb) daemon, a network connectivity
services to MS Windows computers on your network (hard drive sharing, printers,
etc).
squid - An http proxy with caching. Proxies relay requests
from clients to the outside world, and return the results. You would use
this particular proxy if you wanted to use your linux computer as a gateway
to the Internet for other computer on your network. Another (and probably
safer at home) way to do it, is to set up masquarading.
syslogd - manages system activity logging.
smtpd - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, designed for the exchange
of electronic mail messages. Several daemons that support SMTP are available,
including sendmail, smtpd, rsmtpd, qmail, zmail, etc.
usb - daemon for devices on Universal Serial Bus .
xfs - X font server
xntpd - finds the server for a NIS domain and stores the information
about it in a binding file
ypbind - NIS binder. Needed if computer is part of Network
Information Service domain.
Go to Part: 4.5 - Networking