Often, when doing installations etc. one runs into problems and then hurries over to google or some other search engine to check whether somebody else already has found a solution to the problem at hand. Of course, for this to work, some other soul had to run into the same problem first, find a solution and be kind enough to share it with the rest of the world by documenting it on the web. PINBOARD would like to do its share by adding at least some of its findings and solutions to the web as well, so it can be indexed by search engines and others can make advantage of it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------open a terminal
Thu Jan 01 15:00:05 2009 by kurt in Eee ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To open a terminal press Alt + Ctrl + t
------------------------------------------------------------------------ssh/scp
Thu Jan 01 15:00:05 2009 by kurt in Eee ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The command line utilities ssh and scp are installed, just open a terminal and use them from there. You can also install a Putty SSH Client via the Eee Download.
------------------------------------------------------------------------installing Swiss German Keyboard Layout
Thu Jan 01 15:02:23 2009 by kurt in Eee ------------------------------------------------------------------------ even though there are instructions on installing the Swiss German keyboard layout on an Eee PC 900 with a patch, it did not work properly when I tried it I finally managed to get it running with the following method (even though the pipe symbol (|) is like in windows, don't know yet how to fix that): - install the recommended patch (don't know whether this is required) - open a terminal with Alt + Ctrl + t - become root with sudo -s - run kcontrol - goto Angeschlosene Geräte -> Tastaturlayout and add the desired keyboard layouts, the one you put on the top will be the default one - use "de_nodeadkeys" for Belegungsvariante to get the additional signs like caret, tilet etc. - save, exit - make sure than in the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf in the Section "InputDevices" under the Identifier "keyboard" the Option "XkbLayout" is set to "ch" and the Option "XkbVariant" is set to "de": ... Section "InputDevice" Identifier "keyboard" ... Option "XkbLayout" "ch" Option "XkbVariant" "de" ... - press Ctrl + Alt + Backspace to restart X
------------------------------------------------------------------------changing the default language to English
Thu Jan 01 15:07:05 2009 by kurt in Eee ------------------------------------------------------------------------ My machine, bought in Switzerland, unfortunately only came with the German version of the software. However, the main things can be changed easily, tough this will not change all software: - open a termaina - run sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales and follow the menus - restart the machine see also http://www.eeeuser.net/?p=8
------------------------------------------------------------------------install Japanese input method
Thu Jan 01 15:17:23 2009 by kurt in Eee ------------------------------------------------------------------------ see also http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=32904 I did a little bit more than on the mentioned page, especially I also installed the mincho fonts. - open a terminal (CTRL + ALT + t) - become root (sudo -s) - add the following line to the file /etc/apt/sources.list: deb http://ftp.jp.debian.org/debian etch main contrib non-free - update the package cache (apt-get update) - install the required packages: apt-get install anthy scim-anthy im-switch kasumi \ ttf-kochi-gothic ttf-sazanami-gothic \ ttf-kochi-mincho ttf-sazanami-mincho - add the ja_JP.UTF-8 and ja_JP.EUC-JP locales to your setup by running dpkg-reconfigure locales - set the input method to scim by running im-switch -c - logout and restart the machine With scim (Smart Common Input Method) and anthy, you can now press CTRL + space to get in and out of the Japanese Input method
------------------------------------------------------------------------remove the keyboard systray icons
Thu Jan 02 15:17:23 2009 by kurt in Eee ------------------------------------------------------------------------ see also http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:removekeyboardsystrayicons - open a terminal - comment out the following line from the file /etc/alternatives/x-session-manager: (sleep 3; usr/bin/keyboardstatus) &
------------------------------------------------------------------------allow switching of virtual screens
Thu Jan 02 15:17:23 2009 by kurt in Eee ------------------------------------------------------------------------ see also http://wiki.eeeuser.com/booting_with_init_instead_of_fastinit I want to be open to start another X server on a second virtual terminal, since I sometimes want to connect to my XDMCP box when connected to the home network: - open a terminal - comment out the following line from the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf: Option "DontVTSwitch" "true" - press CTRL-ALT-Backspace to restart X on CTRL-ALT-F2 is the normal X display on CTRL-ALT-F3 is a login shell (user: user, password: what you set it to) from this login screen you now can issue the command X -query:1 to get another X server on CTRL-ALT-F4 which is connected to the XDMCP server you specified. The login on vt3 is, however, not respawning, thus once you logout you are out
------------------------------------------------------------------------switch | and ¦ for the swiss german keyboard layout
Thu Jan 02 15:17:23 2009 by kurt in Eee ------------------------------------------------------------------------ With the installed swiss german keyboard layout, I get | (bar) with AltGr+1 and ¦ (brokenbar) with AltGr+7, instead of the other way round, as I'm used to. To 'fix' this for me, I changed a keyboard definition file: - open a terminal - open the file /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/ch - in the secton "Switzerland" switch the "bar" and "brokenbar" entries - save the file and press CTRL-ALT-Backspace to restart X and reload the new setting
------------------------------------------------------------------------replace CAPS Lock with < and > and the menu key with \ and |
Thu Jan 02 15:17:23 2009 by kurt in Eee ------------------------------------------------------------------------ see also http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:fixpipeandcapslock I rarely have use for CAPS LOCK but I'm dearly missing the additional key on the Eee keyboard, which gives access to the < > and \ symbols in the swiss german keyboard layout. Sure, it is there, but using such an awkward key combination (Fn + Y + /LShift/AltGr) is a pain in the ass. So I rather reprogram some other keys. - open a terminal - load the file /usr/bin/startsimple.sh in an editor and right before the line icewmtray & add the following lines: xmodmap -e "remove Lock = Caps_Lock" xmodmap -e "keycode 66 = less greater" xmodmap -e "keycode 117 = backslash bar" - save the file and next time you retart the X server, the keys will be remapped as configured
------------------------------------------------------------------------adding additional virtural workspaces
Thu Jan 02 15:17:23 2009 by kurt in Eee ------------------------------------------------------------------------ see also http://wiki.eeeuser.com/multiple-desktop-in-easy-mode Normally I'm working in WindowMaker and with multiple virtual workspaces. While I have not (yet?) gone to install WindowMaker on my Eee, at least I'd like to have multiple workspaces. - open a terminal - work as a normal user! - if it does not yet exist, create the subdirectory .icewm in your home directory - if it does not yet exist, copy the file /etc/X11/icewm/preferences to the ~/.icewm subdirectory - append the following lines to ~/.icewm/preferences: ShowWorkspaceStatus=1 TaskBarShowWorkspaces=1 WorkspaceNames="1", "2", "3", "4" KeySysWorkspacePrev="Ctrl+Alt+Left" KeySysWorkspaceNext="Ctrl+Alt+Right" Switching between the virtual workspaces can be done by mouse (ugh) or by CTRL-ALT-Left and CTRL-ALT-Right (muuuuch better)
------------------------------------------------------------------------install ports via a proxy
Sun Jan 30 23:07:41 2005 by kurt in FreeBSD ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The ports system on FreeBSD is great for installing additional software. The sources can be fetched directly from the internet and will be stored in /usr/ports/distfiles/. However, if the machine does not have direct access to the internet via HTTP and/or FTP and must go via a proxy server, the the following environment variables must be set (shown for bourne style shells): HTTP_PROXY=http://<proxyservername>:<proxyserverport> FTP_PROXY=http://<proxyservername>:<proxyserverport> export HTTP_PROXY FTP_PROXY If additionally, the proxy server requires authentication, the following environment variable can be set: HTTP_PROXY_AUTH="basic:*:<username>:<password>" export HTTP_PROXY_AUTH And finally, in order to use passive FTP, set FTP_PASSIVE_MODE=yes export FTP_PASSIVE_MODE For all this, see section 3 of the man page for fetch (man 3 fetch).
------------------------------------------------------------------------compiling jdk14 from the FreeBSD ports
Tue Feb 1 00:40:18 2005 by kurt in FreeBSD ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In order to compile the java/jdk14 port on FreeBSD (at least v5.3-RELEASE) the following prerequisites must be met: - have at least 1.7 GB of free diskspace in /usr/ports/java/ if you don't make an empty directory java on a partition where you have enough space and issue the following commands: cd /usr/ports/java tar cpf - * | (cd <your-temporary-directory>; tar xpf -) cd /usr/ports mount -t nullfs <your-temporary-directory> /usr/ports/java after everything has been compiled and installed do cd /usr/ports umount /usr/ports/java rm -rf <your-temporary-directory> - the linprocfs must be available: kldload linprocfs mount -t linprocfs linprocfs /compat/linux/proc - if the compilation should stop with an error like /usr/ports/java/jdk14/work/control/build/bsd-i586/gensrc/java/util/CurrencyData.java:1: 'class' or 'interface' expected then try to delete the offending line (line number 1) from /usr/ports/java/jdk14/work/control/build/bsd-i586/gensrc/java/util/CurrencyData.java and continue the compilation with make install clean
------------------------------------------------------------------------touchpad on Inspiron 5160 under FreeBSD
Sat Feb 12 15:04:45 2005 by kurt in FreeBSD Inspiron5160 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The builtin touchpad on the Dell Inspiron 5160 does not work out of the box under FreeBSD. In order to have it work, add the following line to the file /boot/device.hints and reboot: hint.psm.0.flags="0x1000"
------------------------------------------------------------------------usb to serial adapter
Thu Jun 23 21:09:51 2005 by kurt in FreeBSD ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To get an usb to serial adapter working under FreeBSD 5.x you need to load a couple of drivers (or have them compiled into the kernel): kldload ucom kldload uplcom Only connect the device _after_ the drivers have been loaded. You now can access the device as /dev/ucom0. For more detailed information see http://www.bug-e.net/usb2serial.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------usb to serial adapter
Wed Aug 24 23:29:13 2005 by kurt in FreeBSD ------------------------------------------------------------------------ under FreeBSD 5.x, instead of compiling the usb drivers into the kernel so they are available from the very beginning (and can be used with a device which was already connected at boot time), you can also load the driver from the file /boot/loader.conf: ucom_load="yes" uplcom_load="yes"
------------------------------------------------------------------------Copyright notice
Tue Mar 29 23:12:44 2005 by kurt in LaTeX ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To add an automated copyright notice in a LaTeX document with the years automatically updated to span up to the year of the last compilation the following code can be used. Specifying \usebox{\Copyright} anywhere in the text inserts a box with the copyright notice. As it is a box, it will not span lines and will not be broken! \documentclass[a4paper]{report} \usepackage{ifthen} % ---------------------------------------------------------------------- % save copyright notice to a box \Copyright; use with \usebox{\Copyright} \newsavebox{\Copyright} % any of the following variants works % (thanks to Hubert Gaesslein and Stefan Lagotzki): % \ifthenelse{\equal{2005}{\the\year}}{}{ - \the\year} % \ifthenelse{2005 = \the\year}{}{ - \the\year} % \ifthenelse{2005 = \number\year}{}{ - \the\year} % \ifthenelse{2005 = \year}{}{ - \the\year} \sbox{\Copyright}{Copyright \textcopyright{} 2005% \ifthenelse{2005 = \number\year}{}{ -- \the\year} me} % ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \begin{document} \usebox{\Copyright} \end{document}
------------------------------------------------------------------------bluetooth for CentOS / Red Hat
Sun Nov 25 22:44:55 2007 by kurt in Linux ------------------------------------------------------------------------ to get bluetooth running on Linux (CentOS 5; should be the same for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5), I had to do the following: - installed the bluez-utils rpm (requires bluez-gnome and bluez-libs rpms) - 'hciconfig -a' gave me errors on he hci0 interface, not being able to read 'name' - 'hciconfig hci0 reset' took care of the problem - I also needed to issue this command again after reboots - replaced the value to the 'name' statement in /etc/bluetooth/hcid.conf with the value that 'hciconfig -a' prints in the 'name' line I do think, however, that the original hcid.conf would work unchanged - setting the connection PIN in /etc/bluetooth/pin, however, never worked; what was necessary was to reboot the machine after installation and login with the Gnome window manager; upon connection a popop box then asked for the pin, done by the bt-applet
------------------------------------------------------------------------serial console with xen
Wed Apr 16 22:06:09 2008 by kurt in Linux ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Usually I have a serial connection to all of my servers for emergency situations. On the xen-enabed servers, however, the usual configuration did not work. Turns out that xen is fumbling around with the serial console itself. Found quite good instructions under the following URL: http://os-drive.com/en/node/33 In short, these settings work for me, giving me the option to interact with grub on the keyboard or over the first serial port, showing all the boot and xen-boot messages on the serial console and enabling login on the first serial port once the OS is up and running. Besides, connecting to the serial port and sending CTRL-A (use cu or minicom, not tip) three times, drops you to the xen console, another three CTRL-A bring you back to the server. /boot/grub/grub.conf: --------------------- ... serial --unit=0 --speed=9600 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1 terminal --timeout=10 serial console timeout=10 ...title CentOS (2.6.18-8.el5xen) root (hd0,0) kernel /xen.gz-2.6.18-8.1.15.el5 com1=9600,8n1 console=com1,vga module /vmlinuz-2.6.18-8.1.15.el5xen ro root=/dev/vg_md_02/lv_root rhgb quiet console=tty0 console=ttyS0,9600n8 module /initrd-2.6.18-8.1.15.el5xen.img /etc/inittab: ------------- ... S0:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -iw 9600 ttyS0 vt100 /etc/securetty: --------------- ... ttyS0
------------------------------------------------------------------------ssh-agent with WindowMaker
Sun Jun 29 14:20:57 2008 by kurt in Linux ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I prefer WindowMaker as my desktop. When starting it with startx, my CentOS system processes different startup files than when logging in through the graphical gdmgreeter. To have WindowMaker start under ssh-agent control change the Exec= line in the file /usr/share/xsessions/WindowMaker.desktop