-==Linux Info: Part 3==- By: dr0z(dr0z@theapoc.8m.com) The Apocalypse (http://theapoc.8m.com) >>Introduction<< I'm not sure but this may be the last part of my Linux Info series. In this release I will tell how to change certain aspects of linux and configure it your way. Also this release includes info on the Enlightenment and KDE window managers. >>Section 001<< First I will talk about changing some small things. Such as your hostname, this is an example of your hostname: >>Example 001<< RedHat 5.1 localhost login: >>End Example 001<< Where localhost would be your hostname/domain. Most people I know that don't run on networks or host any websites on thier box change this to make it a "Computer Name" like in windows. Mine looks like this: >>Example 001b<< TheApoc login: >>End Example 001b<< Where my hostname is " TheApoc ". Now onto changing this. You can change this by entering: >>hostname (desired name) But there is a problem with that. On most systems the hostname is set to localhost at boot-up. So what we need to do is put that command in the /etc/rc.d/rc.local file. This makes it so the hostname is changed to the one you specified at boot-up. Another thing you may want to change is the login screen. This is it here: >>Example 001c<< RedHat 5.1 Kernel 2.2.5 TheApoc login: >>End Example 001c<< This screen is often used to welcome remote and local users. You can change what the login screen says by editing the /etc/issue and /etc/issue.net files. I had a problem on the systems I tested it on. At boot-up the /etc/issue files are overwritten with a default login screen(shown in Example 001c). On my Red Hat system there was a place for the login screen in the /etc/rc.d/rc.local file where it edited the 2 files with the default screen. What you need to do is change what it says in that file to what you wish for your login screen to say. If your system doesn't have a place for this then you will need to echo the code to the files. >>Example 001d<< echo "Welcome to linux" >> /etc/issue >>End Example 001d<< >>NOTE: On my slackware box i found the login screen info in the file /etc/rc.d/rc.S So this info could be found in a different file than the ones I have stated. Now onto another useful edit to the /etc/rc.d/rc.local file. Some systems don't mount win95/dos partitions during the boot-up. So you can add the mount command to the file. Here is what mine looks like: >>Example 001e<< mount /dev/hda1 /win moutn /dev/hda7 /win2 mount /dev/hdc /cd >>End Example 001d<< You could also reconfigure your kernel to do this. A lot of version of linux have this built into the setup program, so that saves time. But for you who don't want to reconfigure your kernel then this should help you out. >>End Section 001<< >>Section 002<< Now onto Enlightenment and KDE. Enlightenment and KDE are basically enhancements to the existing X-Windows system. The are fancier and easier to use in some cases. If you like the layout of Windows 95 then stick with fvwm and fvwm95. But if you like something more exciting and fancy buttons then you should d/l one of these. Enlightenment is what most people would think a hackers desktop would look like, exspecially if you watch a lot of computer movies (i.e hackers, the net). Anyways, Enl is well layed out but some people have trouble installing it because it depends on soooo many different libraries and other scripts and programs. But KDE has an easy to setup interface with a setup type program. And it also has many more applications than Enl does. KDE now has a whole office suite similiar to MS Office. Well thats about all I can say for those wm's. You can d/l them from here: Enlightenment: http://www.rasterman.com http://www.enlightenment.org KDE: http://www.kde.org >>End Section 002<< Email suggestion, comments, and questions to dr0z@theapoc.8m.com. I would apreciate any suggestions on this paper or the series to help better my text files. Hope you enjoyed this text! Text written by: dr0z as a part of The Linux Info Series