Linux                       Knowledge

 

 

 

1 Networked linux sharing Windows net connection

2 Install debian pakages

3 Corrupt drive

4 To install any program from source

5 To edit ISO files in linux i.e. use them as a drive

6 To start the XWindows

7 For a really great list of linux commands

8 Floppy-CD distros and filesystems used on their disks

 

Networked linux sharing Windows net connection #1

 

1) Get either "Proxy Plus" from Microsoft of "Kerio router". Install then disconnect. Connect using Proxy plus or Router.

 

2) On the linux machine simply enter the ip of your Windows PC with the proxy on it.

 

To view any linux manual for a program:

 

man (program name)

 

e.g. man dpkg

 

Install debian pakages #2:

 

dpkg -i packagename.deb

 

To learn about any program:

 

programname /?

 

or

 

programname ?

 

or

 

programname -?

 

Corrupt drive #3 :

 

When linux is turned off without shutting down then the startup will check the hd for errors. If the hd is corrupted then it will mount in read-only mode. Corel Linux crashes out to a command prompt asking you to run fsck.

 

typing fsck does nothing.

 

fsck /? revealed that on my hd a "superblock" had become corrupted and to fix the problem run e2fsck with some options. Linux generally knows what it is doing so agree then reboot.

 

To install any program from source #4:

 

unless other instructions are given then:

 

cd to the directory of the source then...

 

#./configure

 

#make

 

#make install

 

( a # indicates that there is a new command prompt - a new line ).

 

Check the help file to learn the options for make and ./configure to know how to compile into a seperate directory from the source. This is a much better way of doing it.

 

If configure cannot find your system and you know you are using a PC above a 386 and that you are running linux (pretty obvious) then you rsystem type is something like i386-pc-linux-gnu.

 

Compiling requires GCC and GNUMake ./configure is a seperate script for each program hence ./ (./ means look in this directory i.e. the one you are in)

 

To edit ISO files in linux i.e. use them as a drive #5 :

 

mount -o loop /path/to/iso /where/to/mount

 

e.g.

 

mount -o loop /tmp/MandrakeDiskOne.iso /mnt/cdrom

 

This will mount the MandrakeDiskOne.iso in the /mnt/cdrom

 

If you mount your windows partition i.e.

 

mount -o loop /dev/hda1 /mnt/c

 

then if you want to unmount it DO NOT delete the "directory" /mnt/c. Doing this will DELETE your windows partition. Any change that takes place in the folder will be changed in your windows partition. You unmount by typing...

 

umount /mnt/c

 

or

 

umount /mnt/cdrom

 

NOTE THE SPELLING umount.

 

To start the XWindows #6...

 

startx

 

To view your systems environment variables..

 

env

 

For a really great list of linux commands #7 ...

 

http://www.martian-tech.com/commands.html

 

mtools is a way of using the contents of a windows formatted floppy without having to mount it...

 

instead of ...

 

dir

 

in DOS the linux equivelant is...

 

mdir

rmdir

mdel

mcopy

 

...these are all covered at martian-tech but it is not mentioned that they are not a normal bash command and some smaller systems may not have them.

 

 

Floppy-CD distros and filesystems used on their disks #8..

 

For a list of all floppy-CD systems see the linux links. Some of the disks are viewable in Windows. These use SYSLINUX to load the Linux kernel on a FAT system. All the files are often in a .tgz or .tar.gz . These are extracted to a RAM Drive. Inside them they have a disk image files which can be mounted if you want to edit the files. Others may use the Minix filesystem.