Linux FAQ

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1. What is the purpose of the SWAP space partition that Linux creates during installation?
A. When sufficient RAM is not available, Linux uses hard disk space to store programs temporarily. Usually, the operating system tries to store data that is not used frequently on the hard disk to ensure better performance. Windows uses a similar 'swap file' which is in the bootable data partition. Linux creates a special swap partition or 'swap space' by default in which it stores its swap file.

2. What options should I select while creating a swap partition?
A. Either a Primary or an Extended partitions to install other operating system, you should put the swap space in an Extended partition. For optimum performance, the size of the swap partition should be at least equal to the amount of physical memory (RAM) that you have installed and preferably twice that amount. For Example, if you have 64MB of RAM, you should ideally creates a swap partition that is 128MB in size, Some older distributions, however, might not support a swap file larger than 128MB. You can get around this problem by using multiple swap partitions. You can replace your original swap partition with a larger one if you find that it is not large enough for your needs.

3. Can linux use my Windows swap file instead of creating another partition?
A. This is possible but pretty complicated to do for people not familiar with Linux. If you want to try it our anyway, you could refer to http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/Swap-Space-1.html. You can later delete your existing Linux swap partition with fdisk in order to free up the disk space used.

USING WINDOWS DATA

4. Can I use my Windows Netscape bookmarks in Linux?
A. Yes you can, but you need to make sure that you are using a similar version (say 4.x) of Netscape on both systems to reduce the chance of inconsistencies in the bookmark file format. You can find the location of the default bookmark file in Linux by searching for 'bookmarks.html' file from Windows ( use a floppy for the transfer). You will have to rename the Windows file to bookmarks.html on Linux in order to make it work.

5. Are there any applications on Linux that will let me read and modify MS Office files?
A. There are several office suites such as StarOffice, OpenOffice and ThinkFree and stand-alone work processing software such as AbiWord, KWord (part of KDE) and HancomWord that are available on Linux. However, the level of MS Word document compatibility varies from one package to another. For most users, StarOffice Writer, which is a component of the StarOffice suite, should be quite suitable.

CONFIGURING LINUX

6. Will my internal PCI modem ( winmodem ) work with Linux?
A. Most Winmodems will not work with Linux but some can be configured to do so. For more info. on how this can be done, visit http://www.gunfleet.com/linux_links/modemlin.html. However, the easiest solution for most people would be to get an external modem instead. The reason why the Winmodems are not compatible with Linux is because they replace some hardware functions with software functions that won't work on Linux.

7. What is my floppy drive called in Linux?
A. The device name for your floppy drive in Linux is '/dev/fd0', instead of the familiar 'A: ' notation in Windows. The path could be '/dev/floppy' or 'mnt/floppy' depending on the distribution you are using. In Linux, all devices ( such as the drives ) are assigned 'mount points'. Typing mount at the command prompt will list all devices and you will see something like '/dev/fd0 on /mnt/floppy type vfat ( rw, nosuid, nodev, user=username)'. This gives you the 'soft' mount location (/mnt/floppy) for your floppy drive.

8. Do disk drive partitions have drive letters?
A. Linux just adds numbers on to the end of the drive identifier. This means that the three primary partitions on your first hard disk would be identified as '/dev/hda1', ' /dev/hda2' & '/dev/hda3'. Primary partitions on a second hard drive would show up as '/dev/hdb1', '/dev/hdb2' & so on. For a SCSI drive, the notation would b of the form '/dev/sda1'. In the case of Extended partitions, the numbering begins from 5, for instance, '/dev/hda5' and '/dev/hda6'.

9. Is there a simpler way for me to access drives that have been mounted?
A. Users of the Red Hat distribution, who are using KDE, need to click on the KDE menu and then go to Red Hat>System>Disk Management. This brings up a panel that displays all mounted drives and allows you to mount/unmount them. You can also use this to format the drives.
Gnome users can select the Gnome File manager and use the /mnt icon to view the various devices.

10. How can I configure Linux to use all installed physical memory?
A. To force Linux to use all the physical memory that you have installed, you need to log in as the 'root' operator or 'super user'. At the command prompt, use an editor to open the file /etc/lilo.conf.

The first line of the file should start with 'boot= '.
1. Position the cursor in front of the 'b' in boot=
2. Insert the following: append="mem=128M" and press [Enter]
3. Close the editor and exit the file after saving the changes.
4. From the command prompt, type /sbin/lilo to restart LILO.
5. Type exit to logout as the root operator and then exit again to close the shell session.

The next time you reboot, Linux should be using all the memory installed. ( Use the cat /proc/meminfo command to verify).

WORNING:   Specifying a memory size larger than what is physically installed could render your install unbootable. Your computer might reserve some memory ( a few kilobytes). Which would be unavailable to Linux. Do not use meme=128M in this case. If you find that your system has become unbootable then you need to edit the /etc/lilo.conf and modify the memory size entry.

11. What are the parallel and serial ports called in Linux?
A. The parallel ports, which are named LPT1, LPT2, etc in Windows, are called /dev/lp0, /dev/lp1 and so on in Linux. The serial ports are similarly named /dev/ttyS0 to /dev/ttyS7 instead of the familiar COM1 to COM8.

SOME GENERAL USAGE QUESTIONS:

12. How do I format a floppy?
A. For KDE users, the easiest way is to use the Kfloppy utility, which can be accessed via the KDE icon on the Panel. You have the option of using the DOS (FAT) file system or Linux's own ext2fs file system. Gnome provides a similar utility that is called GFFloppy that can be reached by using the Gnome icon in the Panel. Floppies can also be formatted via the command shell. To do this for the ext2fs file system, you need to use the mke2fs command. The mtools utility allows you to access DOS/Windows formatted diskettes.

13. How do I kill a program that is " not responding"?
A. From time to time it may be necessary to terminate or 'kill' programs that refuse to respond. This might require you to be logged in as the root user for some applications. To kill an application that is not responding, you need to do the following at the command line: Type ps (process status) to see what programs are running. Note down the Process ID (PID) number, such as 423 that is listed to the right of the process name. To kill the program type kill pid (for ex. kill 423) at the command line. The program will usually normally close itself. Note: If this does not work, you need to precede the PID with -9 (say: kill -9 423) to kill the program.

14. I have both KDE and Gnome installed. How do I switch between them?
A. Simply log out from the graphical interface. Then at the Log in screen, type your login ID and password and choose which desktop you wish to load (session type). This choice will remain your default until you change it to something else.

15. How can I add programs to the Panel?
A. Gnome users need to first log in as root and then click on the Gnome menu icon. Now go to Programs> Settings>Menu editor and use the menu that appears to create new entries to an existing menu or add a new submenu. In KDE, you can simply click on the KDE icon, select Panel> Add Application and then choose the desired program from the menu listing that is displayed program from the menu listing that is displayed. After adding the application, you can easily sort the order of the icons.

16. What is a virtual desktop? How is it helpful to me?
A. 'Virtual desktops' let you avoid the clutter that takes place when you are running a number of programs concurrently. You can use each such desktop as a location to open one or more programs and them simply shuffle between the application on the different virtual desktops with a couple of mouse clicks. Both KDE and Gnome include virtual desktop support by default and users have the option to specify how many desktops they want accessible or to disable multiple desktops completely. Switching between desktops can be accomplished by a click on the numbered buttons on the Panel.

17. How do I share an application across multiple virtual desktops?
A. In the upper left-hand corner of any program window there is an icon that looks like a thumbtack. Clicking on this button will 'pin' that application in place, thus allowing it to appear in all virtual desktops in the same position. If you want to then remove it from the other virtual desktops, press the button again and it will remain on only the virtual desktop from which it was 'unpinned'.

18. How can I change the background color of my desktop?
A. Click on the KDE icon on the Panel and then select Settings> Desktop > Background. From the Display Settings dialog box you can pick which desktop (from among the virtual desktops) to modify, then choose one or two colors and/or wallpapers to use. When you are finished, simply press OK to save your changes.

Collected from digit interactive: Sept. 2001 For all Linux Lovers & Beginners.

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

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