Installation FAQs
Question: MD5SUM
Check, testing the integrity of files.
Answer: When you
download the ISO file to burn to CD, you should first check the md5sum
of the file. This is done by opening a terminal (command prompt in windows),
moving to the directory you downloaded the ISO to and typing md5sum the_name_of_the.iso
. Check the output of this against the md5sum file on the download site,
if they do not match exactly then something went wrong with the download
and all sorts of problems could arise if you try to use this ISO.
Question: How
much space do I need to install this?
Answer: This will
vary with what extra programs you want to install and mainly by the amount
of data (documents, videos, etc.) you want to keep. I currently have VL4
running with the whole of KDE3.2 installed and using up 1.5GB of my 10GB
partition. Note that I have a seperate FAT32 partition for all my data
to share with windows.
Question: What
is swap space? / How much swap space do I need?
Answer: Swap space
is linux's way of implementing virtual memory by using a special small
partition on your hard drive. How much space to allocate to this swap
partition is not clearly defined, but an old rule says double the amount
of physical RAM you have. Chances are if you have a lot of RAM you have
hard drive space to burn anyway so it can't hurt.
Question: Is there
some way I can resize my NTFS (windows XP) partition to make way for a
linux install (without buying partition magic)?
Answer: You can download/burn
a system rescue CD from here http://www.sysresccd.org/.
It includes several useful programs, including QtParted, a free partition
magic clone capable of creating/resizing NTFS partitions (as well as many
other file system types).
Question: How
do I install on a machine with no CD drive?
Answer: If you have
another machine with a CD drive then you can get around this by plugging
the target computers hard drive into the other machine and using it to
install. When the system tries to reboot, power down and replace the hard
drive in the target machine. Vector versions 3.2 and under can also be
installed without any CD drive using the instructions in the install document.
Question: Why do
I get a "file not found" error during the install?
Answer: If you are
using your secondary CD drive, try using your primary one, Vector linux
will only install from the first CD detected on the IDE/SCSI channels.
Question: Why does
my system keep freezing during/after the install?
Answer: This could
be a power management problem, try booting with the noacpi or noapm options.
E.g. at the lilo prompt type optionname noacpi where optionname is the
name of your linux installation in the lilo menu.
Question: Why
does the screen start filling up with numbers when I reboot? / Where did
my LILO menu go?
Answer: Chances are
you just did a fresh install and skipped installing LILO because you did
it last time, or got rid of a partition bootable from lilo. Boot from
the rescue CD (the install CD) with the command "linux root=/dev/hda3
ro" (replacing hda3 with the partition you installed to) to get into the
system then as root run nano /etc/lilo.conf to open your lilo config file
and check that it still applies to your system. Once you're happy with
that run /sbin/lilo to reinstall lilo. Don't forget to reinstall lilo!
Question: Why can't
I type my password when trying to log in?
Answer: You can!
The system does not give any indication on screen that you are typing
your password but it is paying attention, so just try it.
System Administration
VASM, the Vector Administrative and Services
Menu.
Question: What is it?
Answer: VASM is what allows you to administer
your system´s configuration without the need to manually edit files
spread across the system, With VASM you can configure devices, administer
services, etc. Robert (vector) created the original incarnation of the
tool and others helped to refine a few things and added a few features
as well. The GUI portion was created for SOHO 3.2 and is refined even
further with each VL release.
Question: How do I launch it?
Answer: The "vasm" that you use is the
same in both CLI and GUI mode. The script checks whether you are running
in GUI mode and uses the appropriate dialog or Xdialog to display the
boxes. If you are in CLI mode, type "vasm" to start it, in GUI
mode you can look for an icon in your desktop or open a terminal and type
"vasm".
Note that in versions prior to VL 5.0, vasm could only be launched by
the system administrator; since VL 5.0 it incorporates a set of funtionalities
useful for regular users, so they can fire it and access them to.
Question: Where can I learn more about
it?
Answer: VASM has grown into an extensive
utility that deserves it´s own user guide which you con find it
in the Documents section.
Root
vs. sudo
Question: What
is the difference between Booting up as Root and Booting as User but logging
in as Root at the terminal ?
Answer: "su" basically
gives you the same rights as when logging in as "root" - but using su
does not mean root takes over the whole computer with all running programs.
this is a security feature (!). try to think this way: everything you
do at the terminal or console you were using to su will be done as root
- everything else remains under normal user-restrictions. this especially
applies when running X.
Sudo
Command and security
Question: I just
used the Sudo command and to my surprise I was able to use Programs with
root privileges only. Now if a hacker were to get into my PC, can't he
try to do the same and thereby have root access. Or can't a Virus or Bug
be programmed to do the same ?
Answer: It's not
really a security hole, but a user feature. If an admin willingly lowers
the security settings of his computer, it's choice. A choice which can
be revoked. The point is just to keep attackers out of your box completely.
You've used Windows 98 before, didn't you? You are aware that every command
is run with superuser privileges there?
So anyway. The respective file is /etc/sudoers. You have to edit it with
the visudo command, though. Do not use another editor! If you have problems
editing, look for the manual of vi (that is the editor you're using).
To disable the sudo rights, comment the line containing your username
out with a #.
Installing
Packages
Question: Where
can I learn about installing Packages in VL ?
Answer: http://vectorlinux.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=325
Installed
packages can´t be found.
Answer: Once they've
been installed, there should be a listing in /var/ log/packages that shows
where all the files went.
Just look for the name of the program, it usually installs in /usr/bin
or /usr/local/bin or somewhere similar.
Failure
Messages at Boot up and Shutdown.
I get the following Failure Messages at Boot up and Shutdown:
AT Daemon Failure
Lpd Failure
xfstt Font Server Failure
Send Mail Failure
Port Sentry Failure
DHCP Failure
Question: What
do these stand for/indicate ?
Answer: LPD = printer
daemon
Sendmail = exactly what the name implies
DHCP = network service which gives out IP's dynamically to clients in
a LAN
xfstt = X Font Server True Type
I'm pretty sure you don't need sendmail at all and if you're not in a
LAN, you certainly won't have DHCP, too. I'm not really sure at the moment,
but I think printing is handled by CUPS in VL, so LPD isn't needed, either.
If you don't have a printer anyway, it's not an issue at all. You should
probably just disable the services you don't need through VASM.
Linux commands.
Question: Where
can I learn more about using the Command line/Terminal ?
Answer:
http://vectorlinux.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37
Also check Command Line Manuals of Red-Hat, Mandrake, Slackware.
Xserver configuration
X
Configuration - Video
Question: Why does X start up in a low resolution?
Answer: Basically
the X setup just tries to use the best safe settings that the monitor
reports back through the video card. Increase the resolution by running
vasm as root and choosing "X setup", then "Set up screen" and choosing
the resolution/colour depth you want. If this doesn't work you may need
to alter settings in "Set up display" and "Set up video card" as well.
X Configuration
- Sound
Question: Why does
my soundcard not work/exist?
Answer: This could
be a power management problem, try booting with the noacpi or noapm options.
E.g. at the lilo prompt type optionname noacpi where optionname is the
name of your linux installation in the lilo menu. To get my laptops soundcard
working I had to compile APM out of and ACPI into the kernel.
X Configuration - Mouse
Question: Why
does my mouse keep jumping to the bottom-left of the screen in X?
Answer: This is down
to a line in the X config file, so if you have this problem then as root
type nano /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 to open the file for editing and look
for the mouse section. If there is a line saying "Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
" then change the IMPS/2 to PS/2.
X Configuration
- Keyboard
Question: Why does the keymap I selected
during the install not work in X?
Answer: This only
sets the keymap for outside of X, to get your keymap working in X, you
will need to edit the X config file with nano /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 ,
find the section about the keyboard and add a line saying Option "XkbLayout"
"uk" where "uk" can be replaced with the country code that your keymap
needs. So when you're done you end up with a section like this:
Quote: |
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "XkbLayout" "uk"
EndSection |
X Configuration
- Booting to text mode
Question: How
do I boot to the command line when I have set the system up to boot straight
to X?
Answer: If things
go wrong with X you'll be glad of this tip, from the lilo prompt type
optionname 3 where optionname is the name of your linux system in the
lilo menu. This will boot you into runlevel 3, a console login.
Desktop Configuration
Virtual Screen/Changing Resolution.
Question: I don't
Like the virtual screen setup. It is far bigger than the actual monitor
screen and not convenient to deal with. How can I have a desktop exactly
the size of the monitor screen ?
Answer: Try Control
Alt + (The + button is in the numeric part on the right side of the keyboard,
this DOESN't have the = sign on it.) to change resolution.
Adding
icons to iceWM.
Question: How can
I add an Icon to my Desktop to a program that I downloaded ? Also, how
can I add a program to the Start/ Applications Menu ?
Answer: To add icons
to the desktop, right-click on an existing one, choose "new" and there
you go. To add programs to the menu, just open the ~/.icewm/menu file
in a text editor, use copy&paste on an entry and modify the new line
to run what you want.
Desktop
/ Applications setup in iceWM.
Question:
When I login and setup all my applications in a certain way on ICEWM,
they are lost at exit. Is there any way that I can save them so that each
time I come back I don't have to reopen them all again ?
Answer: Icewm preferences
are stored in your home directory under .icewm. Edit the files in there
to make changes permanent.
Or use the extra program call IceWM Control Panel. Google around for it.
It's a little overkill for Vector Linux though.
Disks Administration
Hard Drive Info.
Question: From Vector Linux, how can I
find out the info on partitions on my hard drive and the space used/available
on each partition ?
Answer: The "df" command at terminal
displays all mounted partitions. Mount all your partitions and they'll
be included.
CD-ROM doesn't read
files in it.
Did you mount the cdrom with 'mount /dev/hd<x> /mnt/cdrom', where
'x' is the drive letter. Usually, x=c, so the full command would be, 'mount
/dev/hdc /mnt/cdrom.'
Now that I've told you that.....you will need to know this too.....you
have to unmount the cdrom. The command is much the same......'umount /mnt/cdrom.'
Notice that the command isn't unmount. It's umount. No 'n' in it.
Unable to Copy files to Floppy.
Question: I am
unable to drag and copy files from the hard Drive to the floppy disk.
How can this be best done ?
Answer: the only
quick response i have, is to make sure the floppy is mounted.
I think you just select it again and it unmounts it. (the checkmark goes
away)
Note, many people will say umount, because the command line option is
actually "umount" for some reason.
Sharing files with Windows
Question: How
can I share my files with windows?
Answer: Windows can't
read linux filesystems, but linux can read windows filesystems. If you're
using windows 95/98 then it is installed on a FAT32 partition, which your
linux system will be able to read and write to. Windows NT/XP however
uses the NTFS filesystem, which (using the installed linux kernel) is
read only from linux. You might find it easiest to create a new FAT32
partition for your data which both windows and linux can use. To add extra
partitions to mount from linux at boot time, edit your "fstab" file using
nano /etc/fstab and follow the comments.
Windows 98 C: Drive Access
WARNING:
Don't try this with NTFS partitions.
Question: How can
I access the Windows C: Drive from Vector Linux ?
Answer: First log
in as root then:
1) To mount, type: mount -t vfat /dev/hdc1 /mnt/ windows
2) Then the line: /dev/hdc1 /mnt/windows vfat defaults,noauto,user 0 0
to: /etc/fstab
Section on Mounting from the Slackware manual 9.1.
http://www.slackware.com/book/index.php?source=x2280.html
Networking
Issues with PPP or Internet.
Question:
Connection/Modem Connects, but web pages don't load.
Answer: I would
only setup ppp in vasm with pppset, and the important thing when setting
it up is to enter the dns settings. Once you set it up through vasm you
can open a console and log in as root with the su comand. Then type ppp-
go and the ppp script will run and log you in.
Try to set up a bunch of different dial-up programs can cause conflicts.
Usenet/Newsgroups
Question.
Question: How do
I access newsgroups from Vector Linux?
Answer: Vector Linux
usually includes an excellent and lightweight News Reader called Sylpheed.
Firewall.
Question:
Is there a firewall included in VectorLinux?
Answer: Yes, you can configure it through
VASM.
Multimedia
Using xmms, the X media player.
Question: I tried
to mount a CD and play it X-Media Player. Unfortunately all the files
in the CD are not showing up. I tried another CD with the same results.
Answer: To play
a cd in xmms, do not mount it. xmms reads the cd as a raw audio cd. If
you mount it, it can't directly access the device.
Question: I tried
this. Just added the disk and then pressed the play button on xmms. It
opened a window asking me to select files from a directory.
Answer:
1) If the playlist box isn't open, click in it on the xmms player (middle
right, button marked PL)
2) Bottom left of the playlist is a button marked "Add"; click and hold,
a menu will pop up, move mouse above the "Dir" (2nd button) and release;
another menu should appear with a list of directories;
3) Select /mnt/cdrom and click OK
4) The playlist should now have songs in it,
5) Press play and listen away!
Question: I am
able to play CD files when I log in as root right at start.
Answer: You probably
have the wrong permissions on the sound device. On recent VL versions
you can fix this using the "CDSET" option in VASM
Question: I
am using an older VL version and this option is not present.
Answer: As root
type this in a terminal:
chmod 622 /dev/dsp and chmod 666 /dev/mixer
Check with ls -l /mnt/cdrom what's the real cdrom device and then give
all read rights for it.
example:
Code:
bash-2.05b$ ls -l /dev/cdrom
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 May 1 16:44 /dev/cdrom -> /dev/hdc
bash-2.05b$ ls -l /dev/hdc
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 22, 0 Oct 13 2002 /dev/hdc
bash-2.05b$ sudo chmod a+r /dev/hdc
bash-2.05b$ ls -l /dev/hdc
brw-rw-r-- 1 root disk 22, 0 Oct 13 2002 /dev/hdc
So basically, just load the cd device in xmms without mounting it.
Using Xcdroast for CD burning.
Question:When I
start XCDROAST, configure it and then try to make a CD in both the Master
Tracks and Write Tracks Options/ Screen, I am able to choose only directories
and not the individual files in those directories. Why ?
Answer: the reason
for seeing only directories is that you probably have checked a "display
directories only" checkbox
Question: I burned
some CDs using Nero Before. Nero Would allow me to add more files later
to these CDs if needed. These were just regular data CDs. However, when
I tried to use then in xcdroast to add more files, it says the CD is closed.
There is still a lot of room in those CDs. Still why am I getting this
message ?
Also, how will I know if my CDwriter supports Write on the fly and will
not be damaged by this operation ?
Answer: It should
work using multisession burning. I'm never using it myself, but X-CD-Roast
definitely supports it and it's a non-program-specific standard. The only
problem I could imagine would be that this 'Nero' program stores a history
of all multisession CDs it has burned and then automatically recognizes
them when you want to 'resume' one. If you've burned the first session
with another program, it won't have such a record of course. You have
to tell the burning program to read the old session data from the CD then
first - depends on the program how to do it.
Question: How Do I Copy an ISO Image from
a CD to the HD to burn more CDs ?
Answer: Go with
the CLI. Specifically:
i. Copy whatever data you want to put on the CD into a directory, which
we'll call: /home/user/ whatever
ii. Make your image file, which we'll call "my_image.img" by running this
command:
mkisofs -r -o my_image.img /home/user/whatever
iii. Burn it to CD by running this command:
cdrecord -v speed=8 dev=0,0,0 -data my_image.img
Of course, set the speed to whatever value you're comfortable with. My
CD-RW can supposedly handle 24X, but it pukes above about 12, so I go
with 8X to avoid coasters. Seriously, try the CLI and you'll never go
back to Nero or xcdroast. They're nice GUI's but all they're doing is
putting a fancy front end on the command line.
Windows related
Question:
Can I access my Windows files with Linux, how?
Answer: Yes, you
can. Please see "Sharing files with Windows".
Wine.
Question:
What is the Wine Project?
Answer: Wine is
an open source project that allows you to run windows applications within
Linux, it has limitations, but is a really interesting project. If you
are interested, you should be able to use a slackware package of wine
in VL.
Be warned, wine is a contrary beast to work with. We would recommend you
so some googling for FranksCorner and go to their board for specific wine
help.
Miscellaneous
Copy and Paste
Not Working.
Question: How do
you try to copy&paste?
Answer: In linux
it's done by selecting text and then just put cursor where you want to
paste it and click middle-button. Or for 2 button mouse, click both buttons.
Searching
files.
Question: Is there a find tool in Linux
?
In Windows there is a Search tool that allows to search for specific files.
Is there a similar tool in Linux ?
Answer: If you don't
want to use the command line try the search function of Midnight Commander
- it's like the one of Windows (you specify where it starts etc)
Taking Screen Shots.
Question: How can
I take screen shots in Vector Linux ? Is there a special software that
I can download for this ?
Answer: VL already
includes a small package that allows you to grab screenshot of your desktop.
1. First you open XV, then you right click on the XV window.
2. Another window opens, choose Grab again.
3. Then choose time of 3 seconds, and press Grab again.
4. Close all unwanted windows immediately.
5. You will hear a beep. At that time, click on the desktop.
6. A screen shot of the desktop will be taken which can be viewed by clicking
on one of the bottom fish icons in the task bar.
From Vector Linux to Slackware.
Question: Since,
VL is based on Slackware, once familiar with VL does Slackware get easy
or is it an all together different ball game ?
Answer: Nope, it's
not that hard. If you save your XF86Config-4 file and write down the modules
you are using, you shouldn't have any problems.
The tough bits are:
- Slack does come with GNOME and KDE, but they are too much for older
systems. If you are running an older system, you will either have to
use Xfce or compile a different wm. (I use xfwm4 + idesk + gnome-panel.)
- You will really miss sndconfig. Badly. Be sure to write down what
modules your soundcard needs and the correct parameters (look in /etc/modules.conf).
- No vasm, since this is a feature developed by VectorLinux and Slackware
developes have expressed that they feel using command line tools and
editors is good enough, so they are not interested in utilities such
as this.
The great thing about VL is it comes ready out of the box with a great
wm for old machines (icewm) and desktop icons and configuration utilities
AND a totally new linux user can just sit down, install it, and have a
fully working system on their "useless" 200 Mhz machine with a minimum
of problems.
If you have a 5GB + hard drive it will make you life a lot easier as you
can just choose "install everything."
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