LILO stands for Linux Loader. The contents of the /etc/lilo.conf file (in RedHat Linux 6) decide what LILO does during booting. The following explains one possible setup on your machine, where you could have Linux and Windows 95 together on one computer. The important lines in the lilo.conf file are the location of your Windows and Linux partitions. If you know the partitions on which you have installed the Operating Systems, then configuring LILO is very simple.

 

 

Procedure :

 

Edit the /etc/lilo.conf file (using any text editor) as shown below. This is the current configuration on my system. Yours may be different. Make the requisite changes to boot the partition where your Windows installation exists.

 

boot = /dev/hda

timeout = 50

prompt

 

default = win

vga = normal

 

read-only

map=/boot/map

install=/boot/boot.b

image = /boot/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20

 

label = linux

initrd = /boot/initrd-2.2.12-20.img

root = /dev/hda3

 

other = /dev/hda1

label = win

 

Most of the lines are self descriptive. The lines we are concerned with is default=win and the last 2 lines which describe on which partition Windows is installed. 'win' is a name that I have given to my Windows OS. You can give any name but see to it that both the lines (default= and label= ) share the same name. This name would appear when you press the <Tab> key at the LILO prompt.

 

Note : LILO can also be configured to boot directly into a particular OS without prompting the user. If the user has pressed <Shift> while LILO is displayed on the screen, then only will it prompt the user for a choice.

The following shows the setup on my machine. If its the same on yours, then you can directly use these values.

Remember that the translation of the Com Ports -> Linux files is the same everywhere, but your particular hardware may not be on the same Windows Com Port as mine. What I mean is, Com 1 in Windows is /dev/ttyS0 in Linux everywhere. But the mouse need not necessarily be present on Com 1. The mouse might be present on some other Com Port. You should know which hardware is on which Windows Com Port on your machine.

 

 

My Devices--------------Windows Com----------------------Port Linux equivalent

Mouse--------------------COM 1--------------------------------/dev/ttyS0

External Modem---------COM 2--------------------------------/dev/ttyS1

Floppy Drive-------------Normal Floppy cable----------------/dev/fd0

Printer--------------------Lpt Port------------------------------/dev/lp0

CDROM Drive------------IDE cable---------------------------/dev/cdrom

Basically Linux can access (after mounting) any partition, whose filesystem it can recognize (e.g. Fat 32, Ext2). Windows 95/98 partitions are Fat32 partitions and these can be accessed through Linux with some settings. This article helps you do that. Once you have done that, you can save your work on these partitions and also access all your data from these partitions. Making a filesystem to be visible under Linux (or including a filesystem under Linux) is knows as 'Mounting that filesystem'.

 

I have around 8GB of mp3s on my Windows partition and creating a duplicate copy of that in my Linux partition doesn't make sense. So currently I access my Fat32 partition through Linux (after mounting them) and I can play all the mp3s that are present in my Windows partitions, through Linux.

 

 

Example:

 

Linux device Size Type Description

 

/dev/hda1 2 GB Win 95 Fat32 C:\ in Windows (Within Primary Partition)

/dev/hda3 1 GB Linux Native Consists of / and /boot (Within Primary Partition)

/dev/hda4 60MB Linux Swap (Within Primary Partition)

/dev/hda5 3GB Win 95 Fat32 D:\ in Windows

Logical 1st partition (Within Extended Partition)

/dev/hda6 2GB Linux Native Consists of /usr

Logical 2nd partition (Within Extended Partition)

 

/dev/hda5 is reserved for mp3s alone. The procedure below lets me mount that partition and whenever I start Linux, all the data on that partition is available to me.

 

Procedure :

 

 

 

1. Use Linuxconf for doing the following. You can start Linuxconf from the Gnome Programs Menu ->System Submenu or from the K Menu or by typing 'linuxconf' at the prompt (bash).

2. Select Filesystems from the left panel.

3. Then click on Access local drives in the left panel.

4. You would be shown the current local filesystems that are recognized by Linux. Click on Add button

5. After clicking Add you will be presented with a tabbed window. In the tab named Base (This name might

6. change in future Linux distributions) enter the partition name as /dev/hda5 (hda5 is the one that I want).

7. Enter the type as vfat (this makes long file names to be recognized under Linux)

8. Select mount point as /mnt/win (Click yes if it asks you to create a directory)

9. In the tab named Options, Deselect 'Not mount at boot time' .. so that every time your machine starts this filesystem is available.

10. Also Uncheck 'read only'.. if you want to write to that partition from within Linux

11. Finish the settings by clicking on Ok or Finish.

 

Now the new File System (Your Windows partition) would be available under the folder /mnt/win

 

Important : Avoid mounting the C:\ Drive of Windows (where you must have installed Windows OS) under Linux. Since if you use the superuser mode frequently, then you may accidentally delete a few important Windows files which you wont be able to recover. Windows may then not boot the next time you try. Hence always mount only the partitions other than your root Windows partition.

 

Note : Whatever changes you have made above would be seen in the file named /etc/fstab . The fstab file basically presents all the filesystems information in a tabular form . The new Windows partition that you just mounted would now be seen as a new row in this table. Also in future if you want to add a new partition you can edit this file directly instead of using linuxconf (for beginners, I suggest using linuxconf).

This article explains setting up of PCI Creative Ensonic 1371 soundcard . You can either make Linux detect the PCI soundcard using its default soundcard drivers OR use 3rd party drivers to make the whole job easy. I have used the 3rd party drivers called ALSA drivers which are very popular. This can be found at www.sourceforge.net

 

This article, unlike other articles is to the point, without a lot of explanation. Explaining each of the lines would simply make this article too long. And most of the guys just want to listen to their mp3s as fast as possible.. without a lot of theory ;-)

 

 

My Setup :

 

1. This explanation caters to only 1 sound card - PCI Ensonic Sound Card. For other sound cards you will have to refer to the ALSA documentation and find respective commands to be entered in the various configuration files

 

 

2. I have to start the mixer every time I start my machine for the card to get activated. The mixer by default is muted every time Linux starts. I have yet to figure a way around this. This happens only in GNome. If I use KDE as my Desktop Environment instead of GNome I have noted that the mixer is started by default so its no problem.

 

 

 

 

Procedure :

 

1. Unzip the ALSA Sound Drivers by typing

bzip2 -dc alsa-driver-0.5.10.tar.bz2 | tar xf -

 

 

2. This would create a new folder in the existing folder. From within the new folder type the following

./configure

make install

 

 

3. Once the above commands execute successfully, edit the /etc/conf.modules file.

You have to add the following

alias char-major-116 snd

options snd snd_major=116 snd_cards_limit=1

alias snd-card-0 snd-card-ens1371

options snd-card-ens1371 snd_index=0 snd_id="card1"

alias char-major-14 soundcore

alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0

alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss

 

 

4. Then type the following at the prompt (bash)

./snddevices

 

 

5. Finally run the following command

modprobe snd-card-ens1371

 

 

done.

I shall explain how to setup PPP on your Linux machine, so that you can connect to the Internet using an external modem and a Dialup connection. This article explains the setup for the superuser alone (Not normal users).

 

Note that if you have KDE installed and have installed Kppp along with that, then configuring Kppp and getting connected to the net is much simpler and better than following the procedure given below.

 

My Setup :

 

My external modem (56kbps) is connected to the Serial Port : ttyS1 (This is COM2 Port under Windows)

 

 

My ISP (Internet Service Provider) servers send me the following strings for logging in whenever I connect to their servers,

"Login" & "Password". These exact strings need to be known since they have to be entered in the scripts later on.

 

Other ISP's may send strings such as "User" and "Pass" or something else. Please note down the strings that you receive when you connect to your ISP. If needed contact your ISP's helpdesk.

 

 

Every ISP has generally 2 DNS entries. Actually one is enough but the other one is for backup. This differs for each ISP. For my ISP the DNS entries are '202.68.128.66' and '202.68.128.67'.

You have find out your ISP's DNS addresses. My service provider is named powersurfer.net (This exact name is also required to be entered in one configuration file).

 

Procedure :

 

Copy the 2 files ppp-on & ppp-off from the /usr/doc/ppp2.3.10/scripts (exact directory depends on the installation & distribution on your system) to the folder /usr/bin

You would have to execute these files whenever you want to connect and disconnect from the Internet once the setup is complete. Hence these scripts should have executable rights.

 

 

Edit the ppp-on script that you have just copied and make the following changes

Change the telephone no. , username and password to your username, password and your ISP telephone no.

 

 

Copy the file ppp-on-dialer file from the /usr/doc/ppp2.3.10/scripts to the folder /etc/ppp

Edit this file to make the following changes

- Change the connection strings to "ogin" and "assword" (These should be the strings that your ISP sends you when you connect to your ISP, excluding the first letters in both these strings)

- Change the timeout period (Start of dialing to establishing of final connection) to a sensible value depending on your experience. I have set it to 120 seconds which is substantially more than what is required.

- Add an extra line after the existing ATZ command. This is to mute the modem once the connection has been made. Else you will hear the signal transfer noises continuously as long as you are connected. (Atleast I heard the sound on mine)

 

OK ATM1 \

 

- Towards the end of the script make a change as follows.. enter your modem port and max speed in the parameters to the chat script. For me it is as follows

/dev/ttyS1 115200

 

 

Now edit the /etc/resolv.conf file to show the following

search powersurfer.net

nameserver 202.68.128.66

nameserver 202.68.128.67

These lines totally depend on your ISP, so please fill it accordingly.

 

 

Now the last step is to edit the /etc/ppp/options file and add the following lines. These settings are used whenever a net connection is established on your machine. If you want to know the meaning of each line you can refer to the PPP-How To documentation. There is a sample script with a description for each of these values. I have only selected those values that would be necessary for a normal dial up Internet connection. These should suffice for most dialup users.

 

-detach

/dev/ttyS1

lock

crtscts

defaultroute

asyncmap 0

mtu 1500

 

Note : This article explains the settings that should be enough for you to connect to the Internet, through the superuser account. For accessing the Internet from user accounts, a few more settings are required.

I'm a fairly quick poster, I've noticed "FLOOD" protection on me. :( Especially when I was copying my notes about some helpful things. Anyway, maybe check into that when you're free? :(

I think we should have a "Projects Page" for Linux and Windows. Maybe even one for Case Modes so we show off our geek ideas. o_O

Excerpt taken from Linux Magazine.

 

There are a lot of great dekstop environments and window managers for linux, but XFce gets my vote because it's fully-featured, yet lightweight and speedy. When XFce 4.0 was released, I couldn't wait to take it for a test drive.

 

XFce is light, easy to configure, and fairly attractive desktop. XFce 4.0 uses the Gtk2 theme engine, has a file manager with Samba browsing capabilities, supports anti-aliased fonts, and offers a number of other plug-ins that you might find useful. Best of all, it's rip-roaring fast, making it a great desktop for older machines that bog down under GNOME and KDE.

 

The XFce desktop envirionment runs on Linux, BSDs, and other Unix-type systems with Gtk2, and is available under the GNU General Public License.

 

Head over to [/url][url=http://www.xfce.org]http://www.xfce.org for source code and a number of packages for SUSE, Slackware, Debian, and other platforms.

 

 

I just thought this might be an interesting article to post. I've not heard of XFce before, and the other day I saw a screen shot, and now today I recieved my Linux Maxazine and I was amazed to hear that it's making the "Zonker's Product Picks". So I just wanted to share this with you. Enjoy.

 

Also, I'll be installing XFce soon.

When you conduct a print server migration, you must consider the best method for moving your users off the old print servers and onto the new servers. You can manually change each user's installed printers, although this task is time-consuming. Alternatively, you can use a third-party tool or logon scripting with Active Directory's (AD's) Group Policy to automatically install new printers.

 

Automatic methods typically involve giving users access to the new printers without limiting their access to the old printers, then guiding users in selecting their new default printers and deleting the old printer names. This type of scenario can be problematic because if users don't follow instructions correctly, they can experience dead printer connections after you decommission the old print servers. The VBScript code prevents these problems when you run it at logon.

 

To run the script, you need a list of your old and new print queue names in a comma-separated text file. I used C:\printers.txt for the file location, but you can also use a network share. You need to use the following format for the script to work:

 

\\oldserver\oldprinter,

\\newserver\newprinter

 

[VBScript code]

Logon Script to Automatically Install New Printers

On error resume next

 

' This code enumerates the user's current network printer connections.

Set WshNetwork = CreateObject("WScript.Network")

Set oPrinters = WshNetwork.EnumPrinterConnections

 

For j = 0 to oPrinters.Count - 1 Step 2

 

' This code opens a comma-delimited text file containing

' the corresponding old and new printers and assigns

' each line as an array variable.

Const ForReading = 1

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

Set objTextFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile ("C:\printers.txt", ForReading)

 

Do Until objTextFile.AtEndOfStream

strNextLine = objTextFile.Readline

arrPrinterList = Split(strNextLine , ",")

' This section retrieves the registry value corresponding to the

' default printer and assigns the registry value as a string variable.

const HKEY_CURRENT_USER = &H80000001

strComputer = "."

Set oReg=GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" _

& strComputer & "\root\default:StdRegProv")

strKeyPath = "Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows"

strValueName = "Device"

oReg.GetStringValue HKEY_CURRENT_USER,strKeyPath,strValueName,strValue

wscript.echo(strValue)

' This code takes both variables defined above and introduces conditional logic.

 

For i = 1 to Ubound(arrPrinterList)

If strValue =(arrPrinterList(0)) then

Wscript.Echo "Your default printer will be changed to: " & arrPrinterList(i)

WshNetwork.AddWindowsPrinterConnection arrPrinterList(i)

WshNetwork.SetDefaultPrinter arrPrinterList(i)

WshNetwork.RemovePrinterConnection arrPrinterList(0)

Else

If oPrinters.Item(j+1)=arrPrinterList(0) then

WshNetwork.RemovePrinterConnection arrPrinterList(0)

WshNetwork.AddWindowsPrinterConnection arrPrinterList(i)

End If

End If

 

wscript.sleep 15000

Next

 

Loop

Next

wscript.echo "<Insert optional notification here.>"

How, for the love of me, do you get that stupid NFS working properly?

 

1. I cannot install from CD-rom with bootdisk. (Cdrom doesn't support CDR'S)

2. I cannot install over the internet. (Locks up halfway through the install)

3. I cannot figure out NFS. (Starts to install then can't find the files)

 

 

Wooooo whooooo