devnet, Author at Yet Another Linux Blog

350 MHz XFCE Desktop Search Continues

I realized last night that I wasn’t going to get a day where I could just hammer out all of the distros I wanted to check out with my old PII 350 MHz. So, I figured I’d give STX Linux 1.0 a try. This distro comes heavily recommended for old PCs as we can see from the Stx website: “STX Linux is a desktop Linux distribution especially targeted to older hardware.” Minimum hardware requirements are well below those that my current setup contains. I come in at an average STX system. So I downloaded the distro, burned to CD and we’re off to the races!

Pics of the 350MHz:

STX 1.0

I started off pretty stoked because It is my understanding that STX is built on the solid base of Slackware Linux which happens to be my favorite distro. Boot up went relatively fast on the old PC. I was very impressed with the boot time. Everything was going fine with the install up until the software began to install. The install froze. I figured this wasn’t a good thing (duh!) so I rebooted and repartitioned the hard disk. I then made sure to format with cfdisk (along with some bad block checking). Another bootup and I’m back to installing again.

Continue reading “350 MHz XFCE Desktop Search Continues”

I can’t get MySQL to work!!! Something about mysql.sock…

So you’ve got problems getting MySQL to start? You’re not alone. There are a couple of things you can do to get things rolling. Linux comes with a database that tells it how to add MySQL users and MySQL tables. However, MySQL is not started by default…and if it is, it requires that default table to be created before it can run without incident. Here are the commands you can issue to get things going:

cd /usr/bin

su mysql

mysql_install_db

Lastly, issue the command:

mysqld_safe &

What you’ve just done is logged into you Linux box as user mysql, then installed the default database…and then with the mysqld_safe & command you initiated the mysql daemon to run in the background. So, things should be good to go now. MySQL is running and you’ll be able to press on with things by adding users and databases.

A bit more info for you…creating databases and users can get tedious via the linux prompt. You can use phpmyadmin or webmin to automate this process and save yourself time and effort.

Slackware 10.2 Tips and Tricks

Want to Install the 2.6.13 Kernel is Slack but don’t know how? Ask and ye shall receive!

First, mount the CDROM…in my case, it is /dev/hdb

mount -t auto /dev/hdb /mnt/cdrom

mount -t auto /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

Next, let’s install that Kernel! Insert Slackware Disc 2…then issue the commands below.

installpkg /mnt/cdrom/linux-2.6.13/kernel-source-2.6.13-noarch-1.tgz

installpkg /mnt/cdrom/linux-2.6.13/kernel-modules-2.6.13-i486-1.tgz

installpkg /mnt/cdrom/linux-2.6.13/kernel-headers-2.6.13-i386-1.tgz

installpkg /mnt/cdrom/linux-2.6.13/kernel-generic-2.6.13-i486-1.tgz

installpkg /mnt/cdrom/linux-2.6.13/alsa-driver-1.0.9b_2.6.13-i486.1.tgz

Continue reading “Slackware 10.2 Tips and Tricks”

KDE Shortcut Keys

Most people know shortcuts in Windows but neglect to find out shortcuts in KDE when they make the switch to Linux. So, if you have a shortcut in KDE that isn’t covered here…please comment it so that others can benefit from your knowledge! PS: Some of these might not work with your version of KDE…just test them out and see if they do!

Alt-F2
Brings up a “Run Command” prompt

Alt-Print and Cntrl-Print
Take a screenshot. You have to paste it from your clipboard

Alt-Esc or Control-Esc
Shows the KDE session manager, from which you can switch to a specific application or log out of KDE.

Ctrl-F[1..8]
Switch to a specific desktop.

Alt-Tab or Alt-Shift-Tab
Cycle through your windows.

Ctrl-Tab or Ctrl-Shift-Tab
Cycle through your desktops.

Alt-F4
Close the current active window.

Ctrl-Alt-Esc
Window destroyer (every window you click on will be destroyed).

Alt-F3
For your Window Menu

Ctrl-Alt-Backspace
This exits KDE but doesn’t save your settings or work.

Ctrl-Alt-Numpad +
Cycles to the next screen resolution available.

Ctrl-Alt-Numpad –
Cycles to the previous screen resolution available.

Hope these help you out…please post any you might have that are helpful and I’ll add them to the list with credits. Thanks again for reading.

The 10 Minute Linux Firewall

If you’re like me…you still have to run some form of Windows for daily operations at your house or office. While most of the time there are helpful hardware additions at work such as a firewall/avtivirus…at home, you’ll find a more simple router/firewall and antivirus solution that doesn’t protect as well. While this is better than nothing, it also doesn’t have the power that a Linux firewall does…nor does it have the ability to patch itself when a vulnerability is discovered.

Did you know that most router/firewalls that you can buy at the store come with a set of default passwords that work on ALL MODELS? Yours could be open to hacking right now. To lock down your network, you can take an old computer, install Linux, and use it as a firewall with your own custom rules and regulations…plus it’s great to show off to the ladies Wink 😉 lol.

I wrote a tutorial on how to do this at http://daniweb.com. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in (very easy to follow directions) then check out this link: http://daniweb.com/tutorials/tutorial14094.html.

Or continue reading the article in full below…

The 10 Minute Linux Firewall

At the forefront of almost every single System Administrators mind is security. Redmond has been catching a lot of flack lately about not being as secure as they could be. As some of you have noticed, there has been a market swing in the use of Mozilla and Firefox as webbrowsers, creating a small nick into the 90% marketshare that Redmond owns with IE. Some IT Specialists are also seeing the same swing in the Server market.

So what does this have to do with Firewalls? Well, just like switching webrowsers or servers away from M$, a Linux firewall means added security AND possibly even increased browsing speed. Today, I’ll discuss the easiest way to get up and running with the 5 minute Linux firewall.

First things first. I’m not going to go into detail on many distros…I’m going with one that I know work…and that I know work FAST…and that would be something a ‘Windows’ person could install and configure in a matter of minutes. In my mind, the easiest distro is Smoothwall.

Continue reading “The 10 Minute Linux Firewall”

More 350 MHz Mayhem

Based on some recommendations from those commenting to my previous entry…I will attempt a few more distros on my old PII 350 MHz PC…using the XFCE Desktop of course. I’ll attempt to get the latest and greatest XFCE up and running.

Those that I’ve received feedback on are:

STX Linux
DSL – Damn Small Linux
Puppy Linux
Kanotix
Zenwalk
Debian Unstable (for XFCE cutting edge)
Wolvix
PCLinuxOS – Second attempt after remaster (because it is my favorite 🙂 )

So, I’ll give those a go during the next week or two and we’ll see how they stack up. I’m looking forward to STX since it is slackware based and has many features (thanks for pointing it out srlinuxx!!). Check it out in a review at Tuxmachines.org.

I’m also looking forward to Kanotix because I’ve heard good things about this distro. We’ll see where everything stacks up in a few weeks. Stay tuned. And if anyone has any more suggestions for distros to try, let me know…I’m all for trying out even more…I normally am testing something out and testing Linux on a PII 350 is challenging and fun.

Keep in mind that I’ll be attempting to get XFCE (my choice of minimalistic desktop…if I can’t have XFCE, the distro isn’t worth it for me) on each distro. If anyone would like to assist me with the distros listed above with pointers for XFCE, drop a line in the forum on this thread. Thanks for your help!