Linux 101: file structure/hierarchy
File structure is the basic things people get confuse when start using Linux. Most people nowadays are likely to stick with Windows’ idea, e.g.C:\Windows\ or C:\Program files\ or C:\Users\xxxx. That’s pretty easy to understand. *nix file structure was confusing at first, but it’s not that hard to understand. In order to learn using it, then you have to know where things are first.
In *nix system, everything is a file. Whatever they are, they are represented in file format. There is no extension to distinguish any type of file, but utility called file can identify it. directory is also one kind of file. Process is also represented in file. We’ll talk about ‘file’ in detail later. Ok, I got to start with what each of directory in *nix is for.
/ Every tree needs root, file structure is also the same. /boot This is for boot loader files, e.g. GRUB, KERNEL, SYSTEM.MAP, VMLINUZ, INITRD, … /bin bin == binary; it contains commands stuff and /bin is for essential ones only. /etc This is for any system configuration; if you ever need to adjust things, this is likely to be the place to go. /sbin it doesn’t differ to /bin that much, but it contains system utilities that don’t need that much speed. /home This is the same as c:\users in Windows’ sense. Just contain any thing of each user in /home/<usr> commonly. /usr This is not where users store file, but it has hierarchy like / too. /usr/bin, /usr/lib, /usr/local/share, /usr/share, for example. What difference between /usr/bin and /bin is /bin usually contains kernel command while /usr/bin contains user commands that are not related to kernel/OS At first, /bin was designed to use in different disk (faster one) and the rest will be in /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin. /usr/binvs /usr/local/bin The difference is /usr/bin stored user commands while /usr/local/bin stored local software /opt That’s for application software, such as Thunderbird and such. /root This is home for root =) /tmp tmp == temporary; it uses as its name. /var var == variable. It uses to store configuration, logging and application information /mnt mnt == mount point; some distros use this, some don’t, some even use /Windows or /media instead of this
note: basically each of these will be in different partition/disk as well, so there is another factor involved, speed. That’s why it has commands in all over the place. Some utilities are just more important than others.
Above matrix should cover basic filesystem structure. As usual, different distribution might have a bit of different point of view, but they all share the same idea =) After knowing each of these files are for, then you will know where to expect particular files or things you need. Have fun with *nix experience.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Well, fonts are the weakest link in Linux in my opinion. Sharpness, crispness, or smoothness are just not right. That’s most likely to be the reason why Linux never gains that much user like Windows or even Mac in desktop environment.
Besides using package manager which is truly find and click, when you are going to add fonts in Linux by yourself, you should put in fontpath. They are in /usr/share/fonts or /usr/local/share/fonts or ~/.fonts/ then what you have to do is copying.
$ cp *.ttf ~/.fonts/
At this point, it will not notice the change yet. New fonts will not be visible. You have to run command, to update and rebuild its of fonts first.
$ fc-cache
That would be it. However, if you decide to put fonts in somewhere else, you have to edit ‘fonts.conf’ to add font directory in the list as well.
$ vi /etc/fonts/fonts.conf
Where <!— font directory list –> is by adding
<dir>/opt/fonts/xxxx</dir>
Then rebuild the list and restart x (easiest way is Ctrl + Alt + Backspace). At this point, all fonts will be available to use =) Anyway, I still don’t think font smoothing or crispness in Linux is good enough so far. If that day comes, I bet Linux will outpace Mac and Windows in desktop environment surely.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Linux 101: grub recovery
When you messed with many OSs, boot strap loader might point to somewhere you don’t want it to be. grub considering the best – easiest? – to deal with many OSs and of course, it’s easy to tweak or adjust as well.
Firstly get into any sort of shell. There are basically 2 parts needed to be done: set active partition and set MBR back to point at grub again. The first part is fdisk, there is ‘m’ for help. All you have to do is set the partition where grub is to active. Others are not.
The second part: set MBR point back to grub. That’s easy via grub command shell
The easiest way to find partition referenced by grub is to find it
find /boot/grub/menu.lst
Then you have to set toot and setup the hard drive. Then you are all set. For grub menu, Linux needs
Title XXX
root (hd0,0)
kernal /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/…bla bla bla
initrd /boot/initrd
For Windows, you just need to link to Windows boot loader again.
Title Windows XX
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader (hd0,1)+1 # this is Windows partition.
That’s all you have to do. pretty easy, right?
Popularity: 2% [?]
How to configure ftpd — proftpd
I’m planing to write Unix 101 — beginner for beginner. Since I started getting into shell much more than GUI, I liked how simple Unix is. However, I’m no pro as Unix user; Thus, I probably have an idea what Unix 101 should be like much more than reading through Unix manual indeed.
By the way, after trying Windows Server 2008 standard for a month or so, I found that there were too many hassles involved. It was good to have GUI or wizard to walk through but sometimes it just gave us more confuse. Believe it or not, I can’t even get FTP server on IIS work properly Although the alternative, like FileZilla server, works flawlessly, it’s just not right using 3rd party while using server edition and that’s already equipped with FTP server. It’s just like using Apache HTTPd on Windows server; why just use IIS or just change to Linux box for good =)
So I choose to have less complicated way–Ubuntu. Well, the reason why I choose Ubuntu is nothing but easiest. In Ubuntu server 8.10, there is no ftpd by default for whatever reason. So adding one of them is a must. Because There are many many choices, I don’t know what is good too. I just choose proftpd and I find that’s easy to configure. That’s simple.
Firstly, install it! — remember this is Ubuntu–it’s debian. Your distro might use something else, but that differs when installing only.
$ sudo apt-get install proftpd
Done with ftpd installation. That’s easy, isn’t it? Then we have to do configuration, briefly we have to:-
- manage user
- edit proftpd.conf
- start/restart proftpd
For managing user, you might use the same account in OS, so that you don’t have to do a thing in this step, but if you want to use isolated user for extra security (?!?), go for it.
useradd [ -u uid ][ -g gid ][ -G gid [,gid,.. ]][ -d dir ][ -m ][ -s shell ][ -c comment ] loginname
You could just have only parameter you want, then the rest would be default value
$ sudo useradd -d /home/ftp ftpuser
$ sudo passwd ftpuser //for creating password for ftpuser
For configuring our ftpd, here is the most important part–editing /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf. In my case, I have login thru ssh, so no GUI no gedit no mousepad, nano is my first choice of text-editor here. You guys might us different one as you like.
$ sudo nano /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf
what you need to configure basicly are the following:-
ServerName "10nas" ServerType standalone # Set the user & group server # normally runs at. User nobody Group nogroup # Set default root as a NAS DefaultRoot /mnt/nas # This is for keeping FTP user # inside DefaultRoot only! DefaultRoot ~ # Valid Logins <Limit LOGIN> AllowUser x1 AllowUser x2 AllowUser x3 AllowUser x4 DenyALL </Limit> MaxLoginAttempts 3 # well, <Directory> /mnt/nas> looks weird, # but it's not a typo! <Directory> /mnt/nas/> # This is basic security for initial # file permission Umask 022 022 AllowOverwrite on <Limit ALL> Order Allow,Deny AllowUser x1 AllowUser x2 AllowUser x3 AllowUser x4 Deny ALL </Limit> </Directory>Commands to start/stop/restart the service is similar to any service
$ sudo /etc/init.d/proftpd start
$ sudo /etc/init.d/proftpd stop
$ sudo /etc/init.d/proftpd restart
Well, this should be enough for setting up basic FTP server securely. =)
Popularity: 6% [?]
How to install Thai input in Eee PC
I don’t know if this is useful, but I found many sites mentioned that Eee (Xandros) is not capable of handling Thai–only for input, I guess. So this could help somebody who passes by and is finding how to add Thai as an input language.
Originally, Eee PC comes with English and Chinese, of course. Thus, it needs something to switch between those languages already. Luckily it is SCIM - Smart Commom Input Method Platform. If you are familiar with another linux distro and using other language besides English, you will know it well. This is all you have to know in order to add Thai or any language as a keyboard input.
source: screenshot of openSUSE 10.3
Basically, SCIM has 2 parts which are core programs and tables (.bin & .png) for any languages. Usually, when you install SCIM, it will bundle tons of table for you to choose, but unfortunately Eee does have only English and Chinese. So, what you have to do is copying the table for the language you need into SCIM directory. That’s it!
I upload all non-CJK tables for SCIM in Sky Drive here, it’s only 110kB, so you may add all that or just choose what you want.
After you got the file, you have to extract and put them in
/usr/share/scim/
or if you want to add only Thai language, you have to copy Thai.png in icons folder to /usr/share/scim/icons and Thai.bin in tables folder to /usr/share/scim/tables. (you have to gain root privilege in order to do so)
Then you have to set for a hotkey for switch the language a bit. You might not use grave accent though since grave button is not on the right place as usual keyboard. I found that Ctrl+space is very comfortable way to switch, but it’s just my way.
Step-by-Step: how to add thai for eee pc:
1. download SCIM table from my Sky Drive here
2. Extract to where you want, assume /home/user
3. get into Terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T)
4. gain root privilege
sudo -i
5. copy 2 files needed for a lauguage you want
cp /home/user/scim/icons/Thai.png /usr/share/scim/icons/
cp /home/user/scim/Tables/Thai.bin /usr/share/scim/tables/
6. right-click on SCIM and set for a hotkey
7. you are now able to type Thai on Eee PC, congratulation!
#—–added on 2007-12-25—- การลงภาษาไทยใน eee pc ——–#
Additional part for you guys who prefer Pattachote keyboard layout (ปัตตะโชติ บน eee pc) pattachote on Eee; ปัตตโชติ บน eee
First of all, you don’t have to follow the step above. You have to do something a bit different which is adding scim-thai repository.
1. Get into terminal by ctrl+alt+t
2. add repository that has scim-thai (one I know is from linux.thai.net)
sudo kwrite /etc/apt/sources.list
add the following line into the file, then save and exit.
deb http://linux.thai.net/apt ./
3. update the repositories and install scim-thai in terminal
sudo apt-get update
You may have to try several times until you haven’t seen an error. Then:-
sudo apt-get install scim-thai
4. once you finished installation; restart once–I don’t think it needs to but scim sometimes confuses about adding new stuffs.
5. After you get back; setting in SCIM then you all set!
Happy New Year! I hope you find some fun with your Eee PC!
Popularity: 12% [?]
how to config Samba server and user
First, I was switching from all time Windows user to Linux user, more specifically Ubuntu–first Linux that I can use regularly. I was wondering if I can share files over the network with Windows as well. I know that there is Samba service out there but I don’t know how to configure it properly. I messed things up as usual; all I knew to make it work is editing /etc/samba/smb.conf as security=share. Then I could get in there easily but no protection at all. Now I know, so I think it might be a good idea to explain in my ways instead of reading any-distro-docs which sometimes is too complex for novice users.
First of all, you have to install Samba server. I won’t go through this process because if you don’t know about this, you have to find out and get used to Linux first. My recommendation is trying with Debian, such as Ubuntu. It’s really easy to understand.
Second, we have to configure the smb.conf file. This time you have to be as “root” to make a share folder. You have 2 choices here, GUI or editing the file. I found that GUI is easy to understand but I can’t get it work for some reasons, thus I choose the traditional way
After we already created share folders, we have to create a user for Samba too. This the point I misunderstood for a while; I thought that Samba will use the user from the system; however, it’s not and system and Samba user are not the same as well.
These 3 steps are all you have to do to make it work perfectly. I brief all the processes first so you can imagine what we are doing in each step.
for editing Samba configuration file (smb.conf) you have to get in there
sudo gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf
once you get in there you will find a lot of comments and samples; you may go through the file for more understanding of each. However, we will pay attention to how to set share folder.
[share-name]
path = /media/hdax/xxx/
comment = whatever you want
available = yes
browsable = yes
public = yes
writable = yes/no
This is what you have to insert at the end of the file. After you put the proper value, you will be able to see this share from another Windows PCs. However, you can’t browse the file right now because of login window. Whatever user and password you fill are not working Don’t be surprise, that’s normal. You still have to know 2 more values which are
valid user = user-name
guest ok = yes/no
the first one, valid user, is which user you give permission to read and/or write. Another one, guest ok, is to enable guest user which is read-only user.
After this step, if you enable guest user, you will be able to see the share folder without any problem. If not, you still have to go on setting user.
For creating user, you will run the smbpasswd utility to create user and password
sudo smbpasswd -a user-name
Then you have to add that user to smbusers file
sudo gedit /etc/samba/smbusers
What you have to put in there is this form
system-user-name = “smb-user-name”
As you see, you may use Samba username (is what you add in smbpasswd) that differs from your username in the system depending on choice of preference.
All these methods above, you will be able to make many share folders with many conditions as you wish
Note: If you just want to share all share folders without any restricts, you may change the line security = user in smb.conf to security = share and that’s all set.
Popularity: 9% [?]
