LQWiki - User contributions [en]

Pam ldap

2008-05-21T17:33:20Z

Yath: /* Configure PAM's ssh module */

'''pam_ldap''' is a [[PAM]] module for interfacing with [[LDAP]] servers.

== Setup for SSH access ==

This is a guide to a simple pam_ldap setup. It can be used to allow SSH logins to a Linux system by authenticating with an LDAP server. It is for SSH access only.

Some commands are included. They tend to be Debian/Ubuntu-specific. Due to the nature of this task, they should always be performed with root privileges. This is indicated by the use of the '#' prompt, e.g.:

# apt-get install foobar

You can use sudo for each command if you wish.

Other text, such as text to be changed by editing configuration files, is displayed without the '#' prompt, like this:

passwd: files ldap

=== Things not covered in this guide ===

* Setup and configuration of the LDAP server. However, note that each user who will log in must have a POSIX account configured in his or her LDAP record.
* LDAP client configuration in /etc/ldap.conf. The settings in this file vary widely. It must be configured correctly before pam_ldap can be used.

=== Files to modify ===

The following files may be changed (other than software installation):

* /etc/ldap.conf
* /etc/ldap.secret
* /etc/ssh/sshd_config
* /etc/pam.d/ssh
* /etc/pam.d/common-session
* /etc/pam.d/common-password
* /etc/nsswitch.conf

=== Configure LDAP client access ===

As stated above, this is not covered in this guide. However, it must be accomplished first. So do it now.

Some files that may be modified in this step are:

* /etc/ldap.conf
* /etc/ldap.secret

=== Configure Name Service Switch ===

Edit /etc/nsswitch.conf and change the lines beginning with "passwd" and "group":

passwd: files ldap
group: files ldap

If you installed nscd previously, you should restart it after making this change:

# /etc/init.d/nscd restart

=== Install software ===

pam_ldap is required.

nscd, the name service caching daemon, is optional but highly recommended. If you do not install nscd, the LDAP server will be queried every time a UID or GID is to be mapped to a username or group name - for example, when doing "ls -l".

For Debian/Ubuntu:

# apt-get install libpam-ldap nscd

You will be asked for LDAP configuration information. It does not matter what you answer, because you are about to overwrite the configuration file entirely.

=== Configure sshd ===

For this configuration, you must allow password logins. Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config and ensure that PasswordAuthentication is either commented out or set to "yes".

This:

#PasswordAuthentication no

or this:

PasswordAuthentication yes

Then restart sshd:

# /etc/init.d/ssh restart

=== Configure PAM's sshd module ===

Edit /etc/pam.d/sshd and insert the following lines BEFORE any other configuration lines:

# PAM configuration for the Secure Shell service

auth sufficient pam_ldap.so
account sufficient pam_permit.so

=== Configure PAM's common-session ===

Edit /etc/pam.d/common-session and have it make a home directory automatically when people first log in. Add this line to the file. The location of this line isn't important.

session required pam_mkhomedir.so skel=/etc/skel umask=0022

=== Configure PAM's common-password ===

This step depends on whether you have the right to change LDAP records from the system you're configuring.

If you do NOT have that right, you should inform users that they cannot change the password from this system. You might want to give them a hint as to what they should do. In /etc/pam.d/common-password, comment out all other lines and add the following:

password optional pam_echo.so Please visit <nowiki>https://identity-manager.subdomain.dom/</nowiki> to change your password.
password required pam_deny.so

If you DO have that right, you would put something like this (this is not tested):

account sufficient pam_ldap.so
password sufficient pam_ldap.so use_authtok

== Troubleshooting ==

=== Invalid user/Invalid credentials ===

If you cannot log in, and in the server's <tt>/var/log/auth.log</tt> you see:

Feb 12 21:25:22 localhost sshd[32179]: Invalid user ''username'' from ''ip-address''
Feb 12 21:25:22 localhost sshd[32179]: Failed none for invalid user ''username'' from ''ip-address'' port 48383 ssh2
[...]
Feb 12 21:25:22 localhost sshd[32179]: pam_ldap: error trying to bind as user "uid=XXXXXX,ou=People,dc=YYYYYY,dc=ZZZ" (Invalid credentials)

The key element of the above log entries is "'''invalid user'''". This means that the name service could not identify the user. As a result, <tt>sshd</tt> will refuse to provide the actual password to the LDAP PAM module. But even if it did, you still wouldn't be able to log in.

The solution is as follows:

# Set up <tt>/etc/nsswitch.conf</tt> as described above.
# If you are using nscd, restart it:

# /etc/init.d/nscd restart

Pam ldap

2008-05-21T17:33:00Z

Yath: /* Install software */

'''pam_ldap''' is a [[PAM]] module for interfacing with [[LDAP]] servers.

== Setup for SSH access ==

This is a guide to a simple pam_ldap setup. It can be used to allow SSH logins to a Linux system by authenticating with an LDAP server. It is for SSH access only.

Some commands are included. They tend to be Debian/Ubuntu-specific. Due to the nature of this task, they should always be performed with root privileges. This is indicated by the use of the '#' prompt, e.g.:

# apt-get install foobar

You can use sudo for each command if you wish.

Other text, such as text to be changed by editing configuration files, is displayed without the '#' prompt, like this:

passwd: files ldap

=== Things not covered in this guide ===

* Setup and configuration of the LDAP server. However, note that each user who will log in must have a POSIX account configured in his or her LDAP record.
* LDAP client configuration in /etc/ldap.conf. The settings in this file vary widely. It must be configured correctly before pam_ldap can be used.

=== Files to modify ===

The following files may be changed (other than software installation):

* /etc/ldap.conf
* /etc/ldap.secret
* /etc/ssh/sshd_config
* /etc/pam.d/ssh
* /etc/pam.d/common-session
* /etc/pam.d/common-password
* /etc/nsswitch.conf

=== Configure LDAP client access ===

As stated above, this is not covered in this guide. However, it must be accomplished first. So do it now.

Some files that may be modified in this step are:

* /etc/ldap.conf
* /etc/ldap.secret

=== Configure Name Service Switch ===

Edit /etc/nsswitch.conf and change the lines beginning with "passwd" and "group":

passwd: files ldap
group: files ldap

If you installed nscd previously, you should restart it after making this change:

# /etc/init.d/nscd restart

=== Install software ===

pam_ldap is required.

nscd, the name service caching daemon, is optional but highly recommended. If you do not install nscd, the LDAP server will be queried every time a UID or GID is to be mapped to a username or group name - for example, when doing "ls -l".

For Debian/Ubuntu:

# apt-get install libpam-ldap nscd

You will be asked for LDAP configuration information. It does not matter what you answer, because you are about to overwrite the configuration file entirely.

=== Configure sshd ===

For this configuration, you must allow password logins. Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config and ensure that PasswordAuthentication is either commented out or set to "yes".

This:

#PasswordAuthentication no

or this:

PasswordAuthentication yes

Then restart sshd:

# /etc/init.d/ssh restart

=== Configure PAM's ssh module ===

Edit /etc/pam.d/ssh and insert the following lines BEFORE any other configuration lines:

# PAM configuration for the Secure Shell service

auth sufficient pam_ldap.so
account sufficient pam_permit.so

=== Configure PAM's common-session ===

Edit /etc/pam.d/common-session and have it make a home directory automatically when people first log in. Add this line to the file. The location of this line isn't important.

session required pam_mkhomedir.so skel=/etc/skel umask=0022

=== Configure PAM's common-password ===

This step depends on whether you have the right to change LDAP records from the system you're configuring.

If you do NOT have that right, you should inform users that they cannot change the password from this system. You might want to give them a hint as to what they should do. In /etc/pam.d/common-password, comment out all other lines and add the following:

password optional pam_echo.so Please visit <nowiki>https://identity-manager.subdomain.dom/</nowiki> to change your password.
password required pam_deny.so

If you DO have that right, you would put something like this (this is not tested):

account sufficient pam_ldap.so
password sufficient pam_ldap.so use_authtok

== Troubleshooting ==

=== Invalid user/Invalid credentials ===

If you cannot log in, and in the server's <tt>/var/log/auth.log</tt> you see:

Feb 12 21:25:22 localhost sshd[32179]: Invalid user ''username'' from ''ip-address''
Feb 12 21:25:22 localhost sshd[32179]: Failed none for invalid user ''username'' from ''ip-address'' port 48383 ssh2
[...]
Feb 12 21:25:22 localhost sshd[32179]: pam_ldap: error trying to bind as user "uid=XXXXXX,ou=People,dc=YYYYYY,dc=ZZZ" (Invalid credentials)

The key element of the above log entries is "'''invalid user'''". This means that the name service could not identify the user. As a result, <tt>sshd</tt> will refuse to provide the actual password to the LDAP PAM module. But even if it did, you still wouldn't be able to log in.

The solution is as follows:

# Set up <tt>/etc/nsswitch.conf</tt> as described above.
# If you are using nscd, restart it:

# /etc/init.d/nscd restart

Pam ldap

2008-02-14T18:41:17Z

Yath: ssh + ldap access guide

'''pam_ldap''' is a [[PAM]] module for interfacing with [[LDAP]] servers.

== Setup for SSH access ==

This is a guide to a simple pam_ldap setup. It can be used to allow SSH logins to a Linux system by authenticating with an LDAP server. It is for SSH access only.

Some commands are included. They tend to be Debian/Ubuntu-specific. Due to the nature of this task, they should always be performed with root privileges. This is indicated by the use of the '#' prompt, e.g.:

# apt-get install foobar

You can use sudo for each command if you wish.

Other text, such as text to be changed by editing configuration files, is displayed without the '#' prompt, like this:

passwd: files ldap

=== Things not covered in this guide ===

* Setup and configuration of the LDAP server. However, note that each user who will log in must have a POSIX account configured in his or her LDAP record.
* LDAP client configuration in /etc/ldap.conf. The settings in this file vary widely. It must be configured correctly before pam_ldap can be used.

=== Files to modify ===

The following files may be changed (other than software installation):

* /etc/ldap.conf
* /etc/ldap.secret
* /etc/ssh/sshd_config
* /etc/pam.d/ssh
* /etc/pam.d/common-session
* /etc/pam.d/common-password
* /etc/nsswitch.conf

=== Configure LDAP client access ===

As stated above, this is not covered in this guide. However, it must be accomplished first. So do it now.

Some files that may be modified in this step are:

* /etc/ldap.conf
* /etc/ldap.secret

=== Configure Name Service Switch ===

Edit /etc/nsswitch.conf and change the lines beginning with "passwd" and "group":

passwd: files ldap
group: files ldap

If you installed nscd previously, you should restart it after making this change:

# /etc/init.d/nscd restart

=== Install software ===

pam_ldap is required.

nscd, the name service caching daemon, is optional but highly recommended. If you do not install nscd, the LDAP server will be queried every time a UID or GID is to be mapped to a username or group name - for example, when doing "ls -l".

For Debian/Ubuntu:

# apt-get install libpam-ldap nscd

=== Configure sshd ===

For this configuration, you must allow password logins. Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config and ensure that PasswordAuthentication is either commented out or set to "yes".

This:

#PasswordAuthentication no

or this:

PasswordAuthentication yes

Then restart sshd:

# /etc/init.d/ssh restart

=== Configure PAM's ssh module ===

Edit /etc/pam.d/ssh and insert the following lines BEFORE any other configuration lines:

# PAM configuration for the Secure Shell service

auth sufficient pam_ldap.so
account sufficient pam_permit.so

=== Configure PAM's common-session ===

Edit /etc/pam.d/common-session and have it make a home directory automatically when people first log in. Add this line to the file. The location of this line isn't important.

session required pam_mkhomedir.so skel=/etc/skel umask=0022

=== Configure PAM's common-password ===

This step depends on whether you have the right to change LDAP records from the system you're configuring.

If you do NOT have that right, you should inform users that they cannot change the password from this system. You might want to give them a hint as to what they should do. In /etc/pam.d/common-password, comment out all other lines and add the following:

password optional pam_echo.so Please visit <nowiki>https://identity-manager.subdomain.dom/</nowiki> to change your password.
password required pam_deny.so

If you DO have that right, you would put something like this (this is not tested):

account sufficient pam_ldap.so
password sufficient pam_ldap.so use_authtok

== Troubleshooting ==

=== Invalid user/Invalid credentials ===

If you cannot log in, and in the server's <tt>/var/log/auth.log</tt> you see:

Feb 12 21:25:22 localhost sshd[32179]: Invalid user ''username'' from ''ip-address''
Feb 12 21:25:22 localhost sshd[32179]: Failed none for invalid user ''username'' from ''ip-address'' port 48383 ssh2
[...]
Feb 12 21:25:22 localhost sshd[32179]: pam_ldap: error trying to bind as user "uid=XXXXXX,ou=People,dc=YYYYYY,dc=ZZZ" (Invalid credentials)

The key element of the above log entries is "'''invalid user'''". This means that the name service could not identify the user. As a result, <tt>sshd</tt> will refuse to provide the actual password to the LDAP PAM module. But even if it did, you still wouldn't be able to log in.

The solution is as follows:

# Set up <tt>/etc/nsswitch.conf</tt> as described above.
# If you are using nscd, restart it:

# /etc/init.d/nscd restart

PAM

2008-02-14T17:48:42Z

Yath: /* Other modules */

'''PAM''' ('''P'''luggable '''A'''uthentication '''M'''odules)

PAM is a system for configuring authentication (login) on Linux systems as well as several others.

It includes many modules to configure the system to authenticate against various databases, including the [[/etc/passwd|passwd]] file, kerberos, and many others.

==Sections==
PAM authentication consists of four basic parts:

===Authentication (''auth'')===

This examines whether the user's password is correct.

===Account (''account'')===

This examines whether the user's account is valid, including expiration and time restrictions

===Password changing (''password'')===
This controls how users change their passwords.

===Session (''session'')===

This does setup for a user session, such as announcing last login, checking if any mail is available, and/or creating a home directory.

Any particular service may check all of these parts or just a subset (or none at all, but that's out side the scope of this document)

==Example==
Here is an attempt to set up PAM to use every module possible, in the "best" (hah!) way. Successful authentication by any method should allow login. Example is based on Debian/Ubuntu, but should be applicable to any distribution

===/etc/pam.d/login:===
#display the file /etc/issue before login
auth required pam_issue.so
# only allow root login from ttys listed in /etc/securetty
auth requisite pam_securetty.so
# only allow root login if /etc/nologin exists
auth requisite pam_nologin.so
# include other auth methods common to all services
@include common-auth
# grant additional group access beyond /etc/group
auth optional pam_group.so

# only allow logins during time configured in /etc/security/time.conf
account requisite pam_time.so
# only allow logins to certain users from certain hosts or ttys
account required pam_access.so
# include other account methods common to all services
@include common-account

# set limits on system resource usage (memory, files, CPU time)
session required pam_limits.so
# display the last login time
session optional pam_lastlog.so
# display the message of the day (/etc/motd
session optional pam_motd.so
# display a message if mail is waiting
session optional pam_mail.so standard
# set the selinux security context
session required pam_selinux.so multiple
# include other session methods common to all services
@include common-session

# include password-change methods common to all services
@include common-password

===/etc/pam.d/common-account===
account sufficient pam_krb5.so
account required pam_unix.so

===/etc/pam.d/common-auth===
# lock non-root users out for a time if they fail to log in 10 times. Lock them out for 30 seconds. Might be a potential DoS vector, especially if you use it with a remotely-accessible service.
auth required pam_tally.so deny=10 unlock_time=30 lock_time=30
# try to authenticate against kerberos. If that fails, skip openafs because it requires a kerberos ticket to work. try_first_pass is not really necessary.
auth [success=ok new_authtok_reqd=ok ignore=ignore default=1] pam_krb5.so try_first_pass
# try to get openafs token. Even if we can't get it, if we got here we're done because krb5 must have worked.
auth [default=done] pam_openafs_session.so
# Try to use the OpenPGP smartcard. Too bad it doesn't allow try_first_pass.
auth sufficient pam_poldi.so quiet
# Try to authenticate against /etc/passwd.
auth sufficient pam_unix.so nullok_secure try_first_pass md5 shadow
# Else we fail. This is not really necessary, but if it's not here the last module above needs to be "required" instead of "sufficient"
auth required pam_deny.so

===/etc/pam.d/common-password===
# Password quality checker
password requisite pam_cracklib.so
# or another one
password requisite pam_passwdqc.so
# Try to change kerberos password, but don't sweat it if we can't because user might have entered their UNIX password. If it does work though, just change it to the one that pam_passwdqc gave us.
password [default=reset] pam_krb5.so use_authtok try_first_pass
# Try to change smartcard PIN. Doesn't work because poldi doesn't implement this [yet]
#password required pam_poldi.so
# Try to change UNIX password to the one that pam_passwdqc gave us.
password required pam_unix.so try_first_pass use_authtok nullok obscure min=4 max=8 md5

Note: this part doesn't work well. It's virtually impossible to get PAM to change passwords properly if you have more than one authentication service.

What should happen:
PAM asks for a password for kerberos. If it's correct, use some other module such as pam_passwdqc or pam_cracklib to prompt for a new password. Update the kerberos password with the one accepted by the quality checker. Try the same old password against the next module. If it fails, ask for the old password for this module. If that one succeeds, use it to update that service's password with the qc-accepted password. Continue through the password stack. At the end, report which modules succeeded and which failed.

What shouldn't happen:
PAM asks for a password. Fail because a module doesn't support password changing.

What else shouldn't happen:
PAM asks for a password. If it's correct for the second module, prompt for a new password for the first module. Fail because the old password for the second module is not correct for the first module.

Another thing that shouldn't happen:
PAM looks at the auth stack when running through the password stack.

===/etc/pam.d/common-session===
session required pam_unix.so
session optional pam_foreground.so

==List of pam modules==

===Supplied with stock PAM===
* pam_access
* pam_cracklib
* pam_debug
* pam_deny
* pam_echo
* pam_env
* pam_exec
* pam_faildelay
* pam_filter
* pam_ftp
* pam_group
* pam_issue
* pam_keyinit
* pam_lastlog
* pam_limits
* pam_listfile
* pam_localuser
* pam_loginuid
* pam_mail
* pam_mkhomedir
* pam_motd
* pam_namespace
* pam_nologin
* pam_permit
* pam_rhosts
* pam_rootok
* pam_securetty
* pam_selinux
* pam_shells
* pam_succeed_if
* pam_tally
* pam_time
* pam_umask
* pam_unix
* pam_userdb
* pam_warn
* pam_wheel
* pam_xauth

===Other modules===
* pam_ccreds
* pam_chroot
* pam_devparm
* pam_dotfile
* pam_encfs
* pam_foreground
* pam_heimdal
* pam_http
* [[pam_ldap]]
* pam_krb5
* pam_mount
* pam_musclecard
* pam_mysql
* pam_ncp
* pam_nufw
* pam_openafs_kaserver
* pam_openafs_session
* pam_opie
* pam_p11
* pam_passwdqc
* pam_pgsql
* pam_poldi
* pam_pwdfile
* pam_pwgen
* pam_radius_auth
* pam_shishi
* pam_smbpass
* pam_ssh
* pam_tmpdir
* pam_umask
* pam_unix2

TC1100

2008-01-02T19:40:55Z

Yath: /* General */ buttons mostly work

The HP/Compaq '''TC1100''' is a [[Tablet PC]]. It has quite a few devices crammed into its small form factor. Getting them all to work in Linux can be quite a task.

== General ==

Using a recently-updated [[distribution]] with a [[2.6]]-series kernel is recommended. [[Ubuntu]] and [[Debian]] work pretty well. Wired ethernet, full-resolution graphics, sound, PCMCIA, USB and top-side buttons should work by default. Wireless networking works by default on Ubuntu 7.10, but not on Debian due to missing firmware (see below). There are no reports of SD card reader or suspend to RAM working.

The following table summarizes the level of support for the TC1100's devices, in a desktop installation of Ubuntu 7.10. The situation is largely the same for Debian Etch.

* Green means that the device works by default with absolutely no configuration.
* Yellow means that packages may need to be installed and/or configuration files will need to be edited.
* Red means serious modifications are needed to get it to work, such as patching and compiling the kernel.
* Black means that no one has written software to handle it.
* An asterisk (*) means that the situation is slightly different for Debian.

{| border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 style="border: 1px solid black; border-collapse: collapse;" width=100%
! Device || Note || Status
|-
| nowrap | Power button || This is the slider on the upper left corner of the display. It initiates a log-out/shutdown dialog in GNOME. || bgcolor=lightgreen align=center | ok
|-
| nowrap | Video switch || This is the recessed button next to the power button. It has a glyph that resembles a monitor. It should swap the display(s) with an attached monitor. || align=center | ?
|-
| nowrap | Side buttons || They are labeled "Q", "tab", and "esc". They are next to the video switch. The "tab" and "esc" buttons work as expected, but the Q button won't do anything by default. || bgcolor=yellow align=center | some cfg
|-
| nowrap | Jog button || It's the rocker + depression button on top of the display, next to the side buttons. It causes scrolling when rocked, and is like pressing "enter" when pressed down. || bgcolor=lightgreen align=center | ok
|-
| norwap | PC card slot || It's on top of the left side, near the power button. || bgcolor=lightgreen align=center | ok
|-
| nowrap | SD Card || It's above the little door, behind the PC card slot. || align=center | ?
|-
| nowrap | USB ports || On the left side under the door. || bgcolor=lightgreen align=center | ok
|-
| nowrap | Modem || Its jack is below the USB ports, under the door. || align=center | ?
|-
| nowrap | Wired ethernet || Its jack is below the modem jack, under the door. || bgcolor=lightgreen align=center | ok
|-
| nowrap | VGA connector || It's below the wired ethernet jack, under the door. || bgcolor=yellow align=center | minor cfg
|-
| nowrap | Wireless ethernet ||   || bgcolor=lightgreen align=center | ok*
|-
| nowrap | Sound || Jacks are on the right side of the display. || bgcolor=lightgreen align=center | ok
|-
| nowrap | Tablet stylus || Using the stylus as a pointer in X || bgcolor=yellow align=center | some cfg
|-
| nowrap | Tablet buttons || These are three spots on the face of the tablet which can be touched with the stylus (in Windows) to perform certain functions. They are near the door that covers the ethernet and VGA connectors. || bgcolor=black style="color: lightgray;" align=center | unsupported
|-
| nowrap | Infrared port ||   || bgcolor=yellow align=center | some cfg
|-
| nowrap | Screen brightness ||   || bgcolor=red align=center | kernel patch
|}

(*) The wireless adapter's firmware, being non-free software, is not included by default in Debian. See below for instructions on installing it.

== Kernel patching ==

A patched kernel is needed if:

* You want to use wireless networking, but your distribution hasn't patched their kernel for it. Note that Ubuntu and Debian support the wireless ethernet adapter already.
* You want to control the tablet display's brightness.

=== Procedure ===

These are Debian (or derivative distribution)-based instructions for building a kernel package as described above. They are somewhat abbreviated. For more information on using <code>make-kpkg</code>, see [http://newbiedoc.sourceforge.net/system/kernel-pkg.html Creating custom kernels with Debian's kernel-package system].

* Make sure you have a build environment. Install these packages:

gcc
kernel-package
libc6-dev
tk8.3
libncurses5-dev
fakeroot
quota
isdnutils-base
nfs-common
oprofile

* Get the Linux kernel source. Version 2.6.22 is OK as of this writing. The package is called kernel-source-2.6.22 or linux-source-2.6.22.

Please note: the Debian and Ubuntu kernel source packages include the ipw2100 driver. Others may not. If you are using the vanilla kernel, you may need to add it yourself. Instructions for doing that are omitted from this guide.

* Do kernel building as non-root. Make it so your non-root account can write to <tt>/usr/src</tt> by executing this as root (if you are using Ubuntu, use put "sudo" before "adduser":

adduser ''username'' src

* From this point on, perform the commands using the user account. You may need to do:

sg src

* Extract the source tarball.

cd /usr/src
tar xjvf linux-source-''version''.tar.bz2

* Verify that the ipw2100 driver is present:

ls -d drivers/net/wireless/ipw2100

* Apply the WMI patch from [[TC1100 WMI patch|LQWiki]] (for the 2.6.22 kernel, based on a patch found [http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/ here]).
* Copy your current kernel's config file from <tt>/boot</tt> to <tt>.config</tt>.

Do '''make oldconfig''' and build the WMI driver either as built-in or a module (the choice is up to you).

Do '''make menuconfig''' and tweak the configuration to your liking. Unless you are familiar to some extent with Linux, we recommend to keep the configuration as-is. Whenyou're done, execute:

'''fakeroot make-kpkg clean'''
'''fakeroot make-kpkg --append-to-version=-tc1100 --initrd kernel_image'''

Allow about 75 minutes for the package to build. It will be found in <tt>/usr/src</tt>. Install this package by double-clicking on it, or by using

dpkg -i ''package_name''

Grub should update itself and you can just '''reboot'''.

== The devices ==

=== Wireless ethernet ===
There are a number of wireless mini-pci cards shipped with the TC1100. The most popular are Atheros, IPW2100 and IPW2200. For the IPW2200 card change all references to ipw2100 with ipw2200.
Execute the "lspci | grep Ethernet" command to see what is installed:

If the device is an Atheros ABG:
$ lspci | grep Ethernet
...
02:05.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)
...
There are restricted drivers that are installed with Ubuntu 7.04 and available from repositories in earlier versions.
It is supported with wpa_supplicant as a "madwifi" device.

If the device is an Intel IPW2100, there are two issues:

#It will not run without the firmware, which is non-free software. If you are using Debian, you must download it from the driver's website.
#It must be turned on. You can either turn it on in the preinstalled Windows XP before installing Linux, or use a kernel with the WMI patch.

If the wireless card is not functioning and you are running Debian, you are probably lacking the firmware.
*Determine which version of the driver you are using by issuing <code>'''dmesg | grep ipw2100'''</code>
*Download the firmware from [http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/firmware.php here]
*Extract the firmware archive into <tt>/usr/lib/hotplug/firmware</tt> and either reboot or unload and then reload the ipw2100 module.

If you are using the Network Manager (99% of cases), then there should be nothing more to do. If you are on Debian and the Network Manager does not detect the wireless card, make sure your <tt>/etc/network/interfaces</tt> file has ONLY these entries:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

==== Power management ====
The wireless card is controlled by these commands. You need to compile a kernel with the WMI patch to use them. The first one turns the transmitter on, and the second one (surprisingly) turns it off.

echo "on" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan
echo "off" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan

=== Stylus ===

The stylus lets you use the TC1100 as a Wacom tablet. Recent Ubuntu and Debian distributions detect and enable the tablet out of the box. To make it usable as a pointer, there are some changes needed in the X configuration file.

First you will need to figure out the device file to which it is mapped. If the file <tt>/dev/input/wacom</tt> exists, this is the device file you are looking for. If it doesn't, type:

$ xxd /dev/ttyS0

in the terminal and then move the stylus over the screen. If cryptic numbers (a hex dump) start to appear, this means that you have found the device name - in this case <tt>/dev/ttyS0</tt>. If nothing happens, try other serial ports - <tt>/dev/ttyS4</tt> and <tt>/dev/ttyS14</tt> are good first tries.

Edit your X configuration file (usually <tt>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</tt>) and add these sections. There are chances that some entries for the tablet already exist - in this case, modify the existing entries. You need two almost identical sections that differ only by the "Type" option.

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "stylus"
Driver "wacom"
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom" # put the device name here as found above
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # This enables a special communication protocol
Option "Button2" "3" # This is the line you need for the stylus button to right click
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "stylus"
Driver "wacom"
Option "Type" "cursor"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"
Option "Button2" "3"
EndSection

If you want the stylus to function as a mouse, you will additionally need to modify the "ServerLayout" section of the file. Add the following two lines to the end of that section:

Inputdevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
Inputdevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"

There are three stylus-activated buttons to the left of the display which light up when the stylus is pressed against them. They are '''unsupported''' at this time. When they are pressed, they generate data on the same serial port, but the current Linux wacom driver does not handle it. See the Linux Wacom Project mailing lists for information regarding these buttons.

===Display===
====Rotation====

Given that the tablet was designed to be usable without a keyboard, and in an upright position, it's nice to be able to rotate the display 90 degrees. But, you guessed it, there are issues:

*Rotation is supported with an X.org window server (nearly all modern distributions use it) and nVidia proprietary drivers.
*You need to have a recent version of wacom-tools (at least 0.7.7) which supports on-the-fly rotation of stylus coordinates.

To support display rotation, do the following:

*Download and install wacom-tools. Ubuntu Gutsy has the required version in its repository. For Debian Etch you have to download a more recent version from the Linux Wacom Project's website.
*Use the automated installer [http://albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html Envy] to install the latest driver. If you don't want Compiz Fusion, you can as well use the Restricted Drivers Manager in Ubuntu to install a less recent version.
*In the "Module" section of your X configuration file, comment out Load "dri". Change the display device as follows:

Section "Device"
Identifier "NVIDIA Corporation NV17 [GeForce4 420 Go 32M]"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Driver "nvidia"
...
Option "RandRRotation" "true"
EndSection

Once you are set up, rotation can be accomplished via these terminal commands:

'''xrandr -o left'''
'''xsetwacom set stylus rotate ccw'''
'''xsetwacom set cursor rotate ccw'''

To get back to normal:

'''xrandr -o normal'''
'''xsetwacom set stylus rotate none'''
'''xsetwacom set cursor rotate none'''

==== Brightness ====

If you have a patched kernel (you can compile one as described above), you can adjust the screen's brightness. First execute this command:

echo 0 > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/bluetooth

You can now set the screen's brightness using the jog dial. After you set up the right brightness level, execute

echo 1 > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/bluetooth

to exit brightness adjustment mode. (This seems like a mislabelling to me)

==== Display TwinView ====

The official nVidia drivers are capable of driving two monitors. One is the tablet's LCD, and the other is anything attached to the 15 pin external VGA port. By default this port is a mirror of the LCD but it can be used to create a larger desktop.

Add the following to your "Device" section of xorg.conf to enable the larger desktop when an external monitor is detected on boot.

Option "TwinView"
Option "TwinViewOrientation" "RightOf"
Option "MetaModes" "CRT-0: 1280x1024, DFP-0: 1024x768; DFP-0: 1024x768"
Option "HorizSync" "CRT-0: 30-82; DFP-0: 40-70"
Option "VertRefresh" "CRT-0: 50-75; DFP-0: 60"

Your CRT refresh settings will probably be different. These work with my 17" LCD.

CRT refers to any device attached to the external port. DFP refers to the tablet's LCD. This works if the tablet is to the right of the monitor. If you're setup is different, change RightOf to LeftOf. Play with the settings to get the gdm login on the correct screen. I prefer that it's on CRT when I'm at my desk.

Read the nvidia README.txt for more information and some troubleshooting tips.

=== Sound ===

The Intel sound card works out of the box with recent Debian and Ubuntu releases. The only confusing issue is that the built-in speakers are not turned off when a headphone jack is plugged in. This is because headphone volume is independent from master volume. To correct this in GNOME, do the following:

* Right-click on the volume control icon in the panel and click on Open Volume Control.
* From the menu choose Edit->Preferences.
* Tick the checkbox Headphone Jack Sense and close the menu.
* Go to the Switches tab and enable Headphone Jack Sense.

Now the speakers should turn off when you plug in a headphone jack.

=== Side buttons ===

There are several buttons on top of the tablet, labeled "Q", "tab", etc. They generate custom keycodes and can be configured to do various things. To find the keycodes of those buttons, run <code>xev</code> and press them - the keycode will be present in the event dump. The keys can be assigned to arbitrary programs or scripts using xbindkeys. By binding them to xvkbd invoked with the -text parameter, you can also emulate arbitrary keypresses - see the xvkbd manual for details. In GNOME, you can also use System->Preferences->Keyboard Shortcuts to assign the buttons to some common things.

=== Other devices ===

In addition, special steps may need to be taken for the following:

*Infrared port
**disable ttyS1:
# setserial /dev/ttyS1 uart none
**then start the nsc-ircc driver
# modprobe nsc-ircc
# irattach irda0 -s
**IR Information from [http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/#irda here]
*Sandisk card reader
**This is based on the Texas Instruments PCI1620 chipset
*Modem

== Application Tips ==

=== Onscreen Keyboard at Login ===
Ubuntu users from 6.10 on can use the OnBoard virtual keyboard at the login prompt.
* Make sure that you are using the "plain" or "plain with face browser" (recommended) option from the System->Administration->Login Window menu item. Themed login windows will not work! You must also be sure that the title bar option is active.
* Run onboard as root to set the size of the keyboard (or it will entirely cover the login window).
$ sudo onboard
* Edit the /etc/X11/gdm/Init/Default or /etc/gdm/Init/Default (whichever exists) and add "onboard &" between the last "fi" and "exit 0"

# sudo gedit /etc/X11/gdm/Init/Default

fi
fi
'''onboard &'''
exit 0

The development branch of OnBoard has bigger letters, various bugfixes and, most importantly, allows to set its position and size on the command line. To obtain it:

$ sudo apt-get install bzr
$ sudo adduser ''your_username'' src
$ cd /usr/src
$ <nowiki>bzr branch http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~onboard/onboard/main</nowiki>
$ mv main onboard

After this, change the command at the end of gdm configuration file to something like

/usr/src/onboard/onboard -s 684x200 -x 170 -y 568 &

These values will display the keyboard roughly two thirds of the screen wide at the bottom. Tweak the numbers to your liking.

=== Rotation control for GNOME ===
There is a handy GNOME panel applet, [http://dekorte.homeip.net/download/grandr-applet/ Grandr].
Compile or install from the .deb then restart gnome-panel for it to show up in the applet selector
$ killall gnome-panel
It works well with TwinView setups too. Currently it does not rotate the stylus (this may be added to Grandr in future) but a small script can be run after login to periodically check the orientation and rotate the stylus accordingly.
*Create the following script
$ gedit ~/wacom-rotate.sh

#!/bin/sh
#Based on work from Patrick Coke & Tim Pope
#Modified for TC1100 by Francisco Athens

while xset q >/dev/null 2>&1; do
sleep 2 # Polling Interval, 2 seconds
orientation="`/usr/bin/X11/xrandr --query | /bin/grep 'Current rotation' | /usr/bin/awk '{print $4}'`"

if [ "$orientation" = "normal" ]; then
# Rotates the stylus cordinate plane back to normal
xsetwacom set "stylus" Rotate none
elif [ "$orientation" = "left" ]; then
# Rotates the stylus cordinate plane to left
xsetwacom set "stylus" Rotate ccw
elif [ "$orientation" = "right" ]; then
# Rotates the stylus cordinate plane to right
xsetwacom set "stylus" Rotate cw
fi
done

*Make the script executable
$ chmod 777 ~/wacom-rotate.sh
*Open System->Preferences->Sessions and add the script to your startup.

=== Compiz Fusion ===
TC1100's graphics card is capable of running Compiz Fusion with good performance. The instructions below are for Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy). Some of this may be relevant for other distributions as well.

* Install the nVidia binary driver. DO NOT use the Restricted Drivers Manager. If you have already installed the driver this way, uninstall it and reboot. Go to [http://albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html this website] and install Envy. Use it to install the latest nVidia driver (version at least 91.43).
* Go to System->Administration->Synaptic Package Manager and install the following packages:

compiz
compizconfig-settings-manager
emerald

* Compiz launcher arbitrarily requires at least 64MB of video RAM to run on nVidia cards. You can prefix the Compiz launching command with SKIP_CHECKS=yes, but if something goes wrong, you may end up with an unresponsive system.

* To make this change permanent, run <tt> mkdir -p ~/.config/compiz; echo SKIP_CHECKS=yes >> ~/.config/compiz/compiz-manager </tt>. Simply delete the file ~/.config/compiz/compiz-manager to undo it.

* Modify your X configuration file. Type <tt>gksu gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf</tt>

** Add the following options to the Device section (probably not all of them are necessary):

Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"

** Make sure the Module section has the following entries:

Load "bitmap"
Load "glx"

* Close all applications and restart the X server by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Backspace.
* Try if Compiz works. In a terminal, execute the following command. The --indirect-rendering option speeds up Compiz considerably. Do not use the --loose-binding option, it causes some windows not to refresh at all.

compiz --replace --indirect-rendering

* If everything went OK, the window borders should change after a while and some effects (like wobbly windows and desktop cube) should be enabled. To rotate the cube, hold down Ctrl+Alt+left mouse button and move the mouse around. You can start customizing Compiz by going to System->Preferences->Advanced Desktop Effects Settings.
* Because the card only has 32MB of memory, sometimes a window can turn black. If this happens, close some other windows and minimize and then unimimize the affected window.
* To make Compiz run at login, go to System->Preferences->Sessions and add it to startup programs.
* If you use applications that conflict with Compiz (like Google Earth) and sometimes need to switch back to Metacity, install the Fusion Icon. See [http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=3163821 this thread] for a link to the .deb installer.

== External links ==

=== General ===

*[http://www.debianslashrules.org/Hacking/TabletPC.html Debian on tc1100] (debian/rules)
*[http://groundstate.ca/TC1100 Debian on tc1100] (The Groundstate)
*[http://www.darlug.org/Members/ahornby/tc1100 Ubuntu on tc1100] (DarLUG)
*[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/NvidiaLaptopBinaryDriverSuspend Ubuntu Nvidia Driver Suspend Guide]
*[https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/34043 Ubuntu Nvidia ACPI Support Bugtracker] - May contain latest suspend issue developments
*[http://changelog.complete.org/taxonomy/term/28/9/ tc1100 tablet] (The ChangeLog)
*[http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/ Linux on a TC1100 Tabletpc] (Andy Schofield)
*[http://math.bu.edu/people/kayeats/computers/tc1100.html Debian on an HP/Compaq tc1100 tablet PC] (Shyish-person)
*[http://h20181.www2.hp.com/plmcontent/NACSC/Notebooks/15498_032805/rpt20d/default.htm HP/Compaq TC1000/TC1100 Service and Maintenance Guide] - very detailed hardware info with illustrations
*[http://satisfiedprogrammer.blogspot.com/2007/10/laptop-that-doesnt-get-hot-tc1100-is.html] - introductory description of TC1100.

=== Drivers and apps ===

The following list applies specifically to the tc1100. See [[Tablet PC]] for a more comprehensive list that applies to tablets in general.

*[http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/ Intel® PRO/Wireless 2100 Driver for Linux] (''ipw2100.sourceforge.net'')
*[http://groundstate.ca/tabatha Tabatha] (''groundstate.ca'')

TC1100

2008-01-02T19:35:46Z

Yath: /* Kernel patching */ more info

The HP/Compaq '''TC1100''' is a [[Tablet PC]]. It has quite a few devices crammed into its small form factor. Getting them all to work in Linux can be quite a task.

== General ==

Using a recently-updated [[distribution]] with a [[2.6]]-series kernel is recommended. [[Ubuntu]] and [[Debian]] work pretty well. Wired ethernet, full-resolution graphics, sound, PCMCIA, USB and top-side buttons should work by default. Wireless networking works by default on Ubuntu 7.10, but not on Debian due to missing firmware (see below). There are no reports of SD card reader or suspend to RAM working.

The following table summarizes the level of support for the TC1100's devices, in a desktop installation of Ubuntu 7.10. The situation is largely the same for Debian Etch.

* Green means that the device works by default with absolutely no configuration.
* Yellow means that packages may need to be installed and/or configuration files will need to be edited.
* Red means serious modifications are needed to get it to work, such as patching and compiling the kernel.
* Black means that no one has written software to handle it.
* An asterisk (*) means that the situation is slightly different for Debian.

{| border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 style="border: 1px solid black; border-collapse: collapse;" width=100%
! Device || Note || Status
|-
| nowrap | Power button || This is the slider on the upper left corner of the display. It initiates a log-out/shutdown dialog in GNOME. || bgcolor=lightgreen align=center | ok
|-
| nowrap | Video switch || This is the recessed button next to the power button. It has a glyph that resembles a monitor. It should swap the display(s) with an attached monitor. || align=center | ?
|-
| nowrap | Side buttons || They are labeled "Q", "tab", and "esc". They are next to the video switch. || bgcolor=yellow align=center | some cfg
|-
| nowrap | Jog button || It's the rocker + depression button on top of the display, next to the side buttons. || align=center | ?
|-
| norwap | PC card slot || It's on top of the left side, near the power button. || bgcolor=lightgreen align=center | ok
|-
| nowrap | SD Card || It's above the little door, behind the PC card slot. || align=center | ?
|-
| nowrap | USB ports || On the left side under the door. || bgcolor=lightgreen align=center | ok
|-
| nowrap | Modem || Its jack is below the USB ports, under the door. || align=center | ?
|-
| nowrap | Wired ethernet || Its jack is below the modem jack, under the door. || bgcolor=lightgreen align=center | ok
|-
| nowrap | VGA connector || It's below the wired ethernet jack, under the door. || bgcolor=yellow align=center | minor cfg
|-
| nowrap | Wireless ethernet ||   || bgcolor=lightgreen align=center | ok*
|-
| nowrap | Sound || Jacks are on the right side of the display. || bgcolor=lightgreen align=center | ok
|-
| nowrap | Tablet stylus || Using the stylus as a pointer in X || bgcolor=yellow align=center | some cfg
|-
| nowrap | Tablet buttons || These are three spots on the face of the tablet which can be touched with the stylus (in Windows) to perform certain functions. They are near the door that covers the ethernet and VGA connectors. || bgcolor=black style="color: lightgray;" align=center | unsupported
|-
| nowrap | Infrared port ||   || bgcolor=yellow align=center | some cfg
|-
| nowrap | Screen brightness ||   || bgcolor=red align=center | kernel patch
|}

(*) The wireless adapter's firmware, being non-free software, is not included by default in Debian. See below for instructions on installing it.

== Kernel patching ==

A patched kernel is needed if:

* You want to use wireless networking, but your distribution hasn't patched their kernel for it. Note that Ubuntu and Debian support the wireless ethernet adapter already.
* You want to control the tablet display's brightness.

=== Procedure ===

These are Debian (or derivative distribution)-based instructions for building a kernel package as described above. They are somewhat abbreviated. For more information on using <code>make-kpkg</code>, see [http://newbiedoc.sourceforge.net/system/kernel-pkg.html Creating custom kernels with Debian's kernel-package system].

* Make sure you have a build environment. Install these packages:

gcc
kernel-package
libc6-dev
tk8.3
libncurses5-dev
fakeroot
quota
isdnutils-base
nfs-common
oprofile

* Get the Linux kernel source. Version 2.6.22 is OK as of this writing. The package is called kernel-source-2.6.22 or linux-source-2.6.22.

Please note: the Debian and Ubuntu kernel source packages include the ipw2100 driver. Others may not. If you are using the vanilla kernel, you may need to add it yourself. Instructions for doing that are omitted from this guide.

* Do kernel building as non-root. Make it so your non-root account can write to <tt>/usr/src</tt> by executing this as root (if you are using Ubuntu, use put "sudo" before "adduser":

adduser ''username'' src

* From this point on, perform the commands using the user account. You may need to do:

sg src

* Extract the source tarball.

cd /usr/src
tar xjvf linux-source-''version''.tar.bz2

* Verify that the ipw2100 driver is present:

ls -d drivers/net/wireless/ipw2100

* Apply the WMI patch from [[TC1100 WMI patch|LQWiki]] (for the 2.6.22 kernel, based on a patch found [http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/ here]).
* Copy your current kernel's config file from <tt>/boot</tt> to <tt>.config</tt>.

Do '''make oldconfig''' and build the WMI driver either as built-in or a module (the choice is up to you).

Do '''make menuconfig''' and tweak the configuration to your liking. Unless you are familiar to some extent with Linux, we recommend to keep the configuration as-is. Whenyou're done, execute:

'''fakeroot make-kpkg clean'''
'''fakeroot make-kpkg --append-to-version=-tc1100 --initrd kernel_image'''

Allow about 75 minutes for the package to build. It will be found in <tt>/usr/src</tt>. Install this package by double-clicking on it, or by using

dpkg -i ''package_name''

Grub should update itself and you can just '''reboot'''.

== The devices ==

=== Wireless ethernet ===
There are a number of wireless mini-pci cards shipped with the TC1100. The most popular are Atheros, IPW2100 and IPW2200. For the IPW2200 card change all references to ipw2100 with ipw2200.
Execute the "lspci | grep Ethernet" command to see what is installed:

If the device is an Atheros ABG:
$ lspci | grep Ethernet
...
02:05.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)
...
There are restricted drivers that are installed with Ubuntu 7.04 and available from repositories in earlier versions.
It is supported with wpa_supplicant as a "madwifi" device.

If the device is an Intel IPW2100, there are two issues:

#It will not run without the firmware, which is non-free software. If you are using Debian, you must download it from the driver's website.
#It must be turned on. You can either turn it on in the preinstalled Windows XP before installing Linux, or use a kernel with the WMI patch.

If the wireless card is not functioning and you are running Debian, you are probably lacking the firmware.
*Determine which version of the driver you are using by issuing <code>'''dmesg | grep ipw2100'''</code>
*Download the firmware from [http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/firmware.php here]
*Extract the firmware archive into <tt>/usr/lib/hotplug/firmware</tt> and either reboot or unload and then reload the ipw2100 module.

If you are using the Network Manager (99% of cases), then there should be nothing more to do. If you are on Debian and the Network Manager does not detect the wireless card, make sure your <tt>/etc/network/interfaces</tt> file has ONLY these entries:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

==== Power management ====
The wireless card is controlled by these commands. You need to compile a kernel with the WMI patch to use them. The first one turns the transmitter on, and the second one (surprisingly) turns it off.

echo "on" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan
echo "off" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan

=== Stylus ===

The stylus lets you use the TC1100 as a Wacom tablet. Recent Ubuntu and Debian distributions detect and enable the tablet out of the box. To make it usable as a pointer, there are some changes needed in the X configuration file.

First you will need to figure out the device file to which it is mapped. If the file <tt>/dev/input/wacom</tt> exists, this is the device file you are looking for. If it doesn't, type:

$ xxd /dev/ttyS0

in the terminal and then move the stylus over the screen. If cryptic numbers (a hex dump) start to appear, this means that you have found the device name - in this case <tt>/dev/ttyS0</tt>. If nothing happens, try other serial ports - <tt>/dev/ttyS4</tt> and <tt>/dev/ttyS14</tt> are good first tries.

Edit your X configuration file (usually <tt>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</tt>) and add these sections. There are chances that some entries for the tablet already exist - in this case, modify the existing entries. You need two almost identical sections that differ only by the "Type" option.

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "stylus"
Driver "wacom"
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom" # put the device name here as found above
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # This enables a special communication protocol
Option "Button2" "3" # This is the line you need for the stylus button to right click
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "stylus"
Driver "wacom"
Option "Type" "cursor"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"
Option "Button2" "3"
EndSection

If you want the stylus to function as a mouse, you will additionally need to modify the "ServerLayout" section of the file. Add the following two lines to the end of that section:

Inputdevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
Inputdevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"

There are three stylus-activated buttons to the left of the display which light up when the stylus is pressed against them. They are '''unsupported''' at this time. When they are pressed, they generate data on the same serial port, but the current Linux wacom driver does not handle it. See the Linux Wacom Project mailing lists for information regarding these buttons.

===Display===
====Rotation====

Given that the tablet was designed to be usable without a keyboard, and in an upright position, it's nice to be able to rotate the display 90 degrees. But, you guessed it, there are issues:

*Rotation is supported with an X.org window server (nearly all modern distributions use it) and nVidia proprietary drivers.
*You need to have a recent version of wacom-tools (at least 0.7.7) which supports on-the-fly rotation of stylus coordinates.

To support display rotation, do the following:

*Download and install wacom-tools. Ubuntu Gutsy has the required version in its repository. For Debian Etch you have to download a more recent version from the Linux Wacom Project's website.
*Use the automated installer [http://albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html Envy] to install the latest driver. If you don't want Compiz Fusion, you can as well use the Restricted Drivers Manager in Ubuntu to install a less recent version.
*In the "Module" section of your X configuration file, comment out Load "dri". Change the display device as follows:

Section "Device"
Identifier "NVIDIA Corporation NV17 [GeForce4 420 Go 32M]"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Driver "nvidia"
...
Option "RandRRotation" "true"
EndSection

Once you are set up, rotation can be accomplished via these terminal commands:

'''xrandr -o left'''
'''xsetwacom set stylus rotate ccw'''
'''xsetwacom set cursor rotate ccw'''

To get back to normal:

'''xrandr -o normal'''
'''xsetwacom set stylus rotate none'''
'''xsetwacom set cursor rotate none'''

==== Brightness ====

If you have a patched kernel (you can compile one as described above), you can adjust the screen's brightness. First execute this command:

echo 0 > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/bluetooth

You can now set the screen's brightness using the jog dial. After you set up the right brightness level, execute

echo 1 > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/bluetooth

to exit brightness adjustment mode. (This seems like a mislabelling to me)

==== Display TwinView ====

The official nVidia drivers are capable of driving two monitors. One is the tablet's LCD, and the other is anything attached to the 15 pin external VGA port. By default this port is a mirror of the LCD but it can be used to create a larger desktop.

Add the following to your "Device" section of xorg.conf to enable the larger desktop when an external monitor is detected on boot.

Option "TwinView"
Option "TwinViewOrientation" "RightOf"
Option "MetaModes" "CRT-0: 1280x1024, DFP-0: 1024x768; DFP-0: 1024x768"
Option "HorizSync" "CRT-0: 30-82; DFP-0: 40-70"
Option "VertRefresh" "CRT-0: 50-75; DFP-0: 60"

Your CRT refresh settings will probably be different. These work with my 17" LCD.

CRT refers to any device attached to the external port. DFP refers to the tablet's LCD. This works if the tablet is to the right of the monitor. If you're setup is different, change RightOf to LeftOf. Play with the settings to get the gdm login on the correct screen. I prefer that it's on CRT when I'm at my desk.

Read the nvidia README.txt for more information and some troubleshooting tips.

=== Sound ===

The Intel sound card works out of the box with recent Debian and Ubuntu releases. The only confusing issue is that the built-in speakers are not turned off when a headphone jack is plugged in. This is because headphone volume is independent from master volume. To correct this in GNOME, do the following:

* Right-click on the volume control icon in the panel and click on Open Volume Control.
* From the menu choose Edit->Preferences.
* Tick the checkbox Headphone Jack Sense and close the menu.
* Go to the Switches tab and enable Headphone Jack Sense.

Now the speakers should turn off when you plug in a headphone jack.

=== Side buttons ===

There are several buttons on top of the tablet, labeled "Q", "tab", etc. They generate custom keycodes and can be configured to do various things. To find the keycodes of those buttons, run <code>xev</code> and press them - the keycode will be present in the event dump. The keys can be assigned to arbitrary programs or scripts using xbindkeys. By binding them to xvkbd invoked with the -text parameter, you can also emulate arbitrary keypresses - see the xvkbd manual for details. In GNOME, you can also use System->Preferences->Keyboard Shortcuts to assign the buttons to some common things.

=== Other devices ===

In addition, special steps may need to be taken for the following:

*Infrared port
**disable ttyS1:
# setserial /dev/ttyS1 uart none
**then start the nsc-ircc driver
# modprobe nsc-ircc
# irattach irda0 -s
**IR Information from [http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/#irda here]
*Sandisk card reader
**This is based on the Texas Instruments PCI1620 chipset
*Modem

== Application Tips ==

=== Onscreen Keyboard at Login ===
Ubuntu users from 6.10 on can use the OnBoard virtual keyboard at the login prompt.
* Make sure that you are using the "plain" or "plain with face browser" (recommended) option from the System->Administration->Login Window menu item. Themed login windows will not work! You must also be sure that the title bar option is active.
* Run onboard as root to set the size of the keyboard (or it will entirely cover the login window).
$ sudo onboard
* Edit the /etc/X11/gdm/Init/Default or /etc/gdm/Init/Default (whichever exists) and add "onboard &" between the last "fi" and "exit 0"

# sudo gedit /etc/X11/gdm/Init/Default

fi
fi
'''onboard &'''
exit 0

The development branch of OnBoard has bigger letters, various bugfixes and, most importantly, allows to set its position and size on the command line. To obtain it:

$ sudo apt-get install bzr
$ sudo adduser ''your_username'' src
$ cd /usr/src
$ <nowiki>bzr branch http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~onboard/onboard/main</nowiki>
$ mv main onboard

After this, change the command at the end of gdm configuration file to something like

/usr/src/onboard/onboard -s 684x200 -x 170 -y 568 &

These values will display the keyboard roughly two thirds of the screen wide at the bottom. Tweak the numbers to your liking.

=== Rotation control for GNOME ===
There is a handy GNOME panel applet, [http://dekorte.homeip.net/download/grandr-applet/ Grandr].
Compile or install from the .deb then restart gnome-panel for it to show up in the applet selector
$ killall gnome-panel
It works well with TwinView setups too. Currently it does not rotate the stylus (this may be added to Grandr in future) but a small script can be run after login to periodically check the orientation and rotate the stylus accordingly.
*Create the following script
$ gedit ~/wacom-rotate.sh

#!/bin/sh
#Based on work from Patrick Coke & Tim Pope
#Modified for TC1100 by Francisco Athens

while xset q >/dev/null 2>&1; do
sleep 2 # Polling Interval, 2 seconds
orientation="`/usr/bin/X11/xrandr --query | /bin/grep 'Current rotation' | /usr/bin/awk '{print $4}'`"

if [ "$orientation" = "normal" ]; then
# Rotates the stylus cordinate plane back to normal
xsetwacom set "stylus" Rotate none
elif [ "$orientation" = "left" ]; then
# Rotates the stylus cordinate plane to left
xsetwacom set "stylus" Rotate ccw
elif [ "$orientation" = "right" ]; then
# Rotates the stylus cordinate plane to right
xsetwacom set "stylus" Rotate cw
fi
done

*Make the script executable
$ chmod 777 ~/wacom-rotate.sh
*Open System->Preferences->Sessions and add the script to your startup.

=== Compiz Fusion ===
TC1100's graphics card is capable of running Compiz Fusion with good performance. The instructions below are for Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy). Some of this may be relevant for other distributions as well.

* Install the nVidia binary driver. DO NOT use the Restricted Drivers Manager. If you have already installed the driver this way, uninstall it and reboot. Go to [http://albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html this website] and install Envy. Use it to install the latest nVidia driver (version at least 91.43).
* Go to System->Administration->Synaptic Package Manager and install the following packages:

compiz
compizconfig-settings-manager
emerald

* Compiz launcher arbitrarily requires at least 64MB of video RAM to run on nVidia cards. You can prefix the Compiz launching command with SKIP_CHECKS=yes, but if something goes wrong, you may end up with an unresponsive system.

* To make this change permanent, run <tt> mkdir -p ~/.config/compiz; echo SKIP_CHECKS=yes >> ~/.config/compiz/compiz-manager </tt>. Simply delete the file ~/.config/compiz/compiz-manager to undo it.

* Modify your X configuration file. Type <tt>gksu gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf</tt>

** Add the following options to the Device section (probably not all of them are necessary):

Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"

** Make sure the Module section has the following entries:

Load "bitmap"
Load "glx"

* Close all applications and restart the X server by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Backspace.
* Try if Compiz works. In a terminal, execute the following command. The --indirect-rendering option speeds up Compiz considerably. Do not use the --loose-binding option, it causes some windows not to refresh at all.

compiz --replace --indirect-rendering

* If everything went OK, the window borders should change after a while and some effects (like wobbly windows and desktop cube) should be enabled. To rotate the cube, hold down Ctrl+Alt+left mouse button and move the mouse around. You can start customizing Compiz by going to System->Preferences->Advanced Desktop Effects Settings.
* Because the card only has 32MB of memory, sometimes a window can turn black. If this happens, close some other windows and minimize and then unimimize the affected window.
* To make Compiz run at login, go to System->Preferences->Sessions and add it to startup programs.
* If you use applications that conflict with Compiz (like Google Earth) and sometimes need to switch back to Metacity, install the Fusion Icon. See [http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=3163821 this thread] for a link to the .deb installer.

== External links ==

=== General ===

*[http://www.debianslashrules.org/Hacking/TabletPC.html Debian on tc1100] (debian/rules)
*[http://groundstate.ca/TC1100 Debian on tc1100] (The Groundstate)
*[http://www.darlug.org/Members/ahornby/tc1100 Ubuntu on tc1100] (DarLUG)
*[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/NvidiaLaptopBinaryDriverSuspend Ubuntu Nvidia Driver Suspend Guide]
*[https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/34043 Ubuntu Nvidia ACPI Support Bugtracker] - May contain latest suspend issue developments
*[http://changelog.complete.org/taxonomy/term/28/9/ tc1100 tablet] (The ChangeLog)
*[http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/ Linux on a TC1100 Tabletpc] (Andy Schofield)
*[http://math.bu.edu/people/kayeats/computers/tc1100.html Debian on an HP/Compaq tc1100 tablet PC] (Shyish-person)
*[http://h20181.www2.hp.com/plmcontent/NACSC/Notebooks/15498_032805/rpt20d/default.htm HP/Compaq TC1000/TC1100 Service and Maintenance Guide] - very detailed hardware info with illustrations
*[http://satisfiedprogrammer.blogspot.com/2007/10/laptop-that-doesnt-get-hot-tc1100-is.html] - introductory description of TC1100.

=== Drivers and apps ===

The following list applies specifically to the tc1100. See [[Tablet PC]] for a more comprehensive list that applies to tablets in general.

*[http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/ Intel® PRO/Wireless 2100 Driver for Linux] (''ipw2100.sourceforge.net'')
*[http://groundstate.ca/tabatha Tabatha] (''groundstate.ca'')

TC1100

2008-01-02T19:24:42Z

Yath: /* General */ colorful table of support in Debian/Ubuntu

The HP/Compaq '''TC1100''' is a [[Tablet PC]]. It has quite a few devices crammed into its small form factor. Getting them all to work in Linux can be quite a task.

== General ==

Using a recently-updated [[distribution]] with a [[2.6]]-series kernel is recommended. [[Ubuntu]] and [[Debian]] work pretty well. Wired ethernet, full-resolution graphics, sound, PCMCIA, USB and top-side buttons should work by default. Wireless networking works by default on Ubuntu 7.10, but not on Debian due to missing firmware (see below). There are no reports of SD card reader or suspend to RAM working.

The following table summarizes the level of support for the TC1100's devices, in a desktop installation of Ubuntu 7.10. The situation is largely the same for Debian Etch.

* Green means that the device works by default with absolutely no configuration.
* Yellow means that packages may need to be installed and/or configuration files will need to be edited.
* Red means serious modifications are needed to get it to work, such as patching and compiling the kernel.
* Black means that no one has written software to handle it.
* An asterisk (*) means that the situation is slightly different for Debian.

{| border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 style="border: 1px solid black; border-collapse: collapse;" width=100%
! Device || Note || Status
|-
| nowrap | Power button || This is the slider on the upper left corner of the display. It initiates a log-out/shutdown dialog in GNOME. || bgcolor=lightgreen align=center | ok
|-
| nowrap | Video switch || This is the recessed button next to the power button. It has a glyph that resembles a monitor. It should swap the display(s) with an attached monitor. || align=center | ?
|-
| nowrap | Side buttons || They are labeled "Q", "tab", and "esc". They are next to the video switch. || bgcolor=yellow align=center | some cfg
|-
| nowrap | Jog button || It's the rocker + depression button on top of the display, next to the side buttons. || align=center | ?
|-
| norwap | PC card slot || It's on top of the left side, near the power button. || bgcolor=lightgreen align=center | ok
|-
| nowrap | SD Card || It's above the little door, behind the PC card slot. || align=center | ?
|-
| nowrap | USB ports || On the left side under the door. || bgcolor=lightgreen align=center | ok
|-
| nowrap | Modem || Its jack is below the USB ports, under the door. || align=center | ?
|-
| nowrap | Wired ethernet || Its jack is below the modem jack, under the door. || bgcolor=lightgreen align=center | ok
|-
| nowrap | VGA connector || It's below the wired ethernet jack, under the door. || bgcolor=yellow align=center | minor cfg
|-
| nowrap | Wireless ethernet ||   || bgcolor=lightgreen align=center | ok*
|-
| nowrap | Sound || Jacks are on the right side of the display. || bgcolor=lightgreen align=center | ok
|-
| nowrap | Tablet stylus || Using the stylus as a pointer in X || bgcolor=yellow align=center | some cfg
|-
| nowrap | Tablet buttons || These are three spots on the face of the tablet which can be touched with the stylus (in Windows) to perform certain functions. They are near the door that covers the ethernet and VGA connectors. || bgcolor=black style="color: lightgray;" align=center | unsupported
|-
| nowrap | Infrared port ||   || bgcolor=yellow align=center | some cfg
|-
| nowrap | Screen brightness ||   || bgcolor=red align=center | kernel patch
|}

(*) The wireless adapter's firmware, being non-free software, is not included by default in Debian. See below for instructions on installing it.

== Kernel patching ==
There are some features that require a patched kernel to work. These include the Wireless LAN power control and screen brightness control. Other devices should work out of the box. Since the souce layout has changed considerably since it was written, it has to be merged manually.

=== Procedure ===

These are Debian (or derivative distribution)-based instructions for building a kernel package as described above. They are somewhat abbreviated. For more information on using <code>make-kpkg</code>, see [http://newbiedoc.sourceforge.net/system/kernel-pkg.html Creating custom kernels with Debian's kernel-package system].

* Make sure you have a build environment. Install these packages (either through apt-get install, or through Synaptic):

gcc
kernel-package
libc6-dev
tk8.3
libncurses5-dev
fakeroot
quota
isdnutils-base
nfs-common
oprofile

* Get the Linux kernel source. Version 2.6.22 is OK as of this writing. The package is called kernel-source-2.6.22 or linux-source-2.6.22.

* Do kernel building as non-root. Make it so your non-root account can write to <tt>/usr/src</tt> by executing this as root (if you are using Ubuntu, use put "sudo" before "adduser":

adduser ''username'' src

Please note: we are expecting to receive a kernel source that has had the wireless drivers added. You can check for this by looking for the subdirectory <tt>drivers/net/wireless/ipw2100</tt>.

* Extract the source tarball.
* Apply the WMI patch from [[TC1100 WMI patch|LQWiki]] (for the 2.6.22 kernel, based on a patch found [http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/ here]).
* Copy your current kernel's config file from <tt>/boot</tt> to <tt>.config</tt>.

Do '''make oldconfig''' and build the WMI driver either as built-in or a module (the choice is up to you).

Do '''make menuconfig''' and tweak the configuration to your liking. Unless you are familiar to some extent with Linux, we recommend to keep the configuration as-is. Whenyou're done, execute:

'''fakeroot make-kpkg clean'''
'''fakeroot make-kpkg --append-to-version=-tc1100 --initrd kernel_image'''

Allow about 75 minutes for the package to build. It will be found in <tt>/usr/src</tt>. Install this package by double-clicking on it, or by using

dpkg -i ''package_name''

Grub should update itself and you can just '''reboot'''.

== The devices ==

=== Wireless ethernet ===
There are a number of wireless mini-pci cards shipped with the TC1100. The most popular are Atheros, IPW2100 and IPW2200. For the IPW2200 card change all references to ipw2100 with ipw2200.
Execute the "lspci | grep Ethernet" command to see what is installed:

If the device is an Atheros ABG:
$ lspci | grep Ethernet
...
02:05.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)
...
There are restricted drivers that are installed with Ubuntu 7.04 and available from repositories in earlier versions.
It is supported with wpa_supplicant as a "madwifi" device.

If the device is an Intel IPW2100, there are two issues:

#It will not run without the firmware, which is non-free software. If you are using Debian, you must download it from the driver's website.
#It must be turned on. You can either turn it on in the preinstalled Windows XP before installing Linux, or use a kernel with the WMI patch.

If the wireless card is not functioning and you are running Debian, you are probably lacking the firmware.
*Determine which version of the driver you are using by issuing <code>'''dmesg | grep ipw2100'''</code>
*Download the firmware from [http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/firmware.php here]
*Extract the firmware archive into <tt>/usr/lib/hotplug/firmware</tt> and either reboot or unload and then reload the ipw2100 module.

If you are using the Network Manager (99% of cases), then there should be nothing more to do. If you are on Debian and the Network Manager does not detect the wireless card, make sure your <tt>/etc/network/interfaces</tt> file has ONLY these entries:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

==== Power management ====
The wireless card is controlled by these commands. You need to compile a kernel with the WMI patch to use them. The first one turns the transmitter on, and the second one (surprisingly) turns it off.

echo "on" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan
echo "off" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan

=== Stylus ===

The stylus lets you use the TC1100 as a Wacom tablet. Recent Ubuntu and Debian distributions detect and enable the tablet out of the box. To make it usable as a pointer, there are some changes needed in the X configuration file.

First you will need to figure out the device file to which it is mapped. If the file <tt>/dev/input/wacom</tt> exists, this is the device file you are looking for. If it doesn't, type:

$ xxd /dev/ttyS0

in the terminal and then move the stylus over the screen. If cryptic numbers (a hex dump) start to appear, this means that you have found the device name - in this case <tt>/dev/ttyS0</tt>. If nothing happens, try other serial ports - <tt>/dev/ttyS4</tt> and <tt>/dev/ttyS14</tt> are good first tries.

Edit your X configuration file (usually <tt>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</tt>) and add these sections. There are chances that some entries for the tablet already exist - in this case, modify the existing entries. You need two almost identical sections that differ only by the "Type" option.

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "stylus"
Driver "wacom"
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom" # put the device name here as found above
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # This enables a special communication protocol
Option "Button2" "3" # This is the line you need for the stylus button to right click
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "stylus"
Driver "wacom"
Option "Type" "cursor"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"
Option "Button2" "3"
EndSection

If you want the stylus to function as a mouse, you will additionally need to modify the "ServerLayout" section of the file. Add the following two lines to the end of that section:

Inputdevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
Inputdevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"

There are three stylus-activated buttons to the left of the display which light up when the stylus is pressed against them. They are '''unsupported''' at this time. When they are pressed, they generate data on the same serial port, but the current Linux wacom driver does not handle it. See the Linux Wacom Project mailing lists for information regarding these buttons.

===Display===
====Rotation====

Given that the tablet was designed to be usable without a keyboard, and in an upright position, it's nice to be able to rotate the display 90 degrees. But, you guessed it, there are issues:

*Rotation is supported with an X.org window server (nearly all modern distributions use it) and nVidia proprietary drivers.
*You need to have a recent version of wacom-tools (at least 0.7.7) which supports on-the-fly rotation of stylus coordinates.

To support display rotation, do the following:

*Download and install wacom-tools. Ubuntu Gutsy has the required version in its repository. For Debian Etch you have to download a more recent version from the Linux Wacom Project's website.
*Use the automated installer [http://albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html Envy] to install the latest driver. If you don't want Compiz Fusion, you can as well use the Restricted Drivers Manager in Ubuntu to install a less recent version.
*In the "Module" section of your X configuration file, comment out Load "dri". Change the display device as follows:

Section "Device"
Identifier "NVIDIA Corporation NV17 [GeForce4 420 Go 32M]"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Driver "nvidia"
...
Option "RandRRotation" "true"
EndSection

Once you are set up, rotation can be accomplished via these terminal commands:

'''xrandr -o left'''
'''xsetwacom set stylus rotate ccw'''
'''xsetwacom set cursor rotate ccw'''

To get back to normal:

'''xrandr -o normal'''
'''xsetwacom set stylus rotate none'''
'''xsetwacom set cursor rotate none'''

==== Brightness ====

If you have a patched kernel (you can compile one as described above), you can adjust the screen's brightness. First execute this command:

echo 0 > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/bluetooth

You can now set the screen's brightness using the jog dial. After you set up the right brightness level, execute

echo 1 > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/bluetooth

to exit brightness adjustment mode. (This seems like a mislabelling to me)

==== Display TwinView ====

The official nVidia drivers are capable of driving two monitors. One is the tablet's LCD, and the other is anything attached to the 15 pin external VGA port. By default this port is a mirror of the LCD but it can be used to create a larger desktop.

Add the following to your "Device" section of xorg.conf to enable the larger desktop when an external monitor is detected on boot.

Option "TwinView"
Option "TwinViewOrientation" "RightOf"
Option "MetaModes" "CRT-0: 1280x1024, DFP-0: 1024x768; DFP-0: 1024x768"
Option "HorizSync" "CRT-0: 30-82; DFP-0: 40-70"
Option "VertRefresh" "CRT-0: 50-75; DFP-0: 60"

Your CRT refresh settings will probably be different. These work with my 17" LCD.

CRT refers to any device attached to the external port. DFP refers to the tablet's LCD. This works if the tablet is to the right of the monitor. If you're setup is different, change RightOf to LeftOf. Play with the settings to get the gdm login on the correct screen. I prefer that it's on CRT when I'm at my desk.

Read the nvidia README.txt for more information and some troubleshooting tips.

=== Sound ===

The Intel sound card works out of the box with recent Debian and Ubuntu releases. The only confusing issue is that the built-in speakers are not turned off when a headphone jack is plugged in. This is because headphone volume is independent from master volume. To correct this in GNOME, do the following:

* Right-click on the volume control icon in the panel and click on Open Volume Control.
* From the menu choose Edit->Preferences.
* Tick the checkbox Headphone Jack Sense and close the menu.
* Go to the Switches tab and enable Headphone Jack Sense.

Now the speakers should turn off when you plug in a headphone jack.

=== Side buttons ===

There are several buttons on top of the tablet, labeled "Q", "tab", etc. They generate custom keycodes and can be configured to do various things. To find the keycodes of those buttons, run <code>xev</code> and press them - the keycode will be present in the event dump. The keys can be assigned to arbitrary programs or scripts using xbindkeys. By binding them to xvkbd invoked with the -text parameter, you can also emulate arbitrary keypresses - see the xvkbd manual for details. In GNOME, you can also use System->Preferences->Keyboard Shortcuts to assign the buttons to some common things.

=== Other devices ===

In addition, special steps may need to be taken for the following:

*Infrared port
**disable ttyS1:
# setserial /dev/ttyS1 uart none
**then start the nsc-ircc driver
# modprobe nsc-ircc
# irattach irda0 -s
**IR Information from [http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/#irda here]
*Sandisk card reader
**This is based on the Texas Instruments PCI1620 chipset
*Modem

== Application Tips ==

=== Onscreen Keyboard at Login ===
Ubuntu users from 6.10 on can use the OnBoard virtual keyboard at the login prompt.
* Make sure that you are using the "plain" or "plain with face browser" (recommended) option from the System->Administration->Login Window menu item. Themed login windows will not work! You must also be sure that the title bar option is active.
* Run onboard as root to set the size of the keyboard (or it will entirely cover the login window).
$ sudo onboard
* Edit the /etc/X11/gdm/Init/Default or /etc/gdm/Init/Default (whichever exists) and add "onboard &" between the last "fi" and "exit 0"

# sudo gedit /etc/X11/gdm/Init/Default

fi
fi
'''onboard &'''
exit 0

The development branch of OnBoard has bigger letters, various bugfixes and, most importantly, allows to set its position and size on the command line. To obtain it:

$ sudo apt-get install bzr
$ sudo adduser ''your_username'' src
$ cd /usr/src
$ <nowiki>bzr branch http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~onboard/onboard/main</nowiki>
$ mv main onboard

After this, change the command at the end of gdm configuration file to something like

/usr/src/onboard/onboard -s 684x200 -x 170 -y 568 &

These values will display the keyboard roughly two thirds of the screen wide at the bottom. Tweak the numbers to your liking.

=== Rotation control for GNOME ===
There is a handy GNOME panel applet, [http://dekorte.homeip.net/download/grandr-applet/ Grandr].
Compile or install from the .deb then restart gnome-panel for it to show up in the applet selector
$ killall gnome-panel
It works well with TwinView setups too. Currently it does not rotate the stylus (this may be added to Grandr in future) but a small script can be run after login to periodically check the orientation and rotate the stylus accordingly.
*Create the following script
$ gedit ~/wacom-rotate.sh

#!/bin/sh
#Based on work from Patrick Coke & Tim Pope
#Modified for TC1100 by Francisco Athens

while xset q >/dev/null 2>&1; do
sleep 2 # Polling Interval, 2 seconds
orientation="`/usr/bin/X11/xrandr --query | /bin/grep 'Current rotation' | /usr/bin/awk '{print $4}'`"

if [ "$orientation" = "normal" ]; then
# Rotates the stylus cordinate plane back to normal
xsetwacom set "stylus" Rotate none
elif [ "$orientation" = "left" ]; then
# Rotates the stylus cordinate plane to left
xsetwacom set "stylus" Rotate ccw
elif [ "$orientation" = "right" ]; then
# Rotates the stylus cordinate plane to right
xsetwacom set "stylus" Rotate cw
fi
done

*Make the script executable
$ chmod 777 ~/wacom-rotate.sh
*Open System->Preferences->Sessions and add the script to your startup.

=== Compiz Fusion ===
TC1100's graphics card is capable of running Compiz Fusion with good performance. The instructions below are for Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy). Some of this may be relevant for other distributions as well.

* Install the nVidia binary driver. DO NOT use the Restricted Drivers Manager. If you have already installed the driver this way, uninstall it and reboot. Go to [http://albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html this website] and install Envy. Use it to install the latest nVidia driver (version at least 91.43).
* Go to System->Administration->Synaptic Package Manager and install the following packages:

compiz
compizconfig-settings-manager
emerald

* Compiz launcher arbitrarily requires at least 64MB of video RAM to run on nVidia cards. You can prefix the Compiz launching command with SKIP_CHECKS=yes, but if something goes wrong, you may end up with an unresponsive system.

* To make this change permanent, run <tt> mkdir -p ~/.config/compiz; echo SKIP_CHECKS=yes >> ~/.config/compiz/compiz-manager </tt>. Simply delete the file ~/.config/compiz/compiz-manager to undo it.

* Modify your X configuration file. Type <tt>gksu gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf</tt>

** Add the following options to the Device section (probably not all of them are necessary):

Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"

** Make sure the Module section has the following entries:

Load "bitmap"
Load "glx"

* Close all applications and restart the X server by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Backspace.
* Try if Compiz works. In a terminal, execute the following command. The --indirect-rendering option speeds up Compiz considerably. Do not use the --loose-binding option, it causes some windows not to refresh at all.

compiz --replace --indirect-rendering

* If everything went OK, the window borders should change after a while and some effects (like wobbly windows and desktop cube) should be enabled. To rotate the cube, hold down Ctrl+Alt+left mouse button and move the mouse around. You can start customizing Compiz by going to System->Preferences->Advanced Desktop Effects Settings.
* Because the card only has 32MB of memory, sometimes a window can turn black. If this happens, close some other windows and minimize and then unimimize the affected window.
* To make Compiz run at login, go to System->Preferences->Sessions and add it to startup programs.
* If you use applications that conflict with Compiz (like Google Earth) and sometimes need to switch back to Metacity, install the Fusion Icon. See [http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=3163821 this thread] for a link to the .deb installer.

== External links ==

=== General ===

*[http://www.debianslashrules.org/Hacking/TabletPC.html Debian on tc1100] (debian/rules)
*[http://groundstate.ca/TC1100 Debian on tc1100] (The Groundstate)
*[http://www.darlug.org/Members/ahornby/tc1100 Ubuntu on tc1100] (DarLUG)
*[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/NvidiaLaptopBinaryDriverSuspend Ubuntu Nvidia Driver Suspend Guide]
*[https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/34043 Ubuntu Nvidia ACPI Support Bugtracker] - May contain latest suspend issue developments
*[http://changelog.complete.org/taxonomy/term/28/9/ tc1100 tablet] (The ChangeLog)
*[http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/ Linux on a TC1100 Tabletpc] (Andy Schofield)
*[http://math.bu.edu/people/kayeats/computers/tc1100.html Debian on an HP/Compaq tc1100 tablet PC] (Shyish-person)
*[http://h20181.www2.hp.com/plmcontent/NACSC/Notebooks/15498_032805/rpt20d/default.htm HP/Compaq TC1000/TC1100 Service and Maintenance Guide] - very detailed hardware info with illustrations
*[http://satisfiedprogrammer.blogspot.com/2007/10/laptop-that-doesnt-get-hot-tc1100-is.html] - introductory description of TC1100.

=== Drivers and apps ===

The following list applies specifically to the tc1100. See [[Tablet PC]] for a more comprehensive list that applies to tablets in general.

*[http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/ Intel® PRO/Wireless 2100 Driver for Linux] (''ipw2100.sourceforge.net'')
*[http://groundstate.ca/tabatha Tabatha] (''groundstate.ca'')

Ext2

2005-08-20T01:27:09Z

Yath: /* Pros */

'''Ext2''', also called '''ext2fs''', standing for '''Second Extended Filesystem''', is a [[filesystem]] widely used as a default option by many Linux distributions. It provides standard Unix file semantics such as [[File permissions|file permissions]] and [[symbolic link|symbolic links]].

'''[[Ext3]]''' is an enhancement to the ext2 filesystem that adds [[journalling]] support to avoid having to perform a filesystem check after a power failure or system crash.

==Details==
*Max filename length is 255 characters. Extendable to 1012 if needed. No encoding, though distros seem to be converging on UTF-8.
*Percentage of disk reserved for root to prevent users filling drive.
*Large partition support.
*Filesystem checks can be forced by administrator on boot, plus after a set number of boots.
*Advanced disk check monitoring so known when there may be problems with disk.

==Utilities==
The utilities for the ext2 file system come in the [[e2fsprogs]] package, it consists of tools like [[resize2fs]], [[e2label]], [[tune2fs]] and many more.

==Pros==
* Stable,trusted, been around for a long time
* Not prone to file fragmentation

==Cons==
* No journaling (so if power is lost during a write, the filesystem may be corrupted)

==Usage in other OS==
*Microsoft [[Windows]]
**[http://ext2fsd.sourceforge.net/ ext2fsd]
**[http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/explore2fs.htm explore2fs]
**[http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/ext2ifs.htm ext2ifs]
**[http://www.fs-driver.org/index.html ext2 IFS for Windows]
{{stub}}

Gnome-panel

2005-08-17T20:43:30Z

Yath:

The Gnome panel is a desktop utility used to hold launchers, menus, and other small objects commonly known as "panel applets".

== External links ==

*[http://live.gnome.org/GnomePanel Gnome panel overview]
*[http://live.gnome.org/AppletsRevisited Discussion of panel applets]

LQWiki:License Proposal

2005-08-13T20:57:22Z

Yath:

The current objective of the LQ Wiki is to create the "largest general Linux knowledgebase on the web". To meet this goal, I think we'll need to embrace the fact that the Open Source community consists of documentation that is under multiple licenses. I am proposing that we add the ability to add GFDL content to the LQ Wiki. On a technical level, we'd do this by adding a GFDL namespace. All GFDL content would go here, while the main namespace would remain 100% CC by-sa. Of course, no mixing of content would be allowed. I'd like to get community feedback on this proposal before we implement this. Thoughts? [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 12:00, Aug 13, 2005 (EDT)

:It seems worth a try. Since CC-by-sa is the preferred license, how about one namespace for all content that's under other marginally-acceptable licenses? We can make templates to identify a page's specific license. That would probably work better than creating a new namespace for each one. Being in a separate namespace would be a big clue that the article's license isn't preferred, and the license-identification templates could have a link to a page explaining that fact (in addition to describing the license). --[[User:Yath|Yath]] 12:27, Aug 13, 2005 (EDT)

::I'm in favor of having a separate namespace for each license. This will help us easily identify which license an article in under, will make it clear to the article editor which license any content they use must be licensed under, will help prevent the mixing of licenses and will make exporting article by license easy. I think having a single namespace for all non-CC licenses would quickly get too confusing, and we'd also lose the ability to decide which licenses are indeed acceptable. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 13:39, Aug 13, 2005 (EDT)

:::Can you clarify whether you feel these non-CC-by-sa-licensed articles would be considered second-class articles, present only for completeness, or would the wiki simply be supporting several licenses simultaneously? If it's the latter, namespaces shouldn't be used for articles at all. That would put the article's license right in the title and be needlessly distracting. --[[User:Yath|Yath]] 16:57, Aug 13, 2005 (EDT)

LQWiki:License Proposal

2005-08-13T16:27:18Z

Yath:

XFce

2005-08-13T00:14:42Z

Yath: rv linkspam

"'''XFce''' is a lightweight [[Desktop_Environment | desktop environment]] for various *NIX systems.
Designed for productivity, it loads and executes applications fast, while conserving system resources."
Olivier Fourdan, creator of XFce.

It is great for any machine from low-end 486 systems to high-end workstations. It is similar to the [[CDE]] window manager used by most proprietary [[UNIX]] variants, but is based on the [[GTK]]+ toolkit used by [[GNOME]] and supports modern desktop standards, such as [[XFT]] for nice antialiased fonts.

A strong point of XFce is its ease of configuration - it is driven entirely by the mouse. The latest version features drag and drop, translations for numerous languages, including support for multi-byte character sets, and numerous other features.

The desktop environment includes a [[window manager]], called XFwm, the main panel, a file manager, a backdrop manager, a sound manager, a calendar, a pager module, and a [[GNOME]] compatibility module. Among other things this compatibility module allows applications to use the system tray in the same manner as they would with a GNOME (or other XEMBED-compliant) desktop.

==External Links==
[http://www.xfce.org/ XFce.org] - Official website, including documentation, mailing lists, a forum, a developer's blog and more.

Lo

2005-08-12T21:18:18Z

Yath: redirect loopback

#redirect [[loopback]]

Loopback

2005-08-12T21:17:43Z

Yath:

A '''loopback''' device is one that simply sends data back the way it came.

In [[networking]], the <tt>'''lo'''</tt> interface is the loopback interface.

TC1100

2005-08-12T06:54:32Z

Yath: /* Kernel patching */ explanation and build procedure

The HP/compaq '''tc1100''' is a [[Tablet PC]]. It has quite a few devices crammed into its small form factor. Getting them all to work in Linux can be quite a task.

== General ==

Using a recently-updated [[distribution]] with a [[2.6]]-series kernel is recommended. [[Ubuntu]] and [[Debian]] work pretty well.

This document is written to coincide with a particular Linux kernel; some of its pronouncements will be false with respect to other versions. For example, some hardware may be supported by default in the future.

These statments were made with respect to '''Linux 2.6.11'''.

== Kernel patching ==

With the vanilla kernel, the stylus and the IPW2100 wireless network adapter won't work. Even with a kernel source that has the IPW2100 driver added, it still won't work, because the tc1100 controls its transmitter power via ACPI, and thus it cannot be turned on without additional patching.

In addition to the IPW2100 driver, there are three patches to apply. They will enable the stylus for the Wacom tablet interface, and to turn on transmit power to the wireless network interace. They may be found [http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/ here].

Most recent kernels should be fine, with the exception of 2.6.11 and the entire 2.6.12 series. Thus, 2.6.10 is ok, as is anything from 2.6.11.1–2.6.11.12. The 2.6.11 kernel has a problem with the keyboard driver so that the side keys won't work, which was fixed in the very next release (see the [http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.11.1 2.6.11.1 changelog]). With a 2.6.12-series kernel, attempting to enable the IPW2100's transmitter will result in a serious kernel oops.

=== Procedure ===

These are Debian (or derivative distribution)-based instructions for building a kernel package as described above. They are somewhat abbreviated. For more information on using <code>make-kpkg</code>, see [http://newbiedoc.sourceforge.net/system/kernel-pkg.html Creating custom kernels with Debian's kernel-package system].

Make sure you have a build environment:

'''apt-get install gcc kernel-package libc6-dev tk8.3 libncurses5-dev fakeroot quota isdnutils-base nfs-common oprofile'''

Grab the Linux kernel source. (In Ubuntu, it is called "linux-source".) Version 2.6.10 or 2.6.11 is ok as of this writing, while 2.6.12 (the entire series) is not.

'''apt-get kernel-source-2.6.11'''

Do kernel building as non-root. Make it so your non-root account can write to <tt>/usr/src</tt>:

'''adduser ''username'' src'''
'''exit'''
'''cd /usr/src'''

Please note: we are expecting to receive a kernel source that has had the IPW2100 driver added. You can check for this by looking for the subdirectory <tt>drivers/net/wireless/ipw2100</tt>.

*extract the source tarball.
*if you used 2.6.11, apply the [http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/patch-2.6.11.1.gz 2.6.11.1 patch] (ignore the part that fails, as we won't be using that driver)
*apply the 3 patches found [http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/ here]
*copy your current kernel's config file from <tt>/boot</tt> to <tt>.config</tt>.

Do '''make oldconfig''' so that you will be asked about the drivers that you just added via patches. Build the Wacom driver builtin, and the ACPI WMI driver as a module, though it's probably ok to make them both modules.

Do '''make menuconfig''' and make sure the following drivers are built in (not modules). We are making them builtin here, because the current arrangement may be loading them via an initrd, but these instructions don't involve any initrd.

vesafb fbcon fan thermal unix pdc202xx_new aec62xx alim15x3
amd74xx atiixp cmd64x cs5520 cs5530 cy82c693 generic hpt34x
hpt366 ns87415 opti621 pdc202xx_old piix rz1000 sc1200
serverworks siimage sis5513 slc90e66 triflex trm290
via82cxxx ide-generic ide-disk

'''fakeroot make-kpkg clean'''
'''fakeroot make-kpkg --append-to-version=.''DATE'' kernel_image'''

Allow about 75 minutes for the package to build. It will be found in <tt>/usr/src</tt>. Then simply:

'''dpkg -i kernel-image-2.6.11.''DATE''_10.00.Custom_i386.deb'''

Grub should update itself and you can just '''reboot'''.

== The devices ==

=== Wireless ethernet ===

The device is an Intel IPW2100. There are two issues:

#It will not run without the firmware, which is non-free software. You must download the firmware and install it.
#It must be turned on, which can only be done with a patched kernel.

Take the following steps to enable it:

#Use a patched kernel (see above)
#Determine which version of the driver you are using by issuing <code>'''dmesg | grep ipw2100'''</code>
#Download the firmware from [http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/firmware.php here]
#Extract the firmware archive into <tt>/usr/lib/hotplug/firmware</tt>
#Enable its transmitter by issuing <code>'''echo "on" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan'''</code>

You may wish to cycle the ipw2100 driver just after installing the firmware, to make it work immediately.

Here's an example of some lines in <tt>/etc/network/interfaces</tt> that manage the wireless interface:

iface eth0 inet dhcp
pre-up echo "on" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan
post-down echo "off" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan
wireless-essid foo

=== Stylus ===

The stylus lets you use the tc1100 as a Wacom tablet. Issues are:

#You must patch the kernel to use it.
#You need wacom-tools.
#You need changes in the X configuration file.
#You need to enable it with '''echo "1" > /dev/ttyS4''' (or other device)

It's a serial device. It has been found at <tt>/dev/ttyS4</tt> and <tt>/dev/ttyS14</tt>. You must determine which device it inhabits on your tablet. <tt>'''dmesg | grep ttyS'''</tt> should give you enough clues to figure it out. It is probably ''not'' <tt>/dev/ttyS1</tt>.

Take the following steps to enable it:

#Use the patched kernel (see above).
#Install the [http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/ wacom tools]. (In Debian: <tt>'''apt-get install wacom-tools'''</tt>.)
#Modify your X configuration file (either <tt>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</tt> or <tt>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</tt>) ([http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/index.php/howto/x11 instructions]).
#Initialize the device: <tt>'''echo "1" > /dev/ttyS14'''</tt> (Note: it's possible that this command needs to be issued at boot time)
#Restart X, e.g. <tt>'''/etc/init.d/gdm restart'''</tt>

Now the stylus should move the mouse pointer around, and have multiple functions in [[GIMP|The GIMP]] depending on whether the button is pressed.

There are three stylus-activated buttons to the left of the display which light up when the stylus is pressed against them. They are '''unsupported''' at this time. When they are pressed, they generate data on the same serial port, but the current Linux wacom driver does not handle it. See: Linux Wacom Project [http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_id=7787065&forum_id=19621 mailing list thread] regarding these buttons.

=== Display rotation ===

Given that the tablet was designed to be usable without a keyboard, and in an upright position, it's nice to be able to rotate the display 90 degrees. But, you guessed it, there are issues:

*On-the-fly display rotation doesn't seem to be supported in XFree86. The x.org "nv" driver doesn't support it either. Nvidia's own X driver does, however.
*To use the stylus in rotated mode, the wacom driver needs to be aware of the change. It doesn't support that, but there is a patch.

To support display rotation, do the following:

*Download and install [http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_ia32_1.0-7174.html Nvidia's 7174 driver]. (You may need the Linux kernel source to be present during installation.) Answer yes to all of the installer's questions.
*In the "Module" section of your X configuration file, comment out Load "dri". Change the display device as follows:

Section "Device"
Identifier "NVIDIA Corporation NV17 [GeForce4 420 Go 32M]"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "NoLogo" "yes"
Option "NvAgp" "0"
Option "HWCursor" "yes"
Option "CursorShadow" "true"
Option "RandRRotation" "true"
EndSection

Compiling and installing patched Linux Wacom tools is, for the moment, left as an exercise to the reader (hints: you need the X source, the linuxwacom source, and [http://www.dtek.chalmers.se/~d00bring/misc/wacom-rotate-running.patch the patch]). Once complete, though, rotation can be accomplished like this:

'''xrandr -o left'''
'''xsetwacom set "stylus" Rotate CCW'''
'''xsetwacom set "cursor" Rotate CCW'''
'''xsetwacom set "eraser" Rotate CCW'''

To get back to normal:

'''xrandr -o normal'''
'''xsetwacom set "stylus" Rotate NONE'''
'''xsetwacom set "cursor" Rotate NONE'''
'''xsetwacom set "eraser" Rotate NONE'''

=== Side buttons ===

There are several buttons on top of the tablet, labeled "Q", "tab", etc. There have been reports that they generate keyboard events at <tt>/dev/input/event0</tt>.

=== Other devices ===

In addition, special steps may need to be taken for the following:

*Infrared port
*Sandisk card reader
*Portrait video mode
*Modem

== External links ==

=== General ===

*[http://www.debianslashrules.org/Hacking/TabletPC.html Debian on tc1100] (debian/rules)
*[http://groundstate.ca/TC1100 Debian on tc1100] (The Groundstate)
*[http://www.darlug.org/Members/ahornby/tc1100 Ubuntu on tc1100] (DarLUG)
*[http://changelog.complete.org/taxonomy/term/28/9/ tc1100 tablet] (The ChangeLog)
*[http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/ Linux on a TC1100 Tabletpc] (Andy Schofield)
*[http://math.bu.edu/people/kayeats/computers/tc1100.html Debian on an HP/Compaq tc1100 tablet PC] (Shyish-person)

=== Drivers and apps ===

The following list applies specifically to the tc1100. See [[Tablet PC]] for a more comprehensive list that applies to tablets in general.

*[http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/ Intel® PRO/Wireless 2100 Driver for Linux]
*[http://groundstate.ca/tabatha Tabatha] - pop-up menu

Tablet PC

2005-08-10T21:10:36Z

Yath: useful applications

A '''Tablet PC''' is a computer whose size and shape is generally similar to a tablet of paper (usually a little thicker)... thus, the name. The other critical aspect to being a Tablet PC is that you can write on the surface of the screen with a digital pen as an input device. The size, weight, and input mode means that the resulting computer is very portable, flexible in how it functions, and incorporates a new paradigm of how we interact with our computers.

== Useful applications ==

*[http://www.dklevine.com/general/software/tc1000/jarnal.htm Jarnal] - note-taking program
*[http://www.adebenham.com/gournal/ Gournal] - note-taking program
*[http://groundstate.ca/tabatha Tabatha] - pop-up menu
*[http://www.gok.ca/ GOK: Gnome Onscreen Keyboard] - virtual keyboard
*[http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/ xvkbd] - virtual keyboard
*[http://www.xstroke.org/ xstroke] - gesture-recognition program
*[http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/ Dasher] - gesture-driven text-entry interface
*[http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/ Matchbox] - a window environment for non-desktop embedded platforms
*[http://www.cs.queensu.ca/drl/ffes/ FFES] - The Freehand Formula Entry System
*[http://www.yudit.org/ Yudit] - Unicode text editor
*[http://dub.washington.edu/denim/ Denim] - pen-based web-design framework
*[http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/ Synergy] - share mouse/keyboard/clipboard between computers/OSes

== See also ==

*[[Hardware]]
*[[Laptop]]
*[[PDA]]
*[[tc1100]]

TC1100

2005-08-10T21:09:55Z

Yath: /* External links */ categorized

Talk:Main Page

2005-07-28T16:23:59Z

Yath: /* Article diffs hard to interpret */

Some older posts have been moved here: [[Talk:Main Page (archive)]] for purposes of readablity.

Where can I find Phpwiki? Because my website [http://www.paper-translation.com Academy Translation Web] is bulit by php and I want to add wiki to it.

==Suggestions for links==
* [[Open source operating systems]] BSD, etc.
* [[HOWTO]] section

* Where's the best place for cronic hardware/kernel problems? There is a largish problem revolving around APIC (not ACPI) timing issues under various linux kernels that cause the machine to freeze up hard. I'd like to add information about that, and I'm sure there are other cronic issues that deserve to have some space in the WIKI as well. -Scott Miller (5mi11er)

I'll answer in reverse order. I'd suggest creating a new hardware-and-kernel page, link to it from both the hardware and kernel page, and then link to your (new) APIC page. Your guess is as good as mine though, I've never even ''heard'' of APIC before. (I'm just barely miss being a Linux noob - the Dilbert Principle at work I guess :-)).

As for new links from the Main Page - the moderator's council (or whatever you want to call it) is currently discussing ways to implement Featured Pages. We've noticed that the Wikipedia (the uber-wiki) has a hierarchial, quasi-Table of Contents area which is similar to our current front page. However, this area is far towards the bottom of the front page, and I doubt it gets much use. What we think happened is that they started out with a quasi-TOC front page like ours, but then moved toward the current Featured Pages-dominated version of today. A quasi-TOC front page provides a skeleton for a young wiki to grow on, but as a wiki matures, it becomes harder to link to important articles. This is where Featured Pages comes in. The front page of a wiki is not a TOC, but rather a hub page that links out to the most important pages of the wiki.

So we're not ruling out new front page links by any means, but it might be wise to consider wether or not you would like a page as a Featured Page or a permament link. I will pass your suggestion along to the rest of the council. Any other moderators want to weigh in?

Anyway, welcome to the LQwiki. A obviously experienced Linux user like yourself is a welcome addition. You might want to sign your posts with four tildes - the wiki engine will translate it to a link to your userpage and a timestamp. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 03:03, Aug 25, 2004 (EDT)

==Spam links==
Just deleted what appeared to be spam links to german horoscope sites. If those were legit, someone let me know. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 03:19, Jul 3, 2004 (EDT)
:That's ok - In order to assess the appropriateness of material, all content must currently be in English, and any external sites which are linked to must also be English language based - [[LQWiki:Policies#General_policies|General policies]]

:-- [[User:Skyline|Skyline]] 06:23, Jul 3, 2004 (EDT)

==Advocacy article==
Should there be an Advocacy section linked from the Main Page?
--[[User:Bunyip|Bunyip]] 08:52, Jul 23, 2004 (EDT)

===Importing Advocacy article from Linux Documentation Project===
[[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 11:54, Jul 23, 2004 (EDT):Perhaps, but an Advocacy article doesn't exist yet. There's an advocacy article over at the [[Linux Documentation Project]], but we would have to get permission from the author of the article, because it looks like their license is not compatible with Creative Commons. Here's the copyright info:

===TLDP Advocacy HOWTO's copyright information===
This mini-HOWTO is Copyright © 1996-2000 by Paul L. Rogers. All rights reserved.

A verbatim copy may be reproduced or distributed in any medium physical or electronic without permission of the author. Translations are similarly permitted without express permission if it includes a notice on who translated it.

Short quotes may be used without prior consent by the author. Derivative work and partial distributions of the Advocacy mini-HOWTO must be accompanied with either a verbatim copy of this file or a pointer to the verbatim copy.

Commercial redistribution is allowed and encouraged; however, the author would like to be notified of any such distributions.

In short, we wish to promote dissemination of this information through as many channels as possible. However, we do wish to retain copyright on the HOWTO documents, and would like to be notified of any plans to redistribute the HOWTOs.

We further want that all information provided in the HOWTOs is disseminated. If you have questions, please contact Tim Bynum, the Linux HOWTO coordinator, at linux-howto@sunsite.unc.edu.

===Responses===
: The "Derivative work and partial distributions of the Advocacy mini-HOWTO must be accompanied with either a verbatim copy of this file or a pointer to the verbatim copy" bit would seem to indicate that we could add the HOWTO(s) to the wiki (it would become a "Derivative work" after the first edit), as long as we include a link to the original verbatim copy, which should not be a problem.
: [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 15:27, Jul 23, 2004 (EDT)

:Yes, but could we in good faith release it under the Creative Commons and let others reuse it from us? I think you might be right, but I would feel better if we got explicit permission from the author. At least there is a single author, unlike most Wikipedia articles. I was planning on trying to incorporate TLDP HOWTOs, as soon as I got to a certain point in the [[Jargon File]] incorporation, so I've had some time to think about this. Do you have any contacts at TLDP, or should I just email the guy myself? [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 18:34, Jul 23, 2004 (EDT)

===TLDP manifesto===
:: Looking at http://www.tldp.org/manifesto.html I see:
"5. LICENSE REQUIREMENTS

Anyone may copy and distribute (sell or give away) LDP documents (or other LDP works) in any media and/or format. No fees are required to be paid to the authors. It is not required that the documents be modifiable, but it is encouraged.

You can come up with your own license terms that satisfy these conditions, or you can use a previously prepared license. The LDP has a boilerplate license that you can use if you wish. Some people like to use the GPL, while others write their own. There is a project underway to create a special GPL license just for documents and this may turn out to be a good choice.

The copyright for each document should be in the name of the principal authors. "The Linux Documentation Project" isn't a formal entity and thus can't be used as a copyright owner. "

===Responses===
::This seems to fit exactly in with what we want to do. I'll contact TLDP just to verify, however. I'll post the outcome here.
:: [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 00:53, Jul 24, 2004 (EDT)
::: After discussing this with TLDP, I am going to revisit the ability to add GFDL items to the LQ Wiki. Stay tuned. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 12:17, Jul 25, 2004 (EDT)

How would that work? I thought that the Creative Commons/GFDL incompatibility was pretty well established. "East is East and West is West, and ne'er the twain shall meet." As the GFDL and the CC are presently written, material under one can't be released under the other without the permission of the copyright holder (the original author in most cases). There's rumors that the FSF and the Creative Commons people are working on that issue, but until then, we're pretty well stuck with just asking for permission. Not that I would ''mind'' an easier solution, but I just don't think it's possible.[[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 16:40, Jul 26, 2004 (EDT)

:It would work something like this. When you enter in a doc, there would be a "this is GFDL" checkbox. That doc would then be under the GFDL and *not* the CC. There are a few problems with this, and it could get complicated quite quickly, so It's not a definite addition at this point, just somehting we are exploring. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 17:50, Jul 26, 2004 (EDT)

Hmmm. That would be possible if it was a new article, and that the changes made to it were also GFDLed. But it would lead to some articles being GFDL, some being CC. A hack, but we're kinda in a corner. I think we'd still be better off contacting the original authors and getting CC permission, since this would increase the number of options available to downstream users (they would be able to use our version under the CC and the original under the GFDL), but I'd be willing to go along if there is consensus for it. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 15:32, Jul 27, 2004 (EDT)

Jeremy, if you're still seriously considering dual-licensing, you might want to look at this first: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Creative_commons_migration Keep in mind that I did not seriously expect this to be accepted, I was more trying to raise awareness of the problem. I would not have even suggested it if I hadn't (which I still do!) believed that the Creative Commons by-sa license is superior to the GFDL. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 19:06, Aug 2, 2004 (EDT)

----
How about changing the notice at the bottom of each edit page to ... "WITHOUT PERMISSION from the authors to post under LQWiki's [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0/ Creative Commons] license." You should add that each page is owned by the authors listed in its history. [[User:TomFrayne|TomFrayne]] 09:58, Jul 24, 2004 (EDT)

===Crazyeddie's extended post===
(added sectioning for readability) That would be an ugly hack. I think I'd rather roll our own HOWTOs than go through that. Anyway, I'm looking at this from the point of view of a general solution rather than just importing this one article. Some reasons I think we should contact the article authors and ask for explicit permission:
#The Manifesto is a suggestion or a guideline for the TLDP contributors to use when deciding what licensing scheme to use. It doesn't look like they're too big on enforcing it, or at least a few of the older articles didn't even bother appending a license. It is not a license in and of itself.
#Even if the contributors do follow the Manifesto's guidelines, they don't have to allow modifications.
#They may have released in under a copyleft modifiable license that isn't compatible with the Creative Commons such as the GFDL. I'm not sure, but I don't think the GPL is Creative Commons compatible either.
#Like the manifesto says, the LDP is not the copyright holder, so they can't unilaterally give permission.
#Even if we could use an article without permission, it would be good form to tell the author about it. For example, if the author can no longer maintain or host the original, he or she could tell their users where they could go to get an updated copy. It occurs to me that the LDP could see us as competition. It might be a good idea to stress that they can backport any changes under the Creative Commons. Anybody else have any ideas that might smooth the path?
#Letting an experienced technical writer know about this wiki is a Good Thing. This subproject gives us a good excuse.

:If you would like to start contacting authors of articles you think should be added, please feel free to do so. If you need anything from our end, let me know. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 17:54, Jul 26, 2004 (EDT)

:Okay. I'll use [[Talk:Linux Documentation Project]] as a sort of improvised "command center" in case somebody else wants to help out/take over. A good first step would be to send off a general email to their mailing list. (I'll make sure that I mention that I'm doing this as my own intiative, not as an 'offical' LQwiki project.) If you don't think it's confidental or something, could you send me a copy of the correspondence you had with them? After the general email, I'll try contacting the Advocacy HOWTO's author. If anybody has suggestions on what to incorporate next, head over to the LDP talk and let me know. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 15:23, Jul 27, 2004 (EDT)

:I have a draft email up on [[Talk:Linux Documentation Project]]. Please go idiotproof it everybody! [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 16:14, Jul 27, 2004 (EDT)

::Seems completely idiotless. :) [[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 17:17, Jul 27, 2004 (EDT)

I'm placing the email on hold until I can rewrite it, to reflect my promotion to moderator. (Since I'm now moderator, it pretty much has to be an offical LQwiki project.) Also, it occurs to me that Grokdoc might want in on this. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 19:10, Aug 2, 2004 (EDT)

:Have a list of LDP howtos up over at [[Talk:Linux Documentation Project]]. Take a look over and let me know if there is a howto you want me to put on the to-do list. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 18:50, Jul 28, 2004 (EDT)

::Seems like to me the best principle would just be to prioritize them into 'niche interest' and 'outdated for a reason' and then take the remaining generally important and relevant topics and do them in chronological order. A major problem is outdated data and attacking that first would probably be most useful and most suited to wikification. Also, those authors who have abandoned or rarely update their topics might be the most receptive to passing on the maintenance of them, including relicensing or whatever it takes. [[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 22:31, Jul 28, 2004 (EDT)

:But on the other hand, abandoned or rarely updated documents also will be the hardest to get permission for. But I get your drift. I'll go over the list myself tomorrow, but I would like to know if there is any particular ones people want. This is going to take long enough that there is no reason to stick to any particular method if there's one that somebody really wants. I'll rig up some sort of voting system I suppose. I've already taken off some "removed for review" entries and I'm going to go back and remove some internationilization howtos, since those are usually written in a different language. (I'll also replace the sectioning with bullet points - didn't realize how ugly it would look until I was halfway through.) [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 01:31, Jul 29, 2004 (EDT)

Okay, voting is setup (kinda). [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 19:10, Aug 2, 2004 (EDT)

==Disclaimer==
A bit off the main topic, but one thing I noticed over at the TLDP... It might be wise to have a "No Warranty, As Is" type notice at the bottom of the page, down in the copyright notices. Unlike the Wikipedia (who have a similar notice, but a bit more buried) we're handing out documentation which could cause serious damage if used improperly, or if it is incorrect. In addition to it being a just plain good idea, some of the TLDP articles have that as their sole condition for modification and redistribution. If we actually do have something like that already, well, my friends don't call me "Captain Oblivious" for nothing. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 13:24, Jul 24, 2004 (EDT)

:Good idea - a disclaimer has been added. Thanks. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 12:41, Jul 25, 2004 (EDT)

I've edited it to include contributors under the "don't sue us!" umbrella. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 18:48, Aug 2, 2004 (EDT)

==Forum Revisited==
Several people have asked about a general LQwiki discussion forum. Does anybody have any objections to using this talk page as such a forum? [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 14:02, Jul 24, 2004 (EDT)

== wiki software link ==

Is there a link on the main page or somewhere at the bottom where people can see what wiki software is being used here. It might be nice to link to the software's homepage, assuming it is free. I looks mostly like the software used on wikipedia, with some very nice modifications. --[[User:Paraphelion|Paraphelion]] 06:50, Feb 9, 2005 (EST)

: We do infact use MediaWiki, which is mentioned in the [[LQWiki:FAQ|FAQ]]. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 11:31, Feb 10, 2005 (EST)

:: Where is the FAQ linked? It might be nice to also mention this information in "About LQ Wiki", especially because the link is on each page. There's no reason not to have it in both. I'm surprised that the FAQ isn't linked on the about page. --[[User:Paraphelion|Paraphelion]] 02:54, Feb 15, 2005 (EST)

Could we open up our modifications to the community? It seems like there is some interest in them, and it's possible that some downstream users will make modifications that we might find useful... 15:24, Feb 10, 2005 (EST)

: At this time we realistically don't have the resources to support a release. More and more, the changes are mostly cosmetic and not functional anyway. What we will definitely do moving forward is push bug fixes (and features if there is interest) upstream so that everyone can benefit. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 22:57, Feb 10, 2005 (EST)

I'm not suggesting a full release. I'm suggesting making our patches available. For the spellchecker, for example. Last I heard, MediaWiki is reluctant to uptake spellchecking because Wikipedia servers can't handle the load. (Or at least that's what the rumors say.) If enough downstream users show an interest, I think they might change their minds. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 03:23, Feb 11, 2005 (EST)

I remember that our modifications aren't in patch form... Could we possibly give read-only access to our cvs? Are we using a cvs? [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 03:41, Feb 11, 2005 (EST)

: CVS is not used for the LQ Wiki. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 16:51, Feb 11, 2005 (EST)

How about just an archive of our current PHP code? Surely y'all make backups? [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 17:26, Feb 11, 2005 (EST)

: As I mentioned earlier, just releasing the code without being able to support it in any way is probably not in anyones best interest. Aside from that, I don't want it to be seen as a fork, which it isn't. Users will get 100% of the benefits by us pushing bugfixes upstream. If there is interest in the spell checker (or anything else we have here) upstream we'd be more than happy to push that too. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 10:07, Feb 13, 2005 (EST)

I'm not talking about a formal fork, with the support and code maintenance involved. I'm talking about an open documentation project, based on open source software, making its modifications to that software public.

Ideally, since we're only making modifications, not a full fork, we should make those modifications available in the form of patches. In addition to being helpful for third-party users of MediaWiki software, it would help us when it comes time for us to upgrade to the next MediaWiki release, and it would make it easier for MediaWiki to upload our modifications. I fully agree that getting MediaWiki to upload our mods is the best solution, since that would mean that we would no longer have to maintain the code ourselves.

The current method of handing out our modifications, which consists of: "email Jeremy, and he'll fish out the bit you need and email it to you" is not convenient for either party. I think I've seen about six requests for our code in wiki, and I doubt that many requests have made it to you.

As I said, I think the ideal solution is to make our modifications available in patch form. But I realize that such a move would probably involve a lot of work, and I'm trying to suggest a compromise solution. Instead of having to exchange emails, all you would have to do is grunt "Code's over there. Help yourself." We should make it clear that we don't support the code, we're just handing it out to anybody who wants it. If somebody finds a bug, they can tell us about it, but we'll probably only fix it if the bug directly affects us. Patches would be welcome.

Our main added feature is spellchecking. There has been some interest in a spellchecking feature over at the Wikipedia. However, spellchecking would put an additional strain on their servers, so they haven't rolled their own yet. I think MediaWiki would only put in spellchecking as an optional feature if there was strong interest downstream. Some downstream wikis using an experimental and unsupported spellchecker would be a strong argument in favor of formal inclusion of a spellchecker option.

Something similar could be said for any additional feature we might make in the future. If we're adding the feature ourselves, then there is probably some reason why it isn't in the MediaWiki code already, and it will only be added as an option if there is strong downstream interest. The existance of a patch would no doubt help.

Even if one of our modifications is cosmetic, and not worthy of being included in MediaWiki, we should still make it available. There is no telling what an administrator might find helpful.

The LQwiki's main need right now is additional contributors, ideally ones with experience in Linux and/or wikis. Having wiki patches available would give us greater visibility in the wiki community, especially with administrators.

We might even attract some additional administration staff, who might be willing to help with other LQ projects.

Lastly, I think that providing documentation for wiki administration falls under the subject matter of this wiki. I don't think it's a stretch to include wiki code cookbooks. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 15:46, Feb 13, 2005 (EST)

We would not be providing a sealed software package to a helpless user. We would be providing prewritten cookbook code to an administrator, who would hopefully have the coding skills needed to modify our code to their own situation. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 17:00, Feb 13, 2005 (EST)

Because MediaWiki is distributed under the GPL, you MUST make your modifications available to the public in some manner. A good reason to roll your changes back into the original is so that you don't have to re-patch your code whenever you want to upgrade to the new version. [[User:Xxxyyy|Xxxyyy]] 19:28, Mar 10, 2005 (EST)

Correction, we only have to provide the code if we redistribute the program. That's my understanding, at least. If we were handing out or selling binaries we would have to make the code available at no more cost than the cost of physically creating the media. Since we ''aren't'' handing out binaries, but only using the MediaWiki engine internally, we aren't required by the GPL to hand out code. Google, for example, uses Linux to power their proprietary search engine magic. They, or so I have heard, did make modifications to Fedora Linux in order to use it in their operations, but since they only use it internally, they don't have to hand out their top-secret secret sauce.

I just happen to think that handing out our modifications is a good idea. To a certain extent, Jeremy agrees with me. Where we differ is how to go about it.

Jeremy would love to roll back our changes to MediaWiki. Problem is, most of our changes are cosmetic, only of use to us - or so we think, no telling what another wiki-admin might do with it. MediaWiki hasn't shown much interest in adapting our changes that aren't cosmetic. The main example being the spellchecker. (Making our code more easily available might change that though.)

I'm supporting making our code available to anyone who passes by. Right now, you could get the code by emailing Jeremy (I think, don't quote me on that), but that's not exactly convenient for anybody concerened.

Jeremy is worried that if we make our code easily available, people will think we're doing our own offical fork, and expect us to maintain it and provide support. Our coding room, which consists of exactly two part-time coders, who also keep the entire LQ site up and running, simply doesn't have the resources to do that.

I'd like some compromise plan - make our modifications easily available, but also stave off any requests for support with a clear, upfront, STFU. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 03:43, Mar 11, 2005 (EST)

== Article diffs hard to interpret ==

Is there some reason that the diffs in this wiki are so different in appearance from the default? The color highlighting seems to be completely missing, and looking at the diffs isn't nearly as useful as a result. --[[User:Yath|Yath]] 16:04, Jul 26, 2005 (EDT)

:Thanks for the feedback Yath. I'll look into this. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 09:18, Jul 27, 2005 (EDT)

::This has been fixed - Thanks again. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 11:34, Jul 27, 2005 (EDT)

:::Thanks that's much better. --[[User:Yath|Yath]] 12:23, Jul 28, 2005 (EDT)

Talk:Main Page

2005-07-26T20:04:31Z

Yath: Article diffs hard to interpret

2005-07-26T19:54:10Z

Yath: removed statement of "feature" which doesn't apply to more

<code>'''more'''</code> is a [[pager]] similar to <code>[[less]]</code> but, as less is more, more is less. Its primary limitation is an inability to scroll backwards through pipes (though versions can scroll backwards through files with '''b''' or '''^B'''). In almost any case, <code>less</code> (which is probably the default pager, anyway) is the better tool to use.

Less

2005-07-26T19:49:45Z

Yath: much rewriting

<code>'''less'''</code> is the name of a popular and common [[pager]]. As such, it facilitates browsing through large amounts of text. At one time, <code>[[more]]</code> was the canonical pager; <code>less</code> was developed as a more powerful alternative. It is ironically named, because "less is more". Both tools are usually included in modern Linux distributions.

Many commands produce reams of output, often scrolling by too quickly to be readable. Also, many text files are larger than the physical screen or current terminal window. The intent of a [[pager]] is to let the user browse such text at his own pace. The original <code>more</code> only let you advance to the next page, and the standard current <code>more</code> only allows backwards scrolling through files on disk and not through pipes. One of <code>less</code>'s advantages is that it buffers the text as much as possible, letting you scroll backward or forward through files or piped data. In either program, you can search for patterns in the text, or even edit it using your favorite [[editor]].

==External links==

*[http://man.linuxquestions.org/index.php?query=less&section=0&type=2 less man page]
*[http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/ less homepage]

TC1100

2005-07-22T22:39:32Z

Yath: +Display rotation

The HP/compaq tc1100 is a tablet PC. It has quite a few devices crammed into its small form factor. Getting them all to work in Linux can be quite a task.

== General ==

Using a recently-updated distribution with a 2.6-series kernel is recommended. [[Ubuntu]] and [[Debian]] work pretty well.

This document is written to coincide with a particular Linux kernel; some of its pronouncements will be false with respect to other versions. For example, some hardware may be supported by default in the future.

These statments were made with respect to '''Linux 2.6.11'''.

== Kernel patching ==

There are three kernel patches. Their purposes are to enable the stylus for the Wacom tablet interface, and to turn on transmit power to the wireless network interace. They may be found here: http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/

== The devices ==

=== Wireless ethernet ===

The device is an Intel IPW2100. There are two issues:

#It will not run without the firmware, which is non-free software. You must download the firmware and install it.
#It must be turned on, which can only be done with a patched kernel.

Take the following steps to enable it:

#Use a patched kernel (see above)
#Determine which version of the driver you are using by issuing <code>'''dmesg | grep ipw2100'''</code>
#Download the firmware from http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/firmware.php
#Extract the firmware archive into <tt>/usr/lib/hotplug/firmware</tt>
#Enable its transmitter by issuing <code>'''echo "on" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan'''</code>

You may wish to cycle the ipw2100 driver just after installing the firmware, to make it work immediately.

Here's an example of some lines in <tt>/etc/network/interfaces</tt> that manage the wireless interface:

iface eth0 inet dhcp
pre-up echo "on" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan
post-down echo "off" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan
wireless-essid foo

=== Stylus ===

The stylus lets you use the tc1100 as a Wacom tablet. Issues are:

#You must patch the kernel to use it.
#You need wacom-tools.
#You need changes in the X configuration file.
#You need to enable it with '''echo "1" > /dev/ttyS4''' (or other device)

It's a serial device. It has been found at <tt>/dev/ttyS4</tt> and <tt>/dev/ttyS14</tt>. You must determine which device it inhabits on your tablet. <tt>'''dmesg | grep ttyS'''</tt> should give you enough clues to figure it out. It is probably ''not'' <tt>/dev/ttyS1</tt>.

Take the following steps to enable it:

#Use the patched kernel (see above).
#Install the [http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/ wacom tools]. (In Debian: <tt>'''apt-get install wacom-tools'''</tt>.)
#Modify your X configuration file (either <tt>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</tt> or <tt>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</tt>) ([http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/index.php/howto/x11 instructions]).
#Initialize the device: <tt>'''echo "1" > /dev/ttyS14'''</tt> (Note: it's possible that this command needs to be issued at boot time)
#Restart X, e.g. <tt>'''/etc/init.d/gdm restart'''</tt>

Now the stylus should move the mouse pointer around, and have multiple functions in [[GIMP|The GIMP]] depending on whether the button is pressed.

There are three stylus-activated buttons to the left of the display which light up when the stylus is pressed against them. They are '''unsupported''' at this time. When they are pressed, they generate data on the same serial port, but the current Linux wacom driver does not handle it. See: Linux Wacom Project [http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_id=7787065&forum_id=19621 mailing list thread] regarding these buttons.

=== Display rotation ===

Given that the tablet was designed to be usable without a keyboard, and in an upright position, it's nice to be able to rotate the display 90 degrees. But, you guessed it, there are issues:

*On-the-fly display rotation doesn't seem to be supported in XFree86. The x.org "nv" driver doesn't support it either. Nvidia's own X driver does, however.
*To use the stylus in rotated mode, the wacom driver needs to be aware of the change. It doesn't support that, but there is a patch.

To support display rotation, do the following:

*Download and install [http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_ia32_1.0-7174.html Nvidia's 7174 driver]. (You may need the Linux kernel source to be present during installation.) Answer yes to all of the installer's questions.
*In the "Module" section of your X configuration file, comment out Load "dri". Change the display device as follows:

Section "Device"
Identifier "NVIDIA Corporation NV17 [GeForce4 420 Go 32M]"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "NoLogo" "yes"
Option "NvAgp" "0"
Option "HWCursor" "yes"
Option "CursorShadow" "true"
Option "RandRRotation" "true"
EndSection

Compiling and installing patched Linux Wacom tools is, for the moment, left as an exercise to the reader (hints: you need the X source, the linuxwacom source, and [http://www.dtek.chalmers.se/~d00bring/misc/wacom-rotate-running.patch the patch]). Once complete, though, rotation can be accomplished like this:

'''xrandr -o left'''
'''xsetwacom set "stylus" Rotate CCW'''
'''xsetwacom set "cursor" Rotate CCW'''
'''xsetwacom set "eraser" Rotate CCW'''

To get back to normal:

'''xrandr -o normal'''
'''xsetwacom set "stylus" Rotate NONE'''
'''xsetwacom set "cursor" Rotate NONE'''
'''xsetwacom set "eraser" Rotate NONE'''

=== Side buttons ===

There are several buttons on top of the tablet, labeled "Q", "tab", etc. There have been reports that they generate keyboard events at <tt>/dev/input/event0</tt>.

=== Other devices ===

In addition, special steps may need to be taken for the following:

*Infrared port
*Sandisk card reader
*Portrait video mode
*Modem

== External links ==

*[http://www.debianslashrules.org/Hacking/TabletPC.html Debian on tc1100] (debian/rules)
*[http://groundstate.ca/TC1100 Debian on tc1100] (The Groundstate)
*[http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/ Intel® PRO/Wireless 2100 Driver for Linux]
*[http://www.darlug.org/Members/ahornby/tc1100 Ubuntu on tc1100] (DarLUG)
*[http://changelog.complete.org/taxonomy/term/28/9/ tc1100 tablet] (The ChangeLog)
*[http://www.dklevine.com/general/software/tc1000/jarnal.htm Jarnal]
*[http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/ Linux on a TC1100 Tabletpc] (Andy Schofield)
*[http://math.bu.edu/people/kayeats/computers/tc1100.html Debian on an HP/Compaq tc1100 tablet PC] (Shyish-person)

TC1100

2005-07-22T20:41:57Z

Yath: /* External links */ Removing unrelated tc1000 link

The HP/compaq tc1100 is a tablet PC. It has quite a few devices crammed into its small form factor. Getting them all to work in Linux can be quite a task.

== General ==

Using a recently-updated distribution with a 2.6-series kernel is recommended. [[Ubuntu]] and [[Debian]] work pretty well.

This document is written to coincide with a particular Linux kernel; some of its pronouncements will be false with respect to other versions. For example, some hardware may be supported by default in the future.

These statments were made with respect to '''Linux 2.6.11'''.

== Kernel patching ==

There are three kernel patches. Their purposes are to enable the stylus for the Wacom tablet interface, and to turn on transmit power to the wireless network interace. They may be found here: http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/

== The devices ==

=== Wireless ethernet ===

The device is an Intel IPW2100. There are two issues:

#It will not run without the firmware, which is non-free software. You must download the firmware and install it.
#It must be turned on, which can only be done with a patched kernel.

Take the following steps to enable it:

#Use a patched kernel (see above)
#Determine which version of the driver you are using by issuing <code>'''dmesg | grep ipw2100'''</code>
#Download the firmware from http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/firmware.php
#Extract the firmware archive into <tt>/usr/lib/hotplug/firmware</tt>
#Enable its transmitter by issuing <code>'''echo "on" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan'''</code>

You may wish to cycle the ipw2100 driver just after installing the firmware, to make it work immediately.

Here's an example of some lines in <tt>/etc/network/interfaces</tt> that manage the wireless interface:

iface eth0 inet dhcp
pre-up echo "on" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan
post-down echo "off" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan
wireless-essid foo

=== Stylus ===

The stylus lets you use the tc1100 as a Wacom tablet. Issues are:

#You must patch the kernel to use it.
#You need wacom-tools.
#You need changes in the X configuration file.
#You need to enable it with '''echo "1" > /dev/ttyS4''' (or other device)

It's a serial device. It has been found at <tt>/dev/ttyS4</tt> and <tt>/dev/ttyS14</tt>. You must determine which device it inhabits on your tablet. <tt>'''dmesg | grep ttyS'''</tt> should give you enough clues to figure it out. It is probably ''not'' <tt>/dev/ttyS1</tt>.

Take the following steps to enable it:

#Use the patched kernel (see above).
#Install the [http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/ wacom tools]. (In Debian: <tt>'''apt-get install wacom-tools'''</tt>.)
#Modify your X configuration file (either <tt>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</tt> or <tt>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</tt>) ([http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/index.php/howto/x11 instructions]).
#Initialize the device: <tt>'''echo "1" > /dev/ttyS14'''</tt> (Note: it's possible that this command needs to be issued at boot time)
#Restart X, e.g. <tt>'''/etc/init.d/gdm restart'''</tt>

Now the stylus should move the mouse pointer around, and have multiple functions in [[GIMP|The GIMP]] depending on whether the button is pressed.

There are three stylus-activated buttons to the left of the display which light up when the stylus is pressed against them. They are '''unsupported''' at this time. When they are pressed, they generate data on the same serial port, but the current Linux wacom driver does not handle it. See: Linux Wacom Project [http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_id=7787065&forum_id=19621 mailing list thread] regarding these buttons.

=== Side buttons ===

There are several buttons on top of the tablet, labeled "Q", "tab", etc. There have been reports that they generate keyboard events at <tt>/dev/input/event0</tt>.

=== Other devices ===

In addition, special steps may need to be taken for the following:

*Infrared port
*Sandisk card reader
*Portrait video mode
*Modem

== External links ==

*[http://www.debianslashrules.org/Hacking/TabletPC.html Debian on tc1100] (debian/rules)
*[http://groundstate.ca/TC1100 Debian on tc1100] (The Groundstate)
*[http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/ Intel® PRO/Wireless 2100 Driver for Linux]
*[http://www.darlug.org/Members/ahornby/tc1100 Ubuntu on tc1100] (DarLUG)
*[http://changelog.complete.org/taxonomy/term/28/9/ tc1100 tablet] (The ChangeLog)
*[http://www.dklevine.com/general/software/tc1000/jarnal.htm Jarnal]
*[http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/ Linux on a TC1100 Tabletpc] (Andy Schofield)
*[http://math.bu.edu/people/kayeats/computers/tc1100.html Debian on an HP/Compaq tc1100 tablet PC] (Shyish-person)

TC1100

2005-07-22T19:47:39Z

Yath: /* External links */

The HP/compaq tc1100 is a tablet PC. It has quite a few devices crammed into its small form factor. Getting them all to work in Linux can be quite a task.

== General ==

Using a recently-updated distribution with a 2.6-series kernel is recommended. [[Ubuntu]] and [[Debian]] work pretty well.

This document is written to coincide with a particular Linux kernel; some of its pronouncements will be false with respect to other versions. For example, some hardware may be supported by default in the future.

These statments were made with respect to '''Linux 2.6.11'''.

== Kernel patching ==

There are three kernel patches. Their purposes are to enable the stylus for the Wacom tablet interface, and to turn on transmit power to the wireless network interace. They may be found here: http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/

== The devices ==

=== Wireless ethernet ===

The device is an Intel IPW2100. There are two issues:

#It will not run without the firmware, which is non-free software. You must download the firmware and install it.
#It must be turned on, which can only be done with a patched kernel.

Take the following steps to enable it:

#Use a patched kernel (see above)
#Determine which version of the driver you are using by issuing <code>'''dmesg | grep ipw2100'''</code>
#Download the firmware from http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/firmware.php
#Extract the firmware archive into <tt>/usr/lib/hotplug/firmware</tt>
#Enable its transmitter by issuing <code>'''echo "on" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan'''</code>

You may wish to cycle the ipw2100 driver just after installing the firmware, to make it work immediately.

Here's an example of some lines in <tt>/etc/network/interfaces</tt> that manage the wireless interface:

iface eth0 inet dhcp
pre-up echo "on" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan
post-down echo "off" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan
wireless-essid foo

=== Stylus ===

The stylus lets you use the tc1100 as a Wacom tablet. Issues are:

#You must patch the kernel to use it.
#You need wacom-tools.
#You need changes in the X configuration file.
#You need to enable it with '''echo "1" > /dev/ttyS4''' (or other device)

It's a serial device. It has been found at <tt>/dev/ttyS4</tt> and <tt>/dev/ttyS14</tt>. You must determine which device it inhabits on your tablet. <tt>'''dmesg | grep ttyS'''</tt> should give you enough clues to figure it out. It is probably ''not'' <tt>/dev/ttyS1</tt>.

Take the following steps to enable it:

#Use the patched kernel (see above).
#Install the [http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/ wacom tools]. (In Debian: <tt>'''apt-get install wacom-tools'''</tt>.)
#Modify your X configuration file (either <tt>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</tt> or <tt>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</tt>) ([http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/index.php/howto/x11 instructions]).
#Initialize the device: <tt>'''echo "1" > /dev/ttyS14'''</tt> (Note: it's possible that this command needs to be issued at boot time)
#Restart X, e.g. <tt>'''/etc/init.d/gdm restart'''</tt>

Now the stylus should move the mouse pointer around, and have multiple functions in [[GIMP|The GIMP]] depending on whether the button is pressed.

There are three stylus-activated buttons to the left of the display which light up when the stylus is pressed against them. They are '''unsupported''' at this time. When they are pressed, they generate data on the same serial port, but the current Linux wacom driver does not handle it. See: Linux Wacom Project [http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_id=7787065&forum_id=19621 mailing list thread] regarding these buttons.

=== Side buttons ===

There are several buttons on top of the tablet, labeled "Q", "tab", etc. There have been reports that they generate keyboard events at <tt>/dev/input/event0</tt>.

=== Other devices ===

In addition, special steps may need to be taken for the following:

*Infrared port
*Sandisk card reader
*Portrait video mode
*Modem

== External links ==

*[http://www.debianslashrules.org/Hacking/TabletPC.html Debian on tc1100] (debian/rules)
*[http://groundstate.ca/TC1100 Debian on tc1100] (The Groundstate)
*[http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/ Intel® PRO/Wireless 2100 Driver for Linux]
*[http://www.darlug.org/Members/ahornby/tc1100 Ubuntu on tc1100] (DarLUG)
*[http://linux-tablet-pc.dhs.org/ Linux on tablet PC]
*[http://changelog.complete.org/taxonomy/term/28/9/ tc1100 tablet] (The ChangeLog)
*[http://www.dklevine.com/general/software/tc1000/jarnal.htm Jarnal]
*[http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/ Linux on a TC1100 Tabletpc] (Andy Schofield)
*[http://math.bu.edu/people/kayeats/computers/tc1100.html Debian on an HP/Compaq tc1100 tablet PC] (Shyish-person)

TC1100

2005-07-22T19:31:31Z

Yath: /* Stylus */ note thread relevant to stylus buttons

The HP/compaq tc1100 is a tablet PC. It has quite a few devices crammed into its small form factor. Getting them all to work in Linux can be quite a task.

== General ==

Using a recently-updated distribution with a 2.6-series kernel is recommended. [[Ubuntu]] and [[Debian]] work pretty well.

This document is written to coincide with a particular Linux kernel; some of its pronouncements will be false with respect to other versions. For example, some hardware may be supported by default in the future.

These statments were made with respect to '''Linux 2.6.11'''.

== Kernel patching ==

There are three kernel patches. Their purposes are to enable the stylus for the Wacom tablet interface, and to turn on transmit power to the wireless network interace. They may be found here: http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/

== The devices ==

=== Wireless ethernet ===

The device is an Intel IPW2100. There are two issues:

#It will not run without the firmware, which is non-free software. You must download the firmware and install it.
#It must be turned on, which can only be done with a patched kernel.

Take the following steps to enable it:

#Use a patched kernel (see above)
#Determine which version of the driver you are using by issuing <code>'''dmesg | grep ipw2100'''</code>
#Download the firmware from http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/firmware.php
#Extract the firmware archive into <tt>/usr/lib/hotplug/firmware</tt>
#Enable its transmitter by issuing <code>'''echo "on" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan'''</code>

You may wish to cycle the ipw2100 driver just after installing the firmware, to make it work immediately.

Here's an example of some lines in <tt>/etc/network/interfaces</tt> that manage the wireless interface:

iface eth0 inet dhcp
pre-up echo "on" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan
post-down echo "off" > /proc/acpi/wmi/WMID/wlan
wireless-essid foo

=== Stylus ===

The stylus lets you use the tc1100 as a Wacom tablet. Issues are:

#You must patch the kernel to use it.
#You need wacom-tools.
#You need changes in the X configuration file.
#You need to enable it with '''echo "1" > /dev/ttyS4''' (or other device)

It's a serial device. It has been found at <tt>/dev/ttyS4</tt> and <tt>/dev/ttyS14</tt>. You must determine which device it inhabits on your tablet. <tt>'''dmesg | grep ttyS'''</tt> should give you enough clues to figure it out. It is probably ''not'' <tt>/dev/ttyS1</tt>.

Take the following steps to enable it:

#Use the patched kernel (see above).
#Install the [http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/ wacom tools]. (In Debian: <tt>'''apt-get install wacom-tools'''</tt>.)
#Modify your X configuration file (either <tt>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</tt> or <tt>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</tt>) ([http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/index.php/howto/x11 instructions]).
#Initialize the device: <tt>'''echo "1" > /dev/ttyS14'''</tt> (Note: it's possible that this command needs to be issued at boot time)
#Restart X, e.g. <tt>'''/etc/init.d/gdm restart'''</tt>

Now the stylus should move the mouse pointer around, and have multiple functions in [[GIMP|The GIMP]] depending on whether the button is pressed.

There are three stylus-activated buttons to the left of the display which light up when the stylus is pressed against them. They are '''unsupported''' at this time. When they are pressed, they generate data on the same serial port, but the current Linux wacom driver does not handle it. See: Linux Wacom Project [http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_id=7787065&forum_id=19621 mailing list thread] regarding these buttons.

=== Side buttons ===

There are several buttons on top of the tablet, labeled "Q", "tab", etc. There have been reports that they generate keyboard events at <tt>/dev/input/event0</tt>.

=== Other devices ===

In addition, special steps may need to be taken for the following:

*Infrared port
*Sandisk card reader
*Portrait video mode
*Modem

== External links ==

*[http://www.debianslashrules.org/Hacking/TabletPC.html Debian on tc1100]
*[http://groundstate.ca/TC1100 Debian on tc1100 (groundstate)]
*[http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/ Intel® PRO/Wireless 2100 Driver for Linux]
*[http://www.darlug.org/Members/ahornby/tc1100 Ubuntu on tc1100]
*[http://linux-tablet-pc.dhs.org/ Linux on tablet PC]
*[http://changelog.complete.org/taxonomy/term/28/9/ tc1100 tablet - The ChangeLog]
*[http://www.dklevine.com/general/software/tc1000/jarnal.htm Jarnal]
*[http://www.theory.bham.ac.uk/staff/schofield/linux/tc1100/ Linux on a TC1100 Tabletpc] (Andy Schofield)

TC1100

2005-07-19T23:19:44Z

Yath: /* Stylus */

TC1100

2005-07-19T23:14:21Z

Yath: how to enable wireless, stylus

TC1100

2005-07-19T01:16:50Z

Yath: first draft

Initrd

2005-07-13T20:40:32Z

Yath: examining an initrd

An '''initrd''' ('''Init'''ial '''R'''am'''D'''isk) is essentially a [[filesystem]] in-a-can. It is a (typically [[gzip]]) compressed file which contains a functional filesystem containing various files depending on its intended function. One popular use of an Initrd is for a [[framebuffer]] image to display during [[boot]]up, using programs such as [[bootsplash]]. It has many more functional uses however, such as being a place where modules can be placed that will automatically get loaded on boot up, which is handy for many reasons. Most off the shelf distros like using an initrd file on a standard installation, but they are not strictly required normally.

initrd files can be created using the [[mkinitrd]] command.

See also:
*<tt>man mkinitrd</tt>

== Examining an initrd ==

Supposing you have an initrd file you wish to examine, named <tt>initrd-file</tt>. The following commands should show you what's inside:

mkdir idir
losetup /dev/loop/0 initrd-file
mount /dev/loop/0 idir
ls idir

Later:

umount idir
losetup -d /dev/loop/0

Variations:

*The device may need to be <tt>/dev/loop0</tt> (depending on your kernel version) or even a different number, if loop 0 is in use.
*The kernel may insist that you specify the filesystem type to mount. Type <tt>file initrd-file</tt> to figure out what it is. If it says <tt>Linux Compressed ROM File System data</tt>, it's '''cramfs''':

mount -t cramfs /dev/loop/0 idir

Choosing a Linux distribution

2005-06-27T22:44:29Z

Yath: /* What distribution for a server */ +Slackware

One of the first questions that you probably have about Linux is "What [[distribution]] do I use?" Indeed, this is one of the most frequently asked questions on our [http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/ forums].

The question is a little harder to answer than it looks. Linux distributions (or ''distros'') come in a wide variety of packages, each with their own quirks and specialties. Some are designed for ease-of-use, some for the power user or [[hacker]], some for powerful computers with lots of [[RAM]] and some for older hardware with slow [[CPU]]s.

Some of the possible answers to this question are:

* Try a few distributions and see what you like
* Use the distribution that the Linux [[guru]] next door uses, so if you have any problems you can ask him or her for help
* [[distro differences]] How distros are different
* (other possible answers?)

==Introductory and general purpose==

=== What distro for just trying Linux out? ===

If you aren't yet prepared to set aside a portion of your hard drive for Linux, or if you just want to take Linux for a spin without any long-term commitments, try one of the [[Live CD distributions]] like [[Knoppix]] or [[DamnSmallLinux]], or the [[Suse]] 9.1 evaluation CD. These can be booted and run directly from a CD, and are a great way to see what Linux can do without affecting any existing operating systems you may have installed. Such distributions tend to run more slowly than a fully-installed Linux, however, so if you are thinking of using Linux regularly, you may want to consider doing a real installation. Many Live CD distributions can be installed to the hard drive if you so choose.

=== What distro for a total newbie? ===

If you are very new to the Linux world and have no interest in learning a lot of technical details just to get it running, you may want to go with one of the mainstream distributions such as [[Linspire]], [[Mandrake]], [[Fedora]] (formerly [[Red Hat]]), [[SuSE]] or [[Ubuntu Linux|Ubuntu]]. If you can spare the money, it may be worthwhile to purchase a commercial version, since you may get tech support from the vendor.

=== What distro for the power user? ===

If you consider yourself a power user, and would like to learn a lot of technical details about Linux as you are installing and using it, you would be well served to try out one of the more do-it-yourself distributions. [[Gentoo]], [[Debian]] and [[Slackware]] might be among your choices here. If you are already an experienced Linux user and really want to get your hands dirty, there is [[Linux From Scratch]], which is not really a distribution so much as a set of instructions for building your own distribution (though this isn't recommended unless you already know what you are doing).

==Special purpose==

=== What distribution for a server ===

[[Debian]], [[Red Hat]], and [[Slackware]] make good choices for servers. Debian's security policy and strict packaging rules make it an attractive choice for a non-commercial solution. All security fixes are [[backport]]ed ensuring that the production environment remains the same and breakage will not occur. Slackware's up-to-date packages facilitate security, and its transparent system administration makes customization easy. Red Hat's support packages for its Advanced Server line make it attractive for commercial solutions.

=== What distro for an old computer? ===

There are a number of minimalistic distributions, such as [[VectorLinux]] and [[Peanut]] that are designed for computers without much hard drive space or CPU speed. It's quite possible to install Linux on an early 386 with 2 to 4 [[megabyte]]s of [[RAM]], though if you hope to install a [[GUI]] you may need a bit more memory or CPU; a 486 with 8MB RAM is probably the lowest you can go with [[XFree86]]. For acting as a [[firewall]], [[e-mail]] client, or basic machine for text editing and scripting, this might be the way to go. However, distributions like Vector and Peanut, while minimal, are not "micro" - they still require 100+ MB hard drives and really need a 586 or fast 486. For even smaller distributions that may run in under 100MB (or even from floppy) on a 386/486, distros like [[BasicLinux]], [[muLinux]], [[Floppix]], and others may be suitable.

''More to be written''

=== What distro for games? ===

Gentoo has modified kernels and other elements that probably make it a good gaming platform. 

''More to be written''

=== Windows/UNIX-Oriented Distro Spectrum ===

If you are a newbie, you will naturally look for a distro that has the look and feel of Windows. On the other hand, if you prefer manual configuration, you will look at a more UNIX-like solution. This spectrum should help you figure out where major distros stand out-of-the-box:

Windows >> Linspire, Xandros >> Fedora, Mandriva >> Debian, Mepis, Ubuntu, (Other Debian Derivatives) >> Arch, Gentoo, Slackware >> BSD (Open, Free, Net, DragonFly), Solaris >> pure UNIX (Unixware, HP-UX, 4.4BSD)

''More to be written''

Choosing a Linux distribution

2005-06-27T22:39:52Z

Yath: /* What distro for a total newbie? */

One of the first questions that you probably have about Linux is "What [[distribution]] do I use?" Indeed, this is one of the most frequently asked questions on our [http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/ forums].

The question is a little harder to answer than it looks. Linux distributions (or ''distros'') come in a wide variety of packages, each with their own quirks and specialties. Some are designed for ease-of-use, some for the power user or [[hacker]], some for powerful computers with lots of [[RAM]] and some for older hardware with slow [[CPU]]s.

Some of the possible answers to this question are:

* Try a few distributions and see what you like
* Use the distribution that the Linux [[guru]] next door uses, so if you have any problems you can ask him or her for help
* [[distro differences]] How distros are different
* (other possible answers?)

==Introductory and general purpose==

=== What distro for just trying Linux out? ===

If you aren't yet prepared to set aside a portion of your hard drive for Linux, or if you just want to take Linux for a spin without any long-term commitments, try one of the [[Live CD distributions]] like [[Knoppix]] or [[DamnSmallLinux]], or the [[Suse]] 9.1 evaluation CD. These can be booted and run directly from a CD, and are a great way to see what Linux can do without affecting any existing operating systems you may have installed. Such distributions tend to run more slowly than a fully-installed Linux, however, so if you are thinking of using Linux regularly, you may want to consider doing a real installation. Many Live CD distributions can be installed to the hard drive if you so choose.

=== What distro for a total newbie? ===

If you are very new to the Linux world and have no interest in learning a lot of technical details just to get it running, you may want to go with one of the mainstream distributions such as [[Linspire]], [[Mandrake]], [[Fedora]] (formerly [[Red Hat]]), [[SuSE]] or [[Ubuntu Linux|Ubuntu]]. If you can spare the money, it may be worthwhile to purchase a commercial version, since you may get tech support from the vendor.

=== What distro for the power user? ===

If you consider yourself a power user, and would like to learn a lot of technical details about Linux as you are installing and using it, you would be well served to try out one of the more do-it-yourself distributions. [[Gentoo]], [[Debian]] and [[Slackware]] might be among your choices here. If you are already an experienced Linux user and really want to get your hands dirty, there is [[Linux From Scratch]], which is not really a distribution so much as a set of instructions for building your own distribution (though this isn't recommended unless you already know what you are doing).

==Special purpose==

=== What distribution for a server ===

Many system administrators have come to trust [[Debian]] with their servers. Debian's security policy and strict packaging rules make it an attractive choice for a non-commercial solution. All security fixes are [[backport]]ed ensuring that the production environment remains the same and breakage will not occur. For a commercial solution people tend to lean towards [[Redhat]]'s Advanced Server line.

=== What distro for an old computer? ===

There are a number of minimalistic distributions, such as [[VectorLinux]] and [[Peanut]] that are designed for computers without much hard drive space or CPU speed. It's quite possible to install Linux on an early 386 with 2 to 4 [[megabyte]]s of [[RAM]], though if you hope to install a [[GUI]] you may need a bit more memory or CPU; a 486 with 8MB RAM is probably the lowest you can go with [[XFree86]]. For acting as a [[firewall]], [[e-mail]] client, or basic machine for text editing and scripting, this might be the way to go. However, distributions like Vector and Peanut, while minimal, are not "micro" - they still require 100+ MB hard drives and really need a 586 or fast 486. For even smaller distributions that may run in under 100MB (or even from floppy) on a 386/486, distros like [[BasicLinux]], [[muLinux]], [[Floppix]], and others may be suitable.

''More to be written''

=== What distro for games? ===

Gentoo has modified kernels and other elements that probably make it a good gaming platform. 

''More to be written''

=== Windows/UNIX-Oriented Distro Spectrum ===

If you are a newbie, you will naturally look for a distro that has the look and feel of Windows. On the other hand, if you prefer manual configuration, you will look at a more UNIX-like solution. This spectrum should help you figure out where major distros stand out-of-the-box:

Windows >> Linspire, Xandros >> Fedora, Mandriva >> Debian, Mepis, Ubuntu, (Other Debian Derivatives) >> Arch, Gentoo, Slackware >> BSD (Open, Free, Net, DragonFly), Solaris >> pure UNIX (Unixware, HP-UX, 4.4BSD)

''More to be written''

Talk:Choosing a Linux distribution

2005-06-27T22:39:38Z

Yath: Ubuntu/Debian

I dunno that I'd recommend Debian to the newbie in the same breath as Mandrake. :D Not until the new installer, anyway.

Somebody know of a micro-distro that '''isn't''' dead? Probably shouldn't have even added them. --[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 18:01, Jun 13, 2004 (EDT)

I replaced Debian with Ubuntu in the newbies section because it basically supplants Debian in that area. Currently, it's like Debian unstable with a little bit of the Wild Westness hidden, and it does more things for you like hiding debconf's questions and keeping apt's package cache from growing. However, these conveniences trade off a certain amount of power that an experienced user can make good use of. --[[User:Yath|Yath]] 18:39, Jun 27, 2005 (EDT)

GNU/Linux

2005-06-27T22:33:03Z

Yath:

'''GNU/Linux''' refers to the combination of the [[GNU]] tools with the [[Linux]] [[kernel]] to form a complete [[operating system]]. The term was proposed by [[Richard Stallman]] and is used by the [[Debian]] project (among others) to acknowledge the contributions of GNU software that make it possible to build an operating system around the Linux kernel. [[RMS]] urges users to prefer the term "GNU/Linux" when referring to the whole operating system (and not just the kernel). While other development teams have contributed important aspects of a complete system, the GNU tools are still at the heart of all Linux [[distribution]]s.

The use of 'GNU/Linux' as opposed to 'Linux' indicates a political preference, not a difference in functionality.

==See also==
*[[Free Software]]

User:Yath

2005-06-27T22:28:30Z

Yath:

{| align=right cellpadding=0 style="margin: 0 0 0.5em 1em; border: 1px solid black; width: 5%;"
! colspan=2 bgcolor=gainsboro | Yath
|-
| [[User:Yath|@LinuxQuestions]]
| style="font-size: 80%;" | [[Special:Watchlist|WL]]
|-
| [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Yath @Wikipedia]
| style="font-size: 80%;" | [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Watchlist WL]
|-
| [http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/User:Yath @Wikibooks]
| style="font-size: 80%;" | [http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Special:Watchlist WL]
|-
| [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Yath @Meta]
| style="font-size: 80%;" | [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Watchlist WL]
|-
| [http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/User:Yath @Wikinews]
| style="font-size: 80%;" | [http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Special:Watchlist WL]
|}
A [[Debian]] user. I don't care for ''GNU/Linux'' as a name for any operating system; it's unweidly and annoying.

I'm a student at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_Merced UC Merced].

Command line interface

2005-06-27T22:07:49Z

Yath: revamped

A '''command line interface''' ('''CLI''') is a textual mode of interaction between computers and humans. With a CLI, the user types commands at a prompt, which are executed by the [[shell]], and receives textual feedback.

In contrast, the Graphical User Interface or [[GUI]] tends to operate via the selection of commands and operations via a pointing device. The main difference between these two interfaces is that GUIs tend to operate on the metaphor of visual objects, while CLIs deal with auditory or lexical representations.

Linux, among with most other Unix-like operating systems, is more attuned to the command line interface than [[Windows]]. While various tools such as [[YAST]] have been introduced, the CLI is still the system administration tool of choice for many Linux operators. Indeed, even though attractive desktop GUIs are frequently seen on desktop Linux systems, they often serve as little more than a manager for multiple [[xterm]]s.

The command line is generally held to be a superior interface for the manipulation of streams of data and for control of a system with which the user is familiar (or intends to be familiar).

==See also==
*[[console]]
*[[In the beginning was the command line]]
*[[terminal]]
*[[End Users Guide:The Shell]] A beginner's guide to the Linux CLI

LILO

2005-06-27T21:37:12Z

Yath:

'''LILO''' (short for ''Linux Loader'') is a [[boot loader]]. Its main purpose is to set up a [[hard drive]] (or drives) to boot one or more [[operating system]]s. It is most commonly used in conjunction with [[Linux]], but it can be boot most operating systems, such as Microsoft [[Windows]].

[[GRUB]] has been substituted for LILO as the default loader in many recent Linux [[distributions]].

==See also==
*[[Securing LILO]]
*[[lilo.conf]]
*[[MBR]]
*[[Dual booting]]
*[[Compiling a Kernel]]
*[[LILO Error Codes]]

Slackware

2004-06-14T02:38:07Z

Yath: some edits. note: slack's packages are often patched.

'''Slackware''' is the oldest active Linux [[distribution]], having begun life as a much improved variant of [[SLS]] (Soft Landing System) in 1993 and was perhaps the first distro to really put itself on the map. After that, [[Red Hat]] and [[Debian]] and other distributions followed. Slackware is primarily the work of [[Patrick J. Volkerding]].

Slackware has a mixed reputation, being seen as pure, genuine, simple and a great distro to learn Linux on, or old-fashioned, unfriendly, and difficult for newbies.

It is true that, while capable of being as graphical as any distro, Slackware places an emphasis on the [[command line]] and text configuration. While it has [[Installing Software|package management]] tools, Slackware places an emphasis on compiling your own binaries, with well-stocked libraries, a complete suite of development tools, and everything in its place.

The installer is text-based, unlike most current graphical installers. It is straightforward and simple. [[LILO]] is the default loader, as opposed to the newer [[GRUB]]. Partitioning is completely the user's responsibility, done with either [[fdisk]] or [[cfdisk]]. The default runlevel is 3, which boots to a console login which leads to a [[bash]] prompt. The runlevel is defined by relatively clear and straightforward [[BSD]]-style init scripts, as opposed to [[SysV]]. Most of the few Slackware-specific tools are bash scripts. The default /etc/skel contains only a '.screenrc'. A wide array of packages are included but Slackware only expanded beyond a single CD of binaries with Slackware 9.1, now having two, while many distros include 3, 4, 7 or more. Such packages as are included are generally well-tested. The result is a fast, lean, stable system.

Throughout, the emphasis and attitude is that Slackware is a distribution ''of'' Linux and not a distribution "based on" Linux. It is a gateway, rather than an obstruction. It will work and to make it work best is up to the user's tastes and abilities.

The 'official' Slackware IRC channel is #slackware on irc.freenode.net. The #slackware channel on [http://www.efnet.net EFNet] is also very active and helpful.

==External links==


* [http://www.slackware.com slackware.com] - Official Website
* [http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/forumdisplay.php?forumid=14 Slackware Forum] - at linuxquestions.org
* [http://www.slackfiles.net/ The Slackfiles] - Central information source for Slackware users
* [http://www.linuxpackages.net/ LinuxPackages] - User made packages for the Slackware package manager system

Talk:Slackware

2004-06-14T02:37:56Z

Yath:

wouldn't it be helpful to add some tools for slackware. 
e.g. swaret 
helpful pages for newbies: 
e.g. slackware book, linuxpackages, etc.

(-- GEnTi)

:Sure. Don't use swaret myself, but adding anything useful for Slack sounds good to me. :) Don't forget to sign your name on discussion pages with the tildes and to use <nowiki> </nowiki> for line breaks. The last two in this [[LQWiki:LQ_Central#Guidelines|section]] may help. --[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 16:22, Jun 5, 2004 (EDT)

::I don't know the details, but I think that swaret is no longer officially recommended and has "legitimacy" issues. slapt-get seems to be the one to recommend first, although there's nothing wrong in mentioning swaret too. [[User:MikeCapone|MikeCapone]] 17:59, Jun 5, 2004 (EDT)

----

I removed the comment saying "generally unpatched" because, by my count, Slackware 9.0's official packages use over 200 patches. (The source tree contained that many files with "diff" in their name.) I understand that the official Slackware kernels, at least, often incorporate few or no patches. --[[User:Yath|Yath]] 22:37, Jun 13, 2004 (EDT)