History of Linux and Tips on Using Linux

Linux: History and Distros Gajendra Nand Khanna [email_address]

Milestone No. 1(Bell Laboratories) “ C was already implemented on several quite different machines and OSs, Unix was already being distributed on the PDP-11, but the portability of the whole system was new.” Dennis Ritchie

Dennis Ritchie said...

C is peculiar in a lot of ways, but it, like many other successful things, has a certain unity of approach that stems from development in a small group.

I can't recall any difficulty in making the C language definition completely open - any discussion on the matter tended to mention languages whose inventors tried to keep tight control, and consequent ill fate.

FSF (Birth of GNU): Social Software

Free software refers to freedom to use and not price. (It’s like freedom of speech vs. free beer)

Free software is a matter of the user’s freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software.

A program is a free software if users have all of these freedom.

Usually given out under the GNU Public Licence GPL which guarantees the above freedoms. It “copylefts” the software.

RMS Spoke ...

Anything that prevents you from being friendly, a good neighbour, is a terror tactic.

Value your freedom or you will lose it, teaches history. 'Don't bother us with politics', respond those who don't want to learn.

Whether gods exist or not, there is no way to get absolute certainty about ethics. Without absolute certainty, what do we do? We do the best we can.

Open Source: The Confusing Term to Avoid

It must comply with these criteria: Free Redistribution, source code available, Derived works permissible, Integrity of the author's source code, No discrimination against persons, groups or fields of endeavour, distribution of licence, the licence must not be specific to a product, not restrict other software and should be technology neutral.

Open source is a development methodology; free software is a social movement.

FOSS , FLOSS and Mukt

The Missing Link: The Kernel

“ I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386 (486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready.”

Just a Hobby that became big.

The kernel is what makes your hardware work.

Linus Torvalds Said...

“ The Linux philosophy is 'Laugh in the face of danger'. Oops. Wrong One. 'Do it yourself'. Yes, that's it.”

In my opinion MS is a lot better at making money than it is at making good operating systems.

“ When you say, ‘I wrote a program that crashed Windows,’ people just stare at you blankly and say, ‘Hey, I got those with the system, for free.’”

I don't try to be a threat to MicroSoft, mainly because I don't really see MS as competition. Especially not Windows-the goals of Linux and Windows are simply so different.

Linux means Liberation

Meaning of Liberty

Freedom from restraint. The power of acting as one thinks fit, without any restraint or control, except from the laws of nature.

Thus Linux gives us ethical freedom.

Being freely distributable regulates the cost.

Its an extremely flexible environment giving you technical freedom.

The Fourth Milestone: Distributions

A distro is a packaged linux distribution including the kernel, GNU utilities along with a host of useful tools and packages.

They are usually with a GUI.

Easier to use as they're already put together.

There are many distros each of which have their own philosophies. They all learn from one another and use the customisability of GNU/Linux.

Before the distro...

HJ Lu's Boot/Root floppies. They were 5.25" diskettes that could be used to get a Linux system running. You booted from the boot disk and then, when prompted, inserted the root disk. After a while you got a command prompt

Early distros ...

MCC Interim Linux (from Manchester computer centre)

SLS (First widely use distro from Soft Landing Systems)

Yggdrasil (First commercial and live CD)

1993: The first big pioneers – Slackware (Patrick Volkerding) and Debian (Ian Murdock)

The others like Redhat, Suse came only later.

The major Distros are ...

Debian

Ubuntu

Knoppix

Mandriva (formerly Mandrake)

SuSe

Redhat/Fedora and many more…..

Go to http://www.linuxiso.org/ to d/l your favorite flavor ! FREE !!!

http://www.distrowatch.com lists them all. (160+)

Linux Pros

Free and fun to use.

Portable to any hardware platform.

Made to keep on running.

Secure and versatile. (less virus)

Scalable.

The linux kernel and software have very short debug times.

You have choice and freedom.

Linux “Cons”

There are far too many distributions (Is that a con really?)

Linux is not very user friendly and confusing for beginners. (Hard to configure?)

Is an open source product trustworthy? How can something that is free also be reliable! (Yes it can be ).

Not all hardware is supported (Changing!)

Lack of popular commercial software?

Why some people would use Linux?

You want a stable and reliable computing system.

You want a high performance computing solution.

You need a low cost or free OS.

You're a heavy network or Internet user.

You want to learn unix or TCP/IP networking.

Why some people would use Linux?

You seek an alternative to Microsoft's vision of computing's future.

You want to enjoy enhanced peer esteem.

You want to have fun.

You don't want to be a pirate and are strong on ethics.

You would like to get support anytime you want and not till when the company wants to.

Why some people won't use Linux?

They are scared of computers.

They don't like to learn. Setting up and running Linux will require you to learn new concepts and skills. None of these are especially difficult, but if you don't like to learn, setting up and running Linux will stress you out.

They're married to certain Windows applications. But there is virtualisation and emulation software for that.

Resource Page

http://www.kernel.org - The official kernel site

http://www.debian.org/ - Debian

http://www.debianhelp.org – Debian's Help Site

http://www.linux.org/ - Linux Online

http://www.redhat.com/ Red Hat

http://www.sourceforge.net/ - Lots of Projects

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/

http://www.distrowatch..com/ - Reviews of Different Distros

http://www.linuxiso.org/ - Get your ISO D/L’s here.

/http://rpmfind.net/ - Get your RPM’s here !

http://www.tldp.org/ - The Linux Documentation Project

http://www.alsa-project.org - The alsa project page

Resources at IITD

Various CD/DVD/repo at http://10.10.4.1

Open source software for windows available (http://10.10.4.1/pub/Linux/software/opensource4windows)

ftp://ee.iitd.ac.in/pub

http://dhanasri.cse.iitd.ac.in/

Matlab from CSC

Qs ?

Linux Tips and Tricks + Using Debian/Ubuntu Gajendra Nand Khanna [email_address]

What is Debian?

Debian.a non-commercial distribution maintained by a volunteer developer community (with a strong commitment to free software principles) who communicate through mail and IRC

Supports 11 architectures

Extremely good packaging system (APT)

Many derivatives like Ubuntu, Mepis & DSL

Naming scheme for Debian Releases

Derived from names of Toy Story Characters

Earlier version names include: Bo, Potato, Woody, Sarge.

Has three versions at any time: Stable (currently Etch), Testing (currently Lenny) and Unstable (always Sid).

Strong QA and Open Development. (main, contrib and non-free sections)

Why I like Debian?

best packaging system (APT)

Extremely customisable and usable on many architectures (including old systems)

Non-commercial, community run

Always strongly Free and democratic

Strong QA

Huge number of packages (19000+, 4 DVD)

Lots of help available online

Less resource intensive

Ubuntu

A commercial distro maintained by Canonical and targeted to windows users.

Derived from Debian

Supports intel and amd64 architectures.

Ships free CDs to individuals and charges for support.

subprojects: Kubuntu, xubuntu, freebuntu ...

Ubuntu Releases

Each release has both a code name and a version number.

The first characters of release names form an alphabetical series.

A release every six months. LTS every two years. Desktop support 3 years and Server support for 5 years.

Latest LTS: Hardy Heron (8.04)

Ubuntu Releases (Contd...)

Sections

Non-free with free :-(

Main section has non-free firmware.

Earlier releases include Gutsy Gibbon, Feisty Fawn, Edgy Eft, Dapper Drake, Breezy Badger, Hoary Hedgehog, Warty Warthog.

Next version: Intrepid Ibex (October 30, 2008)

Gives sudo user as default and no root.

Ubuntu System Requirements

APT: Aptitude Package management system

Very flexible.

All information stored in /etc/apt/sources.list

Takes CD/DVD as source by using the command apt-cdrom

deb http://ftp.debian.org stable main contrib non-free (binary packages)

deb-src option gives source packages .

Useful APT Commands

aptitude install -y <packagename>

aptitude remove -y <packagename>

apt-get canbe used interchangeably.

apt-cache search keyword

apt-cache show packagename

dpkg -i <filename.deb>

apt-get update/upgrade/dist-upgrade

dpkg-reconfigure <packagename>

10.10.4.1

For Debian Etch

deb http://10.10.4.1/pub/Linux/Debian/release/current/i386/iso-dvd/repo1 etch main contrib

deb http://10.10.4.1/pub/Linux/Debian/release/current/i386/iso-dvd/repo2 etch main

deb http://10.10.4.1/pub/Linux/Debian/release/current/i386/iso-dvd/repo3 etch main

apt-get update

Other useful repositories

Backports.org repository

deb http://www.backports.org/debian etch-backports main contrib non-free

Useful for ntfs-3g, virtual box and others

debian-multimedia.org repository

For non-free multimedia codecs w32codecs, libdvdcss2 (medibuntu has for ubuntu)

Xvidcap, open movie editors, acroread and many more available here.

Some useful packages

Desktops : gnome, kde, xfce, icewm

xserver-xorg

ntfs-3g for ntfs R/W

Octave, xchm, sun-java5-jre/jdk/plugin, p7zip-full, unrar, djview, glibc-doc, valknut, libcv-dev, mplayer, vlc, xfmedia, iceweasel, vim-full, emacs21, texlive-full, kile, texmaker, gaim/pidgin and linux-uvc-source.

Trick #1

Manual net configuration

Net Config (Static) /etc/network/interfaces

llow-hotplug eth0

iface eth0 inet static

address <your ip address>

netmask <your mask>

gateway <your gateway>

auto eth0

Tip &Trick #1 (Continued)

DNS Configuration (/etc/resolv.conf)

domain dhcpnew.iitd.ac.in

nameserver 10.10.1.2

Nameserver 10.10.2.2

/etc/init.d/network restart

Change the port no if its different for you.

Tip &Trick #2

DHCP Configuration for wifi

route add -net 10.64.0.0/16 eth1

route add default gw 10.64.1.1 eth1

Permanency? /etc/network/interfaces

iface eth1 inet dhcp

up route add -host 10.64.1.1 dev $IFACE

up route add -net 10.64.0.0/16 dev $IFACE

down route add -host 10.64.1.1 dev $IFACE

down route add -net 10.64.0.0/16 dev $IFACE

auto eth1

Tip &Trick #3

Multimedia Codecs

Install w32codecs and libdvdcss2 (Available from debian-multimedia. Also on 10.10.4.1/pub/Linux/Debian/misc)

Dpkg -i <filename.deb> DivX ver. 3.11, DivX ;-) video codec, ver. 4.x, Indeo Video 3.2/4.1/5.0/4.1 quick/5.0 quick codecs, Intel 263 video codec. QuickTime

RealAudio, RealVideo 8 &9, Windows Media Video 9

Tip &Trick #4: virtualbox-ose

apt-get install virtualbox-ose virtualbox-ose-source virtualbox-ose-modules-2.6-486 module-assistant

Module-assistant prepare

module-assistant auto-install virtualbox-ose

Modprobe vboxdrv (put in /etc/modules for permanently)

Share folders and make virtual machines.

Guest packages to be installed. Network Neighbourhood sees the shared folders.

Tip & Trick #5

add the following lines in your /etc/modprobe.conf file :-

alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

options snd-card-0 index=0

options snd-hda-intel index=0 model=fujitsu

Makes sound work on some laptops (82801H ICH8 HD Audio Controller)

T&T #6: use proxy in terminal

export http_proxy="http://username:passw...@10.10.3.14:3128" - in the /root/.bashrc file

Put in ~/.bashrc for normal user to access web for command line.

You can update external repos with this.

T&T #7: commandline downloaders

Wget <file-url> (Good web spider)

Options: -c ,-b -krc

Ariac2 (another good one for heavy downloads)

Supports bittorrent, download resume, metalink

Both have lots of options. Check out their manpages. (manpage <command>)

T&T #8: Window drive automount

fdisk -l

Edit /etc/fstab

/dev/sda3 /mnt/f vfat users,rw,auto,iocharset=utf8,umask=000 0 0 (FAT32)

/dev/sda2 /mnt/c/dev/sda2 /mnt/c ntfs-3g defaults 0 0 (NTFS)

ntfs-3g from backports.

Ntfs-config in ubuntu

T & T #9: Java

aptitude install -y eclipse

aptitude -t etch-backports install sun-java6-bin sun-java6-jdk sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin

update-java-alternatives -s java-6-sun

Add: /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun in /etc/jvm and /etc/eclipse/java_home

T&T #10: Java-doc

Copy it to /tmp and make its group + user as root. do in gui or simply do

chown root:root /tmp/filename

then run installation it will do it properly.

Aptitude install -y sun-java6-doc

T&T #11: mount

mount -t <fstype> /dev/drivername /where

Fstype: ext3, ext2, ntfs, vfat, ntfs-3g,reiserfs, romfs, proc, iso9660

Special option: -o loop (for mounting iso)

Useful for mounting partitions/ pendrives not detected automatically or with old kernels.

T&T #12: Restoring grub with Knoppix Live CD/DVD

Put in Knoppix CD and boot from it. (use cheat code if necessary).

System will boot inside giving a nice gui. All your partitions shall be shown on desktop as unmounted.

Right click(without mounting/left click) on the drive with /boot directory and uncheck read-only in third tab. Note its no e.g. sda9

Click on the icon to mount it. (Gets mounted to /media/sda9 in read-write mode).

Open root terminal. (Available from Second icon on toolbar.)

Give the command: grub-install --root-directory=/media/sda9 /dev/sda

T&T #13: Restore grub debian DVD/CD

Press ALT+F2 (or ALT+CTRL+F2) to get shell prompt.

Then get the partition tables for the devices using fdisk command: fdisk -l

When you type fdisk -l, you should see your partition name: /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part1 (for IDE disk it display same device file in IDE directory)

Once you identified your device file, mount disk using mount command:

mkdir /mydisk

mount /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part1 /mydisk

Next use chroot command to start interactive shell with special root directory i.e. /mydisk will act as root directory.

T&T #13 (contd...)

chroot /mydisk

Use grub-install command to reinstall grub (SCSI disk):

1. grub-install /dev/sda

If you have IDE device following command :

1. grub-install /dev/hda

Again replace /dev/hda and /dev/sda with your actual device names.

Type exit and reboot the system. You should see your GRUB and Linux again.

T&T #14

Ksnapshot

Take pictures of screen

You can also take pictures of only a particular window or even a small region.

Allows copying to clipboard and saving in various formats.

T & T #15

Video capturing tools like xvidcap and istanbul

Copy a portion or full screen as a video.

Some softwares allow capturing of audio also.

You can prepare your audio-video presentation and send it across the globe!

You can make it at leisure. Reduced stage fears!

Long procedures canbe shown in short by editing it. (Some canbe paused also).

T&T #16

Webilder (Change wallpaper regularly)

Get source from webilder.org or 10.10.4.1 and extract it.

apt-get install python python-gtk2-dev python-gnome2 python-gnome2-dev libglib2.0-dev python-gnome2-extras python-gnome2-extras-dev python-imaging

python setup.py install

For kde install python-kde3 also and run setup with –with-kde option.

Slideshowscreensaver set to ~/.webilder!

T&T #17

For a professional looking document use tool Latex.

Graphs from gnuplot can be put in latex.

Xfig/dia can generate figure in pstricks format.

Use SVG figures to allow scalability without pixelation.

T&T #18: Remote Manage with VNC

ssh -X username@ipaddress (openssh-server needed at host)

apt-get install vnc4server

vnc4server -geometry 1024×768 -depth 24

This will prompt you to create a password to access your desktops.Will save a scrambled password in the file ~/.vnc/passwd.

Once that’s been done you can create a new server by invoking

#vnc4server

T&T #18 (Continued)

This will start a new server and show you the “desktop” it is running upon. This is something that you’ll need to know when connecting to the server. The server will start and tell you where to access it.

Can be contacted by a vnc client on any OS.

Start kde: kdestart, Start Gnome: gnome-session

vnc4server -kill :2 (to kill the server)

T & T #18 (continued)

Installing vncclient

apt-get install xvnc4viewer

Once it’s installed you can connect to a running server by using:

#Xvnc4viewer hostname:screen

If invoked with no arguments you’ll be prompted for the host you wish to connect to, and if necessary a password.

You can use tightvnc in windows also.

T&T #19: Finding type of files

file *

unknown.0: XML

unknown.1: ELF 32-bit LSB relocatable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), not stripped

unknown.2: ASCII C program text

unknown.3: PDF document, version 1.4

unknown.4: LaTeX 2e document text

unknown.5: perl script text executable

unknown.6: gzip compressed data, from Unix, last modified: Wed Oct 8 16:27:09 2003

unknown.7: Ogg data, Vorbis audio, stereo, 44100 Hz, ~192003 bps, created by: Xiph.Org libVorbis I (1.0)

T&T #19 (Continued)

file -i * (to see mime types)

unknown.0: text/xml

unknown.1: application/x-object, not stripped

unknown.2: text/x-c; charset=us-ascii

unknown.3: application/pdf

unknown.4: text/x-tex

unknown.5: application/x-perl

unknown.6: application/x-gzip

unknown.7: application/ogg

T&T #20

Convert (from imagemagick)

Use it to convert between various formats

Potrace (Convert from raster to SVG)

potrace -s image.bmp

With this process, the program transforms the images’ pixels into filled curves that have infinite resolution with smooth lines at any zoom.

T&T #21: Compiling Kernel on Debian based systems

Download and extract kernels.

make config/xconfig/menuconfig (to put your settings)

Ensure kernel-package and fakeroot installed

fakeroot make-kpkg --initrd --revision=custom.1.0 kernel_image. The version number of “1.0” to track your builds.

As root, do dpkg -i ../linux-image-2.6.18-subarchitecture_custom.1.0_i386.deb

T&T #22: Configuring X

dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

Old systems need color depth 16

If it doesn't work you can always replace /etc/X11/xorg.conf with the one generated by Knoppix.

Ctrl+Alt+Backspace restarts X

nvidia-xconfig

Put drivers if you have “special” cards.

nvidia and ati drivers are non-free (avoid)

T&T #23

MS Office 2007 is a proprietary format to be avoided.

Download odf-converter-1.1-7.i586.rpm for i386 systems or odf-converter-1.1-7.x86_64.rpm for x86_64 systems.(for these rpms http://download.go-oo.org/red-carpet/ooo-680/sled-10-sp-i586/odf-converter-1.1-7.i586.rpm, http://download.go-oo.org/red-carpet/ooo-680/sled-10-sp-x86_64/odf-converter-1.1-7.x86_64.rpm)

For debian based distros install the rpm package by doing this as root: aptitude install -y rpm (do it as sudo for kubuntu, etc)

T&T #23 (Continued)

rpm based distro users should install sudo yum -y install cpio rpm(those wishing to "emerge" can use the equivalent package)

* Open a console.

* Change directory to your download directory. Depending on your

setup, it may be: cd ~/Desktop

* To unpackage the rpm, run this command: rpm2cpio

odf-converter*rpm | cpio -ivd

T&T #23 (Continued)

To copy the binary run this command: sudo cp usr/lib/ooo-2.0/program/OdfConverter /usr/bin

Optionally you may now delete the opt and usr directories you just unpacked as well as the .rpm file you downloaded. However, you may wish to keep the files under usr if you are interested in documentation and sample OpenXML documents.