Linux

September 6th, 2009
No comments

Linux is an operating system like Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Unlike Windows and OS X it is free.
Now another common mistake is to use the phrase I have in my first sentence. Linux is NOT the name of the operating system. Linux is actually the name of what is called the Kernel which lies at the heart of many types of free operating systems. The Linux name given to all these operating systems is a convenient way to refer to a system which uses the Linux Kernel. Those of you familiar with the Unix type operating systems will be more at home with Linux Kernel based operating systems but having said that, in the graphics desktop environment, you can experience a Windows style desktop,
an OS X style desktop or any other style desktop you wish as the two most commonly used Linux based graphics desktop environments, GNOME and KDE, are completely configurable to your own preferred style or use. I use the word free above in the context of “free to use” and yes “free to modify” but, free to modify comes with some provisos. Under the GNU license which the Linux Kernel adheres to, if you modify a copy of the Linux Kernel, you must make this available to anyone else. The idea being that others may benefit from your modifications and they in turn may do the same and offer a continuation of improvements that will benefit the whole Linux community.
Well that’s the basis of Linux. It’s not an operating system on it’s own but forms the first building block on which GNU based operating systems are based. Here is just a sample list of these type of operating systems, also referred to as distributions or distros: Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint, openSUSE, Mandriva, Debian, PCLinuxOS, Puppy, Sabayon, Arch, CentOS, Slackware, MEPIS, Tiny Core, FreeBSD, Kubuntu, Zenwalk, Vector, PC-BSD, Damn Small, Gentoo, KNOPPIX.

Julian Perry linux , , , , , , ,

GNOME – How to move window buttons

August 20th, 2009
No comments
Some people prefer their min,max,close window buttons to be on the left – mac style.
Somehow I managed it then forgot how I did it so when I finally found how to do it AGAIN!, I thought I’d share it.

GNOME calls this “metacity button layout”.

From a terminal window, type gconf-editor.

Now navigate to apps/metacity/general and change the button_layout value as required.
The colon (:) indicates the left-side and right-side divider.

So, Windows style would be menu:minimize,maximize,close and Mac style would be close,minimize,maximize:menu.


Julian Perry linux, mac , , , , , , , , , , ,

CentOS 5, VAIO and Wireless

August 19th, 2009
No comments
I own a Sony VAIO laptop on which I dual boot either Windows XP or CentOS 5 (Linux Kernel).
I always wanted to get wireless networking to work but, the plain and simple truth is that although the core components for wireless activities are present, there are vital applications missing which allow a user to connect wirelessly in a similar manner to Windows.
So the hunt began. Now I’m not one to beat around the bush so here’s what I found (that worked for me).
My model of laptop uses the Intel 3945ABG wireless adapter and although CentOS appears to identify it, I always got the message whenever I tried to activate the device:

Error for wireless request “Set Encode” (8B2A):
SET failed on device wlan0; Invalid argument.
SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory
Failed to bring up wlan0.

After sifting through huge amounts of postings to forums about all the tweaks and options other people had tried and failed with, I found this article, that pointed out that CentOS 5 (and for that matter RHEL 5) simply doesn’t have all the required tools to make it work.

Here’s an outline of what you need to do:

1) Add Dag Wieers repo
from HERE.
Chose your flavour from the list.
Download the file to the root directory and extract all files.

2) yum install dkms-ipw3945

3) chkconfig –level 345 NetworkManager on
chkconfig –level 345 NetworkManagerDispatcher on

4) Reboot

You will now have an icon in your system tray from which you can simply configure your wireless connections.

Julian Perry linux, network , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,