After Installing RedHat Linux (version 9)

This file contains a list of steps needed to setup additional programs I use on a RedHat Linux system.

Install Redhat 9 Linux

I use two computers: a Dell Latitude C840 Laptop and a Dell Precision 530 Desktop.

Common Settings

  1. Partitions

    I use a dual-boot Linux/Windows system with the following partitions:

    /12GB
    /boot100MB
    /home12GB
    /mnt/windows26GB
    I add an entry in /etc/fstab that reads: 
    /home/usr/local         /usr/local              none    rw,bind         0 0
    so that all aditional software I install in /usr/local will be installed in the /home partition, so it won't be overwritten by a reinstall.

  2. Root setup

    Create the following two links:

    /root/.bashrc --> /home/dlipsa/.bashrc
/root/.bash_profile --> /home/dlipsa/.bash_profile

  3. Ximian Evolution Email Client

    Install a copy of Ximian Evolution from www.ximian.com

  4. gcvs frontend to CVS source control

    I like this program compared with command line because of the history graphs and the fact that you can easily separate the files that are stored in CVS from the ones that are not.

  5. Prosper Presentation using Latex

    Install prosper-0.cvs_2002.04.16-1.noarch.rpm from SourceForge.

  6. Formating Support for ACM Conferences

    Copy sigplan-proc.cls into /usr/share/texmf/tex/latex/base and than run texhash.

  7. American Psychological Association (APA) formating and citations

    Install apa and apacite from CTAN in /usr/local/share/texmf/tex/latex.

  8. Setup inverse search in kdvi

    To add source information in your dvi file you need to \usepackage{srcltx} in you TeX file. For this you need install srcltx.sty and srctex.sty in /usr/local/share/texmf/tex/latex/srcltx. See kdvi documentation for more information about this, including how to setup your editor to work with inverse search.

  9. enumitem LaTeX packet - Controls layout of enumerate, itemize and description.

    Install enumitem from CTAN in /usr/local/share/texmf/tex/latex

  10. LaTeX2rft Translator from LaTeX to RTF

    Build and install latex2rtf-1.9.15.tar.gz

  11. XEmacs Text Editor

    Create a link /usr/bin/ispell --> /usr/bin/aspell, so that spelling works in XEmacs.

  12. Input Romanian characters in X11

    Edit /etc/X11/XF86Config and add the following option in the keyboard section:

    Option      "XkbLayout" "ro"

  13. Mozilla Browser

    To setup the plug-ins installed "by-hand" create the following link: ~/.mozilla/plugins --> /usr/local/lib/mozilla/plugins

    INTERNAL ERROR on Browser End: No manager for initializing factory?System error?:: Success If you get this error, you have the wrong Java plugin: /usr/local/j2sdk_nb/j2sdk1.4.2/jre/plugin/i386/ns610/libjavaplugin_oji.so instead of /usr/local/j2sdk_nb/j2sdk1.4.2/jre/plugin/i386/ns610-gcc32/libjavaplugin_oji.so

  14. Helix Player (Real Player)

    Install HelixPlayer-0.4.0.187-20040615.i586.rpm and RealPlayer-0.4.0.186-20040615.i586.rpm, and copy nphelix* from /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins to /usr/local/lib/mozilla/plugins.

  15. Flash Player 7

    Unpack install_flash_player_7_linux.tar.gz and copy libflashplayer.so and flashplayer.xpt to /usr/lib/mozilla/plugin.

  16. Acrobat 7.0

    Install AdobeReader_enu-7.0.0-2.i386.rpm.

    Setup the plug-in for Mozilla: /usr/local/lib/mozilla/plugins/nppdf.so --> /usr/local/Adobe/Acrobat7.0/Browser/intellinux/nppdf.so

  17. GNU Cash

    Install Finance::Quote perl module that allows automatic updating of the price of stocks and mutual funds you own. You have to run the command update-finance-quote as root. See GnuCash Tutorial and Concept Guide/Investment/Setting Stock Price Automatically.

  18. Users

    Add your users to users group. I use this to provide everybody with access to CVS and shared kscd database.

  19. Printer

    Add a printer with a queue type "Networked JetDirect" and the driver LaserJet 4100.

  20. Palm Pilot

    Create a link /dev/pilot --> /dev/ttyUSB1.

  21. NTP Time

    Add the following lines in /etc/ntp.conf:

    restrict tick.utoronto.ca mask 255.255.255.255 nomodify notrap noquery
server tick.utoronto.ca
    See Public NTP Time Servers for other servers and more information about this.

  22. PostgreSQL Database Server

    You have to login as user postgres and then use psql template1 to create a PostgreSQL user that will match your username. Use create user <user>; for this. This will allow you to connect directly to a database without specifying your user name, if you are doing this from your account.

    If you want to restore saved dumps of some databases (you can create a dump using pg_dump <database> > <file>) you have to use psql <database> < <file>

    To enable TCP connections you have to set in /var/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf the parameter tcpip_socket=true. In /var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf you have to set what computers you accept connections from . If you want to accept connections only from localhost you have to add the following line:

    host   all      all             127.0.0.1       255.255.255.255 trust

    Install pgaccess, a user friendly database editor. Untar pgaccess-0.98.7.tar.gz in /usr/local.

    Install pgadmin3, a database administration front-end from pgadmin3-1.0.1-1.i386.rpm.

  23. KSCD CD Player

    Set /usr/share/apps/kscd to be writable by users, so that everybody on the system can use the same database of CDs.

    chown root.users /usr/share/apps/kscd
chmod g+w /usr/share/apps/kscd

  24. XMMS Audio Player

    Install xmms-mpg123-1.2.7-21.i386.rpm from http://havardk.xmms.org/dist/xmms-1.2.7-rh8-rh9-rpm/

  25. Apache Web Server

    To enable user directories to serve web pages, uncomment the following line in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf: UserDir public_html. and comment UserDir disable. Also, to set proper rights for those directories uncomment <Directory /home/*/public_html> section in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf.

    To specify the administrator of the web server set ServerAdmin your.email@your.computer.

    To redirect the main page of the website to your home page create a index.html file in /var/www/html that contains:

    <html>
  <head>
    <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url=http://galati.armstrong.edu/~dlipsa">
  </head>
</html>

    Copy Tomcat4 connector mod_jk.so to /usr/lib/httpd/modules. Add the following lines in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf:

    # Load mod_jk module
# Update this path to match your modules location
LoadModule jk_module modules/mod_jk.so
# Where to find workers.properties
# Update this path to match your conf directory location (put workers.properties next to httpd.conf)
JkWorkersFile /etc/httpd/conf/workers.properties
# Where to put jk logs
# Update this path to match your logs directory location (put mod_jk.log next to access_log)
JkLogFile /var/log/httpd/mod_jk.log
# Set the jk log level [debug/error/info]
JkLogLevel info
# Select the log format
JkLogStampFormat "[%a %b %d %H:%M:%S %Y] "
# JkOptions indicate to send SSL KEY SIZE,
JkOptions +ForwardKeySize +ForwardURICompat -ForwardDirectories
# JkRequestLogFormat set the request format
JkRequestLogFormat "%w %V %T"
# Send everything for context /examples to worker named worker1 (ajp13)
JkMount /~dlipsa/hs/* worker1
JkMount /~dlipsa/preco/* worker1
JkMount /~dlipsa/xslt/* worker1
    Add the a file named workers.properties in /etc/httpd/conf directory. This file should contain: 
    # Define 1 real worker using ajp13
worker.list=worker1
# Set properties for worker1 (ajp13)
worker.worker1.type=ajp13
worker.worker1.host=localhost
worker.worker1.port=8009
worker.worker1.lbfactor=50
worker.worker1.cachesize=10
worker.worker1.cache_timeout=600
worker.worker1.socket_keepalive=1
worker.worker1.socket_timeout=300

  26. Java 3D

    Install the API: 
    cd /usr/local/jdk1.5.0
./java3d-sdk-1.3.1-linux-i386.bin
    Install the documentation: download java3d-1_3-fr-guide.zip.

  27. J2SE and NetBeans IDE

    Setup the plug-in for Mozilla: /usr/local/lib/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so --> /usr/local/j2sdk_nb/j2sdk1.4.2/jre/plugin/i386/ns610/libjavaplugin_oji.so

  28. Java Web Start

    Copy javaws directory to /usr/local and then run install.sh as user dlipsa.

  29. Tomcat4

    Add the following variable in /etc/tomcat4/tomcat4.conf: JAVA_HOME to point to the base of your Java installation directory.

    Add the following contexts for your Servlet/JSP applications in /var/tomcat4/conf/server.xml. Notice that I have two applications defined, and these are the same applications I have mounted in httpd.conf.

          <Host ...
        <Context path="/~dlipsa/hs"
		 docBase="/home/dlipsa/public_html/hs.war" debug="0"
                 reloadable="true" crossContext="true">
          <Logger className="org.apache.catalina.logger.FileLogger"
		  prefix="localhost_hs_log." suffix=".txt"
        	  timestamp="true"/>
        </Context>


        <Context path="/~dlipsa/preco"
		 docBase="/home/dlipsa/public_html/preco.war" debug="0"
                 reloadable="true" crossContext="true">
          <Logger className="org.apache.catalina.logger.FileLogger"
		  prefix="localhost_preco_log." suffix=".txt"
        	  timestamp="true"/>
        </Context>

        <Context path="/~dlipsa/xslt"
		 docBase="/home/dlipsa/public_html/xslt.war" debug="0"
                 reloadable="true" crossContext="true">
          <Logger className="org.apache.catalina.logger.FileLogger"
		  prefix="localhost_xslt_log." suffix=".txt"
        	  timestamp="true"/>
        </Context>
           ...

  30. org.apache.commons.fileupload

    Un-tar commons-fileupload-1.0.tar.gz into /usr/local. Create the following links in /var/tomcat4/common/lib: 

    commons-beanutils.jar -> ../../server/lib/commons-beanutils.jar
commons-fileupload-1.0-beta-1.jar -> /usr/local/commons-fileupload-1.0/commons-fileupload-1.0.jar

    Create the following links in /usr/local/j2sdk_nb/netbeans3.5/tomcat406/common/lib: 

    commons-beanutils.jar -> /var/tomcat4/server/lib/commons-beanutils.jar
commons-fileupload-1.0-beta-1.jar -> /usr/local/commons-fileupload-1.0/commons-fileupload-1.0.jar
commons-logging.jar -> ../../server/lib/commons-logging.jar

    Add /usr/local/commons-fileupload-1.0/commons-fileupload-1.0.jar into NetBeans IDE

  31. Adding Java Extension Classes

    Link the following JAR files into $JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/ext:

    pg73jdbc3.jar -> /home/dlipsa/public_html/csci4520/pg73jdbc3.jar
acme.jar -> /home/ftp/Java/acme.jar
mailapi.jar -> /usr/local/javamail-1.3.1/lib/mailapi.jar
pop3.jar -> /usr/local/javamail-1.3.1/lib/pop3.jar
smtp.jar -> /usr/local/javamail-1.3.1/lib/smtp.jar
imap.jar -> /usr/local/javamail-1.3.1/lib/imap.jar
activation.jar -> /usr/local/jaf-1.0.2/activation.jar
saxon8.jar -> /usr/local/saxonb8-4/saxon8.jar

  32. Unison File Synchronizer

    Copy unison binary into /usr/local/bin.

Dell Latitute C840

  1. XF86Config for Nvidia GeForce4

    Use the driver downloaded from www.nvidia.com because it works better than the one that comes with RedHat9. After installing NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4496-pkg2.run you have to make the following modifications to XF86Config file. Set Driver "nvidia" in the Section "Device". Comment the line Load "dri". Set

    Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
        VendorName   "Dell"
        ModelName    "1600X Laptop Display Panel"
        DisplaySize  305        229
        HorizSync    31.5 - 90.0
        VertRefresh  59.0 - 85.0
        Option      "dpms"
ModeLine "1400x1050" 129.0 1400 1464 1656 1960 1050 1051 1054 1100 +hsync +vsync
ModeLine "1400x1050" 151.0 1400 1464 1656 1960 1050 1051 1054 1100 +hsync +vsync
ModeLine "1400x1050" 162.0 1400 1464 1656 1960 1050 1051 1054 1100 +hsync +vsync
ModeLine "1400x1050" 184.0 1400 1464 1656 1960 1050 1051 1054 1100 +hsync +vsync
EndSection
    Set in the Section "Screen", SubSection "Display" the following line: Modes "1600x1200" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

  2. 3Com 3CRWE62092B PCMCIA Wireless Card

    Install atmelwlandriver.2.1.1.tar.gz. Move the created file /lib/modules/2.4.20-20.9/pcmcia to /lib/modules/2.4.20-20.9/kernel/drivers/pcmcia/pcmf502r3.o. Configure the wireless interface using System settings/Network tool. Edit /etc/sysconfig/networking/devices/ifcfg-eth1 and change the key to be XXXXXXXX instead of s:XXXXXXXX.

  3. Set the name of the computer

    Set in /etc/sysconfig/network, HOSTNAME=<hostname>.

    Add an alias called <hostname> to localhost.localdomain in /etc/hosts like the following line:

    127.0.0.1       localhost.localdomain   localhost       <hostname>

  4. Set UID for apm

    This allows you to set suspend/standby/off laptop feature in KDE. Use the following command as root:

    chmod u+s /usr/bin/apm

Dell Precision 530 Desktop

  1. Setting the optimum vertical refresh for Dell 1900FP

    Change in /etc/X11/XF86Config, VertRefresh 56.0- 61.0 (instead of up to 76.0). That will make the graphic card to choose the refresh rate of 60Hz (instead of 75Hz) which is said to be optimal for the display.

  2. Epson Perfection 1660 Photo Scanner

    In /etc/sane.d/epson.conf comment scsi EPSON line and uncomment usb /dev/usb/scanner0 line. In /etc/modules.conf add the following line: options scanner vendor=0x04b8 product=0x011e. See SANE EPSON Backend.

  3. APC Back-UPS ES 350

    Install apcupsd-std-3.10.16-1 and apply the following patch to /etc/apcupsd/apcupsd.conf

    9c9
< # UPSNAME xxx
---
> UPSNAME apc-back-ups-es500
22c22
< UPSCABLE smart
---
> UPSCABLE usb
44c44
< UPSTYPE smartups
---
> UPSTYPE usb
68c68
< DEVICE /dev/ttyS0
---
> DEVICE

    See this link for a tutorial about this.

Bugs

  1. kdvi is slow while xdvi fast

    In kdvi disable Settings/Show Preview and set the correct paper size in View/Paper Size.

  2. Real Player hangs in KDE

    Use artsdsp realplay to launch Real Player. This way, Real Player will stop conflicting with aRts sound server.