Some Stupid Linux Questions

[djdrastic]

Hi peeps , can someone help me with these 5 questions


These questions pertain to Linux Slackware


1) I know how to take my nw card from DHCP -- > Static , but how would I take a card from Static --> DHCP on a permanent basis

2)I'm a bit used to win nt's ipconfig /all , ipconfig /release functions ; How would I access them with ifconfig ?

3)How do you change , what services , are loaded at startup [like inted , httpd] etc ? I haven't been able to find any documentation to help me.

4)How do you set the default bit depth in XF86Config file , mine constantly goes to 8 bits by default and the moment I used xf86config program , corrupts the file , telling me it can't find screen 0

5)How would you share a locally attached printer , via the LPD Daemon ? I cant find any docs on how to do this ?

6)My slackware installation constantly compains about locate.db being to small , how would you go about resizing ?


Any Help Would Be Gladly Appreciated.

 

[cleverhandle]

Originally posted by: djdrastic
1) I know how to take my nw card from DHCP -- > Static , but how would I take a card from Static --> DHCP on a permanent basis

Run setup and there's an option like "Configure" IIRC. That will run through the network config again. Or edit /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 - it's well commented.

2)I'm a bit used to win nt's ipconfig /all , ipconfig /release functions ; How would I access them with ifconfig ?

Don't use DHCP enough to know offhand - but someone else surely will. But I think you'll want to use dhclient. Try a man -k dhcp to find some docs.

3)How do you change , what services , are loaded at startup [like inted , httpd] etc ? I haven't been able to find any documentation to help me.

Look through the bootscripts in /etc/rc.d and comment out stuff you don't want to start. There's no symlink business like in SysV init.

4)How do you set the default bit depth in XF86Config file , mine constantly goes to 8 bits by default and the moment I used xf86config program , corrupts the file , telling me it can't find screen 0

Edit /etc/X11/XF86Config by hand after reading the man pages - it's easier than relying on tools. If you must try automation, use X -configure, as xf86config is very old now.

5)How would you share a locally attached printer , via the LPD Daemon ? I cant find any docs on how to do this ?

How many days do you have to spend? I would recommend using CUPS over LPD, but without knowing what your printer is, and what clients will be sharing it, it's hard to say.

6)My slackware installation constantly compains about locate.db being to small , how would you go about resizing ?

Hmm... that's odd. Locate.db is the database that tracks file locations for the locate command. It lives in a /var subdirectory - you don't by any chance have a small/full /var partition? What happens if you run (as root) updatedb?

 

[lowtech1]

Use find or whereis, then add auto-dhcp or dhcp to see if it work. Other wise use netconfig.

 

[N11]

Originally posted by: djdrastic


1) I know how to take my nw card from DHCP -- > Static , but how would I take a card from Static --> DHCP on a permanent basis

Assuming it's similar to redhat, you can run the setup utility (netconfig with redhat) and specify what you want. Config files should be somewhere near /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 eth1, etc. Bootproto entry set to equal dhcp is what you want.

2)I'm a bit used to win nt's ipconfig /all , ipconfig /release functions ; How would I access them with ifconfig ?

ifdown eth0
ifup eth0

drops your eth0 interface and brings it back up. It will make its requests if you have the settings set for dhcp.

3)How do you change , what services , are loaded at startup [like inted , httpd] etc ? I haven't been able to find any documentation to help me.

Also assuming similar to redhat, use chkconfig.
few example usages..
chkconfig --list | grep on (lists any services that are set to be on at any runlevel)
chkconfig httpd off (would turn httpd off, but you would still need to turn the service off if it was currently running)
chkconfig --levels 235 sendmail on (would turn sendmail on in levels 235)

4)How do you set the default bit depth in XF86Config file , mine constantly goes to 8 bits by default and the moment I used xf86config program , corrupts the file , telling me it can't find screen 0

I always use the Xfree86 configurator whenever I'm dealiing with anything related to X. I'm not sure what slack has provided, probably something like XConfigurator

5)How would you share a locally attached printer , via the LPD Daemon ? I cant find any docs on how to do this ?

Printers aren't a lot of fun. If you used LPD there are some config files like /etc/lpd.conf and /etc/lpd.perms (for permissions). I don't really get involved in linux printing situations, I'm not a huge fan of printing.

6)My slackware installation constantly compains about locate.db being to small , how would you go about resizing ?

Can't help with this one.


I assume some of my answers aren't going to help with slackware, but hopefully they should give some guidance.

 

[drag]

stuff on slackware's init files

Probably the reason you can't find a whole lot on system init files is that pretty much each linux distro uses a different sceme. There is not a whole lot difference, but the config files with will vary with location and names. Generally it has to do with runlevels, editing these runlevel files (they are just bash scripts mostly) manually is how you can control services starting up in Slackware.

As far as the printer stuff, I like Cups alot. You will get good quality with this, but as far as sharing with windows machines you might be better off investigating Samba, but I realy don't know much about using SMB to share printers.

In the XF86Config the easiest way is probably just to comment out or erase the lines having to do with the 8bit stuff and/or putting the correct color depth you want before the other ones. It won't hurt it to have missing color depths if you don't plan on using them.

 

[djdrastic]

Thanks So Much !!!


Anandtech ROXXXXXXXOOOOOORRRRSSS !!!!