[PDF]OpenSUSE Startup

www.novell.com


openSUSE


10.3


November 08, 2007


Start-Up



A NOVELL BUSINESS





Start-Up

Copyright © 2006-2007 Novell, Inc.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU
Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foun¬
dation; with the Invariant Section being this copyright notice and license. A copy of the license is in¬
cluded in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”.

SUSE®, openSUSE®, the openSUSE® logo, Novell®, the Novell® logo, the N® logo, are registered
trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Linux* is a registered trademark
of Linus Torvalds. All other third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners. A
trademark symbol (® , ™, etc.) denotes a Novell trademark; an asterisk (*) denotes a third-party
trademark.

All information found in this book has been compiled with utmost attention to detail. However, this
does not guarantee complete accuracy. Neither Novell, Inc., SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, the authors,
nor the translators shall be held liable for possible errors or the consequences thereof



Contents


About This Guide vii

Part I Installation and Setup 1

1 Installation with YaST 3

1.1 Choosing the Installation Media. 3

1.2 Choosing the Installation Method. 5

1.3 The Installation Workflow. 8

1.4 System Start-Up for Installation. 8

1.5 The Boot Screen. 8

1.6 Language. 10

1.7 Media Check. 11

1.8 License Agreement. 12

1.9 Installation Mode. 13

1.10 Clock and Time Zone. 15

1.11 Desktop Selection. 16

1.12 Installation Settings. 17

1.13 Performing the Installation. 23

1.14 Configuration of the Installed System. 24

1.15 Graphical Login. 33

2 Setting Up Hardware Components with YaST 3S

2.1 Probing Your Hardware. 35

2.2 Setting Up Graphics Card and Monitor. 36

2.3 Setting Up Keyboard and Mouse. 37

2.4 Setting Up Sound Cards. 40

2.5 Setting Up a Printer. 43

2.6 Setting Up a Scanner. 47
























3 Installing or Removing Software 49

3.1 Installing Software. 49

3.2 Checking Software Dependencies. 51

3.3 Packages and Software Repositories. 52

3.4 Removing Software. 53

3.5 Adding Software Repositories. 53

3.6 Installing Add-On Products. 54

3.7 Keeping the System Up-to-date. 55

4 Accessing the Internet 61

4.1 Direct Internet Connection. 61

4.2 Internet Connection Via Network. 64

5 Managing Users with YaST 65

5.1 Managing User Accounts. 66

5.2 Special Options. 68

5.3 Managing Groups. 73

5.4 Changing the User Authentication Method. 75

6 Changing Language and Country Settings with YaST 77

6.1 Changing the System Language. 77

6.2 Changing the Country and Time Settings. 80

Part II Basics 83

7 Basic Concepts 85

7.1 User Concept. 85

7.2 The Linux File System. 87

7.3 File Access Permissions. 95

8 Shell Basics 99

8.1 Starting a Shell. 100

8.2 Entering Commands. 101

8.3 Working with Files and Directories. 105

8.4 Becoming Root. 109

8.5 Modifying File Permissions. 110

8.6 Useful Features of the Shell. 113

8.7 Editing Texts. 117

8.8 Searching for Files or Contents. 119





























8.9 Viewing Text Files. 120

8.10 Redirection and Pipes. 121

8.11 Handling Processes. 122

Part III Mobility 125

9 Mobile Computing with Linux 127

9.1 Laptops. 127

9.2 Mobile Hardware. 135

9.3 Cellular Phones and PDAs. 136

9.4 For More Information. 136

10 Managing Network Connections with NetworkManager 137

10.1 Use Cases for NetworkManager. 137

10.2 Activating Use of NetworkManager. 138

10.3 Using KNetworkManager. 138

10.4 The GNOME NetworkManager Applet. 143

10.5 Troubleshooting. 148

10.6 For More Information. 150

11 Copying and Sharing Files 151

11.1 Scenarios. 152

11.2 Access Methods. 153

11.3 Accessing Files on Different OS on the Same Computer. 154

11.4 Copying Files between Linux Computers. 155

11.5 Copying Files between Linux and Windows Computers with 55H. 163

11.6 Sharing Files between Linux Computers. 164

11.7 Sharing Files between Linux and Windows with Samba. 167

11.8 For More Information. 170

Part IV Help and Troubleshooting 171

12 Help and Documentation 173

12.1 Included Help Resources. 173

12.2 Additional Help Resources. 183

12.3 For More Information. 184

1 3 Common Problems and Their 5olutions 189

13.1 Finding and Gathering Information. 189




























13.2 Installation Problems. 192

13.3 Boot Problems. 201

13.4 Login Problems. 203

13.5 Network Problems. 209

13.6 Data Problems. 214

13.7 Support for openSUSE. 226

A GNU Licenses 233

A.1 GNU General Public License. 233

A.2 GNU Free Documentation License. 236

Index 241











About This Guide


This manual will see you through your initial contact with openSUSE®. Check out the
various parts of this manual to learn how to install, use and enjoy your system.

Installation and Setup

Guides you through the installation process and the basic configuration of your
system. Introduces YaST, the central tool for installation and configuration of your
system. Learn how to set up or modify key components of your system: hardware
components such as monitors or printers and network connections such as Internet
access. Find how to install or remove software, how to administer users and groups,
and how to make use of the various system languages available with openSUSE.

Basics

This part mainly addresses to users changing to Linux from other operating systems.
It introduces basic Linux concepts such as the user concept, the structure of the file
system and access permissions for files and directories. An introduction to the shell
is also provided, although you hardly ever need the command line to interact with
your system nowadays.

Mobility

Get an overview of the features openSUSE offers to support mobile working with
laptops, mobile storage devices such as external hard disks and PDAs or cellular
phones. Learn how to use NetworkManager to easily integrate your machine into
different network environments or different types of networks. Find advice on how
to exchange files between different systems, be it on different partitions of one
computer (Linux/Windows*), or from one computer to another (Linux/Linux,
Linux/Windows).

Help and Troubleshooting

Provides an overview of where to find help and additional documentation in case
you need more information or want to perform specific tasks with your system.
Also find a compilation of the most frequent problems and annoyances and learn
how to solve these problems on your own.



1 Feedback


We want to hear your comments and suggestions about this manual and the other doc¬
umentation included with this product. Please use the User Comments feature at the
bottom of each page of the online documentation and enter your comments there.


2 Additional Documentation


We provide HTML and PDF versions of our books in different languages. The following
manuals are available on this product:

Start-Up

Guides you through the installation and basic configuration of your system. For
newcomers, the manual also introduces basic Linux concepts such as the file system,
the user concept and access permissions and gives an overview of the features
openSUSE offers to support mobile computing. Provides help and advice in trou¬
bleshooting.

KDE Quick Start

Gives a short introduction to the KDE desktop and some key applications running
on it.

KDE User Guide

Introduces the KDE desktop of openSUSE and a variety of applications shipping
with it. It guides you through using these applications and helps you perform key
tasks. It is intended mainly for end users who want to make efficient use of KDE
in everyday life.

GNOME Quick Start

Gives a short introduction to the GNOME desktop and some key applications
running on it.

GNOME User Guide

Introduces the GNOME desktop of openSUSE and a variety of applications you
will encounter when working with the GNOME desktop. It guides you through
using these applications and helps you perform key tasks. It is intended mainly for
end users who want to make efficient use of applications running on the GNOME
desktop.


viii


Start-Up



Reference

Gives you a general understanding of openSUSE and covers advanced system ad¬
ministration tasks. It is intended mainly for system administrators and home users
with basic system administration knowledge. It provides detailed information about
advanced deployment scenarios, administration of your system, the interaction of
key system components and the set-up of various network and file services open¬
SUSE offers.

Novell AppArmor Quick Start

Helps you understand the main concepts behind Novell® AppArmor.

Novell AppArmor Administration Guide

Contains in-depth information about the use of Novell AppArmor in your environ¬
ment.

Lessons For Lizards

A community book project for the openSUSE distribution. A snapshot of the
manual written by the open source community is released on an equal footing with
the Novell/SUSE manuals. The lessons are written in a cook book style and cover
more specific or exotic topics than the traditional manuals. For more information,

see http://developer.novell.com/wiki/index.php/Lessons
_for_Lizards.

Find HTML versions of the openSUSE manuals in your installed system under /usr /
share/doc/manual or in the help centers of your KDE or GNOME desktop. You
can also access the documentation on the Web at http : / /www. novell. com/
do cument at ion/opensusel03 / where you can download PDF or HTML versions
of the manuals. For information where to find the books on your installation media,
refer to the Release Notes of this product, available from your installed system under
/usr/share/doc/release-notes/.


3 Documentation Conventions


The following typographical conventions are used in this manual:

• /etc/passwd: filenames and directory names

• placeholder: replace placeholder with the actual value


About This Guide


ix


PATH: the environment variable PATH


• Is, —help: commands, options, and parameters

• user: users or groups

• Alt, Alt + FI: a key to press or a key combination; keys are shown in uppercase as
on a keyboard

• File, File > Save As: menu items, buttons

• Dancing Penguins (Chapter Penguins, t Another Manual): This is a reference to a
chapter in another manual.

4 About the Making of This Manual

This book is written in Novdoc, a subset of DocBook (see http : / /www. docbook
. or g). The XML source files were validated by xml 1 i nt, processed byxsltproc,
and converted into XSL-FO using a customized version of Norman Walsh's stylesheets.
The final PDF is formaffed fhrough XEP from RenderX.


5 Source Code


The source code of openSUSE is publicly available. To download fhe source code,
proceed as outlined under http : / /www. novell. com/products/ susellnux/
sour ce_code . html. If requesfed we send you fhe source code on a DVD. We need
fo charge a $15 or €15 fee for creation, handling and posfage. To requesf a DVD of fhe
source code, send an e-mail fo sourcedvd@suse.de [mailto : sourcedvd@suse
. de] or mail fhe requesf fo:

SUSE Linux Products GmbH
Product Management openSUSE
Maxfeldstr. 5
D-90409 Niirnberg
Germany


X Start-Up


6 Acknowledgments

With a lot of voluntary commitment, the developers of Linux cooperate on a global
scale to promote the development of Linux. We thank them for their efforts—^this dis¬
tribution would not exist without them. Furthermore, we thank Frank Zappa and Pawar.
Special thanks, of course, go to Linus Torvalds.

Have a lot of fun!

Your SUSE Team


About This Guide




Part I. Installation and Setup




Installation with YaST



Install your openSUSE® system with YaST, the central tool for installation and confi¬
guration of your system. YaST guides you through the installation process and the basic
configuration of your system. During the installation and configuration process, YaST
analyzes both your current system settings and your hardware components and proposes
installation settings based on this analysis. By default, YaST displays an overview of
all installation steps on the left hand side of the window and provides online help texts
for each step. Click Help to view the help text and Steps to switch back to the overview.

If you are a first-time user of openSUSE, you might want to follow the default YaST
proposals in most parts, but you can also adjust the settings as described here to fine-
tune your system according to your needs and wishes. Many parts of the basic system
configuration, such as user accounts or system language, can also be modified after the
installation process.

1.1 Choosing the Installation Media

When installing openSUSE, choose from several media available either online or in
the retail box:

DVD-retail

Two DVD9 media, only available with the retail box. The installation DVD contains
the openSUSE distribution with open source software (OSS) as well as non-open
source software (non-OSS) for 32bit and 64bit systems. The second DVD contains
a snapshot of ftp. opensuse . org with a large number of additional packages.


Installation with YaST


3



This installation option does not require any network access for installation, nor
do you need to set up external repositories to install the full openSUSE. You can,
however, make the contents of the DVDs available on an installation server and
make them available all across your network.

DVD-download

One DVDS, available via download, containing OSS software either for 32bit or
64bit systems.

Choose this installation option, if you want a fully-fledged openSUSE system
consisting entirely of open source software. Beyond the downloading of the DVD
ISO, there is no network connection required to make use of this installation option.
Once the medium has been fully downloaded and the physical medium created,
you can go ahead with the installation. You can, however, make the contents of
the DVDs available on an installation server and make them available all across
your network.

CD-KDE

The one CD-KDE version which is available via download includes the KDE
desktop together with the most popular applications for 32bit or 64bit systems.

Choose this installation option, if you prefer a single-desktop solution and a lean
software selection. There is no network connection required beyond the mere
download of the medium.

CD-GNOME

The one CD-GNOME version which is available via download includes the GNOME
desktop together with the most popular applications for 32bit or 64bit systems.

Choose this installation option, if you prefer a single-desktop solution and a lean
software selection. There is no network connection required beyond the mere
download of the medium.

Mini CD

The Mini CD contains a minimal Linux system needed to run the installation. The
installation system itself and the installation data are loaded from a network source.
To install from a network providing SEP, please start the installation as described
in Section 1.2.1, “Installing from aNetwork ServerUsing SEP” (page 6). To install
from a HTTP, FTP, NFS, or SMB server, follow the instructions in Section 1.2.2,
“Installing from a Network Source without SEP” (page 7).


4 Start-Up


IMPORTANT: Add-On CDs—Installing Additional Software

Although add-on CDs cannot be used as stand-alone installation media, they
can be embedded as additional software sources during the installation. Cur¬
rently available are CDs with non-OSS software and additional languages. Add¬
on CDs can be used with any of the above installation media.


1.2 Choosing the Installation Method

After having selected the installation medium, determine a suitable installation method
and boot option that best match your needs:

Installing from the openSUSE Media

Choose this option, if you want to perform a stand-alone installation and do not
want to rely on a network providing the installation data or the boot infrastructure.
The installation proceeds exactly as outlined in Section 1.3, “The Installation
Workflow” (page 8).

Installing from a Network Server

Choose this option, if you have an installation server available in your network or
want to use an external server as the source of your installation data. This setup
can be configured to use from physical media (Floppy, CD/DVD, or hard disk) for
booting or configured to boot via network using PXE/BOOTP. Refer to Sec¬
tion 1.2.1, “Installing from a Network Server Using SEP” (page 6), Section 1.2.2,
“Installing from a Network Source without SEP” (page 7), and Chapter 1, Remote
Installation (tReference) for details.

Installing with instlux from Windows

Choose this installation option, if you prefer a smooth transition from using Win¬
dows to Linux, instlux allows you to boot into the openSUSE installation right
from a running Windows by modifying the Windows boot loader. This installation
option is only available from the DVD media. Refer to Section 1.2.3, “Installing
with instlux from Windows” (page 7) for details.

openSUSE supports several different boot options from which you can choose depending
on the hardware available and on the installation scenario you prefer. Booting from the
openSUSE media or using instlux are the most straightforward options, but special re¬
quirements might call for special setups:


Installation with YaST


5




Table 1.1 Boot Options


Boot Option

Description

DVD/CD-ROM

This is the easiest boot option. This option can be used if the
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