Tag Archive for 'linux'

Customizing PCLinuxOS 2008 Minime

Published
by
devnet
on October 18, 2008
in Main
. 0 Comments

Putting it Together

Build Your Own PCLOS

So, HowtoForge has a perfect desktop for PCLinuxOS 2007…how about something similar for 2008 MiniMe? I won’t go into near as much detail as they do there but I’ll go over how I get my desktop up and rolling after a fresh install of PCLinuxOS Minime 2008.

MiniMe is the lesser known offspring of PCLinuxOS 2007 that ships with a 2.6.22.15 kernel and is a minimalistic installation of the KDE desktop 3.5.9. Texstar provides this distribution for those wanting to remaster their installations…it’s a base for other remastered projects like PCLinuxOS Gnome. Remastering and the Make LiveCD wizard enable users to customize their distribution and make a bootable backup CD with all their customizations OR release their own customized distribution. You can also use the Make LiveUSB wizard to create your very own thumbdrive PCLinuxOS.

I found it strange that no one had written anything about MimiMe-to on getting PCLinuxOS 2008 MiniMe up and running as a desktop replacement so I decided to give it a go. The aim of this article isn’t to copy Howtoforge’s great series on perfect installations…but to show how I get PCLinuxOS 2008 Minime up to a perfect installation for me. This means all web video, audio, fonts, and tools I need are installed. So let’s get at it.

What Do We Need?

First and foremost, do a complete upgrade of your fresh installed system. Open Synaptic >> Reload >> Mark all Upgrades >> Apply. It’s going to take a while to get all the updates you’ll need. Do NOT enable the testing repository until after you install your graphics driver at the end of this article…just perform a straight update from main.

Now let’s start installing stuff that is needed on a daily basis. I’m more of a lightweight type of guy so I don’t need robust office applications so my tastes may not line up with yours. Please substitute applications where you see fit…the repositories most likely have them.

To give a brief, high level overview of my daily use applications:

  • firefox3
  • Opera
  • K3B
  • konversation
  • pidgin
  • skype_static
  • koffice
  • gimp
  • Amarok
  • claws-mail
  • kdeaddons-kate
  • kdeaddons-ark
  • kdegraphics-ksnapshot (for taking screenshots)

Those are the high level applications I use on a daily basis to get things done. Whenever you are prompted to mark other packages for install, go ahead and and choose “mark”. Click apply and let the your daily use applications install.

Handy Wizards for PCLinuxOS 2008

MiniMe 2008 comes with some handy wizards for you to use to get started. On your desktop after install is a folder called “Utilities”. If you open this folder up, you will find the following options:

  1. ATI-Nvidia Driver Install
  2. Alsa Sound Configuration
  3. Internet Setup
  4. Make LiveCD
  5. Make LiveUSB
  6. Redo-MBR
  7. Set Clock

You can use any of these you want to get things rolling. You’ll have to enable your network through the PCLinuxOS Control Center because MiniMe does not setup a network connection by design out of the box. Remember, it’s a base for building, not a full fledged distro. We have to craft it how we want it. I recommend NOT installing a graphics driver until the very end…mainly because there are some problems currently with the 173.xx driver conflicting with some packages in the testing repository. So hold off on graphics install if you can until the very last.

Make LiveCD is exactly what it sounds like. You can make a LiveCD based on your install. So after you get everything setup the way you want it to be, you can double click Make LiveCD and a wizard will guide you through creating your own customized LiveCD backup of your install.

Make LiveUSB is also exactly what it sounds like…you can make a bootable version of a USB stick with PCLinuxOS MiniME. This how-to does not cover this since we’re going for a desktop replacement and not a minimalistic install. You may want to select this option though after you’ve got things configured as you want them.

The rest of the options are fairly straightforward and do exactly what they say. Make sure you take the time to get all things working (except graphics driver) before you move on.

What Else Should We Install?

We’ll need to install a few more things to get seamless operation for PCLinuxOS on the web. There are also some packages that will make your PCLinuxOS experience a bit better that we’ll install at this step as well:

  • gtk-qt-engine
  • RealPlayer-rpnp
  • flash-player-plugin
  • java-1.6.0-sun
  • flac-1.2.1
  • mplayer-skins
  • mplayer-gui
  • mplayer
  • win32-codecs-all
  • sound-juicer
  • flash-player-plugin-opera
  • cabextract (for extracting wireless drivers if you have need to)
  • webcore-fonts
  • unrar
  • rar
  • xine-plugins
  • AdobeReader_enu

Please remember to allow synaptic to mark anything extra that the packages require. After installing these packages, your browsing experience and overall appearance of PCLinuxOS should be ready for improvement. I’ll go through how I setup a few applications to give them a nice look and feel. Let’s start first with GTK applications look and feel. Continue reading ‘Customizing PCLinuxOS 2008 Minime’

Adding new functions to Red Hat Enterprise Linux: A process primer

Published
by
Russell Doty
on October 17, 2008
in Red Hat
. 0 Comments

People often wonder how to get new capabilities—new packages, new features in existing packages, or even bug fixes—included in Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The process for doing so is straightforward, but may be foreign to those with a background in traditional software products.

To summarize, the process is:
1)Get the new code accepted upstream.
2)Get it included in Fedora.
3)Get it included in Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Although this article focuses on the Linux kernel, the steps apply to all Red Hat Enterprise Linux components and packages.

The key element in the process is that Red Hat tracks upstream. This means that Red Hat works closely with the open source community. Any new features must first be accepted upstream before they’re added to Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

There are numerous benefits to this approach. The biggest is that it keeps the OS and its users closely aligned with Linux as it evolves. There are no dead-end branches, incompatible features, or Red Hat-specific changes that must be maintained. New features added to Linux and key packages are easily integrated. It also means that all new development can and must be accepted by the community before integration.

There are also a number of challenges to the open source model. Some of these are misconceptions, while others have at least a kernel of truth.

Open source: Multiple paths to new capabilities
With proprietary software, only the owner of the software can add new features and capabilities. This makes the question of new functions quite straightforward. There is one source for new features, and they either agree to or reject a request for a new feature. If they don’t agree to add the requested function, there’s no recourse.

With open source development, there are many ways to add a new capability:

  • The original author of the package can add it.
  • The Linux distributor (such as Red Hat) can add it.
  • You can customize your installation by adding it yourself.
  • You can contract with or persuade someone to add it for you.
  • Perhaps most importantly, anyone can add it.

With open source, it isn’t a question of who can add or enhance a feature or capability, it is a question of how widely that feature will be adopted. This changes the dynamics of adding new features from one of focusing solely on writing the code that implements the feature to one of addressing creation, integration, acce