Introduction Making of a computer suite Day1

Overview

Welcome to the “Swecha” 15 Day Industrial training camp.Let us start Learning,Sharing with each other.First thing that you will be doing in the camp is to follow the instructions:-)

How to follow the instructions

Normal text looks like this.This text describes the step and instructs you of what to do.

[This text is the instructions which you have to perform]

Step1:This system has Debain GNU/Linux OS.Once you start the system you will be greeted with a blue screen that has 3 entries in it. Note:if you don't select and wait for 5 sec the system will boot into the default option which is our Debain OS.

[select the first entry and press enter using arrow keys]

Step2: Once the system boots up you will see a prompt asking for login.

[Type the root and press enter]

Now it will ask for password,

[the password is 'password' with out quotes,type the password and press enter.]

You will not see the * or anything else while you are typing the password.This is the security feature which is build in the system.

Once you are done with the above steps correctly you will see a command prompt similar to this one. root@sys3umllab~# root is the username,sys3umllab is the system name and ~ indicates that you are in users current directory.'#' tells you whether you are acting as superuser or normal user.For normal user's the prompt will change to '$'.

Step3: Now we will add source from were all the required packages will be fetched.At the prompt give the following commands.

[nano/etc/apt/sources.list] enter

This will open the file source.list and in this file put a # in front of all the lines. Note: if you see a # at the starting of a line then skip that line and proceed to the next line.

[with the help of arrow keys move the cursor to the starting of the line and press SHIFT+3]

you can find the SHIFT key on the left side of the keyboard above CTRL key.You have to perform the the above task by keeping pressed the shift key and then pressing the number 3 key. Follow the above step and see that all the lines have # in front of them. Now we will add the line that will tell the system about were to get the packages from.

[type this line in the last empty line] [deb http://------------:3142/ftp.iitm.ac.in/debian testing main contrib non-free]

the dashes have to be filled with an ip address which will look like this 172.16.3.1. A complete line will look like this for our example. deb http://172.16.3.1:3142/ftp.iitm.ac.in/debian testing main contrib non-free

Ask for the ip from the lab volunteer.

Step 4: After you have entered the line correctly

[press CTRL+o (this is a o as in owl and not the number 0)] press enter [now press CTRL+x]

Now you will see the prompt again

Step 5: Type the following command to update the package list

[apt-get update] press enter

wait for the command prompt to reappear.

Step 6: Type the following command to install packages required for getting a full graphical environment in short it is call as GUI(Graphical User Interface)

[type the command tasksel] press enter

you will see a list of software that you can select for installation.

[select the first entry “Graphical desktop environment” by moving the cursor using arrow keys and press space]

pressing space will give a * in the box and pressing space again will remove the *. Make sure that * is put in the box for “Graphical desktop environment”.

[press the TAB key which is two key's above SHIFT key] press enter

[press enter and the system will ask for password type the password as 'password' with out quotes] press enter Now the system will start fetching the packages and installing them for you to get a GUI. Wait till you see the prompt again (this will take 15 to 30 minutes).

Step 7: Once all the packages are installed correctly you will see the prompt. To login to the graphical environment you have to restart the system.

[type init 6] press enter

Step 8: follow step 1 to start the system.

Step 9: After booting the system you will see a login prompt which will show the user.

[press enter and the system will ask for password type the password as 'password' with out quotes] press enter

Now you will see the GNOME desktop environment.

Trace: » create » sumcamp_2011 » start » computer_suite1

  A one page write up contrasting atleast 4 different Free/Libre/Opensource licenses (Clue: GPLv2,GPLv3,Apache,Mozilla)
  Get to know different families of GNU/Linux distros. Debian family, RedHat family, Rolling release distributions like Arch, Gentoo, Slackware. (Clue: http://distrowatch.com)
  Differences between micro-kernel and monolithic kernel
  Analyzing BIOS with multiple options it has
  Experiment with different file systems(ext3,ext4,reiserfs,xfs)
  Change default entry in Grub2(Clue: /etc/grub.d) 
  Restore Grub2
  Different methods of installation (Clue: CD, USB, Network) 

  Desktop Environments like Gnome, gnome-shell, KDE.
  Basic Administration
      File system hierarchy( /etc, /proc etc..)
      User management ( user, superuser)
      Network Configuration using network-manager.
  Package Management
      Installation of packages using apt-get and synaptic
      Debian mirrors, sections of packages main,contrib,non-free.
      .deb files and how to install them.
      Installation using source files.( configure;make;make install idiom)
  Free Software Equivalents
      Office Suite
      Gimp, Blender
      Vlc, firefox etc..

Basic

      Install KDE
      Install LXDE with LXDM
      Assign static IP address by editing the relevant file (Clue: etc/network….)
      Add a user and assign him to be a sudoer
      Change to the DNS to use google's DNS
      Get the details of the CPU, RAM, Pid, using files beneath /proc
      Check the message log of the computer (Clue: /var)
      Modify the index.html to reflect http://localhost
      Partition your USB disk with ext4 filesystem (Clue: fdisk, cfdisk)
      Use apt to install "sl" and use synaptic to uninstall it
      Change the repository to use Indian mirror(IITM)
      Download any .deb package of your choice and install using dpkg
      List out all the packages installed onto the system

Advanced

      Install Openbox with Slim
      Remove Slim and replace it with xdm
      Configure the following shortcuts in Openbox environment
      Keybinding	Application
      Win+f	Iceweasel
      Win+t	Terminator
      Win+v	VLC Media Player
      Install tint2 and use it as a panel
      Replicate Alt+F2 functionality as in gnome ( Clue: gmrun)
      Create a symlink of all hidden files to the folder "dotfiles" and copy them to the other computer
      Create a user with his home directory to be stored under /home2
      Change the apache root to /home/user/site
      Insert the USB disk and record the changes that happen to the dbus into a text file
      Run iceweasel ; print the pid of iceweasel (Note: Only Pid nothing else. Eg: 14321)
      Close iceweasel using a single command using its pid
      Make a text file which has a line by line list of all package names installed in the system
      Download xmoto source code and install it by compiling the sources
      Download latest linux kernel and compile it