SSH – Can It Be More Secure?

Tags

remote login, RSA key pairs, security, Slackware Documentation Project, ssh

Yes, actually. There are ways to harden your ssh implementations that aren’t that difficult.

An example of a simple way to increase your security when using ssh is to utilize the public/private key security rather than using your remote system’s user passwords to access the device. By using RSA key pairs, you can initialize your remote connection without ever having to expose your remote login’s password to the transfer at all.

I recently reinstalled my Slackware on my main machine (It’s a long story for another time, maybe). One of the things I needed to do was to reestablish my ssh connections between the machines on my local network. I settled in this evening to do just that. I ended up having some laughable issues while attempting to get all my machines talking again. We won’t go there, though.

In the process of troubleshooting my issues with ssh, I ran across Noryungi‘s excellent how-to at the Slackware Documentation Project. This place is really shaping up, no thanks to me. I haven’t been too active there because of my other pursuits lately. However, the dedicated folks who contribute there on a regular basis are kicking ass!

Anyway, using this tutorial, I easily set all three of my machines to use RSA public/private key exchange to initiate my ssh connections. I don’t have to sling my user’s passwords around the Ether anymore. Now anyone sniffing packets will only see the public RSA key bouncing around.

Ain’t technology wonderful?

Well, back to studying tomorrow. My Cisco ICND2/CCNA examination is rapidly approaching. Gotta’ go study up on those pesky routing protocols before bedtime.

Later,

~Eric

New Slackware Linux Documentation Project

Tags

Alien Bob, ArchWiki, community, LinuxQuestions.org, Slackware Documentation Project, Slackware Linux, wiki

A recent posting at Jeremy’s LinuxQuestions.org really lit a fire under some hardcore Slackware users.

There is so much Slackware information spread out over the Net in the form of private blogs, forums, websites, etc. All that wonderful information is so spread out, though. A new initiative has been launched recently to gather all Slackware information together in one location. A wiki-based format is being used with Arch Linux’s outstanding wiki as inspiration.

Eric Hameleers (Alien Bob) and many others from LinuxQuestions.org have spearheaded this new initiative. We even seem to have the blessing of Slackware’s BDFL – Pat V. This is a community thing. All interested people are invited to come join in making this project a successful thing. The oldest living GNU/Linux distribution deserves this.

C’mon over and lend a hand. All assistance is appreciated. Community is what makes GNU/LInux and Open Source the awesome thing that it is.

Regards,

~Eric

Links:

- the LQ.org conversation

- the Slackware Documentation Wiki

- the project discussion mailing list

Slackware Current Goes Beta – And I Upgrade Now

Tags

configs, current, debugging, Pat Volkerding, Slackpkg, Slackware, Slackware 14, upgrade

Alright. Enough about that Arch Linux for a while. Let me return to my first love… Slackware, baby!

A few days ago, Pat V. announced that the Current branch of Slackware has now gone beta. Well, let me tell you how I do things. Ever since I started running Slack as my primary OS back around 10.1 or so, I always upgrade to Current from stable once it goes beta. Up until this time around, I’ve always used the standard UPGRADE.TXT method found on the servers along with an in depth perusal of the CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT. I guess you could say that’s the “Slacker Way” of doing it.

I have three production systems running Slackware as the main operating system; my main system, my home office laptop, and my workshop system out back. They were all running fully updated 13.37 at the time I started this project. Normally, I would have started with the system that was lowest priority and easiest to restore should I do something stupid… that would normally be the shop system. However, it was awfully hot out there this week. I decided to sit in the AC and upgrade the home office laptop first.

Backup. Backup. Backup.

I wasn’t worried about my separate /home partition, although I did back it up anyway. However, it was that all-important /etc directory that I really wanted to make sure I kept intact. I made a backup which later turned out to be usable with difficulties. I copied it as my user into a user-mounted partition. Ooops! All ownership/permissions went to hell. I had to manually edit to get them back the way they’re supposed to be. And why did I need to do this?

Well, because for the first time ever, an upgrade did not go to well for me. But hey… Current is beta after all, right? Besides, I think it was me that boogered it up by overwriting critical config files without thinking. I did not have enough coffee that day, I don’t think. Long story short, I had to reinstall 13.37 on the laptop and restore the edited /etc to get things back to normal again. Once I did that, it was time to try again.

This time, however, I was convinced by friend chrisretusn from my private board, an old Slacker from way back, that I should try his somewhat custom version of upgrading using the slackpkg package manager. Now, to be honest, I was skeptical. I’ve heard a few horror stories about attempting slackpkg upgrades in Slack. His plan looked good, though, and it had worked for him. I figured, myeh… what the hell. I can always install 13.37 again.

Here’s how I did the upgrade using Chris’ slackpkg method:

• Since I don’t use KDE on my systems (any system, ever, any time ), I needed to edit my /etc/slackpkg/blacklist to add the kde and kdei directories.
  • This is easy enough to do… just open your favorite editor (vim for me) and edit the file to add:

#

# Blacklist KDE components

#

kde

kdei

• Now that I have KDE blacklisted and don’t have to worry about getting tons of KDE stuff dumped on my system, I can now edit my /etc/slackpkg/mirrors file to change to my Current server from the 13.37 one previously used.
  • Also simple to do. I just opened my editor again and commented out (added #) the old 13.37 mirror and then removed the hash (#) from my new Current mirror.

• Next, using slackpkg, I upgraded the critical packages first, then the rest:
  • # slackpkg update
  • # slackpkg upgrade glibc findutils pkgtools slackpkg tar xz
  • # slackpkg update
  • # slackpkg install-new
    • determine what you want to do with your new configs (keep, overwrite, merge, etc). For me, it’s a per file decision, so I chose “p” for Prompt and pay close attention to each config using the “d” option to see the differences before making that final choice. You don’t want to bork up your configs.
  • # slackpkg upgrade-all
    • this took a while for me. Your mileage may vary depending on your hardware and connection speeds.
    • again, I needed to consider how to handle new config files.

• Now we’re getting to the final stretch… I needed to create an initrd for my newly installed generic kernel.
  • Using the README.initrd that you can always find in /boot, I did the following to create my new initrd:
    • mkinitrd -c -k 3.2.23 -m ext3 -f ext3 -r /dev/sda2 (your partition will be different, possibly)
  • I then ran “lilo” from the command line to update the bootloader.

• Lastly, I ran #slackpkg clean-system
  • and selectively chose what detritus to remove from my system. Older Xfce4 installations, for example. Be careful to NOT remove apps you’ve manually installed via SlackBuilds and such.

Cross fingers, toes, eyes, etc.. reboot.

WOO-HOO! We have bootup, Houston!

Now, there were some bugaboos here and there. I basically followed this same procedure above and upgraded my shop system, and finally, my main system; in front of which I’m sitting right now typing this mess. All three systems had the same issues. I spent the last two or three days debugging. I think I’m stabilized for the moment. If you want to see the “blow-by-blow”, you can read this thread over at Scot’s Newsletter Forums – Bruno’s All Things Linux.

It’s been fun, lemme tell ya’!

I’m having a couple issues that are really aggravating, though. One is that Thunar (Xfce’s file manager) is displaying all my unmounted partitions and “network” in the treeview on the left pain. Here’s a screenie:

I knew this was coming because I had the same issue in Arch when they went to Xfce 4.10 a while back. It’s annoying. I resolved it in Arch by converting to a pure systemd installation and installing gvfs and python2-udiskie (for auto-mounting). Can’t do that in Slack, though, not at the moment; so my quick fix to get rid of the unmounted volumes and get auto-mounting (almost) working again was to install Xfe (X File Explorer) via SlackBuild. Here’s a look at it:

It’s not as pretty as Thunar, but it has some neat features, including 1-click mounting of removable media. Pretty cool little file manager. Of course, if all these GUI apps keep aggravating me, I’ll just go back to Midnight Commander.

It’s been a learning experience. No, I didn’t upgrade the “Slacker Way” this time, but this way seems to have worked nearly as well. Now to just sit back and read the daily change logs till the final release. Thanks to Patrick Volkerding and all the other contributors, helpers, de-buggers, etc. who make this all possible. My life would be ever so much more boring without my beloved Slackware.

Have FUN with it!

Later…

~Eric

Addenda 1: By the way, about that saving permissions when copying folders/files… the proper way to do that is to use the -p or –preserve switches with cp in the command line. So, to properly copy my /etc to a backup location, I needed to do this:

# cp -rp /etc <desination directory>

It works a lot better that way.

Addenda 2: Spent the day today debugging system issues. All systems are working 100% as of now. Here’s an updated log of what I did –> vtel57-github document

LinuxQuestions.org’s Jeremy Interviews Slackware BDFL Patrick Volkerding… a MUST Read!

Tags

interview, Jeremy, Linux, LinuxQuestions.org, Patrick Volkerding, Slackware

Earlier today, I received an email from Jeremy @ LinuxQuestions.org alerting me to his recent interview of Pat V.

It is absolutely outstanding. I enjoyed it very much. You should give it a looksee…

Interview with Patrick Volkerding of Slackware

Enjoy!

~Eric

Slackware Needs Your Help

Tags

Alien Bob, donation, Eric Hameleers, Patrick Volkerkding, Slack Store, Slackware Essentials, Slackware Linux

The times have been difficult for many of us this past few years.

For Slackware, it’s been no exception. Some of you faithful Slackers may have noticed lately that the Slackware home page has been offline. I posted about this at Jeremy’s Linux Questions forums. Alien Bob (Eric Hameleers) replied stating that it was an old hardware/lack of funds issue. This is sad.

I am in no way associated with the Slackware Linux project other than being a loyal user of the distribution and a frequent commenter/blogger on the subject of Slackware. I want to say that up front here. That being said, I would like to ask a favor… Please, stop on by the Slackware Store and click on that Donate button (top left side of page). I just did a few minutes ago. I didn’t give much. I don’t have much to spare, but I did give something.

For many of us, Slackware has brought joy to our lives, increased our productivity, and provided us with secure and stable computing environment. It’s also taught us a helluva lot about GNU/Linux. Pat V. has never, to my knowledge, stood on his soap box and asked for money from any of us to help defray costs of maintaining Slackware. It’s about time that we showed Slackware a little love. Slackware has always been there for us; it’s our turn.

A buck, two, twenty… every little bit adds up. Buy a cool T-Shirt or the Slackware Essentials book while you’re there.

Slackware needs to be around for many, many more years. Let’s do our part to see that it is.

Thank you,

~Eric

Addenda to follow:

Addendum I

I’m beginning to regret writing this article and starting that thread at LinuxQuestions.org. For crissakes, people! This wasn’t meant to set off a shit storm. Initially, I was only concerned that the Slackware website had been down for a few days. Eric Hameleers (Alien Bob) responded to my query regarding the outage with a comment that, I must admit, did get me worrying a bit. Eric has explained the situation further in the comments on this article. Please read what he had to say.

I don’t worry about Slackware going anywhere anytime soon. There are too many of us loyal to this venerable GNU/Linux distribution to let that happen, I believe. My article here was written only for the purpose of possibly assisting the Slackware Project and Patrick Volkerding in continuing to do what’s been done for 19 years… keeping us all Slacking, baby!

This article wasn’t meant to incite rock and bottle throwing. GNU/Linux is ALL of us. I don’t care if you run Gentoo, Debian, Mandriva, or some barely known distribution on your systems. The fact is we are ALL GNU/Linux users. We ALL are part of this vast community that pulls together in times of need and helps out one another. GNU/Linux, FOSS, OpenRespect, etc.; that is US, folks.

I see that a few folks have dropped a buck or two in the Slackware tip jar. That’s excellent. Many of us have been using Slackware for years or have benefited from something that came about because of Patrick Volkerding and the Slackware Project. I have NO REGRETS if that tip jar fills some as a result of this article. I will have many regrets should the current shit storms at LinuxQuestions.org or Distrowatch continue.

Later…

~Eric

Addendum II

Member ruario at LinuxQuestions.org made the following comment on the thread linked above regarding the Slackware server being down:

AlienBOB has stated that he and the other contributors don’t get any money from the Slackware donations. That said, he does a great to maintaining Slackware64, offering non-official binary packages, giving advice to users, and teaching us all how to make zoervleis . So if after donating to Slackware you have a little more money burning a hole in your pocket I noticed he has a PayPal donate button on his blog. If might be that Roberto F. Batista (aka PiterPunk), Robby Workman, Stuart Winter and the rest of the contributors take donations as well but I didn’t notice any PayPal links on their respective pages. Ah well, never mind and also I’m not made of money!

I post this here as an addendum because I also feel strongly that the people mentioned by ruario, and many others, are very deserving of some sort of recognition and gratitude from the every day users of Slackware. I’ve used some of Robby’s and Eric’s resources on my own systems before. I’ve learned much from them and the others mentioned; and many not mentioned, like Willy Sudiarto Raharjo, for instance.

If you feel the same, open that wallet again. These people spend a lot of their personal time to benefit assist and improve Slackware and to assist you.

Regards,

~Eric

Addendum III

Read this excellent article by Tom Nardi at The Powerbase – SOS: Save Our Slackware?

Later…

~Eric

Addendum Penultimate

In light of the fact that conversations regarding this topic have, in my opinion, gone in negative and non-constructive directions at the original LinuxQuestions.org thread and elsewhere, and in light of the fact that I was aiming more for support and assistance rather than rock and bottle slinging; I have come to regret starting that thread and writing this article. It was not my intention to stir shit and create strife for Pat V., Eric Hameleers, or anyone in the Slackware community. For this, I apologize.

To those of you who did offer non-critical assistance and support, thanks. The GNU/LInux community is enriched by your participation in it.

Regards,

~Eric

Addendum Final, Maybe

Man! What a ride! Anyway, http://www.slackware.com is BACK UP! YAY!

Midori On Slackware – Using SlackBuilds

Tags

icu4c, libsoup, libunique, Midori, Salix OS, SlackBuilds, Slackware, vala, Webkitgtk, Zorin OS

Yes, I’m still on spring hiatus, but the place was getting to look a bit run down.

Plus, I wanted to show you all how to install this cool little browser that I found called Midori. Oh, it’s nothing new. It’s been around for a while, but it’s new to me. I first found it while using Salix OS recently on one of my tester partitions. I’m also using it in Zorin OS on one of my laptops. It’s fast. It’s pretty simplistic and minimal, too.

It is a bit complicated to install on Slackware, though. However, I’m sure you can do it. It just requires using some excellent SlackBuild scripts provided by the dedicated folks at SlackBuilds.org. Unfortunately, Midori is not one of those apps that you can install with just one SlackBuild. It has some dependencies… and its dependencies have some dependencies.

That always complicates things a bit, particularly in Slackware where you have to be smart enough to resolve dependency issues on your own. There is no a gaggle of volunteer repo maintainers doing it for you. That’s alright, though. Slackers are known to be smart and tough. We can take it. Dependency H3LL don’t scare us none.

Let’s get started, OK?

Fire up your current browser and navigate to SlackBuilds.org. You know the place. You’ve been there before. Once you’re there, you’re going to search and download six different SlackBuild scripts and their related source tar balls. Got that? OK.

Here they are (click for the SlackBuilds.org page for each one):

Midori

webkitgtk

icu4c

libsoup

libunique

vala

Midori is your ultimate goal. It requires webkitgtk, libunique, and vala. The others are dependencies of webkitgtk and will have to be built first and installed before you build webkitgtk.

You should be familiar with the whole SlackBuild thing by now. Just in case, though, I’ll run through one for you.

Let’s build libunique first:

1. Download the source and the SlackBuild

2. Decompress the SlackBuild (using Xarchiver or your favorite tool)

3. Move the newly untar’d directory to your favorite temporary build directory

4. Move the libunique source package to the untar’d libunique SlackBuild directory (see Fig. 1)

Figure 1

5. Open a terminal and make the script executable:

# chmod +x *Build

6. Execute the script:

# sh *Build

NOTE: If you’re building on a 64 bit Slackware, you should use the prefix Arch=x86_64. For example: # Arch=x86_64 sh *Build

7. Once the script completes, using Slackware’s pkgtool to install the newly created .tgz package you’ll find in your /tmp directory:

# installpkg libunique*

NOTE: You might also want to keep these packages somewhere safe in case you ever want to reinstall Midori on this system or another Slackware installation somewhere.

Now, we need to build and install the rest of the dependencies in this order: icu4c, libsoup, vala. Once you’ve built and installed these guys, you can then build and install webkitgtk. Something to keep in mind once you begin your webkitgtk build; it is NOT one of those zippity-fast builds. Even on a fast system, it may take 45 minutes to build. Just be patient. Don’t sit there waiting for the pot to boil. Go have some dinner or take a healthy walk around the neighborhood while it builds.

OK, assuming you’ve managed to build and install libunique, icu4c, libsoup, vala… and then webkitgtk, you should now be able to build and install midori. It’s a pretty fast build, less than 1/2 a minute. Install it using pkgtool, as you did with the others above. If all went well, you should have a nice working Midori browser on your system now. If you run Xfce4 like I do, it will automagically show up in the Menu –> Network sub-menu.

Here’s my Midori running with the Midori Home Page opened:

NOTE: That’s an April Fools post you’re seeing there about merging Midori with Postler.

Have lots of FUN!

~Eric

P.S. I’m going back on hiatus now. See you again soon…

Let’s Build a SlackBuild (Revisited)

Tags

installpkg, PsolFC, SlackBuild, Slackware

SlackBuilds are custom written installation scripts used to install non-native applications into your Slackware Linux operating system.

The SlackBuild Project is maintained by a small group of dedicated folks. Your assistance with new script submissions is always welcome.

For today’s little SlackBuild tutorial, I’m going to use a SlackBuild to install PysolFC, a collection of really cool card games and majong-type games that is maintained by my friend Matthew Fillpot. Matt is one of the lead gurus over at the Linux.com Community site. Stop on over for a visit sometime.

One of the first things I do on any of my Linux installations is to create a hidden directory called .build in my /home directory that I use primarily for manual compiling of applications, or in this case in Slackware, installation of SlackBuild scripts (see Fig 1).

Figure 1 – /home/<user>/.build

OK, let’s get started. The first thing you’ll need to do is navigate to SlackBuilds.org in your favorite browser. In the small search window in the upper right hand corner, type in the application you’re looking for. In this case, that would be PysolFC. Once the search is completed, you’ll be on the pysolfc SlackBuild page (see Fig 2).

Figure 2 – Pysolfc SlackBuild Page

Now, the next thing you’ll need to do is download the source (PySolFC-1.1.tar.bz2) and the SlackBuild (pysolfc.tar.gz) into your .build directory (or wherever you want to build your stuff). Untar the SlackBuild script from the command line using this command:

$ tar -xvf pysolfc.tar.gz

Or you can unpack it using your favorite graphical decompression app like Ark or Xarchiver… use whatever you’re comfortable with.

You’ll now have an uncompressed directory called “pysolfc”. Move the source directory (PySolFC-1.1.tar.bz2) that you downloaded previously into your newly uncompressed pysolfc directory. That’s right. Just grab and drag that source directory right on into the pysolfc directory (see Fig 3).

Figure 3 – Inside the Pysolfc Directory

OK, then… Now for some fun command line stuff. I know you love working in the command line. Don’t be afraid. Just follow my directions. Alrighty…

1. Open your terminal application (Gnome Terminal, Konsole, etc.)

2. Type the following command to make the pysolfc SlackBuild script executable:

$ chmod +x pysolfc.SlackBuild

3. As root (to install globally on your Slackware system so all users can access), type the following command:

# ./pysolfc.SlackBuild

4. If all went well, the SlackBuild script will have created a .tgz application installer in your /tmp directory. Navigate to the /tmp directory in the terminal:

# cd /tmp

5. Check to see what’s there:

# ls

6. You should see a file called pysolfc-1.1-i486-2_SBo.tgz. That’s the baby! Install it using Slackware’s native pkgtool:

# installpkg pysolfc-1.1-i486-2_SBo.tgz

Voila! That’s it, folks. Easy-peasy. You’ll find an entry for PysolFC in your menu. Click on it and waste a few hours of your life playing some of those funky solitaire card games or that majong stuff.

Have FUN with it…

~Eric

Note: This article originally appeared on my Nocturnal Slacker/Lockergnome blog (now defunct).

xfce4-weather-plugin Fix for Slackware

Tags

patch, Robby Workman, SlackBuild, Slackware, xfce4-weather-plugin

Some of you Slackers out there who use this panel applet may have noticed that it’s no longer updating.

There’s a reason why: Xfce Bugzilla – Bug 8105.

I’d been sloughing this off for a few weeks now. Today, I decided I was going to find a way to fix the damned thing… or dump it from my panel. I had noticed last night that it was still working fine in my Arch installation. Hmm… seems that the Arch folks patched their package with a working license key and partner ID to alleviate the bug issue reported above.

I snooped around a bit and found that good ol’ Robby Workman had already posted a patch for the SlackBuild. Excellent! I downloaded a fresh SlackBuild and source for the app and went to work.

The first thing you want to do is extract the /xfce4-weather-plugin-0.7.4/panel-plugin/weather.h file from the source tarball. Modify this file as per the patch linked above by exchanging the old license key/partner ID for the newer ones:

remove:

#define PARTNER_ID       “1121946239″
#define LICENSE_KEY      “3c4cd39ee5dec84f”

add:

#define PARTNER_ID       “1003666583″
#define LICENSE_KEY      “4128909340a9b2fc”

Once that’s done, save the file and add it back to the tarball.

Now you can build and install your SlackBuild as you normally would. After which, your xfce4-weather-plugin will work again. YAY! Thanks, Robby!

NOTE: I found no need to modify the SlackBuild file as Robby does for his patch. It worked fine without any changes.

Enjoy your weather, wherever you may be.

Later…

~Eric

Slackware for the Laptop

Tags

Barnaby, installation, laptop, networking, printing, Slackware, wireless

I run Slackware 13.37 w/ Xfce on my laptop. It works in its typical Slackware way… perfectly.

I was perusing my favorite blogs this morning and ran across a gem by Barnaby at Linux, BSD, and Everything Else. He’s running Slackware on his lappy also.

I’ve got Slackware 13.37 on a partition on my Acer Aspire 5551, with ATI/AMD HD 4250 graphics, an AMD Phenom X3 2100MHz, plenty of ram and Broadcom wired and wireless chips for network connectivity.

His machine’s a bit newer than my Dell Inspiron 1521, but that doesn’t matter. Slackware works well on older systems, too.

The only major issue facing Linux users these days, except perhaps printing, is wireless networking and sometimes even getting wired connections to work.

Hmm… well, I’ve never had any issues to speak of regarding printing in Linux. My HP printer is well supported. Drivers have never been a problem. CUPS is a wonderful thing, also. As far as wireless networking goes, I did have some minor issues getting my lappy set up and running. However, wicd is wicked good!

In the end it depends on which philosophy you want to subscribe to. Choose your BDFL- Mark, Clem, Texstar or Patrick. Mint or Slack.
Of course you can struggle with Debian or build your own with Crux or even LFS, but the emphasis here is on easy and simple.

A very well written and interesting article. I recommend you read it in full at Barnaby’s site.

On another note… I must apologize for my recent scarcity. I just haven’t been feeling too techie lately. I’ve been catching up on my fiction reading and vid gaming; even catching something on the telly now and then.

I shall return…

~Eric

Graphical Boot-up? I Don’t Think So (Revisited)

Tags

graphical boot up, GUI, inittab, Linux, run level, Slackware, X

Graphical Boot-up? I Don’t Think So

Posted by V. T. Eric Layton on Apr 9, 2010

It’s a Slackware thing, baby. Real Slackers don’t use a graphical boot-up screen.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve modified my /etc/inittab in every distribution I use to boot-up using runlevel 3 as the default. This gives you full multi-user with no X running. Why do I do it this way? Well… it’s COOL! Seriously though, I just prefer it and it serves some practical purposes, also.

Even though I started my Linux journey a few years ago with Ubuntu, I had Slackware up and running as my primary operating system shortly thereafter. You might even say I cut my Linux teeth on Slackware. This is the Slackware way… lightness of being, simplicity, efficient use of resources.

I do a lot from the command line in most of my distros. I just find it easier to start off with no X running in case I do have system chores that need doing, like updating or editing config files for some reason or another. Command line? Bet you thought that went out with octal machine code, huh? Well, it didn’t.

The command line still offers a FAST way to perform functions within the operating system. But hey… it’s not for everyone. It’s a great skill to have at least a passing knowledge of, but you can be perfectly content as a 100% GUI penguin. Nothing wrong with that. Linux ain’t about dictating how you do things. It’s ALL about giving you choices and options to get your work done.

If you feel the need to explore the dark side of Linux, the command line interface, you can modify your /etc/inittab configuration file to boot you into runlevel 3 as a default, as I do. Once you’re done with your stuff and want your graphic interface up and running, just type “startx” at the prompt (no quotes). This command will start the X Window System on your Linux.

In some rare cases, where you’re using certain windows managers/desktop environments, the startx command will not work. You’ll need to know the specific command to launch your graphical interface. For instance, in my Sidux installation, which uses LXDE/Openbox desktop environment/windows manager, I have to type “startlxde” (again without quotes) to fire up the graphic interface. 99% of the time, though, startx will work.

For more information in the /etc/inittab file and runlevels in Linux check out Sandra Henry-Stocker’s recent piece over at ITWorld : Unix How-To: the Linux /etc/inittab file

Have FUN while you’re learning.

Until next time, folks…

~Eric

=====

This article was originally published on my Nocturnal Slacker | Lockergnome blog. You can see the original by clicking HERE.