# ZENWALK LINUX MANUAL

## The Zenwalker's Guide

### Written by the ZenDoc Team .

Copyright © Copyright 2005-2008 - Zenwalk Linux

About the licence governing this documentation

You have the right to copy, distribute and/or modify this documentation according to terms' of the GNU General Public License, version 3 or any later version, as published by Free Software Foundation. The text of the license is in the appendix: GNU General Public License.

If you have any questions or comments about Zenwalk documentation, you can register to our mailing list. To subscribe, just send an email to : zenwalk-doc+subscribe~AT~ lists(dot)zenwalk(dot)org

See also the Zenwalk GNU/Linux Wiki for more general documentation.

The ZenDoc Team

Last revised: 17 January 2008

List of Tables

2.1. Man Page Sections

## Preface (by Jean-Philippe Guillemin)

I started building Zenwalk (originally "Minislack") to learn the inner workings of GNU/Linux. Building an operating system is a great way to gain understanding because you're often on your own in solving problems when things do not work as expected.

Another reason for building Zenwalk was that I found myself performing the same modifications on systems after a new installation. Such repeated modifications included recompiling a more optimized and up to date kernel, removing loads of unused software and libraries, customizing the desktop, tuning the X window system, improving startup scripts, adding my preferred text editor, adding a movie player and codecs, and so on.

This project presented an opportunity to share this customization with friends, as well as being able to reinstall my system in exactly in the same state at any given time.

Then came the users and contributors, and the beginnings of the changes that molded Zenwalk into what it is today. We started replacing the original distribution with alternatives (gtk libs), adding new libs (Gnome libs), adding lots of administration tools, and a new way to manage packages remotely (netpkg). Users have improved Zenwalk by features requests posted and discussed on the support forum. The result is that Zenwalk, though still based on Slackware, is, in many ways very different : it is a daily development work, done by several Linux lovers to build the ideal Linux OS.

Zenwalk aims to be a GNU/Linux operating system rather than a distribution; it's not a collection of packages, it's a finished, coherent and rational product.

In the future, Zenwalk will not change its philosophy, it will only become more mature as a multipurpose Operating System:

- kernel hardware support will improve

- applications will become better with new releases

- system tools will be improved

- New tools will be added

## Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION

To master any Linux distribution, documentation is necessary, and Zenwalk is no exception. This manual is heavily based upon the excellent Slackbook. These pages contain information about:

- Obtaining Zenwalk

- Burning an ISO image

- Installing Zenwalk on your rig

- Acquiring some basic knowledge of Linux

- Using Zenwalk's specific tools

- Running a performant system

- Enjoying your Linux experience

Good luck, and happy Zenwalking !

## What is Linux ?

Linux was born in 1991. Initially, it was just a kernel, developed by Linus Torvalds. Nowadays people commonly refer to a GNU/Linux system as just "Linux". As the full name of the OS says, GNU/Linux is a combination of the Linux software and GNU software components. GNU, an acronym for GNU’s not Unix, started out as a project in the early nineties to develop a free Unix-like OS. Now, lots of the applications on a Linux system are provided by the GNU project. Examples are the GNU C compiler (GCC) and the bash shell on your Linux box. More info on GNU/Linux can be found on Wikipedia.

## Free Software and Linux

### Definition

According to Wikipedia. computer software (or simply software) is that part of a computer system that consists of encoded information (or computer instructions). The term software is often used for a computer program, and vice versa. Software can consist of a single computer program, especially in recent micro-computer science, where raw processor performance and cheep memory capacity allow to run big programs. Over all, software is prevalently composed of one or more programs, but also of data that allow it to function. These programs can take different forms: executables, dynamic libraries ('dll' under Windows or 'so' under GNU/Linux), or just source files for an interpreter (e.g. Perl or PHP scripts). The data comes in different formats also: classic files, databases (relational, hierarchical, etc.), ... In micro-computer science, images, especially icons, are often integrated in the executable.

### General Definition of "Software"

Software contains instructions that are executed by a computer, as opposted to the physical device on which it functions (the 'hardware'). A 'program' is a list of instructions, written by a programmer in programming language (e.g. C language, C++ language, Java language, Python language). Often they are stored in a simple file. 'Software' however, is used to indicate a set of instructions consisting of several programs. A person with the right knowledge can read the program; this is called the 'source code' and is the receipt of the program. Closed-source software developers guard these secrets well; only Open-source software make their source code available to the public. The characteristics of the software are clearly described in the source code (translation of the binary 0 and 1, which are the only instructions the machine grasps). Compilers are used to translate source code into machine language. After this transformation we have what we call 'binaries', which can be interpreted by a machine. We still need to adapt them to the system software however (MS Windows, Mac OS, GNU/Linux, BSD, etc.) to make it function. Once it has been adapted to the host system, the software is ready to be installed and executed.

Software can be classified as follows:

- Open source: anyone can read the code ; this is not the same as free software though !

- Closed source: the code is only available for a small group of people.

- Free software: anyone can study, copy, distribute and modify the software (This is the definition of the Free Software Foundation. Free software are often protected by a usage licence).

- Proprietary software: at least one of the rights mentioned above is not applicable for the user. Most of the time, one needs to acquire a usage licence by paying the creators of the software.

- Commercial software: software meant to be sold ; it can be either free or proprietary.

### Presentation of free software

#### The origins of free software

History begins at the start of the eighties, when Richard Stallman, a researcher of the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S.A.), faced an ethical dilemma. His IT research section had been closed down; for years, he had shared his knowledge with his colleagues. Now, did he have to sell his knowledge to the highest bidder, or would he take the occasion to share his knowledge with the world? To appease his conscience, he created the principle of 'free software'. This concept is defined by the following four principles:

- 1° The liberty to run the program, without restrictions upon its usage.

- 2° The liberty to study the inner workings of a program, and to adapt it to your needs. For this, access to the source code is a prerequisite.

- 3° The liberty to redistribute copies.

- 4° The liberty to improve the program, and to publish those improvements, so the whole community can benefit from it. For this also, access to the source code is a prerequisite.

##### The GNU Project

After writing this statement, Stallman create the "Free Software Fondation" The objective of this foundation is promoting and developing free software; for his foundation, Stallman started writing applications. His ultimate goal: create an entirely free system. To protect the GNU software from commercial enterprises, Stallman created a licence, the GNU Public License. The licence reincorporates the four elementary principles mentioned above, with a solid judiciary background. The first real test for the GPL was a German trial in 2004, where a judge ruled a company violated it. GNU, as many acronyms in the *nix world, an abbreviation – GNU's Not Unix (the first word, GNU, doesn't really mean anything). In the eighties, when Microsoft and Windows were still midgets, Unix was the proprietary system number one.

##### The Open Source initiative

Another movement arose during the ninetees of the past century. They consider themselves more flexible than the FSF. The new current took form when in 1998 Netscape went free software – at that time, a group of people decided to support Netscape's move. They follow the Debian concept of free software.You can find their ten criteria here: original version of the OSI licence (version 1.9).

#### Understanding free software

##### Where does "free software" come from ?

The first free software was developed by Stallman himself. To start out with building an operating system, you need real basic software (like the GNU compiler collection). But after the FSF wrote the whole base of the new OS, still one thing was lacking: a kernel. Stallman choose an extremely ambitious concept for the new kernel: it should become a micro-kernel (Windows for example uses a macro-kernel; Linux, however, uses a micro-kernel). However, the development of his kernel, didn't went as smooth as planned. As we speak, this system (called GNU/Hurd) is still not operational. At that point Linus Torvalds jumped in. This student from Finland was studying the inner workings of x386 CPUs, and had written a POSIX compatible program to understand the functioning of this processor generation. Just for fun, he wrote a kernel, using the GNU software. Last but not least, he distributed the kernel under the GNU Public License. The newly bred GNU/Linux combo seemed the perfect match; the development shifted up incredibly fast, thanks to the contributions of the hacker community (the term ‘hacker’ means an IT passionate, as opposed to a ‘cracker’, which is a person aiming at destroying (or cracking) other’s systems; however, the widespread term ‘hacker’ is mainly used by the general public with the meaning of ‘cracker’, thus giving it a negative connotation). When announced officially (version 1.0 is born in March 14th, 1994), the GNU/Linux system already has a solid reputation. Despite being usable by a hackers elite only, it looks very promising. A lot of kernels follow; in 1996, kernel 2.0 is released, in 1999, 2.2 follows. While 2.2 is rather buggy initially, with 2.2.13 it makes its way to the enterprise world, thanks to IBM’s mainframe patches. In 2001, the 2.4 kernel comes out. At the end of 2006 follows the 2.6 kernel. While 2.6 is the only one actively maintained, 2.4 still receives security updates. The focal point of Linux’ development is the internet; it’s the lifeblood of the free software community. The GNU/Linux system being one of its biggest achievements, it could well have never seen the light without the exchange of information between the developers spread all over the world. The free software offers a lot of quality apps – heck, most of the worldwide web runs on Linux servers, using software like Apache and PHP... Many apps are not only available on Linux, but have been ported to the BSD’s, Windows, and even Mac OS X. A quick summary of some of the most known apps:

- the OpenOffice.org office suite

- the internet browser Mozilla Firefox

- the Gimp (GNU Image Manipulation Program)

- Avidemux, a great video editor

- the Pidgin instant messenger

- the Apache web server

- the PHP language

## Zenwalk Linux

Zenwalk Linux is the new name of the project "Minislack Linux". Zenwalk is based on Slackware, a robust Linux distribution faithful to the spirit of Unix. Zenwalk is recognized today as one of the fastest distributions available in binary version.

Zenwalk is designed with the following objectives:

- Be simple and fast

- Provide one application for one task on the install CD

- Be a complete development/desktop environment

- Be small so that it can be distributed on a single CD

There are 2 versions of Zenwalk.

- Zenwalk (full version, ~ 430 MB ISO download):

  Zenwalk is a complete system. Out of the box, you will be able to browse, mail, chat, listen to music, program in C, Perl, Python, Ruby,.. watch videos in various formats, write documents, print, scan, burn CD and DVD, connect your camera and edit your photographs, without adding anything. Coders will like the full set of development libraries and interpreters.

- Zenwalk Core (~ 180 MB ISO download):

  Zenwalk-core is is a Zenwalk system without X applications. Zenwalk-core is intended to be used as a starting point to build a custom desktop or server system, for users with limited disk space, or perfectionists desiring to build a desktop system themselves.

Some features of the 5.0 release are:

- Kernel: Linux 2.6.23.12, glibc 2.7

- Xorg 7.3

- XFce 4.4.2 Desktop Environment

- Freedesktop Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL)

- Development: gcc 4.1.2, Python 2.5, Perl 5.8.8, GTK2 2.12.2

- Editors: Geany 0.12, Bluefish 1.0.7, Mousepad 0.2.14, Vim 7.1

- Internet: IceWeasel-2.0.0.11, IceDove-2.0.0.11, Pidgin-2.3.1, Transmission-1.01, Gftp-2.0.18.99

- Multimedia: Gnome-Mplayer-0.53, Streamtuner,-0.99.99 Asunder-1.0.1, Brasero-0.7.0

- Office: Abiword-2.4.6, Gnumeric-1.8.0 (OpenOffice is available as extra from the netpkg repositories)

- Out of the box support for Intel (TM) wireless device firmware

## Chapter 2. Help

Often there are times when you might need help with a specific command, setting up a program, or getting a piece of hardware to work. Maybe you simply want to understand a given command better, or see what other options are available to use with it. Luckily, there are a variety of ways that you can get the help you're looking for. After you have installed Zenwalk you have the option of installing packages from the [extra/f] series which includes FAQs and HOWTOs. Programs also come with help about their options, configuration files, and usage.

## System Help

### man

The man command (short for "manual") is the traditional form of online documentation in Unix and Linux operating systems. Comprised of specially formatted files, the “man pages”, are written for the vast majority of commands and are distributed with the software itself. Executing man somecommand will display the man page for (naturally) the command specified, in our example this would be the imaginary program somecommand.

As you might imagine, the amount of man pages can quickly add up, becoming overly confusing and seriously complicated, even for an advanced user. So, for this reason, man pages are grouped into enumerated sections. This system has been around for a very long time; enough so that you will often see commands, programs, and even programming library functions referred to with their man section number.

For example :

You might see a reference to man. The numbering tells you that "man" is documented in section 1 (user commands) ; you can specify that you want the section 1 man page for man with the command : man 1 man. Specifying the section that man should look in is useful in the case of multiple items with the same name.

Table 2.1. Man Page Sections

Sections | Contents
--- | ---
Section 1 | user commands (intro only)
Section 2 | system calls
Section 3 | C library calls
Section 4 | devices (e.g., sd, sr)
Section 5 | file formats and protocols (e.g., wtmp, /etc/passwd, nfs)
Section 6 | games (intro only)
Section 7 | conventions, macro packages, etc. (e.g., nroff, ascii)
Section 8 | system administration (intro only)

In addition to man, there are the commands whatis and apropos available to you, whose shared purpose is to make it easier to find information in the man system.

The command whatis gives a very brief description of system commands, somewhat in the style of a pocket command reference.

Example :

    % whatis whatis
    whatis (1)  - search the whatis database for complete words

The command apropos is used to search for a man page containing a given keyword.

Example :

    % apropos wav
    cdda2wav     (1)  - a sampling utility that dumps CD audio data into wav sound files
    netwave_cs   (4)  - Xircom Creditcard Netwave device driver
    oggdec       (1)  - simple decoder, Ogg Vorbis file to PCM audio file (WAV or RAW)
    wavelan      (4)  - AT&T GIS WaveLAN ISA device driver
    wavelan_cs   (4)  - AT&T GIS WaveLAN PCMCIA device driver
    wvlan_cs     (4)  - Lucent WaveLAN/IEEE 802.11 device driver
    fadeplot     (6)  - draws a waving ribbon following a sinusoidal path
    flag         (6)  - draws a waving flag, containing text or an image
    interference (6)  - decaying sinusoidal waves

If you'd like further information on any of these commands, read their man pages for the details. ;)

### The `/usr/doc` Directory

The source for most packages that we build comes with some sort of documentation : README files, usage instructions, licence files, etc. Any sort of documentation that comes with the source is included and installed on your system in the `/usr/doc` directory. Each program will (usually) install its own documentation in the order of :

`/usr/doc/`$program-$version``

Where `$program` is the name of the program you are wanting to read about, and `$version` is (obviously) the appropriate version of software package installed on your system.

For example, to read the documentation for the command man you would want to cd to :

    $ cd /usr/doc/man-$version

If reading the appropriate man page(s) doesn't provide you with enough information, or address what you're looking for in particular, the `/usr/doc` directory should be your next stop.

### HOWTOS and mini-HOWTOS

It is in the truest spirit of the Open Source community that brings us to the HOWTO/mini-HOWTO collection. These files are exactly what they sound like - documents and guides describing how to do stuff. If you installed the HOWTO collection, the HOWTOs will be installed to `/usr/doc/Linux-HOWTOs` and the mini-HOWTOs to `/usr/doc/Linux-mini-HOWTOs`

Also included in the same package series is a collection of FAQs, which is an acronym which stands for :

Frequently
Asked
Questions

These documents are written in a “Question and Answer” style for (surprise) Frequently Asked Questions. The FAQs can often be a very useful place to look if you're just looking for a “Quick Fix” to something. If you decide to install the FAQs, you will find them installed to `/usr/doc/Linux-FAQs` directory.

These files are well worth reading whenever you're not quite sure to proceed with something. They cover an amazing range of topics, more often than not in a surprisingly detailed manner. Good stuff !

## Online Help

In addition to the documentation provided an installable with the Zenwalk Linux Operating System, there are a vast multitude of online resources available for you to learn from as well.

### The Official Website and Help Forum

The Official Zenwalk Website

The official Zenwalk website contains informations relevant to the latest Zenwalk version including the current version changelog as well as the development (also called snapshot) version changelog. You can also find an active help Forum.

### E-mail Support

Zenwalk have some dedicated mailing lists :

- Zenwalk Main (general help, bugs report, news, ...): To subscribe, send an empty email to zenwalk-main+subscribe ~AT~ lists.zenwalk.org

- Zenwalk Live : To subscribe, send an empty email to zenwalk-live+subscribe ~AT~ lists.zenwalk.org

- Zenwalk Documentation (Wiki and Manual stuffs) : To subscribe, send an empty email to zenwalk-doc+subscribe ~AT~ lists.zenwalk.org

## Chapter 3. INSTALLATION

## Hardware requirements

Zenwalk Linux requires a minimum of the following hardware:

- A Pentium II class processor

- 128 MB of RAM memory

- 2 GB of available space on your hard drive

## How to get Zenwalk Linux

You can get Zenwalk by:

- Downloading the ISO image on one of official distribution : mirrors.

- Using a tracker to download the ISO image on Bittorrent network.

- Buying a CD at On-Disk.com.

## How to burn a Zenwalk Linux ISO

The ISO file that you downloaded must be burned as "image", not as “data”, so that the system can boot from it. We will explain how to burn an ”ISO”, also known as an "ISO image", both under Windows and under Linux.

### Using Windows (Nero)

After having launched Nero, select from the menu "Disc Image".

A window will now appear enabling you to choose the file you wish to burn.

After having chosen it, click on [open]

The image will be ready to be burned after the appropriate burning options are selected:

option [Disk at once], and not [track at once] then [write]

### Using Linux (GnomeBaker)

After launching GnomeBaker, select from the menu "Tools" and "Burn an ISO file".

Choose your ISO file :

Select your burner device and options :

And finally, burn it.

## Installation

### Verify that your PC will boot from CD-ROM

After creating the Zenwalk installation CD, restart the system. If the boot screen of Zenwalk CD appears, begin the installation. If your current operating system loads, the computer may not be configured to boot from the CD-ROM. Restart your system to reconfigure the BIOS settings. As the PC boots, the word "Setup" appears on the screen followed by the name of a key or keystroke combination. Typically, it should be:

- Touch "Suppr" or,

- Touch "Del" or,

- Touch "F2" or,

- Touch "Ctrl+Alt+Esc" or,

- Touch "F1" or,

- Touch "F10" or,

- Touch "Ctrl+Alt+S" or,

- (Others are possible).

After pressing the correct key, the “BIOS Setup” section loads. Modify the boot options to enable the CD-ROM. Often, the order in which you system looks for an "Operating System" needs to be edited. Make sure that you move CDROM to the top of the list. Save the settings, and restart the system. If it boots from the CD-ROM, a prompt will ask if you want to proceed. (Press any key to continue.)

### Installation of Zenwalk Linux

- Boot from the CD and perform one of the following actions:

- Accept the default boot options (if you use a standard IDE pata/sata controler)

- Or write the kernel name ("scsi " for the SCSI controller)

- then press [enter], and the installation will begin

- Begin the install process by choosing your keyboard:

- Select the keyboard layout you are currently using.

- There are two installation procedures provided: AUTOINSTALL and MANUAL INSTALL

- To install Zenwalk automatically, you can choose the AUTOINSTALL tool, which automatically partitions your hard drive. However, it is necessary to reboot after this auto-partitioning. If your hard disk is larger that 10 GB , 3 partitions will be created (swap, / and /home). If the hard disk size is between 3 and 10 GB, 2 partitions will be made (swap and /). If the hard disk size is less than 3 GB, then you will have to create the partitions manually.

- With "AUTOINSTALL", you will have to choose which disk is dedicated to Zenwalk.

- You must confirm that you want to erase all the data on this disk. If you don't want to do this, you may create the partitions manually.

- If you accept, the entire disk will be setup for Zenwalk.

- If you prefer to partition your disk manually, select PARTITION. Then select which hard drive you wish you partition.

- This will take you to cfdisk interface shown below.

- Select New to create a new partition. Select a partition type (Primary or Logical), partition size and so on. Select "yes" to create the first partition. Make it Bootable and create another partition for swap . Select New as before, choose a partition type and its partition size. Select "yes" to create the partition. Then select Type from the menu, enter 82 for Linux swap partition type. If you don't choose the "autopartition" tool, your hard-disk must be partitioned properly to install Zenwalk.

- If you wish to create more partitions, you can do so by selecting Newagain, and by following the same procedure as before, but this time, without changing the partition Type.

- In the example below, three partitions were created. Now select Write to write the partition table, and then Quit

- Select INSTALL next to continue with the installation. You will be asked to set up a swap partition. This should be automatically detected. Select OK to continue.

- You will be asked to choose a partition for / directory. After selecting a partition, you need to choose a file system. Select one of the four available file systems, then format (or not format/check+format) the partition.

- You can add more partitions to the system, and mount them during boot. Select a partition you want to mount during boot.

- After formatting the selected partition, you are asked to enter a target mount point directory for the partition.

- In the example below, partition sda3 is set to be mounted to /home directory.

- You can confirm the statuses of the partitions you mounted on the system, and the locations of their mount point directories.

- Now you are asked to select the installation source. Normally, it is your Zenwalk CD if you are installing Zenwalk from CD. Select the first option, "Install from the Zenwalk CD".

- Setup will begin installing packages, which takes about 15-30 minutes. No package selection is needed because this is a "one app/one task" system. And Linux beginners also avoid obtaining a corrupt system.

- Choose your preferred Linux Loader install mode. [simple] will work on most disks

- Some systems might require extra parameters to be passed to the kernel. If you know you need extra parameters, then enter them here. In most system, this is not required. Choose OK.

- standard is a safe choice, unless you are sure that your video card supports frame buffering (FB). You can select a resolution you want during boot. Options are with a lovely Zenwalk splash screen, with a boot logo or with nothing (standard).

- MBR (Master Boot Record) is generally a good place to install LILO, so select MBR, unless you have a reason not to do so.

- Set the hardware clock to either local time or UTC. Here in the example, local time was chosen.

- Select on-boot services, hit the "spacebar" to select/deselect the desired start-up items. (take a look at the dedicated section in this manual)

- It's time now to quit the install process and reboot, your disk will be automatically ejected, you will have to press Ctrl+alt+delete to reboot.

- If all is ok and if LILO is successfully installed, you will see the following bootsplash.

- Then you need to read through some licence agreements. If you agree with them, then select OK.

- Your sound card should be detected and configured by "alsaconf":

- Select your system language:

- Then, set the root password:

- Now it's time to add a user. Select Create User and follow the wizard (see the dedicated section of this manual).

- It is a good idea to create at least one user, which you can use for everyday use. To keep the system secure, it is advisable not to use the root account unless you need to change something in the system. In this example, I am creating a user account called "tsumi".

- Fill in the details for the new account. The ones you have to be aware of are: expiry date (choose Never, if you don't want to set an expiry date.), user group and password for the account. Once done, you can exit from UserConfig by entering Done (see the dedicated part of this manual for more details).

- Now, you can choose to activate Numlock at boot (a bad idea for laptop users ;) ).

- Then, Videoconfig will setup your videocard or your graphic chipset and you will go to the graphical login.

- Welcome to Zenwalk Linux !.

- You are welcomed by the Graphical Desktop Manager.

- Next, you are invited log in to your Zenwalk Xfce Desktop:

## Chapter 4. USING THE ZENWALK SYSTEM TOOLS

## ZENPANEL, THE SYSTEM TOOLS MANAGER

### Presentation

The Zenwalk system tools manager ("ZenPanel") allows easy access to common system utilities without the need to become root each time.

### Start

You can run ZenPanel via the Xfce panel shortcut (or, via the Xfce menu and the "System" submenu)

### Use

To run any of the tools described here, just click on it.

## KEYBOARD LAYOUT

### Presentation

The keyboardconfig command allows the user to select various keyboard maps, based on country and keyboard layout, such as AZERTY, QWERTY, QWERTZ and DVORAK. For each of these types, national alternatives exist. For example, the French AZERTY is not the same as the Belgian AZERTY, and the German QWERTZ is not the same as the Swiss QWERTZ.

### Launch

To use this command requires the root password. You can fire up "keyboardconfig" from within your graphical environment, or in the terminal, by typing keyboardconfig, because this tool runs with or without the X server running.

### Basic usage

After you have clicked on "keyboardconfig", the window appears:

Just pick the keyboardmap you want and click [OK]. Notice that you can also setup the automatic activation of numlock at boot time.

## NETPKG

### Presentation

Netpkg is designed to update the system from a central repository. It can also install new software that is not on the install CD. Netpkg has a dependency management feature, enabled by default. A blacklist section in /etc/netpkg.conf can be edited for packages that you don't want to automatically update. xnetpkg is the GTK graphical user interface version of netpkg.

### Start

netpkg can be started in graphical mode or via the terminal. The graphical front end is the easiest to use.

#### Using netpkg in the Graphical Mode (xnetpkg).

XFCE menu => system > netpkg or via the ZenPanel

The Netpkg window appears, and it starts by loading a mirror database. At the moment, this version of netpkg does not work unless your box is connected to the Internet.

To select a mirror and click an downward arrow on the right. A list of available mirror address will drop down. Select a mirror which you want to use. There are 3 types of mirrors available: Current, Snapshop and Restricted.

1. Current: select any of available Current mirrors if you wish to install stable packages and security fixes

2. Snapshot : choose any of snapshot mirrors if you want to try out a cutting edge programs. The repository will contain the packages included in the development Zenwalk version

3. Restricted: Some packages are located under a restricted mirror due to patent/legal reasons, like Flash and lame.

If you wish to edit, add mirrors that are not listed or remove mirrors, you can do so by writing down a mirror address in the box.

#### Using netpkg via CLI - (Command Line Interface)

Become root by typing su,enter your root password, and type netpkg.

The terminal version of netpkg can do a lot more than the graphical version. Netpkg's parameters are covered in the next section.

### Options

#### Netpkg's options via GUI - Graphical Mode

- Netpkg has the following layout.

  1. Mirror selection menu

  2. Filters: Ticking New makes a list of uninstalled programs appear on the left. Ticking Installed shows a list of installed programs. Ticking Updates shows a list of upgradable programs available in the repository. Similarly ticking Downgrades lists available downgradable programs on the left.

  3. Main panel: This is where you see Categories and Program names as well as the status of each package.

  4. Action button: Click here after selecting package(s) to install, uninstall, upgrade or downgrade.

  5. Description box: This is where you get a brief description of a program you selected in Main panel

- How to install a package:

  1. Select a package you want to install on Main panel.

  2. Read the description of the selected program. If you are happy with the selection, tick the little box next to the package name in Main panel.

  3. Click Action button to proceed.

- under the Actions window, you will see the followings.

  1. Your selection.

  2. Installation button as well as an option to include all the dependency files needed for the program to function.

  3. Click the little box here if you want to overwrite related congifuration files with .new config files. You can also exit this window by clicking Close.

- If you have chosen to update, downgrade or uninstall, the following action window similar to the one shown below will appear.

  1. Your selection.

  2. Installation button and Remove package button appear here.

#### Netpkg options via the Command Line Interface

- packageX ... packageZ

  A list of one or more package names to query the Internet repository for. There is no need to specify complex version numbers. For example, to check for vim-6.3.007-i486-1.tgz, just specify netpkg vim. Generic names are allowed.

  When a matching package is found, netpkg will prompt for the action to perform If the installed package is an older version, the user will be prompted to upgrade it. If the installed package is the same version, the user will be prompted to reinstall it. If the package is not installed, the user will be prompted to install it. Netpkg takes the package from the local cache or downloads it. The integrity of the local package is verified, and the package is downloaded again if it is corrupted. The download option overwrites any existing package having the same name.

- install package1.tgz package2.tgz ...

  A list of 1 or more fully defined package filenames to query the Internet repository for. netpkg will NOT prompt for the action to perform. If the package is already installed but not in the same version, the package will be upgraded. If the package is already installed in the same version, the package will be re- installed. If the package is not installed, then Netpkg will install it. Netpkg first try to take the package from the local cache or download it. Integrity of the local package is checked : the package is downloaded again in case the local package is corrupted.

- upgrade

  netpkg will attempt to upgrade every older installed package. Dependencies will be installed or upgraded, if needed, without prompting. A list of packages that should not be upgraded or installed can be specified in /etc/netpkg.conf by using the "Black_list" variable. Please use the "upgrade" option with caution, especially if you have a highly customized system. ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR CONFIGURATION BEFORE PROCEEDING. If you have a small storage area, set the "Keep_packages" variable in /etc/netpkg.conf accordingly

- download

  netpkg will attempt to download packages from the Internet repository to build a local package cache. Packages will be sorted in directories matching the software categories. The location of the local cache is specified in /etc/netpkg.conf

- list

  netpkg will list all packages on the Internet repository, and the similar locally installed versions, if they exist.

- list I

  netpkg will list only packages on the Internet repository that are locally installed.

- list D

  netpkg will list packages on the Internet repository newer than those locally installed. This option is useful to return to the previous repository after trying the snapshot repository.

- list N

  netpkg will list packages on the Internet repository not already locally installed..

- list U

  netpkg will list packages on the Internet repository that are not the same version as installed.

- dotnew

  netpkg will search all ".new" files in /etc and prompt the user to replace original versions with these newer versions. dotnew will allow checking for differences between the current file and the .new one

- mirror

  netpkg will prompt you to choose a mirror from the list specified in netpkg.conf

### Netpkg.conf (netpkg configuration file)

Located in the /etc directory

You will be able to change some parameters by adding or erasing the '#' symbol at the beginning of some lines to (un)comment configuration lines. Uncommented lines (those without hash marks "#") are read and executed. Here are the most useful :

- If you have to use a proxy to connect to the network, even with login and password, just complete these lines:

      # If you are behind a proxy server, set these options (at least set Proxy_Socket = proxy-address:port, for example 192.168.11.1:8080 )
      Proxy_Socket =
      Proxy_User =
      Proxy_Password =

- If you don't want to discard the netpkg downloaded packages, change it here:

      # Do you want to keep packages in the "local repository" after install or upgrade ?
      Keep_packages = yes
      # Keep_packages = no

- if you don't want to upgrade some packages (with the # netpkg upgrade command), add them to the blacklist:

      # Packages that shouldn't be installed automatically.
      Black_list = aaa_base kernel kernelsource ndiswrapper

- If you've got some strategic files that shouldn't be overwritten during an upgrade, add them to this list. The files will be renamed *.old, it's up to you to decide if you want to get them back or not:

      # These files won't be destroyed but renamed ".old" instead, put here all your strategic
      # configuration files on a single line
      Protected_files = /etc/lilo.conf /etc/fstab /etc/passwd /etc/shadow
      /etc/group /etc/inittab /etc/rc.d/rc.local /etc/rc.d/rc.modules
      /etc/rc.d/rc.netfilter /etc/profile /etc/hosts /etc/sudoers /etc/X11/xorg.conf

### Some advice for upgrading your system

First, always upgrade Netpkg:

`# netpkg netpkg`

Then, when you have to update "X11, XFCE, Desktop", you should do it in text mode, with leaving the graphical one

Don't be afraid, it's quite simple:

1. Leave your graphical session:

   Run your root Terminal, and go to init 3:

   `# init 3`

2. Do the needed update:

       # netpkg xorg xorg-drivers xfce

3. Go back to the graphical session, in init 4

   `# init 4`

## NETWORK SETTINGS (XNETCONF)

### Presentation

A Zenwalk tool designed to get your network up and running. Xnetconf is able to configure settings for up to four network interfaces, set DHCP, DNS servers, gateways, the host and domain your Zenwalk box will be part of, as well as activate a simple generic yet efficient firewall.

### Starting

From Zenpanel, click on the icon Network Settings and you will get the following screen (Network is not connected in this example).

### Use

To set up/start network connection, you need to highlight the network interface you want to configure (such as eth0) (1), then choose whether you want to use DHCP or manually attribute the IP address (2). Define some of the other configurations pertaining to the hostname, domain, firewall... as needed (3 and 4), and click on the button Apply configuration (5). If the connection is successful, the status of the network interface you selected should say 'up'. Note: The button Apply configuration (5) toggles the state of your highlighted network interface up or down along with the different options you have defined for it.

In the above screenshot,eth0 interface settings is displayed. DHCP is enabled, and all is working fine. The driver the card uses is mentioned under the Ethernet Information section.

In general, enabling DHCP is your best option (and definitely the easiest). DHCP will negotiate an IP and renew its table when needed, completely in the background.

Die-hards can directly edit /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf, which contains the settings for the network cards. Domain names are set in /etc/hosts. DNS servers are set in /etc/resolv.conf

## STARTUP SERVICES

### Presentation

serviceconfig is a Zenwalk-specific tool to facilitate control over the installed services. If not configured by hand, Zenwalk will enable some default services at boot.

### Starting

You will get the following screen.

### Use

Depending on your configuration, some services are not needed (for example a ssh daemon or the gpm console mouse server). You can enable or disable multiple services to run at boot time. If you are unsure about disabling a service, check the available info at "Google", or ask in our help forum.

When xdialog is not installed, serviceconfig will use the ncurses interface. As with previous tools, use the spacebar to (de)select and tab and arrow keys to navigate.

In the terminal the service command can be used also to configure the daemons. Besides simple (de)activating those daemons, service can also stop/start/restart them. A sample syntax: - starting/stopping daemons: service start|stop|restart [servicename] - enabling/disabling daemons: service enable|disable [servicename] - list the state of the installed daemons: service list

- Starting/stopping daemons: # service start|stop|restart [servicename]

- Enabling/disabling daemons: # service enable|disable [servicename]

- List the state of the installed daemons: # service list

### Some comments about the services

- alsa: The Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) provides audio and MIDI functionality to the Linux operating system.

- cups: The Common UNIX Printing System ("CUPS") is a cross-platform printing solution for all UNIX environments. It is based on the "Internet Printing Protocol" and provides complete printing services to most PostScript and raster printers.

- inetd: inetd is a daemon on many Unix systems that manages Internet services. Often called a super-server, inetd listens on all ports used by internet services such as FTP, POP3, and telnet. When a TCP packet or UDP packet comes in with a particular port number, inetd launches the appropriate server program to handle the connection.

- ip_forward: covers IP forwarding.

- iwlwifi: activates drivers for Wifi.

- nfsd: The nfsd daemon runs on a server and handles client requests for file system operations. The Network File System (NFS) is a distributed file system that allows users to access files and directories located on remote computers and treat those files and directories as if they were local.

- ntpd: The ntpd sets and maintains the system time of day in synchronism with Internet standard time servers.

- numlock: activates the numeric keypad in console.

- rpc: The rpc daemon converts RPC (Remote Procedure Call) program numbers into Internet port numbers.

- saslauthd: The SASL authentication server (SASL = Simple Authentication and Security Layer) .

- scanluns: looks for devices that have been plugged into a USB or IEEE1394 (Firewire) port that might not have been detected because they use a LUN (Logical Unit Number) other than 0.

- sshd: Secure Shell daemon, allows secure and remote logging to this machine.

- syslog: Logs all system activities.

- wicd: Comprehensive network manager (for both WiFi and Wired Network).

## SYSTEM LANGUAGE

### Presentation

The command localeconfig allows the user to select the locale of his system. A 'locale' is a set of conventions linked to the user's language, his environment and/or his cultural conventions (like monetary symbols, date display, ...etc.). This locale is then applied to the user's working environment. By default, a Linux system is configured with the "en_US" locale, so other locales have to be specified manually ("en_GB" for the United Kingdom, "es_ES" for Spain, and so on).

### Launch

To use this command you need to know the root password. Only root can change the locale settings.

You can fire up "localeconfig" from within your graphical environment, but also in the terminal, just by typing localeconfig.

### Basic usage

To set your system's locale, do the following:

Pick the language you want:

The "locale" choice is essential; a modern system will use UTF-8 instead of ISO. Don’t worry, the € symbol comes with UTF-8 also. Once you’ve taken your pick, simply click [OK].

## SYSTEM TIME

### Presentation

This tool allows you to easily setup your system time.

### Use

You just have to set the time in this dialog box. If you have internet access, you can also check the "ntp" case and hit [enter], and time will be synchronized with a time server.

## USER PROFILES

### Presentation

Userconfig is a Zenwalk-specific tool to facilitate control over the user registrations on your Zenwalk system, including the defined groups, etc.

### Starting

You will get the following screen.

### Some words about each menu item

- List users: lists all users on your system.

- Create user: Selecting "Create user" will prompt you for the new user's name, group this user should belong to, home directory, additional group membership, and shell interpreter (usually, bash). For the account expiry date, select NEVER to make the account permanent. You'll be prompted for some additional information (suitable for multiuser systems) and the user password. When finished, the user settings are listed, with an option to edit them if some entry needs editing. Select BACK to return to the main menu. This is a GUI to the "adduser" command.

- Delete users: presents you with a list of users on your system. Highlight one and press OK to delete that user. Press BACK to return to the main menu.

- Change password: presents you with a list of users on your system. Highlight one and press OK to change password for that user. Press BACK to return to the main menu.

- List groups: lists all groups defined on your system.

- Modify group: shows a list of groups on your system. Selecting OK will allow you to modify the name for the highlighted group. Selecting BACK will send you back to the main menu.

- Create group: allows you to create a new group on your system. This is suitable for example if you want to install the ClamAV antivirus programme. This programme must be given a special group name, which users are then allowed to access (if you will allow them to run ClamAV). You are prompted for the group name.

- Delete groups: shows a list of groups on your system. Selecting OK will delete the highlighted group. Selecting BACK will send you back to the main menu.

- About: pops the About box showing you the userconfig version you are running, etc...

## VIDEO CONFIGURATION

### Presentation

Videoconfig is Zenwalk's tool to get X, the graphical server, up and running properly. It will probe for monitor refresh rates and optimal resolution, and check which video card you are using.

### Starting

You will get the following screen and warning

### Use

Be smart – don't ignore this. If you don't aim to configure X (which shouldn't be needed at this point, since it has been done during the post-install routine), press [OK], then you'll get the following window :

Yes, from here, you can setup the Xfce compositor to allow transparency, shadow, ...

This last window will let you setup if you want a graphical or text login.

As the warning box told you – configuring X should be done in text mode. This is less difficult than it looks, provided you start out with the right tools. Log out as a regular user, press Ctrl+Alt+F2 to switch to a terminal, login as root, and issue init 3. X will be shut down and you will be returned to another terminal. Log in as root again, and run videoconfig. Now you'll get a dialog box asking you if it detected the right card and refresh rates. If it's ok, press [yes]. If not, exit and configure manually with xorgconfig, or edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf by hand. This last option, however, is not recommended if you are not familiar with X' configuration file.

Videoconfig will set up X for you. If you still aren't satisfied with your X configuration, or the Zenwalk setup utility detects your card badly, you can do it all by yourself running xorgconfig. See the "xorgconfig" section for more info.

## XKERNELCONF

### Presentation

A Zenwalk tool designed to load and/or unload kernel modules on the fly.

Furthermore, kernel modules loaded with this tool will also be loaded automatically by the system at boot time while the unloaded modules will be ignored.

### Starting

From Zenpanel, click on the icon Kernel modules and You will get the following screen.

### Use

Double clicking on a module in the Available modules list will load it in memory while double clicking on a module in the Active modules list will unload it.

Checking the box Laptop mode will automatically synchronize your data from cache to disk a couple seconds after I/O goes idle.

In Swapiness you can define the treshold when processes should be swapped.

## Chapter 5. ADDITIONAL TOOLS

## MOUNTPOINTS MANAGER

### Presentation

Mountpoint Volume Manager is a collection of scripts that work with HAL to manage USB removable devices by automatically mounting/unmounting these devices and dynamically creating their mountpoints.

### Use

If not activated by default, this feature can be activated by Zenwalk Menu bar (Accessories > Thunar File Manager > Edit > Preference > Advanced > tick Enable Volume Management). Click on Configure if you wish to customize/manage removable drives and media.

When you insert CD/DVD, USB, SD cards etc, a new mount point should be created automatically on your desktop.

If you want to mount USB for example, you can just click on the icon. If you want to unmount for removing safely your USB, you can do so by right clicking and choosing 'Unmount Volume'. This is to make sure that all your data are saved properly on the device.

Similarly, you can mount CD/DVD by clicking on the icon, and if you wish to eject your CD/DVD, you can do so by selecting 'Eject Volume from the right click menu.

Mount points for CD and DVD can be found under the /mnt directory.

Mount points for other media format, such as USB, can be found under /media.

## WICD FOR WIFI CONNECTION

### Presentation

Wicd is a tool intended to configure easily your wifi interface, and will allow you to connect to your wifi and wireless network

### Start

First, make sure that wicd is ticked in "Startup Services" under Zenpanel, and necessary drivers are installed. In this example, iwlwifi (which should come by default but is also available by netpkg) was used. Other drivers may be available as kernel modules (check the "Kernel Modules" utility in Zenpanel) or by netpkg. Restarting the box may be required before these changes take effect.

### Use

Wicd Network Manager is available in the Xfce menu, under the Network submenu:

When you click on Wicd Network Manager, you will get the following screen.

If no signal is detected, you may need to configure settings. Click Preference on the menu bar. Under preference, you can change WPA supplicant driver, Wireless interface (here wlan0) is used, and other minor options such as setting up global DNS servers (by default, these fields are empty). Fill in the box for Wireless interface (you can find out which interface is being used by the box by typing "iwconfig" in Terminal as user "root").

Once singals are detected by your Wifi, you can select the Wifi signal you wish to use for connection. Expand to change 'Advanced Settings' and enter details such as your key for the connection and static IP address if required.

Now you can connect to the Wifi by just clicking Connect.You can also set up connection procedures for Hidden Network and Ad-Hoc network.

## XORGCONFIG

Xorgconfig is not a Zenwalk specific tool, just part of the xorg package.

Make a backup of your current xorg.conf (/etc/X11/xorg.conf). First collect the data of your computer hardware. Check your monitor documentation for refresh rates and possible resolutions. Check which video card you are using - brand, model, amount of onboard RAM. Check the protocol your mouse uses, if it has a scroll wheel, and how many buttons it has. Take into account that a scroll wheel counts as three buttons (click - forward scroll - backward scroll). Check the keyboard type you use (azerty or qwerty) and how many keys it has (probably an international 105-key one). Now that you have the right info, launch xorgconfig from text mode, as root. Xorgconfig is an interactive program - it will ask you questions. If you have gathered the information provided above, it will be a piece of cake to answer them. Once you have completed xorgconfig's procedure, save it. Then reboot into graphical mode and behold the fruit of your work.

## XWMCONFIG

### Presentation

xwmconfig is a Slackware utility adopted by Zenwalk. Xwmconfig is short for "X Window Manager CONFIGurator" and its purpose is to define the default desktop environment (DE) or window manager (WM). A window manager, is very basic and merely provides with the ability to manage windows, and not much more. A desktop environment not only comprehends a window manager but also provides various applications and plugins. When run, xwmconfig will check which window managers are available on the system and ask which one you want to use.

Xwmconfig is not the usual way to configure this because most Zenwalk users will take advantage of the GDM login manager. This manager allows the user to configure which Window Manager / Desktop Environment should be loaded when starting X-Window. It is only for the small group of users who prefer to start X-Window in a different way that Xwmconfig still comes in handy.

### Starting

Xwmconfig is available if you open a terminal and, as normal user, execute xwmconfig. Do not run xwmconfig as root unless you want to change settings for root.

### Use

Xwmconfig can be run as a regular user; if you run it as root, it will configure root's settings, and not yours... So don't be too hasty ;-). Simply select the graphical environment of your liking and click [OK].

DE/WM settings are stored in the ~/.xinitrc file. On a default Zenwalk install, you will find it's a script that launches XFCE. Changing your DE or WM can be done simply by replacing the ~/.xinitrc file with the one that calls your preferred graphical environment.