PCLinuxOS New User Guide : CategoryTipsAndTricks93

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Most recent edit on 2007-05-06 15:43:20 by SySy [moved]

Deletions:

This page is for Useful Tips and Tricks for PCLinuxOS 93a and below

Back to Usefull Tips and Tricks 2007 or Go to HomePage of Contents
NOTE The following Tips and Tricks are NOT listed in any specific order
ALSO Some of these old solutions will most likely still apply in Pclinuxos 2007

Taking Screenshots the easy way

by Unknown
You can take a Screenshot by clicking to the KSnapshot application from Multimedia -> Graphics -> KSnapshot.
This is a simple KDE method you can setup to take a Screenshot by pressing only one key on your keyboard.

  1. Click PCLOS Start Menu
  2. Navigate to: Configuration -> KDE Control Center
  3. Click the menu item Accessibility
  4. Click the Keyboard Shortcuts
  5. In the menus that show up, open the Tab labeled Command Shortcuts
  6. Find KSnapshot in the list of Applications (ie. Multimedia - Graphics - KSnapshot)
  7. Highlight KSnapshot and it will ask you for a key shortcut
  8. Just press the Print Screen buttom (once), then click OK and you are done
Now everytime you press the Print Screen button, a new KSnapshot will open up asking you where to save the screenshot to.
If your installation does not have KSnapshot, you can also open a terminal and type in "scrot" to take a snapshot.

Sharing an external usb drive

Added in : SharingExternalUsbDrive

How To edit and understand /etc/fstab

by thomasr
This link provides an excellent explanation: http://www.tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/fstab.html∞

How To Intall Fonts Easily

Added in : SettingUpFonts

How To install and run Penguin Racer in 093a

NB: For those who may be having problems with it.
by Andrew Olsen
NOTE It has been pointed out that you should ENSURE that you have 3D up and running before you try to run Penguin Racer, because Penguin Racer will run in .93a and below with an nVidia card and not the drivers from nVidia. BUT it will be very slow. You may want to refer to this page SetupNVidia or even this page NvidiaDriverInstall

First use the Synaptic Software Manager to get ppracer installed.
Bring up the Konsole window (ie. a terminal). Type in the following and then press Enter
/usr/bin/ppracer

Error messages abound! So now you can close the Konsole terminal.
It comes down to this: the file in your home directory is wrong.
So open up Kate (a text editor), and then use it to open: /home/user/.ppracer/options
Change the data directory (ie. folder) to now be: set data_dir /usr/share/ppracer
Then save the file and close Kate.
From the Konsole window try again typing in the following and then press Enter
/usr/bin/ppracer

Now you should have Penguin Racer going ? If so you should not have to start it from the Konsole window again.
NB: Using the Konsole window to diagnose applications that don't start is a great idea, you just have to know how to start those applications from the Konsole window. If in doubt, Right Click the K Menu (PMenu?) Choose menu editor, give root's password, find the application in the "tree", then look at the Command Line for the application and use that Command Line in the Konsole.

How To merge buttons from other Konqueror Toolbars to Main Toolbar

IE: to save screen space.
by britbrian
Note: This change applies to all konqueror profiles
Note: Seems a Button can only be shown in one Toolbar at a time, so it has to be moved rather than copied (A KDE bug ?).
First deside on which Button from a donor Toolbar you want to move to your Main Toolbar.
Go into Konqueror's pull down menu of Settings -> Configure Toolbars
At the top is the list of the Toolbar's that can be selected.
The left window lists Available Actions. The right window lists Current Actions.
Plus there are four arrows in the center, between the windows, to move Buttons around.
  1. First select the Toolbar that will donate the Button
  2. And choose the desired Button from its Current Actions
  3. Then click the left-arrow to move it to Available Actions
  4. Now select the Main Toolbar
  5. And choose the desired Button again, that now appears in Available Actions
  6. Then click the right-arrow to move it to Current Actions
  7. Use the center up / down arrows to position the Button left-wards / right-wards in the Main Toolbar
  8. Then click Apply to see its OK.
Note: Be very careful about positioning new Buttons. You can safely place it to far right or to left of the Print button.
The area just right of Print button has special codes for ActionLists like the contextual viewmodes buttons.
To improve spacing, select either separator type from Available Actions, then click right-arrow to copy it to Current Actions.
Again use up down arrows to position the spacer as you like and click Apply to see it.
The Defaults button undoes these changes.
Once done, Save View Profile to "File Management" or any other since all profiles will show this change.

How To fix a hard drive install of .92 or .93-minime if after first boot it hangs

by oldfolio (passed on by Myrddin)
TAKE NOTE This does NOT apply to a .93a or above installation
If your first boot up after hard drive installation hangs up or presents you with a blank screen ?
Then boot up the Live CD and log in as root (password = root).
  1. Open a terminal and type in kwrite /usr/sbin/livecd-install (or you can use the text editor you prefer)
  2. A window will pop up asking how you want to start Kwrite. Go ahead and accept the default.
  3. Kwrite will open. On the top navigation bar, click on the search icon, a magnifying glass. (ie. the one on the left = Find)
  4. In the search field (ie. Text to Find) type in mkinitrd and then press Enter.
  5. A line of text with the word mkinitrd highlighted will appear. To the right of it you will see -- force-usb
  6. Remove the phrase -- force-usb including the space just prior to and at the end of the phrase.
  7. Click the "Save" icon on the navigation bar. (it looks like a plain floppy disc)
  8. From the pull down menu "File" you select "Close".
  9. Again use the pull down menu "File" to select "Exit".
  10. In the terminal, type exit and press Enter. The terminal will close.
  11. Now re-Install PCLinux OS .92 or .93-minime and reboot. (you can format partitions again for this re-install)
You will soon be seeing the login screen and can be using your new installation of PCLinuxOS in moments.

Installing Art of Illusion - Free, java based 3D modelling and rendering application

by Jim_H
The Main website is here: http://www.artofillusion.org/index∞
The Download page with info on what other files are needed
can be found here: http://www.artofillusion.org/downloads∞
Download the main Art of Illusion (AOI) file and the Linux frontend file from the website. The Linux frontend file refused to download due to "server errors", so I used the Firefox extension "Download Them All". This uses 5 connections to the server in order to speed up file downloads and it has a long timeout period. It took over 40 minutes to get the 1.3Mb file.
I expanded the main AOI file in my Home directory by right clicking and selecting Extract/Extract here. I did the same with the Linux frontend zip file. Those four files were then moved into the ArtOfIllusion231 directory (ie. folder). I went into this directory, right clicked, and selected Actions/Open Terminal Here.
In the terminal window, I then typed: ./aoi.sh
The program ran, but displayed an error about having no permissions for a script to run in a directory: /tmp/SPManager
So, I opened a file manager as root (KMenu, Applications/File tools/File Manager - Super User Mode). I navigated to the SPManager directory, right clicked on it and selected Properties. In the permissions tab, I changed the drop down for "Others" from "Can View Content" to "Can View & Modify Content".
I then went back to the desktop, right clicked and selected Create New/Link to Aplpication. In the new window and under the General tab, I called it "Art of Illusion". Under the application tab and next to the "Command" text box, I clicked the "Browse" button. I navigated to the AOI directory under Home and selected the aoi.sh file. Click Open and then the path was added to the Command text box. I ok'ed the dialog box and clicked the new desktop link. The program opened and ran perfectly.

Kaddressbook importing previous distribution lists

By: Andrew Olsen
Just installed PCLINUXOS 093a "Big Daddy" onto my wife's machine, which used to run Mepis/Ubuntu.
PCLOS is very fast, and prettier too. But I ran into a hitch when converting data from old profile to new.
Both OSes run KDE3.53, but they handle Kaddressbook differently. Under PCLOS the Distribution Lists
are integrated into the standard VCF file under /home/user/.kde/share/apps/kaddressbook
There used to be a file called distlists. Follows instructions for migrating data manually, until somebody
cleverer than me makes a utility to do this.
1. Open up old distlists file in Kate. Print it too, if it is large. Leave Kate open with this file.
2. Go into Kaddressbook (or Contacts in Kontact). Settings -> Show Extension Bar -> Distribution List Editor.
3. For each old list you had, create a new list with the New List button. DON'T populate it. Keep creating new lists.
4. Now make sure you close Kontact, etc. Right-click-quit by the clock is usual.
5. Open another Kate window, and open the current std.vcf file in /home/user/.kde/share/apps/kaddressbook
6. This is the tricky part. In the std.vcf file use CTRL F to bring up Find, then find the point where the first of your distribution lists are. It looks like this. (at least it did on our pc)
BEGIN:VCARD
FN:relatives
N:relatives;;;;
UID:n3QJHLSPMY
VERSION:3.0
X-KADDRESSBOOK-DistributionList:;
END:VCARD

You can see here that the list was called relatives You can choose your friends... :-)
7. Now go into the other Kate window with distlists open. You should have something like this.
[Distribution Lists]
Relatives=wm0rh3b40B,,FxWNYeS9p7,,R9TWpcOMdf,,oNgkqClsNf,,9rJRCZrI5U,,8fyYfrHLE9,,9gXY0dgnTy,,vyi0bCzBWY,,Mo13LoISG3,

8. Use click and drag to select everything after the = except if a new list starts. Press CTRL C (to copy to Klipboard memory)
9. Go to Kate window with std.vcf open, at this point

 X-KADDRESSBOOK-DistributionList:;

you want to follow the semicolon with the text you just copied. Press CTRL V. Don't go away yet, you're not done!
10. In the same Kate window, reselect what you just pasted in, using click and drag to select.
11. Now press CTRL R. The replace window comes up. Very important: in Text to Find you type the two commas ,,
in replacement text it must be \,; (backslash comma semicolon). MAKE SURE the ONLY cross for selection of options is in the SELECTED TEXT box. Then click Replace.
12. Click Stop ( you don't want to do any more ).
13. Now the unique codes are in place for the distribution list. BUT you must follow the last code for each list like such.
X-KADDRESSBOOK-DistributionList:;wm0rh3b40B\,;FxWNYeS9p7\,;R9TWpcOMdf\,;oNgkqClsNf\,;9rJRCZrI5U\,;8fyYfrHLE9\,;9gXY0dgnTy\,;vyi0bCzBWY\,;Mo13LoISG3\,

Note the ending backslash then comma.
14. Repeat from step (6) onwards until all lists are done.
15. Close the Kate window with std.vcf and then reopen Kaddressbook / Kontact to check it. Hopefully all went well.
Of course this all would have been academic had the KDE developer in charge of the Kaddressbook project made the distribution lists export with the VCF format. Maybe now that will happen in the future.

How To NFS and firewall

by timot
added to : AdvancedFirewall

Codecs, drivers & fonts (oh my!)

by Mike_C
Any other distro I've used, when it comes to adding in dvd playback, windows codecs support, mp3 encoding, etc. you have to install all the packages to cover all you need separately. Don't know if it's new with 0.93 but there is a package in the Synaptic Software Manager called multimediapack which in one handy-dandy click will install all of the above as well as msfonts, rar, lha, 7zip, arj support and a whole lot more. You'll find it under "Multimedia".

Next subject will be added here

Back to Usefull Tips and Tricks 2007 or go to HomePage of Contents
CategoryWiki


Edited on 2007-05-02 07:11:56 by SySy [moved]

Additions:
NOTE: This documentation has been moved to http://docs.mypclinuxos.com/index.php?title=Tricks_and_tips/0.93∞

Deletions:
NOTE: This documentation is being moved to http://docs.mypclinuxos.com/index.php?title=Tricks_and_tips/0.93∞


Edited on 2007-04-28 19:00:59 by SySy [moved-saved]

Additions:
NOTE: This documentation is being moved to http://docs.mypclinuxos.com/index.php?title=Tricks_and_tips/0.93∞


Edited on 2007-03-23 20:10:03 by JohnCoom [changed HIT to PRESS]

Additions:
5) In the menus that show up, open the Tab labeled Command Shortcuts
  1. Just press the Print Screen buttom (once), then click OK and you are done
Now everytime you press the Print Screen button, a new KSnapshot will open up asking you where to save the screenshot to.

Deletions:
1) 5) In the menus that show up, open the Tab labeled Command Shortcuts
  1. Just hit the Print Screen buttom (once), then click OK and you are done
Now everytime you hit the Print Screen button, a new KSnapshot will open up asking you where to save the screenshot to.


Edited on 2007-02-09 22:46:18 by JohnCoom [changed "Synaptic" to "the Synaptic Software Manager" and made "multimediapack" bold]

Additions:
Any other distro I've used, when it comes to adding in dvd playback, windows codecs support, mp3 encoding, etc. you have to install all the packages to cover all you need separately. Don't know if it's new with 0.93 but there is a package in the Synaptic Software Manager called multimediapack which in one handy-dandy click will install all of the above as well as msfonts, rar, lha, 7zip, arj support and a whole lot more. You'll find it under "Multimedia".

Deletions:
Any other distro I've used, when it comes to adding in dvd playback, windows codecs support, mp3 encoding, etc. you have to install all the packages to cover all you need separately. Don't know if it's new with 0.93 but there is a package in Synaptic called multimediapack which in one handy-dandy click will install all of the above as well as msfonts, rar, lha, 7zip, arj support and a whole lot more. You'll find it under "Multimedia".


Edited on 2007-02-09 12:03:04 by MikeC [Changed my name to differ from log-in so no longer a hyperlink]

Additions:
by Mike_C

Deletions:
by MikeC


Edited on 2007-02-09 11:59:53 by MikeC [added tip for multimediapack]

Additions:

Codecs, drivers & fonts (oh my!)

by MikeC
Any other distro I've used, when it comes to adding in dvd playback, windows codecs support, mp3 encoding, etc. you have to install all the packages to cover all you need separately. Don't know if it's new with 0.93 but there is a package in Synaptic called multimediapack which in one handy-dandy click will install all of the above as well as msfonts, rar, lha, 7zip, arj support and a whole lot more. You'll find it under "Multimedia".


Edited on 2007-02-02 17:12:26 by DidouPh [added : AdvancedFirewall]

Additions:
added to : AdvancedFirewall

Deletions:
First of all, I'm not an expert on this subject, I just noticed that if I want to use NFS and firewall together, it needs some tuning.
The article here http://www.troubleshooters.com/lpm/200305/200305.htm#_A_Somewhat_Practical_Server_Firewall∞ guided me to set things right.
To set NFS shares, read this topic: http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php?topic=6990.0∞
Details on how to configure NFS and firewall settings are explained in the article I mentioned above, so I will just explain the steps on how to do it in PCLOS.
First we have to edit /etc/rc.d/init.d/nfs file. Open it (as root), and find a line that contains these words MOUNTD_PORT. Insert a new line just above it like this MOUNTD_PORT=33333 and save. The port 33333 is only one alternative. It can be any number between 32000 and 34000, but be sure it is not already used. It shoud not be listed as output of rpcinfo -p command nor shoud it be listed in the file /etc/services
echo -n $"Starting NFS daemon: "
daemon rpc.nfsd $RPCNFSDCOUNT
echo
MOUNTD_PORT=33333 #This is the line that should be added
[ -n "$MOUNTD_PORT" ] \
&& RPCMOUNTDOPTS="$RPCMOUNTDOPTS -p $MOUNTD_PORT"
Now (as root) Restart NFS server: /etc/rc.d/init.d/nfs restart
Use the rpcinfo -p command to verify that all instances of mountd are pegged at your chosen number.
Next comes firewall setup. Open the "PCLinuxOS Control Center" and select "Security"
Here you Click the "Set up a Personal Firewall to protect your computer and network"
Click on the Advanced Button and type this in the "other ports" field:
111/udp 2049/udp 33333/udp 111/tcp 2049/tcp 33333/tcp
It's possible that you have to allow ping request also. Save settings and we are done!
NFS should get it's way through firewall now. This worked for me. 0.93a-Junior is installed on my Laptop, and 0.92 is on my Desktop computer.


Edited on 2007-02-02 17:07:39 by DidouPh [added : How To Intall Fonts Locally]

Additions:
Added in : SettingUpFonts

Deletions:
The quickest easy way is to create a .fonts folder in your home folder and copy the fonts to that new .fonts folder
Explanation If you download fonts from th internet, or have some true type fonts from windows (say as in MS-Win fonts from a dual boot system). You can just copy them to the .fonts folder you created and then they are available in Open Office or any other program.
It is just a quick way to install fonts - not unique to pclinux, will work on ubuntu, mepis etc.


Edited on 2007-02-02 17:04:16 by DidouPh [added : SharingExternalUsbDrive]

Additions:
Added in : SharingExternalUsbDrive

Deletions:
Formatted to Ext3, among several users who do not have root privileges.
by jaydot
  1. Open Pclinuxos Control Centre (PCC) and give root's password when asked.
  2. Go to System -> Manage the system users and groups.
  3. Create a group (ie. Add Group) for sharing to which all those who need access to the drive will belong.
  4. Click on a user to add to the group and then choose Edit from the options above.
  5. In the user Groups tab, Tick the sharing group entry that you created. Then click ok.
  6. Repeat items 4) and 5) above for each user to join the group.
  7. Now you can Exit the PCC by the pull down menu File -> Quit (twice)
Go to KMenu--> Run Program... --> type in "kdesu kate /etc/fstab" and hit Enter. Give your root password. In kate, find the line that starts with /dev/sda1. It may be sdb1, sdc1, sdd1, (and etc.) instead of sda1; you will know because the next part will start with /mnt, not / or /home. Make sure that the fstab entry reads similarly to this:
/dev/sda1 /mnt/removable ext3 defaults,umask=0 0 0
Logout, or reboot to make effective. Login and Switch to each user to check they can both read and write to the drive.
When the system is restarted all the users belonging to the sharing group will have read/write access to the drive.
NOTE Only root may mount/umount the drive.


Edited on 2007-01-30 10:59:03 by JohnCoom [changed buttons from "94" to read "2007" etc]

Additions:
Back to Usefull Tips and Tricks 2007 or Go to HomePage of Contents
ALSO Some of these old solutions will most likely still apply in Pclinuxos 2007
Back to Usefull Tips and Tricks 2007 or go to HomePage of Contents

Deletions:
Back to Usefull Tips and Tricks 94 or Go to HomePage of Contents
ALSO Some of these old solutions will most likely still apply in Pclinuxos 94
Back to Usefull Tips and Tricks 94 or go to HomePage of Contents


Edited on 2007-01-16 12:23:07 by JohnCoom [added 94 to Usefull Tips and Tricks buttons]

Additions:
Back to Usefull Tips and Tricks 94 or Go to HomePage of Contents
ALSO Some of these old solutions will most likely still apply in Pclinuxos 94
Back to Usefull Tips and Tricks 94 or go to HomePage of Contents

Deletions:
Back to Usefull Tips and Tricks or Go to HomePage of Contents
ALSO Some of these items will most likely still apply in Pclinuxos 94
Back to Usefull Tips and Tricks or go to HomePage of Contents


Edited on 2007-01-16 12:14:01 by JohnCoom [changed line spacing]

No differences.

Edited on 2007-01-16 12:00:58 by JohnCoom [turned links into buttons]

Additions:
Back to Usefull Tips and Tricks or Go to HomePage of Contents
Back to Usefull Tips and Tricks or go to HomePage of Contents

Deletions:
Back to Usefull Tips and Tricks or go to HomePage of Contents
Back to Usefull Tips and Tricks or go to HomePage of Contents


Oldest known version of this page was edited on 2007-01-16 11:54:46 by JohnCoom [created CategoryTipsAndTricks93 copied in stuff from old page]
Page view:

This page is for Useful Tips and Tricks for PCLinuxOS 93a and below

Back to Usefull Tips and Tricks or go to HomePage of Contents

NOTE The following Tips and Tricks are NOT listed in any specific order
ALSO Some of these items will most likely still apply in Pclinuxos 94


Taking Screenshots the easy way

by Unknown

You can take a Screenshot by clicking to the KSnapshot application from Multimedia -> Graphics -> KSnapshot.
This is a simple KDE method you can setup to take a Screenshot by pressing only one key on your keyboard.

  1. Click PCLOS Start Menu
  2. Navigate to: Configuration -> KDE Control Center
  3. Click the menu item Accessibility
  4. Click the Keyboard Shortcuts
  5. 5) In the menus that show up, open the Tab labeled Command Shortcuts
  6. Find KSnapshot in the list of Applications (ie. Multimedia - Graphics - KSnapshot)
  7. Highlight KSnapshot and it will ask you for a key shortcut
  8. Just hit the Print Screen buttom (once), then click OK and you are done

Now everytime you hit the Print Screen button, a new KSnapshot will open up asking you where to save the screenshot to.

If your installation does not have KSnapshot, you can also open a terminal and type in "scrot" to take a snapshot.


Sharing an external usb drive

Formatted to Ext3, among several users who do not have root privileges.
by jaydot

  1. Open Pclinuxos Control Centre (PCC) and give root's password when asked.
  2. Go to System -> Manage the system users and groups.
  3. Create a group (ie. Add Group) for sharing to which all those who need access to the drive will belong.
  4. Click on a user to add to the group and then choose Edit from the options above.
  5. In the user Groups tab, Tick the sharing group entry that you created. Then click ok.
  6. Repeat items 4) and 5) above for each user to join the group.
  7. Now you can Exit the PCC by the pull down menu File -> Quit (twice)

Go to KMenu--> Run Program... --> type in "kdesu kate /etc/fstab" and hit Enter. Give your root password. In kate, find the line that starts with /dev/sda1. It may be sdb1, sdc1, sdd1, (and etc.) instead of sda1; you will know because the next part will start with /mnt, not / or /home. Make sure that the fstab entry reads similarly to this:

/dev/sda1               /mnt/removable          ext3   defaults,umask=0 0 0


Logout, or reboot to make effective. Login and Switch to each user to check they can both read and write to the drive.
When the system is restarted all the users belonging to the sharing group will have read/write access to the drive.

NOTE Only root may mount/umount the drive.


How To edit and understand /etc/fstab

by thomasr

This link provides an excellent explanation: http://www.tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/fstab.html∞


How To Intall Fonts Easily

by thomasr

The quickest easy way is to create a .fonts folder in your home folder and copy the fonts to that new .fonts folder

Explanation If you download fonts from th internet, or have some true type fonts from windows (say as in MS-Win fonts from a dual boot system). You can just copy them to the .fonts folder you created and then they are available in Open Office or any other program.
It is just a quick way to install fonts - not unique to pclinux, will work on ubuntu, mepis etc.


How To install and run Penguin Racer in 093a

NB: For those who may be having problems with it.
by Andrew Olsen
NOTE It has been pointed out that you should ENSURE that you have 3D up and running before you try to run Penguin Racer, because Penguin Racer will run in .93a and below with an nVidia card and not the drivers from nVidia. BUT it will be very slow. You may want to refer to this page SetupNVidia or even this page NvidiaDriverInstall


First use the Synaptic Software Manager to get ppracer installed.

Bring up the Konsole window (ie. a terminal). Type in the following and then press Enter

/usr/bin/ppracer


Error messages abound! So now you can close the Konsole terminal.
It comes down to this: the file in your home directory is wrong.
So open up Kate (a text editor), and then use it to open: /home/user/.ppracer/options
Change the data directory (ie. folder) to now be: set data_dir /usr/share/ppracer
Then save the file and close Kate.

From the Konsole window try again typing in the following and then press Enter

/usr/bin/ppracer


Now you should have Penguin Racer going ? If so you should not have to start it from the Konsole window again.

NB: Using the Konsole window to diagnose applications that don't start is a great idea, you just have to know how to start those applications from the Konsole window. If in doubt, Right Click the K Menu (PMenu?) Choose menu editor, give root's password, find the application in the "tree", then look at the Command Line for the application and use that Command Line in the Konsole.


How To merge buttons from other Konqueror Toolbars to Main Toolbar

IE: to save screen space.
by britbrian

Note: This change applies to all konqueror profiles
Note: Seems a Button can only be shown in one Toolbar at a time, so it has to be moved rather than copied (A KDE bug ?).

First deside on which Button from a donor Toolbar you want to move to your Main Toolbar.

Go into Konqueror's pull down menu of Settings -> Configure Toolbars
At the top is the list of the Toolbar's that can be selected.
The left window lists Available Actions. The right window lists Current Actions.
Plus there are four arrows in the center, between the windows, to move Buttons around.

  1. First select the Toolbar that will donate the Button
  2. And choose the desired Button from its Current Actions
  3. Then click the left-arrow to move it to Available Actions
  4. Now select the Main Toolbar
  5. And choose the desired Button again, that now appears in Available Actions
  6. Then click the right-arrow to move it to Current Actions
  7. Use the center up / down arrows to position the Button left-wards / right-wards in the Main Toolbar
  8. Then click Apply to see its OK.

Note: Be very careful about positioning new Buttons. You can safely place it to far right or to left of the Print button.
The area just right of Print button has special codes for ActionLists like the contextual viewmodes buttons.

To improve spacing, select either separator type from Available Actions, then click right-arrow to copy it to Current Actions.
Again use up down arrows to position the spacer as you like and click Apply to see it.

The Defaults button undoes these changes.
Once done, Save View Profile to "File Management" or any other since all profiles will show this change.


How To fix a hard drive install of .92 or .93-minime if after first boot it hangs

by oldfolio (passed on by Myrddin)

TAKE NOTE This does NOT apply to a .93a or above installation

If your first boot up after hard drive installation hangs up or presents you with a blank screen ?
Then boot up the Live CD and log in as root (password = root).

  1. Open a terminal and type in kwrite /usr/sbin/livecd-install (or you can use the text editor you prefer)
  2. A window will pop up asking how you want to start Kwrite. Go ahead and accept the default.
  3. Kwrite will open. On the top navigation bar, click on the search icon, a magnifying glass. (ie. the one on the left = Find)
  4. In the search field (ie. Text to Find) type in mkinitrd and then press Enter.
  5. A line of text with the word mkinitrd highlighted will appear. To the right of it you will see -- force-usb
  6. Remove the phrase -- force-usb including the space just prior to and at the end of the phrase.
  7. Click the "Save" icon on the navigation bar. (it looks like a plain floppy disc)
  8. From the pull down menu "File" you select "Close".
  9. Again use the pull down menu "File" to select "Exit".
  10. In the terminal, type exit and press Enter. The terminal will close.
  11. Now re-Install PCLinux OS .92 or .93-minime and reboot. (you can format partitions again for this re-install)

You will soon be seeing the login screen and can be using your new installation of PCLinuxOS in moments.


Installing Art of Illusion - Free, java based 3D modelling and rendering application

by Jim_H

The Main website is here: http://www.artofillusion.org/index∞
The Download page with info on what other files are needed
can be found here: http://www.artofillusion.org/downloads∞

Download the main Art of Illusion (AOI) file and the Linux frontend file from the website. The Linux frontend file refused to download due to "server errors", so I used the Firefox extension "Download Them All". This uses 5 connections to the server in order to speed up file downloads and it has a long timeout period. It took over 40 minutes to get the 1.3Mb file.

I expanded the main AOI file in my Home directory by right clicking and selecting Extract/Extract here. I did the same with the Linux frontend zip file. Those four files were then moved into the ArtOfIllusion231 directory (ie. folder). I went into this directory, right clicked, and selected Actions/Open Terminal Here.
In the terminal window, I then typed: ./aoi.sh
The program ran, but displayed an error about having no permissions for a script to run in a directory: /tmp/SPManager
So, I opened a file manager as root (KMenu, Applications/File tools/File Manager - Super User Mode). I navigated to the SPManager directory, right clicked on it and selected Properties. In the permissions tab, I changed the drop down for "Others" from "Can View Content" to "Can View & Modify Content".

I then went back to the desktop, right clicked and selected Create New/Link to Aplpication. In the new window and under the General tab, I called it "Art of Illusion". Under the application tab and next to the "Command" text box, I clicked the "Browse" button. I navigated to the AOI directory under Home and selected the aoi.sh file. Click Open and then the path was added to the Command text box. I ok'ed the dialog box and clicked the new desktop link. The program opened and ran perfectly.


Kaddressbook importing previous distribution lists

By: Andrew Olsen

Just installed PCLINUXOS 093a "Big Daddy" onto my wife's machine, which used to run Mepis/Ubuntu.
PCLOS is very fast, and prettier too. But I ran into a hitch when converting data from old profile to new.
Both OSes run KDE3.53, but they handle Kaddressbook differently. Under PCLOS the Distribution Lists
are integrated into the standard VCF file under /home/user/.kde/share/apps/kaddressbook
There used to be a file called distlists. Follows instructions for migrating data manually, until somebody
cleverer than me makes a utility to do this.

1. Open up old distlists file in Kate. Print it too, if it is large. Leave Kate open with this file.
2. Go into Kaddressbook (or Contacts in Kontact). Settings -> Show Extension Bar -> Distribution List Editor.
3. For each old list you had, create a new list with the New List button. DON'T populate it. Keep creating new lists.
4. Now make sure you close Kontact, etc. Right-click-quit by the clock is usual.
5. Open another Kate window, and open the current std.vcf file in /home/user/.kde/share/apps/kaddressbook
6. This is the tricky part. In the std.vcf file use CTRL F to bring up Find, then find the point where the first of your distribution lists are. It looks like this. (at least it did on our pc)

BEGIN:VCARD
FN:relatives
N:relatives;;;;
UID:n3QJHLSPMY
VERSION:3.0
X-KADDRESSBOOK-DistributionList:;
END:VCARD

You can see here that the list was called relatives You can choose your friends... :-)

7. Now go into the other Kate window with distlists open. You should have something like this.

[Distribution Lists]
Relatives=wm0rh3b40B,,FxWNYeS9p7,,R9TWpcOMdf,,oNgkqClsNf,,9rJRCZrI5U,,8fyYfrHLE9,,9gXY0dgnTy,,vyi0bCzBWY,,Mo13LoISG3,


8. Use click and drag to select everything after the = except if a new list starts. Press CTRL C (to copy to Klipboard memory)

9. Go to Kate window with std.vcf open, at this point

 X-KADDRESSBOOK-DistributionList:;

you want to follow the semicolon with the text you just copied. Press CTRL V. Don't go away yet, you're not done!

10. In the same Kate window, reselect what you just pasted in, using click and drag to select.

11. Now press CTRL R. The replace window comes up. Very important: in Text to Find you type the two commas ,,
in replacement text it must be \,; (backslash comma semicolon). MAKE SURE the ONLY cross for selection of options is in the SELECTED TEXT box. Then click Replace.

12. Click Stop ( you don't want to do any more ).

13. Now the unique codes are in place for the distribution list. BUT you must follow the last code for each list like such.

X-KADDRESSBOOK-DistributionList:;wm0rh3b40B\,;FxWNYeS9p7\,;R9TWpcOMdf\,;oNgkqClsNf\,;9rJRCZrI5U\,;8fyYfrHLE9\,;9gXY0dgnTy\,;vyi0bCzBWY\,;Mo13LoISG3\,

Note the ending backslash then comma.

14. Repeat from step (6) onwards until all lists are done.

15. Close the Kate window with std.vcf and then reopen Kaddressbook / Kontact to check it. Hopefully all went well.

Of course this all would have been academic had the KDE developer in charge of the Kaddressbook project made the distribution lists export with the VCF format. Maybe now that will happen in the future.


How To NFS and firewall

by timot

First of all, I'm not an expert on this subject, I just noticed that if I want to use NFS and firewall together, it needs some tuning.
The article here http://www.troubleshooters.com/lpm/200305/200305.htm#_A_Somewhat_Practical_Server_Firewall∞ guided me to set things right.

To set NFS shares, read this topic: http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php?topic=6990.0∞

Details on how to configure NFS and firewall settings are explained in the article I mentioned above, so I will just explain the steps on how to do it in PCLOS.

First we have to edit /etc/rc.d/init.d/nfs file. Open it (as root), and find a line that contains these words MOUNTD_PORT. Insert a new line just above it like this MOUNTD_PORT=33333 and save. The port 33333 is only one alternative. It can be any number between 32000 and 34000, but be sure it is not already used. It shoud not be listed as output of rpcinfo -p command nor shoud it be listed in the file /etc/services

echo -n $"Starting NFS daemon: "
daemon rpc.nfsd $RPCNFSDCOUNT
echo
MOUNTD_PORT=33333 #This is the line that should be added
[ -n "$MOUNTD_PORT" ] \
&& RPCMOUNTDOPTS="$RPCMOUNTDOPTS -p $MOUNTD_PORT"


Now (as root) Restart NFS server: /etc/rc.d/init.d/nfs restart

Use the rpcinfo -p command to verify that all instances of mountd are pegged at your chosen number.

Next comes firewall setup. Open the "PCLinuxOS Control Center" and select "Security"
Here you Click the "Set up a Personal Firewall to protect your computer and network"
Click on the Advanced Button and type this in the "other ports" field:

111/udp 2049/udp 33333/udp 111/tcp 2049/tcp 33333/tcp

It's possible that you have to allow ping request also. Save settings and we are done!

NFS should get it's way through firewall now. This worked for me. 0.93a-Junior is installed on my Laptop, and 0.92 is on my Desktop computer.


Next subject will be added here




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