First Steps

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The first steps after installing an operating system from scratch can sometimes be a bit painful. Here are some hints how to get your system up and running:

Contents

Main Menu

This is the Main Menu of STONE which you can call up with the command:

root@localhost:~# stone

It is also automatically started at the end of the installation.

+---
|  Main Menu - Select the Subsystem you want to configure
+---

    1. Various general system configurations
    2. Kernel Drivers and Hardware Configuration
    3. Network Configuration
    4. User and Group management
    5. General Purpose Mouse (GPM) Daemon
    6. SSH Daemon configuration
    7. X11/X.Org (Graphical User Interface)
    8. DeviceMapper configuration (encrypted filesystems)
    9. GRUB Boot Loader Setup
   10. PostgreSQL Database Setup
   11. Runlevel Configuration (Services)
   12. System Init Configuration
   13. Package Management (Install, Update and Remove)

>

Adding a user account

The first thing you probably want and should do is adding a user account (unless you have reason not to do so). Select the option 4. User and Group management and this menu will appear:

+---
|  User and Group management
+---

    -  User Managemeint
    1. root (root)
    2. emergency root (toor)
    3. bin (bin)
    4. daemon (daemon)
    5. nobody (nobody)
    6. postfix (postfix)
    7. Apache Webserver (http)
    8. D-Bus Message Daemon User (messagebus)
    9. HAL-Daemon (haldaemon)
   10. mysql (mysql)
   11. openldap (openldap)
   12. sshd privsep (sshd)
   13. postgresql (postgres)
   14. Usenet News (news)
   15. Privoxy (privoxy)
   16. tor (tor)
   17. bitlbee (bitlbee)
   18. Add new user

>>

Here the >> is indicating that there are more pages to show. Press Enter to show them:

    -  Group Management
   20. root
   21. bin
   22. daemon
   23. shadow
   24. games
   25. tty
   26. disk
   27. kmem
   28. mail
   29. video
   30. cdrom
   31. users
   32. nogroup
   33. nobody
   34. wheel
   35. crontab
   36. postdrop

>>
   37. postfix
   38. sound
   39. http
   40. messagebus
   41. haldaemon
   42. mysql
   43. openldap
   44. sshd
   45. plugdev
   46. postgres
   47. news
   48. privoxy
   49. tor
   50. bitlbee
   51. Add new group

>

Using option 18 you can now add a new user. You will be asked a few questions about the user and then he will be created. Note that the current implementation does not ask you for a password. You can however set it by selecting the user later and select "Set a new password". Note also that for a user to be able to use the su command he must be in the wheel group.

To achieve this, select the group wheel from the menu above (option 34 in this example):

+---
|  Manage group wheel
+---

    1. Group name: wheel
    2. Group ID: 10
    3. Members:

>

You see that the group has no members so far. That's fine, since the user root does not need to be part of the wheel group. Now add a user to the group by selecting option 3:

+---
|  Manage Members of group wheel
+---

    1. [ ] root
    2. [ ] toor
    3. [ ] bin
    4. [ ] daemon
    5. [ ] nobody
    6. [ ] postfix
    7. [ ] http
    8. [ ] messagebus
    9. [ ] haldaemon
   10. [ ] mysql
   11. [ ] openldap
   12. [ ] sshd
   13. [ ] postgres
   14. [ ] news
   15. [ ] blindcoder
   16. [ ] privoxy
   17. [ ] tor
   18. [ ] bitlbee

>

As you can see, my system already has a few more users than the default installation delivers. To add a user to the group, simply select the number in front of it:

+---
|  Manage Members of group wheel
+---

    1. [ ] root
    2. [ ] toor
    3. [ ] bin
    4. [ ] daemon
    5. [ ] nobody
    6. [ ] postfix
    7. [ ] http
    8. [ ] messagebus
    9. [ ] haldaemon
   10. [ ] mysql
   11. [ ] openldap
   12. [ ] sshd
   13. [ ] postgres
   14. [ ] news
   15. [X] blindcoder
   16. [ ] privoxy
   17. [ ] tor
   18. [ ] bitlbee

>

You can add as few or many users as you like. Press Enter to return to the previous menu:

+---
|  Manage group wheel
+---

    1. Group name: wheel
    2. Group ID: 10
    3. Members: blindcoder

>

As you can see, the user was added to the group successfully.

configuring the X server

Select option 7. X11/X.Org (Graphical User Interface) if you want to have a graphical user interface on your system:

+---
|  X.Org Configuration Menu
+---

    1. Run xorgcfg (recommended, new interactive config)
    2. Run X -configure (automated config)
    3. Run xorgconfig (old textual config)

    4. [ ] Use KDE v3.5 display manager in runlevel 5
    5. [ ] Use X11 dislay manager in runlevel 5

    6. [ ] Use KDE v3.5 as default Windowmanager
    7. [ ] Use TWM as default Windowmanager

    8. Edit/View /etc/X11/xorg.conf
    9. Edit/View /etc/profile.d/windowmanager

>

To get a first X configuration, select option 2. Run X -configure (automated config). For most systems, this shoudl be fine. (Note that this will not set up 3D hardware acceleration for NVidia or ATI cards! See the respective pages on getting that to work: ATI NVIDIA)

Next, select your display and window manager and you can start your graphical session with the command init 5.

Runlevel Configuration

Speaking of init. To control which services are started at boot, select option 11. Runlevel Configuration (Services)

+---
|  Runlevel Editor - Select an item to change the priority or runlevels
+---

    1. 01 12345  system      System bootup and shutdown
    2. 02 12345  microcode   Upload microcode-updates on Intel (no AMD) C
    3. 11 -2345  sysklogd    linux system logging utilities
    4. 13 -----  hotplug     User space part of the Linux Kernel hotplug
    5. 14 -----  irda        infrared wireless communication
    6. 15 --345  network     setting up network devices
    7. 16 --345  portmap     The RPC portmapper daemon
    8. 17 -----  netfs       mounting and unmounting of network fs
    9. 19 -----  nscd        Name Switch Cache Daemon
   10. 22 --345  spamd       The spamassassin mail filter server
   11. 25 -2345  cron        daemon to execute scheduled commands
   12. 25 -----  dhcp        ISC DHCP Server
   13. 25 -----  gpm         mouse server for virtual consoles
   14. 25 --345  inetd       internet "super-server"
   15. 25 --345  knfsd       Kernel NFS Daemon
   16. 25 -----  ntpd        The Network Time Protocol Daemon
   17. 25 --345  postfix     the Postfix server
   18. 25 --345  sshd        secure shell daemon
   19. 30 -----  cups        The CUPS print server

>>

Here you get an overview over your installed service programs. Each line is diviced into several parts: First, the priority of the service: lower number means that it is started earlier in the bootprocess. Second, the init levels during which the service is started: there are five of them and they are used like this:

Level 1: Singleuser mode. This mode is for resolving potential problems with the system only. Level 2: Multiuser mode without network. This is the normal mode of operation for a system without a network connection. Level 3: Multiuser mode with network. This is the normal mode of operation for a system connected to a network (the internet, for example). Level 4: undefined. Level 5: Multiuser mode with network and X. This is the normal mode of operation for a system connected to a network and a Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse input device.

The third column is a short name of the program to start. And the rest is a long description of the service.

Here you can select any option and then select which runlevels to start them in. Remember that the only runlevel you are bound to is Level 1. The rest can be freely changed to your liking.


The default init level

To select the default init level, select the option 12. System Init Configuration.

You will be reminded of the default use of the init levels in this menu:

+---
|  Select the default runlevel (Current: 2)
+---

    1. 1 ... Single user mode
    2. 2 ... Multi user mode without network
    3. 3 ... Multi user mode (normal operation)
    4. 4 ... Custom use
    5. 5 ... Multi user mode with graphical login manager

>

Have fun

Now you're ready to work/play with your shiny new installed system :) All that's left is to have a lot of fun!

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