Wiley 978-0-470-58988-5 Datasheet

PartIOptimizing Your SystemIn This PartChapter 1: Hacking the InstallationChapter 2: Customizing the User EnvironmentChapter 3: Configuring DevicesChap

10 Part I Optimizing Your SystemFigure 1-2: Hardy Heron’s Live Desktop and install menuIf something goes wrong during the installation, you only hav

Chapter 1 Hacking the Installation 11FAST RECOVERYSmall Linux) are designed for speed. Each is built for a fast start time whenbooting from a single

12 Part I Optimizing Your SystemOEM InstallationThe OEM mode installs the graphical desktop and creates the user accountoem. This account can be use

Chapter 1 Hacking the Installation 132. Build the thin client environment by running sudo ltsp-build-client—arch i386(or—arch powerpc). This command

14 Part I Optimizing Your SystemTIP The Live Desktop is also relatively slow for installations. For a significantlyfaster installation time, consider

Chapter 1 Hacking the Installation 15RAM, or a slow CPU. Minimal systems are also desirable for mission-criticaland Internet-accessible servers, whe

16 Part I Optimizing Your SystemInstalling over the NetworkAlthough installing from a CD-ROM can be convenient, it does not scalewell when you need

Chapter 1 Hacking the Installation 17To use the mini-images, simply copy the image onto a device. For example,to use an external hard drive for inst

18 Part I Optimizing Your SystemUsing a USB DriveThe ubiquitous USB flash memory drives (also called thumb drives)havereplaced floppy disks. They are

Chapter 1 Hacking the Installation 19example, to make an ext2-formatted USB floppy drive on my 1-GB USB thumbdrive (/dev/sdb), I can use:$ sudo mkfs

20 Part I Optimizing Your SystemTIP Many thumb drives have a light to indicate that the drive is being accessed.Even if the drive is not mounted, do

Chapter 1 Hacking the Installation 21Booting from a USB DriveBeyond file sharing, USB drives can be used as bootable devices. If yourcomputer support

22 Part I Optimizing Your Systemconverting a large USB floppy device into a small USB floppy device cannotbe done directly.1. Usedd to create a file th

Chapter 1 Hacking the Installation 232. Initialize the USB device. This is needed because previous configurationscould leave residues that will inter

24 Part I Optimizing Your SystemConfiguring the thumb drive for use as a network installation systemrequires some simple steps:1. Plug in the USB dri

Chapter 1 Hacking the Installation 25drive identifier, but is limited to supporting FAT12 or FAT16 drives. SinceUSB devices are expected to be portab

26 Part I Optimizing Your SystemInstalling a Full File System from USBThe Holy Grail for USB hacking is the ability to boot a standalone operatingsy

Chapter 1 Hacking the Installation 27NOTE FAT16 does not support symbolic links. This copy command replaces linkswith the linked file contents.6. Set

28 Part I Optimizing Your SystemHard drives are defined by a combination of heads, sectors, and cylinders.Although heads and cylinders used to match

Chapter 1 Hacking the Installation 29WARNINGThe partition must be marked as ‘‘active’’; otherwise, you will not beable to boot from it.4. Format the

CHAPTER1Hacking the InstallationWhat’s In This Chapter?Which version of Ubuntu should you install?Running Ubuntu from a USB drive, SD Card, and other

30 Part I Optimizing Your SystemWARNINGIf you are configuring a file image instead of the actual drive,then this cat command will truncate your file. I

Chapter 1 Hacking the Installation 31‘‘PCI: Cannot allocate resource region...’’—This indicates a BIOS prob-lem. You may be able to boot using addit

32 Part I Optimizing Your SystemIn contrast, any executable identified as statically linked (not dynamicallylinked) is good to go! There are no addit

Chapter 1 Hacking the Installation 33example, you can check e-mail, surf the web, do some basic word processing,and even occasionally develop softwa

34 Part I Optimizing Your System1. Download Intrepid’s usb-creator package fromhttps://launchpad.net/ubuntu/intrepid/i386/usb-creatorThe file will ha

Chapter 1 Hacking the Installation 35Installing with Only a NetbookThere are two other options that work really well for installing Ubuntu ona netbo

36 Part I Optimizing Your SystemHIDDEN DISK PARTITIONS (continued)While removing the EFI partition (fdisk partition type 0xEF) will not harmanything

Chapter 1 Hacking the Installation 37Determining the VersionUpgrading gets complicated when Ubuntu users refer to the operating systemby name, while

38 Part I Optimizing Your Systemof Dapper or Edgy. Customizations lead to upgrade complications. Forexample:Custom system files—Customizing files, suc

Chapter 1 Hacking the Installation 39Configuring GRUBWhen you first boot your Ubuntu system, there is a small text screen thatsaysGRUB Loading, and yo

4PartI Optimizing Your SystemWARNINGThis chapter deals with drive partitioning, formatting, and installingoperating systems. If you play with a syste

40 Part I Optimizing Your SystemThe final section of the file comes after the line that says End DefaultOptions. Do not modify anything below this lin

Chapter 1 Hacking the Installation 41SummaryThe initial Ubuntu configuration determines the ease and flexibility availablewhen modifying the operating

Chapter 1 Hacking the Installation 5Kubuntu—A variation of Ubuntu with the K Desktop Environment(KDE)Xubuntu—A variation of Ubuntu with the Xfce Des

6PartI Optimizing Your SystemFigure 1-1: The login menu on Karmic Koala (9.10) after adding KDE to UbuntuTable 1-1: Ubuntu ReleasesNAME VERSION END O

Chapter 1 Hacking the Installation 7updates for the desktop, and five years for servers. The LTS is an excel-lent option for systems that cannot affo

8PartI Optimizing Your System(If they called the Desktop CD-ROM Install, people might not realize it alsocontains a Live Desktop.) Better names might

Chapter 1 Hacking the Installation 9Some users still have a need for a dual-boot system. Many games, forexample, are more responsive under the nativ