Red Hat Linux Networking , System Administration (P9) ppsx

Configuring the X Server with the X Configuration Tool You have basically two ways to configure the X server on your Fedora Core or Enterprise Linux system.. First, you can use the X Con

This chapter introduces you to the X Window system that is used to provide agraphical user interface (GUI) to the operating system If you have used MSWindows or Apple Macs, then you are already familiar with using a GUI.Fedora Core and Enterprise Linux also give you similar features

Configuring the X Server with the X Configuration Tool

You have basically two ways to configure the X server on your Fedora Core or

Enterprise Linux system First, you can use the X Configuration tool, which is a

graphical tool that gives you the ability to change some of the most significantsettings, such as display, monitor, and video card settings The X Configura-tion tool is a graphical front end to the X configuration file, xorg.conf, which

is located in the /etc/X11 directory Any changes that you make using thegraphical utility are written to the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file Second, youcan edit the X Configuration file directly by using a text-editing application Inthis section, I show you how to make X server configuration changes by usingthe X Configuration tool, beginning with changing the display resolution

Managing the

X Window System

IN THIS CHAPTER

■■ Configuring the X Server with the X Configuration Tool

■■ Manually Configuring the X Server

C H A P T E R

9

Changing the Display Resolution

The X Configuration tool makes it easy for you to change your display tion To change your display resolution, do the following:

resolu-1 On Enterprise Linux 4 choose Applications ➪ System Settings ➪ play to open the Display Settings dialog box, shown in Figure 9-1 OnFedora Core 4 choose Desktop ➪ System Settings ➪ Display to open theDisplay Settings dialog box

Dis-N OT E If you are not logged in as root, you will be prompted to enter the root password.

2 Select your desired resolution from the drop-down Resolution list

3 Click OK to accept your choice, and close the dialog box

N OT E Any time you make changes to the X server configuration, you must restart the X server for the changes to take effect When using the X Configuration tool, you see a window reminding you to restart the X server.

Figure 9-1 Change your screen resolution here.

Changing the Display Color Depth

The system display color depth setting determines the number of colors thatare shown on the display A higher color depth displays more colors on themonitor To change the system color depth, do the following:

1 On Enterprise Linux 4 choose Applications ➪ System Settings ➪ play to open the Display Settings dialog box On Fedora Core 4 chooseDesktop ➪ System Settings ➪ Display to open the Display Settings dia-log box (Refer to Figure 9-1.)

Dis-2 Select your desired color depth from the Color Depth drop-down list

3 Click OK to accept your choice and close the dialog box

Changing Monitor Type Settings

The Fedora Core or Enterprise installer can usually detect the type of monitorthat is connected to your system and set the configuration accordingly Some-times, however, the installer might not properly configure your monitor,requiring you to change the monitor settings You also want to change yourmonitor settings if you get a different monitor with different parameters thanyour previous monitor To change your monitor settings, do the following:

1 On Enterprise Linux 4 choose Applications ➪ System Settings ➪ play to open the Display Settings dialog box On Fedora Core 4 chooseDesktop ➪ System Settings ➪ Display to open the Display Settings dia-log box (Refer to Figure 9-1.)

Dis-2 Click the Hardware tab (See Figure 9-Dis-2.)

3 Click the top Configure button (to the right of the monitor type listing)

to open the Monitor dialog box, shown in Figure 9-3

4 Find the manufacturer of your monitor in the list, and then click thearrow to the left of the manufacturer’s name to see a list of models

5 Click the model number that matches your monitor

6 Click OK twice to accept your choice, and exit the Display Settings log box

dia-T I P If you can’t find your monitor manufacturer or model number on the monitor list, choose one of the generic monitors from the top of the monitor list.

Figure 9-2 Access monitor and video card settings here.

Figure 9-3 Choose your monitor type.

Changing Your Video Card Type

The Fedora Core or Enterprise installer can usually detect the type of videocard that is connected to your system and set the configuration accordingly.However, if the installer doesn’t properly detect your video card, you mightneed to change the video card type You would also want to change your videocard type if you install a different video card To change your video card type,

do the following:

1 On Enterprise Linux 4 choose Applications ➪ System Settings ➪ play to open the Display Settings dialog box On Fedora Core 4 chooseDesktop ➪ System Settings ➪ Display to open the Display Settings dia-log box (Refer to Figure 9-1.)

Dis-2 Click the Hardware tab (Refer to Figure 9-Dis-2.)

3 Click the bottom Configure button (to the right of the video card typelisting) to display the Video Card dialog box, shown in Figure 9-4

4 Find the manufacturer of your video card in the list, and click theappropriate model

Configuring Dual Monitors

In Fedora Core or Enterprise Linux, you can use two video cards and monitors

on your system if you desire To configure a second video card and monitor, dothe following:

1 On Enterprise Linux 4 choose Applications ➪ System Settings ➪ play to open the Display Settings dialog box On Fedora Core 4 chooseDesktop ➪ System Settings ➪ Display to open the Display Settings dia-log box (Refer to Figure 9-1.)

Dis-2 Click the Dual Head tab, shown in Figure 9-5, in the Display Settingsdialog box

Figure 9-4 Configure your video card.

Figure 9-5 Use the Dual Head tab to configure dual monitors.

3 Select the Use Dual Head check box

4 Click the Configure button (next to the Second Monitor Type), chooseyour monitor from the list, and then click OK

5 Enter the appropriate information for the video card type, display lution, and color depth

reso-6 Select whether you want individual desktops on each display or a gle desktop spanning both displays by selecting the appropriate choice

sin-7 Click OK twice to exit the configuration tool

Manually Configuring Your X Server

The Fedora Core or Enterprise installer program usually does a good job ofdetecting the system mouse, keyboard, video card, and monitor When you log

in to your system, the settings are generally what they should be for a tioning X server You may never need to configure your X server manually, but

func-if you do, it would be good to know how In this section you look at the Xserver configuration file /etc/X11/xorg.conf

The X Server Configuration File

The X server configuration file, like most configuration files in Fedora Core orEnterprise Linux is a plain-text file Listing 9-1 is a typical X server configuration

file that was created during system installation A description of the section ofthe file follows the file.

# XFree86 4 configuration created by redhat-config-xfree86 Section “ServerLayout”

Identifier “Default Layout”

Screen 0 “Screen0” 0 0 InputDevice “Mouse0” “CorePointer”

InputDevice “Keyboard0” “CoreKeyboard”

InputDevice “DevInputMice” “AlwaysCore”

EndSection

Section “Files”

# RgbPath is the location of the RGB database

#Note, this is the name of the

# file minus the extension (like “.txt” or “.db”)

#There is normally no need to change the default.

# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are

# concatenated together)

# By default, Red Hat 6.0 and later now use a font

#server independent of the X server to render fonts.

# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled

#(eg, with xset(1))

# Option “Xleds” “1 2 3”

# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment

# kbDisable.

# Option “XkbDisable”

# To customise the XKB settings to suit your

# keyboard, modify the lines below (which are the

# defaults) For example, for a non-U.S.

# keyboard, you will probably want to use:

Listing 9-1 The X server configuration file /etc/X11/xorg.conf (continued)

# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:

# Option “XkbLayout” “de”

# or:

# Option “XkbLayout” “de”

# Option “XkbVariant” “nodeadkeys”

#

# If you’d like to switch the positions of your

# capslock and control keys, use:

# Option “XkbOptions” “ctrl:swapcaps”

# Or if you just want both to be control, use:

# Option “XkbOptions” “ctrl:nocaps”

Option “Protocol” “IMPS/2”

Option “Device” “/dev/input/mice”

Identifier “DevInputMice”

Driver “mouse”

Option “Protocol” “IMPS/2”

Option “Device” “/dev/input/mice”

VendorName “Monitor Vendor”

ModelName “LCD Panel 1280x1024”

DisplaySize 376 301 HorizSync 31.5 - 67.0 VertRefresh 50.0 - 75.0 Option “dpms”

EndSection

Section “Device”

Identifier “Videocard0”

Driver “nv”

VendorName “Videocard vendor”

BoardName “NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX (generic)”

VideoRam 32768 EndSection

Depth 24 Modes “1024x768” “800x600” “640x480”

EndSubSection EndSection

Section “DRI”

Group 0 Mode 0666 EndSection

Listing 9-1 (continued)

This file contains configuration information for the fonts used by the tem, the keyboard type and layout, and the video card, monitor, and displays.There is a section in the file for each of these items The sections and their usesare shown in Table 9-1

sys-Table 9-1 Sections Names and Their Uses

SECTION NAME USED FOR

Files File pathnames for fonts Server Flags Server Flags

Module Dynamic module loading

(continued)

Table 9-1 (continued)

SECTION NAME USED FOR

Input Device Keyboards, mice, and other input devices Device Video card information

VideoAdapter Not used Monitor Monitor description Modes Video mode descriptions Screen Display configuration Server Layout General description of the X server DRI Direct Rendering Infrastructure information

Listing 9-2 is the section listing for the screen section Each of the sectionsfollows a similar pattern beginning with the word Section, followed by thename of the device, then information or configuration details about the device,and finally ending with EndSection

Depth 24 Modes “1024x768” “800x600” “640x480”

EndSubSection EndSection

Listing 9-2 A typical section of the xorg.conf file.

Making changes to the xorg.conf file is easy For example, to change thedefault color depth you just need to change the DefaultDepth number 24shown in Listing 9-2 to 8, 16, or 32

The modes line specifies the screen size in pixels that the X server will try touse in order beginning with the first one If you wanted to add another screenresolution, you would enter the information into the Modes line of the displaysubsection For example if you wanted to add 1200 ×1024, you would enter1200x1024to the beginning of the Modes line

N OT E You can toggle through the modes by holding Crtl+Alt and pressing plus or minus

Now you know what to do to change the screen section of the/etc/X11/xorg.conffile Changing the information in the other sections issimilar

N OT E Refer to the xorg.conf man pages for a complete description of the

xorg.conffile The xorg.conf man pages are included with every installation

of Fedora Core or Enterprise Linux and are an excellent resource that provides great detail about the xorg.conf file To access the xorg.conf man page type

man xorg.confat a terminal prompt.

In this chapter you learn how to successfully configure and manage your tem printers Included with Fedora Core and Red Hat Enterprise Linux is thePrinter Configuration tool to help you configure your printing system ThePrinter Configuration tool is an easy-to-use, graphical tool that will help you

sys-to set up whatever type of printer you choose

After your printer is configured, you might want to gather informationabout jobs that you sent to the printer You will also want to be able to changeprint job priority, see the contents of your print queue, and maybe even deletesome of your scheduled print jobs You will be able to do all these functionsafter going through this chapter

Configuring Printers with the Printer Configuration Tool

Because the Printing Configuration tool is a graphical-based utility, you canstart it by choosing it from the Applications menu To start the Printer Config-uration tool, follow these steps:

1 In Enterprise Linux choose Applications ➪ System Settings ➪ Printing

In Fedora Core 4 choose Desktop ➪ System Settings ➪ Printing

Configuring

Printers

IN THIS CHAPTER

■■ Configuring Printers with the Printer Configuration Tool

■■ Editing the Printer Configurations

■■ Managing Print Jobs

C H A P T E R

10

N OT E If you aren’t logged in as the root user, the system prompts you for the root password before you can continue.

2 Type the root password, if necessary The Printer Configuration toolopens, as shown in Figure 10-1

3 Click the New button in the main Printer Configuration tool window.The window shown in Figure 10-2 appears

4 Click the Forward button The Queue Name screen appears, as shown

in Figure 10-3

5 Enter a unique name for the printer in the Name text field Choose adescriptive name for your printer, and follow these parameters:

■■ The printer name must begin with a letter and can’t contain spaces

■■ You can use any valid characters for the remainder of the printername The valid characters are lowercase and uppercase letters athrough z, numeral 0 through 9, – (dash), and _ (underscore)

■■ If you want, you can enter a description for the printer in the ShortDescription field

Figure 10-1 The Printer Configuration tool.

Figure 10-2 The Add a new print queue window.

6 When you finish entering a name for your printer, click Forward TheQueue Type window appears, as shown in Figure 10-4, and the PrinterConfiguration tool attempts to detect your printer.

The following sections detail the various possibilities available for ing your print queue and selecting your print driver

configur-Configuring the Print Queue

You can configure six types of print queues A print queue is a directory that

holds the print jobs for the type of printer that you configure to work with thequeue The print queue is associated with the type of printer that you want toconfigure At the top of the Queue Type window is a drop-down list contain-ing the six types of print queues that you can configure The queue type is set

to Locally-Connected by default If the printer is connected locally — that is, to

either the parallel or the USB port on the PC, and is also recognized — it isshown in the list

Figure 10-3 The Queue name window.

Figure 10-4 The Queue type window.

The following list shows the six types of queue that you can install; tochoose one, select the type that you desire from the drop-down list.

■■ Locally-Connected— A printer attached directly to your computerthrough a parallel or USB port If your printer isn’t listed, click the Cus-tom Device button, type the name of your printer, and then click OK toadd it to the printer device list A printer attached to the parallel port isusually referred to as /dev/lp0 A printer attached to the USB port isusually referred to as /dev/usblp0

N OT E When you set up a locally connected printer it is set up as a local CUPS printer that only the localhost can use If you want to use the printer on your local network you need to modify the /etc/cups/cupsd.conf file to allow other systems on your network to access the printer.

■■ Networked CUPS (IPP)— A printer that can be accessed over aTCP/IP network The Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) is based

on the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP), which was created in an attempt

to set some standards for printing over the Internet If you choose thistype of queue, you need to enter the server name and the path to theserver Figure 10-5 shows the Networked CUPS queue dialog box

■■ Networked UNIX (LPD)— A printer attached to a different UNIX tem that can be accessed over a TCP/IP network (for example, a printerattached to another Red Hat Linux system on your network) If youchoose this type of queue, you need to enter the server name and path

sys-to the server, as shown in Figure 10-6

Figure 10-5 The Networked CUPS (IPP) screen is

where you enter the server name and path.