What to do after the install... part 3... maybe I can use it as a nightlight...

Well... you get what you pay for...
More of one fans personal log. Remember, go to The Forums and Search for answers to your questions.
Today we do the Samba and other foolish things.

11) I bring down some files using myDSL:
dsl-dpkg.dsl
gnu-util.dsl
samba.dsl
and some desktop themes

I put the three .dsl files in the /opt directory so they load at boot time. The themes are automatically put in /home/dsl/.fluxbox/styles so I don't have to worry about them since my /home file is on the hard drive. Right click the desktop and select DESKTOP... STYLES to see and select different desktop themes.

12) Setting up Samba. I have a home network with a mix of machines, some WindowsXP (home and pro), some with Linux. I need to be able to share files. I don't care too much about security on the home network. When you install samba.dsl it creates a default entry in /opt/samba called smb.conf. Here's how I modified mine (I've taken the comments out to save space).

One word about Samba. Make sure you really need it before you go through the trouble of installing it. If all you want to do is read and write files to a windows box then download samba.dsl and install it. Don't worry about the smb.conf and starting nmbd and smbd and all that stuff. Fire up your window boxes and then startup the new LinNeighborhood icon on the desktop. With any luck a workgroup will show up. Right click and scan as user. Then right click each box under that and scan as user. I use the default, dsl, user and it seems to work fine. Now you can right click on any share under any box and have it mounted. It mounts to your home directory. Try reading a writing to that mount. This may be all you need. If you need to share files you might be able to push or pull them from your dsl box. If you need to work from your windows box you could try running the BetaFTP server on the dsl box and getting to it from your windows box. I guess what I just trying to point out is there are multiple ways to solve problems.

I tend to screw this up each time that I do it. I wrote it down once on the forums in this Thread. Security varies widely from machine to machine. Sometimes what works on one windows box goes nowhere on another.

It's pretty easy to get Samba to let a Linux machine share with another Linux machine, or a Linux machine read and write to a Windows XP machine. The trouble I have is when I want the WindowsXP machine to be able to read and write to a Linux box.

/opt/samba/smb.conf

[global]
workgroup = CHAINSAW
server string = Samba Server DSL120
hosts allow = 192.168.1.
log file = /home/dsl/log/log.%m
log level = 2
max log size = 50
security = user
dns proxy = no
load printers = yes

[printers]
comment = All Printers
path = /usr/spool/samba
browseable = no
# Set public = yes to allow user 'guest account' to print
guest ok = no
writable = no
printable = yes

[homes]
comment = Home Directories
browseable = yes
writable = yes
valid users = %S

# This one is useful for people to share files
[tmp]
comment = Temporary file space
path = /tmp
read only = no
public = yes

#storage area
[hda3]
comment = general save area
path = /mnt/hda3
public = yes
read only = no
writable = yes
browseable = yes

#MyDocuments
[MyDocs]
comment = general save area
path = /mnt/hda3/MyDocuments
public = yes
read only = no
writable = yes
browseable = yes

#end of smb.conf

Some of the stuff I just left in there from the default. I don't share any printers between machines but what the heck. I've tested this with another linux box and a windowsXP home edition box. Seems to work just fine. To start samba open a terminal window and enter:

sudo nmbd -D -s /opt/samba/smb.conf
sudo smbd -D -s /opt/samba/smb.conf

then do a

PS -A command, you should see nmbd and smbd in the list

from a shell issue sudo smbpasswd -a dsl

Hit carriage return both times when it asks for a password

Now from the XP machine when it ask for a user when you connect type dsl Don't enter any password.

remember to save your /opt/samba directory

In my smb.conf I'm putting the log files to the home directory. To do this I had to create a log directory under /home/dsl and then change the permissions so anyone could write to it. It can all be done in emelfm.

Dont forget to add your smb.conf to the filetool.lst so it will not be overlaid when you reboot.

Double click the LinNeighborhood icon on your desktop and you should see your Workgroup. With any luck when you expand that you'll see the machines in your workgroup. If you right click on those and select scan as user, take the default info that appears and click OK. You should see the shares on that machine. To actually move the data around you have to mount the share.

13) All those doc apps on the right side of the screen are very handy. After a while I didn't want to use the CPU monitor or the Memory monitor and I thought they might be taking up CPU and memory so I decided to remove them. From what I can tell when the dsl version of X starts up it eventually runs .xinitrc in your home directory. This in turn runs /usr/bin/enhance, which has the startup code for each of the dockapps. For a while I thought it was homedirectory/.fluxbox/slitlist that did it, but now I know that only controls the order they appear on the screen. I couldn't modify 'enhance', so I opened it in beaver and did a Save As... and saved it in my home directory as enhanceDSL. I closed beaver and then went into edit on enhanceDSL. I put a pound signs (#) in front of the modules I didn't want to run. When I was done I saved my changes. I used emelfm to make it executable by anyone. I then changed the line in .xinitrc

I changed the word "enhance" to "/home/dslenhanceDSL". I'd show you the code but for some reason this blog site will not allow me to display it. Maybe it's the ampersands or less-than, greater-than signs... no matter, take a shot at it.

Don't forget to add the file to your savelist.

14) Getting Sylpheed to work with my Gmail account.

I like the new Google email service called Gmail. I use it on the web but I also like to use it via a mail client like Sylpheed (why do Linux programs have wierd names?). I assume you have a gmail account. If you don't do some googleing and I'm sure you'll find one. Once you have Gmail, look in the account preferences/setup and turn on POP3.

Double click on sylpheed to open it for the first time. A dialog box opens and says something about default MH format, yada, yada, yada. I just clicked OK.

Then the Preferences for New Account dialog starts. On the BASIC tab I changed the name from Account1 to "Gmail". Filledin some of the "personal information" and under the "server information" section I set Protocol to POP3 (normal), Server for receiving to pop.gmail.com, SMTP server (send) to smtp.gmail.com. I filled in the UserID as [email protected], replace the "yourGmailID" with your Gmail account ID, make sure to add the @gmail.com on the end. Put your email password in the Password field.

On the RECEIVE tab: set what you like. I usually change the Remove after..... days to 10. I like the default inbox to be "inbox".

On the SEND tab: Under Authentication select SMTP Authentication with authentication method of Automatic. Leave USERID and Password blank and it will default.

On the COMPOSE tab: I took the defaults

On the SSL tab: for POP3 pick "Use SSL for POP3 connection", for Send (SMTP) pick "Use SSL for SMTP connection"

On the ADVACE tab: select Specify SMTP port 465, select Specify POP3 port 995. I like to specify folders for sent, draft and trash messages.

click the APPLY and then OK button

On the Sylpheed main screen click GET or GET ALL. You should see the program trying to read your mail from gmail.

There is one problem with sylpheed and gmail as of June, 2005, dsl release 1.2. When you send mail you will get an error from sylpheed and the mail will look like it didn't send. The good news is that it really did. Log into the web version of gmail and see for yourself. It did send. Try sending yourself or another one of your accounts and email just to make sure.

Remember, It's just a computer, if you screw it up too bad you can reload everything. You have a current backup don't you? Ha, Ha, ha, ha, ha...........

Good luck