Manuals/UMx/How to Port to Other Linux Distros

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How to Port Userful Multiplier to Other Linux Distributions



Copyright © 2005-2008 Userful Corporation. All rights reserved.
(Updated 2008.11.13)


Contents

Introduction

This Mini-How To describes how to configure an unsupported Linux distribution to support Userful Multiplier (UMx). These instructions DO NOT apply to the following, officially supported Linux distributions:

  • RPM Based Distributions
    • Fedora Core 4, 6, 7, 8
    • openSUSE 10.1, 10.2, 11.0
    • Novell Desktop (SLED) 9, 10
    • Mandriva (Mandrake) 2008.0
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 4
    • CentOS 4, 5
  • DEB Based Distributions
    • Ubuntu 6.10, 7.04, 7.10, 8.04, 8.10
    • Freedows 2005
    • Xandros 4.0
    • Debian 3.1, 4.0
    • Morphix 0.5-pre5

If you are using one of the distributions listed above, you do not need to use this Mini-How To.

If you are using a distribution closely related to one of the distributions listed above, we suggest attempting the regular installation prior to manually reconfiguring your system.

The following are the brief steps to configure your system for UMx:

  1. Install Userful Multiplier on your system
  2. Update /etc/inittab or remove Service for Display Manager
  3. Configure /opt/userful/bin/prefdm_multi
  4. Edit the configuration of Display Manager
  5. Add new Udev rules for the hotplugging of USB input devices

Install Userful Multiplier on Your System

Download and install UMx using the included INSTALL script. You will need to do this as a superuser. 

bash INSTALL

Update /etc/inittab and Remove Initscript for the Display Manager

The boot sequence is different for each Linux distribution. Some distributions start Display Manager from /etc/inittab, while others start it as a service.

In any case, the display manager should not be started until the end of boot sequence to get UMx working.

To update the boot sequence:

  1. Find the runlevel that your system is using for graphical boot.
    • e.g.: Fedora Core uses runlevel 5, while Ubuntu uses runlevel 2 for graphical boot.
    • The runlevel command shows you the current and previous runlevels.
    • You can get some more information by looking at the /etc/inittab file.
  2. If Display Manager is stared as a service, then disable it.
    • /etc/rc.d/rcN.d/ contains all the services for the runlevel N. For example, /etc/rc.d/rc5.d has all the services for runlevel 5.
    • Use chkconfig command to disable the service of Display Manager.
  3. If the display manager is started from /etc/inittab, comment out the line which starts it.
    • Some Linux distributions like Fedora use /etc/inittab to start Display Manager with a line such as 
      x:5:respawn:/etc/X11/prefdm
      . Disable the line that starts Display Manager by prepending #.
  4. Append a new line in the end of /etc/inittab to start prefdm_multi: 
    echo "x:N:once:/etc/X11/prefdm_multi" >> /etc/inittab
    N should be replaced with the runlevel for the graphical boot of your system.

Configure /opt/userful/bin/prefdm_multi

prefdm_multi is a script to configure the base system for Userful Multiplier and start Display Manager in the end.

To configure prefdm_multi on your system:

  1. Copy and overwrite /opt/userful/bin/prefdm_multi with /opt/userful/bin/prefdm_multi.template: 
    cp -f /opt/userful/bin/prefdm_multi.template  /opt/userful/bin/prefdm_multi
  2. Add a new line to the end of the prefdm_multi to start Display Manager.
    • Starting Display Manager is different for each Linux distribution. You need to find out how Display Manager is started on your Linux system. As mentioned in the previous section, Display Manager is normally started as a service or from /etc/inittab.
    • If Display Manager is started as a service, run the following command to add a line into the prefdm_multi. You will be able to find the name of service under /etc/init.d/ such as dm, gdm, kdm or xdm. 
      echo "exec /etc/init.d/<name_of_service> start" >> /opt/userful/bin/prefdm_multi
      <name_of_service> should be the name of service you found in /etc/init.d.
    • If Display Manager is started from /etc/inittab on your system, find the command that starts Display Manager in /etc/inittab and add the same command into prefdm_multi: 
      echo "exec <command> >> /opt/userful/bin/prefdm_multi
      <command> should be the command you found in the /etc/inittab. For example, Fedora uses /etc/X11/prefdm -nodaemon command and Mandrake uses /etc/X11/prefdm command to start Display Manager.

Edit the configuration of Display Manager

Userful Multiplier supports the three main Display Managers: XDM, GDM and KDM. You need to find out what Display Manager your system is using and edit the appropriate configuration for your Display Manager.

XDM

XDM (X window Display Manager) is the default Display Manager for X Window System. There are two configuration files for XDM, xdm-config and Xservers. You can find these files in /etc/X11/xdm/.

To configure the XDM:

  1. Add following lines to the end of xdm-config unless it already has them: 
    DisplayManager*openDelay: 3
DisplayManager*openRepeat: 1
DisplayManager*openTimeout: 24
DisplayManager*startAttempts: 3
  2. Disable/remove current local server(s) by prepending # to the Xservers like this: 
    #:0 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X
  3. Add following lines for your all station in Xservers: 
    :0 local /opt/userful/bin/login-server
:1 local /opt/userful/bin/login-server
...
:N local /opt/userful/bin/login-server

GDM

GDM (Gnome Display Manager) is an alternate Display Manager for X Window System. gdm.conf is the common configuration file for GDM and it is normally located under /etc/X11/gdm/, /etc/gdm/ or /etc/opt/gnome/gdm/, although it may not true for your Linux system.

To configure GDM, edit gdm.conf as follows:

  1. Disable FirstVT=7 by prepending a # to it in the [daemon] section like this: 
    #FirstVT=7
  2. Set VTAllocation to false in the [daemon] section like this: 
    VTAllocation=false
  3. Comment out Standard local X server: 
    #0=Standard
  4. Add the following lines, one for each station: 
    0=Login
1=Login
...
N=Login
  5. Create [server-Login] section: 
    [server-Login]
name=Login server
command=/opt/userful/bin/login-server
flexible=true

KDM

KDM (KDM Display Manager) is another popular Display Manager and it uses kdmrc and Xservers for the configuration. The common locations of these files are /etc/X11/xdm/, /etc/kde3/kdm/, /usr/share/config/kdm/ or /etc/opt/kde3/share/config/kdm/, but this could be different for your Linux system.

To configure the KDM:

  1. Set the values as follows in the [X-*-Core] section of kdmrc: 
    OpenDelay=3
OpenTimeout=24
OpenRepeat=1
OpenRepeat=3
StartAttempts=3
StartInterval=2
  2. Disable/remove the currently configured local server(s) by prepending # in Xservers like this: 
    #:0 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X
  3. Add these lines, one for each station in Xservers: 
    :0 local /opt/userful/bin/login-server
:1 local /opt/userful/bin/login-server
...
:N local /opt/userful/bin/login-server

Add new Udev rules for the hotplugging of USB input devices

You can copy a new UDEV rule as follow: 

cp /etc/userful/setup/99-userful-hotplug.rules  /etc/udev/rules.d/

Reboot

After completing all of the configuration changes above, you must reboot the system.





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