Archive for June, 2009

openSUSE - installing software

Posted in How To's by Shafkat Shahzad, M.Sc on June 22nd, 2009

Software is available via RPM packages or groups together in so-called patterns. Each package contains the program itself, the configuration files, and additional documentation. Following steps (as mentioned below) need to be followed if you want the program or a package to be added to the system.

- Click Software > Software Management to start the YaST package manager.
- In the search field enter the name of the software you want to install
- Press Enter.
- The package is listed in the right frame.
- Select it for installation.
- Click Accept.

It is important to note that you can carry out a search for more packages and then select them for installation at the same time.
When all selected packages are installed, YaST will ask you whether you want to install or remove additional packages. Press No to close YaST.

With GNOME running, please follow the steps as below:
- Click Software
- Choose Software Management to start the YaST package manager.
- In the package search field, please enter the name of the software you want to install
- After finding the software now select it in the main pane
- click Install.

It is important to note that you can carry out a search for more packages and then select them for installation at the same time.

Installing software patterns.
are sets consisting of tools for a specific task. In order to install a pattern, please follow the steps as below:

- From the filter list in the upper left corner, select Patterns.
- You will be able to view various pattern sets as listed
- Click Accept

You can select various patterns If you click on the name of a pattern, you will see the packages it contains, in the right frame. If you activate it, the status markers at the beginning of the line will change: all packages get marked either with the status Keep or Install. If you are interested in knowing the meaning of all the symbols and of font colour changes, which is explained in Help > Symbols.
.
With GNOME running, proceed as follows to install a pattern:
- From the grouping menu in the upper left corner,
- select Patterns. You will be able to view various patterns as provided in the list
- Click Install All to activate it and list the packages for installation.
- Click Apply to install the listed packages.

You can select various patterns if you want to.

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openSUSE - printer setup

Posted in How To's by Shafkat Shahzad, M.Sc on June 22nd, 2009

This tutorial guide will provide the user with advise and guidance on how to setup a printer, how to configure a printer including fine-tuning a Local Printer Configuration, etc.

It is good to know that YaST can be used to configure a local printer that is directly connected to your machine (normally with USB or parallel port) and to set up printing with network printers. It is also possible to share printers over the network and to add 3rd party drivers (PostScript Printer Description (PPD) files).

In YaST, click Hardware > Printer to start the printer module. By default it opens in the Printer Configurations view, displaying a list of all printers available and configured. This is especially useful when having access to a lot of printers via the network. From here you can also Print a Test Page on the selected printer and configure local printers.

Configuring Local Printers
If an unconfigured local printer is detected, YaST starts automatically to configure it. YaST can configure the printer automatically if the parallel or USB port can be set up automatically and the connected printer can be detected. The printer model must also be listed in the database used during the automatic hardware detection.
If the printer model is unknown or cannot be automatically detected, configure it manually. Please not the possible reasons why a printer is not automatically detected:
• The printer does not identify itself correctly. This may apply to very old devices. Try to configure your printer.
• If the manual configuration does not work, communication between printer and computer is not possible. Please check the cable and the plugs to make sure that the printer is properly connected. If this is the case, the problem may not be printer-related, but rather a USB or parallel port–related problem.

Configuring Manually
To manually configure the printer, select Add in the Printer Configurations view. YaST will load a list of printer drivers—this may take some time. Use the Connection Wizard to specify how the printer is connected to the machine. Then choose a suitable driver and specify a unique name for the printer queue in the Set Name field.

A printer is never used directly, but always through a printer queue. . Each printer queue is assigned to a specific driver, and a printer can have multiple queues. This makes it possible to set up a second queue on a color printer, that prints black only, for example.
For many printer models, several drivers are available. When configuring the printer, YaST defaults to the one marked recommended . If you want a color printer to print only in black and white, it is most convenient to use a driver that does not support color printing
If no driver for your printer is listed, you can try to select a generic driver with an appropriate standard language from the list. Here you can refer to your printer’s documentation to find out which language (the set of commands controlling the printer) your printer understands.

The printer is now configured with the default settings and ready to use. Click Finish Add to return to the Printer Configurations view. The newly configured printer is now visible in the printers list.

Adding Drivers with YaST
If your printer does not appear in the Assign Drivers dialog when adding a new printer, the PPD (PostScript Printer Description) file for your model is not available. To manually add a PPD file from the local file system or an FTP or HTTP server, choose Add Driver.
Get PPD files directly from your printer vendor or from the driver CD of the printer

Fine-tuning a Local Printer Configuration
In order to adjust the default settings for paper size, resolution, media source and others, choose a printer from the list in the Printer Configurations view and click Configure. In the window for modifying the respective printer queue, you can make detailed adjustments by opening All options for the Current Driver. If you have access to more than one printer queue, you can specify whether this should be the Default Printer. You may also alter the generic printer Description and the Location description here.

For many printer models, several drivers are available. When configuring the printer, YaST defaults to the one marked recommended as a general rule. See the Driver section in the dialog for all drivers available. The currently chosen is marked as Current Driver.

Normally it is not necessary to change the driver—the one chosen by YaST should produce the best results. However, if you want a color printer to print only in black and white, it is most convenient to use a driver that does not support color printing, for example. If you experience performance problems with a PostScript printer when printing graphics, it may help to switch from a PostScript driver to a PCL driver (provided your printer understands PCL).

Configuring Printing via the Network with YaST
Network printers are not detected automatically. They must be configured manually using the YaST printer module. Depending on your network setup, you can print to a print server (CUPS, LPD, SMB, or IPX) or directly to a network printer (preferably via TCP). Access the configuration view for network printing by choosing Printing via Network from the left pane in the YaST printer module.
- Using CUPS
In a Linux environment CUPS is usually used to print via the network. The simplest setup is to only print via a single CUPS server which can directly be accessed by all clients.

- Using Print Servers other than CUPS
If your network offers print services via print servers other than CUPS, start the Connection Wizard and choose the appropriate Connection type. Ask your network administrator for details on configuring a network printer in your environment.

Sharing Printers Over the Network
Printers managed by a local CUPS daemon can be shared over the network and so turn your machine into a CUPS server. Usually you share a printer by enabling CUPS’ so called browsing mode. If browsing is enabled, the local printer queues are made available on the network for listening remote CUPS daemons. It is also possible to set up a dedicated CUPS server, that manages all printing queues and can directly be accessed by remote clients. In this case it is not necessary to enable browsing.

To share your printer, open the Share Printers view in the YaST printer module. Select Allow Remote Access and configure your CUPS daemon to be accessible For Computers Within the Local Network. To enable the browsing mode, also check Publish Printers by Default Within the Local Network. Then specify the network interface(s) that should be used by the CUPS server. If you enable more than one interface, you can also enable or disable the browsing mode on a per interface base. Apply the settings with OK and allow to restart the CUPS server.

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openSUSE - Setting Up Sound Cards

Posted in How To's by Shafkat Shahzad, M.Sc on June 22nd, 2009

It is important to note that most sound cards are detected automatically and configured with reasonable values. In YaST, choose Hardware > Sound if you want to add a problematic sound card that could not be configured automatically or change the default settings.
- Probing for Old Sound Chips
If you know a legacy sound board is installed in your computer, let YaST probe for old chips, if YaST cannot find a sound board. Within the pop-up click Yes, probe.
If YaST cannot detect the sound card automatically, the please follow the steps as below:

- Click Add to open a dialog in which to select a sound card vendor and model.
- Refer to your sound card documentation for the information required.
- have your choice and click Next.
- In the Sound Card Configuration dialog, please choose the configuration level in the first setup screen: Quick automatic setup

You do not need to go through any of the further configuration steps and no sound test is performed. The sound card is configured automatically.

- Normal setup
Adjust the output volume and play a test sound.
Advanced setup with possibility to change options
- Customise all settings manually.
Enable Configure joystick, if you need to configure a joystick. Click Next to continue.

In Sound Card Volume, test your sound configuration and make adjustments to the volume. You should start at about ten percent to avoid damage to your hearing or the speakers. A test sound should be audible when you click Test.

If you cannot hear anything, increase the volume. Press Next > Finish to complete the sound configuration. If you want to change the configuration of a sound card, go to the Sound Configuration dialog, select a displayed Card Model and click Edit. Use Delete to remove a sound card altogether. Click Other to customize one of the following options manually:
- Volume
Use this dialog is for setting the volume.
- Start Sequencer
For playback of MIDI files, check this option.
- Set as Primary Card
Click Set as Primary Card if you want to adjust the sequence of your sound cards. The sound device with index 0 is the default device and thus used by the system and the applications.
The volume and configuration of all sound cards installed are saved when you click Finish. The mixer settings are saved.

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openSUSE - Setting Up Hardware Components with YaST

Posted in How To's by Shafkat Shahzad, M.Sc on June 22nd, 2009

YaST allows you to configure hardware items at installation time as well as in the installed system. Configure additional graphics cards and monitors, adjust mouse and keyboard settings and configure sound hardware. If you need printer or scanner support, use the appropriate YaST modules to configure these hardware items. Learn which hardware components are connected to your computer by using the YaST Hardware Information module.

Probing Your Hardware
Use YaST, if you want to know more about your hardware or if you need to find out details like vendor and model of a certain hardware to be able to properly configure it. Here and in the following sections we assume that you already started YaST (for example, by pressing Alt+F2 and entering yast2 followed by the root password, because YaST needs system administrator permissions to change the system files):
In YaST click Hardware > Hardware Information. Hardware probings starts immediately and it will take some time until you see the hardware information tree in a separate window.
In the hardware information tree recursively click on the plus icons to expand the information about a specific device.
Click Close to leave the hardware information overview.

Setting Up Graphics Card and Monitor
After the installation you can change the configuration of your graphics system (graphics card and monitor) according to your needs. Such a change can be necessary because of accessibility issues or hardware upgrades.
- Changing the resolution
In order to change the resolution, if fonts are too small or if circles appear misshapen, please follow the steps as below:
- In YaST, click Hardware
- now choose Graphics Card and Monitor. SaX2 checks the system resources and displays the Card and Monitor Properties dialog. Make sure the monitor is properly detected. If not, use Change to select the appropriate model from the list.
- now select an appropriate Resolution.

It is a good practice to test the new configuration before it is applied to the system. Click OK > Test and either Cancel or Save the configuration.

Changing Monitor Frequencies
It is important for a user to be very careful when manually changing the allowed monitor frequencies. Incorrect values might destroy the monitor. Always refer to the monitor’s manual before changing frequencies.

Activating a second monitor
I order to activate a second monitor, proceed as follows:
- In YaST, click Hardware
- choose Graphics Card and Monitor.
- SaX2 checks the system resources and displays the Card and Monitor Properties dialog.
- Make sure the monitor is properly detected. If not, use Change to select the appropriate model from the list.
- Now enable Activate Dual Head Mode and click Configure for further tuning.
- Make sure the second monitor is properly detected. If not, use Change to select the appropriate model from the list.
It is your decision whether you want to use the second monitor in Cloned Multihead or in Xinerama Multihead mode and click Ok.
As a good practice, it is recommended to test the new configuration before it is applied to the system. Click OK > Test and either Cancel or Save the configuration.

Restarting the Server
Any changes you make here take effect only after you restart the server. If you want to restart the X server now, log out from the graphical system and log in again.

Setting Up Keyboard and Mouse
A user can easily reconfigure input devices such as the keyboard or the mouse, or add more than one of these devices using the YaST Keyboard and Mouse modules.

Keyboard Layout
If a user you is looking to replace a standard 104-key keyboard with a multimedia keyboard or a use different language or country layout, then proceed as follows:

- In YaST, click Hardware > Keyboard Layout. The SaX2 configuration tool reads the system resources and displays the Keyboard Properties dialog.
- Select your keyboard model from the Type list.
- In Layout, select the country layout. Depending on the country layout, you can choose a certain Variant. The selections are applied immediately for testing.
- As an option you can enable Additional Layouts. Check one or more boxes in the list. This feature is handy if you want to switch between different languages or scripts in the running system without the need for reconfiguration.
- Before saving the configuration, use the Test field at the bottom of the dialog to check if special characters like umlauts and accented characters can be entered and displayed correctly.
- Click OK to leave the configuration dialog and in the following message click Save to apply your changes.

Mouse Model
The mouse is usually detected automatically, but a user can set up his/her mouse model manually if the automatic detection fails. Refer to the documentation of the mouse for a description of the model. Please follow steps as described below ifyou want to modify the mouse configuration:

- In YaST, click Hardware > Mouse Model.
- Click Change and select your mouse model from the list displayed.
- Click OK to leave the configuration dialog and apply your changes with Save.
- In the Options part of the dialog, set various options for operating your mouse.

Activate 3-Button Emulation
If the mouse has only two buttons, a third button is emulated whenever the user click both buttons simultaneously.
Activate Mouse Wheel
Please check this box to use a scroll wheel.
Invert X-Axis / Invert Y-Axis
Check these options if the user wants to change the direction in which the mouse pointer moves.
Activate Left-Hand Button Mapping
Check this box to make the button mapping suitable for left-hand usage.
Emulate Wheel with Mouse Button
If your mouse does not have a scroll wheel but you want to use a similar functionality, you can assign an additional button for this. Select the button to use. While pressing this button, any movement of the mouse is translated into scroll wheel commands.

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openSUSE - Graphical login

Posted in How To's by Shafkat Shahzad, M.Sc on June 22nd, 2009

After going through the installation and configuration process for openSUSE, unless a user enables the automatic login function or customised the default runlevel, the user should see the graphical login on the screen in which to enter a username and password to log in to the system. On single user systems with automatic login enabled, the desktop starts automatically.

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openSUSE - Configuration of the Installed System

Posted in How To's by Shafkat Shahzad, M.Sc on June 22nd, 2009

After going through the installation process as mentioned in the previous article, the system is now installed, but not yet configured for use. The hardware, the network and other services are not set up, yet. If you follow the default installation path, the system will be automatically configured. If you have deselected the Automatic Configuration, the manual system configuration starts.
Automatic Configuration
Having rebooted, the system starts the Automatic Configuration. This routine attempts to configure your network and Internet access and sets up your hardware. The whole process does not need any interaction. You can change the settings made by the Automatic Configuration at any time in the installed system with YaST.

Manual Configuration
Having rebooted, the system starts the manual configuration. If the configuration fails at one of the steps of this stage, it restarts and continues from the last successful step.

Hostname and Domain Name
The hostname is the computer’s name in the network. The domain name is the name of the network. A hostname and domain are proposed by default. If your system is part of a network, the hostname has to be unique in this network, whereas the domain name has to be common to all hosts on the network.

In many networks, the system receives its name over DHCP. In this case it is not necessary to modify the hostname and domain name. Select Change Hostname via DHCP instead. To be able to access your system using this hostname, even when it is not connected to the network, select Write Hostname to /etc/hosts. If you often change networks without restarting the desktop environment (e.g. when switching between different WLANs), do not enable this option, because the desktop system may get confused when the hostname in /etc/hosts changes. To change hostname settings at any time after installation, use YaST Network Devices > Network Settings.

Network Configuration
If you are installing openSUSE on a laptop computer, Interfaces Controlled by NetworkManager is enabled. NetworkManager is a tool that enables automatic connection with minimal user intervention. It is ideal for WLAN and mobile computing. If you want to use the traditional method without NetworkManager, click Disable NetworkManager. If you are installing openSUSE on any other type of machine, the traditional method without NetworkManager is selected by default. This configuration step also lets you configure the network devices of your system and make security settings, for example, for a firewall or proxy.

The network can also be configured after the system installation has been completed. If you skip it now, your system is left offline unable to retrieve any available updates. To configure your network connection later, select Skip Configuration and click Next.

The following network settings can be configured in this step:
General Network Settings
Enable or disable the use of NetworkManager as described above. Also change the IPv6 support here. By default the IPv6 support is enabled. To disable it, click Disable IPv6.

Firewall
By default SuSEfirewall2 is enabled on all configured network interfaces. To globally disable the firewall for this computer, click on Disable. If the firewall is enabled, you may Open the SSH port in order to allow remote connections via secure shell. To open the detailed firewall configuration dialog, click on Firewall.

Network Interfaces
All network cards detected by YaST are listed here. If you have already set up a network connection during the installation the card used for this connection is listed as Configured. A click on Network Interfaces opens the Network Settings dialog, where you can change existing configurations, set up networks cards not configured yet, or add and configure additional cards.

If your computer is equipped with an internal DSL modem, an internal ADSL Fritz Card, an ISDN card or a modem, clicking on the respective headline opens the configuration dialog.

VNC Remote Administration
To enable remote administration of your machine via VNC, click VNC Remote Administration. Choose Allow Remote Administration in the following dialog and adjust your firewall settings accordingly.

Proxy
If you have a proxy server controlling the Internet access in your network, configure the proxy URLs and authentication details in this dialog.

Test Internet Connection
After having configured a network connection, you can test it. For this purpose, YaST establishes a connection to the openSUSE server and downloads the latest release notes. Read them at the end of the installation process. A successful test is also a prerequisite for registering and updating online.

If you have multiple network interfaces, verify that the desired card is used to connect to the Internet. If not, click Change Device.
To start the test, select Yes, Test Connection to the Internet and click Next. In the next dialog, view the progress of the test and the results. Detailed information about the test process is available via View Logs. If the test fails, click Back to return to the network configuration to correct your entries.

If you do not want to test the connection at this point, select No, Skip This Test then Next. This also skips downloading the release notes, registering, and updating online. These steps can be performed any time after the system has been initially configured.

Registration
To get technical support and product updates, first register and activate your product. If you are offline or want to skip this step, select Configure Later. This also skips openSUSE online update.
In Include for Convenience, select whether to send unsolicited additional information when registering. Click on Details to obtain in-depth information about data privacy and the data collected.
Upon a successful registration, a repository containing official online updates is added to the repository catalog. This repository is used in the following Online Update step to update your system.

Online Update
If the Registration was successful, select whether to perform a YaST online update. If there are any patched packages available on the servers, download and install them now to fix known bugs or security issues.

New Local User
In addition to the user created in part one of the installation, you can create an additional user in this dialog. To create more users, manage groups, modify defaults for new users and set up network authentication, launch the User Management. To skip this step, just click Next without entering any data.

Release Notes
After completing the user authentication setup, YaST displays the release notes. It is highly recommended that the release notes should be read. This is because they contain important up-to-date information which was not available when the manuals were printed. If you successfully tested the Internet connection, read the most recent version of the release notes, as fetched from openSUSE’s servers. Use Miscellaneous > Release Notes in YaST or start the SUSE Help Center to view the release notes after installation.

Hardware Configuration
At the end of the installation, YaST opens a dialog for the configuration of the graphics card and other hardware components connected to the system, such as printers or sound cards. Click the individual components to start the hardware configuration. For the most part, YaST detects and configures the devices automatically.
You can skip any peripheral devices and configure them later. To skip the configuration, select Skip Configuration and click Next.

However, when setting up a desktop system you should configure the graphics card right away. Although the display settings as configured by YaST should be generally acceptable, most users have very strong preferences as far as resolution, color depth, and other graphics features are concerned. To change these settings, select the respective item and set the values as desired.

Installation Completed
After a successful installation, YaST shows the Installation Completed dialog. In this dialog, select whether to clone your newly installed system for AutoYaST. To clone your system, select Clone This System for AutoYaST. The profile of the current system is stored in /root/autoyast.xml.

AutoYaST is a system for installing one or more openSUSE systems automatically without user intervention. AutoYaST installations are performed using a control file with installation and configuration data. Finish the installation of openSUSE with Finish in the final dialog.

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openSUSE - Performing the Installation

Posted in How To's by Shafkat Shahzad, M.Sc on June 22nd, 2009

After making all installation settings, click Install in the Installation Settings window to start the installation. In the dialog that opens, confirm with Install again. Some software may require a license confirmation. If your software selection includes such software, license confirmation dialogs are displayed. Click Accept to install the software. When not agreeing to the license, click I Disagree and the software will not be installed.

The installation usually takes between 15 and 30 minutes, depending on the system performance and the selected software scope. After having prepared the hard disk, having saved and restored the user settings, and having deployed the installation images, the software installation starts. During this procedure a slide show introduces the features of openSUSE. Choose Details to switch to the installation log or Release Notes to read important up-to-date information which was not available when the manuals were printed.

It is good to note that if you install openSUSE on a machine with existing Linux installations, the installation routine automatically imports the SSH host key with the most recent access time from an existing installation.

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OpenSuSE - Installation Settings

Posted in How To's by Shafkat Shahzad, M.Sc on June 22nd, 2009

It is important to note that before the real installation takes place, you can alter installation settings suggested by YaST and also review the settings you made so far.
To modify the suggestions, either click Change and select the category to change or click on one of the headlines. After configuring any of the items presented in these dialogs, you are always returned to the Installation Settings window, which is updated accordingly.

Partitioning
Review and—if necessary—change the partition setup you configured earlier. Changing the partition setup opens the Expert Partitioner.

Booting
YaST proposes a boot configuration for your system. Other operating systems found on your computer, such as Microsoft Windows or other Linux installations, will automatically be detected and added to the boot loader. However, openSUSE will be booted by default.

Software
openSUSE contains a number of software patterns for various application purposes. Click Software to start the pattern selection and modify the installation scope according to your needs. Select your pattern from the list and see the software packages included in the right part of the window. Each pattern contains a number of software packages needed for specific functions (e.g. Multimedia or Office software). For a more detailed selection based on software packages to install, select Details to switch to the YaST Software Manager.
You can also install additional software packages or remove software packages from your system at any later time with the YaST Software Manager.

Locale Settings
In Locale settings, you can change the system Language and Keyboard Layout you defined in the first step of the installation. It is also possible to add additional languages.

System language settings
In order to change or adjust the system language settings, select Language. Select a language from the list. The primary language is used as the system language.

Keyboard layout settings
You can also adapt keyboard layout and time zone to the primary language if the current settings differ. You can choose secondary languages to be able to switch to a language at any time without having to install additional packages. To change the keyboard layout, select Keyboard Layout. By default, the layout corresponds to the language chosen for installation. Select the keyboard layout from the list. Use the Test field at the bottom of the dialog to check if you can enter special characters of that layout correctly. When finished, click Accept to return to the installation summary.

User Settings
You are able to change the current User settings and change or set the Root Password here.

Default Runlevel
openSUSE can boot to different runlevels. Normally, there should be no need to change anything here, but if necessary set the default runlevel with this dialog.

System
The system dialogue box presents all the hardware information YaST could obtain about your computer. When called, the hardware detection routine is started. Depending on your system, this may take some time. Select any item in the list and click Details to see detailed information about the selected item. Use Save to File to save a detailed list to either the local file system or a floppy. Advanced users can also change the PCI ID setup and Kernel Settings by choosing System Settings.

Installation from Images
Installing from images considerably speeds up the installation. Images contain compressed snapshots of installed systems matching your selection of patterns. Packages not contained in the images deployed will be installed conventionally. Unless your custom software selection does not match any of the available images, this feature is Enabled by default. In case of problems, Disable it for debugging purposes.

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open SUSE - Create New User

Posted in How To's by Shafkat Shahzad, M.Sc on June 22nd, 2009

A user can create a local user in this step. Administrating local users is a suitable option for stand-alone workstations. If setting up a client on a network with centralized user authentication, click Change and proceed with the expert settings as mentioned below in this article.

- After entering the first name and last name, either accept the proposal or specify a new Username that will be used to log in.
- Now, enter a password for the user.
- Re-enter it for confirmation (to ensure that you did not type something else by mistake). It is recommended for security reasons that a password should be between five and eight characters long. The maximum length for a password is 72 characters. Passwords are case-sensitive. Special characters (7-bit ASCII) and the digits 0 to 9 are allowed. Other special characters like umlauts or accented characters are not allowed.

Passwords that are entered are checked for weakness. When entering a password that is easy to guess, such as a dictionary word or a name, you will see a warning. It is a good security practice to use strong passwords.

It is important to note that there are three additional options are available:
Use this Password for the System Administrator
If checked, the same password you have entered for the user will be used for the system administrator root. This option is suitable for stand-alone workstations or machines in a home network that are administrated by a single user. When not checked, you are prompted for a system administrator password in the next step of the installation workflow
Receive System Mail
Checking this box sends messages created by the system services to the user. These are usually only sent to root, the system administrator. This option is useful for the most frequently used account, because it is highly recommended to log in as root only in special cases.

The mails sent by system services are stored in the local mailbox /var/spool/mail/username, where username is the login name of the selected user. To read e-mails after installation, you can use any e-mail client, for example KMail or Evolution.
Automatic Login
This option automatically logs the current user in to the system when it starts. This is mainly useful if the computer is operated by only one user.
Regarding automatic login, it is important to note that with the automatic login enabled, the system boots straight into your desktop with no authentication at all. If you store sensitive data on your system, you should not enable this option if the computer can also be accessed by others.

Expert Settings
In order to set up a network authentication, please click change in the Create User dialog, if present, import users from a previous installation. Also change the password encryption type in this dialog.
You can also add additional user accounts or change the user authentication method in the installed system.

The default authentication method is Local (/etc/passwd). If a former version of openSUSE or another system using /etc/passwd is detected, you may import local users. To do so, check Read User Data from a Previous Installation and click Choose. In the next dialog, select the users to import and finish with OK.
Access to the following network authentication services can be configured:
LDAP
Users are administered centrally on an LDAP server for all systems in the network.
NIS
Users are administered centrally on a NIS server for all systems in the network.
Windows Domain
SMB authentication is often used in mixed Linux and Windows networks.
Along with user administration via LDAP and NIS, you can use Kerberos authentication. To use it, select Set Up Kerberos Authentication.

Password for the System Administrator root
If you have not chosen Use this Password for the System Administrator in the previous step, you will be prompted to enter a Password for the System Administrator root. Otherwise this configuration step is skipped.
root is the name of the superuser, the administrator of the system. Unlike regular users, who may or may not have permission to do certain things on the system, root has unlimited power to do anything: change the system configuration, install programs, and set up new hardware. If users forget their passwords or have other problems with the system, root can help. The root account should only be used for system administration, maintenance, and repair. Logging in as root for daily work is rather risky: a single mistake could lead to irretrievable loss of system files.

For verification purposes, the password for root must be entered twice. Do not forget the root password. Once entered, this password cannot be retrieved. The root can be changed any time later in the installed system. To do so run YaST and start Security and Users > User and Group Management.

It is important to note that the user root has all the permissions needed to make changes to the system. To carry out such tasks, the root password is required. You cannot carry out any administrative tasks without this password.

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open SUSE - partitioning stages

Posted in How To's by Shafkat Shahzad, M.Sc on June 22nd, 2009

Recommendations for Partitioning
This step will provide the user with recommendations on how to do a partition setup for openSUSE. If a hard disk only containing Windows FAT or NTFS partitions is selected as the installation target, YaST proposes to shrink one of these partitions. Accept the proposal with Next and proceed with the installation.

The proposed partitioning is Partition Based by default. If a user prefers an LVM Based setup, check the respective option to automatically convert the proposal.

Partitioning a Specific Disk
If the machine contains more than one hard disk and the user wants to restrict the partitioning proposal to just one disk, then choose Create Partition Setup and then select a specific disk from the list. If the chosen hard disk does not contain any partitions, the user can choose which existing partition(s) to utilise. To add a separate partition for the personal data check Propose a Separate Home Partition. Instead of the default partition based proposal it is possible to Create an LVM Based Proposal. Choose two times Next to proceed to the next step.

Resizing a Windows Partition
If the selected hard disk only contains a Windows FAT or NTFS partition, YaST offers to delete or shrink this partition. If the user selects Delete Windows Completely, the Windows partition is marked for deletion and the space is used for the installation of openSUSE.
It is important to note that if the user deletes Windows, all data will be lost beyond recovery as soon as the formatting starts.

To Shrink the Windows Partition, the user needs to interrupt the installation and boot Windows to prepare the partition before shrinking it. For all Windows file systems, a user can proceed as follows:
- Deactivate a Virtual Memory file, if there is one.
- Run scandisk.
- Run defrag.

After these preparations, restart the openSUSE installation. When the user turns to the partitioning setup, then he/she proceeds as before and select Shrink Windows Partition. After a quick check of the partition, the dialog for resizing the Windows partition opens.

To change the proposed settings use the slider or the input fields to adjust the partition sizing.

If the user leaves this dialog by selecting OK, the settings are stored and the user returns to the previous dialog. The actual resizing takes place later, before the hard disk is formatted.

Custom Partitioning
A user can set up his/her own partitioning scheme by selecting Create Partition Setup and then Custom Partitioning. The Expert Partitioner opens displaying the current partition setup. Expand the Hard Disks in the System View pane by clicking on the +, then click on one of the listed hard disks. Now a user can Add, Edit, Resize, or Delete partitions.

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