Post Installation Configuration

After a default installation, there are a number of tasks you may want to perform to get the most out of your Foresight Linux Desktop.

1. Using sudo

"sudo" is a command to allow you, logged in as a normal user, to perform administrative tasks as root, the administrator of your computer.  "sudo" is short for superuser do.  When installing updates, drivers or changing configuration settings, you will often have to perform this task using the "sudo' command.

2. Updating your system

Once you have logged in to Foresight Linux, you have two different ways to update Foresight Linux to the latest packages. You will want to do this to make sure your software is up to date in, and to make sure your software has the latest security updates installed. There are two ways to use Conary to update your system.

Updating via PackageKit

PackageKit will automatically prompt you when it has found new updates. A notification will pop up asking you whether or not to install the updates. You may need to enter your password to proceed.

PackageKit can also be configured to check for updates more or less frequently (or not at all), to automatically install important security updates, or to automatically apply all updates. To access PackageKit settings, click the System menu, then Preferences, then Software Updates.

Updating via the command line

Open a terminal, and type:

sudo conary updateall

If this is the first time you have run "updateall", be patient. It can take as long as 15 minutes the first time before you will be prompted with updates. Choose "Y" when asked if you want to install the list of updates.

4. Video Card Binary Drivers

ATI Users

Important note: If you want to enable Compiz, do not install the propietary ATI drivers, ATI's binary drivers do not work with Compiz due to not supporting the texture_from_pixmap OpenGL extension.  Use the open source ATI driver, "radeon" to enable Compiz. 

To install the drivers, update your group-dist with the ati, !nvidia flavor:

sudo conary update group-dist=['ati, !nvidia']

Once this is done, you will need to update xorg.conf. ATI provides aticonfig to do this. For single head users, this is as easy as running the following command:

sudo aticonfig --initial --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf

For multiple monitor (dual head or more), see the documentation for aticonfig.

nVidia Users

To install the drivers, update your group-dist with the !ati, nvidia flavor:

sudo conary update nvidia nvidia-kernel

Now run nVidia's configuration tool:

sudo nvidia-xconfig

To enable Compiz to work with Nvidia, edit the video card device section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf as sudo:

Section "Device"
  Identifier "Videocard0"
  Driver "nvidia"
  VendorName "nvidia"
  BoardName "nvidia"
  Option "DigitalVibrance" "64"
  Option "DisableGLXRootClipping" "True"
  Option "XvmcUsesTextures" "true"
  Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
  Option "Coolbits" "1"
  Option "RenderAccel" "true"
  Option "NoLogo" "true"
  Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
EndSection

Non-binary Intel drivers

The drivers are already installed, you just need to configure xorg.conf appropriately

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Find the section 'ServerLayout' and add this line under it but before the next EndSection

Option		"AIGLX"  "true"

Now in the Module section add this

Load  "dri"

My config doesn't have an extensions section, so I created one like this:

Section "Extensions"
	Option  "Composite"  "Enable"
EndSection

Overwrite the entire device section with this

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "Videocard0"
	Driver      "i810"
	VendorName  "Intel"
	BoardName   "Intel Integrated i810"
	Option	    "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps"  "true"
	Option      "NoAccel"  "false"
	Option      "DRI"  "true"
#	VideoRam    12384
EndSection

And finally make sure that there is a DRI section that reads like this (if not either create it if it's not there or modify it to look like this

Section "DRI"
	Group        0
	Mode         0666
EndSection

Post-Installation

Once you have installed the drivers and configured them, you'll need to logout and restart gdm from the command line (or restart the computer) to see the changes. You can restart gdm by running sudo service xdm restart.

5.  Compiz / GL Enabled Desktop

What is Compiz? Compiz is, according to it's website:

"Compiz is a compositing window manager that uses 3D graphics acceleration via OpenGL. It provides various new graphical effects and features on any desktop environment, including Gnome and KDE."

Compiz enables a fully rendered 3d desktop, including animations when you open or close an application, such as fire, wobbly windows, and a rotating 3d cube when switching workspaces.  To learn more about Compiz, visit the Compiz home page or see it in action.
 

In the upper right hand corner of your screen is your panel with the notification area and icons:

 
This icon represents Compiz, when disabled:

Right click on this icon and click the GL Desktop button to enable Compiz.  The icon should change color, and now look like this:

To enable different desktop effects once Compiz is enabled, right click on the Compiz icon and choose preferences. To enable Wobbly or Fading windows, click on the Windows tab, and enable the Wobbly or Fade checkboxes at the bottom.  To enable a 3D cube when switching workspaces, choose the Workspaces tab, and click on the Cube checkboxes, including Inside Cube and Animate.  To enable animations when click on menus or minimizing or maximizing windows for example, click on the Animation tab, and click on the Animations checkbox.

6. Wifi and Wireless

Foresight Linux comes with Network Manager installed by default.  Installing wireless drivers is outside the scope of this guide, but Foresight Linux does come with Intel's binary drivers included by default, madwifi for Atheros cards, and ndiswrapper for wireless cards with Windows only drivers.

Assuming your wireless card is working, double click the Network Manager icon in the upper right corner of your panel.  Choose the name of the wireless newtork you wish to connect to, and enter the WEP key if necessary.  Network Manager will then automatically connect, and re-connect at reboot in the future. 

Note: NetworkManager only works with IP addresses acquired with DHCP, and does not work with static IP addresses at this time. 

7. GNOME Panel

You can customize your GNOME panel by adding applets to it.  To add applets, right click on your panel (either top or bottom, your choice), and click "Add to Panel".  Popular applets to add to your panel include:

Tomboy Notes

Tomboy is a simple and easy to use not taking application.  Tomboy's features include highlighting text, inline spelll checking, auto-linking web & email addresses, undo/redo, font styling & sizing. bulleted lists, and pinning notes.  Tomboy also features the ability to add plugins.

Deskbar

Deskbar is a powerful applet to let you search for many different things, including files on your computer using Beagle, web searches using different search engines, launch programs directly, search documentation, and even search your email. 

Right click on your panel, and add the Deskbar applet.  The default is to add the Deskbar icon to your panel:
Click on the icon, and a search area will appear, type your query and hit enter, then click on the method of your search.

You can change the appearance of Deskbar on your panel, so you can have a field to directly type your queries in, which looks like this:.
 
Right click on the Deskbar applet, choose Preferences.  Click on the View tab, and click on the radio button for Entry in Panel. 
 

System Monitor 

When adding the System Monitor applet, it defaults to showing the CPU load of your computer.  You can also add memory, network, swap, load and harddisk monitors by right clicking on the applet on your panel, and then choosing the checkbox of the monitor you'd like to add.

Laptop & Notebooks

There are a number of tools you can add to your laptop to monitor performance.

Battery Charge Monitor

Monitor how much battery power remaining in your laptop.

Brightness Applet

Adjust the brightness of your your laptop's screen to help conserve battery power.

Laptop Temperature Monitor

Monitor the CPU temperature of your laptop to avoid overheating.