Moving to Ubuntu

Disabling the graphical system

Edit /etc/default/grub with your editor,

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

Find out this line:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash”

Change it to:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash text”

Update Grub:

sudo update-grub

Old Linux Kernel Never Die

Today, I was tasked to setup the old OXU210HP machine on an old Linux Machine yet again.

This machine is going to be a development platform where driver can be compiled and installed. The system will be primarily used to develop the USB test mode.

Basic Bring-up
Installation of the old kernel using FC4 release. Make sure that the BIOS can boot up the system through DVD drive. Currently using an external Fujitsu DVD drive which is USB-powered.

Installation should take about 15-30 minutes depending on the package selected. The best way is to install everything. However, if there is any package that is not installed during the setup, it can be found in the DVD after the system gets booted up. Run the RPM from the DVD to add in the packages.

Installation of a new kernel
Download the new kernel(in this case) Linux 2.6.13.5. from kernels.org.
tar zxvf "kernel" into "/usr/src/kernels"

Copy the config file into the kernel folder.

Run make menuconfig to setup the kernel.

Run make modules to compile all the modules.

Run make modules_install to install all the modules into the kernel.

Run make install to add the new kernel into the boot loader.

Edit the bootloader to select the correct boot up option.
vi /boot/grub/menu.lst

Configuration of Samba
Under the /etc/samba/ change the smb.conf to add in share folder.
Add a user into samba database.
smbpasswd -a "user"

Modify the Samba configuration file
#Added shares folders at the end of the file:
[kernel]
comment = Linux 2.6.13.5 Kernel
; path = /usr/src/kernels/linux-2.6.13.5/
path = /
writable = yes
guest ok = yes
force user = root

Run the testparm command to check if the configuration is working. There should be no error or warnings.
testparam

Disabling the SELinux feature using the below command will enable samba.
"echo 0>/selinux/enforce"

Fully Disabling SELinux

Fully disabling SELinux goes one step further than just switching into permissive mode. Disabling will completely disable all SELinux functions including file and process labelling.

In Fedora Core and RedHat Enterprise, edit /etc/selinux/config and change the SELINUX line to SELINUX=disabled:

# This file controls the state of SELinux on the system.
# SELINUX= can take one of these three values:
# enforcing - SELinux security policy is enforced.
# permissive - SELinux prints warnings instead of enforcing.
# disabled - No SELinux policy is loaded.
SELINUX=disabled
# SELINUXTYPE= can take one of these two values:
# targeted - Only targeted network daemons are protected.
# strict - Full SELinux protection.
SELINUXTYPE=targeted

... and then reboot the system.

Services
Enable VNC, FTP and SSH to allow remote login and debug

Enabling VSFTP
Edit the /etc/vsftpd/vsftp.conf
Comment the "root" in the "etc/vsftpd/ftpusers". This file is a ban user file. If the names appear in this file, the user will not be allowed to login. Therefore, comment the "root" from the list.

userlist_enable=NO

Once you have modified the file you should restart vsftp
#/etc/rc.d/init.d/vsftp restart