Running Linux, 5th Edition - Matthias Kalle Dalheimer [318]
Setting the domain name is usually a matter of running the domainname command at boot time, perhaps in one of your system rc files (such as /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1, described earlier). You should first check that domainname is not being executed in one of the existing rc files. The command takes the format.
linux:~ # domainnamedomain-name
An example is domainname vpizzas. The command is usually found in /sbin/domainname and may have a slightly different name, such as domainname-yp.
A slightly different method sets the domain name under NYS. You should create (or edit) the file /etc/yp.conf. This file should contain two lines: one specifying the name of your NIS domain, and another specifying the hostname of the NIS server. As an example:
linux:~ # domain vpizzas
linux:~ #ypserver allison.vpizza.com
sets the NIS domain name to vpizzas and specifies that allison.vpizza.com should be used as the NIS server. If no ypserver line is included in this file, the system broadcasts a message on the network at boot time to determine the name of the NIS server. Your network administrator can provide you with the hostname of your preferred NIS server.
Once these two steps are complete, your system should be able to transparently access NIS databases. One way to test this is to query the system for a password database entry from the NIS server. The ypwhich command queries specific NIS databases. For example:
linux:~ # ypwhichusername passwd
If this returns the line from the NIS passwd database for the given user, you have successfully queried the NIS database. (One way to verify that the information returned is correct is to run this same command on another system in your NIS domain whose NIS configuration is known to be working.) The NIS passwd database is not identical to the /etc/passwd file on your system, although it is in the same format. The Linux HOWTO documents contain additional information on troubleshooting your NIS configuration.
Chapter 16. The X Window System
Chapter 3 introduced Linux's graphical desktops, and many subsequent chapters showed you the spiffy and powerful tools you could run on them. Rarely do you have to deal with the underpinnings that make all this possible, but occasionally your screen resolution isn't as good as it could be, or you have trouble getting graphics to start. At these times you notice that error messages are referring to an X server or to various files and libraries with an x in them.
Basically, the X Window System encompasses all the software that lets a CPU understand a video card and get graphics to appear on a monitor. X goes far beyond this, though: it provides an interface of almost unlimited flexibility to let programs display graphics, interact with the user, and exchange data with other graphical programs. KDE and GNOME are both sets of libraries and tools that run on X. In this chapter, we tell you how to install and configure the X Window System in case it was not done by your distribution properly.
A History of X
It's difficult to describe the X Window System in a nutshell. X is a complete windowing graphics interface that runs on almost all computer systems, but was established mostly on Unix and now on Linux. X provides a huge number of options to both the programmer and the user. For instance, at least half a dozen window managers are available for X, each one offering a different interface for manipulating windows. Your distribution has chosen a window manager along with a desktop. By customizing the attributes of the window manager, you have complete control over how windows are placed on the screen, the colors and borders used to decorate them,