Tutorial Level: Beginner

One of the great aspects of PHP programming is that the language includes numerous functions for mathematic equations and problem solving. A complete list of these mathematic functions can be found in the PHP Manual, but explaining every function would be impractical and would only bore those trying to learn PHP. Instead, we going to see some of the most common mathematic equations and functions, such as adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, greater-than or less-than, rounding, absolute value and others. While all these may seem very simple, many times PHP involves a great deal of numbers, and these numbers can grow and become large equations, for example: counting the number of seconds since a date and time, and knowing how to minipulate these numbers can be a great benifit to any programmer.

Simple Math

First, let’s start out with the basics: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. These are the basic functions that will make up larger equations and the ones we will build on as we get into more advanced math. For examples, we will create a variable for the equation, and then print it through the echo function. Let’s start with addition:

<?
$add = 1 + 1;
echo(“$add”);
?>

This example would print the value 2 on the webpage when added to a PHP script. Next, we can try the subtraction function. This function works the same as the addition function, but uses a minus (-) rather than a plus (+), just as in normal grammar school math. For example:

<?
$sub = (5 – 2);
echo(“$sub”);
?>

This equation would produce a value of 3 on the server. Now that we know how to do the simple stuff, we can create more complex equations by using parantheses in the equation. This equation combines the use of addition and multiplication, along with the use of parantheses to follow order of operations:

<?
$par = (11 + 4) * 4;
echo(“$par”);
?>

With the use of multiplication (*), this equation would produce a value of 60 because 11 + 4 = 15, then 15 * 4 = 60. Rather than breaking this into a two step process, the same way the problem can be explained, using parentheses can save space and make this a one step process. Just be careful how many levels of brackets you use in an equation, because it can become cluttered and confusing. For more complex equations, it is okay to only use a small amount of brackets to better see the problem. The last function is division. For example:

<?
$div = 44 / 11;
echo(“$div”);
?>

The division tag (/) is the same as that on a scientific caluculator. Remember when doing PHP math that the signs are scientific, and not simple (IE: multiplication sign is not x, but *). With this problem above, we would get the value 4, because 44 divided by 11 = 4. While it may seem like learning 2nd grade math all over again, it is important to understand the basics before moving on.

Greater or Less-Than

While it may not seem to be a big part in programming, the greater-than and less-than functions are very useful. Most of the time, these functions are used in conjunction with the IF or ELSE statements. For example, if a number is greater-than or equal to 0, than it is positive, else, if the number is less-than or equal to -1, than the number is negative, and will need to be multiplied by (-1) to become positive. As well as using the greater-than ( > ) and less-than ( < ) signs, the function for greater-than or equal (>=) or less-than or equal (<=) can also be use. The following is the PHP version of the example stated in this paragraph…

<?
if($num >= 0)
{
echo(“$num is positive”);
}
elseif($num <= -1)
{
$pos = $num * -1;
echo(“$pos is positive because $num (times) -1 (equals) a positive number”);
}
?>

If a number is plugged into the equation ($num is given a value as a number), than the script will see if the number is positive or negative, and if it is negative, than it will be multiplied by (-1) to become positive. This is the same prinicple behind absolute value, which we will explore further in the tutorial. As you can see in the example above, the simple math functions are essential to equations in PHP.

Rounding Numbers

Rounding is another important part of PHP programming, and can play a big part in Content Management Systems and pagination, which is a script that divides long sets of information into separate, and even pages. There are three types of rounding we will work with: standard rounding, rounding up and rounding down. All these methods are used with a decimal and round to an integer. Standard rounding is a method of rounding used in most math, where if a number is greater-than or equal to 5, than the number is rounded up, but if the number is less than 5, the number is rounded down. The function is called round() for this method. The following is an example of this function…

<?
$num = 6.5;
$num2 = 7.3;
$round = round($num);
$round2 = round($num2);
echo(“Rounded number 1: $round | Rounded number 2: $round2″);
?>

This example would output 7 for both $round1 and $round2 because 6.5 would round up, and 7.3 would round down. You can also change the number of decimal points to round out to. To do this, simply add a comma and a number after the number being rounded. For example…

<?
$num = 6.3567;
$round = round($num, 3);
echo(“Rounded number: $round”);
?>

Notice the 3 after the $num variable in the round function. This means that the number will be rounded out to 3 decimal places (thousandths place). In this case, the number that would be produced is 6.357. The last 7 would round up, and then the rounding would stop because it is set to go to the 3rd decimal place. Now that we have a grasp on the standard rounding method, let’s move onto the rounding up method. The function for rounding up is the the ceil(). Here is an example of this function…

<?
$num = 6.2;
$round = ceil($num);
echo(“Rounded number: $round”);
?>

This example would output 7 because 6.3 would be rounded up. The last method of rounding is the rounding down function. This function is called floor(). Here is an example of this function…

<?
$num = 4.9999;
$round = floor($num);
echo(“Rounded number: $round”);
?>

This example would produce a value of 4 because the number 4.9999 would be forced to round down, and thus become 4. While it may seem like an unimportant math function, rounding can be very useful when an interger is needed after a problem such as division. As stated before, pagination uses this because pages must in integers, and it would be incorrect to have a page number of 4.956, rather than 5 for example.

Absolute Value

This math function is also another useful PHP function, and can also be used in things such pagination. Because it would be incorrect to have a negative page number (IE: -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3 rather than 1, 2, 3, 4…), removing negative numbers for the equation would make the end result be positive. It is actually very simple to obtain the obsolute value of a number. The function is called abs(). The following is an example of this function…

<?
$num = -3;
$abs = abs($num);
echo(“The absolute value of $num is $abs”);
?>

This would produce the value 3, rather than -3. Although this tutorial only covers a few of the many mathematic functions, there are many more functions that can be used to minipulate numbers and finding the value of equations. The PHP Manual Mathematics Page is a useful resource. I hope this makes the task of programming in PHP easier for you and more fun.

Tutorial Level: Intermediate

One of the largest, and most obvious reason that templates take such a long time to load is that many of the templates used on websites have many large and detailed images that the server must load each time a new page is visited. Logically, to cut down on the amount of time required for a page load, we would need to allow the template to load only once, when a user first visits the page, rather than refresh every time a new page loads. Another advantage of this method is that if a change needs to be made to the template, only one file has to be editted, rather than every page on the website. Although this may sound confusing at first, as we go through the steps of creating this dynamic content, the purpose and effects will become more clear and your website will become more practical as well.

Dividing up the Template

This method of page loading is based around the idea of separating the top part of the template (above where the text of the page is located) and the bottom of the template (directly below where the page text is located), and then calling the page content from a separate file to be displayed in between the two parts. While most templates are much longer than the example below, most also share the same principle of having a top half, a location for page content and a bottom half. Let’s take for instance the following example of a simple template below…

<html>
<head>
<title>A simple Template</title>
</head>
<body>
<center>
<div id=”pagecontent” style=”text-align: center; width: 200px; font-size: 12px;”>
<!– page content –>
This is a simple template used to show the principles of how an HTML template is setup. It includes a header part of the template: the coding above this text, and a footer section: the coding below this text.
</div>
</center>
</body>
</html>

As shown above, the coding above the comment: <!– page content –> is considered the Header of the template. The coding below the the text: …the coding below this text… is considered the Footer. This will be very important when we break the template up into different sections. Now that we know logically how the template is setup, and we have planned out how to divide the template into separate parts, it is time to create the different files.

Please keep in mind that when doing these steps, you can still use your own template, but for the purposes of giving a visual example, the template above will be used in this tutorial. Now let’s get started! Because this can become confusing if mixed with other files, I would suggest creating a new folder. For the sake of the tutorial, let’s call that folder mytemplate. Using the template above, the following files (using the names given) should be created with the content quoted below:

header.php

<html>
<head>
<title>A simple Template</title>
</head>
<body>
<center>
<div id=”pagecontent” style=”text-align: center; width: 200px; font-size: 12px;”>

footer.php

</div>
</center>
</body>
</html>

With the creation of these two files, our new folder (mytemplate), should have the following files located in it (along the way, we will check to make sure that you have all the files in your template folder, to ensure that a step was no skipped by accident)…

• header.php
• footer.php

The next step is to create a folder for the pages themselves to go in. To keep is simple, we will call this folder pages (original, I know). To make a page the default page to load, we need to call it idx.php, signifying that it is the index file. Below is what should be contained in that file (NOTE: this file should be saved inside the pages folder)…

idx.php

<!– page content –>
This is a simple template used to show the principles of how an HTML template is setup. It includes a header part of the template: the coding above this text, and a footer section: the coding below this text.

Now that we have created the header and footer files, the pages folder, and added a page (idx.php) into that folder, our folder for the template should look like the following (in tree format)…

• pages (folder)
  • idx.php
• header.php
• footer.php

The last step is to create a file that will tie this system together. The index.php (below) file is used to call the header file, then the page content from the pages folder, and lastly the footer file. By doing this, we create the exact same template as the simple HTML one in the beginning, but now the header and footer files only load when the user first views the page (manually hitting the refresh button in the browser may also refresh the entire template). This is what the index.php file, saved in the normal directory (mytemplate) should look like (this file should be used both for this template and any custom templates, such as a template created by you)…

index.php

<?
include (“header.php”);
//Calls header file
$act = $_GET['act'];  //Delcares a variable for the URL
if(!isset($_GET['act']))
{
$act = “idx”;
//If no page is specified, than the idx page is used
}
$page = ‘pages/’. $act .’.php’; //Variable for the filename of the page
if($act)
{
if(!file_exists($page))
{
@include(“pages/404.php”);
//Loads the 404 Error page
}
else
{
@include($page);
//Loads the content of the page
}
}
include(“footer.php”);
//Calls the footer file
?>

Now that we have have created this new file, the directory for the template should have the following files in it…

• pages (folder)
  • idx.php
• header.php
• footer.php
• index.php

Creating New Pages

With this method of dynamic page loading, creating new pages is also simplified. To create a new page now, you only have to create a file with page content (text and images) and save it under the pages folder, rather add the entire template into each file, just like in the idx.php file. Note that all the files in the pages folder must have the extension .php or the index.php will not recognize them as pages. There is also no extra scripting required, simply drop the file into the folder, and upload it to the server, and the index.php file will automatically recognize it. To view the new page, use the following URL, replacing mywebsite.com with the URL of your website, and page with the name of your page (NOTE: when using the URL, do not add the .php extension to the file)…

http://mywebsite.com/?act=page

By adding the ?act= peripheral to the URL, the server fetches the page and knows to add the .php extension to find the page in the pages folder. That is why you don’t have to add the .php extension, because it is understood when fetching the file.

A Custom Error Page

Another benifit of this method is that you can create a custom error page to be displayed when a page cannot be found in the pages folder. To create this page, simply create a file with text and/or images on it, name it 404.php and place it in the pages folder. When you upload it to the server, the index.php file will call it if there is an error calling a page. If you don’t have a 404.php file, then the server will issue the normal 404 error. The following is an example of an error page…

404.php

<center>
<strong>404 Error!</strong>
<br /><br />
Sorry, there was an error loading the following page:
<br /><br />
<?
$act = $_GET['act'];
echo(“” . $act . “.php”);
?>
<br /><br />
Please be sure that this page exists before retrying.
<br /><br />
<a href=”javascript:history.go(0);”>Refresh</a> | <a href=”javascript:history.go(-1);”>Back</a>
</center>

This above example will tell the user that there was a 404 Error (in bold) and then tell them which page they were trying access when the error occurred. It also includes Javascript links to visit the previous page (back) or to refresh the current page. Although very short and simple, it contains some dynamic features that can help the user diagnose the problem and direct him or her to the currect location.

Credit & Recognition

I’d like to mention that the index.php file used in this tutorial was not created from the ground up by me, and I do not take credit for its use or features. The process that makes up this tutorial was also taught to me from the same person, and I have used it for the last few years as a standard on all webpages I create. I am only passing it on after getting comfortable using it and have put it to good use. I was given a basic version of the script, and over the past few years it has been modified to fit the various uses it was applied to. If you have any questions with this file or tutorial in general, I will be happy to help: simply leave a comment below. I would just like to state that I am not the creator of this script, and give recognition to those that it is due. I hope you can also put this script to good use, and most important of all: enjoy!

Tutorial Level: Beginner

When listening to music, getting a notice that specific songs cannot be listened to due to restricted formats can become frustrating very quickly. The good news is that OpenSUSE has a package that un-restricts many of the most popular music formats. Although there is not much to installing this package, there are two options to select, depending on which Desktop Environment you use. There is a package for Gnome and another for KDE. Below are links for the 1-Click Installers for both the Gnome and KDE version of the Restricted Multimedia Formats package. Note that these packages are for version 11.0 of OpenSUSE.

Gnome Desktops

KDE Desktops

Due to the nature of the 1-Click Installer, the installation process for this package is the easiest part. Simply follow step-by-step what YaST2 suggests for your and provide the information needed, and the package installer will do the rest. Once you have completed the installation, you will be able to listen to formats such as MP3, MPEG-4 and many others! Although a very simple tutorial, this package can make your music experience in OpenSUSE much smoother and more enjoyable!

]]> http://unseenghost.wordpress.com/2008/07/21/listening-to-restricted-formats/feed/ 1 unseenghost http://unseenghost.wordpress.com/2008/07/21/transferring-music-to-banshee/ http://unseenghost.wordpress.com/2008/07/21/transferring-music-to-banshee/#comments Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:59:51 +0000 unseenghost http://unseenghost.wordpress.com/?p=45 ]]> Transferring Songs from iTunes to Banshee

Tutorial Level: Beginner

With the growing popularity of the iPod and iPhone, a large majority of Windows users use Apple’s iTunes as their dedicated media player. One of the hard parts of switching from Windows to OpenSUSE is the transfer of data. To solve this problem with music and videos, Gnome’s Banshee player has adopted a very functional and useful tool to import music. While many media players can only import a single song at a time, Banshee allows you to transfer folders or even your entire music collection with just a few simple clicks. So now that we know about the feature to transfer songs, let’s put it to good use.

Transferring your Music Library

Because iTunes organizes it’s library into a single folder, we are able to transfer this entire folder (what we will refer to as the Library) into Banshee with a single import. Most of the time, the iTunes Library can be found in My Music in your Windows Documents, or it may be the My Music folder itself that contains the songs. If you are unsure of where your music for iTunes in located, open iTunes, and go to the Edit tab, and then Preferences. Select the Advanced tab on the top of the new window, and the General section will be selected by default. The first item on this window will be the iTunes Music folder location: this will show you where the current library for your music is located.

Now that we know the location of the folder, we have to import the library. Boot back into OpenSUSE if you are currently in Windows and open your Banshee Media player. Click the Media tab on the top-left of the Banshee player and select Import Media… (or press Ctrl+I). When the prompt appears, click the dropdown menu and select Local Folder. Next, press the Import Media Source button. This will open a window for you to select the location of your media source: in our case, the iTunes Library.

First, we need to get into the Windows folder. To do this, click the File System link in the left column of the locator. Once in the file system, scroll down to the bottom and select: windows. Once in this folder, double-click on the C directory. Now we are in the Windows directory. If you know the specific location of your iTunes Library, navigate to this location; if your iTunes Library is the My Music folder, use the following navigation to get to the folder (replacing Your name with your Windows username)…

Documents and Settings -> Your name -> My Documents

In this folder, you will find the My Music folder. Click this folder, but do not double-click, or it will explore the folder. Once you have clicked the folder once (same goes for those who have their library in a separate location: click the folder once), press the Open button on the bottom-right of the locator window. Now the music files will begin to upload. You can see the progress in the bottom-left of Banshee. Cover art will also be downloaded to match the albums in your library. If some of the cover artwork does not automatically download, press the Tools tab, then mouseover the Cover Art option and then select Download Cover Art.

Now that you have your music imported to Banshee, there’s only one thing left to do: listen to it! I hope this helps make the process of switching from Windows to OpenSUSE much easier, and much more fun. Note that some of the music formats may be restricted, and may require a special package to be installed to be able to listen to these restricted formats, for more help on that, refer to the Listening to Restricted Formats tutorial. Feel free to post any comments, concerns or suggestions below, and most importantly: enjoy!

Severity: Major

The following error is very important to steer-clear of because the only alternative I have found that will solve this problem once it occurs is to completely reinstall OpenSUSE 11.0. The error began when I was alerted that updates were available for installation and allowed my system to install the patches. The first error I received was a list of dependency errors (as follows)…

nothing provides libexiv2.so.4 needed by libkexiv2-3-0.1.7-15.i586
nothing provides libexiv2.so.4 needed by ufraw-0.13-52.i586
nothing provides libexiv2.so.4 needed by ufraw-gimp-0.13-52.i586
nothing provides yast2 >= 2.17.7 needed by yast2-installation-2.17.0-2.noarch
zvbi-0.2.30-3.i586 requires libzvbi.so.0, but this requirement cannot be provided
gconf2-branding-openSUSE-2.20-60.noarch requires desktop-data-openSUSE = 11.0, but this requirement cannot be provided
libtunepimp5-mp4-0.5.3-100.pm.9.i586 requires libtunepimp5 = 0.5.3-100.pm.9, but this requirement cannot be provided
zypper-0.11.9-0.1.i586 requires libzypp.so.424, but this requirement cannot be provided

The problem was compounded when I went to install a package in YaST Package Manager. I received the following error as I tried to install an unrelated package: click here. After some time of letting this problem go, I made the decision to downgrade Zypper. This worsened the problem as I now could not open any YaST Modules, such as Package Manager and LAN Connections. I got the following xmessage error…

Error while creating client module sw_single

The update for Zypper also had the dependency…

zypper-0.11.9-0.1.i586 requires libzypp.so.424, but this requirement cannot be provided

I downloaded the source files for libzypp.so.424 and moved them into the /usr/lib directory. This did not solve the problem. I was instructed to issue the command zypper sl in a terminal window to give a readout of the current repositories installed. After reinstalling OpenSUSE 11.0 (the second time, because I ran into this problem once, then reinstalled, and had it again, and reinstalled again), it was found that the error was caused by repository errors.

Solution

The error above is a known OpenSUSE problem, but is only caused by manually installing specific repositories. It was found that if Factory repositories, rather than 11.0 repositories, were added to YaST/Zypper, a dependency error would occur because the Factory repositories were not the same version as that of the operation system (OpenSUSE 11.0). The best way to keep this error from happening is to be sure that the repositories you add should be for version 11.0 (or your version of OpenSUSE) and not the Factory or another version of the repository.

]]> http://unseenghost.wordpress.com/2008/07/15/zypper-library-update/feed/ 0 unseenghost http://unseenghost.wordpress.com/2008/06/27/announcing-the-opensuse-110-installation-tutorial/ http://unseenghost.wordpress.com/2008/06/27/announcing-the-opensuse-110-installation-tutorial/#comments Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:04:17 +0000 unseenghost http://unseenghost.wordpress.com/?p=33 ]]> After much work and effort, the OpenSUSE 11.0 Installation Tutorial page is now available for use. It is a bit lengthy, but includes all the basic aspects of installing OpenSUSE 11.0 on your system. This tutorial includes step-by-step screenshots to aid visually in the process. It also has detailed explaination of each step of installing the operating system and configuration the basic components of OpenSUSE 11.0, such as repositories and video drivers. It will take you all the way from creating the DVD to working with your new desktop. Hope you enjoy!

Tutorial Level: Intermediate

Although using YaST package manager may be a very simple and easy way to install Wine on your OpenSUSE system, sometimes different games or programs will require a patches or to have Wine compiled from scratch. Compiling Wine from binary files may sound like a long process, but it is actually quite simple. In this tutorial, we’ll patch a binary file for Wine, compile and then install Wine. If you wish only to install a clean binary file without patching it, simple skip over the patching section. Now that we know why we should compile from scratch, let’s get started.

Preparations

Although compiling Wine is a few step process, it will require your OpenSUSE system to have some packages installed. These packages will do the work of preparing your binary files for the installation and installing Wine itself. There are specific packages that this installation requires, but to save time looking for each individual file and worrying about the dependencies of each, we are going to install an intire pattern through YaST. First, open YaST Software Management, and once the reopsitories load, set the grouping (below the left column) from the default, which may be Groups, to Patterns. Now scroll down in the left column to Development. There, click the Base Development pattern, and click the Install All button. Now, hit the Apply button to the right of the window, and wait for the packages to install. Once all the packages have installed, decline to install more.

Downloading and Extracting the Binary

Now that we are ready to compile the files, let’s put them on your system. The Wine website will have a link on the top right of the page of their latest release version. Click this link (which should look like Wine-1.0, only with the most recent version of the files). Now you will be directed to the download page. On this page, there should be links with the extension of .tar.bz2. Click one of the links to download the file to your system. Please remember where this file is being downloaded to. Once you have finished downloading the file, we are ready to open the package.

To open the package, open a new terminal window and login as SuperUser (su). Now, use the cd command to open the directory where you downloaded the folder. Next, we need to extract the files into a folder. To do this, type the following command into the terminal, replacing filename with the name of the file you have downloaded…

tar xvf filename

Now you should see a list of files being extracted and placed into a new folder (which will be named the same as the .tar.bz2 package, only without the extension). You can check if such a folder was created by typing dir in the terminal. This will return a list of all the files in the current directory. Now just check to see if the new folder is there.

Patching the Binary

If you want to patch the files, here is the time to do it. To do this, download the patch for Wine you wish to use. Remember where you download this file, the location is very important. Now we need to use the cp command to copy the patch into the folder you just created. To do this, run the following command, replacing /patch/location.diff and folder/location with the location of the patch you downloaded and the location of the folder you created, respectively…

cp /patch/location.diff folder/location

Note that there is only one space that seperates the location of the patch from the location of the folder. Now that the patch has been copied into the folder, we must run the patch command to initiate the patch. To do this, use the cd command to place yourself inside the new folder, and then run the following command, replacing patchname with the name of the patch you downloaded…

patch -p1 < patchname

This will now enact the patch, replacing or changing what the patch has to. This should only take a matter of moments, although may take longer if the patch is larger.

Compiling Wine

This part may take some time, but requires very little on your part. To start the compiling process, use the cd./configure command to place yourself inside the new folder you have created (if you have not already). Now, the command we need to run is…

./configure

Now you should see a long list of items being checked. Because we install the development packages earlier, you should not encounter any problems. If you do, the terminal will output an error message, most of the time giving the name of the package missing. Open software management, and search for this package and type the ./configure command again in the terminal.

Once you have completed the configuration, it is now time to run the make command. For this, we do not need to specify any location or parameters, just simply type make into the terminal window and hit the enter button; the rest the terminal will do. This part may take some time, so patiences will pay off.

Once the process is finally complete, run make install. This will install the configured binaries, and thus install Wine. This part may also take some time, but is much quicker than the previous command. Although not required, you can also run the make clean command to leave you with a clean installation, rather than having files left over from the compiling and installation steps.

To make sure everything has gone according to plan, test that Wine was installed and works properly. You can simply type wine –version to find the current version of Wine that you are running. If the version matches the one you installed, then you are good-to-go.

Keep in mind that the process of compiling is not only used for Wine, but for many open source applications and programs. That is one of the reasons we installed the entire development pattern in the beginning of the tutorial, because you will most likely see or use these programs again. It is a good idea to keep these packages installed on your system, in case you need them in the future. Always be sure to check the Wine Application Database to see if a program requires patching or other outside sources to install the program.

]]> http://unseenghost.wordpress.com/2008/06/23/compling-wine-from-binary-files/feed/ 0 unseenghost http://unseenghost.wordpress.com/2008/06/22/installing-both-gnome-and-kde/ http://unseenghost.wordpress.com/2008/06/22/installing-both-gnome-and-kde/#comments Sun, 22 Jun 2008 17:39:01 +0000 unseenghost http://unseenghost.wordpress.com/?p=25 ]]> Switching between Gnome and KDE

Tutorial Level: Intermediate

One of the best aspects of OpenSUSE is by far choice: the ability to choose all new settings for each person that uses the operating system. OpenSUSE 11.0 highlighted this even further with the release of new versions of Gnome and KDE. Gnome 2.22 added creative new features such as the weather and temperature display in the system clock. KDE4 is a whole new kettle of fish, with complete overhauls on many of the features familiar with KDE. With cool new features in both desktop environments, it can become difficult to choose which to install and use. Good news: You can install and switch between them when you login! This tutorial will become extensive at times, but will focus on the software aspect of the installation of OpenSUSE 11.0. Be sure that you have planned out any chances you wish to make in the installation ahead of time, and be sure to change those settings at any time in the installation as this tutorial will not include instructions to do so.

Refer to OpenSUSE 11.0 DVD Installation for a visual guide

Installation with OpenSUSE DVD

Before performing installation, save all important information to an outside source, such as a CD/DVD or flash drive. All information will be lost on an old system during installation.

First we must boot from the OpenSUSE 11.0 DVD. To do this, place the DVD in your drive, and restart your computer. One of the first screens you will see is the BIOS screen. It will most likely have a large company logo across it. There should be a message across the bottom of the screen that tells you to press a specific key for more options. Press this key and if there is a subsequent menu, choose BIOS settings. Now the BIOS screen will appear with all the system configuration options for your computer. Use the arrow keys to move to the Boot tab. Once in that tab, there will be a list of boot priorities. Hit enter on the first slot and select your CD/DVD drive. Now move to the Exit tab and save the changes. Now exit and your computer will restart.

Once your computer restarts, you should see a welcome screen and then a options screen. The second option will be Installation. Use the mouse keys to put the selector over this option and hit enter. Wait a few moments for the Kernel to load. This may take anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or so. Once the kernel loads, you will be presented with the installation screen.

The first screen will be the language settings. Set your language for OpenSUSE and your keyboard to the language you wish to use. This page will also have a license agreement. Once you have finished reading the license, check the I Agree box. You can also see the license in a dialogue box. Once you have entered the settings to your liking and have agreed to the license, click the Next button. The next screen that will appear is the System Analysis. This will just scan your computer for hardware and devices. It may take some time, but it requires no work on your part.

The next screen will allow you to select the type of installation you want to perform. For this tutorial, and suggested in almost all cases, we will choose New Installation. After you hit the Next button, you will be able to choose your timezone. You can either use the world map, or use the dropdowns to set your time. After you have the correct time, hit the Next button again.

The next screen is the first step in allowing you to use both Gnome and KDE4. Select the desktop environment you wish to be your primary environment (that will load on default when you login). As OpenSUSE states, it is a matter of personal preference, and I can’t really give a recommendation. But keep in mind that you will be able to use both, it is just a matter of choosing which will load on default.

Once you have chosen your primary environment, hit the Next button and you will be brought to the partition screen. If you already have OpenSUSE installed and are either updating or reinstalling, refer to Installing over Existing Partitions for further information on this topic. If all the suggested settings, or the personally corrected settings match what you are looking for, hit the Next button.

Now you can create your first user: you! Enter your full name, and OpenSUSE will suggest a username (your first name in lower case letters). Next, enter your password and reenter it in the confirm field. Below, there will be three check boxes. If you want your root password be the same as the password your just entered, keep the Use this password for system administrator box checked. Next, if you are the main user on your system, I would suggest checking the Receive System Mail, although it is not required. The Automatic Login box leave UNCHECKED. Automatically logging in will require an extra step when switching between desktop environments. The default summary settings can be left alone, unless you are sure of what you want to change. Hit the Next button when you are finished.

The Installation Overview page is the one we need to work with. Wait for the installation settings to load. Once all the items have fully loaded, either click on the Software header in bold, or click on the Change… button, and then select Software…. Now you will see a screen with all the software patterns you can install. If you have selected KDE4 as your main desktop environment, find the package: Gnome Desktop Environment and check the box next to it. Notice that the Gnome Base System will automatically be checked as well. This is what we want, so please DO NOT uncheck this box. Now, if you have chosen Gnome as the main desktop, find KDE4 Desktop Environment and check the box, which will also check KDE4 Base System. You can also install KDE3 Desktop Environment and KDE3 Base System if you want as well to have three choices.

Once you have selected the correct packages, click the OK button. Now you will return to the overview page and it will refresh. If you like the settings that are there and are sure you have looked over everything in detail, click the Install button. You will be asked to confirm this action. Once you accept, the installation will start. It may take some time to complete the installation. You can either walk away and wait until the installation is complete, or you can enjoy the OpenSUSE slide-show.

Once you have completed the installation, your computer will restart and YaST will automatically configure some hardware and network connections and settings. Once this is done, you will be ready to login for the first time: Congratulations! You have successfully installed OpenSUSE 11.0!

(After you login for the first time, be sure to configure your graphics card settings. See Installing your Graphics Card Drivers for a walkthrough of this. Note that you may have to change your boot options again in your BIOS back to the hard-drive, or the installer will boot the next time the computer restarts.)

Switch between Desktop Environments

Switching between desktop environments is actually quite easy. When you are presented with the login page with the username field, on the bottom-left of the screen, there will be a link called Sessions. Click this link, and a prompt will appear. It will automatically be set to the last session you used, but you can choose KDE4 or Gnome (as well as KDE3 if you decided to install it) to run if you are currently running the other. Just remember that you have to switch back to your primary DE (Desktop Environment) after using another.

Installation through Package Manager

You can also install a new DE through YaST after you have installed OpenSUSE. To do this, open the YaST package manager and wait for the repository to load (which only takes a mere seconds). Once the manager loads, set the dropdown on the bottom-left from Groups to Patterns. Now scroll down on the left panel to Graphical Environment. There you will find all the DEs available in your current version of OpenSUSE. Click on the one you want to install and click the Install button. All dependencies will be installed as well, just as in the case of the complete installation above.

The last and most important thing to remember is to have fun and experiment with your OpenSUSE system. Don’t be afraid to try new environments to find which you suits you or fits you best.

Tutorial Level: Intermediate

OpenSUSE allows for great flexibility during its installation. Many people who install OpenSUSE, especially with the release of version 11.0, already have OpenSUSE installed. Others may want to reinstall OpenSUSE to format their partitions. The great thing is that OpenSUSE allows you to install over an existing partition. During the installation, you can change the settings to format these partitions and install a clean version of OpenSUSE. Please keep in mind that this tutorial is not meant to walk you through the installation, but to focus on the partitioning section of the installation.

Refer to Installing both Gnome and KDE for further installation information.

Formatting and Installing a Partition

Once you have begun the installation, you will come to the section: Disk. This is where the information on your current partitions are located and where changes can be made. YaST will present you with a suggestion for installing OpenSUSE, but most likely this will not include the options we are looking for. Note that we will be formatting the partition and keeping the same amount of space allocated for each, not deleting and changing the partition size. To being changing the partition setup, click the Edit Partition Setup… button.

This will bring you to a screen with all of the current partitions. At the bottom of the list, there will be three partitions with the names…

• swap
• /
• /home

Click the swap partition, and click the Edit button in the button group at the lower side of the screen. Now a prompt will appear with two radio buttons (the circle with the dot) on it. Click the second box that says Format. Now, do this again to the / and /home partitions and hit the OK button. Now all of these partitions are slated to be formated (and will appear in red on the Disk screen and the Installation Overview) and then have the new swap, /, and /home partitions written over it for the new OpenSUSE system.

]]> http://unseenghost.wordpress.com/2008/06/22/installing-over-existing-partitions/feed/ 1 unseenghost http://unseenghost.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/browsing-with-nautilus/ http://unseenghost.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/browsing-with-nautilus/#comments Fri, 20 Jun 2008 01:04:18 +0000 unseenghost http://unseenghost.wordpress.com/?p=23 ]]> Using Nautilus File Browser

Tutorial Level: Extensive

Gnome’s Nautilus file browser has be overlooked as a less powerful alternative to its counterpart in Konqueror or Krusader. Although Nautilus does not have all the features of the KDE file browsers, it does not mean that Nautilus should be overlooked. On the contrary, it is a great tool when browsing through system files and personal folders. Because of it’s great usage, Gnome has adopted Nautilus as its default file browser and continues to work to improve the program. Now that we have a background to the program, let’s begin looking through the many aspects of this file browser.

Finding your way Around

File browsers such as Konqueror are great for their purpose and come with extras, such as doubling as an internet browser, but Nautilus has stuck to its main purpose: file browsing. It’s interface reflects this purpose, making finding important files convenient and easy. First, let’s open a Nautilus window: press Alt+F2 and type nautilus to find the application. Now that we have the browser open, let’s breakdown the basic parts of the interface.

Let’s start with the Places sidebar. The default setting for this bar will show common places on your system at a glance, including your personal documents folder, media such as a CD or DVD in your drive, links on your desktop, File System, the trash bin and others. The great part about this bar is that you can add your own folders to this list.

To do this, click a folder or file, click the Bookmarks tab at the top of the browser and click Add Bookmark. You can also click the file or folder and then press Ctrl+D to easily add a bookmark. Once you bookmark a location, it will appear in the left sidebar and if you double-click it, Nautilus will load the contents of the folder or open a specified program such as OpenOffice or Gedit for documents and files.

The great part about the program is customization. If you rather not have your common places in the sidebar, not a problem, you can change this with a few clicks. If you click on the Places button at the top of the sidebar, you will have the option to show the following besides Places…

• Information: This option will give a basic overview of the current directory or folder. It will show the number of files, last edit date and contain a link to open the folder in a separate Nautilus window.
• Tree: The tree format will list the directories and folder on your system in a expand and collapse format. This is great for seeing the parent location while viewing files.
• History: This format will show the most recent locations you have visited in a fashion similar to the list in the Place sidebar. Great for finding files you may have forgotten about in the last few days.
• Notes: Add notes about your folder or file for future reference.
• Emblems: They say a picture can tell a thousand words. Drag an emblem to a folder to add a graphic caption to the folder, such as a heart for a favorite folder or exclamation point for an important directory.

Now that we’ve seen the sidebar, let’s look at the Location Bar that runs across the top of the file pane. This shows the location you are currently in and the parent folders to the left. If you delve into a long list of directories, Nautilus will abbreviate the list with a simple left arrow. Click this arrow to expand the list and see a complete heading of the parent folders.

The Main Toolbar has buttons for easy access to common tasks such as back, forward, reload, the Home and Computer directories and search. If you click the search button, your status bar will be replaced by a search field. The last panel is the Status Bar that shows miscellaneous information, such as space left in a directory, number of items in a directory and much more. To hide any of these panels, click the View tab at the top of the browser and uncheck any of the boxes in the second section.

The Main Panel

Now that we are familiar with the extra panels that surround the main panel, we’ll focus on the heart of the Nautilus browser: the file pane. The basic functions of this panel as similar to that of a Windows browser: double-click to open a file or view a directory. But it wouldn’t be OpenSUSE if it didn’t go one step further. If you right click on a file or folder, you can open the location in a new window of with an appropriate text editor, cut, copy, paste into a folder, trash the item, encrypt…the options are numerous. If you right click on a folder or directory, you can even open the location in a terminal window.

You can also view the properties of an item in the right click menu. This prompt you with a panel that shows much of the information that was available in the sidebar, as well as sharing options and the default program to open this item. You can also change how you view the items in a directory: as a list or in icon format. The icon format is similar to that of the Windows file browser, and the list view gives you a better view of folder and file information at a quick glance. Examples: Icon view, List view.

As you can see in the images, the list view gives a bit more information than the icon view and gives the option of a tree view (with the arrow icon) if needed. To switch the view in the current directory, click the View tab and select your view on the last section of the dropdown. You can perminately set the view with Edit -> Preferences and setting the default view in the first option on the prompt.

Customizing the Browser

One of the most important parts of Nautilus is the customization and flexibility it allows. Above is only one example of the changes you can make to fit your liking. There are almost endless number of combinitations that are available. Since we could not possibily describe everyone of them in this tutorial, we’ll cover the major changes you can make to make file surfing as easy as possible.

First, we need to open the preferences prompt again. To do this, if you have not already, click the Edit tab and click the last option on the the menu (Preferences). The first options shown are for the viewing options. Here, you can change how items are arranged and to show hidden files if you need. There are also options for the zoom size in different instances. The zoom size will either make the icons or list information smaller or bigger, depending on the preferences you set.

If you click on the Behavior Tab on the top of the prompt, there will be options for how and when to open items, and the options pertaining to the trash bin. The next tab, the Display tab, had options for the appearence of items in the icon or list view. Here, you can set what will be shown and the format of dates in Nautilus. The List Columns tab had options for what information to display in the list view. This includes the order of categories for files and folders. The last tab, Preivew, allows you to edit the preview information of Nautilus.

Because all the settings and options can be displayed in this tutorial, the best way to find new options and suit them to your liking is to try them yourself. There are many options that can be found when playing around with the application. An example would be the server options. If you click on the File tab, and then Connect to Server…, you can enter a server’s connection information and connect to that server. I hope this tutorial has taught you about the advantages and disadvantages of Nautilus file browser and gotten you more comfortable using the program.