Guide to install Linux on lab computer

CentOS 6.2

Preparation

1. Request static IP address in 137.110.118 or 137.110.119 subnet, suggest DNS name (find inspiration at [1])
2. Send DNS name to Jurgen to update data bank at [2]

Hardware

1. Set up computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse on lab desk
2. Make sure mouse is wired and optical; talk to Jurgen if not
3. Connect monitor with DVI cable, not VGA
4. Connect network cable to activated Ethernet wall jack

Install Operating System

1. insert CentOS DVD-ROM
2. reboot computer
3. in boot manager: select DVD drive to boot from DVD
4. use default regional settings (US/English)
5. set root password
6. in time zone settings: enable NTP
7. Configure network
8. start network configuration tool in System->Administration->Network
9. double click on connected Ethernet port
10. enter this computer's static IP address
11. net mask: 255.255.255.0
12. DNS servers: 132.239.0.252, 128.54.16.2
13. reboot

Configure File Server Access

1. Add machine's IP address to server's "exports" file
2. "exportfs -r" on server
3. Add two lines to /etc/fstab:

  137.110.118.210:/raid/ivlhome   /home         nfs     defaults        0 0
  137.110.118.211:/raid/ivldata	  /data         nfs     defaults        0 0

1. mkdir /data
2. mount -a

Optional: Delay NFS Mount

If home directories aren't mounted upon reboot: give OS time to get network ready before mounting the NFS

1. "vi /etc/init.d/netfs"
2. insert the following line:

   action $"Sleeping for 30 secs: " sleep 30

   between line:

   [ ! -f /var/lock/subsys/portmap ] && service portmap start

   and

   action $"Mounting NFS filesystems: " mount -a -t nfs,nfs4

   This makes sure the server directory gets mounted.

Install Additional Library Repositories

Enable RPMforge repository:

• wget http://packages.sw.be/rpmforge-release/rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el6.rf.x86_64.rpm
• rpm --import http://apt.sw.be/RPM-GPG-KEY.dag.txt # install GPG key
• rpm -K rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el6.rf.x86_64.rpm # make sure this returns OK
• rpm -i rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el6.rf.x86_64.rpm # install repository

Install additional libraries

Install libraries which are part of CentOS:

yum -y groupinstall "Chinese Support"
yum -y install eclipse
yum -y install kernel-devel
yum -y install arts-devel
yum -y install freetype-devel
yum -y install freeglut-devel
yum -y install ImageMagick-devel
yum -y install ImageMagick-c++-devel.x86_64
yum -y install emacs
yum -y install screen
yum -y install gnuplot
yum -y install latex2html
yum -y install gsl-devel
yum -y install lapack-devel
yum -y install opencv-devel

The following libraries are not part of CentOS:

yum -y install fltk
yum -y install fltk-fluid
rpm -Uhv /home/jschulze/rpm/Cg-2.1_November2008_x86_64.rpm
rpm -Uhv /home/jschulze/rpm/mxml-2.2.2-8.el5.ccrma.x86_64.rpm
ln -s /usr/lib64/libmxml.so.1 /usr/lib64/libmxml.so

Bring All Yum Packages Up To Date

1. yum -y update
2. reboot

Install graphics driver

• on login screen: hit ctrl-alt-F1
• log in as root
• "init 3"
• log in as root again
• For CentOS 6: Disable Nouveau driver
  • create config file: vi /etc/modprobe.d/disable-nouveau.conf
  • contents for this file:

    blacklist nouveau options nouveau modeset=0

  • vi /etc/grub.conf
  • add rdblacklist=nouveau to kernel line:

    kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64 ro root=/dev/mapper/vg_pumice-lv_root rd_NO_LUKS KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us LANG=en_US.UTF-8 rd_NO_MD rd_LVM_LV=vg_pumice/lv_root SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 rhgb rd_LVM_LV=vg_pumice/lv_swap rd_NO_DM rdblacklist=nouveau

  • reboot
• Install Nvidia driver
  • "sh /home/jschulze/rpm/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-290.10.run"
  • do not install 32bit compatibility drivers
  • allow auto-editing xorg.conf
• reboot

Copy root's ssh keys

1. ssh root@sessions.ucsd.edu
2. cd .ssh
3. scp * root@<new_machine>:.ssh

Add user accounts

• Copy passwd, shadow and group files from sessions

Disable user list at login

• As root type on command line:

gconftool-2 --direct --config-source xml:readwrite:/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.mandatory --type Boolean --set /apps/gdm/simple-greeter/disable_user_list True