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10. Quick Reference


Subsections

10.1 Special Keys

Ctrl-Alt-F1..F4
Text consoles (when you don't want X-Windows.)
Cltr-Alt-F5
(Red console) error messages ... should be no messages.
Ctrl-Alt-F6
See all syslog messages (older messages lost, try dmesg)
Ctrl-Alt-F8
Switches to 8-bit X-Server (if it is running)
Ctrl-Alt-F9
Switches to true-color X-Server (if it is running)
Ctrl-Alt-Del
Starts X-Windows OR gets back to X-Windows from console.
Shift-Fn-+(numpad)
Changes size of fonts in rxvt windows; shift-Fn-: shrinks.
Ctrl-Alt-+(numpad)
Switches video modes (800x600, 640x480, etc.)
Fn-F7
[Vaio SRxx] doesn't work as labeled (see below.)
Alt-F7
[Vaio SRxx] cycles between LCD, LCD+CRT, CRT monitor
Jog dial
[Vaio] Click to switch between volume/brightness setting.
Power button
Press briefly to put laptop to sleep. Press 10 seconds to reset a crashed machine.

10.2 Commands (for root user)

Note: You can make your own scripts or aliases for commands in this list by adding a simple script to $HOME/bin/ (create this directory first, if needed.)

su
Become superuser with full permissions (until you set a password for root, root logins through telnet or ssh into your machine are not permitted.)
reboot
Use this to reboot the machine.
halt
Use this to shut down the machine and power off.
dmesg
Display most recent kernel messages
reconfig
All relevant settings are under first two submenus.
ppp on
Dial the modem (should happen auto when you plug it in.)
ppp off
Hang up the modem.
modprobe vfat
Add support for DOS/Windows filesystem to kernel.
modprobe sd_mod
Add scsi disk support to kernel (needed for USB floppy)
modprobe floppy
Add floppy support (not needed for a USB floppy)
mount /dev/fd0 /A
Normal way to mount floppy diskette (even DOS formatted)
mount /dev/sda /A
Mount USB floppy diskette
mount /dev/hda5 /D
Mount your D: drive, for example
swapon /dev/hda7
Enable swapping to partition 7 (can also be a swap file)
swapoff /dev/hda7
Disable swapping (to ensure minimized disk access.)
/etc/rc.d/rc.local
Commands which automatically run at boot (check inside) If you always run some of the commands above after booting, consider just adding them to rc.local. NOTE: rc.local is now "encapsulated" in reconfig. See the "Encapsulated files" section. Direct edits to files like fstab or rc.local will otherwise be lost!
/etc/rc.d/rc.inet
Run manually to force network to be re-initialized.

10.3 Network File System (NFS)

Assuming you have permission to NFS mount your home directory (at CFHT you can mount others, like /data/world/, the same way) here are the steps. Let's say your home account is on hoku . . .

10.4 Screen blanking and locking

sleep 2;xset s
activate Blank X now. (unblanking right away LOCKS UP some older Vaio's. Be careful.)
xset s 0 0
Disable the X screen blanker entirely.
xset s 120
Set 2 minute screen blank timeout in X
setterm -blank 2
Set 2 minute screen blank timeout on text console
xlock
Lock the screen (actually uses xscreensaver)
xscreensaver&
Start the screen save daemon.
xscreensaver-command -prefs
Control xscreensaver options.

10.5 Portable Computing

10.5.1 Using the PC Card slots

In general, it is a good idea to power down the PCMCIA slot before physically removing the card. For disks, CDROMs, and other devices which may contain mounted filesystems, it is essential to do this to avoid a bunch of errors from the kernel. If the device has a power LED, make sure the LED is off before physically removing the card. To power down the slot from a shell:


# cardctl eject

Or use the PC Card Ops menu in the root menu of the window manager.

To change CDROMs, use cardctl eject to open the tray, close the tray yourself and then use cardctl insert to power up the slot again. PCMCIA CDROMs are automatically mounted on /mnt/cdrom/ when the drive is present. If no disk was present, use these software eject and insert commands and the disk will appear automatically.

10.5.2 Hard drive tuning

hdparm -d /dev/hda
See if DMA is turned on for the drive
hdparm -d 1 /dev/hda
Turn DMA on (it should be already)
hdparm -y /dev/hda
Force immediate spin-down of the drive (It will just spin right back up if something is accessing it, so you'll have to tune this.)


  if ( hdparm -C /dev/hda | grep -q active ); then
     : # THE DRIVE IS SPINNING
  else
     : # THE DRIVE IS ALREADY IN STANDBY
  fi


next up previous contents
Next: 11. Bugs Up: Sidious Linux 10.04 Previous: 9. Utilities and   Contents
root
2006-05-11