User Help

[3picide]

This might fall under as Beginner help. Sorry in advance if it does.

Okay, so I am relatively new to Linux. I'm becoming more familiar with it. I went through some options. I went under configuration and went to what seems to be an all-around configuration tool. I went under users and accidentally clicked Default. Now, everything looks a lot different. My main desktop appears empty, even though there are files saved there (I checked in the File Browser). However, now, when I go back to where the Configuration option I went to before, it is no longer there. Ideally, I'd like maybe a command or something that could just open up the configuration for me so I could switch back to my actual user account; assuming that's actually what I changed.

[ppietro]

This might fall under as Beginner help. Sorry in advance if it does.

Okay, so I am relatively new to Linux. I'm becoming more familiar with it. I went through some options. I went under configuration and went to what seems to be an all-around configuration tool. I went under users and accidentally clicked Default. Now, everything looks a lot different. My main desktop appears empty, even though there are files saved there (I checked in the File Browser). However, now, when I go back to where the Configuration option I went to before, it is no longer there. Ideally, I'd like maybe a command or something that could just open up the configuration for me so I could switch back to my actual user account; assuming that's actually what I changed.

Hiya!

I'm not actually sure where you found that tool. To help us start troubleshooting, I have a quick question.

What environment are you using? Are you using the stock YDL environment? (That's Enlightenment aka E17) Or have you switched to Gnome?

Cheers,
Paul

[3picide]

Yes, I'm using the E17 environment.

I went under the Main Menu and under Configuration. At the top of that menu there was a tool labeled something along the lines of "Configuration". I was going through some of the tools. I stumbled upon a setting dealing with Users. I double clicked an entry (other than my user account) named "Default". E17 reloaded and all of the settings were changed and there are no icons at all on my desktop, even though the files still exist when I use the File Browser. Also, going back to where I found the tool, it is no longer there along with a few others. For the record, I'm just using the root account (the only account I have set up).

[ppietro]

Yes, I'm using the E17 environment.

I went under the Main Menu and under Configuration. At the top of that menu there was a tool labeled something along the lines of "Configuration". I was going through some of the tools. I stumbled upon a setting dealing with Users. I double clicked an entry (other than my user account) named "Default". E17 reloaded and all of the settings were changed and there are no icons at all on my desktop, even though the files still exist when I use the File Browser. Also, going back to where I found the tool, it is no longer there along with a few others. For the record, I'm just using the root account (the only account I have set up).

Okay - I have an idea what you changed - but I'm still not exactly sure what you changed.

So - let's try this.

1. Before you log in as root, switch to a text mode using CTRL-ALT-F1
2. Log in as root in this text screen
3. Type this:
mv .e backup.e
4. Type exit to return to the login screen
5. Go back to your graphic login with an ALT-F7
6. Login in with your root account.

Enlightenment keeps its settings in the .e directory. We're renaming it - by moving it..... yeah I know it's weird - it's a Unix thing.

If Enlightenment starts without a .e directory, it will create one from its built in presets.

Once you get your desktop back, I would strongly encourage you to create a normal user. You can do this from the (YDL) --> Applications --> System Tools --> Users and Groups icon in E17.

Unix - unlike Windows - works well with a non-Administrative user. This gives you protection against account hijacking.

As an example - if you're doing an install, you can elevate just that install program to root, leaving the rest of your system as a normal user. Then after the install, you can run the program as a normal user. This is different from most Windows apps where you need to run and install the program as an Administrator.

And - using the su command, you can turn any terminal window into a root user session - which comes in very handy.

Cheers,
Paul

[3picide]

One problem with that, though. For some reason unknown to me, I don't start up in a graphical login. I have to login in a text version (which is what I'll do; just follow your instructions after that part, assuming I'm in text mode). I then have to execute "startx" to make it go into the actual E17 environment. I'll edit this post with my results if you don't respond before then. Thanks.

[ppietro]

One problem with that, though. For some reason unknown to me, I don't start up in a graphical login. I have to login in a text version (which is what I'll do; just follow your instructions after that part, assuming I'm in text mode). I then have to execute "startx" to make it go into the actual E17 environment. I'll edit this post with my results if you don't respond before then. Thanks.

That's fine - just follow my post from the text login onward.

If you want to use a graphical login, you need to follow these steps:
http://us.fixstars.com/support/solution ... to-5.shtml

Cheers,
Paul

[3picide]

Thanks so much. That worked. Any tips (other than using a normal account) for a newcomer to Linux? I figured out how to install programs (believe me, that was a struggle lol). Well, I do have one specific question: what would be considered the executable file for Linux? I have a KDevelop for C++, but I'm not really sure what I'm compiling it into. I'm reading a tutorial on it, but it didn't really explain what each step actually did.

[ppietro]

Thanks so much. That worked. Any tips (other than using a normal account) for a newcomer to Linux? I figured out how to install programs (believe me, that was a struggle lol). Well, I do have one specific question: what would be considered the executable file for Linux? I have a KDevelop for C++, but I'm not really sure what I'm compiling it into. I'm reading a tutorial on it, but it didn't really explain what each step actually did.

Unix doesn't use extensions like DOS/Windows does. Files are either executable or they're not. We use the chmod command to set the "executability" of a file. https://www.cs.drexel.edu/cgi-bin/manServer.pl/chmod.1 or you can just type man chmod from a terminal window to see the built-in help pages.

Sidetrack

The ls -al command from a terminal window will print a directory listing that includes the permissions for user,group,other, showing read,write,execute.

Code: Select all

[paulp@localhost ~]$ cd /bin
[paulp@localhost bin]$ ls -al
total 7136
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root    4096 Feb 16 16:14 .
drwxr-xr-x 23 root root    4096 Mar 17 14:33 ..
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root    6268 May 24  2008 alsacard
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root   18772 May 24  2008 alsaunmute
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root    4988 May 24  2008 arch
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root       4 Feb  4 10:21 awk -> gawk
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root   18484 May 24  2008 basename
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root  735004 May 24  2008 bash
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root   23132 May 24  2008 cat
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root   41828 May 24  2008 chgrp


See those rwx's at the far left? That's the read ("r"), write ("w") and/or execute ("x") flag. Unix also keeps track of file permissions for user, group and others. So - the r,w,x are clumped in groups of three - user rwx, group rwx, and other rwx. The first letter designates whether the directory entry is another directory ("d") or a symbolic link to another file ("l")

ahem - okay - sidetrack over

So - yes - you would use C++ to compile a file. But - the final file would just be a name.

Here's an example Hello World program in plain vanilla C:

Code: Select all

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
        printf("Hello World!\n");
        return 0;
}

You can use gedit or nano to create this file. Call it "hello.c" - the .c is added for our convenience - Unix doesn't care what the actual ending is. Now, from a terminal window, you can compile it thusly:

gcc -o hello32 -m32 hello.c

and for 64 bit

gcc -o hello64 -m64 hello.c

These commands will generate two executables - hello32 and hello64. To run them, you'd just type the full path to the executable - or do it the Unix way which is to use the "." as a macro for current path.

So - that would be - from a terminal window in the same directory as the binary:
./hello32 and ./hello64

You can use the file command to tell you more about any file. Here's the output from my PS3:

Code: Select all

[paulp@yurie test]$ gcc -o hello32 -m32 hello.c
[paulp@yurie test]$ file hello32
hello32: ELF 32-bit MSB executable, PowerPC or cisco 4500, version 1 (SYSV), for GNU/Linux 2.6.9, dynamically linked (uses shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.9, not stripped
[paulp@yurie test]$ gcc -o hello64 -m64 hello.c
[paulp@yurie test]$ file hello64
hello64: ELF 64-bit MSB executable, cisco 7500, version 1 (SYSV), for GNU/Linux 2.6.9, dynamically linked (uses shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.9, not stripped
[paulp@yurie test]$

There's more about Unix executables here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executable
including the format the Linux uses:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executable ... ble_Format

Cheers,
Paul