Monday, July 30, 2007

EngicOS - The First GEC Linux

ENGICOS

Knoppix . Debian . GNU/Linux

Created and Designed by Alok Kamat.


What is ENGICOS ?

ENGICOS is a remastering of Knoppix which in turn is a compilation of GNU/Linux software, run completely from CD. It automatically recognizes and supports many types of graphic cards, sound cards, SCSI devices and other peripheral devices. ENGICOS can be adapted and used as a Linux demo, a training course CD, a rescue system or as a platform for commercial software product demos. It is especially created and designed for the Goa College of Engineering (GEC) students. It is not necessary to install anything on fixed disk. Using transparent decompression, up to 2 gigabytes of executable software can be put on a CD (this CD, for instance, has 1700MB of software on it).

What software is on the ENGICOS-CD ?

In addition to a standard Debian based GNU/Linux distribution (www.debian.org) the following "highlights" are available on this CD:

KDE V3.x as the standard desktop, with KOffice and the Konqueror WWW browser.
X Multimedia System (xmms) with MPEG video and MP3 support as well as the Ogg Vorbis Audio Player
Internet-access software kppp and isdn-utilities
Gnu Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) Version 1.2
Tools for data rescue and system repair
Network analysis and administration tools
OpenOffice(TM) 1.x, the GPL'd version of the well-known StarOffice(TM) office suite
Many programming languages, development tools (kdevelop, among others), as well as libraries for software developers.
Altogether, over 900 installed software packages, comprising over 2000 executable user programs, utilities, and games.
Please check the internet for the overview of installed packages and the CHANGELOG with information about current changes and developments. The real version number (=build date) of your CD-Rom is shown on the boot screen at the upper right corner. Please always state this number when you have a question or comment.

System Requirements

Intel-compatible CPU (i486 or better),
20 MB of ram for text mode, and at least 82 MB for graphic mode with KDE. (To run various Office applications, at least 128 MB is recommended),
a bootable CD-ROM/DVD drive, or alternatively, a boot floppy and a standard CD-ROM/DVD drive (IDE/ATAPI or SCSI),
a standard SVGA-compatible graphics card,
and a standard serial or PS/2 mouse, or IMPS/2-compatible USB Mouse.

How to run ENGICOS ?

In order to start the CD, first adjust the boot list in the BIOS Setup of your computer to boot from CD (before the hard drive). Put the CD in and restart the computer. If your computer does not support this option, you must use a boot diskette, which you can create with the help of the boot image /KNOPPIX/boot.img available on the CD. Use the mkfloppy.bat script for the regular boot image (German version). Use the command rawrite2 -f boot-en.img -d A (in the KNOPPIX directory) to create an English boot disk.

How to Install ENGICOS on Your Hard Disk.

To start with the installation first you will require a hard disk partitioning tool to partition your hard disk. You can either use fdisk (Linux & DOS) or Partition Magic (Windows). You can also use cfdisk utility for partitioning which will appear during the installation process. Now assuming that you have ‘Windows’ already installed on your system we shall move further. Using the partitioning tool create a partition of at least 4GB (It should be a Logical partition of file system ext2) and a partition equal to twice of your RAM size eg. If you have a RAM of 128MB, then the size of this partition should be 256MB aprrox.(It should be a Logical partition of file system LinuxSWAP, this partition will act as a swap). Once you have created these two partitions we can start with the installation.

Insert the ENGICOS CD into your cd-rom drive and boot via it. Wait till it is fully loaded. Now follow the steps given below.

1) First press Ctrl+Alt+F1, this will take you in the text mode.
2) Now type ‘knx-hdinstall’. You will be now taken through a series of Windows.
3) Knx-hdinstall 0.39: Press OK
4) Partition Hard Disk: Press space bar to select the hard disk that you partitioned and press OK.
5) Partition Hard Disk: Message ‘Launching cfdisk’ will be displayed, press OK.
6) Cfdisk 2.11z: Press Tab to navigate to ‘Quit’ and press Enter.
7) Virtual Memory (swap): Message ‘Do you want a SWAP’ will be displayed, press OK.
8) Setup Swap: Press Spacebar to select the partition you created as LinuxSWAP and press OK.
9) Setup Swap: Confirm Yes.
10) Creating Filesystem: Press Spacebar to select the partition you created as ext2 and press OK.
11) Creating Filesystem: Choose the filesystem type as ext2 and press OK.
12) Creating Filesystem: Confirm Yes.
13) Copy Files: Message ‘Now files will be copied’ will be displayed, press OK. This process will take 10 to 40 minutes depending on your system. During the copying process you might get some Input/Output (I/O) errors or your monitor may blackout, just do not touch anything till the whole copying process is over. If your monitor blacks out just press the Enter key once.
14) A message box will appear indicating the finish of the copying process.
15) Mail Server: Message ‘Would you like to start the server at the boot of the system’ will be displayed, press YES.
16) Secure Shell Server: Message ‘Would you like to start the server at the boot of the system’ will be displayed, press YES.
17) Samba Server: Message ‘Would you like to start the server at the boot of the system’ will be displayed, press YES.
18) Cups Server: Message ‘Would you like to start the server at the boot of the system’ will be displayed, press YES.
19) Kdisplay Manager: Message ‘Would you like to start the manager at the boot of the system’ will be displayed, press YES.
20) Set Hostname: Enter a name and press OK.
21) User DHCP Broadcast: Press NO.
22) Hit return (Enter) to exit.
23) Set root password: Enter password and press OK
24) Set root password: Confirm password and press OK
25) Set password: Enter password and press OK
26) Set password: Confirm password and press OK
27) Setup Boot Loader: Press YES to install the LILO boot loader.
28) Create Boot Floppy: Insert a floppy disk and press YES.
29) Create Boot Floppy: Message ‘All data on the floppy disk will be lost’ will be displayed, press YES.
30) Finished: Message ‘The installation process has finished’ will be displayed, press OK.
31) Now press Ctrl+Alt+Del at the ‘root@tty1[/]#’ to reboot.
32) Once the system restarts you will be welcomed with a screen allowing you to choose between ‘Linux’ and ‘Windows’. Choose Linux to boot into ‘ENGICOS’.

If the language (ie. US English) is not set properly then go to ‘Control Center (Icon: An electronic circuit board with a gear) >Personliche Einstellungen > Land Und Sprache’. Over here choose ‘Locale and Language’ as ‘English’ and click ‘Andwenden’. The changes will be made when you login the next time.

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