Enabling services in aptosid

insserv : To start/stop already installed services:

Read /usr/share/doc/insserv/README.Debian, the release notes and the man pages carefully:

 $ man insserv
 $ man invoke-rc.d
 $ man update-rc.d
 google LSB headers

For 'start':

service <service> start

For 'stop':

service <service> stop

For 'restart:

service <service> restart

To prevent services running at-startup

update-rc.d <service> remove
[will remove all startup links]

To make sure a service runs at boot [not always required]

update-rc.d <service> defaults
[will make startup links]

To read the list of what services are running:

ls /etc/rc5.d

S means the service will start.
K means service will not start.

Older Installs (before Pontos 2008-04)

insserv on installed systems before Pontos 2008-04

Warning: Older installs will not get insserv automatically, due to users own initscripts or symlinks. It is NOT recommended to install insserv on installations prior to Pontos. This package should be used with care, as incorrect or missing LSB dependencies of existing initscripts can lead to an unbootable system. Installing insserv on an existing install may require some manual changes.

Read read the Debian documentation notes, and release notes before installing and enabling insserv.

Killing a service or process

pkill is very useful as its human readable and can work in both user and root mode in the terminal or at tty

pkill -n service

If you are not sure of the correct spelling of the process or service you wish to kill pkill <tab> <tab> will provide a list

htop is also good a alternative. (killall -9 is your last alternative).

aptosid runlevels - init

This is the list for the aptosid operating system runlevels, please note that it does differ from Debian default runlevels:

Runlevel	aptosid	Debian
init 0	Powers off the PC.	Powers off the PC.
init 1	Single user (safety or rescue mode). Dæmons like apache and sshd are stopped. Do not go to this level via remote access.	Single user, stops services (safety or rescue mode). Do not go to this level via remote access.
init 2	Multi-User mode with the network running, with the X-Window System not running, and/or to stop or not enter the X-Window System.	Debians' default runlevel for Multi-User mode with the network running the X-Window System.
init 3	Multi-User mode with the network running, with the X-Window System not running, and/or to stop or not enter the X-Window System. This is where a dist-upgrade is actioned.	Same as runlevel 2 / init 2.
init 4	Multi-User mode with the network running, with the X-Window System not running, and/or to stop or not enter the X-Window System.	Same as runlevel 2 / init 2.
init 5	The aptosid default for Multi-User mode with the network running the the X-Window System, and/or to start the X-Window System.	Same as runlevel 2 / init 2.
init 6	Restart/reboot the system.	Restart/reboot the system.
init S	This is where early boot time services are executed on a 'once only basis'. You cannot switch to it after it has been run.	This is where early boot time services are executed on a 'once only basis'. You cannot switch to it after it has been run.

To acertain the runlevel (init) you are currently in:

who -r

Required reading for any aptosid and Debian system administrator regarding runlevels:

man init

Lost root passwords

You cannot recover a lost password but you can set a new one.

First boot from the Live-CD.

As root mount your root partition (for example /dev/sdb2)

mount /dev/sdb2 /media/sdb2

Now chroot into your old root-Partition with and set a new password:

chroot /media/sdb2 passwd

Setting new passwords

To change your 'user' password, as $ user:

$ passwd

To change your 'root' password, as # root:

passwd

To change a user's password as an administrator, as # root:

passwd <user>

Fonts in aptosid

Correct dpi settings - Basic Philosophy

DPI settings are problematic to guess, but are actually perfectly done by X.

Correct resolutions and refresh rates

Every monitor has its own perfect settings combination, but unfortunately not all of them report the right DCC values, and sometimes it is in need of a manual overwride.

Default Font selections, rendering and sizes

aptosid uses (Debian) pre-selected free fonts which have proved to be very balanced, your own fonts selection can/may deteriorate the quality of rendering. But there are a few powerful options in Debian (apart from KDE>systemsettings ) that can help providing spotless rendering with other fonts as well. But please be aware that every font has just a few real perfect sizes, other sizes may not play well.

Playing with the dpi size with the command may also be of assistance:

fix-dpi-kdm

It should show the DPI for your screensize, but you can play with that as well.You will need to go to init 3 and back to init 5 to make it work or do a reboot.

After having changed font type or DPI (in X or Firefox/Iceweasel), you might need some readjustments to get results to your liking, especially. after a change from Bitmap Fonts to True Type Fonts or the other way round through:

dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig-config

Choose native and autohinter on automatic. Otherwise play around with it.

Should you need to rebuild your font cache:

fc-cache -f -vv

If that does not work you might need to reinstall the package with a default config file of your fonts cache by:

apt-get install --reinstall --yes -o DPkg::Options::=--force-confmiss -o DPkg::Options::=--force-confnew fontconfig fontconfig-config

GTK based applications like Firefox/Iceweasel

GTK-based apps in general are problematic with KDE defaults. This could be solved by this:

apt-get install gtk2-engines system-config-gtk-kde gtk-qt-engine gtk2-engines-qtcurve

In System Settings >Appearance you will have a new menu item called GTK Styles and Fonts. Set 'GTK Styles' to use 'Clearlooks' and have the 'GTK Fonts' set to use 'KDE fonts' or experiment with the various options to suit your preferences.

This MAY fix your font rendering in gtk apps.

CUPS

KDE has a large section inbuilt in the KDE help, however dist-upgrades often can cause cups to misbehave, this is one known solution,:

modprobe lp
echo lp >> /etc/modules
apt-get remove --purge cupsys cups
apt-get install cups
        OR
apt-get install cups cups-driver-gutenprint hplip

Make sure CUPS is running:

service cups restart

Then in a web browser:

http://localhost:631

Another gotcha is when setting up cups via the GUI method, is that it brings up a dialog box asking for you to put in your password, however the dialog box has your user name, prefilled, so when you put in your user password, it does not work, What is really wants is for you to change the user name to root and put in your root password.

The OpenPrinting database contains a wealth of information about specific printers, along with extensive driver information, the drivers themselves, basic specifications, and an associated set of configuration tools.

Sound in aptosid

Sound is muted by default in aptosid.

The KDE version uses Kmix and XFCE uses Mixer.

Often it is only a matter of clicking on the sound icon in the taskbar and unchecking the 'Mute box'.

Kmix

In Kmix you will need to activate the options you prefer for channel options, Kmix>Setting>Configure Channels. Or in a terminal:

$ kmix

XFCE

In XFCE run the mixer application and add some controls via the Multimedia>Mixer and click the Select Controls box. Or in a terminal:

$ xfce4-mixer

Alsamixer

If you prefer to use Alsamixer, it is in the alsa-utils package:

apt-get update
apt-get install alsa-utils
exit

Set your preferred sound settings as $user from the terminal:

$ alsamixer