Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Where can I find how to configure my email client to work with Vanderbilt email?

See http://its.vanderbilt.edu/VUMCexch/installconfig and click on the appropriate client.

SmartBoard information

SmartBoard devices were recently installed in each of the two Biostatistics conference rooms. There are a number of good online tutorials for the SmartBoard at http://smarttech.com/trainingcenter/material.asp.

The SMART Notebook software can be downloaded from http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Support/SBS/. Having a local installation of the SMART Notebook software can be useful for editing and otherwise cleaning up notebooks captured in the conference room.

Where can I get some help with R?

See Frank's R and S-Plus Packages, Functions, and Documentation. Of interest to new R users is Terri Scott's "An Introduction to the Fundamentals & Functionality of the R Programming Language" and other lecture notes that can be found on her page. Also of interest to R users coming from SAS or SPSS is R for SAS & SPSS Users by Robert Muenchen.

Where can I find "how to" help?

There are a lot of useful how to pages on our site. See How To Pages on the Biostatistics Wiki

Where can I get some programming tips?

"I am a statistician, not a programmer." How often have you heard this? See Programming Tips For Statisticians for programming hint and tips.

Introduction to Linux

The ACCRE web site (http://www.accre.vanderbilt.edu/) has a nice introduction to Linux formatted as a PDF file. See it at http://www.accre.vanderbilt.edu/docs/IntroductionToUnix.pdf. There are a few details that are specific to ACCRE, but for the most part it is appropriate for our environment as well.

How can I connect to a Microsoft DFS directory (as opposed to a simple Windows share)?

With Distributed File System (DFS), Windows Server system administrators can let users access and manage files that are physically distributed across a network. With DFS, files distributed across multiple servers can appear to users as if they reside in one place on the network. Users don't need to know and specify the specific server name and share name where files are stored in order to access them.

It is possible to access a Microsoft DFS directory from Linux. Unfortunately, smbfs and cifs capabilities from konqueror and via the mount command are broken (as of Ubuntu 8.04 (16 Jun 2008)). The only tool that we can find that will work is smbclient. It works sort of like an FTP client to read and write files.

For a test folder:

$ smbclient //ds.vanderbilt.edu/path1/path2/path3/testfolder -U=vanderbilt/vunetid
(it prompts for my epassword)
Password:

(and then comes back with the smbclient prompt)

smb: \>

(at this point I can issue commands to change directory, get and put files, etc. N.B. initially we are located at the root directory of the DFS file system (in this example //ds.vanderbilt.edu/path1/path2/) so I had to do this)

smb: \> cd path3/testfolder

(this puts me in the correct place and now I can manipulate my files.)

SAS can be a little strange under Linux. Where can I find help on SAS for Linux?

See the SAS for Linux topic.

How do I enable the Jump Auto Completion feature of the Biostatistics web site?

By default, the Jump Auto Completion feature is not enabled if you are not connected to the Vanderbilt network. The instructions on the Topic Jump Auto Completion page.

To which Vanderbilt email lists am I subscribed?

You might be subscribed to one or more Vanderbilt email lists because of your job description or duties (for example, IT staff are on the biostat-it email list). You can get a list of all the lists to which you are subscribed at https://list.vanderbilt.edu. Click on the Browse button neat the top of the page, enter your vunetid and epassword, select the "Subscribed" radio button, and click Go. The process is a little slow, but you will eventually be given a list of all your subscribed email lists.

How do I use Konqueror to gain access to a share that is hosted on a Windows computer in the Vanderbilt domain?

In the examples below "vunetid" = your vunetid; remote_share" = the name of the share on the remote computer; "server_name" is the name of the computer that hosts the share in question. For "server_name" you might have to use a full name ("www.somecomputer.edu", "somecomputer.dhcp.mc.vanderbilt.edu") or ip address (www.xxx.yyy.zzz) here.

In the Konqueror addess box enter

smb://vanderbilt\vunetid@server_name/remote_share

or

smb://server_name/remote_share

Konqueror will prompt, if necessary, for the username and/or password. For username enter your vunetid and use your epassword for the password.

See also How do I mount a share that is hosted on a Windows computer in the Vanderbilt domain?

How do I mount a share that is hosted on a Windows computer in the Vanderbilt domain?

(This answer assumes the share you want to access is hosted on a Windows computer and that computer is a member of the Vanderbilt domain. It is also assumed that the manager of the Windows computer has set up her share correctly and given you access privilege based on your vunetid/epassword credentials.)

For a slightly different approach see Mapping/Mounting/Accessing Vanderbilt Shares. That technique has the advantage that the share is automatically remounted each time you log on.

Use the smbmount and smbumount commands, respectively. If these are not installed on you computer you will need to install the smbfs package.

$ sudo apt-get install smbfs

It is possible that the smbfs package will get installed without a couple of permissions set correctly. If you get errors when trying to use the commands below, run these two commands:

$ sudo chmod +s /usr/bin/smbmnt
$ sudo chmod +s /usr/bin/smbumount

Note that both of these commands use super-user privileges. If you don't know what they do or are uncomfortable using super-user privileges then check with one of the IT team members for help.

In the examples below "vunetid" = your vunetid; remote_share" = the name of the share on the remote computer; "server_name" is the name of the computer that hosts the share in question. You might have to use a full name ("www.somecomputer.edu", "somecomputer.dhcp.mc.vanderbilt.edu") or ip address (www.xxx.yyy.zzz) here.

First, create a mount point where you can mount the share.

$ mkdir /home/vunetid/remote_share

Then you can mount the remote share.

$ smbmount //server_name/remote_share /home/vunetid/remote_share -o workgroup=vanderbilt username=vunetid

You will then be prompted for a password, so enter your epassword.

The smbumount command is used to unmount the share when you no longer need it.

$ smbumount /home/vunetid/remote_share

See also How do I use Konqueror to gain access to a share that is hosted on a Windows computer in the Vanderbilt domain?

How do I run my R program as a batch job?

The problem: If one runs a program as an interactive job (i.e. connected with a terminal session) then the job will be terminated if the interactive session gets disconnected. The interactive session will most certainly get disconnected if it sits idle without any keyboard input or video output for a while. This is a feature of the Vanderbilt network that we cannot change.

The best way to execute long running jobs is to run them as batch jobs. When running as a batch job, the process is not dependent on the existence of a terminal session. One can launch the job and log out and it will continue to run.

Say you have a script file (e.g. runr.sh) that runs your R program:

R CMD BATCH --vanilla my_long_job.R my_long_job.Rout

This will execute the R commands that are stored in the file my_long_job.R and write the output to a file my_long_job.Rout. Use of the option --vanilla is just an example. A number of options can be specified as desired. You can google "R CMD BATCH" for more information about how this works.

One of the following techniques will allow you to run the job without the job being dependent on a terminal session:

1. Use the "nohup" command to run the script, e.g.:

$ nohup sh ./runr.sh &

2. use the "at" command to submit the script to a batch queue, e.g.:

$ at now
at> /path/to/runr.sh
at> ctrl-d
$

If you plan to use the second method, then make sure that the script file (e.g. runr.sh) is set as executable (chmod u+x runr.sh).

Be sure to read the man pages for nohup (man nohup) and at (man at) for further details.

How do I add fonts to a Wine installation?

One important thing to do is to install the msttcorefonts package

$ sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts

This package will give you the Arial, Comic Sans, Courier New, Georgia, Impact, Times New Roman, Trebuchet, Verdana, and Webdings TrueType fonts.

Other TrueType fonts and be installed by copying the appropriate .ttf file into the Wine installation fonts directory. For example:

$ copy /my_downloaded_fonts/symbol.ttf /home/vunetid/.wine/drive_c/fonts

How do I make the twiki edit box bigger?

The edit box used to create and edit twiki pages is pretty small and the font is too little. How can I make these bigger?

To make the edit box bigger, add two lines like these to your personal page:

   * Set EDITBOXWIDTH = 70
   * Set EDITBOXHEIGHT = 25

The 70 and 25 can be changed to suit your tastes, but these values seem to work pretty well.

In the Firefox web browser, the font size in the twiki edit box can be changed by going to the Edit menu, clicking on Preferences, then clicking on the Content item. Click on the Advanced button in the Font & Colors section. In the Fonts dialog that appears change the Monospace font size to something a little larger than the default (16 is a pretty good size).

In Kubuntu 6.10 (Edgy), how do I get win4lin to work again?

The problem evidently has something to do with xorg (need more on this). One solution we have found is to add the following lines to the end of the xorg.conf file. A restart of X is needed.

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Disable"
EndSection

How do I get the combination of R, Sweave, and MikTeX to work on Windows?

There is a problem with how the MikTeX Latex interpreter handles spaces in file path names when it attempts to find and load style (.sty) files. In the .tex file produced by Sweave there will be a line that looks something like this:

\usepackage{c:/progra~1/R/R-23~1.1/share/texmf/Sweave}

This line is intended to tell the Latex package to load the style package "Sweave" where it can find the style file Sweave.sty. This is the line that causes the problem. The solution is to put a copy of the Sweave.sty file in a directory that is on the Latex search path. A good choice is to create the directory c:\Program Files\MikTeX 2.5\tex\latex\sweave and put Sweave.sty there. After creating the sweave directory and placing the Sweave.sty file there we need to let MikTeX know that it has a new style file. This is done by updating the MikTeX file name database (start...MikTeX 2.5...Settings and then click on the "Refresh FNDB" button).

We can then change the offending line in the .tex file to:

\usepackage{Sweave}

Latex will now have no problem finding the file since it does not have to figure out the path.

What Linux disk partition scheme do you recommend?

Our thinking on a partition scheme has evolved over time as we get more experience. Here is what have been using lately:

• / - 5 GB
• /opt - 5 GB
• /usr - 10 GB
• /var - 10 GB
• /tmp - 3 GB
• swap - 3 GB
• /home - remainder

TWiki topic naming advice

Over time several TWiki users have created topics for specific reasons but have assigned generic names to these topics (e.g. JournalClubICUD, MyLearning). There is nothing wrong with this but in some circumstances it can prevent a later user from creating a topic that needs to be fully generic. This is more important now that you can link to a topic with a short name you can publish, such as biostat.mc.vanderbilt.edu/MyTopic . It would be best if we reserved generic names for topics that are for general use that spans multiple groups. You might consider using names such as ProjxJournalClub for Project X's Journal Club.

Thanks for your consideration.

How do I Install Acrobat Reader?

• Go to the Acrobat reader install page, select linux, and download the debian .deb version of the package.
• Go to the directory containing the downloaded .deb file and run dpkg -i AdobeReader...deb.
• To install on a 64-bit system go to http://ubuntu-tutorials.com/2008/06/23/install-adobe-acrobat-reader-812-on-ubuntu-804/

Backups

As of October 25, 2004, we are backing up the following locations each night:

• /home/vunetid on your personal linux workstation
• /home/vunetid on biostat.mc.vanderbilt.edu
• /home/vunetid on biostat2.mc.vanderbilt.edu (This includes files under Win4Lin?)

Excluding Files from Backups

If you have a external mount point in your home directory you should not have this backed up. To exclude a dir or file from being backed up place a rsync exclude rule in the file .backup-exclude

• Example: excluding ~/mnt. Run the following command
  

  echo "- /mnt/" >> ~/.backup-exclude
  

Restoring Deleted Files

If you have deleted a file or collection of files and would like to restore them, please email biostat-it@list.vanderbilt.edu with the following information:

The names, locations, and dates of the files that you would like to be restored. The location will include the hostname and the directory where the file resided.

As an example, If I accidentally deleted /home/vunetid/Desktop/FinalProposal.tex from my linux workstation biostat028 on October 27, 2004, I can ask to retrieve that file as it looked on October 26, 2004 or earlier. My email to biostat-it will look like this:

    To: biostat-it@lists.vanderbilt.edu
    Date: October 27, 2004
    Subject: RESTORE request

    Please restore the following file as of October 26, 2004:

    biostat028:/home/vunetid/Desktop/FinalProposal.tex

    and place it in the folder:

    biostat028: /home/vunetid/Desktop/RESTORE

    Thanks

The turn-around time on restoring files will be anywhere from 2 to 5 days. Also, If you have any questions about backups don't hesitate to email us at biostat-it@lists.vanderbilt.edu.

How do I recover a VMWare session in a locked X windows instance?

• This will not work if VMWare player is installed.

1. Log into affected computer.
2. run this command to list out running virtual machines
   

   vmrun list
   

3. select the correct virtual machine and suspend it using the following command.
   

   vmrun suspend <path to .vmx file (virtual machine)>
   

4. the virtual machine has now been suspended. The computer may now be rebooted with out loss of data in the virtual machine.

Remote Access

• Tools that can be used on a Windows system to access your office Linux workstation or one of the Biostatistics servers:
  • winSCP3 (see http://winscp.sourceforge.net/eng) is an open source SCP (Secure CoPy) client for Windows using SSH (Secure SHell). Its main function is safe copying of files between a local and a remote computer.
  • A tutorial on setting up TightVNC and Putty to securely access your Linux Workstation.
  • pscp (download from http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html) is a command-line secure file copy program for Windows. It works like scp.
  • Reflection OpenSSH Client is a terminal program that also has file transfer capabilities. Vanderbilt has a site license for this product and it can be downloaded. See the Vanderbilt software web page for details.

• Tools that can be used on a Linux system to access your Linux workstation or one of the servers:
  • ssh
  • scp
  • Konqueror and the "fish" protocol; The FISH (FIles over SsH) protocol allows you to access another computer's files using an SSH shell account and standard utilities on the remote side. It allows secure browsing of the remote machine's file structure as if it is locally mounted. In this screenshot of fish in action, the local file system is displayed in the left panel and the remote files are in the right panel. Files can be copied from computer to computer by dragging between the panels.
  • A tutorial on setting up Xvnc4 with SSH to securely access your Linux Workstation. (29 Jul 2009 - This may be obsolete with newer versions of the Linux kernel.)

Connecting to Linux desktop from a remote location (FreeNX)

On the Linux side (the "server") we have had some success using FreeNX.

"NX is a technology for remote display. It provides near local speed application responsiveness over high latency, low bandwidth links. The core libraries for NX are provided by NoMachine under the GPL. FreeNX is a GPL implementation of the NX Server and NX Client Components."

"FreeNX is a system that allows you to access your desktop from another machine over the internet. You can use this to login graphically to your desktop from a remote location. One example of its use would be to have a FreeNX server set up on your office computer, and graphically logging in to the office computer from your home computer, using a FreeNX client."

The main FreeNX website is http://freenx.berlios.de/.

When installing on Kubuntu (Hardy), I used the instruction at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FreeNX.

I installed the NX client for Windows from the NoMachines web site (http://www.nomachine.com/select-package-client.php) and it seems to work well.

The nice thing about FreeNX is that it does not require that one be running Vanderbilt's VPN software to connect. The client evidently uses port 22 (ssh) to establish the conversation with the FreeNX server. Any other traffic is moved on connections originated on the server which is inside the firewall and not blocked in any way.

Printing

• Instructions for setting up access to the Xerox Phaser 6250 DP color laser printer
• Various CUPS Knowlege

White gaps between colors when printing.

• Ask an IT person to adjust the color registration.

Linux Questions

• Various Linux Errors & Solutions
• Installing extra languages for KDE
• Linux related web links (distribution ISOs, apt repository, etc)
• Improving User Efficiency
• User Survey Draft
• Konqueror Web Shortcuts, for web browsing

LaTex Links and Notes

• LaTex cheat sheet
• a nice LaTex help page from someone at NASA
• Commands to invoke LaTex and view or print the output:

      Linux
      $ latex test.tex   # invokes LaTex, processes test.tex, and writes test.dvi
      $ kdvi test.dvi    # opens test.dvi for viewing and printing
  
      Windows (MiKTex)
      > latex test.tex
      > yap test.tex
      

How do I get an e-password?

1. Go to https://vunetid.vanderbilt.edu/epassword/register/index.cfm and do Step 1 (Register for your e-password)
2. Call, visit, or email Dale Plummer. Tell him that you have done Step 1 and give him your vunetid.
3. Wait for Dale to get your automatically generated PIN number
4. Return to https://vunetid.vanderbilt.edu/epassword/register/index.cfm and continue with Step 2 (Create your e-password)

Be sure to read the instructions carefully, especially the part about the characters the e-password must contain.

What is the best tool for reading, printing, and annotating pdf files?

• See this

Emacs and Xemacs Questions

Copying to/pasting from emacs with other applications

• Behaviour when pasting from emacs to another application can be unreliable. This can be helped by editing the emacs configuration file. Read this for more information.

Using the xemacs Package Manager

• You can install ESS, AucTeX, RefTeX, and other packages using Tools...Packages but you have to do this as the superuser. First put the following commands in /root/.xemacs/init.el:

  (setq efs-generate-anonymous-password "yourID@vanderbilt.edu")
  (setq package-get-require-signed-base-updates nil)

Open Office Questions

Finding Help and Tutorials

• New user orientation

Printing column headers on each page

1. Format->Print Ranges->Edit
2. Under Rows to repeat, select user defined and enter a range of rows ($1 would print the first row)
3. Click OK

Printing Advice for Calc

• Printing spreadsheets

Creating an invoicing system (working with Thunderbird)

• Creating an invoicing system with OpenOffice.org

Creating OpenOffice forms

• How to create OpenOffice forms

Creating OpenOffice leaderheads

• Create a Letterhead Using OpenOffice

Print Arial font from OpenOffice

• For some reason Arial printing does not work well in OO. For now, just Edit->Select All, and change the font type to Times.
• We need a better solution for this problem.

Firefox browser and Thunderbird email client Questions

How to turn on typeahead find in Firefox?

In a recent version of the Firefox browser (1.0-4), the typeahead find feature is not turned on by default and there is no GUI way to change that default. According to the Firefox 1.0 Release Notes, "The Configuration Console (accessed by entering "about:config" in the Location bar and pressing Enter) gives advanced/experienced users direct control over Firefox's preferences. This system is for use by people who know what they are doing only, by changing a value incorrectly you may damage or destroy your Firefox installation!"

1. Enter about:config in the Location Bar to display the list of user preferences
2. find the preference item "accessibility.typeaheadfind"
3. right click on this item to open its context menu
4. click on Toggle to change the preference status

How to add the Vanderbilt search engine as plugin for Mozilla Firefox (the search engines are located in the top right corner)

The information for these search engines is stored in /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox/searchplugins. You must create one file that specifies the search criteria (a src file) and one file that contains the image (a 16x16 pixel png or gif). Download vanderbilt.src and vanderbilt.png into the searchplugins folder and restart Firefox (if open).

Other searchplugins available

• Biostatistics TWiki Main Web: biostatistics-main.src
• Download more at http://mycroft.mozdev.org/download.html - You can search or browse for other searchplugins available.

How do I install some language for web browsing in Firefox?

• This requires root access

1. Download the true type fonts for that language. The filename should end in .ttf.
2. Create a directory for the fonts in /usr/share/fonts/truetype
   mkdir languagename
3. Change to the new directory
4. Move the fonts to the new directory
   mv /path/to/downloaded/fonts/*.ttf .
5. Run mkfontdir
6. Run fc-cache

• If you want Chinese, you can download them by running:

scp biostat.mc.vanderbilt.edu:/usr/share/fonts/truetype/chinese/*.ttf .

How do I have firefox open a mail browser other then evolution

1. Open gconf K => System => Configuration Editor
2. In gconf Click on the arrow next to desktop
3. Click on the arrow next to gnome
4. Click on the arrow next to url-handelers
5. Click on the folder named mailto
6. Change key command to mozilla-thunderbird %s

How do I tell Thunderbird what programs to use to handle various attachments?

• See Actions for attachment file types
• For example, say you'd like acroread to be used for files with the .pdf extension:
  • Find out where acroread is located on your computer (whereis acroread)
  • If Thunderbird is already causing some other helper program to handle .pdf files, then go to the Edit menu and select Preferences. In the Thunderbird Preferences box, click on the View & Edit Actions... button. Click on the Change Action... button and make the appropriate changes.
  • If Thunderbird does not already have some helper program assigned to .pdf files, then the program will open a window where you can make the appropriate selection.

How do I set up Thunderbird to work well with the Vanderbilt Exchange server?

Set the mailto behavior in Firefox

KDE comes with Konqueror and Kmail set as the default web browser and email client. However, we prefer Firefox and Thunderbird. To change them to become the default programs, open KControl, open KDE Components, and click on Default Applications. Change the Email Client to thunderbird. Then open Web Browser, change the option to open http and https URLs to firefox, and hit Apply. Now, every time you click on a mailto:, http://, or https:// link, Thunderbird or Firefox will open.

Get Thunderbird to run Firefox when a link is clicked in an email message

(This applies to Kubuntu with Thunderbird 2 and Firefox 3.0. Should work for earlier versions, too.)

Open the config editor from within Thunderbird at Edit->Preferences->Advanced->General tab and then click the "Config Editor" button. In the Config Editor:

• right click somewhere in the lower part, select New from the menu that pops up, and click on the String item
• A box will pop up and ask you to "Enter the Preference name". Enter "network.protocol-handler.app.http" (without the quotes) in the box and click OK.
• Another box will pop up where you enter the string. Enter "/usr/bin/firefox" (without the quotes). Click OK
• Restart Thunderbird. That should do it.

How to install J2SE? Runtime Environment (JRE)?

A good answer to this and some Firefox plun-in installation questions can be found in the Unofficial Ubuntu 4.10 Starter Guide (see the Add-On Applications section). Ubuntu is a Debian based Linux distribution.

Migrating from Windows to Linux

IBM has published a "Redbook" aimed at assisting those interested in migrating desktop PCs to Linux. Linux Client Migration Cookbook: A Practical Planning and Implementation Guide for Migrating to Desktop Linux provides in-depth detail on the technical and organizational challenges and includes methods for planning and implementation, according to the book's cover. The 260-page book is available for free download as a PDF file.

Why does Linux use such funny naming schemes?

This article may not give you any great answers, but it does provide a list of Linux substitutes to Windows applications.

Accessing Win4Lin? from a Linux computer

You can access the win4lin server from your Linux laptop, even when you're away from work, but you will need Internet access. First open a konsole window. Then type ssh -X biostat2.mc.vanderbilt.edu win. That will start Win4lin. More work is needed to access your hard drive from Win4lin. Ask one of the computer analysts to set this up. In addition, you can make Win4lin an icon on the taskbar. Right-click on the taskbar, select Add->Special Button->Non KDE Application. Enter /usr/bin/ssh as the executable, and -X biostat2.mc.vanderbilt.edu win for the options. You will also need to toggle on Run in terminal.

When I list my printers, I see devices I don't recognize. How do I keep CUPS from browsing?

(This needs to be done as root) There is a file /etc/cups/cupsd.conf where all kinds of CUPS settings can be made. Open this file in an editor and find the section that begins with

########
######## Browsing Options
########

Change the line #Browsing On to Browsing Off and restart CUPS (/etc/init.d/cupsys restart).

In Kubuntu see the file /etc/cups/cups.d/browse.conf. By default, browsing is off in Kubuntu.

Konqueror and pdf files

When I click on a link that points to a pdf file, I want Konqueror to use acroread to display the document. We assume that acroread is correctly installed.

• click on the Settings menu and then the "Configure Konqueror..." item
• Make sure the General tab has focus
• click on the File Associations item in the left menu
• expand the "application" group in the Known Types box and click on the the pdf type
• in the "Application Preference Order" section, click on Add and enter the full path to the acroread application
• click apply
• click on the Embedding tab
• for the "Left Click Action", select the "Use settings for 'application' group" item
• click OK and you are done.

Firefox and pdf files

When I click on a link that points to a pdf file, I want Firefox to use acroread to display the document. We assume that acroread is correctly installed.

• click on the link to the pdf file
• the opening whatever.pdf box will be displayed
• in the "What shoud Firefox do with this file?" section, click on the down arrow beside the "Open with" box
• select "Other..."
• type in the full path for acroread in the "File name:" box and click the Open button
• Choose (or not) the "Do this automatically for files like this from now on" check box.
• click OK

The configuration file that is changed by all of this is /home/vunetid/.mozilla/firefox/.default/mimeTypes.rdf.

Opening links in Firefox from Thunderbird

When I click on a link in Thunderbird, I want that page to open up in Firefox.

1. Open gconf K => System => Configuration Editor (alternatively, from the command line, type gconf-editor)
2. In gconf Click on the arrow next to desktop
3. Click on the arrow next to gnome
4. Click on the arrow next to url-handelers
5. Click on the folder named http
6. Change key command to mozilla-firefox %s
7. Repeat the last step for the https folder

How do I install RealPlayer on my computer?

• Go to http://www.real.com/ and, if necessary, click on the "Linux / Unix Player" link at the bottom of the page
• Follow the instructions. They actually work.
• To make realplay the konqueror default do the following:
  • go to Control Center and expand the KDE Components category
  • click on File Association
  • expand the Audio item in the Known Types box
  • click on the vnd.rn-realaudio item and move RealPlayer 10 to the top of the Application Preference Order
  • click on the x-pn-realaudio item and move RealPlayer 10 to the top of the Application Preference Order
  • click on Apply to apply the changes and exit Control Center
  • you might need to restart konqueror

How Do I get my usb flash drive to be mounted automatically?

The linux 2.6.12 kernel, and usb is required to for this solution to work.

• Download the script usbmount.sh.
• As root run
  

  # bash usbmount.sh
  

• Add your self to the usb group.
• In kde go to the desktop. Plug in your usb flash drive. You should see a new icon appear on your desktop with the name of you usb drive. Open the new icon. If you can see your files from you usb drive, it works and you're are done.

+++How should I organize my directories?

BASH questions

How do I prevent BASH from showing duplicate commands in my command history?

• add the line to .bashrc: export HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth