HOWTO: My VL7 Light Configuration

The installation was uneventful: at the boot prompt i typed 'install noapm acpi' (after failing in my first attempt:no kernel image found).
Chose my spanish keyboard (querty es), sda was already partitioned into /, swap, and /home. Chose JFS for root and XFS for /home.
The packages were installed, root and user passwords were entered, i forgot to mention that i chose a 'light' install within VL7 Light, made sure my username was included in the 'wheel' group, chose vxconf, etc.

After rebooting and configuring X, i finally got to the prompt, entered my username and its password, typed 'startx' and entered the X system with JWM.

I launched the terminal and went to the repos as root:

Code:

# nano /etc/slapt-get/slapt-getrc

And left the first part looking like this:

Code:

WORKINGDIR=/home/ftp/pub/veclinux/packages
EXCLUDE=kernel,kernel-ide,kernel-source,kernel-headers,kernel-modules
#DISABLED=file:///mnt/cdrom/packages/
SOURCE=http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-7.0/packages/
SOURCE=http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-7.0/extra/
SOURCE=http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-7.0/patches/:OFFICIAL
SOURCE=http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-7.0/testing/

Notice i included the 'testing' repo, saved and updated the repos:

Code:

# slapt-get -u

Now i installed some of my favorite apps:

Code:

# slapt-get -i ratpoison dmenu claws-mail leafpad menumaker libreoffice-3.5 numlockx unclutter terminus-font jre pcmanfm-mod

I will be installing apps as i go along...

Launched firefox (14) configured it to my liking, installed the addons: Vimperator and AdBlock Plus; went to my web mail and open a Configurations folder i keep there and began pasting the configurations i like.

I started configuring my terminal xterm:

Code:

$ nano .Xdefaults

and pasted this:

Code:

Xft.dpi: 85
Xft.antialias: true
Xft.rgba: rgb
Xft.hinting: true
Xft.hintstyle: hintslight

xterm*faceName: terminus:pixelsize=14
xterm*utf8: 2
xterm*saveLines: 2000
xterm*scrollTtyOutput: false
xterm*scrollBar: true
xterm*rightScrollBar: true
xterm*jumpScroll: true
xterm*multiScroll: true
xterm*background: black
xterm*foreground: cyan
xterm*cursorColor: yellow

Then configured nano:

Code:

$ nano .nanorc

Wiped it clean and pasted this:

Code:

set const
set smooth
set mouse

Went to my .bashrc and added some stuff and left looking like this:

Code:

# sourced by BASH everytime it start
## These should be set by /etc/profile
## But sometime, bash missed them. So here is the push
export PATH="/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/opt/bin:/usr/X11/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games"
# Set various environment variables
for SH in /etc/profile.d/*.sh; do
. $SH
done
#use custom keymap
xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap

## Set fancy colors
#eval `dircolors -b`

## Set this for your first choice
export BROWSER=firefox
export EXPLORER=pcmanmfm-mod
#export NETWORK_EXPLORER=konqueror
#export AUDIO_PLAYER=xmms
#export VIDEO_PLAYER=gxine
export DISPLAY=$DISPLAY

# This line was appended by KDE
# Make sure our customised gtkrc file is loaded.
export GTK2_RC_FILES=$HOME/.gtkrc-2.0

#ALIASES
alias x="startx"
alias slu="sudo slapt-get -u"
alias sli="sudo slapt-get -i"
alias vi="vim"

export EDITOR=nano
export PAGER=less

When i get to the console, i just type 'x' instead of startx

Then went to /etc/sudoers

Code:

# visudo

Added these lines:

Code:

macondo ALL = NOPASSWD : ALL
giovi ALL = NOPASSWD: /sbin/halt, /sbin/reboot
%wheel ALL=NOPASSWD:ALL

You have to belong to the "wheel" group, (i did during installation), my wife can reboot and halt the machine.

Now, i can do this for updating and installing packages:

Code:

$ slu && sli package_name

Finally i went to my .xinitrc to configure how i enter the X system:

Code:

$ nano .xinitrc

And pasted this:

Code:

#!/bin/sh

setxkbmap -option terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp
setxkbmap es &
xsetroot -solid black
xrdb -merge .Xdefaults
unclutter -idle 2 &
numlockx &

exec jwm

With this i can log off with Ctrl+Alt+Backspace
my keyboard is spanish as i enter the Xs
black background
unclutter disappears after 2 seconds
numlock pad is activated as i enter the Xs
and whatever window manager i type here, is on

Last, but not least, i configure the window managers i installed, see the 'howtos' section in the VL forum.

This configuration is NOT written in stone, it's what works for me and increases the speed with which i work