1.1. Why this document?

Since there was no information anywhere on the net for Belgian Linux users around 1998, we started to collect stuff that we thought could be important. This HOWTO aims to be the definitive list of all Belgian-related Linux information. If you think not, you have no excuse to complain and certainly not to not contribute. ;)

1.2. New versions of this document

If you need to know more about the Linux Documentation Project or about Linux HOWTO's, feel free to contact the supervisor Tim Bynum <linux-howto@sunsite.unc.edu>.

Tim Bynum will post the listing to several national and international newsgroups on a monthly basis. In addition, the Belgian HOWTO can be found on the World Wide Web at http://dag.wieers.com/howto/. New versions of the Belgian HOWTO are always placed at this site first, so please be sure to check if the copy you are reading is still up to date!

1.3. Translated versions

This document is currently translated in 3 languages (English, Dutch and French), we're trying to keep all three of them in sync, but the English version is the source-document!

The English and Dutch version are maintained by Dag Wieërs <dag@wieers.com> and is found at: http://dag.wieers.com/howto/.

The French version is maintained by Dany Vanderroost <danyv@euronet.be> and is found at: http://club.euronet.be/dany.vanderroost/howto.html.

1.4. Contributions

A few people mailed us their suggestions and improvements, thanks go to:

• Wim Vandeputte <wvdputte@reptile.rug.ac.be>

• Pablo Saratxaga <srtxg@ping.be>

• Christophe Lambin <clambin@skynet.be>

• Geert Uytterhoeven <geert@linux-m68k.org>

• Herman Bruyninckx <Herman.Bruyninckx@mech.kuleuven.ac.be>

Many thanks go to Ivo Clarysse <soggie@iguana.be> who started something similar earlier (LinBel) and his project helped us a lot to get this document online.

1.5. The Linux.be-domain debacle

As you might have heard, Belgium also has its problem with the Linux.be domain. Similar to the Linux.nl case. Around March 1999, someone tricked the DNS administration about the trademark 'Linux' in Belgium by using 'Linux' as a commercial representation of the company ('uithangbord') which was according to the rules of the DNS administration at that time. The company in fact was one that sold motor-parts and the registration was done with a fake fax containing a penguin.

It is sad that the person who registered the Linux.be-domain name, did this behind the back of some Open Source volunteers who were planning to register a not-for-profit organisation to hold the domain name to prevent any abuse.

Afterwards there were several meetings with this person to work out an agreement so that the domain was not used for commercial purposes and handed over to a neutral organisation. But after several attempts it was very clear that the owner wanted full control over the domain, which he later emphasized by 'handing it over' to his own not-for-profit organisation. He stated several times he wanted to keep the right to add advertissements to the website, but wouldn't mind that volunteers added content to the site (that was empty at the time). After this, no one was willing to work voluntarily for the content of the site. Sadly he managed to get some people volunteer for it after all.

1.6. Feedback

If some information seems to be wrong, deceptive or missing, we'd appreciate if you mailed us the improvements. Since we're just human this document isn't bug-free, but your contribution can and will make a difference.

To add yourself to the Linux user groups or businesses, collect all necessary information and mail it to us.

1.7. Copyright information

This document, Belgian HOWTO, is copyrighted (c) 1998 - 2002 by Dag Wieërs. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 published by the Free Software Foundation; with the Invariant Sections being "New versions of this document", "Contributions", "Feedback" and "Copyright information" with no Front-Cover Texts and with no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is available at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html.

Trademarks are owned by their owners.

Although the information given in this document is believed to be correct, the author will accept no liability for the content of this document. Use the tips and examples given herein at your own risk.

1.8. Todo

There are some things I'm planning to add to this document, if you're interested be sure you're reading the most current version of this document. (This todo-list is only a reminder to myself, it is not in the translated documents!)

• Add more information about ADSL

• Update the locale-section, preferably link to a related document.

2.1. Keyboard setup

Linux provides 2 ways to set up your keyboard. At the console you can use loadkeys and under XFree86 you can use xmodmap.

2.2. Display and applications

Some applications have to be compiled as 8-bit clean to work well with the European characterset. Others like to be told in advance.

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2.2.1. Using the ISO-8859-1 font in console

You can load the ISO-8859-1 font by typing the following in console:

setfont lat1u-16.psf mapscrn trivial echo -ne '\033(K'

To be able to use ë, è, é or ç in console, you might want to add these to your ~/.inputrc:

set meta-flag on set convert-meta off set output-meta on

(This must be done for every user, if you want this to be default for all users you can either add this file to /etc/skel/ or you could add these lines to /etc/inputrc and add the following to /etc/bashrc, export INPUTRC=/etc/inputrc)

	Note!
	This is only useful to programs that use readline (like bash)

Also set the following environment variables:

LC_CTYPE=iso-8859-1 SYSFONT=lat1u-16.psf SYSTERM=linux

2.3. Time zone

Since Belgium is located in the Central European Time zone (aka MET) which (in the winter) is equivalent to the Greenwhich Mean Time plus 1 (GMT+1), you can simply link /usr/lib/zoneinfo/localtime/MET to /etc/localtime symbolicly like: ln -sf /usr/lib/zoneinfo/MET /etc/localtime or ln -sf /usr/lib/zoneinfo/Europe/Brussels /etc/localtime This automagically sets Daylight Savings (which is GMT+2 in the summer).

	Note!
	Different distributions have different paths, zoneinfo can be located in /usr/share or such...

	Another note!
	Red Hat uses a tool called timeconfig, SuSE uses yast

To change the CMOS clock and then synchronize the system time with the CMOS clock, do something like this:

hwclock --set --date="Feb 25 03:38" clock -u -s

If your clock is set to local time (which is discouraged but if you also run broken OS's, you must), you can do:

hwclock --set --date="Feb 25 04:38" clock -s

[Noticed the 1 hour difference ? ;p]

If your computer has Internet-access you can use NTP (Network Time Protocol) to keep your system clock in sync. One way of doing this is by starting ntpdate from cron by adding

05 0 * * * root /usr/sbin/ntpdate -s ntp.belnet.be > /dev/null 2>&1

to your /etc/crontab. Check the ISP-information below to see if your ISP has a NTP-server available.

2.4. Locale support

Not much programs support locale yet, if you want to know more about locale or how to write your own programs to support it, check: [put the damn url here ;p]

Be aware that locale makes it harder to resolve problems as less people can help you !! You might understand a problem when it's in technical English, but what if it's translated in some obscure Dutch ?

2.5. Native language support and codepages

These options add support for the Belgian characterset and codepages. If you'd like to have these, compile a kernel with these options put on. They only apply to some filesystems (FAT-based, ISO9660, ...).

< > Codepage 850 (Europe) < > NLS ISO 8859-1 (Latin 1; Western European Languages) < > NLS ISO 8859-15 (Latin 9; Western European Languages with Euro)

Located in Filesystems > Native Language Support

If your kernel is a modular kernel that came with your distribution (=you never compiled a kernel before), then you might want to type:

insmod nls_cp850 insmod nls_iso8859_1 insmod nls_iso8859_15

2.6. Ispell

Contributed by Dany Vanderroost <danyv@euronet.be>

2.7. Setting up Internet

2.7.1. Dialing in with your modem (PPP)

To configure PPP correctly, you should check the PPP-HOWTO. I try to explain it briefly, but if you have any questions or problems, read the HOWTO very carefully.

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2.7.1.1. Configuring the modem

To configure your modem, you can alter the initstring of your modem. To learn more about your modem, check Ask Mr. Modem.

If you have a winmodem you will probably not get it to work. More information about winmodems is at: http://linmodems.org/. Work is underway, but winmodems are not as good as real modems.

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2.7.1.2. Installing pppd

Now, you need to have the ppp-package installed (check this by typing pppd --version), make sure you have a recent one. Then you have to make sure you've got these files:

/usr/local/bin/ppp

#!/bin/sh case $1 in (on|start) TELEPHONE='555-1212' # The telephone number for the connection ACCOUNT='your_login' # The account name for logon (as in 'George Burns') PASSWORD='your_pass' # The password for this account (and 'Gracie Allen') INITSTRING='AT&F&C1&D2Z'# Modem initstring IPLOCAL=0.0.0.0 # Local IP address if known. Dynamic = 0.0.0.0 IPREMOTE=0.0.0.0 # Remote IP address if desired. Normally 0.0.0.0 DEVICE=/dev/ttyS1 # Serial Device com1=ttyS0, com2=ttyS1,... SPEED=57600 # 19200, 38400 or 57600 (don't try something different) export TELEPHONE ACCOUNT PASSWORD INITSTRING exec /usr/sbin/pppd $DEVICE $SPEED $IPLOCAL:$IPREMOTE \ user $ACCOUNT connect /etc/ppp/ppp-on-dialer ;; (off|stop) if [ -r /var/run/ppp0.pid ]; then kill -INT `cat /var/run/ppp0.pid` if [ ! "$?" = "0" ]; then rm -f /var/run/ppp0.pid echo "ERROR: Removed stale pid file" exit 1 fi exit 0 fi echo "ERROR: PPP link is not active on ppp0" exit 1 ;; (info|status) /usr/sbin/pppstats ;; (*) echo "Usage: ppp on|off|info|start|stop|status"; esac

/etc/ppp/ppp-on-dialer

#!/bin/sh exec /usr/sbin/chat -v \ REPORT CONNECTION \ REPORT CARRIER \ TIMEOUT 10 \ ABORT '\nBUSY\r' \ ABORT '\nNO ANSWER\r' \ ABORT '\nNO CARRIER\r' \ ABORT '\nNO DIALTONE\r' \ ABORT '\nRINGING\r\n\r\nRINGING\r' \ ABORT 'Invalid Login' \ ABORT 'Login incorrect' \ '' "\r$INITSTRING\r" \ 'OK-+++\c-OK' 'ATH0' \ TIMEOUT 45 \ OK "ATDT$TELEPHONE" \ CONNECT '\d\c' \ ogin:--ogin: "$ACCOUNT" \ ord: "$PASSWORD"

You can remove the -v once everything looks normal.

The pppd command uses /etc/ppp/options to list its options, change these options to whatever fits. These defaults normally work in most cases.

asyncmap 20a0000 crtscts debug default-mru defaultroute detach escape 11,13,ff hide-password ipcp-accept-local ipcp-accept-remote lcp-echo-failure 4 lcp-echo-interval 400 lock modem mtu 1500 netmask 255.255.255.0 noipdefault passive #idle 300 #kdebug 0 #-vj

Once dialing in works like a charm, you can leave debug out.

It is important to emphasize that every special character, thus every character that is not [a-ZA-Z0-9] and '_', should be escaped by preceding it with a '\'-character. Thus "e!b$l+" would become "e\!b\$l\+". Try it if you are having troubles !

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2.7.1.3. pap-secrets / chap-secrets

If your ISP requires CHAP or PAP, you need one of these files with their proper username and password:

/etc/ppp/pap-secrets or /etc/ppp/chap-secrets

#client server secret IP your_login * your_pass *

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2.7.1.4. Network

To configure your nameservers, change /etc/resolv.conf. If dialing in is succesful, but you can't get it to connect to URL's: this is probably the cause.

domain domain_of_your_isp nameserver your_primary_nameserver nameserver your_secondary_nameserver

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2.7.1.5. File permissions

Before you can run a (shell)script, it must be set executable. Be sure that you set the permissions so that other users cannot see the passwords stored in the files. If you want other users to be able to dial in, you might want to consider using sudo. You might want to do the following:

chmod u+rw og-rwx -R /etc/ppp chmod u+x /etc/ppp/ppp-on-dialer /usr/local/bin/ppp

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2.7.1.6. Dial + Hangup

Then if /usr/local/bin is in your PATH, you can easily dial in with ppp on, hangup with ppp off and to get some statistics, you do: ppp status.

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2.7.2. Dialing in with your ISDN-modem

Contributed by Christophe Lambin <clambin@skynet.be>

This section does not aim to be a definitive guide on ISDN for Linux. For a more detailed discussion on the topic, see Paul Slootman's ISDN4Linux HOWTO and ISDN4Linux-FAQ.

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2.7.2.1. Updating the kernel

If you're using a 2.2 kernel, it's recommended to get an updated version of the ISDN code. You can retrieve it from CVS at ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/isdn4linux/. For more information, check: http://www.brisse.dk/site/linux/docs/isdn.htm

If you've recently purchased an Eicon Diva 2.0 PCI (eg, via Belgacom), there's a good chance you've actually got a Diva 2.01.In this case, you must get a version dated 1 July 1999 or later !

Once the ISDN is in place, you can start up the driver. Eg: modprobe hisax type=11 protocol=2 Refer to the Readme's for the right parameters and values for your card.

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2.7.2.2. ISDN4Linux toolkit

Next, you'll need the ISDN4Linux toolkit. You can retrieve the latest version of the toolkit at: ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/isdn4linux/

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2.7.2.3. Configuring the interface

With the tools installed and configured, write a script to configure the interface, to be used for the ISDN connection. As always in Linux, there's no one correct way of doing this. I've put these in a script

/etc/rc.d/rc.isdn:

#!/bin/sh MSNREMOTE='555-1212' # Phone number of ISP MSNLOCAL='555-1313' # my number, without 0, with areacode ACCOUNT='george' # The account for logon (as 'George Burns') IPLOCAL=10.0.0.2 # my fixed IP (use 10.0.0.2 if no fixed) IPREMOTE=0.0.0.0 # IP number of ISP INTERFACE=ippp0 /sbin/modprobe hisax type=11 protocol=2 /sbin/isdnctrl verbose 3 system on /sbin/isdnctrl addif $IF /sbin/isdnctrl secure $IF on /sbin/isdnctrl addphone $IF out $MSNREMOTE /sbin/isdnctrl eaz $IF $MSNLOCAL /sbin/isdnctrl huptimeout $IF 300 /sbin/isdnctrl l2_prot $IF hdlc /sbin/isdnctrl l3_prot $IF trans /sbin/isdnctrl encap $IF syncppp /sbin/isdnctrl dialmode $IF auto /sbin/ifconfig $IF $IPLOCAL pointopoint $IPREMOTE -arp -broadcast /sbin/ipppd /dev/ippp0 user $ACCOUNT $IPLOCAL:$IPREMOTE

To start this at boot time, make it executable and append the following to /etc/rc.d/rc.local:

if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.isdn ]; then . /etc/rc.d/rc.isdn fi

The ipppd command gets its parameters passed through a file, /etc/ppp/ioptions:

-ac -bsdcomp debug defaultroute ipcp-accept-local ipcp-accept-remote mru 1524 mtu 1500 noipdefault -pc useifip -vj -vjccomp #idle 360 #persistent

Do NOT specify +pap or +chap in this file. This specifies the authentication that ipppd should use for an INCOMING client. If you were to use this to connect to your ISP, ipppd would wait for the ISP to authenticate itself using the specified protocol.

It is important to emphasize that every special character, thus every character that is not [a-ZA-Z0-9] and '_' should be escaped by preceding it with a '\'-character. Thus 'e!b$l+' would become 'e\!b\$l\+'. Try it if you are having troubles !

Finally, create /etc/ppp/ip-down.local to handle the shutdown of the interface:

#!/bin/sh /sbin/ifconfig $1 down sleep 1 /sbin/ifconfig $1 10.0.0.2 pointopoint

	Note!
	This is to handle some problems with routes on shutdowns. Anyone know of a clean(er) solution ?

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2.7.2.4. pap-secrets / chap-secrets

If your ISP uses PAP or CHAP, create a file /etc/ppp/pap-secrets or /etc/ppp/chap-secrets. Its format is:

#client server secret IP your_login * your_pass *

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2.7.2.5. Network

Not really related to ISDN, but a lot of people forget this step (too eager to try out all the stuff they typed in above ? :-)).

Anyway, you need to configure the DNS, by creating a file /etc/resolv.conf:

domain your_domain_of_your_isp nameserver your_primary_nameserver nameserver your_secondary_nameserver

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2.7.2.6. File permissions

Before you can run a (shell)script, it must be set executable. Be sure that you set the permissions so that other users cannot see the passwords stored in the files. If you want other users to be able to dial in, you might want to consider using sudo. You might want to do the following:

chmod u+rw og-rwx -r /etc/ppp chmod u+x /etc/rc.d/rc.isdn /etc/ppp/ip.down-local /usr/local/bin/isdn

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2.7.2.7. Dial + Hangup

Finally, you can write a little wrapper to start and stop the ISDN connection. I've put this as /usr/local/bin/isdn:

#!/bin/bash case $1 in (on|start) /sbin/isdnctrl dial ippp0 ;; (off|stop) /sbin/isdnctrl hangup ippp0 ;; (info|status) /sbin/isdnctrl list ippp0 ;; (*) echo "Usage: isdn on|off|info|start|stop|status" esac

Then if /usr/local/bin is in your PATH, you can easily dial in with isdn on and hangup with isdn off.

3.1. PPP/ISDN

3.2. Cable

DHCP was designed to make life easier, and most of the times it does ;) More information to set up your DHCP client can be found at: http://www.oswg.org/oswg-nightly/DHCP.html and a list of Frequently Asked Questions from the infamous document of John Wobus at http://www.dhcp.org/ which describes everything you need to know. Along with the information in the Cable-Modem HOWTO (http://www.oswg.org/oswg-nightly/Cable-Modem.html).

Lots of people want to connect a whole network to their cablemodem, that's not a problem. You'll need IP-Masquerading and make sure the interface (that speaks to the cablemodem) has the right MAC-address !! Another solution (in case of problems) is to reset your cablemodem.

3.3. ADSL

4.1. ALUG (Antwerp)

4.2. BeLUGa (Brussels)

4.3. BxLUG (Brussels)

4.4. Charleroi LUG (Charleroi)

4.5. Computer Forum KaHo (Leuven)

4.6. HCC Limburg (Genk)

4.7. HCC Leuven (Leuven)

4.8. IGUANA (Brussels)

4.9. Infogroep - IGWE (Brussels)

4.10. ISW (Leuven)

4.11. Leuven Linux Users (Leuven)

4.12. LiLiT (Liège)

4.13. Linux for Life (Berchem)

4.14. Louvain-Li-nux (Louvain-La-Neuve)

4.15. LugWV (Brugge)

4.16. LUMUMBA (Diepenbeek)

4.17. Mons LUG (Mons)

4.18. Namur LUG (Namur)

4.19. Open Technology Assembly (Brussels)

4.20. OS3B (Charleroi)

4.21. Ouverture

4.22. PC Aktief Computerclub (Sint-Niklaas)

4.23. Student Information Networking (Geel)

4.24. TINA (Antwerp)

4.25. ULYSSIS (Leuven)

4.26. WOLF (Mechelen)

4.27. Zeus WPI (Gent)

5.1. aDOC Services

5.2. Ampersant

5.3. Arafox

5.4. Aragne

5.5. Better Access nv

5.6. Consultux

5.7. CoreSequence Consultancy & Training

5.8. CSS nv

5.9. D. Connect

5.10. Digibel

5.11. Dolmen

5.12. DS Improve bvba

5.13. EMMO Service

5.14. FKS bvba

5.15. Glasshouse Business Networks bvba

5.16. Grmbl productions

5.17. Hellea sprl

5.18. IBM Belgium sa/nv

5.19. IP Net generation

5.20. Kangaroot Linux Solutions

5.21. Linugen

5.22. LinuxIdee

5.23. Mind

5.24. Minotaur Solutions

5.25. Neolabs

5.26. OpenSides

5.27. Phidani Software sprl

5.28. Qbian Linux Systems

5.29. Si-Lab

5.30. Spier bvba

5.31. Stone-IT Belgium

5.32. Supporting Open Source cvba

5.33. Sygmanet

5.34. Théridion sprlfs

5.35. UWYN

5.36. VirgoPlus sprl

6.1. Websites

6.2. HOWTO

The most important collection of Linux information on the net. Please if you encounter erroneous information in one of them, do contact the author. Only that way it will be corrected and we all stand together ;)

• HOWTO's at K.U.Leuven

• HOWTO's at Double-Barrel

• HOWTO's at SIN

• HOWTO's at Linuxbe.org

6.3. HOWTO translations

As Dutch is less wide-spread, it is the least supported. But work is being done to resolve this ;) (and maybe *you* can help ?!?) French and German translations obviously are already taken care of.

6.4. FTP

6.5. Usenet/Newsgroups

• be.comp.os.linux at Google

6.6. IRC

The fastest medium to get support is IRC, but beware. Because IRC is rather anonymous it's also easy to deceive people.

On IRCnet there's a channel called #linux.be that is closely related to bcol and the Belgian Linux-scene. The channel is still small, but it surely will grow in time. To get help in English, there's only one place #linux.

Also Dalnet has a #linux.be channel.