Archive for the ‘Software’ Category

Shortcut to Restart X in CentOs 4.6

April 1st, 2010 No Comments

For the longest time, whenever I needed to restart X, I would simply reboot. It never occurred to me there would be an easy command/shortcut to achieve the same objective, without waiting for the often time long reboot. All you need to do is click:

CTRL + ALT + BACKSPACE

This will restart your X, so make sure you’ve saved everything you’re currently working on!

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Default from bash to csh in CentOs 4.6

March 31st, 2010 No Comments

In a simple post, my CentOs 4.6 default shell is BASH when I log in as root. I finally got tired of manually switching to csh with the ‘csh’ command. My goal was to set the default shell of Centos 4.6 to CSH. The solution was simple and I wish I had done it earlier.

  1. Login to CentOs as root
  2. Open file /etc/passwd with the command “vi /etc/passwd” from the terminal
  3. My first line said: root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
    Change it to root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/csh
  4. Save and close the file.
  5. Restart and your default will now be csh.
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Samsung SyncMaster 2233rz, NVIDIA 3D Vision, Linux, and Pymol

March 30th, 2010 6 Comments

I’ve been tasked with getting a3d visualizations working on a linux machine (running Centos 4.6) for Pymol and a variety of other 3d visualization software. CRT monitors capable of 3d are difficult, if not impossible to purchase. In the LCD range, we got the Zalman monitor working, but it was not very clear. So instead, we went with the Samsung SyncMaster 2233rz monitor with the NVIDIA 3D Vision, on Centos 4.6 machine.  It works beautifully!

  1. Start with a Centos 4.6 linux machine.
  2. Power off and install the NVIDIA Quadro FX3700 graphic card.
  3. Hook up the NVIDIA 3D Vision hardware (both USB and 3-pin)
  4. Install the graphic card driver. I used version 195.36.15 from Nvidia.com.
  5. Follow/Mimic the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 1.0  (buildmeister@builder75)  Fri Mar 12 01:44:55 PST 2010

Section “ServerLayout”
Identifier     “Layout0″
Screen      0  “Screen0″ 0 0
InputDevice    “Keyboard0″ “CoreKeyboard”
InputDevice    “Mouse0″ “CorePointer”
Option         “Xinerama” “0″
EndSection

Section “Files”
FontPath        “unix/:7100″
EndSection

Section “Module”
Load           “dbe”
Load           “extmod”
Load           “type1″
Load           “freetype”
Load           “glx”
EndSection

Section “InputDevice”
# generated from data in “/etc/sysconfig/mouse”
Identifier     “Mouse0″
Driver         “mouse”
Option         “Protocol” “IMPS/2″
Option         “Device” “/dev/input/mice”
Option         “Emulate3Buttons” “no”
Option         “ZAxisMapping” “4 5″
EndSection

Section “InputDevice”
# generated from data in “/etc/sysconfig/keyboard”
Identifier     “Keyboard0″
Driver         “kbd”
Option         “XkbLayout” “us”
Option         “XkbModel” “pc105″
EndSection

Section “Monitor”
# HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
Identifier     “Monitor0″
VendorName     “Unknown”
ModelName      “Samsung SyncMaster”
HorizSync       30.0 – 190.0
VertRefresh     56.0 – 125.0
Option         “DPMS”
EndSection

Section “Device”
Identifier     “Device0″
Driver         “nvidia”
VendorName     “NVIDIA Corporation”
BoardName      “Quadro FX 3700″
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier     “Screen0″
Device         “Device0″
Monitor        “Monitor0″
DefaultDepth    24
Option         “TwinView” “0″
Option         “Stereo” “3″
Option         “AddARGBLXVisuals” “True”
Option         “metamodes” “1680×1050 +0+0; 640×480 +0+0; 1680x1050_120 +0+0″
SubSection     “Display”
Depth       24
EndSubSection
EndSection

What did not Work!

  1. Nvidia Quadro FX1400 instead of the Nvidia Quadro 3700
  2. NuVision emitter and goggles instead of the NVIDIA 3D Vision
  3. Compatability problems with Synergy

More Helpful References!

  1. 195.36.15 XConfig Options, direct from Nvidia
  2. 3D from Linux to Samsung 2233RZ LCD forum post!
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