CentOS 5 root bash prompt

http://www.pantz.org/software/shell/enhancingshellprompt.html

Default root prompt doesn't show host and current folder, because root doesn't have ~/.bashrc file, that loads /etc/bashrc. To fix it, simply copy .bashrc from other user's home dir or, if you don't need to include /etc/bashrc, create the .bashrc file with
echo 'PS1="[\u@\h \W]\\$ "' > /root/.bashrc
which can also go to %post in kickstart.

To load the change without relogin, run
. ~/.bashrc
(don't miss the dot at the beginning)

CentOS 5.2 - my desktop configuration

Normally I use Fedora for desktop, but this time I tried something a bit different

Started with kickstart that I previously put together to install headless server and then I installed gnome and the rest.

Gnome
yum groupinstall 'X Window System' 'GNOME Desktop Environment'
# if get error:" 0002483: nautilus-sendto requires a non-existent libgaim.so.0" do
http://bugs.centos.org/view.php?id=2483
wget http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5/os/i386/CentOS/nautilus-sendto-0.7-5.fc6.i386.rpm
rpm -Uvh --nodeps nautilus-sendto-0.7-5.fc6.i386.rpm


Display
It was a nightmare to set up the correct resolution. First I was trying to find correct setting for my monitor on internet and manually edit xorg.conf, but had no luck. Then I was just fiddling with System/Preferences/Screen Resolution and System/Administration/System and the follwing commands till I got it right, but can't say what made it work.

system-config-display --reconfig
Xorg -configure
xinit

The resulting config looks like this:

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf
# Xorg configuration created by system-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "single head configuration"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
ModelName "LCD Panel 1680x1050"
HorizSync 31.5 - 65.5
VertRefresh 56.0 - 65.0
Option "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nv"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Now, when looking at the first line of the file above, it seems that
system-config-display --reconfig
made it work.


USB Mouse & Keyboard
This was another issue that gave me hard time, but this time it was of my own making. I forgot that I purposely disabled USB support in kickstart with this line:
bootloader --location=mbr --append="nousb enforcing=0"

Worked that out from startup log:

dmesg | grep usb
#got message: "usbcore: USB support disabled"

vim /boot/grub/grub.conf
# and remove nousb to get USB working

PgAdmin
Install DAG repo from
http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/FAQ.php#B
then
yum install pgadmin3

Firefox Flash plugin
download yum repo rpm from adobe.com and then run
yum install flash-plugin

Firefox Java plugin
http://it.megocollector.com/?p=832
cd /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins
ls -s /usr/java/jre1.6.0_10/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so ibjavaplugin_oji.so
# java location might differ, see what's in /usr/java folder

gnome-do and deskbar-applet
They look fancy, but in the end, alt+F2 might be good enough for me.

gnome-do : activate with Win+space
http://rpm.pbone.net/index.php3/stat/4/idpl/9221111/com/gnome-do-0.4.2.0-1.el5.kb.i386.rpm.html

deskbar applet : activate with alt+F3
http://rpm.pbone.net/index.php3/stat/4/idpl/4838900/com/deskbar-applet-2.17.2-3.el5.rf.i386.rpm.html

Finally, xterm's gray background makes me sad.
echo 'XTerm*background: white' >> /etc/X11/Xresources