13. Checking Miscellaneous Parameters

13.1. Summary

As a review, DrakX will present a summary of information it has gathered about your system. Depending on the hardware installed on your machine, you may have some or all of the following entries. Each entry is made up of the hardware item to be configured, followed by a quick summary of the current configuration. Click on the corresponding Configure button to make any changes.

  • Keyboard: check the current keyboard map configuration and change it if necessary.

  • Country / Region: check the current country selection. If you're not in the country selected by DrakX, click on the Configure button and choose another. If your country isn't in the list shown, click on the Other Countries button to get a complete country list.

  • Timezone: by default, DrakX deduces your time zone based on the country you have chosen. You can click on the Configure button here if this is not correct.

  • Mouse: verify the current mouse configuration and click on the button to change it if necessary.

  • Printer: clicking on the Configure button will open the printer configuration wizard. Consult Section 5, “Configuring Printers with PrinterDrake” for more information on how to set up a new printer. The interface presented in our manual is similar to the one used during installation.

  • Sound card: if a sound card is detected on your system, it will be displayed here. If you notice the sound card isn't the one actually present on your system, you can click on the button and choose a different driver.

  • TV card: if you have a TV card, this is where information about its configuration will be displayed. If you want to try a different driver for your TV card, or its detection wasn't accurate you can click on Configure to try to configure it manually.

  • Graphical Interface: by default, DrakX configures your graphical interface with a resolution that best matches your video card and monitor combination. If that doesn't suit you, or DrakX could not automatically configure it (not configured is displayed), click on Configure to reconfigure your graphical interface. You can click on Help from within the configuration wizard to benefit from full in-line help.

  • Network: if you wish to configure your Internet or local network access, you can do so from here. Refer to the printed documentation or use the Mandrakelinux Control Center after the installation has finished to benefit from full in-line help.

  • Proxies: allows you to configure HTTP and FTP proxy addresses if the machine you're installing on is to be located behind a proxy server.

  • Security Level: this entry allows you to redefine the security level as set in a previous step (see Section 6, “Security Level”).

  • Firewall: if you plan to connect your machine to the Internet, it's a good idea to protect yourself from intrusions by setting up a firewall. Consult Section 3, “Securing your Internet Access via DrakFirewall” for details about firewall settings.

  • Bootloader: if you wish to change your bootloader configuration, click this button. This should be reserved to advanced users. Refer to the printed documentation or the in-line help about bootloader configuration in the Mandrakelinux Control Center.

  • Services: with this entry you can fine tune which services will be run on your machine. If you plan to use this machine as a server it's a good idea to review this setup.

13.2. Time Zone Options

This dialog appears after selecting a new time zone in the time zones list. After you've chosen the location nearest to your time zone, two more options are shown.

GNU/Linux manages time in GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) and translates it to local time according to the time zone you selected. If the clock on your motherboard is set to local time, you may deactivate this by deselecting Hardware clock set to GMT, which will let GNU/Linux know that the system clock and the hardware clock are in the same time zone. This is useful when the machine also hosts another operating system.

The Automatic time synchronization option will automatically regulate the system clock by connecting to a remote time server on the Internet. For this feature to work, you must have a working Internet connection. We recommend that you choose a time server located near you or the generic World Wide entry which will select the best server for you. This option actually installs a time server which can be used by other machines on your local network as well.

13.3. Configuring X, the Graphical Server

X (for X Window System) is the heart of the GNU/Linux graphical interface on which all the graphical environments (KDE, GNOME, AfterStep, WindowMaker, etc.) bundled with Mandrakelinux rely on.

You will see a list of different parameters which you can change in order to optimize your graphical display.

Graphic Card

If everything works fine, the installer should detect and configure the video card installed on your machine. If the detection or configuration is incorrect, you can choose the card installed on your system from a list.

Monitor

If the installer fails to detect or configure your monitor properly, you can choose from this list the monitor which is connected to your computer.

Resolution

Here you can choose the resolutions and color depths available for your graphics hardware. Choose the one which best suits your needs (you will be able to make changes after the installation). A sample of the chosen configuration will be shown in the monitor picture.

Test
[Note]Note

Depending on your hardware, this entry might not appear.

The system will try to open a graphical screen at the desired resolution. If you see the test message during the test and answer Yes, then DrakX will proceed to the next step. If you don't see it, it means that some part of the auto-detected configuration was incorrect and the test will automatically end after a few seconds and return you to the menu. Change settings until you get a correct graphical display.

Options

This step allows you to choose whether you want your machine to automatically switch to a graphical interface at boot. Obviously, you may want to select the No option if your machine is to act as a server, or if you were not successful in getting the display configured.

13.4. Selecting Available Services at Boot Time

This dialog is used to select which services you wish to start at boot time.

DrakX will list all services available on the current installation. Review each of them carefully and uncheck those which aren't needed at boot time.

[Tip]Tip

A short explanatory text will be displayed about a service when it is selected. However, if you're not sure whether a service is useful or not, it is safer to leave the default behavior.

[Warning]Warning

At this stage, be very careful if you intend to use your machine as a server: you probably don't want to start any services which you don't need. Please remember that some services can be dangerous if they're enabled on a server. In general, select only those services you really need.