Configuring your PCQLinux

We have included Webmin as the primary configuration tool for PCQLinux 8.0. Webmin is a Web-based interface for system administration. Using any browser that supports tables and forms (and Java for the File Manager module), you can configure and manage different parts of PCQLinux 8.0 perfectly without having to open a terminal window and issue complex commands. Nor do you have to remember and wade through arcane configuration files. The best part is that you can even administer your machine remotely as long as you can see the machine on the network–

either on your LAN or over the Internet–all from a browser. 

Important If you have installed Webmin as part of the original installation then it sets the root password to blank. Immediately after completing installation, once the machine reboots, you should start up Webmin, log in as root (with blank password) and then change the Webmin password for root by selecting the Webmin icon on top of the page and selecting Webmin users/ root.

By default, Webmin is installed in all the installation types of PCQLinux 8.0. However, if you want to manually install it later, you can do that also. Insert the 

PCQLinux 8.0 CD-1 into your CD-ROM drive and from a terminal window, issue the following commands.

# cd /mnt/cdrom/PCQuest/RPMS



# rpm -ivh 

You will also have to start Apache (the Web server), since Webmin requires a Web server to run its CGI scripts. To start Apache, issue the following command.

# apachectl start

Webmin will now be up and running. 



To start working with Webmin, just fire up your favorite Web browser and point to your machine’s IP address at port 10000.

For example, if your machine’s IP address is 192.168.1.25, then point your browser to http://192.168.1.25:10000. You will be shown a login form. If Webmin is installed at the time of PCQLinux 8.0 installation then you have to login as user “root” with a blank password. However if you have installed Webmin manually, the root password will be what you have assigned.

After logging in, you can change the password at any time by going to the Webmin Users button in the main page and selecting the user whose password you want to change.

While there are many different ways to configure your PCQLinux 8.0, Webmin is the configuration tool that we will use in all the articles that follow to configure different parts of the PCQLinux installation. 

Anindya Roy