More user accounts?

Discussion in 'Acer Aspire One' started by DunklerProphet, Aug 6, 2008.

  1. DunklerProphet

    DunklerProphet

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    Hi,

    is just got my One yesterday and i was wondering if there is any way to get more than just one user account? :shock: I found the tread about gdm but non about the user control.
    So is there any known way? Or at least just any idea how to manage this without switching to another distro?

    yours
    rene
     
    DunklerProphet, Aug 6, 2008
    #1
  2. DunklerProphet

    Guest Guest

    i managed to add a user account from the terminal, and was able to switch to that user.

    i attained root access, then used 'adduser <user>'. the script ran and spat out some info, but didn't ask for a PW or anything like that.

    there may be a better way to add extra users - i wasn't able to get it to prompt me to login before dropping me at a desktopm but then i only played with linpus for 5 minutes before ditching it for XP.
     
    Guest, Aug 6, 2008
    #2
  3. DunklerProphet

    janss

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    You can get the login-prompt on by disabling autologin and making GDM run at startup.

    Instructions can be found from HOW TO : disable autologin -thread.
     
    janss, Aug 6, 2008
    #3
  4. DunklerProphet

    DunklerProphet

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    I found this HowTo and i'm going to activate gdm as soon as i am at home, but i dindn't find a way to add a second user. There ist just mentioned that the standard username is "user".

    rene
     
    DunklerProphet, Aug 6, 2008
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  5. DunklerProphet

    Guest Guest

    open a terminal, attain root access and type "adduser <username>". the new user will be created. from here you can switch to that user, set a password ("passwd" maybe?) and go from there.
     
    Guest, Aug 6, 2008
    #5
  6. DunklerProphet

    tee_blauer_enzian

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    I performed the steps described above and was able to create different accounts and logins. Nevertheless these actions didn't create all stuff necessary to really make these accounts usable, since not all functions were working properly. For example, when hitting the icon "My files" (or so, don't know the English name exactly, since I'm using the German version), the window flashed shortly on the screen and disappeared immediately.

    As next step, I copied all files, beginning with a dot from /home/user to the directory of the new user (e.g. /home/myaccount) . This improved the behavior, I was able to start all applications, but the main settings of the screen seemed to be still missing. The task bar for example looked a bit strange.

    Can someone of the experts tell me, what steps I have to perform after creating the account with the "adduser" command, to get a really working account?

    Greetings

    tee_blauer_enzian
     
    tee_blauer_enzian, Aug 8, 2008
    #6
  7. DunklerProphet

    Duncan_Rowland

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    Hi,

    I've been playing around adding multiple accounts, and while I'm not 100% that the following will do everything you need, it might be close...

    After you've added the newuser, you need to make it a member of the "wheel" group. This allows that user to su root (which means it can start the network, for example). Edit the file "/etc/group" and near the top add your new account to the wheel group...

    wheel::10:root,user,your_new_account_name_here


    Also, I've found the webcam and audio don't work with the new accounts (since only user and root have read/write access to it). One way to provide access is to make the devices owned by the wheel group (since you're now a member of this, this means you can use the cam). To make this happen on boot, one way is to add the following to the bottom of the file "/etc/rc.d/rc.local" (I'm not sure all of them are needed, but it works for me...)

    sudo chgrp wheel /dev/video*
    sudo chgrp wheel /dev/sequencer
    sudo chgrp wheel /dev/sequencer2
    sudo chgrp wheel /dev/dsp
    sudo chgrp wheel /dev/mixer
    sudo chgrp wheel /dev/audio
    sudo chgrp wheel /dev/snd
    sudo chgrp wheel /dev/snd/*

    Hope that helps,
    Best -Duncan.Do

    p.s.
    I think to get the "My Document", "My Music"... links to work, you just need to make the folders in your new accounts home directory

    cd ~
    mkdir Documents Downloads Videos Pictures Music
     
    Duncan_Rowland, Aug 25, 2008
    #7
  8. DunklerProphet

    Duncan_Rowland

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    Just discovered that to get the function keys to work with a new account (volume, brightness etc.) you just need to copy the .XHkeys file from your original user account.
     
    Duncan_Rowland, Sep 6, 2008
    #8
  9. DunklerProphet

    readsta

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    Hi guys.

    I've followed the steps above and by in large it's excellent - so thank you.

    I have noticed a few things though and I hope that someone has an answer:

    a) The volume keys don't work even though I've copied in the .XHkeys file and changed ownership/perms. However, after opening up the volume control, they do??!
    b) Related to the above perhaps but Scr LK now puts the machine into sleep?!
    c) When clicking on 'More' on the Connect menu, it brings up a blank menu and you cannot get out of it, even the 'Home' button doesn't work.

    Finally, does anyone know how you log off rather than having to restart?

    Thanks,
    Paul.
     
    readsta, Sep 15, 2008
    #9
  10. DunklerProphet

    Duncan_Rowland

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    Hi read sta,

    I think the xhkeys gets setup quite late... might it be that if you wait 30secs after logging in the keys start working on their own?
    Yeah, me too. Was this always the case? (I think someone must have mistranslated "SCRoll LocK" as "SCReen LocK" :) - perhaps it can be changed in the .XHkeys file, if desired?)
    hmm.. works for me. Check your ~/.config/xfce4/desktop/group-app.xml is the same as the one for the original user account.
    No, and I'm not sure this is possible (anyone else know for sure?)... still, it's only a few seconds to reboot...

    Best, -Duncan.
     
    Duncan_Rowland, Sep 16, 2008
    #10
  11. DunklerProphet

    rbil

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    Maybe if you set up your system to kill X using CTRL+ALT+Backspace, this will let you then login as a different user? Somewhere in this forum you'll find instructions on enabling this. It involves changing a line in your xorg.conf file.

    Cheers.
     
    rbil, Sep 16, 2008
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  12. DunklerProphet

    rbil

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    You will need to comment out (start the line with a #) the following line in /etc/X11/xorg.conf to enable the CTRL+ALT+Backspace feature to kill X.

    Option "DontZap" "yes"

    You'll need to reboot before this change takes effect.

    Not sure this will get you back to a login screen, but it does with Ubuntu running gdm.

    Cheers.
     
    rbil, Sep 16, 2008
    #12
  13. DunklerProphet

    readsta

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    Oh dear.. I think I've screwed gdm.. I've been messing around trying to get the 'Connect' menu working and deletied and recreated my user account a few times and now gdm doesn't show the user at all in the list.

    Could someone tell me how gdm compiles the user list and/or what might be the problem??

    Paul.
     
    readsta, Sep 16, 2008
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  14. DunklerProphet

    readsta

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    I figured out why my user wasn't appearing - it didn't have a password set!!

    Ho hum. All is well with Aspire One!
     
    readsta, Sep 17, 2008
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  15. DunklerProphet

    chazzmor

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    I've been reading a Beginners Linex tutorial on-line and it mentioned that you should not work as the "root" but add yourself as another user. Is that really necessary with Linpus Lite? My Acer is working fine with my initial setup. Skype has been downloaded and working, Picasa works great. I don't really intend on adding any more programs so I hate to screw up a good thing. The instructions during setup did not mention anything about adding yourself as another user. From reading the posts about adding other accounts or users, it seems that other problems crop up when you do. I'm the only one that will be using the AA1.
     
    chazzmor, Sep 24, 2008
    #15
  16. DunklerProphet

    kevin

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    My understanding is that the initial setup is to run everything as the unprivileged user called `user'. Since there isn't any login prompt, and only I use the machine, I can't see any reason to change that or add new users. Unless you've fiddled around with something, you won't be running with admin privileges unless you go to the terminal and type `sudo [something]'. So everything should be OK.

    Running day-to-day activities with admin privileges is a Very Bad Thing, even on a single-user system. It's because of people doing this that we have all these horrible problems with virus and spyware and suchlikes. But it doesn't sound like you're doing that, and Linpus certainly doesn't do it by default.
     
    kevin, Sep 24, 2008
    #16
  17. DunklerProphet

    chazzmor

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    That's a relief. The only time I ever have to enter my "root"(user password) is when I download something. I then just type in the password that I used at setup. It would probably be better for me to not read any more general Linux tutorials. Everything I need to do on my AA1 is now set up. I only need to type one command in terminal and that's to open up Picasa. If a tutorial just devoted to Linux Linpus Lite ever comes out, maybe I'll investigate further.
     
    chazzmor, Sep 24, 2008
    #17
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