Personalizing Redhat Linux.
================================
	This is just a linux hack for cool *demos* and fun features.
I am just posting this for linux newbies. It is intended at helping
the new user personalize his Redhat 7.1 (or any GNU/Linux) system(s).
This is must-use for linux hackers (mind you it spells H,A,C,K,E,R not
C,R,A,C,K,E,R). It took me some time to figure out all this stuff.
This is just trivia you would not find in an average manual/book. All
the stuff requires a root login (which is so dangerous !)

	I am a fairly good programmer in GNU/Linux (another R.M.S fan ?).
This is my first attempt at writing a tutorial, I hope it will be good.
This also ends up with some code to add some color to your c program's
output (in linux of course). Any difficulty in reading may be due to
your using notepad (you..,you windblows user! ). Also change tab spacing 
to 4 for my tables.

The Boot-up menu
================
	I don't mind telling you that the default boot-up menu showing
the logo of Redhat (or the penguin from PCQLinux ) is too bo...oring.
Just make an indexed PCX file in gimp with 320x200 resoultion and 
move it to /boot/message (or chage the lilo message option in lilo.conf)
just run lilo.conf and reboot to see your boot screen. I will attatch
my boot-screen with this.(Scratch out my name and use it big boy !)


The Boot-up Messages
=============================
	Ok, I don't mind telling you I appreciate redhat's idea of color
coding the boot-up messages. But the default messages are too boring.
So go edit /etc/init.d/functions , look for the message texts (ie
OK,FAILED...) change it and reboot. eg  

"OK"		=>	":-)" 
"FAILED"	=>	":-("
"PASSED"	=>	":-|"

The Issue of Issue files
========================
	I just hate to see people using redhat's (or for that matter debian's) 
default issues file. A few people may not imagine any problem with using 
the default issue files. But I happen to know the issue.net file is 
displayed *BEFORE* logging-in using telnet. It shows vendor,version and 
server-model (ie Redhat 2.2.4 on i386).This is the first step for 
breaking a system's security. (yeah I hacked my system , you cracked 
my system kind of thing ;-)

	Issue file is /etc/issue for GNU/Linux systems , it looks like
a plain text file on a general glance. But Issue files are not plain 
text files as commonly believed, they are files which are `cat`ed on 
to the screen before the login prompt. Therefore it can contain coded 
colors (I support only BASH2), blinking signals bold text etc. 

In BASH2 the colors are specified by an <ESC> character and color code
ie "\033" in octal (C quoted string).
------------+------------+------------+
Colors      | Foreground | Background |
------------+------------+------------+
BLACK		| [30m		 | [40m       |
RED			| [31m		 | [41m       |
GREEN		| [32m		 | [42m       |
BLUE		| [34m		 | [44m       |
YELLOW		| [33m		 | [43m       |
MAGENTA		| [35m		 | [45m       |
CYAN		| [36m		 | [46m		  |
WHITE		| [37m		 | [47m		  |
------------+------------+------------+
Bold On		- [1m
Bold Off	- [22m
Blink On 	- [5m
Blink Off 	- [25m
	
	All these are precede by the escape char in the issue file. I generate the
<ESC> char using mcedit program which has an option to insert a literal. You
could also write your own program to generate issue files or even use it to
color code the output of your program. 

After you have written the perfect issue file don't forget to comment lines
in /etc/r.local that rewrites the issue file 

Color code program output
=========================

I am adding my header for "pretty_print", all you will have to do is to 
add some lines of code in your program. The use the colorRed(), colorClear
macros to set color appropriately , also remember to run colorClear() at
end of the program.
ie 
-----------------------------------cut-here------------------------------------
#include "pretty.h"
#ifdef IF_PRETTY_PRINT
#undef IF_PRETTY_PRINT
#define IF_PRETTY_PRINT(x) x
//override the macro with your condition (no condition here)
#endif
-----------------------------------cut-here------------------------------------
	The code might seem self explanatory , but the IF_PRETTY_PRINT macro
decide whether the colors are printed or not. You might give pretty print 
as a command-line option. The functions are too obivious to explain. Use
it and write cool issue files or color code your error and warning messages.
So just GNU it !

If there is	a next tutorial from me, it will be about customising gdm and 
gnome desktop.

Happy Hacking
c23jrk 
		All flames 	:	cat > /dev/null
		All praises :	issuemaker >> /etc/issue.net 
QUOTD:
	If you don't succeed at first you *MUST* be a programmer.
	
PS: Outside cyberspace my name happens to be Gopal.V 
	studying in S5 compsci (cse really) in CET Kerala.
