I have installed Linux on many PCs and noted that current distributions are terrific but, annoyingly, lack some basic configuration. Most applications will work out of the box, but others won't. Moreover, I have noted that the same questions crop up on c.o.l.setup over and over again.
To try and remedy this situation, and to have a memorandum for fresh installations, I wrote a do--this--and--that list that I later expanded to this HOWTO. Here you will find a handful of configuration examples for the most common applications, programs, and services, which should save you a fair amount of time and work.
A few of the examples outlined in this HOWTO depend somehow on the distribution. I only have access to Red Hat, Caldera OpenLinux, and S.u.S.E. installations, so don't take any of my tips as gospel if you have Slackware, Debian or other distributions. In any case, reading documentation and the HOWTOs always pays off, so you're advised to do so anyway. My reference distribution is Red Hat; to avoid repetitions, ``AT2YD'' stands for ``Adapt This to Your Distribution''.
A final note: I hope that this HOWTO becomes obsolete as soon as possible. The current trend in Linux distributions is to provide configuration tools rather than leave the sysadm alone with a pile of docs. Therefore, whenever possible I'll point you to the right tool.
The most recent revision of this document, including some translations, is
available on
http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO.
There can be endless hardware configurations for a PC, but in my experience one is quite common: a PC fitted with a large HD split into three partitions (one for DOS/Windows, one for Linux, one for the swap), sound card, modem, CD--ROM drive, printer, mouse. A parallel port Zip Drive is also very common.
This is the hardware I'll assume you want to configure, but it's easy to adapt the following tips to different configurations. It's implicitly assumed that you'll be root when editing/fixing/hacking.
And now, lads, sleeves up.