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16.1.8 For More Information

For more information about speciﬁc laptops, visit the Linux Laptop home

page at http://linux-laptop.net. Another good source of informa-

tion is the Mobilix home page at http://tuxmobil.org/. The SUSE

LINUX Support Database features several articles on the use of SUSE

LINUX on mobile devices. Go to http://portal.suse.de/sdb/en/

index.html and search for laptop.

16.2 SCPM — System Conﬁguration

Proﬁle Management

Some situations require a modiﬁed system conﬁguration of your computer.

This would mostly be the case for mobile computers that are operated in

varying locations. If a desktop system should be operated temporarily us-

ing other hardware components than usual, SCPM comes in handy. Restor-

ing the original system conﬁguration should be easy and the modiﬁcation

of the system conﬁguration can be reproduced.

Up to the present, this problem had only been solved for PCMCIA hard-

ware for which various conﬁgurations could be stored in distinct proﬁles.

This approach has been further reﬁned with the development of SCPM

(system conﬁguration proﬁle management), obsoleting the restriction to PCM-

CIA hardware. With SCPM, any desired part of the system conﬁguration

can be kept in a customized proﬁle. This is like taking a snapshot of the

system then being able to restore it at any point in time.

SCPM’s main ﬁeld of application is network conﬁguration on laptops. Dif-

ferent network conﬁgurations often require different settings of other ser-

vices, such as e-mail or proxies. Then other elements follow, like different

printers at home and at the ofﬁce, a separate X server conﬁguration for the

video beamer at conferences, special power-saving settings for the road, or

the differing time zone in the agency abroad.

Increasing use of this tool leads to the continuous discovery of new re-

quirements. Feel free to contact us and share your thoughts and ideas

about SCPM. SCPM is based on a ﬂexible framework in an effort to allow

even server-based proﬁle management. Send your wishes, inspirations,

and error descriptions via our web front-end at http://www.suse.de/

feedback/.

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16.2. SCPM — System Conﬁguration Proﬁle Management