251 lines
9.6 KiB
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251 lines
9.6 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
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<HEAD>
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<title>Clueless at the Prompt Issue 15</title>
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</HEAD>
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<BODY >
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<H4>
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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</H4>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<center>
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<H2>CLUELESS at the Prompt: A Column for New Users</H2>
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<H4>By Mike List,
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<a href="mailto:troll@net-link.net">troll@net-link.net</A> </H4>
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</center>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<center><IMG ALIGN=MIDDLE SRC = "../gx/list/gnub.jpg" ></center><p>
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Welcome to installment 2 of Clueless at the Prompt:
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a new column for new linux users.
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On advice from several respondents, I'm going to start
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using a new format for specifying commands:</p>
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<pre>
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Typing them on a separate line
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separated from the text by a space
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</pre>
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<p>
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Hopefully, this will minimize any confusion by even
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the very inexperienced user as to what should be
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typed at the prompt.
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</p> <p>
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Last time we explored some of the differences and
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similarities between linux and DOS/Windows, and I'm
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going to continue this time with some stuff you
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already know, but perhaps aren't fully aware of.
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</p> <p>
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One respondent seemed to take exception to my DOS-linux
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comparison, reminding me of the features that make
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linux and unices(unix like systems) more powerful than
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DOS.
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</p> <p>
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Fair enough, this is a new users column and I would
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like to make sure that I'm not assuming that everyone
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who reads this column can read my mind. Besides, if I
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endure the slings and arrows of outrageous gurus I can
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hopefully expand my knowledge base, which I can then
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use for future columns.
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</p> <p>
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Still, the paradigm of SUPERDOS holds some water.It is,
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after all a command line operating system which
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supports a windowing system, which has all the
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capabilities of MS Windows plus a few features that make
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Windowslook pale.
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</p> <p>
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When you installed linux from whatever distribution,most
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of the packages installed came as pre-compiled binaries
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that were for the most part usable as is.
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However, if you found any applications that didn't come
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with the distribution they'll probably need to be unpacked
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and installed or compiled or both.
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</p> <p>
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You could use a utility like installpkg, pkgtool, or dopkg
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but unless the package is from the distribution, the utility
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will likely install it to the / (base ) directory, which is
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probably less than optimal.
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</p> <p>
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Instead, use the midnight commander, which is a Norton
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Commander clone, to view the contents of the package.
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To do this find the file,( I don't have a CD-ROM so I'm not
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sure of the procedure there )locate the file, probably with
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.tgz or .tar.gz extension, and highlight the file, then
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hit enter. you will see the contents of the archive.
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Read the files called for instance, INSTALL, README,
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Readme.whatever, or any file whose name suggests that it
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has necessary information, for a clue as to where best to
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unpack it. For instance, X apps probably should be unpacked
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in the /usr/X11R6 directory.
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To unpack the archive:
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</p> <pre>
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cd /thechosendirectory
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</pre><p>
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then:
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</p> <pre>
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tar -zxvf /wherethearchiveis/file
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</pre> <p>
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you will see a list of files as they unpack. When this process is done,
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you will be returned to your shell prompt. If you get any error messages
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they should be pretty self explanatory, for instance a message saying file
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not found means you didn't name the file correctly in the tar command,
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unexpected EOF means the file was very likely corrupted or download was
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incomplete, try to get the file one more time.
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</p> <p>
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At your shell prompt type:
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</p> <pre>
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ls
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</pre> <p>
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to see a list of files and directories that were untarred. then:
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</p> <pre>
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less /anyfilenamelike INSTALL,README,Readme.*(*= unx, elf, lnx, etc)
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</pre> <p>
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It wouldn't hurt to check any license, or Copying files for info on
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propers to the authors.
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It also might be a good idea to print out the files if they are long or
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contain a lot of special instructions so you can read and reread them
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to minimize the possibility that you will have to recompile or reinstall.
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If you aren't familiar with linux printing you can just:
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</p> <pre>
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cat /filename>/dev/lp0 (or lp1, or wherever your printer is located)
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</pre> <p>
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If you are in the directory that the file is in, you can skip the
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frontslash on the filename.
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If the files include a precompiled binary, you're done except to install
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if the documentation suggests a location other than where you unpacked
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and reboot or run ldconfig.
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</p> <p>
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If you want to examine the contents of subdirectories of your current
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directory type:
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</p> <pre>
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cd subdirectory (leave off the / )
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</pre> <p>
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then,
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</p> <pre>
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ls
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</pre> <p>
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or,
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</p> <pre>
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ls subdirectory
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</pre> <p>
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If you cd to a subdirectory, you can return to the top level directory by
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typing:
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</p> <pre>
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cd -
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</pre> <p>
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If you have chosen a source file distribution of the software, then you
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will need to read the file INSTALL very carefully to find what needs to be
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done. Typically you might run
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</p> <pre>
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./configure
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</pre> <p>
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then edit the Makefile with a text editor as described in the INSTALL or
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README files, then run:
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</p> <pre>
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make
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</pre> <p>
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sometimes followed by an option like linux, unx, linux-elf as instructed
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in INSTALL.When it is done compiling, the time will vary according to the
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program, type:
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</p> <pre>
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make install
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</pre> <p>
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sometimes followed by an option as above.
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</p> <p>
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The above is only a general guide to steps usually needed to install
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software in linux, more detailed instructions will come with the archive.
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READ THEM CAREFULLY!or print out the files.
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</p> <p>
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Back to the DOS-Linux comparisons. In DOS there is a method of concatenating
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several files together under a batch file, which could be run to execute a
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string of commands. Linux also has this capability but it is called scripting,
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basically if you ever used MSEdit to create a batch file, you've done it before,
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except that you must change permissions to make it executable. Type:
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</p> <pre>
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chmod u+x filename
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</pre> <p>
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To make sure you have executable permission,type
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</p> <pre>
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ls in the directory the file is located, usually ~ , or /home/whoever you
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are
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</pre> <p>
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Look for an asterisk * after the filename which shows that it's an executable
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Then you can run the string of commands by simply typing the file name of the
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script you created.
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</p> <p>
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Of course there's a lot more to writing scripts than this, but I'm just a GNUbee
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and some things take a little time. Ihave written a couple of very simple
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scripts to control the dialup to my ISP but they are very simple and rely on
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recursion rather than more correct scripting so they must be killed after they
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have done their jobs. An example is "on-n-on", a script I wrote to continue
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dialing until I can beat the busy signal on the remote modem. It is very simply:
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</p> <pre>
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ppp-on
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sleep 30
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on-n-on
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</pre> <p>
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The script above is called up and dials every 30 seconds until a connection is
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reached, so when 30 seconds goes by without the modem dialling you will have a
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connection and can open a browser or E-mail. Before that you must quit by
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hitting Ctrl+C, however so that the script won't continue to use resources to do
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what it has already accomplished.
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</p> <p>
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I am accepting suggestions as to how this could be done more correctly, but so
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far it works for me and I have given you an idea how simple scripts can be.
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</p><p>
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Thanks for all the input I got from readers and surprisingly from other authors,
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encouragement in the form of suggestions, none of them suggested that I go back
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to m******ft.
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</p> <p>
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If I had some ideas about the kind of machines Linux is going on it would be
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helpful. I'm running a relatively old 486/66 with no CD-ROM so I installed from
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floppies, but most of the information here will be more about what can be done
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AFTER installation.
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</p> <p>
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There is some discussion from from the Linux Users Support Team with regard to
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the most loved, most misunderstood linux institution, man-pages. Many people,
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myself included feel that they should be a little more user friendly, and some
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have suggested that they be replaced witha set of documents similar to howtos>
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Let me know what you think about man pages,how they could be improved, replaced
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supplemented, whatever,and I can have some info next time.
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</p> <p>
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BTW, I made at least two errors in my DOS to Linux commands table, not very
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reassuring,but the DOS command for making a directory is:
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</p><pre>
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md</pre> not<pre> mkdir</pre>
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<p>
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and file copy should have been:
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</p><pre>
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cp /filename /to </pre>not <pre>cp /filename/filename /to
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</pre><p>
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<h4> Next Time- Let me know what you would like to see in here and I'll try to
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oblige just e-mail<a href="mailto:troll@net-link.net">troll@net-link.net
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</a> me and ask, otherwise I'll just write about what gave me trouble and
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how I got past it.</h4>
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<p> TTYL, Mike List </p>
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<center><H4>Previous "Clueless at the Prompt" Columns</H4></center>
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<P>
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<A HREF="../issue14/clueless.html">Clueless at the Prompt #1 - February 1997</A>
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<center><H5>Copyright © 1997, Mike List <BR>
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Published in Issue 15 of the Linux Gazette, March 1997</H5></center>
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