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229 lines
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
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<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<title>Clueless Issue 16</title>
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</HEAD>
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<BODY BGCOLOR="#EEE1CC" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#0020F0"
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ALINK="#FF0000" >
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<!--endcut ============================================================-->
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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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<H3>CLUELESS at the Prompt: A Column for New Users</H3>
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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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<b>Welcome to installment 3 of Clueless at the Prompt:
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A Column for New Users.</b>
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<p>
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<b>Thanks for the encouraging e-mail.In response to several requests,
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here is a little information to help you get your feet wet.</b>
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<hr>
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<p><h4> Multitasking</h4>
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<p>
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If you are familiar with that other windowing thing, you may be aware of
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the concept of multitasking. Using a single computer to do several
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applications at once is a highly desireable trait of an OS.
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<p>
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It's fairly obvious how to accomplish this in a windowing environment,
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but not so obvious at the shell prompt.Here's some of the details.
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<p>
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When you start a program at the shell prompt, you can stop it by typing
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<pre>
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Ctrl-Z
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</pre><p>
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Whereupon you will be returned to the shell prompt. Then type:
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<pre>
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bg
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</pre><p>
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which will restart thet program or job in the (b)ack(g)round and allow you
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to run another job while that kernel ccompiles, without changing to a
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different VC. You probably know that you can change VCs by using the
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<pre>
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Alt-F2
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</pre><p>
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through F6. Each one of these can also be used in the manner that I have
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described, to the extent that you can run yourself out of resources in a
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fit of deep hack mode euphoria if you aren't careful.If you get really
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exuberant you could even forget what all you have going. Relax, you can
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find them all by typing:
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<pre>
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jobs
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</pre><p>
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which will list all jobs running in the background, much like the
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<pre>
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ps
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</pre><p>
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command lists all processes that are using your precious memory and
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CPU to a nub.
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<hr>
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<p><h4>Mount </h4>
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<p>
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When you boot up linux your file system or rather your hard drive must be
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mounted, so that the file system can be read and acted on.Your floppy
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drive, tape backup, or CD-ROM may not be automatically mounted, so you
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could have need of the mount utility.For instance:
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<pre>
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mount -t ext2 /dev/fd0 /mnt or mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt
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</pre><p>
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will mount your floppy drive that dos calls a: to a directory called /mnt
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from where you can access files on floppy disks. In the first example,
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the /mnt directory can be read in the ext2 filesystem, while the sescond
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reads floppies written in msdos format.To read the contents of the floppy
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drive, which is now /mnt you can type:
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<pre>
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cd /mnt
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</pre><p>
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then,
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<pre>
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ls
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</pre><p>
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or
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<pre>
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less filename
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</pre> <p>
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In a similar manner,
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you can mount your other floppy drives, tape drives, CDROMs, or other
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read write devices.These devices can be unmounted using the
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<pre>
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umount /dev/fd0 or /dev/whateveryoumounted
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</pre><p>
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command.
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<hr>
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<p><h4>Some timesavers....</h4>
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<p>
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Here are a few tips that can make your linux life a little easier.
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<p>
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When you first logon to linux there are some commands that make use of
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optional switches,which you may not know or be sure of. You might make a
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typo in your command that you don't catch until after you hit enter.
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To try it again without retyping the whole command, just tap the up arrow
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key, which will bring back the previous command so that you can return to
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the scene of the crime and replace the mistyped or mistaken characters.
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In fact if you tap enter several times you can go back to what you did
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several commands previous.
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<p>
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To change back to a directory you have just left, or to scan
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subdirectories, you can use :
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<pre>
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c -
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</pre><p>
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in the following manner. change from your /home directory to the main
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trunk directory:
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<pre>
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cd /
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</pre><p>
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then, to look at the top level of each directory, for instance:
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<pre>
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cd usr
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</pre><p>
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then:
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<pre>
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ls
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</pre><p>
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If you didn't find what you were looking for, just:
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<pre>
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cd -
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</pre><p>
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and you will find yourself at the trunk / again. Unfortunately you can
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only go one layer deep, but it is still useful when you install a source
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package and want to check out the contents of each of the subdirectories.
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Sometimes, atleast at first, you may not know how to stop a program or
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process that's running, but you are unwilling to let it slowly eat up your
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memory or CPU overhead. You can type:
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<pre>
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ps -a
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</pre><p>
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to get a list of all running processes, make note of the pid (Process ID)
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number and type:
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<pre>
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kill pidnumber for instance kill 2395
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</pre><p>
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But there is an easier way. Browse through the LSM (Linux Software Map)
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for a utility , actually a nicety called die-1.1 . You can unpack
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this into a directory or use installpkg dopkg or what ever your single
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package installation utility is. Then look for the /die-1.1 and cd to it.
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It contains a couple of files, a source file,
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<pre>
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die11.c
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</pre><p>
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and a documentation file,
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<pre>
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die.doc
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</pre><p>
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Assuming that you installed the GCC compiler, just type:
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<pre>
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gcc -o die die11.c
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</pre><p>
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hit enter and presto you've compiled a utility called die.Just mv this to
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a directory in your path, and if you like, mv the die .doc to /usr/doc
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or somewhere it can be with its other help text friends( but not man pages
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they'll pick on it unmercifully).Next time you're in a quandary about how
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to gun down a process just type:
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<pre>
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die commandname
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</pre><p>
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and it will do the deed. To find out more about die just type:
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<pre>
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die
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</pre><p>
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with no argument and it will give you a summary of the commands you can
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try the up arrow keys on<h3> ; )</h3>(this emoticon is the only one that
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doesn't
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make me nauseous)
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<p>
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<hr>
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<p><h4>Disclaimer</h4>
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You have probaly noticed this column doesn't have as much content as the
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previous two, presumably since linux is really an easy OS to learn so
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my curve isn't as steep, or maybe it's the fact that I have gone half
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crazy trying to install a DECvt220 to a serial port and it refuses to
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cooperate
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<p>
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I guess I made a mistake when I said I made a mistake about the mkdir
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command in DOS. Several people sent me mail that mkdir -md, rmdir-rd
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and a couple ohers are synonymous with linux commands. One fella told me
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he made symbolic links to several DOS commands so he can use them without
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having to learn new but similar commands. Sick, but ingenious.
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</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><br>
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<A HREF="../issue15/clueless.html">Clueless at the Prompt #2 - March 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 16 of the Linux Gazette, April 1997</H5></center>
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<!--===================================================================-->
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