2528 lines
92 KiB
HTML
2528 lines
92 KiB
HTML
<!--startcut ======================================================= -->
|
|
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
|
|
<html>
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>The Answer Guy Issue 20</title>
|
|
</head>
|
|
|
|
<BODY BGCOLOR="#EEE1CC" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#0020F0"
|
|
ALINK="#FF0000">
|
|
<!--endcut ========================================================= -->
|
|
<H4>"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
|
|
</H4>
|
|
<P> <hr> <P>
|
|
|
|
<!-- =============================================================== -->
|
|
<center>
|
|
<H1><A NAME="answer">
|
|
<img src="../gx/ans.gif" alt="" border=0 align=middle>
|
|
The Answer Guy
|
|
<img src="../gx/ans.gif" alt="" border=0 align=middle>
|
|
</A></H1> <BR>
|
|
<H4>By James T. Dennis,
|
|
<a href="mailto:jimd@starshine.org">jimd@starshine.org</a><BR>
|
|
Starshine Technical Services, <A HREF="http://www.starshine.org/">
|
|
http://www.starshine.org/</A> </H4>
|
|
</center>
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<H3>Contents:</H3>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#securityiss">Security Issues</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#thingies">All Those Little % Thingies</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#nt">Follow-Up to NT and Linux Article</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#active">Active X for Linux/Unix</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#mounting">Mounting Disks Under Red Hat 4.0</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#ppp">PPP Problems</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#protocol">Z Protocol</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#video">Video Cards</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#zip">Linux and Zip Drives</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#redhat">Red Hat CD Problem</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#cookies">Cookies</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#disc">New Hard Disc</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#crashes">Random Crashes</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#slackware">gcc and Slackware Question</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#lilo">LILO</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#print">Printing Problems</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#support">Linux Disk Support</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#renaming">Renaming Problems</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#monitor">X Locks Monitor</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#security">Using JDK 1.1 for Solaris x86 on Linux</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#colormap">Colormap Question</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#lilo2">More on LILO</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#gui">95 GUI</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#thanks">A Letter of Thanks</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#card">STO/1/O2 SCSI Card</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#booting">Booting Linux</a>
|
|
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer20.html#panics">Kernel Panics on root fs</a>
|
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="securityiss"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
Security Issues
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
From: Marcus Hufvudsson <a href="mailto:talos@algonet.se">talos@algonet.se</a>
|
|
|
|
<p>Greetings Linux guru!
|
|
<p>I recently read the Linux Journal May edition and some people had some
|
|
serious security problems. I got some of them to, and in your answer to
|
|
one you recommended the "Tripwire" program for more security. I hope you
|
|
don't mind me mailing you (got the address from the article). Anyway you
|
|
recommend ftp.cs.perdue.edu for downloading. But when I tried to connect it
|
|
didn't respond. Do you know any mirrors or any other ftp that contains
|
|
Linux security tools?
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
|
|
- talos (root today, gone tomorrow)
|
|
|
|
<p> There was a typo in that article. It WAS supposed to be
|
|
ftp.cs.purdue.edu -- but is now supposed to be at
|
|
<a href="ftp://coast.cs.purdue.edu/pub/COAST">ftp://coast.cs.purdue.edu/pub/COAST</a> (they've been moved).
|
|
|
|
<p> Here's the full URL to Tripwire:
|
|
|
|
<a href="ftp://coast.cs.purdue.edu/pub/COAST/Tripwire/">ftp://coast.cs.purdue.edu/pub/COAST/Tripwire</a>
|
|
|
|
<p> You should definitely browse around and read some of the
|
|
other papers -- and try some of the other tools out there
|
|
at the COAST (computer operations and security tools?) archive.
|
|
|
|
<p> Sadly it seems to be neglected -- the whole "tools_new" tree
|
|
is dated "October, 1995" and is empty.
|
|
|
|
<p> All of the good stuff there is under:
|
|
|
|
<a href="ftp://coast.cs.purdue.edu/pub/tools/unix/">ftp://coast.cs.purdue.edu/pub/tools/unix</a>
|
|
|
|
(including symlinks that lead back to the Tripwire package).
|
|
|
|
<p> Apparently they don't do anything with the FTP site because
|
|
the real work as gone into their web pages at:
|
|
|
|
<a href="http://www.cs.purdue.edu/coast/archive/Archive_Indexing.html">http://www.cs.purdue.edu/coast/archive/Archive_Indexing.html</a>
|
|
|
|
<p> Another more recent effort which will be of more direct
|
|
interest to Linux admins is:
|
|
<a href="http://skynet.ul.ie/~flynng/security/">http://skynet.ul.ie/!flynng/security/</a>The
|
|
Irish Computer Security Archives</a>
|
|
|
|
|
|
... with the following being of particular interest:
|
|
<a href="http://skynet.ul.ie/~flynng/security/bugs/linux/">http://skynet.ul.ie/~flynng/security/bugs/linux/</a>
|
|
... and:
|
|
<a href="http://skynet.ul.ie/~flynng/security/tools/">http://skynet.ul.ie/~flynng/security/tools</a>
|
|
|
|
<p>Another good site (recently moved) is at:
|
|
<a href="http://www.aoy.com/Linux/Security">http://www.aoy.com/Linux/Security</a>The
|
|
Linux Security WWW</a>
|
|
|
|
... where I particularly like:
|
|
|
|
<a href="http://www.aoy.com/Linux/Security/OtherSecurityLinks.html">http://www.aoy.com/Linux/Security/OtherSecurityLinks.html</a>
|
|
|
|
<p> One of these days I'm going to annotate the 600 or so links
|
|
in my main lynx_bookmarks file and post it to my own web pages.
|
|
But -- not this morning (3 am).
|
|
|
|
<p> I spend so much time doing TAG (The Answer Guy) and other
|
|
mailing list and newsgroup stuff that I never get to my own
|
|
web pages. However the patch that I created to allow Tripwire
|
|
to compile cleanly under Linux is on
|
|
<a href="ftp://ftp.starshine.org/pub/tripwire-linux.patch">my ftp site</a> and a link
|
|
can be found somewhere under <a href="http://www.starshine.org/linux/">http://www.starshine.org/linux/</a>
|
|
(I really have to organize those pages one of these days).
|
|
<p>
|
|
--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="thingies"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
All Those Little % Thingies
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
To: Jonathan Albrecht <a href="mailto:albrecht@algorithmics.com">albrecht@algorithmics.com</a>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>When setting your prompt or dates or app-defaults you sometimes need
|
|
those little %N, or %d, or %m substitution thingies. What are they and
|
|
where can I get a list of what they mean?
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
They are "replaceable parameters" and are used by a variety
|
|
of shells and applications.
|
|
|
|
<p> They differ for each shell or application. For example
|
|
I use bash -- and my prompt is:
|
|
|
|
<pre> PS1=[\u@\h \W]\$
|
|
</pre>
|
|
<p> Which looks like:
|
|
|
|
<pre> [jimd@antares jimd]$</pre>
|
|
|
|
<p> When I'm in my home directory and logged in as jimd
|
|
and would look like:
|
|
|
|
<pre> [root@main local]#</pre>
|
|
|
|
<p> If I was 'root' on the host "main" and in the /usr/local
|
|
directory.
|
|
|
|
<p> <B>zsh</B>, and <B>tcsh</B> also have similar "meta sequences" for their
|
|
shell prompts. Just read the man pages for your shell and
|
|
search for "prompt."
|
|
|
|
<p> X app-default and other xrdb (X Windows resource database)
|
|
entries are pretty mysterious to me. But I imagine that
|
|
the info about these sequences is mostly in their man pages
|
|
somewhere. I'm sure it's all in the sources.
|
|
|
|
<p> The %d syntax is most often seen in the C programming language's
|
|
printf() and scanf() functions. There are various "format
|
|
specifiers" that dictate how a particular argument will be
|
|
formatted. This includes information about whether a value
|
|
will be displayed as a decimal number, a string, a hexadecimal
|
|
value -- and how wide the field will be, whether it will be
|
|
left or right justified -- etc. The \c syntax is also used
|
|
in C for inserting "non-printing" characters -- like newlines,
|
|
tabs, and for specifying ASCII characters by octal or hexadecimal
|
|
value.
|
|
|
|
<p> Since programmers are used to this syntax in their code they
|
|
often use a similar syntax when they write scripting languages
|
|
(shells) and when they design the configuration file syntax
|
|
for their applications.
|
|
|
|
<p> I'm sorry there's no "single source" or reference of all of
|
|
these. However there isn't. You'll just have to hunt through
|
|
the docs and man pages for easy of the apps and utilities that
|
|
you're interested in.
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="nt"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
Follow-up To NT and Linux Article
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
From: Cyrille Chepelov <a href="mailto:chepelov@rip.ens-cachan.fr">chepelov@rip.ens-cachan.fr</a>
|
|
|
|
<p>So far I've had the good sense to stay away from striping
|
|
under NT and Linux. I've heard that the ccd code for
|
|
FreeBSD is pretty stable, though.
|
|
|
|
<p>Well, my linux partition is used <5% of the overall time, but sometime I
|
|
need it to figure things -- once the "small" problem with disks ID was
|
|
solved, there are no cohabitation problems between NT and Linux.
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
This sounds like a typically ignorant design decision.
|
|
It seems to say to the world:
|
|
|
|
<p> "Standards are for weaklings -- we don't
|
|
need to follow them -- even when we created them!"
|
|
|
|
<p><b><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
|
|
Sure, even if they did it unilaterally, it was up to them to at
|
|
least loudly publicize what they did.
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
I disagree. "Unilateral" is completely anathema to
|
|
"Industry Standards." It is totally arrogant to speak
|
|
for an industry.
|
|
|
|
<p> (We won't cover the issue of government regulatory bodies
|
|
making determinations in a "unilateral" way -- since those
|
|
aren't "industry standards" they are "government regulations").
|
|
|
|
<p> Publicizing that you are violating industry standards
|
|
doesn't improve interoperability. What other reason is
|
|
there to create and publish a "standard" (even an
|
|
ad hoc one).
|
|
|
|
<p> If they think there's a real need to put proprietary
|
|
information in the very first sector of the disk (the
|
|
spot reserved for the MBR -- then perhaps they should
|
|
announce that these disks won't have PC partitions at
|
|
all. It then becomes a "all NT or nothing" decision for
|
|
each disk.
|
|
|
|
<p> I don't think there is such a need -- and I think their
|
|
approach displays either a gross lack of consideration,
|
|
creativity and foresight -- OR -- a deliberate act of
|
|
hostility to those unruly customers who would dare use
|
|
any "other" operating systems on "their" NT boxes (or
|
|
maybe a little of each -- some from the programmers and
|
|
some of the QA teams).
|
|
|
|
<p> Microsoft can cop out with a line like: "We don't intend
|
|
that NT Servers should be installed systems with other
|
|
operating systems -- it is intended for dedicated systems."
|
|
|
|
<p> It would irritate me. But I'm not one of their "important"
|
|
customers anyway. Since most platforms outside of the PC
|
|
market have an OS that's supplied by the vendor -- there isn't
|
|
an expectation that those system will allow multiple operating
|
|
systems to co-exist on the system (much less on the same drive).
|
|
|
|
<p> However, in the PC market there is that expectation -- and
|
|
has been for over fifteen years. IBM and Microsoft created
|
|
that expectation (to co-exist with CP/M-86 and the UCSD p-system
|
|
if my memory and reading of the history is correct).
|
|
|
|
<p> Naturally the obvious place to put this sort of information
|
|
would be in the logical boot record (what Unix/Linux refers
|
|
to as a "Superblock"). This would only cost NT's code
|
|
a few extra disk seeks at boot time -- seeks that it
|
|
has to do anyway.
|
|
|
|
<p>The reason (IMHO) why they put it in the MBR is that even an unpartitioned
|
|
disk gets its ID. The ID is here for the disk, not the partition -- so it
|
|
makes less sense to put it in the S-block (even if that sounds safer,
|
|
cohabitation-wise. Those IDs are what they are -- disk IDs, not partition
|
|
IDs.)
|
|
|
|
<p> Classically an OS should ignore an unpartitioned disk.
|
|
Why should the disk have an ID if it has no partition?
|
|
If the purpose is to provide unique identification of
|
|
filesystems so that the striping and mounting mechanisms
|
|
won't fail as new drives are added to the system -- then
|
|
you need a partition ID -- and you don't care about
|
|
disk ID's at all. Additionally you want enough information
|
|
stored in that ID to minimize the chance of inadvertent
|
|
duplication and collision (for cases when we move a drive
|
|
from one system to another).
|
|
|
|
<p> Finally your mounting/mapping utilities should be robust
|
|
enough to allow you to mount any of these stripe segments
|
|
and get what you can off of them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p> This sounds robust. NOT!
|
|
Just what I want -- double the failure points for every volume.
|
|
|
|
<P><B><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
|
|
<p>Regardless of the OS, whenever you stripe, you double the possibility of
|
|
not being able to mount. Not mounting at all (or mounting read-only) when
|
|
something goes wrong can not be a blamable decision ! (and in the case of
|
|
striped sets, mounting r-o makes little sense, since all structures are
|
|
dispatched on both disks)
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
I can certainly "blame" a company for any deficiency
|
|
that I perceive in their software. I select software to
|
|
meet *my* requirements. Therefore I am the ultimate judge
|
|
of what is a "deficiency."
|
|
|
|
<p> My requirements for striping say that the loss of one
|
|
segment or element in a striped set should not entail
|
|
the loss of the data on the remaining segments. If no
|
|
currently available striping system meets that requirement
|
|
I'll avoid the use of the technology.
|
|
|
|
<p> This means that a striping system should distribute
|
|
"superblocks" and inode and directory entries in such
|
|
a way as to keep them localized to the same segment
|
|
as the data to which they apply (or duplicated on all
|
|
segments).
|
|
|
|
<p> (I realize that duplicating directory information
|
|
on all segments may be costly -- and I understand
|
|
that data files may cross multiple segments. Those
|
|
are implementation details for the author(s) of the
|
|
file system).
|
|
|
|
<p> Out of curiosity: How many different striping systems
|
|
have you used? The phrase "Regardless of the OS" seems
|
|
awfully broad.
|
|
|
|
<p> I will plead complete inexperience with them. My
|
|
take on the term is that it refers to any technique of
|
|
making multiple drives appear as a single file system
|
|
(or volume) that doesn't involve redundancy (RAID) or
|
|
duplication (mirroring/duplexing).
|
|
|
|
<p> Is there a standard that specifies more implementation
|
|
details? (i.e. does my set of requirement some how
|
|
NOT qualify as a "striping" system).
|
|
|
|
<p> Well, now that Microsoft has "spoken" we're probably all
|
|
stuck with this [expletive omitted] forever. Please
|
|
consider mailing a copy of your message and your
|
|
patches to the LILO and fdisk maintainers.
|
|
|
|
<p>The problem is : where are they (I tried to send it once, a few month ago,
|
|
to an address which was given me as W. Almesberger's, but to no avail).
|
|
|
|
<p> In my fdisk man page I see the following (under Authors):
|
|
|
|
<P><a href="mailto:LeBlanc@mcc.ac.uk">A.V. Le Blanc</a>.
|
|
v1.0r: SCSI and extfs support added by
|
|
<a href="mailto:faith@cs.unc.edu">Rik Faith</a>.
|
|
v1.1r: Bug fixes and enhancements by Rik Faith,
|
|
with special thanks to
|
|
<a href="mailto:i1041905@ws.rz.tu-bs.de">Michael Bischoff</a>.
|
|
v1.3: Latest enhancements and bug fixes by A. V. Le Blanc,
|
|
including the addition of the -s option. v2.0: Disks
|
|
larger than 2GB are now fully supported, thanks to Remy
|
|
Card's llseek support.
|
|
|
|
<p> So it would seem that Rik Faith, Mr. Le Blanc, Michael
|
|
Bischoff would be good choices.
|
|
|
|
<p> The address I see for Werner Almesberger is:
|
|
|
|
<a href="mailto:almesber@bernina.ethz.ch">almesber@bernina.ethz.ch</a>
|
|
|
|
(from the lilo (8) man page).
|
|
|
|
<p> If that gets no response than I'd post notes to
|
|
comp.os.linux.development to see who is maintaining
|
|
the code.
|
|
|
|
<p>--Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="active"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
ActiveX for Linux/Unix
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
From: Anders Karlsson <a href="mailto:andersk@lysator.liu.se">andersk@lysator.liu.se</a>
|
|
|
|
<p> Hi, I read an article in the Linux Gazette where the author hadn't found
|
|
any evidence for the rumors about ActiveX for Unix. By mistake I found
|
|
a press release from M$ about this.
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
I believe what I said was that I had heard the same rumor
|
|
-- but that the search engine at www.microsoft.com couldn't
|
|
find any reference to Linux at all.
|
|
|
|
<P><B><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
I don't know who (if any) is interested in this, but you can find it on:
|
|
<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/corpinfo/press/1997/mar97/unixpr.htm">http://www.microsoft.com/corpinfo/press/1997/mar97/unixpr.htm</a>
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
Yes. I see. This basically says that the job was
|
|
farmed out to Software AG (http://www.sagus.com)
|
|
which has a release schedule at:
|
|
|
|
<p> DCOM Availability Schedule
|
|
<a href="http://www.sagus.com/Prod-i~1/Net-comp/dcom/dcom-avail.htm">http://www.sagus.com/Prod-i~1/Net-comp/dcom/dcom-avail.htm</a>
|
|
|
|
<P><B><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
|
|
Let's hope that this isn't the beginning of a new M$-invasion,
|
|
against a new platform or market, our Linux.
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
Luckily there's not much MS can do about Linux. They can't
|
|
"buy it out." -- They can pull various stupid stunts
|
|
(like tossing new values into partition tables, trashing
|
|
ext2 filesystems, even exerting pressure on hardware
|
|
manufacturers to develop and maintain proprietary adapters
|
|
that require Microsoft written drivers). These will just
|
|
make them less interoperable. IBM tried stunts like this
|
|
in the early days of the PC cloning.
|
|
|
|
<p> However I think the cat is out of the bag. All we as a
|
|
community have to do is clearly continue our own work.
|
|
When you buy a new computer -- as for Linux pre-installed
|
|
(even if you plan on re-installing it yourself). If you
|
|
don't plan to use Windows '95 or NT on it -- demand that
|
|
it not be included in the price of your system and --
|
|
failing that -- VOTE WITH YOUR FEET!
|
|
|
|
<p> Recently I saw an ad on CNN for Gateway. The ad went on
|
|
about all the options that were available and encouraged me
|
|
to call for a custom configured system. Since I'm actually
|
|
looking at getting a small system for my mother (no joke!)
|
|
I called and asked if they could pre-install Linux.
|
|
|
|
<p> Now I will hand it to the sales dude -- he didn't laugh and
|
|
he didn't stutter. He either knew what I was talking about
|
|
or covered up for it.
|
|
|
|
<p> Naturally the answer was: "No. We can't do that."
|
|
|
|
<p> There are places that can. Two that come to mind are:
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="http://www.varesearch.com">VA Research</a>
|
|
<li><a href="http://www.promox.com">PromoX</a>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p> (Warning for Lynx users -- both of these sites use frames
|
|
and neither bothers to put real content in the
|
|
"noframes" section -- Yech!)
|
|
|
|
<p> There are several others -- just pick up any copy of
|
|
Linux Journal to find them.
|
|
|
|
<p> Granted this is a small niche now. However, it's so much
|
|
more than any of us back in alt.os.linux (before the
|
|
comp.os.linux.* hierarchy was established) thought was
|
|
possible just four years ago.
|
|
|
|
<p> Even two years ago the thought of buying a system and
|
|
putting Linux on it -- to send to my MOTHER (literally,
|
|
NO computer experience) would have been totally absurd.
|
|
Now it's just a little bit of a challenge.
|
|
|
|
<p> What's exciting to me is the prospect that Linux may
|
|
make it mostly irrelevant what hardware platform you
|
|
choose. Linux for the Alpha, for SPARC, and mkLinux for
|
|
PowerMacs gives us back choices -- at prices we can
|
|
dream of.
|
|
|
|
<p> It's easy to forget about the hardware half of the
|
|
"Wintel" cartel. However, the hardware platform
|
|
has had severe design flaws from the beginning.
|
|
Hopefully we'll see some real innovation in these
|
|
new hardware platforms. [The introduction of the
|
|
IBM PC back in '81 caused the "great CP/M shakeout."
|
|
It also caused me to take a 5 year hiatus from the
|
|
whole industry -- out of disgust with the poor design
|
|
of the platform. Even as a high school student I
|
|
saw these flaws]
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="mounting"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
Mounting Disks Under RedHat 4.0
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
From: Bruce W. Bigby <a href="mailto:bbigby@frontiernet.net">bbigby@frontiernet.net</a>
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
Jim Dennis wrote:
|
|
<p>The really important question here is why you aren't asking
|
|
the support team at RedHat (or at least posting to their
|
|
"bugs@" address). This 'control-panel' is certainly
|
|
specific to Red Hat's package.
|
|
|
|
<P><B><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
|
|
Well, I've tried communicating with RedHat and had problems. I
|
|
registered and everything and tried to get support via e-mail.
|
|
Something went wrong, although I followed their instructions, for
|
|
reporting problems, exactly. At the time, I was at work when I read
|
|
your web page and decided to give you a try. Thanks for all of the
|
|
information!
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
I hope it helped. I too have been unsatisfied with Red
|
|
Hat's level of support. Not that I expect alot of
|
|
complex personal attention for a package that only costs
|
|
$50 -- but I was calling representing the US Postal Service's
|
|
Data Processing Center -- and I was willing to put up about
|
|
$50/hr for the support call(s).
|
|
|
|
<P><B><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
|
|
Alas they just didn't have the infrastructure in place.
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
Yggdrasil has a 900 line for support -- and Adam Richter has
|
|
been doing Commercial Linux longer than just about anyone
|
|
else (SLS might have been there earlier -- but I haven't
|
|
heard anything about Soft Landing Systems in years).
|
|
|
|
<p> Yggdrasil also publishes _The_Linux_Bible_ and has a
|
|
video cassette tutorial on Linux. Unfortunately I haven't
|
|
installed a copy of their distribution, Plug and Play Linux,
|
|
for a couple of years. Slackware and later Red Hat seem to
|
|
have won the popularity contest in recent years -- and
|
|
|
|
<p> Unfortunately I've never used Yggdrasil's tech support
|
|
services. So I can't give a personal recommendation.
|
|
They do have two pricing plans ($2.95/min. US or $100 (US)
|
|
for one "guaranteed" issue resolved) and they do mention that
|
|
the support is available to Linux users regardless of what
|
|
distribution you're using.
|
|
|
|
<p> Usually I've managed to bang my head on problems hard
|
|
enough and long enough that they crack before I do. So I
|
|
haven't needed to call yet. One would hope that -- with
|
|
my "reputation" as "The Answer Guy" -- I'd be able to stump
|
|
them. However Adam Richter has been at this a lot longer than
|
|
I have -- and was selling Linux distributions before I'd even
|
|
heard of Linux -- when I was barely starting to play with a
|
|
used copy of Coherent. So, maybe the next time I have a
|
|
headache I'll give them a call. I think I'm still entitled
|
|
to one freebie for that subscription to Plug & Play from a
|
|
couple of years ago.
|
|
|
|
<p> Meanwhile, if anyone else has used this service -- or
|
|
has been using any other dial-in voice support service for
|
|
Linux -- please let me know. I'll try to collate the
|
|
opinions and post them in an upcoming issue of LG.
|
|
|
|
<p> For details look at:
|
|
|
|
<a href="http://www.yggdrasil.com/Support/tspolicy.html">http://www.yggdrasil.com/Support/tspolicy.html</a>
|
|
|
|
<p> [Note: I don't have any affiliation with Yggdrasil or any
|
|
other Linux vendor -- though several of them are located
|
|
within a few miles of my home and I do bump into principals
|
|
for a couple of them at local users groups and "geek" parties]
|
|
|
|
<p> Another company that offers Linux (and general Unix) support
|
|
and consulting is <a href="http://www.craftwork.com">Craftworks</a>
|
|
I've worked with a couple of their consultants before (when
|
|
I was a full time sys admin and they were providing some
|
|
on site expertise to handle some overflow). They don't mention
|
|
their prices up front (which forces me to suspect that they are
|
|
at least as expensive as I am). I'm also not sure if they are
|
|
available for short term (1 and 2 hour) "quickshots."
|
|
|
|
<p> I suppose I should also mention that I'm the proprietor of
|
|
Starshine Technical Services. My niche is providing support
|
|
and training for Linux and Unix system's administrators.
|
|
I also offer off site support contracts (voice, and dial-up
|
|
or via the Internet using ssh or STEL). Normally I don't
|
|
"push" my services in my contributions to Linux Gazette --
|
|
I just do this to keep me on my toes.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="ppp"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
PPP Problems
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
From: Chris Bradford <a href="mailto:reynard@gte.net">reynard@gte.net</a>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>I have tried and failed to get a fully working ppp link up with
|
|
GTE Internet Services. When I start pppd manually after dialing in
|
|
using MiniCom, it'll start the link, and ifconfig shows that it's up
|
|
and running.
|
|
However, when I try to ping any site other than the peer, I get a
|
|
'Network Unreachable' error on every single packet that ping tries to send
|
|
out.
|
|
I'm using Slackware 3.2 w/ pppd v2.2f on a 486SX w/ 8MB
|
|
of RAM and a 14.4K bps modem on /dev/cua3.
|
|
|
|
<p>What's your advice to me?
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
|
|
What does your routing table look like?
|
|
|
|
(Use the command <tt>netstat -nr</tt> to see that).
|
|
|
|
<p> Your ppp options file (usually /etc/ppp/options) should have
|
|
a default route directive in it. That will set the
|
|
ppp0 link as your default route.
|
|
|
|
<p> That's usually what "network unreachable" means.
|
|
|
|
<p> You'll also need to have a proper value in your /etc/resolv.conf.
|
|
This is the file that your "resolver libraries" use to
|
|
figure out what DNS server they should ask to translate
|
|
host/domain names into IP addresses. Basically all applications
|
|
that do any networking under Unix are linked with the resolver
|
|
libraries.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="protocol"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
Z Protocol
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
|
|
From: Gregor Gerstmann <a href="mailto:gerstman@tfh-berlin.de">gerstman@tfh-berlin.de</a>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Hi Mr. Jim Dennis,<br>
|
|
Thanks for your e-mail remarks in reply to my remarks regarding file
|
|
transfer with the z protocol in Linux Gazette issue17, April 1997. In
|
|
the meantime I received an e-mail that may be interesting to you too:
|
|
|
|
<p>Hello!
|
|
|
|
<p>I noticed your article in the Linux Gazette about the sz command, and really
|
|
don't think you need to split up your downloads into smaller chunks.
|
|
|
|
<p>The sz command uses the ZMODEM protocol, which is built to handle
|
|
transmission errors. If sz reports a CRC error or a bad packet,
|
|
it does not mean that the file produced by the download will be
|
|
tainted. sz automatically retransmits bad packets.
|
|
|
|
<p>If you have an old serial UART chip ( 8250 ), then you might be getting
|
|
intermittent serial errors. If the link is unreliable, then sz may
|
|
spend most of its time tied up in retransmission loops.
|
|
|
|
<p>In this case, you should use a ZMODEM window to force the sending
|
|
end to expect an `OK' acknowledgement every few packets.
|
|
|
|
<p>sz -w1024
|
|
Will specify a window of 1024 bytes.
|
|
|
|
<p> I'm familiar with some of the tweaking that can be
|
|
done -- and the fact that it is a "sliding window" protocol.
|
|
However I still maintain that Kermit is more reliable and
|
|
gets better overall throughput over an unreliable connection.
|
|
|
|
<p> Also ZModem is designed for use on 8-bit serial lines. Kermit
|
|
can be used easily over TCP connections and on 7-bit serial
|
|
connections. You could definitely use the C-Kermit package from
|
|
Columbia University however. The Kermit implementations from
|
|
other sources are usually reliable enough -- but slower
|
|
than molasses compared to the "real" thing.
|
|
<p>
|
|
|
|
</b>
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="video"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
Video Cards
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
From: Pedro Miguel Reis <a href="mailto:reis@aaubi.ubi.pt">reis@aaubi.ubi.pt</a>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Hi Jim. I have a simple question to you :) ! How can i put my video
|
|
card to work under Linux ? Its an Intel Pro-share. I would like to
|
|
save a jpg pic every 1 or two secs.
|
|
|
|
<p> Thx for your time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
The Intel ProShare is a video conferencing system. These
|
|
are normally not called "video cards" in the context of
|
|
PC's because the phrase "video cards" is taken to refer to
|
|
one of the cards that drives your video display for normal
|
|
applications and OS operations (i.e. a VGA card).
|
|
|
|
<p> There are several framegrabbers that are supported under
|
|
Linux. However it doesn't appear that the Intel ProShare
|
|
is supported under any for of Unix. Of course that's just
|
|
based on a few searches of their web site -- so it's not from
|
|
a very reliable source on the subject. (I swear, the bigger
|
|
the company the worse the support information on their web
|
|
site. You'd think they'd like to trim some of the costs of
|
|
tech support that their always griping about).
|
|
|
|
<p> Naturally you should contact their support department to
|
|
verify this (or be pleasantly surprised by its refutation).
|
|
|
|
<p> Here's a couple of links I found that are related to
|
|
video capture using CU-SeeMe (a competing technology
|
|
to Intel's ProShare):
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="http://www.santafe.edu/~nelson/cuseeme-linux/">How to do
|
|
CU-SeeMe under Linux</a>
|
|
<li><a href="http://www.pangea.org/~mavilar/qseeme/qseeme.html">QSeeMe 0.7a --
|
|
CU-SeeMe for Linux</a>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p> Basically CU-SeeMe uses "off the shelf" video cams --
|
|
like the Connectix QCam (which goes for about $100 in
|
|
most places). It also uses any of several sound boards.
|
|
|
|
<p> Unfortunately the simple answer to your question may bd
|
|
desktop camera.
|
|
<p>
|
|
--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="zip"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
Linux and Zip Drives
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
From: <a href="mailto:midian@home.ifx.net">midian@home.ifx.net</a>
|
|
|
|
<p>Can you tell me if it is possible to set up a Linux system on a Zip
|
|
disk and where I could find info on doing this? I found a file that
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
It should be possible. I don't know where you'd
|
|
find the info, though. I'd start by looking at the
|
|
Linux HOWTO's collection. There is a HOWTO on Zip
|
|
Drives with Linux (even the parallel port version
|
|
is supported).
|
|
|
|
<p> I'd look at putting DOSLinux on an MS-DOS formatted
|
|
(FAT) Zip disk. DOSLinux is a very small distribution
|
|
(about 20Mb installed) which is designed to be installed
|
|
on a DOS filesystem. It uses LOADLIN.EXE (which I've
|
|
described in other "Answer Guy" articles) which basically
|
|
loads a Linux kernel from a DOS prompt -- and kicks DOS
|
|
out from under itself.
|
|
|
|
<p> You can find that collection of HOWTO's at:
|
|
|
|
<a href="http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/">http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/</a>
|
|
|
|
(and various mirrors).
|
|
|
|
<p> You can also find a copy of DOSLinux at 'sunsite' and
|
|
most mirrors.
|
|
|
|
<p> I use DOSLinux on my laptop (an OmniBook 600CT) and
|
|
my only complaint has been that it wasn't configured
|
|
to support the power management features of my laptop.
|
|
|
|
<p> Frankly I'm not even sure if Linux' APM support will
|
|
work with the Omnibook at all. I've heard that the
|
|
PCMCIA adapter is basically too weird for them (which
|
|
is a real bummer to me).
|
|
|
|
<p> You have to watch out if you get a copy of DOSLinux.
|
|
The maintainer, Kent Robotti, has been making frequent
|
|
sometimes daily changes to it (or was a couple of months
|
|
ago).
|
|
|
|
<p>describes this process IF you have a pre-existing Linux system to
|
|
install from. I am running a Win95 system with absolutely no hard drive
|
|
space available. Thanks for any info.
|
|
|
|
<p> Are you sure you can't even squeeze twenty or thirty
|
|
meg? With that you can get DOSLinux installed on your
|
|
normal hard drive -- which is likely to offer much more
|
|
satisfactory performance. The ZIP drive is likely to be
|
|
a bit too slow at loading programs, share libraries and
|
|
DREADFUL if you do any swapping.
|
|
|
|
<p> Of course if you boot Linux from a Zip disk (or
|
|
using the "live filesystem" offered by some CD's)
|
|
you can mount your DOS (Windows '95) partition(s)
|
|
and create a swap file there.
|
|
|
|
<p> Although most people use swap partitions -- Linux will
|
|
allow you to create swap *files* (see the 'mkswap' and
|
|
'swapon(8)' man pages for details).
|
|
|
|
<p> Note: since you don't have a copy already installed
|
|
I realize that you don't have the man pages handy --
|
|
however you can read those man pages by looking at:
|
|
|
|
<a href="http://www.linuxresources.com/man.html">http://www.linuxresources.com/man.html</a>
|
|
|
|
<p> The 'swapon(8)' refers to the man page that's in
|
|
section 8 (system administration tools) of the system.
|
|
That's necessary because there's also a man page in
|
|
section 2 (system calls) which the man command will normally
|
|
display in precedence to the one you want. So you use a
|
|
command of the form 'man 8 swapon' to tell the manual system
|
|
which one you mean. This is unnecessary with most
|
|
commands since most of the ones you'd be looking for --
|
|
most of the time -- would be the "user commands" in
|
|
section one. Also most of the administrative commands,
|
|
like mkswap, don't have functions with a conflicting
|
|
name. This is just one of those quirks of Unix that
|
|
old hands never think of while it gets novices climbing
|
|
the walls.
|
|
|
|
<p> When you use the online man pages at ssc.com (the publisher
|
|
of the Linux Journal and the Linux Gazette) the form is
|
|
a little confusing. Just check the "radio button" for
|
|
"( ) Search for a command" and put "8 swapon" (a digit
|
|
eight, a space, and the word "swapon") in the text field
|
|
(blank). Ignore the "Section Index" and the section
|
|
selector list below that.
|
|
|
|
<p> Lastly, I'd like to make a comment about running Linux
|
|
with "absolutely no disk space"
|
|
|
|
<p> DON'T!
|
|
|
|
<p> With hard disks as cheap as they are now it doesn't make
|
|
any sense to try to learn an advanced operating system
|
|
like Linux without plenty of disk space. Buy a whole
|
|
hard disk and add it to your system. If you already have
|
|
two IDE drives -- see if your controller will support four.
|
|
Most EIDE controllers have two IDE channels -- which allow
|
|
two IDE drives each on them. If you have a SCSI controller
|
|
than it seems *very* unlikely that you'd have the whole
|
|
chain full.
|
|
|
|
<p> (My old 386 has an old Adaptec 1542C controller on it --
|
|
with three hard disks, a magneto optical, a DAT autochanger
|
|
tape drive, a CD drive and a CD writer. That's full! But,
|
|
while other people have been buying 486's, then DX2's, then
|
|
Pentiums, and upgrading their copies of Windows and Office --
|
|
I've been filling out my SCSI chain -- so that's a five year
|
|
accumulation of toys!)
|
|
|
|
<p> If you really can't afford $200 on a new hard drive -- ask
|
|
around. You might find a friend with a couple of "small"
|
|
(200 Mb) drives around that they can't use. I have a couple
|
|
myself (spare parts drawer).
|
|
|
|
<p> If you try to run Linux with no disk space you probably
|
|
won't be satisfied. You can install a base system (no
|
|
X Windows, no emacs, no kernel sources, no dev. tools,
|
|
no TeX) in a very limited disk space. That's fine if
|
|
you know exactly what the system is going to be used for.
|
|
It's perfect for routers, gateways, and terminal servers
|
|
-- and I see people putting together a variety of custom
|
|
"distributions" for these sorts of dedicated tasks. I've
|
|
even heard that some X Terminals (diskless workstations)
|
|
use Linux with etherboot patches. In ;login (the magazine
|
|
for members of USENIX/SAGE -- professional associations of
|
|
Unix users and Sys Admin's) someone described their use of
|
|
Linux as a method for distributing software updates to
|
|
their Win '95 boxes across their networks. Apparently they
|
|
could squeeze just enough onto a Linux boot floppy to do
|
|
the trick.
|
|
|
|
<p> However, I'm guessing that your intent is to learn a
|
|
new OS. For that you want a more complete installation
|
|
-- so you can play with things.
|
|
<p>
|
|
--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="redhat"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
Red Hat CD Problem
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
From: Vivek Mukherji <a href="mailto:vivekmu@del2.vsnl.net.in">vivekmu@del2.vsnl.net.in</a>
|
|
|
|
<p>I bought a book on linux titled "Using Linux,Third Edition by Que Inc." It
|
|
had Redhat CDROM with it, but when i tried to install it, it did not
|
|
recognize the REDHAT CD though it previously made the boot disk and supp
|
|
disk from the CD. It gave the following error after asking me for source of
|
|
media i.e. from which drive or local CDROM or FTP or NFS I am going to
|
|
install it.The error message was:
|
|
"That CDROM device does not seem to contain Redhat CD in it "
|
|
|
|
<p>There seems to be no damage on the CD i.e. no physical damage.I think there
|
|
must be some other way to install it after all i have paid US$ 60 Dollars
|
|
for that book.
|
|
please reply me soon.
|
|
|
|
<p>yours truly <br>
|
|
Vivek Mukherji
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
When you select "CD-ROM" as your installation medium --
|
|
what interface are you having the setup program attempt
|
|
to use?
|
|
|
|
<p> When you use the CD to create your boot and supplemental
|
|
diskettes you are presumably using DOS -- which has its
|
|
own drivers to access the CD.
|
|
|
|
<p> There are many sorts of CD-ROM drives:
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><B>SCSI</B>: the most widely interchangeable;
|
|
almost any SCSI CD-ROM drive will work
|
|
with most SCSI host adapters; I've never
|
|
heard of a SCSI CD-ROM drive that failed
|
|
to work with Linux *supported* SCSI host
|
|
adapter but would work under any other OS)
|
|
|
|
<li><B>ATAPI</B>:the IDE hard drives were originally called "AT"
|
|
drives. They put all the drive "intelligence" on
|
|
the drive itself (rather than in the controller
|
|
which was the rule for ST-506 -- MFM and RLL
|
|
drives). IDE is BIOS (firmware/register level)
|
|
compatible with the ST-506 interface (although the
|
|
cabling and electronics are completely different.
|
|
So no software drivers were necessary to support
|
|
IDE hard drives. Since the AT (286) BIOS supported
|
|
the ST-506 interface (WD8003 controller) the IDE
|
|
controllers didn't even need a ROM extension (such
|
|
as the ones found on most SCSI controllers).
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>CD-ROM and tape drive support came a few years after
|
|
the IDE interface became popular for hard drives.
|
|
ATAPI is an ad hoc standard between those interfaces
|
|
and these other types of drives. It is an
|
|
"applications programming interface" to which the
|
|
drivers must be written. Typically all support for
|
|
ATAPI CD-ROM and tape drives must be done in
|
|
software.
|
|
|
|
<p>EIDE is a set of enhancements to the IDE spec.
|
|
The most notable enhancement is the ability to
|
|
support drives larger than 528Mb (which was the
|
|
old BIOS limit of 1024 cylinders by 63 sectors
|
|
by 16 heads). This is usually done via
|
|
extended ROM's on the controller, or enhanced
|
|
BIOS ROM's on the motherboard -- or possibly
|
|
via software drivers (which are OS specific,
|
|
naturally).
|
|
|
|
<p>In addition to those to types of CD-ROM drive there
|
|
are a variety of proprietary interfaces such as the
|
|
Mitsumi (very popular for a while -- as it was the
|
|
cheapest for a while), Sony, Wearnes/Aztech, and others.
|
|
|
|
<p>Linux supports a very wide variety of these interfaces. However
|
|
-- it's vital to know what you have. You also might need to know
|
|
"where" it is. That is to say you might need to know I/O port
|
|
addresses, IRQ's, DMA settings or parameters. You might also
|
|
need to pass these parameters along to the kernel as it boots.
|
|
|
|
<p> Another issue is the version of your distribution. Most
|
|
books are printed in large batches -- so they have a
|
|
long "shelf life." Most Linux distributions change a couple
|
|
of times a year. Red Hat, in particular, seems to be putting
|
|
out a new version every 2 or 3 months. Most of these include
|
|
significant improvements.
|
|
|
|
<p> So your money is probably much better spent on the distribution
|
|
itself rather than trying to get a "bargain" in a book and
|
|
CD combination. Specifically I recommend buying any book
|
|
solely on it's merits. I don't approve of CD's full of software
|
|
included with a book unless the software has been stable for
|
|
some time.
|
|
|
|
<p> CD's with sample code, HTML and searchable text copies of the
|
|
books contents, clip art or fonts related to the book, even
|
|
large bookmark files of related web sites, custom software by
|
|
the authors -- those are all excellent ideas; otherwise it's
|
|
shovelware that adds a buck to the production costs (fifty cents
|
|
for the CD and another fifty cents for the little glue-on vinyl
|
|
holder and the additional handling) -- and twenty bucks to the
|
|
price.
|
|
|
|
<p> So, another thing to try is a copy of the latest Red Hat (4.2)
|
|
or Debian or whatever. In any event you really need to know
|
|
the precise hardware and settings for your machine.
|
|
<p>
|
|
--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="cookies"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
Cookies
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
From: Michael Sokolow <a href="mailto:mxs46@po.cwru.edu">mxs46@po.cwru.edu</a>
|
|
|
|
<p>Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,<br>
|
|
|
|
Given the previous discussion about cookies, could someone explain to me
|
|
(or point out a topic in help, URL, etc.) just what ARE cookies?
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
Search the Netscape web site.
|
|
|
|
<p> Here's an independent answer courtesy of "The Answer Guy" (Linux
|
|
Gazette's nickname for me):
|
|
|
|
<p> In programming terminology -- specifically in
|
|
discussions of networking protocols (such as
|
|
HTTP and X Windows) a "cookie" is an arbitrary
|
|
data token issued by a server to a client for
|
|
purposes of maintaining state or providing
|
|
identification.
|
|
|
|
<p> Specifically "Netscape HTTP Cookies" are an
|
|
extension to the HTTP protocol (implemented
|
|
by Netscape and proposed to the IETF and the W3
|
|
Consortium for incorporation into the related
|
|
standards specifications).
|
|
|
|
<p> HTTP is a "stateless" and protocol. When your browser
|
|
initiates a connection and requests a document, binary
|
|
or header the server has no way of distinguishing your
|
|
request from any other request from your host (it doesn't
|
|
know if you're coming from a single-user workstation, or
|
|
a multi-user Unix (or VMS, MVS, MPE, or whatever) host --
|
|
or the IP address that it sees as the source for this
|
|
request is some sort of proxy host or gateway (such as
|
|
those run by CompuServe and AOL).
|
|
|
|
<p> Netscape cookies are an attempt to add and maintain state
|
|
between your browser and one or more servers. Basically
|
|
on your initial connection to a "cookie generating" site
|
|
your browser is asked for a relevant cookie -- since this
|
|
is your initial connection there isn't one -- so the server
|
|
prefers one to your browser (which will accept it unless
|
|
it's not capable of them, or some option has been enabled
|
|
to prevent it or prompt you or something like that). From
|
|
then on all other parts of that site (and possibly other
|
|
hosts in that domain) can request your cookie and the site's
|
|
administrators can sort of track your access and progress
|
|
through the site.
|
|
|
|
<p> The main advantage to the site is for gathering marketing
|
|
statistics. They can track which versions of a web page
|
|
lead to increased traffic to linked pages and they can
|
|
get some idea how many new and repeat visits they're getting.
|
|
(Like most marketing efforts at statistics there are major
|
|
flaws with the model -- but the results are valid enough
|
|
for marketdroids).
|
|
|
|
<p> There are several disadvantages -- including significant
|
|
privacy concerns. There are several tools available
|
|
to limit the retention and use of cookies by your browser
|
|
(even if you're using Netscape Navigator). PGP Inc
|
|
(the cryptography company) has a link on their site to
|
|
one called "cookie cutter" (or something like that).
|
|
|
|
<p> About the only advantage to some users is that some
|
|
sites *might* use cookies to help you skip parts of the
|
|
site that you've already seen or *might* allow you to
|
|
avoid filling in forms that you've already filled out.
|
|
|
|
<p> Personally I think cookies are a poorly chosen way to
|
|
do this -- client-side certificates (a feature of
|
|
SSL v. 3.x) is a much cleaner method (it allows the user
|
|
to get an maintain cryptographically strong "certificates"
|
|
which can be presented to specific servers on demand --
|
|
this exchange of certificates involves cryptographic
|
|
authentication in both directions -- so your browser
|
|
knows it isn't authenticating to some bogus imposter
|
|
of a server -- and the server knows that your certificate
|
|
isn't forged.
|
|
|
|
<p> SSL client certificates allow you to establish accounts
|
|
at a web site and securely interact with that site.
|
|
Cookies can't do that. In addition many people have a
|
|
vague notion that "cookies" where "snuck in" under them
|
|
-- so they have a well-deserved "bad press."
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="disc"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
New Hard Disc
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
From: A Stephen Morse <a href="mailto:morse@sysc.eng.yale.edu">morse@sysc.eng.yale.edu</a>
|
|
|
|
<p>Dear Mr Dennis:<br>
|
|
I currently own an IBM 560 with a one gig hard disc which
|
|
has both a win95 partition and a 200m Linux partition
|
|
running version 2.0. We plan to upgrade today to a 2gig
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
Is this one of their "ThinkPad" laptops?
|
|
|
|
<P><B><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
|
|
hard disk which accepts its data from the old disc through
|
|
the PCMICA ports using a special piece of hardware. I believe the
|
|
drive is called Extreme Drive. We also have available versions 4.1 and 4.2
|
|
of Linux on floppies (by the way 2.0 = 4.0 above). So far we've not been
|
|
able to get any advice on how to proceed.
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
|
|
"...using a special piece of hardware."
|
|
|
|
<p> I love that term "special." Sometimes you have to
|
|
say it with the right inflection <sarcasm>SPEC-I-AL!</sarcasm>
|
|
to really appreciate it.
|
|
|
|
<P><B><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
|
|
Any suggestions. We are not super strong with Linux etc.
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
|
|
I think the question is:
|
|
|
|
<p> How do I backup my current drive and restore it
|
|
to the new drive?
|
|
|
|
<p> (with the implication that you'd like to use this "special"
|
|
device and just "copy" everything across).
|
|
|
|
<p> There are several ways of backing up and restoring a Linux
|
|
system. If you have an Ethernet connection to a system
|
|
with lots of disk space -- or to a system with a tape drive
|
|
you can do interesting things of the form:
|
|
|
|
<pre>dump -0f - | rsh $othersystem "dd of=$path_or_device ..."</pre>
|
|
|
|
<p> If you can borrow or purchase a PCMCIA SCSI controller that
|
|
Linux supports on this system you can hook up an external
|
|
hard drive or tape unit and use that.
|
|
|
|
<p> Those are the most straightforward methods for getting
|
|
*everything* across.
|
|
|
|
<p> Another approach is to identify just your data (maybe you
|
|
keep it all under your /home/ and /usr/local/ directory
|
|
trees -- or maybe you *should*). Now you get your new
|
|
disk, install it, get some upgrade of your favorite
|
|
Linux distribution (I hear the new Debian 1.3 is pretty good),
|
|
install and configure that and -- finally -- just restore the
|
|
selected portions of your data that you want.
|
|
|
|
<p> If you're concerned about the potential loss of data or
|
|
down time from any of these methods you might also consider
|
|
renting a system (desktop or laptop) for a week to use while
|
|
you're straightening things out on your main system. This is
|
|
advice to consider any time you're doing a major hardware
|
|
upgrade to an "important" system.
|
|
|
|
<p> Interesting question!
|
|
|
|
<p> Do any of the computer rental services offer
|
|
Linux systems?
|
|
|
|
<p> (PCR, Bit-by-Bit -- who else is in that business?)
|
|
<p>
|
|
--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="crashes"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
Random Crashes
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
From: sloth <a href="mailto:sloth7@hotmail.com">lsoth7@hotmail.com</a>
|
|
|
|
<p> hi. whenever i try to install linux (so far i have tried redhat,
|
|
Slackware and Debian) the install program crashes at random times. I have
|
|
tried removing all unnecessary hardware, ie sound cards etc, but it
|
|
doesn't seem to make a difference. I have a Intel p150mhz, triton VX
|
|
main board, s3virge graphics card, 16mb ram and a 2.0gb quantum harddisk.
|
|
Any help would be MUCH appreciated!
|
|
cheers, sloth...
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
Have you had your memory thoroughly tested?
|
|
|
|
<p> I would take out your memory (presumably they're
|
|
SIMM's) and bring them into to a good repair shop
|
|
for testing. I DON'T recommend software diagnostics
|
|
for this (like AMIDIAGS, Norton's NDIAGS, "System Sleuth"
|
|
etc).
|
|
|
|
<p> Do you run any other 32-bit software on this system?
|
|
(Win '95 and Windows 3.x don't count)
|
|
|
|
<p> Can you install and run NT, Netware, or FreeBSD?
|
|
|
|
<p> I've seen motherboards that just wouldn't handle any
|
|
true 32-bit OS for sustained use (presumably buggy chipsets)
|
|
-- that's why Novell and Microsoft have these "compatibility"
|
|
lists of motherboards.
|
|
|
|
<p> Have you tried taking out the fancy video card and
|
|
putting in a simple VGA (no frills -- Paradise chipset)?
|
|
|
|
<p> Most of the Linux install scripts and programs (different
|
|
for each distribution) just use text mode. Therefore it's
|
|
very unlikely that the video card *type* is a problem.
|
|
However if your particular card has a defect it could be
|
|
something that only affects your system under Linux or some
|
|
other OS'. It's a long shot, and some EE (electronics engineer)
|
|
might tell me it's impossible -- but I'd try it anyway.
|
|
|
|
<p> (I keep a couple of spare old VGA cards and even an old
|
|
Hercules -- monochrome graphics -- card around for just
|
|
these sorts of testing).
|
|
|
|
<p> What sort of hard disk controller are you using? (IDE?
|
|
SCSI?)
|
|
|
|
<p> Some IDE controllers have buggy chipsets (some of them are
|
|
even supported by compile time options in the Linux kernel).
|
|
However, IDE controllers are cheap -- so keeping an extra
|
|
around for testing is a very small investment.
|
|
|
|
<p> SCSI host adapters are somewhat touchier and more expensive.
|
|
Some of them are nominally supported by Linux (and other
|
|
OS') but aren't worth keeping in your system. For example the
|
|
Adaptec 1542B was a piece of junk. At the same time I use
|
|
Adaptec 1542C and 1542CF and the various 2940's without
|
|
hesitation.
|
|
|
|
<p> RAM is the most likely culprit. The motherboard chipset
|
|
is another possibility. A defective video card or a buggy
|
|
HD controller are next in line.
|
|
|
|
<p> It's possible that you're system has some sort of bizarre
|
|
"top memory" which requires an address range exclusion or
|
|
that you need to "reserve" some I/O ports so Linux won't
|
|
use them or probe into them for hardware. You could spend
|
|
a career trying different "stripped down" kernels on boot
|
|
floppies and learning all the idiosyncrasies of your hardware.
|
|
However -- it's probably more profitable in the long run
|
|
to replace any hardware that's causing trouble.
|
|
|
|
<p> The advantage of PC hardware is that it's cheap and widely
|
|
available. It's curse is that it's often *cheap* and the
|
|
specs are *widely* interpreted. Now that Linux is becoming
|
|
available on some other hardware platforms -- and especially
|
|
now that we're seeing "clones" of SPARC, Alpha, and PowerPC
|
|
systems for rates that some of us can afford -- we might
|
|
see some advantages from stepping away from the hardware
|
|
half of the WIntel cartel.
|
|
<p>
|
|
--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="slackware"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
gcc and Slackware Question
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
From: Steven Smith <a href="mailto:ischis@evergreen.com">ischis@evergreen.com</a>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>GNU's gcc is part of the slackware package that I have loaded on my
|
|
system. I can and have compiled and linked C code.
|
|
|
|
<p>I can compile the standard C++ code below (if I haven't miss entered
|
|
the code but for some reason the C++ libraries will not link correctly
|
|
(ie. i get and error):
|
|
<pre>
|
|
#includ <iostream.h></pre>
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
I think you mean <pre>#include ...</pre>
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
main()
|
|
{
|
|
cout << "hello world\n";
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
Poor form. Unix programs should be
|
|
int main ( int argc, char * argv[] )
|
|
... or at least:
|
|
void main () ...
|
|
|
|
----------------
|
|
|
|
gcc -c program_name.C <- no errors
|
|
gcc program_name.C <- errors</pre>
|
|
|
|
<P><B><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
|
|
Do you know what might be missing?
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
Your error messages.
|
|
|
|
<p>Here's a way to capture sessions when you're trying to
|
|
write messages to the <a href="mailto:lust@li.org">Linux User's Support Team</a> ,
|
|
to me or to the <a href-"mailto:linuxprog@geeky1.ebtech.net">Linux Programmer's Mailing List</a>
|
|
,or any of the appropriate news
|
|
groups:
|
|
|
|
<p> Get to a shell prompt.
|
|
Issue the command: <tt>script ~/problem.log</tt>
|
|
Run your test (demonstration of the problem).
|
|
Back at the shell prompt, type Ctrl-D or issue the
|
|
<tt>exit</tt> command.
|
|
Edit the ~/problem.log file (take all the weird
|
|
escape sequences out).
|
|
|
|
<p> An easier way is to use emacs' "shell-mode" -- just start
|
|
emacs and use the M-x shell-mode command. This creates a
|
|
shell buffer (a sub task in emacs) which allows you to run
|
|
tty style programs (no full screen "curses" stuff). The
|
|
output from these shell commands will appear in this buffer
|
|
and you can use normal emacs cursor, scrolling, cut, and paste
|
|
operations to work with that output. For example I pasted your
|
|
program into a new buffer, saved it, "fixed" a couple of minor
|
|
things, switched to my shell mode buffer (I usually keep one
|
|
handy) and ran the following sequence:
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
[jimd@antares lgaz]$ ls
|
|
hello.C
|
|
[jimd@antares lgaz]$ cat hello.C
|
|
|
|
#include <iostream.h>
|
|
|
|
int main( int argc, char * argv[] ) {
|
|
cout << "hello world\n";
|
|
return(0);
|
|
}
|
|
[jimd@antares lgaz]$ make hello
|
|
g++ hello.C -o hello
|
|
[jimd@antares lgaz]$ ./hello
|
|
hello world
|
|
[jimd@antares lgaz]$
|
|
</pre>
|
|
... which I then simply pasted into this buffer.
|
|
|
|
<p> Note that I use the <tt>make</tt> command here. A nice feature
|
|
of 'make' (at least the GNU <tt>make</tt>) is that it can make
|
|
some guess about what you mean even if you don't supply it
|
|
with a Makefile. So my command <tt>make hello</tt> forces make to
|
|
look for a .c, .C or .cpp file to compile and link. If it
|
|
sees a .o file it will try to link it with <tt>cc</tt> -- but
|
|
for a C++ file you need to link it with g++.
|
|
|
|
<p> A nice side effect of using make this way is that I don't
|
|
have to specify the -o (output name) and I don't end up
|
|
with a file named a.out. It "makes" a program named hello.
|
|
|
|
<p> So the source of your problem is probably that you are
|
|
compiling your program with gcc in a way that confuses
|
|
it -- and tries to link it as a C program rather than a
|
|
C++ program. If you call gcc under the link 'g++' (just
|
|
another name for it) you'll see the whole think work.
|
|
The compiler pays attention to how you called it (the value
|
|
of its argv[0]) and makes assumptions based on that.
|
|
|
|
<p> Of course I can't verify that the errors I got were the same
|
|
as the ones that you see -- since you didn't capture them into
|
|
your message. In any event using <tt>make hello</tt> works --
|
|
using <tt>g++ hello.C</tt> works -- using <tt>gcc hello.C</tt> doesn't
|
|
link properly and complains about unreferenced stuff and
|
|
using gcc or g++ with the -c gives me an object file
|
|
(hello.o) which is, for our purposes, useless.
|
|
|
|
<p> A better venue to ask questions about compiling under Linux
|
|
might be the Linux programmers list (as I mentioned earlier)
|
|
or in any of several comp.lang.c and comp.lang.c++ newsgroups
|
|
(since there is nothing Linux specific about this).
|
|
|
|
<p> If you consider it a bug that gcc recognizes the capital
|
|
C for C++ when generating .o files and doesn't automagically
|
|
link with the appropriate libraries in the next pass --
|
|
take it up with the participants of the gnu.gcc.* or the
|
|
gnu.g++.* newsgroups. (There's probably a very good reason
|
|
for this behaviour -- though I confess that I don't see it).
|
|
<p>
|
|
--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="lilo"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
LILO
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
To: Toby Riley <a href="mailto:toby@handc.btinternet">toby@handc.btinternet</a>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>James,<br>
|
|
|
|
I have been reading your page with great interest but I can't find
|
|
anything about removing LILO and restoring My MBR. Unfortunately I have
|
|
to de-install Linux for a while. I have tried running lilo -u and lilo
|
|
-U and when the PC reboots I just get LI and the system hangs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
Personally I've never heard of a -u switch to lilo.
|
|
|
|
<p> Normally you have to replace your lilo MBR with some other
|
|
valid MBR. Most people who are disabling Linux on a system
|
|
are restoring access to an existing set of DOS partitions --
|
|
so using the DOS MBR is in order.
|
|
|
|
<p> To do that -- boot from a DOS floppy -- and run FDISK /MBR
|
|
This should exit silently (no error and no report of
|
|
success). The /MBR switch was added, undocumented, to version
|
|
5.0 of MS-DOS. It won't work with previous versions.
|
|
|
|
<P><B><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
|
|
I can boot Linux off a floppy and the re-run LILO which adds my boot
|
|
options and restore my system to a usable state. But I can't get rid of
|
|
it and restore the Win95 boot up.
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
Under the hood Win '95 is MS-DOS 7.0 -- just run FDISK /MBR.
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p> We eagerly await your return to the land of Linux.
|
|
<p>
|
|
--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="print"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
Printing Problems
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
From: RHS Linux User <a href="mailto:6ng1@qlink.queensu.ca">6ng1@qlink.queensu.ca</a>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>hello answer guy!<br>
|
|
|
|
Problem: Printing text / postscript documents.
|
|
|
|
<p>Printing graphics (using xv) works fine, after having my printcap file
|
|
set up for me, using apsfilter. I own a kyocera f-3010 and this printer
|
|
can emulate an HP LaserJet Ser II. However, printing documents is a
|
|
completely different story. Trying to print from, say, Netscape or LyX
|
|
gets a printout of two or three "step ladder" lines, the output usually
|
|
being something like "/invalid font in findfont . cannot find font Roman
|
|
... etc". Looks like it is not finding the appropriate ghostscript
|
|
fonts. Is there any way to ensure that ghostscript can recognize my
|
|
fonts (using xfontsel shows all my installed fonts)? Would you know how
|
|
to rectify this problem?
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
Like X Windows, printing is a great mystery to me.
|
|
I managed to get mine working -- including TeX with
|
|
dvips (on my DeskJet 500C) -- but I still don't know
|
|
quite how.
|
|
|
|
<p> xv works and Netscape and LyX don't. Can you print a
|
|
.dvi file using dvips? Can you print a Postscript file
|
|
using lpr? How about mpage? Does that work?
|
|
|
|
<p> The stairstep effect is common when raw Unix text is going
|
|
to a printer that's expecting MS-DOS CRLF's (carriage return,
|
|
linefeed pairs). That makes it sound as though the other
|
|
applications are bypassing the filter in your /etc/printcap
|
|
file (or that xv is somehow invoking the write filter before
|
|
passing the directly to the printer).
|
|
|
|
<P><B><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
|
|
Thanks a million for your help, this is something that has been
|
|
bothering me for a while now.
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
Yeah. I let printing bother me for about a year before
|
|
I finally forced it to print something other than raw
|
|
(MS-DOS style) text.
|
|
|
|
<p> You have gone through the Printing-HOWTO's haven't
|
|
you?
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="support"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
Linux Disk Support
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
From: Andrew Ng <a href="mailto:lulu@asiaonline.net">lulu@asiaonline.net</a>
|
|
|
|
<p>Dear Sir,<br>
|
|
|
|
I have a question to ask: Does Linux support disks with density
|
|
2048bytes/sector?
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
Linux currently doesn't support normal disk with large
|
|
block sizes. (CD-ROM's have large block sizes -- but this
|
|
is a special case in the code).
|
|
|
|
<p> It is likely that support for larger block sizes will eventually
|
|
be added to the kernel -- but I don't think it will be in
|
|
before 2.2 (not that I actually have an inside track on if or
|
|
when anything is going to happen in kernel development land
|
|
-- that's just my guess).
|
|
|
|
<p><B><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
|
|
I have bought a Fujitsu MO drive which support up to 640MB MO disks with
|
|
density 2048bytes/sector. The Slackware Linux system does not support
|
|
access to disks with this density. Windows 95 and NT support this density
|
|
and work very well. Is there any version of Linux which support
|
|
2048bytes/sector? If not, is there any project working on that?
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
Someone from Fujitsu's support team called me back on this
|
|
(as I'd copied an earlier message to their webmaster).
|
|
|
|
<p> The report was that the smaller 540Mb MO media are supported
|
|
with no problem -- but that the high density media with the
|
|
large block sizes weren't supported. If I recall correctly
|
|
he said that this doesn't work for any of the other versions
|
|
of Unix that Fujitsu knows of (with their drive).
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="renaming"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
Renaming Problems
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
From: Sean McCleary <a href="mailto:sean@cdsnet.net">sean@cdsnet.net</a>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Anyhow, here's my problem:<br>
|
|
|
|
I recently renamed my system in my /etc/HOSTNAME file. Ever since I
|
|
made that change, my system's telnet daemon has stopped allowing incoming
|
|
connects from ANYWHERE. I was told this has to do with my recent
|
|
system-renaming, but the man who I was talking to about it never told me
|
|
WHY or how to fix it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
I've checked my /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny.
|
|
|
|
<p> These two files control the behavior of tcpd (the
|
|
TCP Wrappers program by Wietse Venema).
|
|
|
|
<p> You might also want to look at your /etc/hosts file.
|
|
This file is used by most system resolver libraries
|
|
in preference to DNS.
|
|
|
|
<p> The resolver libraries are the code that allows client
|
|
programs on your system to translate domain/host names
|
|
into IP addresses. There are several schemes for doing
|
|
this -- which can be set in different priorities for each
|
|
host.
|
|
|
|
<p> The oldest method for performing this resolution was
|
|
a simple lookup in the local /etc/hosts file (there was
|
|
also an /etc/networks file back then -- you don't see them
|
|
very often now). This is still common for small networks
|
|
(less than about 25 systems).
|
|
|
|
<p> The most widely used method is DNS (also know as BIND --
|
|
Berkeley Internet Naming Daemon -- a.k.a. 'named'). Actually
|
|
DNS is the protocol and BIND is the commonly available server
|
|
software.
|
|
|
|
<p> Another fairly widespread naming service is NIS and its
|
|
causing NIS+. These were both created by Sun Microsystems
|
|
and published as open specifications. This system was
|
|
originally known as "Yellow Pages" -- and many of the commands
|
|
for managing the service still have the prefix "yp" (i.e.
|
|
'ypcat'). However a company (British Telecom if I recall
|
|
correctly) objected to the trademark infringement and Sun was
|
|
forced to change the designation.
|
|
|
|
<p> NIS and NIS+ are designed to distribute more than host and
|
|
network name resolutions -- they are primarily used to
|
|
manage accounts across whole domains (networks) of hosts.
|
|
This is especially important among systems that are using
|
|
NFS since that usually requires that you maintain synchronized
|
|
UID across the enterprise. (The normal NFS behavior is to
|
|
grant file access based on the effective UID of the user on the
|
|
client system -- this can be overwritten in a cumbersome fashion
|
|
-- but most sites simply synchronize the UID's -- usually via
|
|
NIS or by using rdist and distributing whole /etc/passwd
|
|
files).
|
|
|
|
<p> Under Linux there is a file named /etc/host.conf (note: SINGULAR
|
|
"host"). This sets the priorities of the resolver libraries --
|
|
which is typically something like:
|
|
|
|
<pre> order files bind nisplus nis
|
|
multi on
|
|
</pre>
|
|
(look in the /etc/hosts and /etc/networks first -- then try
|
|
DNS -- then NIS+ and finally NIS -- try multiple
|
|
resolutions).
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P><B><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
|
|
Why is this happening, Answer Man?
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
I don't know. Did you look at a tail /var/log/messages
|
|
for clues? Are you sure that this is a problem with
|
|
your host's name? Did you change to shadow passwords
|
|
around the same time?
|
|
|
|
<p> One way to get more clues about any failure you get from
|
|
any service in the inetd.conf file is to replace the
|
|
service's entry temporarily with a command like:
|
|
<pre>
|
|
## telnet stream tcp nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd in.telnetd
|
|
telnet stream tcp nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/sbin/strace \
|
|
-o /root/tmp/telnet.strace /usr/sbin/in.telnetd
|
|
</pre>
|
|
Here I've commented out the old telnetd line and put in
|
|
one that keeps a system call trace file. Looking at this
|
|
file can give some clues about what the program was trying
|
|
to do up until it disconnected you.
|
|
|
|
<p> I'll grant that you need to know something about programming
|
|
to make any use of this file. However you probably don't
|
|
need to know as much as you'd think. That start to make a
|
|
little sense after you run a few dozen of them -- particularly
|
|
if you have a "working" and a "broken" configuration to run
|
|
your tests with.
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="monitor"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
X Locks Monitor
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
From: Jon Jacob <a href="mailto:xaviermoon@earthlink.net">xaviermoon@earthlink.net</a>
|
|
|
|
<p>I am trying to configure X. I have a Config file set to the SVGA generic
|
|
using the XF86Config.eg file that comes with the Slackware96 distribution.
|
|
|
|
<p>I have a Sony Multiscan15sf with a ATI mach64 PCI video care with 1 meg of
|
|
VRAM. When I run startx, the monitor locks so that it turns to black but it
|
|
still is getting a signal from the PC because the PowerSaving light stays
|
|
green.
|
|
|
|
<p>I tried fiddling with the Config file with no change. I ran the startx to
|
|
redirect to an out file to see the error message, but I just get the same
|
|
file I got when I ran x -probeonly.
|
|
|
|
<p>I could not find a drive for an ATI Mach64 PCI card that matches mine. Do
|
|
I need one? If so, where would I get it? Can I use some generic driver?
|
|
|
|
<p>Also, Ramdoc was shown by the probe to be "unknown" so I left it commented
|
|
out in the Config file. Could this be the problem?
|
|
|
|
<p>I am very frustrate after hours and hours of attempts. Please help!
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
I keep trying to tell people: I barely use X. X Windows
|
|
configuration is still a mysterious "black art" to me that
|
|
requires that I have the system in front of me to do my
|
|
hand waving in person.
|
|
|
|
<p> I think you should search the X Windows HOWTO file for the
|
|
strings "ATI" an "Mach." I'm pretty sure you need a special
|
|
server for the Mach 64's and I wouldn't be at all surprised
|
|
if it was one of those deviants that doesn't work with a
|
|
generic SVGA driver.
|
|
|
|
<p> The first time I ever got X running I resorted to IRC
|
|
(Internet Relay Chat) -- where I joined the #Linux channel
|
|
and hung out for awhile. After watching the usual banter
|
|
for about 20 minutes and adding a few (hopefully intelligent)
|
|
comments to the discussions at hand I timidly asked for
|
|
some help. Some kind soul (I don't remember the nickname)
|
|
asked for some info -- show me how to do a /dcc (direction
|
|
communications connection?) to send the file to him -- edited
|
|
my XConfig file and sent it back.
|
|
|
|
<p> One of the beauties of Linux is that I was able to test
|
|
a couple of revisions of this file while maintaining my
|
|
connection. Naturally, I glanced over the file before using
|
|
it. If you decide to take this approach I recommend that
|
|
you avoid any binaries or source code that you don't understand
|
|
that someone offers to xfer to you. You will be running this
|
|
as 'root' on your system.
|
|
|
|
<p> A config file with which you are moderately familiar
|
|
is a bit safer -- though you could always end up with some
|
|
weird trojan in that, too.
|
|
|
|
<p> This is not to suggest that IRC has a higher percentage of
|
|
crackers and "black hats" than anywhere else on the net --
|
|
just trying to emphasize that you have no way of identifying
|
|
who you were working with -- and all it takes is one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p> Another approach you might try is to call ATI and let
|
|
them know what you want. As more of us use Linux and
|
|
demand support for it the various hardware companies will
|
|
have their choices -- meet market demands or lose marketshare.
|
|
|
|
<p> If you decide to take this to the news groups be sure to
|
|
go for comp.os.linux.x -- rather than one of the more
|
|
general newsgroups. It is a little frustrating that so
|
|
many X questions end up in the various other Linux news
|
|
groups -- X Windows for Linux is no different than X Windows
|
|
for any other x86 Unix. However I've never seen an XFree86
|
|
newsgroup so...
|
|
<p>
|
|
--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="security"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
Using JDK 1.1 for Solarix x86 on Linux
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
From: Romeo Chua <a href="mailto:rchua@st.nepean.uws.edu.au">rchau@st.nepean.uws.edu.au</a>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Hi! I would like to know if I can use the JDK 1.1.2 for Solaris x86 on
|
|
Linux. Does the iBCS2 module support Solaris x86 applications?
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
Last I heard a native JDK was already available for Linux
|
|
(although that might be 1.1.1).
|
|
|
|
<p> I have no idea whether SunSoft has maintained any
|
|
compliance to iBCS in the Java stuff for Solaris.
|
|
|
|
<p>--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="colormap"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
Colormap Question
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
From: Kevin T. Nemec <a href="mailto:knemec@mines.edu">knemec@mines.edu</a>
|
|
|
|
<p>Dear Answer Guy,<br>
|
|
I was wondering if it is possible to force a program to use its own
|
|
colormap externally. That is, can you force a program without a built in
|
|
option to use its own colormap to do so in some other way. I don't mind
|
|
the "flashing" in some applications as long as I can see all the colors.
|
|
|
|
<p>Kevin Nemec
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
I've heard that xnest can be used to run one X session inside
|
|
of another. I don't know if this would help. I've used
|
|
XFree86's support for multiple virtual consoles to run two
|
|
X Windows sessions concurrently (using {Ctrl}+{Alt}+{Fx} to
|
|
switch between them, of course). These can be run with different
|
|
settings (such as 8bpp on one session and 16pbb on the other.
|
|
|
|
<p> Other than that I have no idea. I keep trying to tell people
|
|
I'm a *Linux* guy -- NOT an XFree86 guy. I run X Windows to
|
|
do the occasional XPaint or XFig drawing, to run Netscape on
|
|
sites that are just too ugly to tolerate in Lynx, and (recently)
|
|
to play with xdvi and ghostview (to preview my TeX and PostScript
|
|
pages).
|
|
|
|
<p> So, anyone out there that would like an XFree86 Answers
|
|
Column in Linux Gazette (or anywhere else preferably under
|
|
LDP GPL) has my utmost support. (Although our esteemed editor,
|
|
Marjorie Richardson will certainly make the decisions).
|
|
<p>
|
|
--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="lilo2"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
More on LILO
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
From: Paul L Daniels <a href="mailto:jdaniels@stocks.co.za">jdaniels@stocks.co.za</a>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>With respect to a question that was in "The Answers Guy" re LILO only
|
|
presenting "LI" on the screen then _hanging_.
|
|
|
|
<p>I found that problem too... the problem (at least for me) was that I was
|
|
including a DOS partition in the LILO.conf file. After removing the
|
|
partition manually, running liloconfig and reinstalling from current
|
|
lilo image, everything worked.
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
If you were including a DOS partition in your lilo.conf
|
|
file with some syntactic errors (making it look like a
|
|
Linux partition perhaps) or if your previous edit of the
|
|
file had not be followed by run /sbin/lilo (the "compiler"
|
|
for the /etc/lilo.conf file) -- I would expect you to have
|
|
problems.
|
|
|
|
<p> However it is quite common to include one or several
|
|
DOS partitions in a lilo.conf file. That is the major
|
|
purpose of the LILO package -- to provide multiple boot
|
|
capabilities.
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P><B><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
|
|
If this is all babble and drivel, then ignore it, I wasn't sure who to
|
|
post to.
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
I suspect that there was something else involved in the
|
|
"stanza" (clause, group of lines) that you removed from
|
|
your conf file. Since you've solved the problem it
|
|
sounds like little would be gained from attempts to
|
|
recreate it -- or to guess at what that had been.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="gui"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
95 GUI
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
|
|
From: Sean <a href="mailto:sdonovan@hq.si.net">sdonovan@hq.si.net</a>
|
|
|
|
<p>Sorry if I am one of hundreds w/ this kinda question./....but try to
|
|
answer if you have time..
|
|
|
|
<p>So I had linux loaded up and working fine was even able to make my
|
|
dos/95 partition work ok too. So then I actually loaded the 95 gui {it
|
|
had just been a sys c: to get a bootable dos/95 since I didn't have the
|
|
95 files for the gui at the time}
|
|
|
|
<p>So now all I can get is 95...I tried the primitive fdisk thing thats
|
|
part of the do you want to install linux again deal w/ the two disks
|
|
also tried making different partitions active w/ fdisk as well...but no
|
|
workie workie. I can boot w/ the two disks that are part of the linux
|
|
install use the rescue option and then mount the hd linux partition to a
|
|
directory of my choice and if I try to run lilo from their {since its
|
|
not in /sbin/lilo on the floppies} it moans about lilo.conf not around
|
|
and /boot/boot.b not present and such sooo I try to recreate that
|
|
structure on the root {ramdisk:?} or floppy or whatever I am running
|
|
everything from...run out of diskspace trying to copy hda files from now
|
|
mounted hd to /dev of ram/floppy. So I'm stuck...Any ideas? I have read
|
|
all relevant faq's/scanned every apparently related how-to's etc... to
|
|
no avail...maybe its like you said on your page; maybe I'm not really
|
|
running a "boot" floppy... help if ya can,
|
|
My lilo.conf was reliably letting me into command line dos/95 and
|
|
linux/xwindows etc.. system is an IBM thinkpad 760el if that's relevant.
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
The short story is that you don't know how to run
|
|
/sbin/lilo.conf from a boot floppy (rescue situation).
|
|
|
|
<p> There are two methods. One is to use the chroot command:
|
|
|
|
<p> Basically after you boot you mount your root file system
|
|
(and your usr if you have that separate) -- something like
|
|
so:
|
|
|
|
<pre> mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/
|
|
mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usr
|
|
</pre>
|
|
<p> (Here I'm using the example of an extended partition on
|
|
the first SCSI drive for my normal root partition and the
|
|
first partition on my second SCSI drive as my usual
|
|
usr partition -- change those as necessary).
|
|
|
|
<p> You can (naturally) create a different directory other than
|
|
/mnt/ or under /mnt and mount your filesystem under that.
|
|
|
|
<p> Now you cd to that:
|
|
|
|
<pre> cd /mnt/
|
|
</pre>
|
|
And run the chroot command -- which takes two parameters:
|
|
where to make the new root of your session's filesystem and
|
|
what program to run in that "jail"
|
|
|
|
<pre> chroot /mnt/ /mnt/bin/bash
|
|
</pre>
|
|
<p> Here we're running the copy of bash that's under our
|
|
chroot environment. Thus this session, and all processes
|
|
started by it now see /mnt as /.
|
|
|
|
<p> This was the original use of the chroot call -- to allow
|
|
one to work with a subset of your filesystem *as though*
|
|
it were the whole thing (handy for developers and doing
|
|
certain types of testing and debugging -- without risking
|
|
changes to the whole system).
|
|
|
|
<p> Now should be able to vi /etc/lilo.conf and run /sbin/lilo
|
|
to "compile" that into a proper boot block and set of mappings.
|
|
(note the "/etc/" and "/sbin/" will be really /mnt/etc and
|
|
/mnt/sbin -- to the system and to any other processes -- but
|
|
they will *look like* /etc/ and /sbin/ to you).
|
|
|
|
<p> The other approach is to create a proper (though temporary)
|
|
lilo.conf (any path to it is fine) and edit in the paths that
|
|
apply to your boot context. Then you run /sbin/lilo with the
|
|
-C file to point it at a non-default lilo.conf (which can
|
|
be named anything you like at that point.
|
|
|
|
<p> The trick here is to edit the paths in properly. Here's
|
|
the lilo.conf for my system (antares.starshine.org):
|
|
<pre>
|
|
boot=/dev/hda
|
|
map=/boot/map
|
|
install=/boot/boot.b
|
|
prompt
|
|
timeout=50
|
|
other=/dev/hda1
|
|
label=dos
|
|
table=/dev/hda
|
|
image=/vmlinuz
|
|
label=linux
|
|
root=/dev/sda5
|
|
read-only
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
<p> Here's how I have to edit it to run lilo -C when I'm booted
|
|
from floppy and have mounted my root and usr as I described
|
|
above (on /mnt and /mnt/usr respectively):
|
|
<pre>
|
|
boot=/dev/hda
|
|
map=/mnt/boot/map # current (emerg) path to map
|
|
install=/mnt/boot/boot.b # current (emerg) path to /boot
|
|
prompt
|
|
timeout=50
|
|
other=/dev/hda1
|
|
label=dos
|
|
table=/dev/hda
|
|
image=/mnt/vmlinuz # path to my kernel
|
|
label=linux
|
|
root=/dev/sda5
|
|
read-only
|
|
</pre>
|
|
<p> Note that I've added comments to the end of each line
|
|
that I changed. (I think I got them all write -- I don't
|
|
feel like rebooting to test this for you). The specifics
|
|
aren't as important as the idea:
|
|
|
|
<p> The lilo program (/sbin/lilo) "compiles" a boot
|
|
block from information in a configuration file --
|
|
which defaults to /etc/lilo.conf.
|
|
|
|
<p> References to directories and file in the .conf file
|
|
must be relative to the situation *when the /sbin/lilo
|
|
is run*. References to devices and partitions
|
|
typically don't change in this situation.
|
|
|
|
<p> I hope that helps. It is admittedly one of the most
|
|
confusing aspect of Linux to Unix newbies and professionals
|
|
alike. In some ways I prefer FreeBSD's boot loader (the
|
|
interactive and visual debug modes are neat -- you can
|
|
disable various drivers and view/tweak various kernel settings
|
|
during the boot). In other ways I prefer LOADLIN (which
|
|
can load Linux or FreeBSD kernels from a DOS command prompt
|
|
or from a DOS CONFIG.SYS file). In yet other ways I like
|
|
the OpenBoot (forth interpreter and system debugger) used
|
|
by SPARC's.
|
|
|
|
<p> I would like to see PC's move to the OpenBoot standard --
|
|
it's SUPPOSED to be part of the PCI spec. Basically this
|
|
works by replace the processor specific machine code instructions
|
|
in device ROM's (for video cards and other adapters) with
|
|
FCode (byte compiled forth). The system (mother) board then
|
|
only has to implement a forth interpreter (between 8 and 32K
|
|
of footprint -- much smaller than existing BIOS chips).
|
|
|
|
<p> The advantage is that it allows your adapters to be used
|
|
on systems regardless of the processor. Forth is a very
|
|
efficient language -- as close to machine language as an
|
|
interpreter can get -- and closer than many assemblers
|
|
(some of which generate stray code).
|
|
|
|
<p> Too bad there are no PC manufacturers who understand this
|
|
YET!
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="thanks"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
Letter of Thanks
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
From: Sean <a href="mailto:sdonovan@hq.si.net">sdonovan@hq.si.net</a>
|
|
|
|
<p>Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your informative and very
|
|
useful email. It took about 50 seconds using the chroot command {see
|
|
I learned something new today :-) }
|
|
I am back up...worked like a charm...
|
|
I'll try not to bother you in the future but if I ever need to blow the
|
|
horn at time of utmost need... It's pretty cool when stuff works, what is
|
|
frustrating as heck is when you can't find the answers, I really did try
|
|
reading the faq's/how to's and so on...
|
|
You are right about the email coherency, need to work on that, guess I
|
|
figured to a hack like yourself it would make sense {all the stuff that I
|
|
had tried} and I wasn't sure you would actually write back.}
|
|
|
|
<p>I'm doing this from minicom so everything workie workie :-)
|
|
|
|
<p>When you have time; why did another friend {not in your league
|
|
apparently} suggest:
|
|
linux root=/dev/hda2 ro <cr> from the boot command?
|
|
Supposedly it would boot from partition hda2 {linux native} at that point
|
|
no such luck still went from floppy.
|
|
<P>
|
|
thanks again,<br>
|
|
Sean
|
|
</B>
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="card"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
ST01/02 SCSI Card
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
From: John Messina <a href="mailto:John.Messina@astramerck.com">John.Messina@astramerck.com</a>
|
|
|
|
<p>My dad just gave me his old 386 machine. It's not much, but I wanted
|
|
to start experimenting with it and to try to use it as a firewall.
|
|
I upgraded it to 8MB of RAM and dropped in an ISA Ethernet card -
|
|
just the bare minimum. I'm attempting to install RedHat 4.1 onto this
|
|
machine. My main machine is already up and running with COL Standard
|
|
and since the 386 has no CD-ROM, I attempted to do an NFS install.
|
|
he NFS part of the install works perfectly (nameserver, exports,
|
|
etc. on my main machine is configured correctly and autoprobe can find
|
|
the 386's ethernet card). The problem occurs when the install starts
|
|
to look for the 386's SCSI card. The 386 has a Seagate ST01/02 SCSI
|
|
card with one hard drive attached. The ST01/02 is supported by the
|
|
install, but autoprobe cannot find the card and I've tried all of the
|
|
combinations for the parameters that are listed - checked the RedHat,
|
|
CND, and COL manuals. No IRQ/Base address combination that I've tried
|
|
works. I've looked at the board itself, but can't tell how it's set up.
|
|
I guess my question comes down to the following:
|
|
|
|
<p>Is there a way during the install to find out what the IRQ/Base
|
|
address for this board is? Or, since the machine will successfully
|
|
boot to DOS/Win3.1, is there a way to determine these settings from
|
|
the DOS/Windows environment?
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
There are a variety of "diagnostics" utilities for DOS
|
|
-- MSD (Microsoft) comes with some recent versions of DOS
|
|
and Windows, NDIAGS comes with recent versions of the
|
|
Norton Utilities, American Megratrends used to sell the
|
|
AMIDIAGS, and there used to be some others called
|
|
Checkit! and System Sleuth. There are also a large
|
|
number of DOS shareware and freeware programs which perform
|
|
different subsets of the job.
|
|
|
|
<p> Another program that might list the information you're looking
|
|
for is Quarterdeck's "Manifest" which used to be included
|
|
with QEMM since about version 7 or 6 and with DESQview/386
|
|
(one of my all-time favorite DOS programs -- with features I
|
|
still miss in Linux!).
|
|
|
|
<p> The system I'm typing this on is an old home built 386.
|
|
It is the main server for the house (the clients are Pentia
|
|
and 486's -- mostly laptops). So you don't have to "apologize"
|
|
about the age of your equipment. One of the real virtues of
|
|
Linux is that it breathes new life into old 386's that have been
|
|
abandoned by the major software vendors.
|
|
|
|
<p> One approach to consider it to find a good SCSI card. I
|
|
realize that you'll spend more on that than you did on the
|
|
computer -- but it may be worth it nonetheless. Over the
|
|
years I've upgraded this system (antares) from 4Mb of RAM
|
|
to 32Mb and added:
|
|
Adaptec 1452C controller,
|
|
one internal 2Gb SCSI,
|
|
and a 538Mb internal,
|
|
a 300Mb magneto optical drive,
|
|
a 4mm DAT autochanger,
|
|
an 8x CDROM,
|
|
a Ricoh CD burner/recorder,
|
|
and an external 2Gb drive
|
|
(that fills out the SCSI chain --
|
|
with additional drives including a Zip
|
|
on the shelf)
|
|
|
|
upgraded the old 200Mb IDE hard drive to a pair of
|
|
400 Mb IDE's,
|
|
|
|
upgraded the I/O and IDE controller to one with
|
|
four serial ports (one modem, one mouse, two terminals --
|
|
one in the living room the other in the office),
|
|
|
|
and a 2Mb STB Nitro video card.
|
|
|
|
<p> My point is that you can take some of the money you save
|
|
and invest in additional hardware. You just want to ensure
|
|
that the peripherals and expansions will be useful in your
|
|
future systems. (At this point memory is changing enough
|
|
that you don't want to invest much in RAM for your 386 --
|
|
you probably won't be able to use it in any future systems) --
|
|
bumping it up to 16Mb is probably a good idea -- more only if
|
|
it's offered to you for REAL cheap.
|
|
|
|
<p> Other than than I'd do an Alta-Vista search (at Yahoo!)
|
|
for Seagate ST01/02 (ST01, ST02, ST0). My one experience
|
|
with the ST01 is that it was a very low quality SCSI card
|
|
and not suitable for serious use. I'd also search the
|
|
"forsale" newsgroups and ads for a used BusLogic (you might
|
|
find one for $10 to $25 bucks -- don't pay more than $50
|
|
for a used one -- low end new cards can be had for $60).
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="booting"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
Booting Linux
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
From: Vaughn (Manta Ray) Jardine <a href="mailto:vaughn@fm1.wow.net">vaughn@fm1.wow.net</a>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>I Use a multiconfig to boot either to Dos, Win95, or Linux (Redhat 4.1).
|
|
I use loadlin from the autoexec.bat to load the linux kernel, however I
|
|
recently accidently deleted the dir with loadlin and the vmlinuz.
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
Ooops! I hate it when that happens!
|
|
|
|
<P><B><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
|
|
I made a boot disk on installation so I use that to get to Linux. I
|
|
copied the vmlinuz from the /boot dir and put it on my Dos partition.
|
|
Now I don't have the original loadlin so I took one from a redhat 4.2
|
|
site on the net. It still won't boot. It starts and halfway through
|
|
bootup it stops.
|
|
|
|
<p>Do I have to get the loadlin that came with redhat 4.1? What am I doing
|
|
wrong. It boots fine off the boot disk.
|
|
|
|
<p>Vaughn
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
I'd want to find out why the LOADLIN is failing.
|
|
The old version of LOADLIN that I'm used to did require
|
|
that you create a map of the "real BIOS vectors" -- which
|
|
is done by allowing REALBIOS.EXE to create a boot disk,
|
|
booting off of that, and then re-running REALBIOS.EXE.
|
|
|
|
<p> This file would be a "hidden + system" file in C:\REALBIOS.INT
|
|
|
|
<p> The idea of this file is to allow LOADLIN to "unhook" all
|
|
of the software that's redirected BIOS interrupts (trap vectors
|
|
-- sort of like a table of pointers hardware event signal handlers)
|
|
to their own code. To do this you must have a map of where
|
|
each interrupt was pointed before any software hooked into it
|
|
(thus the boot disk). This boot disk doesn't boot any OS --
|
|
it just runs a very short block of code to capture the table
|
|
and save it to floppy -- and displays some instructions.
|
|
|
|
<p> You may have to re-run REALBIOS.EXE (generate a new BIOS
|
|
map) any time you change your hardware. This is particularly
|
|
true when changing video cards or adding removing or changing
|
|
a SCSI adapter.
|
|
|
|
<p> Obviously the version of LOADLIN that's used by Red Hat's
|
|
"turbo Linux" and by the CD based installed program of other
|
|
Linux distributions doesn't require this -- though I don't know
|
|
quite how they get around it.
|
|
|
|
<p> So, try installing the rest of the LOADLIN package and running
|
|
REALBIOS.EXE. Then make sure you are booting into "safe"
|
|
DOS mode under Win '95. I'd also consider putting a block
|
|
(like a lilo.conf stanza) in your CONFIG.SYS which invokes
|
|
LOADLIN.EXE via your SHELL= directive. That block should have
|
|
any DEVICE= or INSTALL= directives except those that are needed
|
|
to see the device where your LOADLIN.EXE and kernel image file
|
|
are located. This should ensure that you aren't loading
|
|
conflicting drivers. There are details about this in the
|
|
LOADLIN documentation.
|
|
<p>
|
|
--
|
|
Jim
|
|
|
|
<p><hr><p>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
|
|
<a name="panics"></a>
|
|
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
Kernel Panics on root fs
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<P> <B>
|
|
|
|
From: Ken <a href="mailto:Ken@KenAndTed.com">Ken@KenAndTed.com</a>
|
|
|
|
<p>Hi... I'm having some trouble, and maybe you could help??
|
|
|
|
<p>I recently went from kernel 2.0.27 to 2.0.3. Of course, =) I used Red Hat's
|
|
RPM system (I have PowerTools 4.1) and upgraded. After the config,
|
|
compile (zImage), and modules stuff, I changed LiLo's config, to have
|
|
old be my backed up kernel of 2.0.27, and linux be the new one. Then,
|
|
I did a zlilo, and everything ran smoothly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
I presume you mean that you installed the 2.0.30 sources
|
|
and that you did a make zlilo (after your make config;
|
|
make dep; and make clean)
|
|
|
|
<P><B><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
|
|
But now, one the new kernel, after it finds my CD-ROM drive, it won't
|
|
mount my root fs. It gives me a kernel panic, and says unable to mount
|
|
root fs, then gives me the address 3:41. What's going on??
|
|
|
|
<p>I've tried recompiling and remaking lilo many times. (oh yeah... I didn't
|
|
forget dep or clean either) Nothing works. I'm using the extended 2
|
|
fs, and it's built right in the kernel...
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
Did you do a 'make modules' and 'make modules_install'?
|
|
|
|
<p> If you do a 'diff' between /usr/src/linux/.config and
|
|
/usr/src/linux-2.0.27/.config what you you see?
|
|
|
|
<p> Are you sure you need features from the 2.0.30 release?
|
|
You may want to stick with 2.0.29 until a 2.0.31 or 32
|
|
goes out. I know of at least one problem that's forced
|
|
my to revert for one of my customers*.
|
|
|
|
<p> It has always been the case with Linux and with other
|
|
systems that you should avoid upgrading unless you know
|
|
exactly what problem you're trying to solve and have some
|
|
understanding of the risks your are taking. That's why it's
|
|
so important to make backups prior to upgrades and new software
|
|
installations. I will note that my experience with Linux
|
|
and FreeBSD has been vastly less traumatic in these regards than
|
|
the years of DOS and Windows experience I gained before I
|
|
taught myself Unix.
|
|
|
|
<p> * (using the -r "redirect" switch of the ipfwadm command to
|
|
redirect activity on one socket to another works through
|
|
2.0.29 and dies in 2.0.30 -- and gets fixed again in a "pre31"
|
|
that one of my associates provided to me).
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P><B><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
|
|
Here's my lilo config file...
|
|
|
|
<pre> ...[ellided]...</pre>
|
|
|
|
|
|
</B> <P>
|
|
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
|
|
|
|
That looks fine.
|
|
|
|
<p> I suspect there's some difference between your kernel
|
|
configurations that's at fault here. Run diff on them
|
|
(the files are named .config in the toplevel source
|
|
directory). or pull up the 'make menuconfig' for each
|
|
and place them "side-by-side" (using X or on different
|
|
VC's).
|
|
|
|
<p> Hint: You can edit /usr/src/linux/scripts/Menuconfig
|
|
and set the single_menu_mode=TRUE (read the comments in
|
|
the file) before you do your make menuconfig -- and you'll
|
|
save a lot of keystrokes.
|
|
|
|
<p> Maybe you need one of those IDE chipset boxes checked.
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P><B><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
|
|
|
|
My hard drive that boots is hda, and my Linux drive is hdb. I took out
|
|
read-only a while ago, to try to solve the problem. It made no difference.
|
|
It'd be great if you could help me out a little. Thanks, Ken...
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
<P> <hr> <P>
|
|
<center><H4>Previous "Answer Guy" Columns</H4></center>
|
|
<P>
|
|
<A HREF="../issue13/answer.html">Answer Guy #1, January 1997</A><BR>
|
|
<A HREF="../issue14/answer.html">Answer Guy #2, February 1997</A><br>
|
|
<A HREF="../issue15/answer.html">Answer Guy #3, March 1997</A><br>
|
|
<A HREF="../issue16/answer.html">Answer Guy #4, April 1997</A><br>
|
|
<A HREF="../issue17/answer.html">Answer Guy #5, May 1997</A><br>
|
|
<A HREF="../issue18/lg_answer18.html">Answer Guy #6, June 1997</A><br>
|
|
<A HREF="../issue19/lg_answer19.html">Answer Guy #7, July 1997</A><br>
|
|
<P><HR><P>
|
|
<center><H5>Copyright © 1997, James T. Dennis <BR>
|
|
Published in Issue 20 of the Linux Gazette August 1997</H5></center>
|
|
|
|
<P> <hr> <P>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
<A HREF="./index.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/indexnew.gif" ALT="[ TABLE OF
|
|
CONTENTS ]"></A> <A HREF="../index.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/homenew.gif"
|
|
ALT="[ FRONT PAGE ]"></A>
|
|
<A HREF="lg_bytes20.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/back2.gif" ALT=" Back "></A>
|
|
<A HREF="./followup.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/fwd.gif" ALT=" Next "></A>
|
|
<!--startcut ======================================================= -->
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|
|
<!--endcut ========================================================= -->
|