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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
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<TITLE>Clueless at the Prompt Issue 23</TITLE>
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<H4>
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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</H4>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<center><h2>CLUELESS at the Prompt: A Column for New Users</h2>
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<H4> By
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<a href="mailto:troll@net-link.net">Mike List</a></H4> </center>
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<P><HR><P>
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<center><IMG ALIGN=MIDDLE SRC = "../gx/list/gnub.jpg" ></center><p>
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<h4>Welcome to installment 8 of Clueless at the Prompt:
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a column for new users.</h4>
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<P><HR><P>
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<b>.bashrc and .bash_profile</b>
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Well, I found out why the bash dotfiles I talked about last month didn't work, and
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there were a couple things I did wrong. First I didn't recognize the difference
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between instances of bash and how they differ.
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<ul>
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<li> bash as a login shell reads instructions from .bash_profile
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<li> bash as used in any other instance is a non-login shell and will either use
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.bashrc or no .dotfile depending on what -option you assign to it.
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<li> presumably the same could go for any preferred shellrc files
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<li> the correct way to specify an alias is <pre> alias xx=whatever -options.</pre>
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notice that there is no white space between the alias name, the equal
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sign, and the command that the alias represents
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</ul><p>
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Besides aliases you can do also change the color of your console screen
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with your .bashrc or .bash_profile, by using commands like:
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<pre>
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"/dev/tty1") setterm -background green -foreground black -store;;</pre><BR>
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By the way
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I found this out by reading back issues of the Linux Gazette, and you might find
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some other little gems, just by digging into past issues.
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<hr><p>
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<b>Installing Software</b><p>
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One very tricky procedure for new linuxers is installing software. Several months ago I
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touched on this subject, apparently not in enough depth, so I'm going to give it another go this
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time with a little more experience under my belt.
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The best advice I can give you if you are using debian, redhat, or caldera distributions is to
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look for the software you would like in a compatible package format, ie. RPM for redhat-caldera,
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and deb for debian. These are most commonly binaries and don't require much to get
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running.Slackware has packages in tgz format, but this can be misleading, as some source
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packages are inexplicably given a .tgz extension. If you get your software from the CDROM you
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should be set, with packages for a given distribution on that CD. Ifg you got your distribution
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from an ftp site, try using the most appropriate software found on that site, to see if it fits
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your needs. If not, you should check out the Linux Software Map, to see what kind of
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alternatives there are for the kind of applications you want. if you have disk space, I
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recommend that you choose a couple that seem to be close to what you are looking for, install
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them and use them for a short period to see which is more suitable for your uses. Sad but true,
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some software compiles easily, but you will probably find that many others take some hacking,
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and some doesn't seem to compile at all. You are at a distinct advantage if your Linux
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distribution conforms to the Linux FSSTND, which tends to assure that paths to libraries are the
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same in your distribution as they were in the distribution that they were written for/in.
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With enough hacking however, all of the software that has been compiled on one distribution can
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be compiled on any other.<ul>
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<li>Use Midnight commander or similar filemanager to look at the contents of the compressed
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archive for clues. look at files called README, README.elf, INSTALL or other similarly named
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files for information on how to compile or install them. This isn't always easy as it sounds,
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but often directions are specific enough to get you on your way.
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<li>before unpacking a tarball create a directory to unpack it in and cd to it before using
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<pre> tar -zxvf filename </pre>
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to unpack it, since sometimes the untarring doesn't create a
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separate directory and if you just unpack it in an existing directory you could get a real
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ugly situation when you get a bunch of disjointed files cluttering up your directory. you can
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also use tar -cxvf or similar combination to get a listing of the files that would be unleashed
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when you use the -z option. This will tell you if the files have a designated pathname which
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means that it will create its own directories and subdirectories that will keep the parent
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directory nice and tidy.
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<li> It's a very good idea to print out the README, INSTALL or similar files before you start to
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compile the software, so you can refer to the documentation as you go. If you don't have lpr
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configured properly yet, you can use
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<pre>cat README |pr -l 56 >/dev/lp0</pre>
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(or lp1, or whatever). Using the -l 56 option should paginate the file so
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that page breaks occur where they should.
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<li> When you read the documentation, keep an eye out for any indication that you need, say
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Motif or Xforms or other libraries or toolkits that you don't have installed,if you don't have
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them you won't have a compiled application either.
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<li> Alternatively to printing the documentation out to paper, if you have X installed use
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separate xterms to view the docs and configure, and make the application.
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<li>Remember, most Linux archive maintainers keep a close eye on their sites so it's safe to
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download and install a binary if it's available.</ul>
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<hr><p>I'm not really a Linux guru, and I'm starting to get into more
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advanced (??) stuff, and my intent was and still is to present information
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that a new user can implement now and research at his/her convenience, I'm
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not trying to be the Weekend Mechanic OR the Answer Guy, although I aspire
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to their level of Linux prowess. Briefly put, although it's a little late
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to be brief, I may not be appearing monthly after this issue, since I
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don't want to write just to hear myself type, I'll likely post a column
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when I can nail down a column's worth of information.
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<hr>
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<p> I still invite questions, suggestions, reasonable criticism and just
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plain e-mail:
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<center><a href="mailto:troll@net-link.net">troll@net-link.net</a><p>
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<b>Don't M$ out, try Linux!!</b></center>
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<center><H4>Previous "Clueless at the Prompt" Columns</H4></center>
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<p>
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<A HREF="../issue14/clueless.html">Clueless at the Prompt #1 - February 1997</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue15/clueless.html">Clueless at the Prompt #2 - March 1997</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue16/clueless.html">Clueless at the Prompt #3 - April 1997</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue17/clueless.html">Clueless at the Prompt #4 - May 1997</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue18/clueless.html">Clueless at the Prompt #5 - June 1997</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue19/clue.html">Clueless at the Prompt #6 - July 1997</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue21/clue.html">Clueless at the Prompt #7 - September 1997</A>
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<P><HR><P>
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<center><H5>Copyright © 1997, Mike List<BR>
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Published in Issue 23 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, December 1997</H5></center>
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