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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
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<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<title>Linux Gazette MailBag LG #28</title>
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</HEAD>
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<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#A000A0"
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ALINK="#FF0000">
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<!--endcut ============================================================-->
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<H4>"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"</H4>
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<HR>
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<center>
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<table width="100%" cellpadding=7><tr><td>
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<H2><a NAME="mail"><IMG SRC="../gx/mailbox.gif" ALIGN=MIDDLE ALT=" ">
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The Mailbag!</a> </H2>
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Write the Gazette at <A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com"> gazette@ssc.com</A>
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</td><td>
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<H3>Contents:</H3>
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<ul>
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<li><a HREF="./lg_mail28.html#help">Help Wanted -- Article Ideas</a>
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<li><a HREF="./lg_mail28.html#gen">General Mail</a>
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</ul>
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</td></tr></table>
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</center>
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<a name="help"></a>
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<p><hr><p>
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<!-- =================================================================== -->
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<center><H3><font color="maroon">Help Wanted -- Article Ideas</font></H3></center>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1998 23:13:13 +0200<BR>
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From: Tomas Valusek, <A
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HREF="mailto:tvalusek@vs.inext.cz">tvalusek@vs.inext.cz </A> <BR>
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Subject: MIDI on Linux
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<P>
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I'm trying to understand how is MIDI supported on Linux. Can you write a
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detailed article about it?
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<P>
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Tomas Valusek
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Thu, 02 Apr 1998 15:59:18 +0800<BR>
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From: Kevin Ng, <A HREF="mailto:kng@HK.Super.NET">kng@HK.Super.NET</A> <BR>
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Subject: <B>Patch troubleshooting</B>
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<P>
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It is common nowadays for s/w to be delivered in form of patches, which
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makes sense in terms of saving network bandwidth and time.
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However, as a end user, when somehow a patch fails, I don't know what do
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do, except email to the original author.
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<P>
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I'd therefore like to see an article describing patches, i.e.,
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<ul>
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<li>what are they for ?
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<li>How to apply one ?
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<li>How to create one ?
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<li>How to check integrity of s/w patch
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<li>what to do if the patch gives you errors ?
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</ul>
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Kevin (from Hong Kong)
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 16:51:09 -0800<BR>
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From: Nate Daiger, <A HREF="mailto:daiger@newdream.net">daiger@newdream.net</A> <BR>
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Subject: <B>HELP--Utility for changing NTFS partition sizes</B>
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<P>
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I want to dynamically change my NTFS partition to install Linux, but can
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only find resizing utilities for FAT. If no such utility exists, is there a
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way to install Linux on an NTFS partition?
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<P>
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Nate Daiger
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 22:33:39 -0500<BR>
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From: Ahmad Faiz, <A
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HREF="mailto:AFAIZ@cstp.umkc.edu">AFAIZ@cstp.umkc.edu </A> <BR>
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Subject: <B>Printing with Linux</B>
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<P>
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I'm running Red Hat 5.0 on my machine, and I've just bought a HP DeskJet
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722C printer, but I couldn't get it to work. I asked around on the IRC
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channels, and so far everyone has answered that Linux does not support
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it - is it a windows-only printer?
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<P>
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If so, is it possible to write a driver for it? or does anyone know of
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where I can get my hands on the driver (if it's already been written, of
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course). I would love to try and write one, but unfortunately I'm new to
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Linux and to programming.
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<P>
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any help would be appreciated...thanks!
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<P>
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Faiz
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1998 16:00:19 -0500 (EST)<BR>
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From: Nordic Boy, <A
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HREF="mailto:jklaas@cs.albany.edu">jklaas@cs.albany.edu </A> <BR>
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Subject: <B>SysV init for Slackware</B>
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<P>
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I am wondering if someone out there knows of a package to change
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Slackware's BSDish inittab (and rc.d/rc.*) files to a SysV type structure
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with separate rc.d.0, rc.d.1, etc inits. I am asking because I recently
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installed KDE and I really like it and I was thinking of using the SysV
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init editor that comes with it, but it would be nice to have something to
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start with rather than starting from scratch.
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<P>
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Thanks,
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<P>
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James Klaas
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Thu, 02 Apr 1998 16:03:00 +0800<BR>
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From: Kevin Ng, <A HREF="mailto:kng@HK.Super.NET">kng@HK.Super.NET </A>
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<BR>
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Subject: <B>How to enable swapping</B>
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<P>
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My machine, which is a Pentium Pro with 64MB memory, reports no swap
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space being used. In procinfo, it always report 0K swap space.
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<P>
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I did a fdisk on /dev/hda and verified that a 64MB partition of type
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Linux swap (83) is actually there.
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<P>
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So why is the swap never being used ?
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<P>
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Kevin
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 09:35:37 +0200 (CEST)<BR>
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From: K. Nikolaj Berntsen, <A
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HREF="mailto:berntsen@bkm.dtu.dk">berntsen@bkm.dtu.dk </A> <BR>
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Subject: <B>finite elements programs for Linux</B>
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<P>
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At the department where I am sitting they are planning to buy a PC-bar,
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and they intend to put NT on the machines. I would benefit from them
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putting Linux on them, since I could then use them for simulations
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overnight.
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<P>
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I started talking to the ones buying it and my arguments stopped, when
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they said that one reason for using NT was that they should be running
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finite elements programs on them and that the frontier for those programs
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was now on the windows platform. I don't know s... about that, so I am
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looking for info; should I accept their arguments or is it that he just
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does not know what can be gotten for Linux? Commercial Finite Element
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Method (FEM) programs are also in the searchlight!
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<P>
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Happy Computing, Nikolaj
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Mon, 06 Apr 1998 13:42:35 -0700<BR>
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From: Peter D'Souza, <A HREF="mailto:dsouza@panix.com">dsouza@panix.com</A>
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<BR>
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Subject: <B>Btrieve Port?</B>
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<P>
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Our company runs two major apps using a Btrieve database. I was
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wondering if anybody has ported either Btrieve server or client to
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Linux. It is an extremely fast database (and highly underrated too)
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which would be excellent if ported to Linux. I'm not too sure if the
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developers of our Btrieve applications would move to Linux, but if I
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could test a Linux-based solution with sample datasets, perhaps they'd
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be more amenable to the idea of moving to a Linux platform (as an
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alternative, at least).
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<P>
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Peter D'Souza
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Wed, 08 Apr 1998 11:12:53 +0200<BR>
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From: Denny Åberg, <A HREF="mailto:Denny@ele.kth.se">Denny@ele.kth.se</A>
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<BR>
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<P>
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Hi, I'm tired of starting my X-session with 'startx -- -bpp 16'
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to get 16 biplanes instead of the default 8. How do I get xdm
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to run with 16 bpp? If I use it now, it starts X with 8bpp on my
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Red Hat 5 installation.
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<P>
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cheers,<BR>
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Denny Åberg, Sweden
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 17:18:11 +0000<BR>
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From: pheret, <A HREF="mailto:pheret@linex.com">pheret@linex.com</A>
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<BR>
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Subject: <B>floppy problems</B>
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<P>
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Hi there. Okay, i don't know if this is a floppy problem, or what,
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but here goes.
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<P>
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I am able to mount my diskette, but when I try to copy something from
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the disk to my hard drive I get this error:
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<PRE>
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floppy0: disk absent or changed during operation
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end_request: I/O error, dev 02:00, sector 1
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bread in fat_access failed
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cp: <file name>: I/O error
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</PRE>
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Is this because it is mounted umsdos? Should I mount it something
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else?
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<P>
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I am running Linux 2.0.0 on an AST ascentia950n. I only have my basic
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system right now because I can't get my floppies to copy! arrgh.
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<P>
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anyhow, if you can help me, could you please send suggestions to
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pheret@linex.com? Thanks!
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Sun, 19 Apr 1998 17:53:47 +0200<BR>
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From: <A HREF="mailto:letromb@tin.it">letromb@tin.it</A> <BR>
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Subject: <B>cd rom</B>
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<P>
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Hello.I have the Linux Slackware 2.0.30 Walnut Creek.I installed it on a
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Pentium 200 MMX
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with a 24x CD-ROM.
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During the installation I had to write "ramdisk hdd=cdrom" for reading the
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CD-ROM, but after
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the installation Linux doesn't see the CD-ROM.
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I have an atapi CD-ROM, and when I tried to compile my kernel another time,
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I saw that atapi
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is the default !!! So I don't understand where is the problem .
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What can I do ?
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<P>
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Thank you for your reply,<BR>
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Leonardo
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Sun, 19 Apr 1998 13:45:54 +0000<BR>
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From: Jason Powell, <A
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HREF="mailto:jay@Lauren.dyn.ml.org">jay@Lauren.dyn.ml.org </A> <BR>
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Subject: <B>Red Hat Linux 5</B>
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<P>
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Anyone know when Red Hat Linux 5.1 is coming out? I'm running a severely
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modified version of 5.0 now, and needless to say it stinks. I can't
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compile anything that uses sockets because of broken headers. Suffice to
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say, I find it to be quite an annoyance.
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 16:02:09 +0200<BR>
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From: Lambert van Eijck, <A
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HREF="mailto:eijck@iri.tudelft.nl">eijck@iri.tudelft.nl </A> <BR>
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<P>
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I'm having a problem with my menus in X.
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I can access all menus (by mouse), but the items of those menus which
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are WITHIN a "X-box" are not selectable, somehow.
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The menus I'm talking about are menus like the 'vt fonts', 'main
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options' and 'vt options' in the Xterm.
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Or the 'file' and 'page' menu of Ghostscript.
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<P>
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If anyone has a suggestion on why I can select the menu but not menu
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item, please send me a mail.
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I'm using Debian 1.3.
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<P>
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Lambert van Eijck
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Sat, 18 Apr 1998 13:12:53 +0800<BR>
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From: Guan Yang, <A HREF="mailto:guan@wk.dk">guan@wk.dk</A> <BR>
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Subject: <B>How do I set up XDM?</B>
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<P>
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I have heard that one can login to Linux via XDM. How is this done?
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Also, I have also heard that you can get a Linux penguin at boottime or
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something like that. Tell!
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Sun, 26 Apr 1998 14:42:28 +0200<BR>
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From: Ola Ekdahl, <A HREF="mailto:ola.ekdahl@swipnet.se">
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ola.ekdahl@swipnet.se</A> <BR>
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Subject: <B>Modem</B>
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<P>
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I am a real Linux newbie and I wonder how do I configure my modem. It's
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a sportster flash modem.
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Sat, 18 Apr 1998 17:01:59 -0700 <BR>
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From: tng, <A HREF="mailto:tng@sosweb.com">tng@sosweb.com</A> <BR>
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Subject: <B>getting ppp-2.3.3 to work</B>
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<P>
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Anyway I finally decided to migrate to linux kernel 2.1.94 mainly
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because of the .94 indicates that they are almost ready for the next
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stable release...
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<P>
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The problem I have is ppp 2.3.3 I downloaded is read the README
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compiled the required parts and installed flawlessly...Now I CANNOT
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conect to my ISP.. They are running a linux network with redhat 5 for
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web hosting and slakeware controling the raid and passwords. I'm
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running slackware. (redhat would crash every couple days wipeing out my
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harddisk...got tired of rebuilding my system...got real good at backups
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: ) )
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<P>
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the ppp-2.2 I was using I had to use the +ua <file> switch where file
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contained the username and password for upap auth. after upgrading this
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swich was no longer available so I simply added it to my
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/etc/ppp/pap-secretes file:
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<PRE>
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username * password
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</PRE>
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this didn't work. So, I tried the following:
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<PRE>
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localhost * username:password
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* * username:password
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</PRE>
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My ISP hangs up on me. I changed the order of the fields every which
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way I could thing of but nothing worked. I would like to get my linux
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box back on the net because of better transfer times and a more stable
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environment. (linux connected at 33.6 and windoz connects and 24.# with
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the same serial settings modem init etc.)
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<P>
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Please help...I hate to downgrade after houres of work upgrading.
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 10:31:14 +0800<BR>
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From: Stephen Lee, <A
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HREF="mailto:sljm@pobox.org.sg">sljm@pobox.org.sg</A><BR>
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Subject: <B>Help Slackware</B>
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<P>
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I am running Slackware 3.2 and I want my machine to have a name like
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stephen.merlin.com when people dial into my machine using PPP or Slip
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(My idea is to run some sort of a intranet BBS with poeple dialing in
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using Dial-up networking and people can telnet in) but apart from
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setting /etc/hostname do I need to run "named" perhaps you can have a
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article on how to set up this type of service.
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<a name="gen"></a>
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<!-- =================================================================== -->
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<center><H3><font color="maroon">General Mail</font></H3></center>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Wed, 01 Apr 1998 09:45:11 -0600<BR>
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From: Mike Hammel, <A
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HREF="mailto:mjhammel@graphics-muse.org">mjhammel@graphics-muse.org </A> <BR>
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To: STunney@ahcpr.gov <BR>
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Subject: <B>grammer sites?</B>
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<P>
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You recently wrote to the Linux Gazette to express your aggravation
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about the use of apostrophes and the world "alot" in many articles and
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letters. You are correct - both of these are misused often in email,
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even more so in general email not destined for an online magazine.
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I often find myself trying to reword a sentence to not use "alot", and
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am aggravated with myself for having used it so often I can't think of
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more proper wording! You also mentioned that there were online
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dictionaries available. My only problem with your letter was you didn't
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mention where these could be found. If you have a few references, a
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follow up letter to the Gazette would be grealy appreciated. I know I
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often have need for a dictionary and a theasaurus in my own writings.
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Although I have one of each, they are pocket editions and somewhat
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limited. I realize I could look for references via Yahoo or other
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online search engines, but I thought since you had mentioned their
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existance you might already have the references.
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<P>
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Thanks. <BR>
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Michael J. Hammel, The Graphics Muse
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Wed, 01 Apr 1998 11:55:05 +0100<BR>
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From: John Hartnup, <A HREF="mailto:slim@ladle.demon.co.uk">
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slim@ladle.demon.co.uk</A> <BR>
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Subject: <B>Regular Expressions</B>
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<P>
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Great April issue. Thanks.
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<P>
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The further reading section for the Regular Expressions in C++ section
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misses out the *excellent* O'Reilly book <I>Mastering Regular
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Expressions</I>.
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<P>
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I suspect that most people, like me before I read the book, don't
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realise the sheer power behind regexs. It's revloutionised my coding
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methods (especially in Perl!).
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<P>
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John
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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Date: Thu, 2 Apr 1998 19:51:30 -0500 (EST)<BR>
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From: Casimer P. Zakrzewski, <A HREF="mailto:zak@acadia.net">
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zak@acadia.net</A> <BR>
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Subject: <B>IBM 8514 Monitor and X</B>
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<P>
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I hope you have the space to publish all of this letter. I would certainly
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appreciate it if you did.
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Back in the Feb 98 issue of LG, my request for help with installing X on the
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old IBM monitor I have was published, and I received a number of replies,
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from all over the world as you'll see. I wish to thank:
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<PRE>
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Corey G. <chds652@BOTCC.COM>;
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Todd Jamison <jamison@littonos.com>;
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"War Hound" <warhound@worldnet.att.net>;
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Justin Dossey <dossey@ou.edu>;
|
|
Martin Vermeer <mv@fgi.fi>;
|
|
Alexy Yurchenko <ayurchen@bell.aispbu.spb.su>;
|
|
Robert Reid <reid@astro.utoronto.ca>; and,
|
|
Miss Valarie Frizzle
|
|
</PRE>
|
|
Many advised using 'xvidtune' to get the proper settings, and a couple
|
|
advised me to get RH5.0. I only got around to trying out anything about two
|
|
weeks ago.
|
|
<P>
|
|
Now this may come in handy for anyone else with a monitor like mine. It was
|
|
so simple it was foolish. First, I couldn't find 'xvidtune' after
|
|
reinstalling RH4.2, so I figured I'd play around with the X configuration.
|
|
If I blew the monitor, well.....
|
|
<P>
|
|
In the RH installation, when I got to the selection of monitors, I bit the
|
|
bullet and selected 'custom'. A new menu came up, and guess what? In it
|
|
was a listing for an 'IBM 8514 or compatible'. (As the younger people say
|
|
today, I said "Duh?") I kind of figured my monitor was as compatible as it
|
|
could get!
|
|
<P>
|
|
After I clicked on that and popped in what freqs I knew, X worked perfectly.
|
|
Which is a nice end to the tale, but doesn't address the problem.
|
|
The problem was that I was afraid to (as Ms. Frizzle says) 'Take chances;
|
|
get messy.' I was too happy webbing along in the Win95 world. To newbies
|
|
like me out there, all I can say is: do just that. I advise having a
|
|
notebook and pen handy at all times, though, to write down anything you
|
|
change and where you changed it.
|
|
<P>
|
|
Does RTFM sound familiar? Do that, too. A lot. Linux can be confusing,
|
|
especially when you're trying to do something supposedly simple like
|
|
installing PPP (I'm *still* working on that) and at different web sites you
|
|
find three or four different ways to do that, and none seem to work in your
|
|
case.
|
|
<P>
|
|
That's when you take chances and get messy. And you may well (as I've had
|
|
to do), hit the big RESET button when it's a total SNAFU, and maybe have to
|
|
reinstall. Breaks of the game. And that's where the notebook you've been
|
|
writing all your changes comes in very handy. If you try to keep it all in
|
|
your head, the kumpewter will win every time.
|
|
<P>
|
|
In addition, there is a lot of help from off-line sources, like library book
|
|
sales. Last year, for example, I picked up an 'outdated' SAMS book
|
|
entitled, "X Window System Programming". That was before I even thought
|
|
about putting together another 'puter - over eight years from touching a
|
|
keyboard. I may never use it; but it only cost $.50.
|
|
Local gurus; if you're lucky enough to have them, be subtle in your approach
|
|
to them. Like, 'Uh, gee, you can really get your (whatever it is) really
|
|
whipping up a storm. Mine kinda...', and let it drag out. Ten years ago
|
|
when I was a supposed 'guru', that *always* got me going. And I learned
|
|
from a guy who had a really modern system back in the '80s, so I got one
|
|
just like it.
|
|
<P>
|
|
When you say, "TRASH-80", you better smile, pardner! Mod-1, no less. 4K RAM.
|
|
Damn thing could do just about anything.
|
|
<P>
|
|
Your ISP may or may not be a help, but try it. Where I am, when I walked in
|
|
to sign up and the word Linux passed my lips, I thought they'd hang balls of
|
|
garlic around their necks.
|
|
<P>
|
|
But if you want to do it, you will. I still don't have PPP on Linux, for
|
|
example, so under Win95, if I find something tempting on the web, I still
|
|
download it. It can always be put on a disk, if necessary - say you don't
|
|
have a dos mount - and then tarred to your Linux partitiion.
|
|
<P>
|
|
But write it down; write it all down.
|
|
<P>
|
|
That's all I have to say, except I again all those who sent me help.
|
|
That's what Linux is all about anyway, isn't it.
|
|
<P>
|
|
PS: I hope I was correct in the above to please the English purists. If
|
|
not: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maximum culpa.
|
|
<P>
|
|
Zak
|
|
|
|
<P> <HR> <P>
|
|
<!--====================================================================-->
|
|
<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
|
|
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1998 14:30:29 -0600 (MDT)<BR>
|
|
From: Dale K. Hawkins, <A HREF="mailto:dhawkins@teton.Mines.EDU">
|
|
dhawkins@teton.Mines.EDU </A> <BR>
|
|
Subject: <B>Bazaar ISP...</B>
|
|
<P>
|
|
Hello, I was wondering if anyone has ever considered the idea of a bazaar
|
|
model for running an ISP. By a Bazaar model, I of caurse refer to the
|
|
infamous Cathedral vs. Bazaar model for software development. So what do
|
|
I really mean. I mean an ISP by the people for the people. I have found
|
|
that most ISP's are very restrictive in how things are run, i.e., many of
|
|
the interesting utilities are strictly off limits. For example, I was
|
|
recently trying to setup cvs to work as a server. The normal way to do
|
|
this is by adding a line to inetd.conf. However, being only a "user" on
|
|
my ISP, I had no way to accomplish this. So I though of a more complex
|
|
way to set this up, but that method require the use of crontab. Again
|
|
this service is not available to Joe User.
|
|
<P>
|
|
I am very aware of the obvious security issues, but surely there must be a
|
|
way to improve the situation in someway. I cannot but think about rms
|
|
(Richard Stallman) and some of his lestures on the evils of a sysadmin and
|
|
thinking, "how true". But how can one deal with the open system issue,
|
|
while still maintain a certain level of system security. I would be very
|
|
pleased to see this erupt into a deep and lengthy thread somewhere. Just
|
|
my 2 cents.
|
|
<P>
|
|
-Dale
|
|
|
|
<P> <HR> <P>
|
|
<!--====================================================================-->
|
|
<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
|
|
Date: Sun, 5 Apr 1998 21:12:00 +0100<BR>
|
|
From: William Chesters, <A HREF="mailto:williamc@dai.ed.ac.uk">
|
|
williamc@dai.ed.ac.uk</A> <BR>
|
|
Subject: <B>Linux is not ready for the desktop</B>
|
|
<P>
|
|
David Wagle ("Evangelism: A Unix Bigot and Linux Advocate's Spewings",
|
|
Linux Gazette #27) points out some good reasons why converting people
|
|
to Linux can be harder than we expect.
|
|
<P>
|
|
But he seems to shy away from the natural conclusion. It is not
|
|
currently possible to put together a setup which makes it possible for
|
|
people to do normal day-to-day work and simple admin without serious
|
|
trouble---whether or not they care about abandoning their existing
|
|
Windows software. Ergo, Linux is simply not, in all conscience, a
|
|
suitable platform for unsupported users who just want to get their
|
|
jobs done.
|
|
<P>
|
|
It very nearly is. I run the maximally friendly Linux installation
|
|
with Red Hat, linuxconf, KDE, Netscape and Word Perfect; my experience
|
|
is that intelligent non-Unix users can manage fine 90% of the time.
|
|
The remaining problems are very obvious, but here there are anyway
|
|
spelt out in order of seriousness:
|
|
<UL>
|
|
<LI> Few of the heavyweight GUI apps and tools mentioned above work
|
|
reliably: they suffer at least as many bugs and crashes as
|
|
their Windows equivalents (KDE, of course, is still in beta).
|
|
While on the other hand ...
|
|
<LI> ... The classic Unix applications (emacs, tex <I>etc.</I>) are
|
|
rock steady; but they are not wonderful enough, outside certain
|
|
narrow (generally academic) domains, to offset the difficulty
|
|
and crankiness which everyone freely admits they exhibit.
|
|
<LI> The GUI tools cannot handle all day-to-day tasks; and
|
|
to achieve the best coverage, you have to use
|
|
tools from several different stables, which is
|
|
confusing---especially when they interact poorly with each
|
|
other.
|
|
<LI> Some classes of desktop application simply do not exist for
|
|
Linux at any price, or are far inferior to their Windows
|
|
counterparts. Try getting something to typeset music.
|
|
<LI> Nothing even attempts to achieve the kind of effortless
|
|
networking which Windows users take for granted. (Don't
|
|
flame me---go and try Windows.)
|
|
<LI> The underlying OS does have a few bugs, minor perhaps, but
|
|
nevertheless showstoppers for unsupported users. "Just stop
|
|
lpd, remove the lp kernel module, modprobe it again and restart
|
|
lpd" is not what they want to hear.
|
|
</UL>
|
|
Yes, progress over the last year or two has been breathtaking. The
|
|
developer community has shown itself capable of coming up with really
|
|
lovely utilities and tools for non-initiates, and it no longer seems
|
|
implausible that Linux will soon develop into something that rivals NT
|
|
for ease of use. But in the mean time, proposing Linux to anyone not
|
|
already conversant with Unix is tantamount to suggesting a new hobby:
|
|
one with tangible rewards, to be sure, but let's admit that's what it
|
|
is. Linux is <B>not</B> ready for the desktop.
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P> <hr> <P>
|
|
<!--================================================================-->
|
|
<center>Published in <i>Linux Gazette</i> Issue 28, May 1998</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_tips28.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/fwd.gif" ALT=" Next "></A>
|
|
<P>
|
|
<h5>This page written and maintained by the Editor of <I>Linux Gazette</I>,
|
|
<A HREF="mailto: gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</A><BR>
|
|
Copyright © 1998 Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc. </H5>
|
|
<P>
|
|
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|
|
</body> </html>
|
|
<!--endcut ============================================================-->
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