456 lines
18 KiB
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456 lines
18 KiB
HTML
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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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<META NAME="generator" CONTENT="lgazmail v1.1.A">
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<TITLE>The Answer Guy Issue 32</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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<!-- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -->
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<H4>"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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<!--endcut ========================================================= -->
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<center>
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<H1><A NAME="answer">
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<img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" alt="(?)" border="0" align="middle">
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<font color="#B03060">The Answer Guy</font>
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<img src="../gx/dennis/bbubble.gif" alt="(!)" border="0" align="middle">
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</A></H1>
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<BR>
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<H4>By James T. Dennis,
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<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com">linux-questions-only@ssc.com</a><BR>
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Starshine Technical Services,
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<A HREF="http://www.starshine.org/">http://www.starshine.org/</A>
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</H4>
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</center>
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<p><hr><p>
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<!-- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -->
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<H3>Contents:</H3>
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<p><a href="#tag_greeting"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" alt="(!)" border="0"
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align="middle">Greetings From Jim Dennis</A></p>
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<DL>
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<!-- index_text begins -->
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<dt><A HREF="tag_phreak.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"><STRONG>phreaking</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_abandon.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"><STRONG>ISP Abandons User in Move
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to NT</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_javaterm.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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></A>Driving Terminals w/Java
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--or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag_javaterm.html"><STRONG>Java Telnet/Terminal</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_BBS.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG>Finding BBS Software for Linux</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_flaws.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"><STRONG>The Five Flaws of <em>the</em>
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Unix System</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_doslinux.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"><STRONG>XFree86 Installation in
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DOSLinux</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_resume.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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></A>resume on AS/400
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--or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag_resume.html"><STRONG>Resume Spam
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</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_softwindows.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif"
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height="28" width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG>Linux Port of SoftWindows
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</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_convert.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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></A>Connecting Linux to Win '95 via Null Modem
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--or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag_convert.html"><STRONG>A Convert!
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</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_apache.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG>MS FrontPage for Linux/Apache</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_emulate.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG>Virtual System Emulator for Linux and Why NOT to Use Them</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_database.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG>FoxPlus for Linux ?</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_distrib.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG>More on Distribution Preferences</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_proxy.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG>IP Masquerading/Proxy?</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_disable.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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></A>PPP
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--or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag_disable.html"
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><STRONG>The "Difficulty" is in <em>Disabling</em> the Services</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_DVI.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG>How to read DVI files?</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_superblock.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG>Bad Super-block on Filesystem</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_serial.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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></A>Mulitiple processes sharing one serial port
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--or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag_serial.html"><STRONG>Multiplexing the Computer
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-- ISDN Modem Connection
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</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_permission.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG>Permission to Set up a Linux Server</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_detach.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG>Detaching and Re-attaching to Interactive Background
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Processes</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_cdr.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG>[announce] Cdrdao 1.0 -
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Disc-at-once writing of audio CD-Rs</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_rs422.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG>High Speed Serial (RS422) under Linux</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_modem.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG>ANOTHER MODEM PROB</STRONG></A> Plus, More on Grammar
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<dt><A HREF="tag_notfound.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif"
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height="28" width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG><tt>/usr/bin/open</tt> command not found</strong></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_tuning.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG>Tuning X to work with your Monitor</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_libc5.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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></A>The last Linux C library version 5, 5.4.46, is released.
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--or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag_libc5.html"><STRONG>The End of libc5:
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A Mini-Interview with H.J Lu</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_startup.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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></A>Linux System Administration.
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--or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag_startup.html"><STRONG>Where to put '<tt>insmod</tt>' and
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'<tt>modprobe</tt>' Commands for Start-up</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_clock.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG>The BIOS Clock, Y2K, Linux and Everything</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_ping.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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></A>Online Status Detector
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--or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag_ping.html"><STRONG>Failover and High Availability for Web Servers
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</STRONG></A>: Conditional Execution Based on Host Availability
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<dt><A HREF="tag_accounts.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG>SysAdmin: User Administration: Disabling Accounts</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_lilo.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"></A>Thank you
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--or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag_lilo.html"><STRONG>Articles on LILO Saves Life?
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</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_NDS.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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></A>Netware NDS Client
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--or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag_NDS.html"><STRONG>NDS (Netware Directory Services) for Linux:
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Clients and Servers</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_95slow.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG>More 'Win '95 Hesitates After Box Has Run Linux?'</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_nonlinux.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif"
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height="28" width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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></A>Bad Clusters on Hard Drive
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--or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag_nonlinux.html"><STRONG>Another Non-Linux Question!
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</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_progenv.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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></A>Help with C/C++ Environment Program
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--or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag_progenv.html"><STRONG>Integrated Programming Environments
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for Linux</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_cluster.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28"
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width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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><STRONG>Web Server Clustering Project</STRONG></A>
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<dt><A HREF="tag_ftpd.html"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50" alt="(?)" border="0"
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></A>wu-ftpd guest account on a Linux Box
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--or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag_ftpd.html"><STRONG>WU-FTP guestgroup problems</STRONG></A>
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<!-- index_text ends -->
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</DL>
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<P><HR width="40%" align="center"></P> <!-- :::::::::::::::::::::::: -->
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<H3><a name="tag_greeting"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/bbubble.gif" alt="(!)" border="0"
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align="middle">Greetings From Jim Dennis</A></H3>
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<h4 align="center">Linux as a <em>Home</em> Users System</h4>
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<p>
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We're all getting used to the idea that Linux can attract corporate
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users, for deployment as web, ftp, file (SMB and NFS), print and
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even database servers; and we're getting used to seeing it used for
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routers, mail, and DNS.
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</p>
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<p>
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We're even getting used to the idea that corporate user put Linux
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on their desktops (in places where they might have spent a small
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fortune on a workstation).
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</p>
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<p>
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But, what about the home/personal user? Most of us consider this
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to be an impossible dream. Even those few enthusiasts <em>in</em> the
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Linux community who dare to hope for it have been saying that
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it will take years to gain any percentage of that market.
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</p>
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<p>
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However, I'm starting to wonder about that. I've seen a number
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of trade rag articles naysaying Linux on the desktop. Ironically,
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when a reporter or columnist explains why Linux isn't suitable for
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the desktop, it actually raises the possibility that it <em>is</em>
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suitable for that role.
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</p>
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<p>
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A denial or refutation tells us <em>that the question has come up</em>!
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</p>
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<p>
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What prevents the average IT manager from deploying Linux on their
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desktop today? In most cases it's fear. The users are used to
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MS Word, MS Excel, and MS PowerPoint. Any user who uses any of
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these is forcing all of the rest to do so as well (since these
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applications all use proprietary, non-portable, file formats).
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</p>
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<p>
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Everyone who uses Office has to use a PC or a Mac (and many of them
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switched away from Macs due to lags in upgrades and subtle file
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compatibility problems between the Mac and PC versions of these
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applications).
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</p>
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<p>
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Why do Mac users run VirtualPC to deal with the occasional
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<tt>.DOC</tt>, <tt>.XLS</tt>, or <tt>.PPT</tt> file that they get,
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or some other
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proprietary file format (like some of those irritating CD-ROM
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encyclopedias) which is accessible only through one application.
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</p>
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<p>
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However, these proprietary formats are not secret codes. Linux
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and other Open Source (tm) hackers will turn their attention to them
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and crack their formats wide open. This will allow us to have
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filters and converters.
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</p>
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<p>
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'<tt>catdoc</tt>', LAOLA, and MSWordView are already showing some progress
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on this area (for one of these formats).
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</p>
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<p>
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Microsoft will undoubtedly counter by releasing a new version of
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their suite which will carefully break the latest third-party
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viewers and utilities (free or otherwise). They may even apply
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the most even perversion of intellectual property law yet devised:
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the software patent.
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</p>
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<p>
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However, I think the public, after a decade of following
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along with this game, is finally starting to wise up. The next
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release that egregiously breaks file format compatibility
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may be the end of that ploy (for awhile at least).
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</p>
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<p>
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But what about the home user. How do home users choose their
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software? What is important to them?
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</p>
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<blockquote>
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Most of them don't choose their software; they use
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what comes on the system and add things only later.
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</blockquote>
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<blockquote>
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When they go out to buy additional software, home users are
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the most price conscious of all buyers. Commercial,
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government, and other institutional buyers can make a business
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case to justify their purchases. Home users just look in
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their wallet.
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</blockquote>
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<blockquote>
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The other common influences on the novice home user include
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the retail store clerks and their kids. That's one reason why
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the school and university markets were always so crucial to
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Apple's success.
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</blockquote>
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<p>
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I noticed that the Win '98 <em>upgrade</em> was going for $89. I
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couldn't find a "non-upgrade" box anywhere in that store (CompUSA).
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</p>
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<p>
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People are starting to hear that for half that price, they can get
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this other OS that includes enough games and applications to fill
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a 2GB hard drive.
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</p>
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<p>
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I think MS is actually starting to price itself out of the market.
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(It seems that my MS-DOS 5.0 upgrade was only about $35 or $40.)
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If MS Office weren't bundled with so many new systems, there
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probably would be about a tenth the legal copies in home use.
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</p>
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<p>
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With a little more work on LyX and KLyX and a few of its brethren,
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and a bit more polishing on the installation/configuration
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scripts for the various distributions, I think we'll see a much more
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rapid growth in the home market than anyone currently believes.
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I think we may be at 15 to 20 per cent <em>of the home market</em> by
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sometime in the year 2000.
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</p>
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<p>
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So, what home applications do we really need to make that happen?
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</p>
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<dl><dt>I like the "Linux Software Wishlist"
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<dd>(http://www.linuxresources.com/wish/)
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</dl>
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<p>
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... because it gives all of us a place to vote on what we
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would buy.
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</p>
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<p>
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One class of packages that used to be very popular
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was the "greeting card" and "banner/sign" packages: PrintShop,
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PrintMaster, and Bannermania. Those had the cheesiest
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clipart/graphics and a fairly limited range of layouts. Limited
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enough to make any TeXnician scream with frustration.
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</p>
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<p>
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However, they were incredibly popular precisely because of those
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constraints. Having a few dozen to a couple hundred choices to
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pick from is far less intimidating to home users than all the
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power and flexibility you get with TeX, LaTeX, and the GIMP.
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</p>
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<p>
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I would dearly love to see a set of pre-designed greeting cards,
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certificates ("John Doe has Successfully Completed the Yoyodyne
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Tiddly Winks Seminar"--with the lacy border--you know the
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kind!), etc. all done in TeX or PS or whatever. This and a
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front-end chooser and forms dialog to fill in the text would be
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a really killer home app.
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</p>
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<p>
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Bannermania was geared to creating large banners, either on
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fanfold paper or as multiple sheets to be cut and pasted together
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onto a backing board (piece of cardboard).
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</p>
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<p>
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I think a new Linux implementation of this sort of app
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built over the existing software (TeX, GhostScript, etc) would
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end up being vastly better than anything that was possible under
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the old PrintShop, and still be as simple.
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</p>
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<p>
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I'm sure most of us have that one old DOS, Windows, Mac, or
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other application or game that we'd like to see re-done for Linux.
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So, dig out the publisher's address or phone number (assuming they
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still exist), and let them know what you want. Then post your
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request to the wishlist.
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</p>
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<p>
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Even these trivial bits of action can make Linux the choice
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of home users. I say this because I think it's about time
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they <em>had</em> a choice.
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</p>
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<!--startcut ======================================================= -->
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<center><H4>Previous "Answer Guy" Columns</H4></center>
|
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<P>
|
|
<A HREF="../issue13/answer.html">Answer Guy #1, January 1997</A><BR>
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<A HREF="../issue14/answer.html">Answer Guy #2, February 1997</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue15/answer.html">Answer Guy #3, March 1997</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue16/answer.html">Answer Guy #4, April 1997</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue17/answer.html">Answer Guy #5, May 1997</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue18/lg_answer18.html">Answer Guy #6, June 1997</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue19/lg_answer19.html">Answer Guy #7, July 1997</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue20/lg_answer20.html">Answer Guy #8, August 1997</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue21/lg_answer21.html">Answer Guy #9, September 1997</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue22/lg_answer22.html">Answer Guy #10, October 1997</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue23/lg_answer23.html">Answer Guy #11, December 1997</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue24/lg_answer24.html">Answer Guy #12, January 1998</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue25/lg_answer25.html">Answer Guy #13, February 1998</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue26/lg_answer26.html">Answer Guy #14, March 1998</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue27/lg_answer27.html">Answer Guy #15, April 1998</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue28/lg_answer28.html">Answer Guy #16, May 1998</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue29/lg_answer29.html">Answer Guy #17, June 1998</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue30/lg_answer30.html">Answer Guy #18, July 1998</A><br>
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<A HREF="../issue31/lg_answer31.html">Answer Guy #19, August 1998</A><BR>
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<P><HR><P>
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<H5 align="center"><a href="http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html"
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>Copyright ©</a> 1998, James T. Dennis <BR>
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Published in <I>Linux Gazette</I> Issue 32 September 1998</H5>
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<P> <hr> <P>
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