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280 lines
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<TITLE>Linux Gazette 64: The Answer Gang</TITLE>
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><H1 align="center"><IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/../gx/lglogo.jpg"
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<center>
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<H1><A NAME="answer">
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<img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" alt="(?)"
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border="0" align="middle">
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<font color="#B03060">The Answer Gang</font>
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<img src="../gx/dennis/bbubble.gif" alt="(!)"
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border="0" align="middle">
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</A></H1>
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<BR>
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<H4>By Jim Dennis, Ben Okopnik, Dan Wilder,
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the Editors of Linux Gazette...
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and You!
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<br>Send questions (or interesting answers) to
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<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com">linux-questions-only@ssc.com</a>
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</H4>
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</center>
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<p><hr><p>
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<!-- endcut ======================================================= -->
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<H3>Contents:</H3>
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<dl>
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<dt><a href="#tag/greeting"
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><strong>¶: Greetings From Heather Stern</strong></A></dl>
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<DL>
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<!-- index_text begins -->
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<dt><A HREF="tag/1.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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><strong>A Question About Answering Questions</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/2.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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><strong>Interrupt for Linux</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/3.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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><strong>Please help I am at wits end</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/4.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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><strong>Training?</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/6.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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></a>Finding a tutor --or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag/6.html"
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><strong>Looking for a Tutor</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/7.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(!)" border="0"
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><strong>netscape bash function</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/9.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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><strong>More help with Linux Multimedia</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/11.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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></a>Hope you can help! --or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag/11.html"
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><strong>Readline Features in the Bash 'read' built-in</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/12.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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></a>Moving System to another device --or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag/12.html"
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><strong>Duping a Drive Under Linux</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/15.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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><strong>Fortran Compiler</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/16.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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><strong>Modules cannot load with kernel recompile</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/18.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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></a>Installing Apps --or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag/18.html"
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><strong>The "Now what" Experience:
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Using Apps After They're Installed</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/20.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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><strong>ISP and Internet.</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/22.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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></a>virtual e-mail domain --or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag/22.html"
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><strong>Virtual E-mail and POP Services with a Webmail Chaser</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/24.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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></a>Question --or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag/24.html"
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><strong>LILO: Password Protected Entries</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/25.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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><strong>Question in shell programming</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/26.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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><strong>qmail pain</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/28.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(!)" border="0"
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><strong>Regarding backups</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/29.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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><strong>uninstall linux</strong></a>
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<!-- index_text ends -->
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</DL>
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<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
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<A NAME="tag/greeting"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
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<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/hbubble.gif"
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height="50" width="60" alt="(¶) " border="0"
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>Greetings from Heather Stern</H3>
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<!-- begin hgreeting -->
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<p>
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There are folks out there who wonder about us open sorcerors :) Sometimes,
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they are ecstatic, and amazed: "How can you do all this for no pay?"
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</p><p>
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Others are not so nice: "well what do you expect for free. Humph."
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</p><p>
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The fact is that the programmers and documenters and we here of The Answer
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Gang who serve as some tech support for free software *do* get paid, and
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we tend to give a bit of effort in relation to our pay. What our detractors
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don't understand is that their gripes and grumps sure don't pay us, so why
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should we help *them*? They need to learn about...
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<h4>The Coin of The Realm</h4>
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<p>
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<IMG ALT="[the weekend mechanic]" src="../gx/fisk/mechanic.gif"
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WIDTH="147" HEIGHT="66" ALIGN="left" VSPACE="20" HSPACE="20">
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<P>
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The realm itself is the first thing that is confusing. This is the weekend
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neighborhood. The crunching of unbzipped tarballs hitting the disk and the
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tippity tap of new code being typed in and committed to builds is our buzzing
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of power saws in the garage workshop. The chore of making the documentation
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begin to describe the program it came with is handled with the same care as
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mowing the lawn on Sunday - some households are dutiful, sometimes a
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neighbor's kid will be helpful but only do a half job, some homes obviously
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hire someone to deal with it regularly, some tea gardens are clearly a well
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loved art... err, some just give up on having a lawn. It all got turned
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into workshop space. Sigh.
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</p><BR CLEAR="all"><p>
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<IMG ALT="[the weekend attendant]" src="../gx/fisk/attndant.gif"
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WIDTH="129" HEIGHT="99" ALIGN="right" VSPACE="20" HSPACE="20">
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<P> If it took extra help from the neighbors, we do things for each other.
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There's give and take, arguments here and there, and often an occasional lost
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hedge clipper. Sometimes a kindred spirit strolls through, helps a bit (or
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hinders?) and moves on. The debts that build up here from these little bits
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of lost balance aren't about money. "Pay back the net" is what I've seen
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said - once upon a time on BBS' and later on newsgroups and mailing lists
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and IRC channels. (Check out
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<A HREF="http://www.openprojects.net">www.openprojects.net</A>
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if you don't believe me.
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IRC doesn't have to be just for idle chatter. And tell lilo that the
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Editor Gal says Hi.) The loose change of knowledge gathered in your pockets
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- including the knowledge gained by mistakes - isn't considered worth much
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if you don't spill it back into circulation.
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</p><p>
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Like those weekend projects, our projects also vary in their degrees of
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completeness... and in their likelihood of ever being "done" in their
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author's eye. "Scratch your own itch" is a phrase I've heard a few times
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lately. If the neighborhood handyman has a problem to solve and the tools
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in his workshop, he'll likely solve it right there and never know a better
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answer was available at the corner store. (Or do it because the corner
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store wants an arm and a leg for what he could do himself.) For many it's
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done enough when it works for them, but they post it to public forums anyway.
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</p><p>
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Why? For many, what fun's a job well done if you can't show it off? Call it
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"bragging rights" or "a chip on his shoulder" or respect. We like to know
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whether the trophy we've posted could stand a better polishing or stood just
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fine on its own. Telling us it just rots isn't cool. Telling us what you
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tried to do (that didn't work) and what convinced you our stuff was going to
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work for you, that's what we want to know. And yes, an occasional housewife
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really might be good enough to go into the jam and spreads business, but it'll
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take a few neighbors saying so to convince her of it.
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</p><p>
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Okay, sometimes you find someone whose days in the garage are through. Rare
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is the time that he or she won't at least lend a hand briefly to someone who's
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willing to haul that old rattletrap to their own garage and keep plugging away
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at it. If you have in mind to take up the ropes to a dust covered project,
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give a shot at letting the old hands know you're interested. You'll never
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know what extra parts they might bring forward for you if you don't ask.
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</p><p>
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My editing peeve of the month is "confidential" signature blocks. If you
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don't want to discuss your problems publicly we understand, but, you're not
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paying in the coin of our realm if we can't share the results, so don't
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expect an answer here (unless by chance someone else asks the same question).
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Check the
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<A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Consultants-HOWTO/">Consultants-HOWTO</A>
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instead and find someone who will take your
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money and sell you their services in a timely fashion, too:
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</p><p>
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Money isn't bad - but it is the coin of another realm, that strange one
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called Real Life that keeps roofs over our heads and the bandwidth bills paid
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up. I'm glad to say that I see a lot of *our* sort of coin change hands here
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in the *Gazette* regularly. Thanks to everyone who sends thank you notes and
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especially those Two Cent Tips!
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</p><p>
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Enjoy your stroll past our garage sales and half tended lawns
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<img src="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" alt=":)"
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height="20" width="24" align="middle">
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</p>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
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[The automobile images are from John Fisk's
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Weekend Mechanic column which appeared in 1997 and 1998 in
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</EM>LG<EM>. -Mike.]
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</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>
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<!-- end hgreeting -->
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<!--startcut ======================================================= -->
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<P> <hr> </p>
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<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
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<H5 align="center">This page edited and maintained by the Editors
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of <I>Linux Gazette</I>
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<a href="http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html"
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>Copyright ©</a> 2001
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<BR>Published in issue 64 of <I>Linux Gazette</I> March 2001</H5>
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<H6 ALIGN="center">HTML script maintained by
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<A HREF="mailto:star@starshine.org">Heather Stern</a> of
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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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</H6>
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<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
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