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<TITLE>Linux Gazette 68: The Answer Gang</TITLE>
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<H1><A NAME="answer">
<img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" alt="(?)"
border="0" align="middle">
<font color="#B03060">The Answer Gang</font>
<img src="../gx/dennis/bbubble.gif" alt="(!)"
border="0" align="middle">
</A></H1>
<BR>
<H4>By Jim Dennis, Ben Okopnik, Dan Wilder, Breen, Chris, and the Gang,
the Editors of Linux Gazette...
and You!
<br>Send questions (or interesting answers) to
<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com">linux-questions-only@ssc.com</a>
</H4>
<p><em><font color="#990000">There is no guarantee that your questions
here will <b>ever</b> be answered. Readers at confidential sites
must provide permission to publish. However, you can be published
anonymously - just let us know!
</font></em></p>
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<p><hr><p>
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<H3>Contents:</H3>
<dl>
<dt><a href="#tag/greeting"
><strong>&para;: Greetings From Heather Stern</strong></A>
<dt><a href="tag/bios.html"
><strong>!!: Meet The Answer Gang</strong></a>
</dl>
<DL>
<!-- index_text begins -->
<dt><A HREF="tag/1.html"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
><strong>Dial-on-demand users should know:</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="tag/2.html"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
><strong>XFS ....font server...true font</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="tag/12.html"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
><strong>A tired Newbie attempts Linux (again)</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="tag/3.html"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
></a>I've had no response to a long letter of several weeks ago!? --or--
<dd><A HREF="tag/3.html"
><strong>Sometimes, we just don't know what to say</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="tag/4.html"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
></a>I need a windows-linux solution --or--
<dd><A HREF="tag/4.html"
><strong>Bulk File Transfers from Windows to ???</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="tag/5.html"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
><strong>Cannot Login Question</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="tag/6.html"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
><strong>LG 24 - Tips: Yet another way to find</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="tag/7.html"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
></a>Deleting a file that thinks it is an option --or--
<dd><A HREF="tag/7.html"
><strong>Dash it All! Coping with ---Unruly--- Filenames</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="tag/8.html"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
></a>aol instant messanger behind lrp (linux router project) box --or--
<dd><A HREF="tag/8.html"
><strong>File Tranfers with AIM (AOL Instant Messenger)</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="tag/9.html"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
><strong>reverse dns</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="tag/10.html"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
><strong>Closing Ports</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="tag/11.html"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
><strong>The Best of: Burning .iso files under Windows</strong></a>
<br>So you can get that linux disc you need
<dt><A HREF="tag/12.html"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
><strong>A tired Newbie attempts Linux (again)</strong></a>
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</DL>
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<A NAME="tag/greeting"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/hbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(&para;) " border="0"
>Greetings from Heather Stern</H3>
<!-- begin hgreeting -->
<p>
Greetings, dear readers, and welcome to another exciting installment of
The Answer Gang.
</p>
<p>
One of our crew has come up with an amusing bit of text to send to people
who are amazingly off topic, for example, completely non-computing matters:
</p>
<blockquote>
<a href="misc/tag/droids.txt"
>These Are Not The Droids You're Looking For</a>
</blockquote>
<p>
It gave me a belly laugh when I first saw it. Some who get this <em>are</em>
asking computer questions, tho - solely about a certain Other OS. Perhaps
amazingly, a few of the Gang don't mind working with MSwin. And certainly
questions about mixing two or more operating systems are juicy and we love
answering those (if we actually <em>can</em>) but this just isn't the place for
a question that would be answered much better at the Win98 Megasite:
</p>
<blockquote>
<a href="http://www.cmpnet.com/win98"
>http://www.cmpnet.com/win98</a>
</blockquote>
<p>
Oddly enough I don't think I've seen any MacOS questions roll through. But
these sort of notes happen often enough that I've got my own little
"answering machine style" note:
</p>
<blockquote>
<a href="misc/tag/youve-reached.txt"
>You've Reached The Linux Gazette Answer Gang</a>
</blockquote>
<p>
If that's the only peeve we have left I think we're doing alright. Now
for stuff that's about our favorite penguin playground - Linux!
</p>
<p>
As it's been around a while and many of the commercial distros are
releasing their new versions with 2.4 kernels and various modern bugfixes,
I know an increasing number of truly Newbie users who are taking the plunge.
Given the context I know them from, they're not generally dumb people, but
they have been led to believe that the hassle of a full install will be
worth it for the security they will gain.
</p>
<p>
Unfortunately, the gain doesn't happen automagically. Okay, the average
setup is a little better out of the box than Windows. But it's like buying
a car with a car alarm and other "smart sensors" -- they're no good if you
can't find the clicker to turn them on. Or if you can turn on the alarm
but not roll up the windows and close the convertible top.
</p>
<p>
Or if you find the clicker covered with cryptic phrases like "IPchains"
and "construct a filter to block UDP..." This is nonsense to a lot of
people. There are tools which claim to help toughen it up, except that
if they don't explain what they're doing, you have no idea what they helped,
or whether they are hindering something that you actually need to do.
</p>
<p>
Beyond that, there's simply that anything that had to go through the
publishing industry is out of date. Your boxed distro may have taken a
month and a half to hit the shelves - while they're proud of getting 2.4.2
in there, 2.4.5 is already released and pre6 is cooking along. And so on.
If you don't make arrangements to update to the security patch versions
as soon as you're a working system, you'll be wide open to something.
</p>
<p>
Pleasantly, tools to help people tweak firewall rules are actually starting
to get usable. Distros increasingly resist, or have ways of tracking, suid
binaries - which are dangerous not so much because of that feature, as that
they are almost always suid root, the most dangerous account on the system.
Distros make it increasingly easy to always get the latest, and the major
ones seem to have websites where you can keep an eye on how they're doing.
</p>
<p>
So as we approach Independence Day -- which in the U.S. is a celebration
of determining our own destiny -- take a few thoughts towards those unknown
souls who set the first policies you depend on, and towards your own ability
to choose how you are defended. The price of liberty... is eternal vigilance.
</p>
<!-- end hgreeting -->
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<H5 align="center">This page edited and maintained by the Editors
of <I>Linux Gazette</I>
<a href="http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html"
>Copyright &copy;</a> 2001
<BR>Published in issue 68 of <I>Linux Gazette</I> July 2001</H5>
<H6 ALIGN="center">HTML script maintained by
<A HREF="mailto:star@starshine.org">Heather Stern</a> of
Starshine Technical Services,
<A HREF="http://www.starshine.org/">http://www.starshine.org/</A>
</H6>
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