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<H2>April 2002, Issue 77 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Published by <I>Linux Journal</I></H2>
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<LI> <a HREF="lg_mail.html">The MailBag</A>
<LI> <a HREF="lg_tips.html">More 2-Cent Tips</A>
<LI> <a HREF="lg_answer.html">The Answer Gang</A>
<LI> <a HREF="lg_bytes.html">News Bytes</A>
<LI> <a HREF="collinge.html">Help Dex and Qubism</A> , <EM>by Shane Collinge and Jon "Sir Flakey" Harsem</EM>
<LI> <a HREF="kollar.html">Working with Micro-Distributions, or Linux in Your Pocket</A> , <EM>by Larry "Dirt Road" Kollar</EM>
<LI> <a HREF="krishnakumar.html">Writing Your Own Toy OS (Part I)</A> , <EM>by Krishnakumar R.</EM>
<LI> <a HREF="lechnyr.html">Network Security with /proc/sys/net/ipv4</A> , <EM>by David Lechnyr</EM>
<LI> <a HREF="pitcher.html">Linux Line Printing Daemon for Mainframe Application "Print-to-Email"</A> , <EM>by Lew Pitcher</EM>
<LI> <a HREF="sunil.html">Setting Up a Linux-based PPP Callback server</A> , <EM>by Sunil Thomas Thonikuzhiyil</EM>
<LI> <a HREF="taneja.html">Displaying Real Time System information on a LCD Display using LCDproc & lcdmod</A> , <EM>by Gaurav Taneja</EM>
<LI> <a HREF="lg_backpage.html">The Back Page</A>
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<H3 ALIGN="center"><EM>Linux Gazette</EM> Staff and The Answer Gang</H3>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<STRONG>Editor:</STRONG> Michael Orr<BR>
<STRONG>Technical Editor:</STRONG> Heather Stern<BR>
<STRONG>Senior Contributing Editor:</STRONG> Jim Dennis<BR>
<STRONG>Contributing Editors:</STRONG>
Ben Okopnik, Dan Wilder, Don Marti
</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<H5>Copyright &copy; 1996-2002 Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc.</H5>
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<H1><A NAME="wanted"><IMG ALIGN=MIDDLE ALT="" SRC="../gx/mailbox.gif">
The Mailbag</A></H1> <BR>
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<center><H3><font color="maroon">HELP WANTED : Article Ideas</font></H3></center>
<P>
<P> Send tech-support questions, Tips, answers and article ideas to The Answer Gang
&lt;<A HREF="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com"
>linux-questions-only@ssc.com</A>&gt;. Other mail (including
questions or comments about the <EM>Gazette</EM> itself) should go to
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sent to either of these addresses will be considered for publication in the
next issue. <EM>Please send answers to the original querent too, so that s/he
can get the answer without waiting for the next issue.</EM>
<P> Unanswered questions might appear here. Questions with
answers--or answers only--appear in The Answer Gang, 2-Cent Tips, or here,
depending on their content. There is no guarantee that questions will
<em>ever</em> be answered, especially if not related to Linux.
<P> <STRONG>Before asking a question, please check the
<A HREF="../faq/index.html"><I>Linux Gazette</I> FAQ</A> (for questions about the
Gazette) or <A HREF="../tag/kb.html">The Answer Gang Knowledge Base</A> (for
questions about Linux) to see if it has been
answered there.</STRONG>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!--====================================================================-->
<!-- BEGIN HELP WANTED : Article Ideas -->
<UL>
<!-- index_text begins -->
<li><A HREF="#wanted/1"
><strong>Please help - private email setup</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted/2"
><strong>Video Card and OpenGL</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted/3"
><strong>vpn</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted/4"
><strong>who's linked?</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted/5"
><strong>serial programming in linux</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted/6"
><strong>external modem problem</strong></a>
<!-- index_text ends -->
</UL>
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<P> <A NAME="wanted/1"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Please help - private email setup</FONT></H3>
Sat, 2 Mar 2002 17:11:10 +0200
<BR>Cheryl (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=cherylj1@freemail.absa.co.za&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%20help%20wanted%20%231%20private%20email">cherylj1 from freemail.absa.co.za</a>)
<P>
Hi there
</P>
<P>
I would like to know how to set up my email on my home network with
win98 outlook express and Linux.
</P>
<P>
I would like to set it up so that I can email anybody else
in the house on the network and email via the internet when
needed.
</P>
<P>
Thank You
<br>Cheryl
</P>
<!-- end 1 -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<P> <A NAME="wanted/2"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Video Card and OpenGL</FONT></H3>
Mon, 4 Mar 2002 17:28:27 -0500 (EST)
<BR>Daniel S. Washko (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=dann@thelinuxlink.net&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%20help%20wanted%20%232%20OpenGL%20video%20card">dann from thelinuxlink.net</a>)
<P>
First, some recommendations for a video card (other than Nvidia) that works
very well with Mesa and other standard OpenGL apps. I'm considering Ati
Radeon, but would like to hear input from others.
</P>
<P>
Second, I have a TNT2 and run the Nvidia drivers and Nvidia GLX. I have
had random success compiling OpenGL based programs in the past. Today, I
learned that Nvidia's headers are not placed in <TT>/usr/include/GL</TT>
so as not to
override the defaults that are installed with your system. I'm not sure
whether this was a recent addition to the Nvidia readme, or I just missed it
all those times in the past. I run slack 8.0 and often create packages from
the sources I compile to be used on other systems. If I switch to using the
nvidia OpenGL headers will this cause problems with systems not running
Nvidia GL?
</P>
<P>
Thanks for considering my issues.
</P>
<!-- end 2 -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<P> <A NAME="wanted/3"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">vpn</FONT></H3>
Sat, 16 Mar 2002 10:57:09 -0400
<BR>Medina (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=malexp@cotas.com.bo&cc=fbarousse@piensa.com&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%20help%20wanted%20%233%20FreeSWAN">malexp from cotas.com.bo</a>)
<br>Translation by Felipe Barousse (<A HREF="mailto:fbarousse@piensa.com">fbarousse from piensa.com</A>)
<P>
Multiple translators offered one; I have selected Felipe's as being the most
faithful to the original text.
</P>
<P>
Anyone who feels inclined to answer this, it's okay to answer in English,
just copy our translator so the querent can get a copy in Spanish, and
the <i>Gazette</i> so I can post the follow-up in a later issue.
</P>
<P>
Alternatively, <A HREF="http://www.xs4all.nl/~freeswan/">FreeS/WAN</A> has been growing in popularity, and anybody who
has an interest in writing a "setting the FreeS/WAN VPN up from scratch"
article, possibly even comparing the effort against other tries for your
own VPN (virtual private network) setup. would surely earn a great many
virtual beers.
</P>
<P>
Normally the gang razzes people who want us to do their homework for them.
But the truth is that the most useful thing the <EM>Gazette</EM> has
to say for this subject is that you can buy one from
<A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A> (News Bytes, issue 74). See
our author guidelines if interested:
<A HREF="../faq/author.html"
>http://www.linuxgazette.com/faq/author.html</A>
</P>
<P><DL><DT>
Make sure to refer to current FreeS/WAN docs:
<DD><A HREF="http://www.freeswan.org/freeswan_trees/freeswan-1.95/doc/index.html"
>http://www.freeswan.org/freeswan_trees/freeswan-1.95/doc/index.html</A>
</DL></P>
<hr width="40%" align="center">
<P>
les agradeceria mucho que la informaci&oacute;n fuera en espa&ntilde;ol
</P>
<P>
Hola quiero realizar una trbajo para la materia de redes me pueden ayudar
gracias
como creo una vpn con dos pcs con suse linux 7.0 y freeswan 1.4
como configuro los archivos ipsec.conf e ipsec.secrets, ademas quiero ver
si funciona la conexi&oacute;n haciendo ping y telnet con y sin cifrado de una pc
ala otra y usando ehterreal como se si ese paquete esta cifrado o no
</P>
<P>
quiero hacerlo usando primero direccion fija y luego direccion dinamica
</P>
<P>
primero con direccion fija
</P>
<P>
la pc1 tiene la ip 1.2.3.225 y la pc2 la ip 1.2.3.226 y el gateway la ip
1.2.3.1 como configuro esto con freeswan.
</P>
<P>
segundo con direccion ip fija en la pc1 y dinamica en la pc2
</P>
<P>
la pc1 tiene la ip 1.2.3.225 y la pc2 la ip x.x.x.x y el gateway de la pc1
con la ip 1.2.3.1 como configuro esto con freeswan.
</P>
<P>
ESQUEMA DEL LABORATORIO A REALIZAR
</P>
<P>
COMO HAGO PARA CONFIGURAR ESTOS ESQUEMAS CON FREESWAN
</P>
<P>
ESQUEMA PARA LAS DIRECCIONES IP FIJAS
</P>
<blockquote><pre> __________
|INTERNET|
----------
|
|
_______
|modem|
-------
|
|
______
|router| ip=1.2.3.1
------
|
|
________
| switch |
----------
/ \
/ \
pc1 pc2
ip=1.2.3.225 ip=1.2.3.226
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
ESQUEMA PARA LA DIRECCION IP FIJA DE LA PC1 Y DINAMICA PARA LA PC2
</P>
<blockquote><pre> __________
|INTERNET|
----------
| \
| \
_______ PC2
|modem| IP=X.X.X.X
-------
|
|
______
|router| ip=1.2.3.1
------
|
|
________
| switch |
----------
/
/
pc1
ip=1.2.3.225
</pre></blockquote>
<hr width="40%" align="center">
<h4>Translation</h4>
<p>
Hello:
</P>
<P>
I am doing my homework for the "Networking" class, if you can help me
I'd appreciate it.
</P>
<P>
How do I create a VPN with two PC's using Linux 7.0 and Freeswan 1.4 ?
</P>
<P>
How do I configure the files ipsec.conf and ipsec.secrets ? Besides, I
want to find out if the connection works using ping and telnet with and
without encryption from a PC to the other and, lastly; using Etherreal,
how can I verify if a packet is or is not encrypted. ?
</P>
<P>
I want to do all this using first fixed IP addresses and later on
dynamic IP addresses; let me show you the example with a fixed IP first:
</P>
<P>
PC1 has ip 1.2.3.225 and PC2 has ip 1.2.3.226, gateway has ip 1.2.3.1.
How do I configure this with Freeswan ?
</P>
<P>
Second, with fixed IP on PC1 and PC2 has IP x.x.x.x, gateway remains the
same with ip 1.2.3.1. How do I configure this with Freeswan ?
</P>
<P>
The LAB DIAGRAM to comply with is as follows: How do I make to configure
all this with Freeswan ?:
</P>
<P>
DIAGRAM FOR FIZED IP ADDRESSES
</p><BLOCKQuote>
[first diagram shown above]
</BLOCKQuote>
<P>
DIAGRAM FOR FIZED IP ON PC1 and DYNAMIC IP ON PC2
</P>
<BLOCKQuote>
[second diagram shown above]
</BLOCKQuote>
<!-- end 3 -->
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<P> <A NAME="wanted/4"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">who's linked?</FONT></H3>
Wed, 13 Mar 2002 20:19:41 -0500
<BR>Heather Stern (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=pea@ahlquist.org&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%20help%20wanted%20%234%20very%20dynamic%20linking">The Editor Gal</a>)
<br>answer offered by Paul E Ahlquist Jr
<P><strong>
In Issue76 [Heather] mused....
</strong></P>
<P><STRONG>
...a way to ask a program which libraries it is potential-linking
as well as dynamic-linking to, ...
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Paul Ahlquist answered with this basic Tip:
<br>If your system lib's deity of choice is "ld", then "ldd" should
answer the burning question.
</P>
<blockquote>
<P>
Hmm, I guess I wasn't entirely clear what I was really asking:
</P>
<P>
dynamic-linking: as in not static, see 'ldd'. Binaries which are dynamically
linked will fail if the library is not present. This is what almost every
program on the planet does, because nobody wants to waste the memory space
for extra copies of glibc, at least without a good reason.
</P>
<P>
potential-linking: as in "if this library is not present I won't shed a
tear, but if it <EM>is</EM> I'd like to use GTK please", see ... ?
</P>
<P>
Such a binary would have to somehow check that the library was somewhere
it had access to, then use <TT> dlopen()</TT> to request loading the one
it found. 'strings' might reveal it, but I'm not sure how reliable it is
for this, thus the question.
</P>
<P>
I suppose not very many people code potential-linking into their programs,
so it's not the first thing that leaps to mind; still... since I mention
"dynamic linking" in the same sentence as this other sort, one would have
thought I meant <EM>something</EM> different?
</P>
<P>
Anybody know a reliable way to ask a program about the library-load
requests it <EM>hopes</EM> to make? (as opposed to <EM>has to</EM> make)
</P>
<P>
But while I'm at it, another question:
if anyone knows a reliable way to ask a binary which libraries it has been
statically-linked to, that'd be nice too. 'strings' usually <EM>does</EM>
reveal this, but... anyone know how reliable or complete it is?
</P>
</blockquote>
<!-- end 4 -->
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<P> <A NAME="wanted/5"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">serial programming in linux</FONT></H3>
Tue, 19 Mar 2002 00:29:23 -0500
<BR>Chenfeng Song (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=cs2bs@cms.mail.virginia.edu&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%20help%20wanted%20%235%20serial%20programming">cs2bs from cms.mail.virginia.edu</a>)
<P>
Hi, dear Heather,
</P>
<P>
This is Clement from University of Virginia. I am working
on a project involving serial port programming under linux.
I am new in the linux world and don't quite know where to
start.
</P>
<P>
I have read most of the Serial-HOWTO online but none gave
me the information that I needed.
</P>
<P>
I came across the linuxgazette.com and saw your discussion
on serial programming. I am wondering if you can give me
some pointers here. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
</P>
<P>
Things that I am trying to do:
I want to connect the 9DB RS232 on my linux box to a
Ericsson Bluetooth module. At the same time, I want to use
one of unused pins, RI or CD pin for instance, to serve as
a trigger to another circuit. Therefore, I need to be able
to turn that specific pin to high and low at desired time.
</P>
<P>
My questions are:
</p><ol>
<li> How can I control a specific pin?
<li> What are the header files I shall be looking at? (I have
been using termios.h and fcntl.h along with some other
files. However, I found it very hard to understand. )
</ol>
<P>
Thank you very much. I am looking forward to hearing from
you.
</P>
<P>
Clement Song
</P>
<!-- end 5 -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<P> <A NAME="wanted/6"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">external modem problem</FONT></H3>
Sun, 10 Mar 2002 17:31:31 +0800 (CST)
<BR>amitava maity (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=amaity@vsnl.net&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%20help%20wanted%20%236%20modem%20or%20dialup%20qmail">amaity from vsnl.net</a>)
<br>Answer offered by Ben Okopnik
<P>
Two questions - one hardware matter, <EM>probably</EM> not linux. The other, a
good question, especially in the general form, and would make an excellent
article.
</P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
I have an V90/K56flex external modem that I use to connect with my ISP via
a dial-up line. The modem obeys the Hayes command set. Now the point to
note is that I have make a long distance call or STD call as we call it here in
India, to establish a connection. This might seem a very expensive
thing to do but I have no other option. Now each time I establish a
connection using kppp the modem waits for almost 40secs inbetween
transmission of packets whose duration is approximately 5secs. Thus after
establishing a connection the modem activity is as follows:
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM><BLOCKQuote>
40secs-no TD/RD, 5secs-TD/RD, 40secs-no TD/RD, 5secs-TD/RD, ........
</BLOCKQuote></EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
Is this normal or is something wrong? Do you think there is something
wrong with some configuration somewhere?
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I suspect that there <EM>is</EM> something wrong... but it's most likely not
configuration, at least not software-wise; it's either your modem, or your
ISP.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
The same thing happens in Windows too.
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
So... it's got nothing to do with Linux, then.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Try using another modem, preferably with a different computer, from your
location. If the problem persists, it's your ISP. If it goes away, it's
your computer and/or modem.
</STRONG></P>
<!-- sig -->
<P>
Thanks for your prompt reply. I have been trying out your suggestions.
Unfortunately there aren't any Linux boxes in my locality. Changing the
computer does not seem to improve the performance of the modem. As for
trying out another ISP, I don't have any options.
</P>
<P>
Are there any parameters in the Hayes set that could affect the TD/RD rate
of the modem?
</P>
<P>
Finally may I add another question? Could someone point me to an article
or HOWTO about setting up qmail in a stand-alone home computer for
transfering mail to an ISP mail server over a dial-up line. The
documentation with the package isn't of much help.
</P>
<P>
-- amitava maity
</P>
<!-- end 6 -->
<a name="mailbag"></a>
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="maroon">GENERAL MAIL</font></H3></center>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!--====================================================================-->
<!-- BEGIN GENERAL MAIL -->
<UL>
<!-- index_text begins -->
<li><A HREF="#mailbag/1"
><strong>Modules in /boot bad idea?</strong></a>
<!-- index_text ends -->
</UL>
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<P> <A NAME="mailbag/1"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Modules in /boot bad idea?</FONT></H3>
Sat, 16 Mar 2002 11:55:48 -0700
<BR>Dave Anselmi (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%20mailbag%20%231%20modules%20in%20boot">anselmi from americanisp.net</a>)
<p><em>I considered putting this in TAG - it's a mite large for Tips - but
since I've given the nod to our readers rather eloquently, I put it here
instead. Thanks to all our fans -- Heather</em></p>
<P><STRONG>
Hi,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I was disturbed to read Heather's suggestion to put kernel modules on a
<TT>/boot</TT> partition ("booting multiple linux distributions" TAG #5, Issue
76). My question is, why would you bother to do this? It seems error
prone to me.
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P>
Because on triple boot systems where all three are Linux, it means they
can all use the kernels. As soon as the symlinks are established it works
marvelously - personal experience.
</P>
<P>
I didn't recommend it as the only thing one could do; just a possibility
among many, and part of an answer to a question asking "which partitions
can be shared?"
</P>
<P>
To summarize: <TT>/tmp</TT>, swap, and ... if you are careful ... <TT>/home</TT> and <TT>/boot.</TT>
If "error prone" are the kind of words that scare you from even trying
something, or learning what "careful" means for your context, you should
share neither <TT>/home</TT> nor <TT>/boot.</TT>
</P>
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
Unlike the kernel itself(1), modules are read through the filesystem so
their visibility does not depend on which partition they are on. In
fact, putting them on <TT>/boot</TT> means they are not available until <TT>/boot</TT> is
mounted, which is noticably after the kernel is loaded. This
complicates the boot process by adding a dependency that <TT>/boot</TT> must be
mounted before any modules are loaded. (Normally <TT>/boot</TT> doesn't need to
be mounted at all unless building kernels or modifying lilo).
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P>
The kernel wouldn't load sanely if a module were needed to mount <TT>/boot</TT>
successfully. In my philosophy <TT>/boot</TT> is always mounted read-only because
I keep its symbol map there, and a copy oof the .config I used to make it.
</P>
<P>
But of course, I build kernels all the time, it's something I do for clients
as well as myself.
</P>
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
Further, there is more chance of causing collisions between distros in
the modules tree. Presumably multi-boot systems use a separate /
partition for each distro. This means that each will have its own
<TT>/lib/modules</TT> tree with subtrees for each kernel version. Moving each of
these to <TT>/boot</TT> means that each distro shares modules with the others. I
would guess that usually that won't be a problem, but if it is then it
would probably be hard to debug.
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P>
kernels are not distro specific and anybody who tries to tell you so needs
to be whapped a good one. The only thing about them that even <EM>approaches</EM>
it is that some distros are kind enough to package kernel-and-module kits
for you. For each distro:
</P>
<P><CODE>
ln -s /lib/modules /boot/modules
</CODE></P>
<P>
There, now they are all happy. "complicated" ? no. "error prone" ? only
if you're foolish enough to trust a packging system to remove kernels for
you. The only one I even let <EM>try</EM> is debian, and then only when I have
known good kernels that LILO knows about already.
</P>
<P>
mounting <TT>/boot</TT> earlier in a startup sequence may be needed for some distros.
If one such distro is among your dual-or-more Linux mix, then I heartily
recommend initrd so you'll never need to worry about that.
</P>
<P>
But it works fine for mixing <A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A> with RedHat, as of a few revisions ago
on both of them.
</P>
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
The only advantage I can see to putting modules on <TT>/boot</TT> is being able
to share disk space for them between distributions.
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
Gawd yes.
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
But the
complication of having several distros mucking with each other's modules
seems to outweigh that.
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
I don't let package managers "muck" with my kernels and you shouldn't either.
As soon as you know enough about what you want in kernels to care this deeply
then you should not be worrying about packaged kernels anymore - roll your
own, make it match your real hardware, and use the same, well behaved kernel
no matter which userland you select to run today.
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
I don't follow Heather's assertion that running
a 2.4.x kernel package and a 2.5.x kernel built from source is simplier
with this scheme - the modules are already kept separate in <TT>/lib/modules</TT>
by separate version directories. Am I missing something more
significant?
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
Ohhh, you had some sort of delusion that I was taking (for instance) 2.2.18
modules, 2.4.12 modules, 2.4.19-pre3 modules, and throwing them all in one
directory together? <EM>That</EM> certainly wouldn't work.
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
Certainly this method can be made to work, but I would guess it is only
for sophisticated users with specific circumstances. That's not typical
of readers of The Answer Gang, is it?
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P>
There is no such thing as a "typical" reader of The Answer Gang. We get
complex questions, simple questions, complex phrasings of simple questions
(ugh), and simple phrasings of complex questions (yay!). We get discussions
about the deep magic of programming and how to properly use the "date"
program. And everything in between.
</P>
<P>
If you assume that by having a worldwide audience we are always going to
play to the dumbest possible reader, sorry but that's not so. Every member
of the Gang will answer any given question their own way; when all is said
and done, I'm mostly just turning a conversation originally written "radio
reciever" style (everybody gets their say in big paragraphs) into a more
readable "group conversation" style.
</P>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<P>
In <EM>my</EM> case, by the time someone is considering triple booting anything,
they are sophisticated enough to consider options such as these that I
have used.
</P>
<P>
But a good point to bring up is: distros do change over time. Something
that worked very nicely a year ago may be all wrong now, or very complicated
now, or just have a much easier answer at hand now. As with maps, the
picture and the advice are not the territory itself.
</P>
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
Dave
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
(1) Boot loaders like lilo need to load the kernel as disk blocks using
bios calls. There was a period when disk sizes were large enough that
the bios could not address the entire disk. On such a system, it is
convenient to make a <TT>/boot</TT> partition at the beginning of the disk so
lilo will be able to load the kernel. On smaller disks or with newer
bios, this work around isn't necessary.
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P>
But may be handy if you have a disk disaster, to know that kernels were
nearer to the front than the back of the drive.
</P>
<P>
Of course if you fear this, give up on LILO and switch to a boot loader
which will seek out kernels wherever they happen to live on the disk.
(Advice good for PC users only. Sparc's SILO already does that.)
</P>
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
P.S. <TT>/lib/MOVING</TT> can be deleted safely before rebooting. Although
directory information will be removed immediately, open files will not
have their inodes freed until they are closed. That's why <TT>/lib/modules</TT>
can be replaced by a symlink while the system is running in the first
place.
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P>
If one is going to be complicated, it pays to keep an eye on the details.
In this case it cautions one, and may even comfort one, that you have not
deleted the original directory until you actually make that choice, as a
sysadmin, and after your new boot sequences are tested.
</P>
<P>
<A HREF="http://www.toms.net/rb/">Tom's rootboot</A> is good to have around too.
</P>
</blockquote>
<hr width="40%" align="center"
<P>
Thanks for the reply Heather. I'm amazed how quickly you guys turn questions
around. I used to be an avid LG reader and just picked it up again this month.
Now I remember why I liked it so much
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</P>
<p><em>I don't let package managers "muck" with my kernels ... roll your
own ... and use the same, well behaved kernel no matter which userland you
select to run today.
</em></p>
<P>
Ahh, I see. I had assumed you had different kernels for different distros
but of course the first time I found myself building the same kernel on two
different distros I'd realize they should be shared. I guess I don't use
enough different distros at the same time to run into that, which is why I
asked about it.
</P>
<P>
Thanks for enlightening me.
</P>
<p><em>...no such thing as a "typical" reader of The Answer Gang. ... more
readable "group conversation" style.
</em></p>
<P>
Well, I appreciate that immensely. It's always nice to have something
intriguing to think about even though the overall topic may be well known
(if not to beginners). You do a great service to your readers when you
throw in a little something over their heads. It gives them something
further to explore rather than making them think everything has been
said (never the case, of course).
</P>
<P>
Count me a fan!
</P>
<P>
Dave
</P>
<!-- end 3 -->
<a name="gaz"></a>
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="maroon">GAZETTE MATTERS</font></H3></center>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!--====================================================================-->
<!-- BEGIN GAZETTE MATTERS -->
<UL>
<!-- index_text begins -->
<li><A HREF="#gaz/1"
><strong>Re: Job Announcements</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#gaz/2"
><strong>Another round in the spam war</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#gaz/3"
><strong>Now we're trying to look Really Cool rather than just plain</strong></a>
<!-- index_text ends -->
</UL>
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<P> <A NAME="gaz/1"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Re: Job Announcement</FONT></H3>
Wed, 20 Feb 2002 12:06:53 -0800
<BR>Multiple recruiters (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%20gazette%20matters%20%231%20job&20postings">anonymous</a>)
<P>
We got a handful of a requests for job postings this month. Here's the
policy.
</P>
<HR width="10%" align="center"><P>
LG doesn't publish job listings because they are temporary in
nature.
</P>
<P>
LG is for more permanent material. Job openings change so frequently
that by the time the next issue is published, the job could well be filled.
And if we publish one job listing, we'd have to publish them all.
</P>
<P>
We do not currently have any other place to post job listings, so I
suggest you try another site such as
<a href="http://mojolin.com/">mojolin.com</a>,
<a href="http://dice.com/">dice.com</a>,
<a href="http://monster.com/">monster.com</a>, etc.
</P>
<P>
-- Mike Orr
</P>
<em>
<p>Sadly jobs.osdn.com closed down, but they recommend (in addition to some
of the above) <a href="http://www.hotlinuxjobs.com/">hotlinuxjobs.com</a>,
<a href="http://www.brassring.com/">Brass Ring</a>, and
<a href="http://www.jobpenguin.com/">JobPenguin</a>.
</p>
<P>
Attending any of the related user groups in the region to make your
announcement may also be valuable. It may be useful to consider if you
need someone who already has the skills, or if you'd gladly settle for
someone talented enough that they can become the person you seek to hire.
</P>
<p>
SSC, our host, also hosts a "Groups of Linux Users Everywhere" resource
listing a lot of LUGS worth visiting:
<br><A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/glue"
>http://www.linuxjournal.com/glue</A>
</P>
<P>
Good luck in your quest.
</P>
<P>
-- Heather
</P>
</em>
<!-- end 1 -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<P> <A NAME="gaz/2"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Another round in the spam war</FONT></H3>
Wed, 13 Mar 2002 11:01:50 -0800
<BR>Lew Pitcher (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%20gazette%20matters%20%232%20refused%20connections">lpitcher from sympatico.ca</a>)
<p><em>...after some effort to get Mike his article submission...</em></p>
<P><STRONG><BLOCKQuote>
PS: I'm trying a roundabout route to get this email to you; it seems
that your email server doesn't like my ISP's email server and has
rejected my last two attempts at emailing this to you. Since my ISP is a
large Canadian provider, it may take some time to persue and correct the
mutual email problems, and in the mean time, I'm trying this end-run to
get the article to you.
</BLOCKQuote></STRONG></P>
<P>
Our sysadmin Dan Wilder verified we're refusing mail connections from
sympatico.ca because they're refusing mail connections from us. Or rather, the
connection times out when we try to reach them. This causes a load on our
mail server because the message sits on our outgoing queue for several days as
it keeps trying to send it. Ask your ISP whether their mail server is
blacklisting ssc.com. If not, we'll turn off the lock. But you may mention
that we're still unhappy about the large amount of spam we receive from
sympatico.ca.
</P>
<P>
Setting up a mail server in send-only mode is a common tactic by spammers.
Not saying that sympatico is doing this, because they need to receive mail
for their users. But that's why we block out any site that sends us mail but
consistently refuses connections from us. They do it because those "1 million
e-mail address" lists have a large number of obsolete addresses that cause
bounces, and their mail server couldn't handle the bounce traffic. (Or maybe
it could, but that would slow down their spam-sending.
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle"> )
Which is exactly what's happening: sympatico users send spams to fifty
or a hundred accounts here that have been deactivated or never existed, and our
mail server bogs down trying to send back the bounce messages--which they
refuse. But probably what sympatico has is a misconfigured mail server. Our
error message tells who to call if their postmaster cares. From
/etc/postfix/access:
</P>
<p><TT>sympatico.ca 550 You refuse our connections so we refuse yours: 1-206-782-8808
if you have corrected the problem.
</TT></p>
<P>
I'm cc'ing your sympatico address with this letter to see if it gets through.
</P>
<P>
-- Mike Orr
</P>
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<P> <A NAME="gaz/3"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">how we're trying to look Really Cool rather than just plain</FONT></H3>
Wed, 20 Feb 2002 12:06:53 -0800
<BR>Linux Gazette (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%20gazette%20matters%20%231%20job&20postings">The Editors</a>)
<p>Please see the <a href="lg_backpage.html">Back Page</a> for details.</p>
<!-- end 2 -->
<P> <hr> </p>
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<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> 2002
<BR>Published in issue 77 of <I>Linux Gazette</I> April 2002</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>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<center>
<H1><A NAME="tips"><IMG ALIGN=MIDDLE ALT="" SRC="../gx/twocent.jpg">
More 2&cent; Tips!</A></H1> <BR>
<!-- BEGIN tips -->
Send Linux Tips and Tricks to <A HREF="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com">linux-questions-only@ssc.com</A></center>
</center>
<UL>
<!-- index_text begins -->
<li><A HREF="#tips/1"
><strong>Hard Disk: BadCRC errors from dma_intr on bootup...</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/2"
><strong>[LG 76] wanted #7 lockups after upgrade</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/3"
><strong>[LG 76] mailbag #2 make install</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/4"
><strong>xtraceroute question in the Mailbag</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/5"
><strong>.dat files</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/6"
><strong>information on catching a packet through network</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/7"
><strong>debian pictures</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/8"
><strong>[LG 76] wanted #4 DHCP</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/9"
><strong>Dial in access with PPP</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/10"
><strong>DOSEMU Help!!</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/11"
><strong>Dos linux partition access</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/12"
><strong>INSTALLING RED HAT 7</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/13"
><strong>[TAG] Recompiling of a linux kernel</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/14"
><strong>[TAG] Linux NEC printer problem</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/15"
><strong>Memory Mapping</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/16"
><strong>what is NET4?</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/17"
><strong>NFS mount permission</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/18"
><strong>Mandrake 8.1 and nVidia</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/19"
><strong>Don't Like Your ISP's Choice of Name Servers?</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/20"
><strong>share the directory</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/21"
><strong>Machine Check Exception!</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/22"
><strong>[TAG] two monitors</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/23"
><strong>winux?</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/24"
><strong>xfree86 4.2</strong></a>
<li><i>Linux Journal</i>'s Weekly News Notes <a href="#tips/lj">Tech Tips</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#lj/1">E-mail stats via Python</a>
<li><a href="#lj/2">Tech Tips: Hotkeys</a>
<li><a href="#lj/3">Imposing a minimum font size on Mozilla</a>
<li><A HREF="http://noframes.linuxjournal.com/subscribe/lja-sub.html"
>subscribe to</a> <I>Linux Journal's</I> Weekly News Notes
</ul>
<!-- index_text ends -->
</UL>
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<P> <A NAME="tips/1"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Hard Disk: BadCRC errors from dma_intr on bootup...</FONT></H3>
Mon, 18 Mar 2002 07:37:02 -0500
<BR>lf11 (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%231%20bad%20CRC">lf11 from jaos.org</a>)
<P>
I had this exact same problem.
</P>
<P>
Try disabling HDD S.M.A.R.T. in the BIOS. Worked for me. Dunno why,
though!
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</P>
<P>
-Chris
</P>
<!-- end 1 -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<P> <A NAME="tips/2"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">[LG 76] wanted #7 lockups after upgrade</FONT></H3>
Sat, 2 Mar 2002 22:19:30 -0600
<BR>ABrady (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%232%20lockups%20after%20upgrade">kcsmart from kc.rr.com</a>)
<P>
I would still suggest ram, even if it didn't cause problems before.
Everything has to have a first time failure. I had a ram board that
would work merrily along for days before suddenly locking up. I presume
it would have shown itself sooner had I changed to something needing
more ram to work well.
</P>
<P>
Secondly I'd look at heat. Is this machine in a warm place? A hot CPU is
a grumpy CPU. Video players can put a strain on them.
</P>
<P>
Third, power supply. RH7.2 requires more resources than 6.2 required.
More resource needs will put a strain on the power supply. Not
necessarily a likely problem, but the symptoms certainly suggest it as a
possibility.
</P>
<P>
Video cards can do this, as can sound as you suggested.
</P>
<P>
Finally, I've had problems with this myself, all caused in the past by
<A HREF="http://www.kde.org/">KDE</A>, gnome and screensavers. I have a friend that turned of f the
screensavers in gnome and ran xscreensaver and his crashes stopped. He
did the same in KDE and, again, crashes disappeared. This would also
suggest a relationship between video boards, libraries, compile-time
options, etc. Since most people use "outta the box" RPMs, the compile
options aren't necessarily optimized to work with their other hardware.
</P>
<P>
Alan Brady
</P>
<!-- end 2 -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<P> <A NAME="tips/3"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">[LG 76] mailbag #2 make install</FONT></H3>
Thu, 14 Mar 2002 19:52:40 +0100
<BR>Jean-Claude Ben (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%233%20make%20install">jean-claude.ben from wanadoo.fr</a>)
<P>
You're right
</P>
<P>
That's after the make that you must become root (you need to be root to
install the files but not to compile them
</P>
<!-- end 3 -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<P> <A NAME="tips/4"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">xtraceroute question in the Mailbag</FONT></H3>
Sun, 03 Mar 2002 21:13:41 -0700
<BR>Will Wesley (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%234%20xtraceroute">willwesleyccna from yahoo.de</a>)
<br>asked by Mike "Iron" Orr, <em>LG</em> Editor
<P><STRONG>
There's a program in <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</A> unstable called xt (xtraceroute). It's
supposed to plot the traceroute path on a picture of the earth.
However, it doesn't seem to have enough location coordinates in its
database to do anything. Has anybody used this program? Did you
have to enter your own coordinates for all the hosts you traceroute
from and to?
</STRONG></P>
<P>
I am not subscribed to the list, or however it works, so please forgive
me if this is going to the wrong adress, I did my best to accertain that
this was the one. In anycase, I believe I can give an answer.
</P>
<P>
Many routers, and other end nodes, can be configured to know what thier
geographical location is in longitude and latitude coordinates. This
allows diagnostic information, and the curious, to find where on earth a
particular device is located. However, network administrators may be too
lazy to look up and configure such information, and/or not really care
to. There really isn't any good reason to do this, except for satisfying
the curious people.
</P>
<!-- end 4 -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<P> <A NAME="tips/5"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">.dat files</FONT></H3>
Wed, 20 Mar 2002 13:24:52 +0100
<BR>Robos (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%235%20play%20dat">The Answer Gang</a>)
<br>asked by Elliot (32009318 from snetmp.cpg.com.au)
<P><STRONG>
does linux support the playback of .dat files and what are the
recommended (easiest/most powerfull/stable) player
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Hi!
</P>
<P>
Well, probably you mean vcd (video-cd) data files (there is the actual
movie data in there). If anything is related in some way to movie,
<EM>always</EM> take mplayer (mplayerhq.hu). I follow their mailing-list
closely and mplayer plays (nearly) every movie format you throw at it,
for example *avi (divx), mpeg1/2, divx5, fli, film (from sega game cd)
roq (id film sequences, for instance from quake 3 or rtcw), qt kinda,
rm kinda, asf streaming even, wmv ....
</P>
<P>
So, take a look, it works great.
</P>
<P>
Robos
</P>
<!-- end 5 -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<P> <A NAME="tips/6"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">information on catching a packet through network</FONT></H3>
Wed, 20 Mar 2002 00:21:15 -0800 (PST)
<BR>Chris Gianakopoulos (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%236%20packets">The Answer Gang</a>)
<br>asked by bharath kumar
<P><STRONG>
hi,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
we are working on a project which involves
playing with the network for capturing the packets.
Right now we are stuck because we only know about
SKBUFF i.e. socket buffer.But we are not able to
track any detailed information about how to use it.
Everywhere there is a brief introduction to the
SKBUFF functions but not on how to use it.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
If your team can help us in
directing to a site or some other source through
which we can capture each &amp; every packet traversing
through the network into our own Queues(userspace)
it would be a great help to us.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
We would be very grateful to u if u can help us
in this matter.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanking you.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Regards
Bharath Kumar
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Hi Bharath Kumar,
</P>
<P>
I'm not sure about the SKBUFF functions, but you have at least three tools
available for just viewing network traffic and saving the data to files for
later playback.
</P>
<P>
You have tcpdump, ethereal, and tethereal. Ethereal gives
you a GUI-based package where you could collect packets and view the stuff
later with a detailed dissassembly of the packets. Tethereal gives you a
text based equivalent version of ethereal.
</P>
<P>
Tcpdump is the old standby program which is yet another command line
application. You get dumps of packets to the display, you get filtering
capability, and you could save the dumps to a file. I should mention that
ethereal also lets you filter the data. I have not tried filtering with
tethereal.
</P>
<P>
Regards,
Chris Gianakopoulos
</P>
<P>
man tcpdump, and the related software, like the pcap packet capture
library. You might find that just letting tcpdump will be good enough
for you; if not, the sources will likely serve as a hint.
</P>
<P>
Cheers,
-- jra
</P>
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<P> <A NAME="tips/7"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">debian pictures</FONT></H3>
Wed, 20 Mar 2002 11:11:37 -0800 (PST)
<BR>John Karns, Heather Stern (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%237%20debian%20wallpaper">The Answer Gang</a>)
<br>asked by Elliot (32009318 from snetmp.cpg.com.au)
<P><STRONG>
i have a cd of a <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</A> distrobution, is it posible to find the
background folder and copy it to my mandrake 8.1 box, so that i can use
the debian swirl as a background to Gnome and <A HREF="http://www.kde.org/">KDE</A>,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
thanks from elliot
</STRONG></P>
<P>
I'm sure that it's possible, if not very easy. You would have to find the
file in question and copy it from the CD to the appropriate dir of your
mandrake system. The trick is finding the file. I don't use kde or
gnome, so I can't be of much help with very specific information.
However, if you have midnight commander installed (if you don't, then you
should!) you can probably get the file you need - it will require also
having "dpkg-deb" installed. That will allow you to open the Debian pkg
file where the kde <TT>/</TT> gnome backgorind of interest is, and copy it to your
system. It is probably a little beyond the level of neophyte though, so
would require some reading up &amp; digging for info on your part as to the
whereabouts of those files under kde <TT>/</TT> gnome.
</P>
<P>
-- John Karns
</P>
<em>
<P>
Someone forcing you to use Mandrake and you want to show your debian colors?
</P>
<P>
Hmm, other than that it seems highly wierd to put a debian swirl on a
Mandrake box (doesn't someobdy have a sufficiently cool magic hat and
wand?) ... you might check in what is called the "propaganda" collection
of wallpapers. I think it usually ships with large K setups anyway, but
it has a repository on the net.
</P>
<P>
Also there are lots of themes at themes.org - probably the ol' Progeny theme
is up there, and that probably has the Great Swirl on it.
</P>
<P>
-- Heather
</P>
</em>
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<P> <A NAME="tips/8"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">[LG 76] wanted #4 DHCP</FONT></H3>
06 Mar 2002 00:03:54 +0100
<BR>Eduardo Perez Esteban, Bill Barber (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%238%20dhcp">edu.perez from eresmas.net, bbarber from attbi.com</a>)
<br>asked by dwulkan from earthlink.net
<P>
Answer by Eduardo Perez Esteban:
</P>
<P>
Yes, you can tell DHCP to answer requests coming only from a specified
set of MAC adresses. Use the "deny unknown-clients" flag for this.
</P>
<P>
Note that this is a very weak security enhacement: an attacker only
needs to know the network address you are using and try several IPs
until he finds an empty one.
</P>
<P>
Regards,
Edu.
</P>
<HR width="10%" align="center"><P>
Answer by Bill Barber:
</P>
<P>
This would be my suggested entries to <TT>/etc/dhcpd.conf</TT>
</P>
<P>
The xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:01; represents your MAC addresses and the belief would be
if the MAC address is not in the list, it would not get an assigned IP
address, I do these type of entries for my servers, but I also have
non-MAC-specified hosts, so I don't know if it would refuse with just that.
I think if you dropped the subnet portion, you would get an error.
</P>
<p align="center">See attached
<a href="misc/tips/dhcpd.conf.txt">dhcpd.conf.txt</a>
</p>
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<P> <A NAME="tips/9"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Dial in access with PPP</FONT></H3>
Tuesday 05 March 2002 10:13 pm
<BR>Neil Youngman, Karl-Heinz Herrmann (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%239%20dialin">The Answer Gang</a>)
<BR>asked by Jody Story (jstory from shortgrass.net)
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM><BLOCKQuote>
I am trying to setup a dial in connection to pc's in the field. they =
have dedicated phonelines to them and i can't get PPP to setup correctly =
on them. I have failed in every attempt. can you help me with this.
</BLOCKQuote></EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
What tools are you using?
What have you tried?
What error messages are you getting?
How are the PCs set up?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
-- Neil Youngman
</STRONG></P>
<P>
And you could have a look at mgetty from mgetty+sendfax -- does what you
want, i.e. answering the phone, deciding if it's a data connection and
initiating a login process (and pppd if you want, look at auto pppd).
</P>
<P>
K.-H.
</P>
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<P> <A NAME="tips/10"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">DOSEMU Help!!</FONT></H3>
Mon, 4 Mar 2002 10:49:39 -0500
<BR>Didier Heyden (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2310%20dosemu">The Answer Gang</a>)
<BR>asked by Jacqueline Faherty
<P><STRONG><BLOCKQuote>
Alright I am getting close with running <A HREF="http://www.dosemu.org/">DOSEMU</A> but I have run
into a glitch. It loads and runs MSDOS but I can't get Himem.sys to
install properly.
</BLOCKQuote></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I have added the proper lines to my msdos config.sys file. Here is
what it reads:
</STRONG></P>
<Pre><STRONG>
DOS=HIGH,UMB
BUFFERS=30
FILES=50
STACKS=0,0
LASTDRIVE=Z
device=c:\dos\himem.sys
devicehigh=c:\dos\emm386.exe ram
</STRONG></Pre>
<P>
You mean that this is the adequate setup for your applications under
`true' ms-dos, right? If so, can you check what the `mem' command
says once you have booted your machine into a real-mode dos session?
It'll be a good starting point to determine what your memory
requirements actually are (see below).
</P>
<P><STRONG>
Then the config.sys within freedos reads:
</STRONG></P>
<Pre><STRONG>
DOS=UMB,HIGH
lastdrive=H
files=20
rem buffers=10
device=c:\dosemu\himem.sys
devicehigh=c:\dosemu\emm386.exe ram
rem devicehigh=c:\dosemu\cdrom.sys
shell=c:\command.com /e:1024 /p
</STRONG></Pre>
<P><STRONG>
But when I start dosemu I get the following messages:
</STRONG></P>
<Pre><STRONG>
HIMEM: DOS XMS Driver, Version 3.10 - 09/30/93
Extended Memory Specification (XMS) Version 3.0
Copyrigth 1988-1993 Microsoft Corp.
ERROR: An Extended Memory Manager is already installed.
XMS Driver not installed
</STRONG></Pre>
<P>
Yep. This is caused by the `himem.sys' line for sure.
</P>
<P>
Since an extended memory manager is already integrated in dosemu's
core, you don't actually need `himem.' All the necessary XMS
functions are available upon startup even without it -- hopefully.
</P>
<P><STRONG>
EMM386 not installed - protected mode software already running.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
The original `emm386' won't run if the CPU is not in real-mode (as
opposed to protected/virtual mode). Linux being run in protected mode,
this is the reason why an alternative `ems.sys' is shipped with dosemu.
Normally this replacement expanded memory manager should provide the
same facilities to dos programs as its MS counterpart.
</P>
<P>
The largest part of EMS memory management code is probably hidden deep
within dosemu itself (ems.sys is only a few hundred bytes in size!)
Advantage: more memory available for dos programs
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</P>
<P><STRONG>
I know emm.sys comes with DOSEMU but I need to load emm386.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Mmm... What makes you think so?
</P>
<P>
AFAIK the only tunable settings regarding the memory management in
dosemu are:
</P>
<ul>
<li> The amount of `conventional' memory seen by dos (normally 640 Kb).
<li> The location of the EMS page frame in (low) memory.
<li> The amount of memory to reserve for XMS, EMS and DPMI respectively.
<li> A set of locations/ranges of hardware RAM zones (none by default).
</ul>
<P>
All this is controlled by the dosemu built-in memory managers.
</P>
<P>
By using the output of the abovementioned `mem' command in a `true' dos
session, you should be able to set up the relevant parameters in your
dosemu.conf file and get your application programs happy; e.g.
</P>
<blockquote><pre>C:\&gt;mem
Memory Type Total Used Free
---------------- -------- --------- --------
Conventional 640K 69K 571K
Upper 90K 40K 50K
Reserved 384K 384K 0K
Extended (XMS) 97,190K 598K 96,592K
---------------- -------- --------- --------
Total Expanded (EMS) 32M (33,947,648 bytes)
Free Expanded (EMS) 32M (33,554,432 bytes)
Largest executable program size 571K (584,672 bytes)
Largest free upper memory block 50K (51,152 bytes)
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
In your dosemu.conf file the corresponding settings would be:
</P>
<blockquote><pre>$_dosmem = (640) # in Kbyte, &lt;= 640 (default)
$_xms = (98304) # in Kbyte (instead of the default 1024 Kb)
$_ems = (32768) # in Kbyte (instead of the default 2048 Kb)
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
In fact you should not give such high values to dosemu. 16 megabytes
for each (or even less) may still meet your actual requirements.
Begin with large enough values then decrease them and retry until you
find the optimal setup.
</P>
<P>
If this method doesn't succeed, well... I don't know. Maybe the apps
you're trying to run do not comply with the EMS official specs.
Aren't there Linux ports or equivalent programs?
</P>
<P>
Oh, and don't forget to replace the himem and emm386 lines in
your config.sys with:
</P>
<blockquote><pre>device=c:\dosemu\ems.sys
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
(or devicehigh=...)
</P>
<P><STRONG>
Help would be...um..helpful
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Indeed
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle"> So I hope this does.
</P>
<HR width="10%" align="center"><P>
...Didier found a more helpful tidbit to throw in...
</P>
<P><STRONG>
Begin with large enough values then decrease them and retry until you
find the optimal setup.
.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
And in fact the system won't let you do that unless you increase the
kernel SHMMAX setting (amount of IPC shared memory available for user
processes) as well. The Linux kernel (2.4.x) default value is 32
megabytes. In the above example you would need at least 96 + 32 = 128
Mb of shared memory.
</P>
<P>
For in such a case, dosemu would complain about being unable to satisfy
the user's memory settings (see the boot.log file). Assuming you have
enough RAM in your system, you'd have to issue (as root) a command like:
</P>
<blockquote><pre>echo 134217728 &gt; /proc/sys/kernel/shmmax
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
The actual value -- expressed in <EM>bytes</EM> -- would depend on the total
amount of memory (XMS + EMS + DPMI) set up in your configuration file.
</P>
<P>
However strangely enough the 2.2.x kernel doesn't seem to impose such
restrictions (although the <TT>/proc/sys/kernel/shmmax</TT> entry is present).
</P>
<P>
Regards,
Didier Heyden.
</P>
<!-- end 10 -->
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<P> <A NAME="tips/11"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Dos linux partition access</FONT></H3>
Thu, 14 Mar 2002 15:45:34 +0100
<BR>Robos, Jay Ashworth, Heather Stern (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2311%20dos%20ext2fs%20support">The Answer Gang</a>)
<BR>asked by Brian J Binkley (BinkleBJ from ltc.tec.oh.us)
<P><STRONG>
Is there any dos program that would allow dos to read and write to
a linux partition? if so is there a free version out there?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thank You
<br>Brian Binkley
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Hi Brian!
</P>
<P>
There is "explore2fs", but thats under win, don't know if it runs
under dos too:
<A HREF="http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/explore2fs.htm"
>http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/explore2fs.htm</A>
</P>
<P>
-- Robos
</P>
<P>
The owner has a big fat (no wait, ext2 <img src="../gx/dennis/smily.gif"
alt=":D" align="botton">) WARNING: that write support is
at the moment very, very risky. Which I guess puts it in the same boat as
Linux' NTFS support...
</P>
<P>
Peter van Sebille wrote FSDEXT2 as a standard MSwin filesystem driver (Jay
found it too. "Hi Jay!" she says waving cheerily), but it does not write
at all; he had "0.16" stable and "0.17" dev (the dev
one under GPL)... but another fellow Gerald Shnabel seems to have taken up
the torch, at least enough to make it work on his win98 systems, and
released version 0.163. For you license fans out there, he derived it
from the license-unknown 0.16, but explicitly put copyrights and announced
that it's under the GPL:
<A HREF="http://www.schnabel-online.de/fsdext2.html"
>http://www.schnabel-online.de/fsdext2.html</A>
</P>
<P>
Way back in 1995 the Linux Gazette mentioned ext2tool, and since I found it
mentioned in the dosutils directory on my <A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A> 7.3 stuff, I guess the thing
still exists. Too bad SuSE only provided the sources (eep) so it makes me
really wonder how long it's been since they were last tested...
</P>
<P>
-- Heather
</P>
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<P> <A NAME="tips/12"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">INSTALLING RED HAT 7</FONT></H3>
Sat, 9 Mar 2002 17:00:19 +0000
<BR>Neil Youngman (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2312%20RH%207">The Answer Gang</a>)
<BR>Harvey Hunt (RV from RIVER77.FSLIFE.CO.UK)
<P><STRONG>
I am trying to automatically install redhat 7. The message I keep
getting is not enough disk space (there is). Do I need to partition the
disk? I want a dual boot system my current op is windows xp and the
filing system is ntfs. If I need to partiton the disk is there some
very, very, very simple info on how to do it available.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Yes you need at least one partition for Linux, preferably several. There's
some info at <A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/Linux+WinNT.html"
>http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/Linux+WinNT.html</A>
</P>
<P>
If you don't want to reinstall from scratch your best bet is to buy/borrow a
copy of PartitionMagic and use that to shrink your XP partition and make
space for Linux partitions.
</P>
<P>
It is possible to run Linux off just one partition, but well chosen multiple
partitions make it more robust, as filling one partition won't bring the
whole system down.
</P>
<P>
As a minimum you need a root partition and it's rare to run Linux without a
swap partition as well. There are some recommendation for partition sizes in
the Answer Gang Knowledgebase at
<A HREF="../issue58/tag/11.html"
>http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue58/tag/11.html</A> and you may also want to
browse <A HREF="../tag/kb.html#fs"
>http://www.linuxgazette.com/tag/kb.html#fs</A>
</P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you
</STRONG></P>
<P>
My pleasure, but please turn off that HTML crap in your email.
</P>
<P>
Sincerely
<br>Neil Youngman
</P>
<!-- end 12 -->
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<P> <A NAME="tips/13"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">[TAG] Recompiling of a linux kernel</FONT></H3>
Thu, 21 Mar 2002 16:57:34 +0100 (MET)
<BR>Karl-Heinz Herrmann (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2313%20kernel%20options">The Answer Gnag</a>)
<BR>asked by halblas from weos.de
<P><STRONG>
Hi! All
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Does anyone know of a linux site which gives a brief description of each &amp;
every option given in the "xconfig screen"
while recompiling a linux kernel.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Besides the help button next to each of them which <EM>have</EM> useful information
in most of the cases -- no I don't know websites having a full list.
Also the ones difficult to choose are not the standard options which have
very helpful entries in the "help" anyway. Mostly the problem is with short
lived hacks which are there for some few kernel versions and disappear again.
It would be rather difficult to keep a website up to date.
</P>
<P>
A look into the kernel source is always helpful (for example one could search
recursively through all *.c and *.h file in the kernel tree where the
OPTION_FLAG is actually used and have a look in that file. Some of the
sources are extensively commented, especially the details of some hacks or
the consequences of using/not using certain options. I remember lot of
configurable (and documented!) options directly in the source of the aic7xxx
SCSI module which now gradually moved over to xconfig entires.
</P>
<P>
There are webpages (like www.kernel.org) where you can have annotated kernel
source, browse it and have direct access to the changelog files which also
are helpful in some cases for choosing kernel options.
</P>
<P>
K.-H.
</P>
<!-- end 13 -->
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<P> <A NAME="tips/14"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">[TAG] Linux NEC printer problem</FONT></H3>
Mon, 04 Mar 2002 09:38:11 +0100 (MET)
<BR>Karl-Heinz Herrmann (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2314%20NEC%20printer">The Answer Gang</a>)
<BR>asked by Leo M. Pascua (leo from cyberlink.net.ph)
<P><STRONG>
Sir,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I have been unable to print with my Printer (NEC PinWriter 5300) I
am using RH 6.0 and my printer is an (old) NEC pinwriter. I'll already
email the manufacturer of this Printer then they told me used Epson
LQ850. I use the Epson LQ850 driver with Windows. Where i can get the
postscript of this printer. I checked all the How-To but I am still
clueless. Could you please help?
</STRONG></P>
<P>
I recommend visiting <A HREF="http://www.linuxprinting.org"
>http://www.linuxprinting.org</A>
</P>
<P>
I cant find the specific pinwriter, but the epson LQ850 is there, reported as
working perfectly with the ghostscript driver lq850
</P>
<P><DL><DT>
see:
<DD><A HREF="http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=63360"
>http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=63360</A>
</DL></P>
<P>
So you have to setup your printing with the lq850 driver. To check if it's
supported by your ghostscript run:
</P>
<P><CODE>
gs --help
</CODE></P>
<P>
it seems not to be compiled into the standard ghostscript (coming with <A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A>
Linux [67].?) so you may have to recompile ghostscript and put the driver
lq850 in the right makefile/includefile. See the README and INSTALL coming
with ghostscript.
</P>
<P>
K.-H.
</P>
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<P> <A NAME="tips/15"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Memory Mapping</FONT></H3>
Wed, 27 Mar 2002 07:00:43 +0000
<BR>Neil Youngman (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2315%20mmap">The Answer Gang</a>)
<P><STRONG>
Hi friends,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I have tried using the mmap function
in linux and succeeded.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
The Info Pages say about a particular flag in calling mmap.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
`MAP_ANON'
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
This flag tells the system to create an anonymous mapping,
not connected to a file. FILEDES and OFF are ignored, and
the region is initialized with zeros.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Anonymous maps are used as the basic primitive to extend the
heap on some systems. They are also useful to "share data
between multiple tasks without creating a file".
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I want to know how 'mmap' can be used to "share data between
muliple tasks without creating a file" as is said above.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
See section 14.9 of "Advanced programming in the Unix Environment" by W
Richard Stevens. To summarise briefly, if this is used together with
MAP_SHARED, this region can be shared by the creating process and any child
processes created with fork. According to section 12.9 memory mapped regions
are not inherited across an exec.
</P>
<P>
Neil Youngman
</P>
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<P> <A NAME="tips/16"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">what is NET4?</FONT></H3>
Sat, 2 Mar 2002 08:30:04 -0600
<BR>Chris Gianakopoulos (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2316%20net4">The Answer Gang</a>)
<BR>asked by Ming Kin Lai (minglai from hotmail.com)
<P><STRONG>
Someone told me that Linux uses a TCP/IP suite called Net4. What is that?
for example, how is its TCP different from TCP-Reno?
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Hi Ming,
</P>
<P>
Linux Net4 is based on Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039. The
TCP/IP protocol suite, TCP-Reno is Berkeley code (the BSD stuff). It is
my belief that Net4, although it may be influenced by other protocol suites,
was written from scratch (other than being derived from NET3.)
</P>
<P>
Regards,
Chris G.
</P>
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<P> <A NAME="tips/17"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">NFS mount permission</FONT></H3>
Sun, 10 Mar 2002 01:44:35 +0100
<BR>Robos (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2317%20NFS%20permissions">The Answer Gang</a>)
<P><STRONG>
I have an NFS mount problem here.
I am doing all this as root.
I have mounted a remote nfs filesystem on
a directory on my machine. I want that
directory to be accesible by a
particular user on my system.
For that after mounting to that directory
I tried to make that user the owner of the directory,
but it is not happening ("error : operation not permitted")
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
What is the correct way of doing this?
sree
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Hi Sree!
</P>
<P>
I don't know for sure (like most of the time) but something along:
-specifying user-pid in <TT>/etc/fstab</TT> behind the nfs-mount
-adding that particular user to a group that can read the drive
I've done the upper one some time ago, it worked, but now I forgot
... and am lazy right now
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</P>
<P>
-- Robos
</P>
<P>
ISTR that you can't do this sort of thing remotely. If you want to muck about
with ownership you need to do it on the exporting server. I forget the
details but essentially you are only root for local filesystems, thus
limiting the damage that remote hosts can do on exported filesystems.
</P>
<P>
-- Neil Youngman
</P>
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<P> <A NAME="tips/18"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Mandrake 8.1 and nVidia</FONT></H3>
04 Mar 2002 11:32:52 +0200
<BR>Johan H (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2318%20nvidia">jhg from ucs.co.za</a>)
<P><BLOCKQuote>
we have all the linux gazette on the school intranet and from reding the
artcles i find myself hooked on linux, i have one question though does
installing Nvidia drivers for a Geforce 2 GTS overwrite Xfree 4.0.? or
are drivers and xfree different as i would like to play quake and unreal
on mandrake 8.1 Kernel 2.4.? but xfree 4.0.? is only 2D and xfree 3.36
with experimental 3D is very Poor.
HI,
</BLOCKQuote></P>
<P>
The nvidia drivers are just modules that plug into XFree86-4.
Installing the nvidia drivers will not overwrite the Mandrake X drivers.
</P>
<P>
The reason being... the nvidia drivers are closed source, and there is
only a binary distribution available from nvidia. There is an
opensource project that writes open drivers (The ones installed by
Mandrake)
</P>
<P>
In the XF86Config-4 file (edit with care in mandrake) the drivers are
named "nv" for the open source ones and "nvidia" for the closed source
ones.
</P>
<P>
The closed source drivers are far superior with very good 3d support.
You will not win any brownie points from RMS for infecting your system
with these.... but boy they run.
</P>
<P>
On the nvidia web site there is RPMs compiled for Mdk8.1, they work very
well.
</P>
<P>
The "nvidia" drivers need a kernel module called "NVdriver", that has to
be compiled agains the kernel headers for your current kernel. This is
a non event with a standard Mandrake install, if you have downloaded
that spunky new 2.4.18 kernel and tweaked it... download the source
release for the NV_Kernel module from nvidia and recompile against the
new kernel headers.
</P>
<P>
Some of these steps are tricky, if you are unsure, let me know... I have
done this a couple of times.
</P>
<P>
Kind Regards
Johan H.
</P>
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<P> <A NAME="tips/19"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Don't Like Your ISP's Choice of Name Servers? A 2 Cent Tip</FONT></H3>
Tue, 5 Mar 2002 23:03:17 -0600
<BR>Chris Gianakopoulos (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2319%20wvdial%20DNS">The Answer Gang</a>)
<P>
I use a dialup account with my ISP. Many times, I get a good connection
with respect to data rate. But, my IP traffic throughput is not so good.
For example, several seconds to reach my favorite sites with ping
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/unsmily.gif" ALT=":("
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</P>
<P>
One cause was the name servers that were handed to my system during the PPP
authentication phase (I know -- that's really DHCP, not PPP). I use wvdial
for my Internet dialer. Here's how to force your own choice of name servers.
</P>
<P>
In your <TT>/etc/wvdial.conf</TT> file, make an entry like this:
</P>
<P><BLOCKQuote>
Auto DNS=0
</BLOCKQuote></P>
<P>
Create a file called <TT>/etc/resolv.conf.</TT> Put a couple of name server entries
that you know works. For example (<TT>/etc/resolv.conf</TT>):
</P>
<blockquote><pre>nameserver 192.6.1.194
nameserver 198.6.100.194
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
That's it!
</P>
<P>
Regards,
Chris G.
</P>
<P>
P.S. How can I disable the Link Quality Requests when using PPP with wvdial?
I would look on the wvdial site, but their documentation did not even
mention the "Auto DNS" configuration entry.
</P>
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<P> <A NAME="tips/20"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">share the directory</FONT></H3>
Mon, 11 Mar 2002 13:19:14 +0100 (MET)
<BR>Karl-Heinz Herrmann (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2320%20share%20directory">The Answer Gang</a>)
<BR>asked by palash (palash_kar from hotmail.com)
<P>
Hi,
</P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
we have a lan setup of about 6-7 computers in our hostel. My problem is
that i want to access files on other computers which have booted in
windows, through linux.
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P>
I guess you found the button in win where you "share the directory"
This is in windows what samba does for linux (actually samba implements the
windows protokoll for file sharing).
</P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
we have got over the problem the other way round
by configuring samba. can you help me on this.
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
looking forward to your reply
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Search for linneighborhood using your favorite search engine.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
linneighbourhood seems to be a frontend for all the smb tools to use windows
shared in Linux. smbclient and smbmount are the most interesting ones to have
a look at for first experiments.
</P>
<P>
K.-H.
</P>
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<P> <A NAME="tips/21"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Machine Check Exception!</FONT></H3>
Fri, 15 Mar 2002 13:13:00 +0000 (GMT)
<BR>Thomas Adam, Karl-Heinz Herrmann, Ben Okopnik (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2321%20check%20exception">The Answer Gang</a>)
<P><STRONG>
Hi Answer Gang,
</STRONG></P>
<P>
&lt;Howdy!&gt;
</P>
<P><STRONG>
I'm a Linux Newbie, and I had some funny (maybe not
so funny) problems
with my system -
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I'm running <A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A> Linux 7.1 (Kernel 2.2), on an Intel
Pentium-II(450 Mhz) box.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Hey -- you're running exactly the same distro and
version as me. We also happen to be running the same
kernel version. I think it's time we re-compiled our
kernel using the latest sources!!
</P>
<P>
-- Thomas Adam
</P>
<P><STRONG>
It used to hang all of a sudden, usually with a beep
or two, and the
keyboard, mouse and display would freeze.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I noticed the following message on my xconsole:
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM><BLOCKQuote>
message from <A HREF="mailto:syslogd@shankha"
>syslogd@shankha</A>:
shankha kernel: CPU0 Machine Check Exception 0000000000000004
shankha kernel: Bank 1: b200000000000115&lt;0&gt;
kernel panic: CPU context corrupt
</BLOCKQuote></EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P>
Do you happen to have Memory with parity? I've never seen a message like
yours -- but this looks like a detected unrecoverable memory fault. (this
bank 1 line gives me the hint).
</P>
<P>
grab memtest86 from somewhere and run it as long as it needs to throw the
memory errors at you. Could be over night.....
Check if the memory modules are sitting tight in their sockets and repeat.
Exchange the memory modules and test again. If still errors occur throw it
away and get a new one.
</P>
<P>
-- K.-H.
</P>
<P>
If you've got, say, four modules, do this: swap 1 and 2. If the error
address doesn't change, then the problem is not in those; if it does, then
swap 1 and 3. If the address doesn't change after that, the error is in #2;
otherwise, it's in #1. I'm sure you can figure out the rest of the
troubleshooting method from there.
</P>
<P>
-- Ben Okopnik
</P>
<em>
<P>
Plus get an air cannister and while you have the machine off, scare all the
dust bunnies out of your boards and fans. Maybe there's some static charge
catching up on something.
</P>
<p>-- Heather</p>
</em>
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<P> <A NAME="tips/22"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">[TAG] two monitors</FONT></H3>
Mon, 18 Mar 2002 10:31:06 +0100 (MET)
<BR>Karl-Heinz Herrmann (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2322%20two%20monitors">The Answer Gang</a>)
<br>asked by Elliot (32009318 from snetmp.cpg.com.au)
<P><STRONG><BLOCKQuote>
i have a 32 mb geforce 2 GTS running with a 21&quot; monitor under mandrake
8.1 using xfree86 4.1.0 and latest nvidia drivers at 1600x1200
my question is can i run this resolution and put a 32mb tnt2 PCI
graphics card in aswell to run at 800x600 i have run two montiors before
on my windows box but both cards have to be at the same resolution, i am
asking this as i have a spare graphics card and old 15" monitor laying
around and want to put them to good use
</BLOCKQuote></STRONG></P>
<P><DL><DT>
I guess this release notes could give a hint:
<DD><A HREF="http://www.xfree86.org/4.2.0/RELNOTES4.html#17"
>http://www.xfree86.org/4.2.0/RELNOTES4.html#17</A>
</DL></P>
<P>
I myself run the NVdriver on a laptop -- but there use the nvidia TwinView
option and it's one card with two screens. It rather convienient to define
different resolutions and relations of the two screens (like the small one is
s specific part of the large one for presentations where you can have
additional shell windows nobody else is seeing on the beamer
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle"> or you can
tell it that the CRT is left (or right, above,...) the Laptop.
Then the two screens act as one huge one. The same "restrictions" as in the
XFree link apply: most Window managers just don't care about the screens and
open the windows where ever they please -- which might be right across both
screens.
</P>
<P>
The "normal" (i.e. not xinerma or Twinview) mode is to run two X-displays on
the two screens. Then you can't just cross from one screen to the other
dragging some window. You have to give it a "-display :0.0" or :0.1 as display
name and the window will go there.
</P>
<P>
Since you've got the cards how about trying ? PCI ad AGP cards should be able
to share or rearrange their resources so the can coexist.
</P>
<P>
K.-H.
</P>
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<P> <A NAME="tips/23"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">winux?</FONT></H3>
Wed, 27 Mar 2002 07:16:44 +0000
<BR>Neil Youngman (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2323%20winux">The Answer Gang</a>)
<BR>asked by Elliot (32009318 from snetmp.cpg.com.au)
<P><STRONG>
after reading my favourite computer mag i became interested in one main
topic of their ramblings
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
that was that there may be a operating system available soon called
winux
that can run linux and windows programs natively, i am unsure of who is
trying to make this or wether it will go ahead, perhaps you know
something about this new OS, because it seems quite interesting.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
I think that's LindowsOS, see <A HREF="http://www.lindows.com"
>http://www.lindows.com</A>
</P>
<P>
Neil Youngman
</P>
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<P> <A NAME="tips/24"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">xfree86 4.2</FONT></H3>
Mon, 11 Mar 2002 08:22:23 -0800 (PST)
<BR>Karl-Heinz Herrmann, Heather Stern (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2077%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2324%20xfree86">The Answer Gang</a>)
<br>asked by Blandin de Chalain (blandin from hotkey.net.au)
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
On 10-Mar-02 Blandin de Chalain wrote:
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
would you please stop sending a hml-copy of everything? thanks.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
For the record, yes we're a webzine, but no, your HTML does not help the
web-editor's job in the slightest.
</P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
ive just found out about xfree86 4.2
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
me not. what's the special improvement to 4.1?
</STRONG></P>
<P><DL><DT>
Well, hmm, maybe www.xfree96.org would have a good set of notes:
<DD><A HREF="http://www.xfree86.org/4.2.0/RELNOTES2.html#2"
>http://www.xfree86.org/4.2.0/RELNOTES2.html#2</A>
</DL></P>
<P>
Among other things the newer code is now less idiotic regarding the
perfectly good S3 family cards I have around my place. However I'm not
jumping from working X 3.3.6 for that alone. Lots of other new drivers
to clue in on either older cards, or bleeding-edge-new cards. The mice
drivers are sparter now. Gamers and other GL fans will be pleased to know
Mesa got merged. Other cool things. PEX and XIE extensions are deprecated
and SuperProbe was removed (waaaah, I liked being able to ask the darn thing
what it thought it was finding, seperately of a startup attempt).
</P>
<P>
One of the beauties of free software, as well as the "everything is parts"
UNIX-like philosophy, is that (drum roll please) you do <EM>not</EM> have to upgrade
to the latest-and-greatest all the time just to make a few major apps work.
</P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
i am currently using version 4.01 on linux mandrake 8.1 and have =
downloaded the nvidia drivers for my geforce 2gts
i am unsure of what files i need to download as i cannot see a single =
file, all i see is confusion as i am very new to linux,
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
the nvidia site is somewhat confusing there, I agree. But then it's only a
very long list of binary distributions -- you want to get one of them only if
it's matchings yous exactly.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Otherwise take the generic source tgz packet and compile yourself. The README
contains the steps necessary to install them. It's long and goes through all
of the various packages for all the distributions so you need to read only
some part up front and then the specific part for the package you actually
got.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Generally you will need the GLX-package and the kernel package.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
can i install the nvidia drivers on xfree 4.01 and upgrade to xfree 4.2 =
later.
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
no idea -- I'm running the 1.1514 nivida drivers right now and that does not
require 4.2, so I didn't bother upgrading a running system.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Hmm, 4.2 says it released late January, so maybe if my more experienced eyes
surf over to nVidia...
</P>
<P>
Hmm, "Drivers" at the top of the Nav, "Linux" last among the bullets, new
driver release posted March 7. (wow, only a few days ago) Not that hard
to find, at all.
</P>
<P>
The part more likely to be confusing to newbies is that the driver comes in
two parts -- a component to be added to your X server, and a component to be
added to your kernel source before building a fresh kernel. That means you'll
want to have sources around for X (oh dear, building X isn't for novices) and
for your kernel (make menuconfig is pretty easy to use).
</P>
<P>
Or, if you happen to use one of the two distros the nVidia people themselves
use, you can get <A HREF="http://www.redhat.com/">Red Hat</A> or Mandrake packages... no <A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A>, eh? that sucks.
I seem to recall nVidia doesn't want other folks shipping their binaries?
(clicking open that "Legal Info" link) hmm, standard corporate "this is ours
not yours and you're licensed for one copy at a time" stuff. That would
suggest that I'm right in this regard. Checking <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</A>, there's a package
'nvidia-glx-src' which builds it for you, but the version in testing is
(no big surprise to me) not the one posted a few days ago. Which is ok since
it still has xfree 4.1 in it too.
</P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
also how can i boot to console mode to install the nvidia drivers, or =
can you just do it from an rpm installer in x.
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P>
nVidia notes that they have an NVchooser script you can use, and it will get
you the right rpm.
</P>
<P><STRONG>
You may be able to upgrade from X -- overwriting the former X drivers present.
On reboot this could get you in trouble if your default is a graphical login.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
I <EM>really</EM> would have X turned off while you update it. And I <EM>really</EM> would
back it up, since if your X already works it's a running setup, and if the
new stuff doesn't work so happily, you'd lose your GUI. Which is even worse
than annoying if you use a GUI login prompt
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/unsmily.gif" ALT=":("
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</P>
<P>
Anyways the real reason it's important is that file handles for any old parts
which are open, will not be re-opened to clue in. To be sure you did that
you'd need to stop X anyway. Safer to <EM>know</EM> it all got tweaked at once, then
turn it back on...
</P>
<P><STRONG>
You could try typing (as root):
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><CODE>
init 1
</CODE></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
on the commandline of a shell which would bring you down to a text-login
screen in single user mode. To test the news drivers you could try "startx"
to get an X-screen back.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
You might have to turn networking back on... single user mode strips a lot
more than most people want. Me, I favor keeping a text mode runlevel around;
that'd usually be telinit 3.
</P>
<P>
One of the few things that gives me a headache in Debian is that when you add
new bits that darned thing tends to add them to ALL the runlevels.
</P>
<P><STRONG>
If it's ok end it again and issue "init 3" or 5 (?) to get back to the
graphical login.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
traditionally it's been 5, but you <EM>really</EM> have to check your own system's
init sequence to be sure. Before you start poking around in single user
you can run the command 'runlevel' and it will tell you where you're at
already. For me <TT>/sbin/runlevel</TT> generates
N 3
</P>
<P>
meaning, I didn't have a "previous" runlevel, and I'm currently at runlevel
3 (consistent with me preferring text logins).
</P>
<P><STRONG>
I'm not running mandrake so I can't give you too much specifics on the init
levels they use or if there is something like startx.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
K.-H.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
I believe they still have a directory structure similar to RH in that regard.
I haven't encountered distros without startx in a loooong time, but, if you
use a GUI login that's not how you're normally launching it, but gdm or its
cousins tend to use the same xinitrc under the hood.
</P>
<p>-- Heather</p>
<!-- end 24 -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<P> <A NAME="tips/lj"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy"><i>Linux Journal</i>'s Weekly News Notes Tech Tips</FONT></H3>
<a name="lj/1"><h4>E-mail stats via Python</h4></a>
<p>
You can use Python to extract stats from mail.
</p>
<pre>
$ ./mail-predictor.py richard@ssc.com Mail/inbox Mail/richard
798 total messages from richard@ssc.com, 31 in this hour of the week.
Predicted activity level in the next hour: 6.526316
</pre>
<p align="center">See attached
<a href="misc/tips/mail-predictor.py.txt">mail-predictor.py.txt</a>
</p>
<hr width="10%" align="center">
<a name="lj/2"><h4>Tech Tips: Hotkeys</h4></a>
<p>
Press Alt-F2, then enter ##make for the GNU Info page on make.
</p>
<p>
Shift-Insert pastes the last thing from Klipper into Konsole.
</p>
<p>
Use Control + to select files in Konqueror by shell pattern.
</p>
<hr width="10%" align="center">
<a name="lj/3"><h4>Imposing a minimum font size on Mozilla</h4></a>
<p>
If fonts are coming out too small on Mozilla, and you want to block
the browser from ever setting fonts below a certain size, just put
</p>
<p><code>user_pref("font.minimum-size.x-western", 13);</code></p>
<p>
in your <tt>user.js</tt>. (If you don't have a <tt>user.js</tt>,
read "Customizing Mozilla":
<a href="http://www.mozilla.org/unix/customizing.html"
>http://www.mozilla.org/unix/customizing.html</a>.)
</p>
<p>
This option has changed from previous Mozilla versions; check out this
bug report page:
<a href="http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=30910"
>http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=30910</a> for details.
</p>
<P> <hr> </p>
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<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> 2002
<BR>Published in issue 77 of <I>Linux Gazette</I> April 2002</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>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -->
<center>
<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...
(<a href="tag/bios.html">meet the Gang</a>) ...
the Editors of Linux Gazette...
and You!
<br>Send questions (or interesting answers) to
The Answer Gang
for possible publication
(but read the <a href="../tag/ask-the-gang.html">guidelines</a> first)
</H4>
</center>
<!-- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -->
<p><hr><p>
<H3>Contents:</H3>
<dl>
<dt><a href="#tag/greeting"
><strong>&para;: Greetings From Heather Stern</strong></A></dl>
<DL>
<!-- index_text begins -->
<dt><A HREF="#tag/1"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
><strong>CRC errors on floppy disks</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/2"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
><strong>Can't See Boot Messages Even Though RedHat 7.2 Boots OK</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/3"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
><strong>The euro symbol</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/4"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
><strong>ntfs clobbered my ext3fs!!</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/5"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
><strong>Newbie seeking advice</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/6"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
><strong>Postfix name resolution fails, dig doesn't</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/7"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
><strong>Themes in Linux</strong></a>
<br>a game of win-upsmanship
<dt><A HREF="#tag/8"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
><strong>gaming in linux</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/9"
><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(?)" border="0"
><strong>linux questions</strong></a>
<!-- index_text ends -->
</DL>
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<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>It's a party, by
<a href="http://freshmeat.net/projects/jove/">Jove</a>!
<a href="http://ben.hartshorne.net/aargh/">aargh</a>,
<a href="http://truereality.emuhq.com/unix/index.shtml">TrueReality</a>
strikes, he's caught in a
<a href="http://www.owlriver.com/projects/trainwreq/">trainwreq</a>
and can't host.
<a href="http://linux.ctyme.com/man/man1725.htm">nice</a>
that
<a href="http://www.amanda.org">Amanda</a>
can be his backup,
<a href="http://www.muhri.net/pronto/">Pronto!</a>
The gals
<a href="http://www.vamphq.com/resources.html">Rachel</a>,
<a href="http://nadja.sourceforge.net/">Nadja</a>, and
<a href="http://www.lysator.liu.se/~unicorn/hacks/molly/">Molly</a>,
help her
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/jumpstart/">jumpstart!</a>
<a href="http://www.coreyo.net/projects/brunhilde/index.php">Brunhilde</a>,
and
<a href="http://edna.sourceforge.net/">edna</a>
handle the
<a href="http://music.ons.ca">MUSIC</a>,
<a href="http://astwww.chemietechnik.uni-dortmund.de/~deparade/sonstiges/">Thomas</a>'
brother gives out directions, and with my
<a href="http://www.bestlinux.net/">Best</a>
<a href="http://www.effortlinux.com.br/">Effort</a>
I don't get lost.
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://www.everybuddy.com/">everybuddy</a>
from the
<a href="http://www.tarball.net/postoffice/">PostOffice</a>
was there,
<a href="http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus/">Cyrus</a>,
<a href="http://althea.sourceforge.net/">Althea</a>,
<a href="http://ishmail.sourceforge.net/">Ishmail</a>,
<a href="http://www.fentun.com/">Fentun</a>,
<a href="http://www.vanja.com/tools/">Virge</a>,
<a href="http://www.dillivision.com/felix/">Felix</a>,
<a href="http://www.csua.net/~mjm/buffy">Buffy</a>,
<a href="http://linux.ctyme.com/man/man0139.htm">biff</a>
and their
<a href="http://www.mutt.org/">mutt</a>.
The old
<a href="http://www.hpc.uh.edu/majordomo/">majordomo</a>
greeted us; the
<a href="http://www.linuxhq.com/kernel/v2.4/doc/sound/Maestro.html">Maestro</a>
was in the
<a href="http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/rosegarden/">rosegarden</a>
by the
<a href="http://www.lilypond.org/">lilypond</a>.
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/joe-editor/">joe</a>,
<a href="http://www.kde.org/kate/">kate</a>,
and
<a href="http://linux.ctyme.com/man/man0442.htm">ed</a>
were full of
<a href="http://vim.sourceforge.net/">vim</a>.
<a href="http://davis.sourceforge.net/">DAVIS</a>
<a href="http://and.sourceforge.net/">and</a>
<a href="http://jakarta.apache.org/james/">JAMES</a>
brought out the
<a href="http://www.speech.kth.se/snack/">snack</a>
tray:
<a href="http://sawmill.sourceforge.net/">sawfish</a>
and
<a href="http://bluefish.openoffice.nl/">bluefish</a>
with
<a href="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/sauce/">SAUCE</a>,
<a href="http://freshmeat.net/">freshmeat</a>
with
<a href="http://sal.kachinatech.com/Z/1/SPICE.html">SPICE</a>
(<a href="http://mmondor.rubiks.net/software.html">ginseng</a>,
<a href="http://oregano.codefactory.se/">Oregano</a>,
<a href="http://salt.sourceforge.net/">SALT</a>,
and
<a href="http://www.tele.ucl.ac.be/PEOPLE/DOUXCHAMPS/ieee1394/coriander/">coriander</a>, using a
<a href="http://bnt.kourakos.com/~awk/tenderizer/">tenderizer</a>),
plus a
<a href="http://wgz.org/chromatic/jellybean.html">Jellybean</a>
bowl.
<a href="http://www.openje.org/jasper/jasper/docs/manuals/en/index.html">Jasper</a>
handed out
<a href="http://www.cups.org/">CUPS</a>
of
<a href="http://juicy.sourceforge.net/">juice</a>,
<a href="news:comp.os.linux.announce">c.o.l.a</a>,
<a href="http://www.winehq.com/">WINE</a>,
<a href="http://java.sun.com/j2se/">Java</a>,
<a href="http://www.jcorporate.com/html/products/expresso.html">Espresso</a>,
plus all the
<a href="http://liw.iki.fi/liw/texts/linux-anecdotes.html">virtual beer</a>
we could drink.
</p>
<p>
All is not
<a href="http://www.win.tue.nl/~gino/solid/">Solid</a>
in the
<a href="http://uncensored.citadel.org/citadel/">citadel</a>
though. Things got
<a href="http://zjuul.net/~jules/loco/">loco</a>
--
a <a href="http://kaptain.sourceforge.net/">Kaptain</a>
asked me into the
<a href="http://www.conferenceroom.com/products/productshome.shtml">ConferenceRoom</a>
so we could
<a href="http://www.speakfreely.org/main.html">SpeakFreely</a>.
"The
<a href="http://www.comanche.org/">Comanche</a>,
<a href="http://everythinglinux.org/Mohawk/">Mohawk</a>,
<a href="http://aurora.esi.uem.es/~alo/?action=cherokee">Cherokee</a>,
are making a
<a href="http://www.f00f.net/~bdamm/projects/martyr/index.html">Martyr</a>
of the
<a href="http://www.apache.org/">Apache</a>,
somebody's
<a href="http://www.venge.net/wagon/wagon.html">Wagon</a>
almost squished the
<a href="http://dillo.sourceforge.net/">Dillo</a>,
<a href="http://tavi.sourceforge.net/">Wikki Tikki Tavi</a>
is holding the
<a href="http://www.python.org/">python</a>
and
<a href="http://www.boa.org/">boa</a>
at bay, the
<a href="http://jsno.arafuraconnect.com.au/proj_linux/nighthawk.html">nighthawk</a>
and our cat
<a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/X11/demos/">oneko</a>
are both chasing the
<a href="http://cricket.sourceforge.net/">cricket</a>,
the
<a href="http://anteater.drzoom.ch/">Anteater</a>
ate
<a href="http://www.theory.org/software/ant/">Langton's Ant</a>
and I'm afraid the
<a href="http://basilix.org/">BasiliX</a>
is about to turn them all into lawn ornaments. To top it off that
<a href="http://prometheus.zerodivide.net/apps/pimp/">pimp</a>
won't lose his
<a href="http://freshmeat.net/projects/smirc/">smirc</a>.
<a href="http://w1.404.telia.com/~u40435244/mamamua/">Mama Mua</a>,
what a
<a href="http://www.devolution.com/~slouken/Maelstrom/">Maelstrom</a>..."
</p>
<p>
"Don't
<a href="http://www.linuxquake.com/">Quake II</a>
much." I had a
<a href="http://www.bitrot.de/plan.html">plan</a>.
Put a
<a href="ftp://ftp.cis.uab.edu/pub/hyatt">crafty</a>
<a href="http://chat.spin.de/">SPiN</a>
on it and I
<a href="http://phorecast.org/">Phorecast</a>
these
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/folk/">FOLK</a>
would avert
<a href="jcomm.uoregon.edu/~stevev/Linux-DOOM-FAQ.html">Doom</a>
and have a
<a href="http://kxl.hn.org/games.html">Grande</a>
<a href="http://linux.ctyme.com/man/man2823.htm">time</a>.
</p>
<p>
We should
<a href="http://www.definitelinux.com/">Definite</a>ly
do this again next
<a href="http://www.lls.se/~johanb/august/">August</a>.
</p>
<!-- end hgreeting -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<A NAME="tag/1"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 1 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
>CRC errors on floppy disks</H3>
<p><strong>From "David"
</strong></p>
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Dan Wilder, Heather Stern, John Karns
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG>
Thankyou for taking the time to read this. I am marked down as one of
the university
geeks, and it is coming around to the time to hand in
essays/dissertations etc.
Many people have put misplaced faith in the reliability of floppy disks.
Is there any tool for linux, which will allow me to ask the floppy
driver in the kernel to keep trying, so I can put together the
statistically "best" hex dumps,or extract raw text from Word docs etc.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Dan]
'Fraid I can't offer any way to recover the data once it's
lost to bad sectors, tho no doubt some way is possible.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Instead I'd like to offer the format script I use for floppies
before I'll trust 'em with my data. It culls out a lot of
floppies, and I find that floppies which once passed, after sitting
a few years on the shelf, will often no longer do so.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
User who runs this must have write permission to <TT>/dev/fd0h1440.</TT>
Requires mtools. Watch out, some distributions may obsolete
fdformat in favor of superformat.
</blockQuote>
<p align="center">See attached <tt><a href="misc/tag/goodfloppy.sh.txt">goodfloppy.sh.txt</a></tt></p>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Today I resuced a 6 page essay 10hrs before it was due,
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
The easiest way to do this sort of thing (I used to do it too) is
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
1. use dd to extract a raw image of floppy disks. This is sufficiently
reliable that it's now the <EM>normal</EM> way I mount floppies on my laptop.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><CODE>
dd if=/dev/fd0 of=/usr/local/floppy/student-name-ddmmyy.144 bs=18k
</CODE></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
In case you're curious 18k is the standard blocksize of a single track,
so this is the "native" amount of bits the floppy read heads want to read
anyway. It should be fastest and have the best chance of getting all the
rescuable bits.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
I already take a copy, as I am not the only geek with enough time, and I
don't want to write anything back to a damaged floppy. Thanks for the
advice with bs=18k I will use that next time.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Yep, it's about 8 times faster with that set.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
2. the rescue
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<ol type="a">
<li> See if Linux will mount the raw image - as it may be more reliable
than a floppy whose cookie got slow (in other words a straight read
is better than lots of little seeks)
<li>
if not, use 'strings' on the resulting file, noting that some of the
ASCII bits will just be raw strings of letters from headers and things
(e.g. "GIF89A")
</ol>
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Ugly but better than nothing during Finals Week.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Most disks that I have come across mount OK, but if all else fails, I
have all night, a copy of Peter Nortons PC Programmers Bible (plenty on
disk structure, FAT layout etc), and the promise of as much beer as I
can drink from the hapless author.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
I got a full case of Henry Weinhardt's Root Beer once. The gal knows I
don't normally drink alcohol. No wait, that wasn't in college, that
was in the corporate world. I got some cool coffeecups... uh no, that
was in the corporate world too. Nevermind
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";P"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
...but the 200
words held on the bad sectors were well and truly gone.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Sorry. Once there's scratch marks there, they lose.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
This is not so good, what I was really after is someway to attempt to
make best guesses for what is in those bad-sectors. I know that it
sounds difficult, but I am looking for something between Scandisk for
windows, and professionals in a clean-room!
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
We have dosfsck, of completely unknown reliability, but you're welcome
to try it too. What the heck.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Short of trying the floppy again in a floppy bay with different alignment,
basically you either got the bits, or you didn't. And indeed, you could
try that (though it submits the poor dented floppy to N more visits by
drive gear) and see if the md5sums of any of the dd images are different.
If so, scour the tweaked ones for anymore bits you can rescue also. Don't
hold your breath, but you'll have earned the extra brewskies if it works.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Clean-room efforts are basically able to micro-position the heads in the
hopes of seeing the last two to five major writes. Ontrack does such
recovery, but I dunno if they do floppies at all. I suspect not.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Is there
anything better than dd conv=noerror, that will allow me to access these
dodgey disks from linux. I am kind
of looking for something like Spinrite by Steve Gibson, but I would like
to have it
for linux, and for free.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
spinrite worked on IDE drives, not floppies.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
If you want a hex editor in the spirit of Norton Disk Editor, try lde, but
frankly, I'd use 'hexedit' (a curses-terminal program) on a dd image of the
floppy before I'd consider that ... to reduce the amount of usage tried on
an already poor-condition floppy.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Oh yeah, and much as ZIP and LS-120 bays are less popular, their cartridges
are <EM>much</EM> more reliable than standard floppies, and CD-RW even more so
(but sadly CD-RW cannot be written to directly, just burned as a complete
image -- and DVD-RAM drives are still not in the normal-consumer price range,
plus they're rare even in the Silicon Valley).
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Forget DVD-RAM <TT>/</TT> CD-RW. Most people use floppies to move work between
computer labs with internet, and our rooms without. Nobody in college
has administritave access to the networked PC's, and the amount of
people who simply use a floppy to avoid copying files around is scary.
We have just got new ZIP-250's, so things should look up for next term!
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Well, definitely looking up there!
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Oh yeah, remind people not to leave their floppies (or cartridges) lying
around in the noonday sun on the car shelf, or other places where they
would get toasty and you wouldn't put VHS tapes. It's basically the same
type of media with the same type of susceptibility to heat damage.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [John]
I usually keep floppies in the box they came in or in a small plastic bag.
If you examine one, you'll see that they have an open slot at the top edge
where the sliding metal access door is. When left out in the open air,
floating particles enter and adhere to the surface of the plastic disk
inside.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Zip disks don't seem to have such a comparatively large opening in the
housing as floppies, which may a reason they fare better. But one is very
well advised to keep all magnetic media, including tapes, in a protective
case or other dust barrier. I've noticed that plastic materials seem to
act like magnets for carbon dust, which when smudged leaves a grease spot
on the plastic material.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
I am reminded of a time that we posted somebody's ruined floppy to the
student-center wall... pried loose of its plastic envelope so the round
disc was revealed, dent and all. Caption: "Don't do this to
your floppy". I forget exactly what did it. The crease wasn't much -
maybe someone sat on it, I dunno. But it was definitely dead.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I don't know if your policies are about guest-level access only or you
create actual accounts for people there. If the latter then some sort of
share server (samba or perhaps one of those file-appliance boxes that have
gotten so popular) which looks like the same drive letter on all networked
boxes, would get people to use that instead. I like H: for "home" but
your tastes may vary. Combined with the permissions-by-login behavior
samba can provide it's not too bad. You might not want to make it automatic
or perhaps people will abandon logged in machines and mess up each other's
space. And not everyone would use it, perhaps they want to take some work
back to the dorm with them. They might even get them out of sync. (I think
the MSwin buzzword for doing it the right way is "My Briefcase" but don't
quote me, I could be wrong these days. Here in linux we use rsync, and have
to be careful about the commands we give it, too.) In other words it has
its own headaches... but it's not as unreliable at the bits level as floppies
are.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I think that's about as much as Linux can really do for throwing software
against what is basically a hardware and a clue-ware problem, but there
ya go. Best of luck in the efforts!
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Thanks in advance
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
David
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
P.S. If you publish my e-mail can you obscure it somehow. My uni acct is
so far spam-free and I would like to keep it that way.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Yes, we can anonymize you. If this stays short enough for Tips we'll put
"anonymous" instead of your email, and if enough of the Gang chime in it
may be a TAG thread, where emails are not published at all unless directly
related to the solution (e.g. project maintainers).
</blockQuote>
<!-- end 1 -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<A NAME="tag/2"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 2 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
>Can't See Boot Messages Even Though RedHat 7.2 Boots OK</H3>
<p><strong>From Bill Rust
</strong></p>
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Thomas Adam, Heather Stern
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG>
Hi,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I'm at a bit of a loss. When I install RedHat Linux 7.2, I get the Grub
menu, and after I select Linux, the screen goes blank.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas]
This happens on my "oh so wonderful" laptop
occasionally. I know this may seem strange, but does
the blank screen go, if you press any key on your
keyboard????
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
I can see the
hard disk accessing, and after a couple of minutes X starts, and life is
good.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas]
That really depends as to whether or not you like
using X-Window (X11). Personally, I am much more
comfortable at the console.
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
When I check my dmesg and <TT>/var/log</TT> messages file, I see no error
messages on the boot. I also noticed that when I boot for the install
and to boot in rescue mode, I not only get messages, I get the picture
of Tux in the upper left corner of the display.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas]
BINGO!! The fact that Tux appears in the upper left
hand corner of your screen immediately suggests that
you are using Framebuffers for your display. What this
does, is it forces the console to display at a certain
resolution, such as 800x600. It is particularly suited
to laptop users. But why you should have FB when
loading the "rescue" mode is strange......
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
I've searched high and low in Google (web and groups), and your archives
and can't seem to find an answer. Any help would be appreciated.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Hardware:
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>Athlon 1.33GHz (clocked at 1.33, at least for now)
<br>ATA 100 UDMA Promise (motherboard) IDE
<br>IBM 7200 RMP 40GB HD
<br>Geforce 2 TI/AGP w/64DDR
<br>SB Live value
<br>52x CDROM
<br>12/10/32A Plextor CDRW
</font></code></blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
I am dual booting with Win98SE (for games)
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Things I've tried:
</STRONG></P>
<UL>
<li> Booting with LILO instead
<li> Setting vga=ask in lilo.conf
<li> Removing 'message=/boot/message' from lilo.conf
<li> Installing the Geforce drivers from their website (they worked great
by the way, and I was able to run GL stuff very fast indeed!)
<br>
</UL><blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas]
Since you have already changed your lilo.conf file to:
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><BLOCKQuote>
vga=ask,
</BLOCKQuote></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
then perhaps we can rule out the this cannot be a FB
(FrameBuffer) problem???
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Probably the modelines it is calculating for "text mode" are not quite
in your monitor's range. The nice thing is since X works you can use
xvidtune or even capture the console messages to find out which modeline
it is using, and there is some utility out there which can convert X
modelines to framebuffer values. Unfortunately I don't recall what it is,
But fbset would be the tool you'd use with the resulting knowledge of a
good horizontal sync, vertical refresh, and dotclocks rate.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Telling LILO to use vga=ask is only half of the troubleshooting -- you
also need to know what to answer, because the nice graphical-text modes
will <EM>not</EM> be listed there. Here's the table from the Linux sources
<TT>/Documentation/fb/vesafb.txt</TT> file:
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><pre> | 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024
----+-------------------------------------
256 | 0x301 0x303 0x305 0x307
32k | 0x310 0x313 0x316 0x319
64k | 0x311 0x314 0x317 0x31A
16M | 0x312 0x315 0x318 0x31B
</pre></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
But, oh no, it warns that LILO cannot handle hexadecimal, you have
to change them to decimal, 771 for instance.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Try any of these until one of them makes your system happy, then tell LILO
to use it all the time instead of asking any more.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas]
(You did remember to run:
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><CODE>
lilo
</CODE></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
after you updated the lilo.conf file
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">??? )
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Other than trying my suggestions already mentioned, I
don't know what else I can do.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Perhaps you could send us a copy of the command:
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><CODE>
dmesg &amp;&gt; ~/dmesg.txt
</CODE></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
output???
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Kind Regards,
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Thomas Adam
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
P.S. I like the structure of this e-mail. It clearly
states the problem, and what the querent has tried to
do in order to solve it -- well done!!!
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Ben's article is working.......
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<!-- end 2 -->
<!-- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -->
<HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center">
<!-- begin 2 -->
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Thanks for the quick response!
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas]
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle"> All part of the service!
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
OK, I tried the keyboard thing after the screen went
blank; no such
luck, same behavior
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas]
Oh well. It was always a "shot in the dark" (do excuse
the pun!)
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
I tried setting my initdefault to 3 instead of 5 in
the <TT>/etc/inittab</TT>
file. It still went blank immediately after the grub
menu goes away,
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Oh dear, I don't know how to tell it to use other VGA modes
in grub. With any luck it's just an extra option that the
kernel itself acceopts,
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
but interestingly enough, I never got a prompt after
what I can only
presume was the end of the boot process.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas]
Thats because you don't usually get "a prompt" (well,
you do, but....).
By prompt, I assume that you mean a login prompt??
What happens when
you change your defaulr inittab to 5 is that your
login prompt does
appear in text, but is immediately switched to tty7
where a graphical
one takes its place.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I know this may seem strange, but you should "listen"
to your monitor as
it boots up into init 5. If you hear a series of
clicks then it is booting
into a graphical display ok.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Since I'm working blind here,
I can assume one of two things
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas]
...
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
1) my console is not functioning
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas]
No....its functioning ok. You said it yourself, that
you can get a prompt
if you do a CTRL-ALT-FX key sequence.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
or 2)
the system is hung. I suspect the latter, because
when I try to bring
up another terminal (CTRL-ALT F2, F3, etc), I still
get nothing - by the
way, CTRL-ALT F2 does work when I boot level 5. I
used the CD in rescue
mode to reset my inittab back to 5, and here I am up
and running again
(still have the blank screen tho).
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas]
You know, I have had this situation before. In some
displays, there is a
problem of getting the text to display itself when at
the console.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
What you could try, is the following:
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><CODE>
[ ** I do not know how the init structure (i.e.
<BR>location of files is
<BR>organised under RedHat. But, if it is anything like
<BR><A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A>, then the init
<BR>files should be in "/etc/init.d" -- as per the LSB
<BR>standard ** ]
</CODE></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
You should have on your system, a file called:
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><BLOCKQuote>
boot.local
</BLOCKQuote></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
into this file, add the following command:
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><CODE>
setfont &amp;
</CODE></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
That might, un-blank your screen, it works on my
laptop, and might just
solve your problem.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
I forgot to mention that I tried the 'nofb' argument
after reading the
bootprompt HOWTO. I'm not ready to rule out the
frame buffer, however.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Maybe the answer would be to try to get it to work.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Any pointers as to
where I could find a HOWTO??
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas]
Aye....you could have a peek at the following website:
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><BLOCKQuote>
<A HREF="http://www.linuxdocs.org"
>http://www.linuxdocs.org</A>
</BLOCKQuote></blockQuote>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
With regards to the lilo question. Yes, I did run
lilo after the
changes. The reason I am referring to the Grub
screen now is because I
eventually had a boot problem.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas]
What kind of boot problem?? Lilo has been the de-facto
boot loader for
Linux, for years, and is adept and handling most
things in my opinion.
And it now offers nice colourful menus, which it did
not before.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Since, I couldn't see the screen, I
couldn't see an error message. I was then able to
use the rescue mode
on the CDROM, but I couldn't find anything in
the <TT>/var/log/messages</TT>
file. I also did an 'ls -lrt' in the log directory
to see if there were
any newly updated files from the same day, but didn't
see anything. I
eventually gave up and reinstalled Linux.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas]
Hum....this is a very interesting problem Bill.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
I have attached the dmesg text. Thanks for the tips;
I hope we can get
this mystery solved!
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas]
I'm trying
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I looked over your dmesg output...nothing out of the
ordinary there.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Keep at it. I hope I have been of some help. Do let me
know if my
suggestion succumb or not.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Kind Regards,
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Thomas Adam
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066"><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather] Unfortunately that dmesg output was lost from the threads visible to me.
However, I post this note here, with my additional comments about selecting
framebuffer modes, and in the hopes that someone amongst our readers may
be able to shed some light on his monitor's darkness.
</font></blockquote>
<!-- end 2 -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<A NAME="tag/3"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 3 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
>The euro symbol</H3>
<p><strong>From Mark McGrath
</strong></p>
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Jay R Ashworth, Mike "Iron" Orr, Yann Vernier, Ben Okopnik, Andreas Daab
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG>
Here's an interesting question that I thought you
might take a look at. IT applies more to the Europeans
among us but then maybe the wider community might
benefit if it were broadened to the wider question of
dealing with different fonts!
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
How is it possible to view the euro symbol on programs
running on linux machines, programs like netscape,
emacs, mutt, etc., etc.,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanks in advance.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Sl&aacute;n,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Mark.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
I quoted all of that for a reason.
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
This is a good one, and one that's cropping up on several of the mail
lists in which I participate, as well. It's a multi-faceted problem.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Using non-ASCII characters (I was going to say "on a PC", but that's
sort of obvious) requires several things:
</blockQuote>
<UL>
<li> A way to type them in.
<li> A way to ensure that the OS you're using knows which character set
they're in. (A character set is a mapping of bytes to glpyhs, a glyph
being a picture of a character in a font. You can have many fonts in
the same character set.)
<li> The program has to be equipped to handle incoming characters in
arbitrary character sets, and either to retrieve the mapping
information from the OS, or be told it itself.
<li> If the program interacts with other programs, there has to be a
standardized way of tagging which information is in which character
sets.
<br>
and finally
<br>
<li> A way to get them back out on the screen so you can read them.
<br>
</UL><blockQuote>
Each of these is handled, in Linux, by different things, and you need
to make sure that all the pieces are in place. Frankly, I wouldn't be
surprised at all to see an amendement to X3.64, the ASCII standard
(which I think is also ISO 10646), to include the Euro character.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Actually, I'm surprised it's not there already.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Iron]
There aren't any empty slots in ASCII. You'd have to replace something like
the backslash or the pipe symbol, and that would wreak havoc on situations
that don't expect these glyphs to change, like ASCII art, shell scripts and
Windows pathnames.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
Well, no, I think you could find some other character to replace. I
should clarify that I really don't mean USASCII (the 7 bit character
set), what I really mean is "the most common 8-bit extended version of
ASCII" -- though admittedly I don't know what that is. ISO-8859-0?
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Yann]
-1, for western europe. -2 is eastern europe. Euro variants are -15 and
-16 respectively, I think. The replaced character is €, which is an
ancient sun symbol that also means "currency". It has the high bit set.
Swedish people got lucky in that some odd person decided to put that
character on our keyboards long ago - it's at Shift+4, with $ at
AltGr+4. However, this also means that our keys are now marked with both
"sol" (sun in swedish) and "Euro" (AltGr+E), but in different positions,
and either one may or may not work.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Iron]
Although I think character 35 (# or number sign) shows up as L (pound sterling)
on British screens and other currency symbols in other places, no?
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
Yeah, it tends to...
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
An answer to this question of the Euro has, probably not all that
surprisingly, been written already; it's the Euro Character Support
miniHOWTO:
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><BLOCKQuote>
<A HREF="http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/mini/Euro-Char-Support"
>http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/mini/Euro-Char-Support</A>
</BLOCKQuote></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
...but it's sort of weak, and may be specific to Finnish.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Iron]
As it says, new charsets have been added to the LATIN-x series containing
the euro symbol. Are these high-bit characters? If so, they'll have the
usual problem with non-ASCII characters: they show up differently depending
on which charset is loaded on the recipient's computer, and whether the program/
console can switch charsets according to the document or portion of the
document.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
Yeah. But there's a pretty standard default 8-bit set these days,
isn't there? Even if it's just "IBM Code Page 437/850".
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Yann]
Code pages 437 and 850 are incompatible, which annoyed people here no
end as letters in our alphabet are different in the two. The "pretty
standard" set is Latin 1, or ISO 8859-1, which happens to coincide with
codepage 850 quite a lot.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
There doesn't actaully seem to be a general HOWTO on using non-ASCII
character sets with Unix that I can find at the moment [spots
opportunity
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">], but some of the specific ones inlclude those for
Belarussian, Danish, Hebrew, and the Unicode one -- which is probably
where we should all be headed anyway... though the idea of security
holes in the <EM>character set</EM> worries me a touch...
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Hope this helps at least a little bit; you're correct; it's a weak
spot.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Iron]
"ASCII" means characters 0-127, which have been standardized since the 1960s.
(See "man ascii", also a good idea if you need to look up a character, or to
convert decimal/hex/octal/character.) Characters 0-31 are nonprintable control
codes, 32-127 are adequate for English and programming languages. On older
computers, the high-bit characters (128-255) weren't avaiable because the OS
used the bit for something else (e.g., Apple ][ used it to represent "inverse
video character"). (Actually, I also remember reading something about the
Apple ][ using the high bit as a strobe bit, meaning a character was received.
It's been twenty years; my memory is faulty.)
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
To support other languages, various 8-bit charsets were introduced. The
ISO-8859-x series ("man iso_8859_1") is the most common on UNIX. -1 (aka
LATIN-1) covers Western Europe (Germanic/Romance languages), -2 (aka LATIN-2)
covers Eastern Europe (Slavic languages), -3 (aka LATIN-3) covers miscellaneous
Europe (and Esperanto
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle"> ).
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ben]
&lt;narrowed eyes behind the dark glasses&gt; You thought I'd miss that, didn't
you? The Revolution Never Sleeps.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Iron]
No, I knew you'd never miss that. You had extensive training, comrade.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
The higher-numbered series cover Cyrillic, Greek,
Turkish, Celtic, etc. New series were added to address deficiencies in previous
series for certain languages, and to add the Euro symbol.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
LATIN-1 is the default charset for the Linux console and xterm, following
widespread UNIX precedent, and because it was convenient for Linus and
most of the original Linux users.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Codepage 850 and the like are from the DOS world, and do the same thing but in
an incompatible way.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Russia is in an unusual situation because a native charset, KOI8-r, competes
with ISO-8859-5 and Codepage ???. One advantage of KOI8 is that if the high
bit gets lost, it degenerates cleanly into readable ASCII, and can easily be
converted back by restoring the missing bit. Unfortunately, the makers of
ISO-8859-5 and Codepage ??? didn't think about just adopting the KOI8
character positions. Blame it on the Cold War. Some Russian web sites have
a switch link to switch between the four most common charsets.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
All 8-bit charsets have the disadvantage that they can display only one other
language family + English. If you need to write in two other language families,
you have to use ASCII for one, because the console, xterm and text documents
cannot change charsets in mid-document.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Unicode, being a 16-bit charset (or more), solves all these problems, but on
Linux it hasn't reached the stage of no-brainer setup or universal support by
all applications.
</blockQuote>
<!-- end 3 -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center">
<!-- begin 3a -->
<blockquote><img src="../gx/dennis/bbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(!) " border="0"
> [Andreas Daab]
Hi!
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
No Problem with <A HREF="http://www.redhat.com/">Red Hat</A> 7.2 and euro under console, <A HREF="http://www.kde.org/">KDE</A> and konsole.
I&quot;m from Germany and have to put the following settings in
/etc/sysconfig/i18n:
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><pre>LANG="de_DE@euro"
SUPPORTED="de_DE@euro:de_DE:de"
SYSFONT="lat0-sun16"
SYSFONTACM="iso15"
</pre></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
Okay, this gives me the euro symbol on the console.
For X and kde remember to use the iso8859-15 charset, your correct language
and country settings. If the euro symbol works in X, set it as curreny symbol
in KDE.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
If you wan't the euro for konsole, use unicode as fontset.
Mozilla shows the euro, if you use the iso8859-15 charset with all fonts and
as default character coding (Preferences/Navigator/Character Coding).
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Hope this works for you.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Andreas Daab
</blockQuote>
<!-- end 3a -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<A NAME="tag/4"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 5 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
>ntfs clobbered my ext3fs!!</H3>
<p><strong>From John
</strong></p>
<p></strong></p>
<!-- sig -->
<!-- sig -->
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Faber Fedor, Guy Milliron, Ben Okopnik, Robos, Karl-Heinz Herrman
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG>
Hello,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Today I rebooted my happily working winXP/RH 7.2
system to a grub error 17. I can boot with a grub
floppy into windows (chainloader +1), but not Linux.
When I try to mount the linux partition in rescue mode
(booting a Redhat 7.2 CD) and mount the partition it
doesn't work.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Faber]
Partitioning problems! I <EM>like</EM> these!
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
An error message here would be nice, but you did so well in the rest of
the message, I'll forgive you this time.
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Here is the listing from fdisk -l:
</STRONG></P>
<pre><strong>Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 2482 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id
System
/dev/hda1 1025 1723 5614717+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2 1718 2416 5614717+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 2417 2481 522112+ 82 Linux swap
</strong></pre>
<P><STRONG>
If I run "fdisk <TT>/hda</TT>" and go (x)pert mode and then
(v)erify partition table I get "warning: partition 1
overlaps partition 2. 16466623 unallocated sectors"
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
And as you may have noticed in the fdisk listing, my
ntfs partition does indeed end after the beginning of
my linux partition.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Faber]
So? Un-overlap it!
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
A flippant answer, you say? That's what I'm known for! But seriously,
let's think about this...
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Somehow, someway, your partition table got flaky. Now, the overlap
occurs at the end of one parition and the beginning of another. What
are the chances that you have Windows data residing at the end of hda1?
If there is a good chance, then you're frelled, and you have learned why
you should never put your operating system, your user data, and your
application all on one partition.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
If you had, say, put <TT>/</TT> on hda2, <TT>/home</TT> on hda6 and <TT>/usr</TT> on hda7, then
in your scenario only <TT>/</TT> would be affected and that could be taken care
of with a re-install as a worse case. As it is, a re-install would end
up wiping out everything on hda2.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
However, if there is a low chance that there is data at the end of hda1,
you might/should be in good shape.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
So, I'm assuming there is no Windows data written to the end of hda1,
which means the Linux data is still on the hard drive (the partition
table is read by the computer to determine where the partitions start
and stop; there is no division done on the hard drive itself).
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
So I don't see why you can't fire up fdisk, and go in and set the end of
hda1 to block 1717. Write the changes to disk, shut down the machine,
sacrifice two chickens under a full moon (which it is tonight, so you're lucky
you don't have to wait another month) and restart the machine. If you
sacrificed the right kind of chickens (which is left as an exercise for
the reader), it will come back up.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
That actually occured to me, but I thought I could
only make things worse by manually toying with this
stuff.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ben]
There's a far higher probability of making things worse by letting some
<EM>automatic</EM> process twiddle with it.
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle"> I'm afraid it doesn't usually get
resolved by divine intervention, so the manual method is what's left.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<em>Uninformed</em> manual twiddling is something to be afraid of. Dynamite is not
of itself dangerous; however, it becomes a terrifying thing when handled by
the ignorant. Knowledge is the key factor that makes all the difference.
Just to throw in my $0.02, Faber has hit this particular nail on the head.
Also, note that just changing the disk parameters as he has suggested is
fairly harmless, as long as you don't write any data to those partitions;
if you write down the current numbers, you can always revert to them in the
worst case (however, you already know that they're wrong, so that's not
much help.)
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
One question though - what command under fdisk
do I use to set the end of a partition?
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ben]
'x' to get you into expert mode, 'c' to change the number of cylinders.
Again, writing down the current values is a good thing, even if it's of
marginal value in this specific case.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
When I try to fsck <TT>/dev/hda2</TT> I get "Bad magic number
in super-block while trying to open <TT>/dev/hda2</TT>"
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Faber]
That makes sense. fsck needs to read the super-block to do it's thing.
It assumes that the first super-block is at block...uh...1 *from the
beginning of the partition*. f that super-block is frelled, you can try
the backup superblocks; the first one is located at block 32 and the
others are located Ghu knows where on your system, but I'm sure we could
devise a way to find out if you pleaded very nicely.
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
My guess is that the first super-block is located in the overlap area,
so that wouldn't help you anyway.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
So try my suggestion &lt;spooky music&gt;if you dare&lt;/spooky music&gt; and let
us know how it turns out.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Oh, and next time, make some backups...
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
I'm at the end of my rope here. There is a small
amount of data on the partition I'd really like to
retrieve. I can't think of anything unusual that I've
done recently to cause this problem - certainly
nothing with my partition tables.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Robos]
Hi!
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Regarding the last sentences I have an idea: might it have been
windows doing some "defragmenting"? Someone quite recently told me
that win packs the stuff it intends to move to some other place
temporarily at the end of the partition since there is most of the
time some space left. This, in conjunction with your overlapping
partitions, might have been the end of that particular linux
partition (and might also not be saved by the methods destribed by the
others since they assume that the data in the linux part is still
intact...so I'd recommend 2 chicken, 2 ox and, if handy, a virgin...)
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
I appreciate any
help you guys can offer.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
-John Bronson
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
PS: Error 17 is described in the GRUB manual
(<A HREF="http://www.gnu.org/manual/grub-0.90/html_mono/grub.html"
>http://www.gnu.org/manual/grub-0.90/html_mono/grub.html</A>)
as "17 : Cannot mount selected partition: This error
is returned if the partition requested exists, but the
filesystem type cannot be recognized by GRUB."
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Guy]
I just wanted to say, Faber, very well done. Few people really understand
Partitioning so well.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I spent about a year working at STAC Electronics in SQA (Software Quality
Assurance - AKA Alpha Stage Testing) and nearly had intimate relations with
HD's and their functionality.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
For those lost in this conversation, Faber answered a question concerning
HD Partitioning very well. STAC Electronics writes a program called
Stacker (Double your disk capacity - Runtime/Real Time disk compression)
For DOS/W!n3.x-9x and OS/2. I was the lead tester for the software as it
came downstairs from the programmers.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Well, I still haven't been able to effect any
permenant change with fdisk. If I do "fdisk <TT>/dev/hda</TT>"
the (c)hange command described before wants to change
the number of cylinders on the whole disk.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [K.-H.]
Hmm.... I don't know that "c" command, maybe that's what it does.
Were you in expert mode?
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
If I do
"fdisk <TT>/dev/hda1</TT>" and do that command
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [K.-H.]
bad idea. the partition table you want to change is definitely at <TT>/dev/hda</TT>
and nowhere else.
I guess what you did change is a "partition table " at the beginning of hda1
(therefore changing the first block of hda1 which may or may not be
important, it's the Win boot sector IIRC).
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
it seems to ask
the right question "Number of cylinders? Default: 699"
...699 being about right. You get 698 when you
subtract 1723 from 1025 (See my fdisk listing).
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [K.-H.]
If there is no size change command do in fdisk (norml mode, not expert):
p for the table
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
then delete the partition 1 (d or r ?)
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
and create a new one wih the same start cylinder but the correct end cylinder
number. Then it's smaller. This <EM>only</EM> changes the data in the partiton talbe
and nothing on the drive itself and is simply a resizeing of the partiton.
The deletion in the partition table will not delete anything on the partition
itself.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Now, when I try to set it to a lower number (692 by my
subtraction) and (w)rite to partition table it calls
<TT>ioctl()</TT> etc. and does its thing, but the partition
table is still the same when I "fdisk -l"...Am I
missing something here?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Also, if the beginning of the ext3 partition have been
written to, are there no recovery tools to get the
data back? I know in FAT land, Norton Utilities has
saved my bacon more than once in similar situations.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Robos]
Concerning the last part, I one heard that the norton clone midnight
commander has some option to undelete stuff, alternatively there is an
undeletion howto at linuxdoc.org. But I never tried either of 'em...
Concerning the fdisk part:
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><pre>sfdisk has four (main) uses: list the size of a partition,
list the partitions on a device, check the partitions on a
device, and - very dangerous - repartition a device.
</pre></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
This is the tool for the real "nerves made of steel" types. Never used
it (I'm such a sissy
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">) but a friend of mine uses it in cases like
yours.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [K.-H.]
You can run e2fsck and it will do what it can -- but overwritten data at the
beginning of the drive is overwritten data. The problem is that you never
know which of your files got corrupted unless you can check then one by one.
You could try to keep the inode numbers e2fsck reports somewhere (logfile
option of e2fsck?) and there is an option to ls to show the inode numbers of
files and compare, but it's tedious work -- even to write the script/program
doing the work.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
if your NTFS has written over your ext3 partition it trashed all information
in the first part of hda2 -- including inode information, data blocks,...
So e2fsck in that part does not understand it's inodes anymore, maybe
misinterprets some of them causing even more problems. On the other hand you
may be quite lucky and it's not overwritten at all or e2fsck can repair the
rest of the partition without to much problems. You don't have the original
partition table around? Do you maybe remember with what "+500M" or whatever
size parameters you made them? That would help a lot in finding the real
cylinder border between hda1 and hda2.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
I used DOS fdisk to make the first partition (later
converted to NTFS by WinXP) and Disk Druid to install
the rest of it. So I don't know what parameters were
used to create the table. Also, I don't have the old
partition table. Is that something I would keep around
if I were L33T? I guess it would be easy to print out
once the system is up and running.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [K.-H.]
I don't know if I'm L33T, but I do keep printed (i.e. on paper) partiton
tables around or at least digital version on other computers.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I started with this behaviour when suddenly my partition table on a multi boot
system got messed up (NT 3.51 was told by me to install itself in a logic
partition where other logic partitions were used by Linux -- NT chose to
disregard this wish of mine.... This was evolutionary not a wise thing to
do, one NT down
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">. At that time fortunately I knew that I made my
partitions by giving Linux fdisk sizes in round numbers (like +500M) and
fdisk did indeed calculated the same cylinder boundaries. (Data fully
recovered, only the partition right after NT was clobbered -- which was /
and had no user data <TT>/usr</TT> and <TT>/home</TT> stayed untouched (but were gone in the
partition table)).
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
There's a tip for
the future.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [K.-H.]
I think so, yes.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
As for the FAT -&gt; NTFS conversion causing
this problem, I doubt it because that happened a
couple of months ago.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
So how dangerous to my winXP partition is this
operation? I will, at worst, lose some data if it
happens to be at the end of the partition, right? I
<em>probably</em> won't make the NTFS partition un-bootable,
right? (I use "probably" because I know nothing is
certain in this case)
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [K.-H.]
Hmm.... NT usually had all important stuff at the beginning of the drive.
Win9X always shows some block at the partition end as "system and unmovable"
but on the other hand after that Partition Magic can resize the partition
easily. So I think neither Win Fileformat has usually important thing at the
end.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
So I think you should be reasonably save from damaging the XP partiton
completely. And if XP <EM>did</EM> increase its partition over its original size
there shouldn't be anything belongig to XP anyway.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
e2fsck has some option to just check but change nothing -- that could help
testing if by this partition change you <EM>can</EM> recover the Linux partition. If
this seems to work let it write and hope for the best.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
from man e2fsck:
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><pre> -n Open the filesystem read-only, and assume an answer
of `no' to all questions. Allows e2fsck to be used
non-interactively. (Note: if the -c, -l, or -L
options are specified in addition to the -n option,
then the filesystem will be opened read-write, to
permit the bad-blocks list to be updated. However,
no other changes will be made to the filesystem.)
</pre></blockquote>
<!-- end 5 -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<A NAME="tag/5"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 6 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
>Newbie seeking advice</H3>
<p><strong>From David Bruce
</strong></p>
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Jay R. Ashworth, Robos, Heather Stern
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
I have an old IBM Aptiva (1996) with 30 MB of memory. I have
plenty of disk space (2 hard drives with 3 partitions, 1.2 GB, 2
GB, 1 GB)
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
I would like some advice on the best distribution to use, and the
windows manager which will run efficiently with my current low
amount of memory.
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
I am not much good with hardware, and want the install to be as
automated as possible.
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
I want a simple home user computer setup.
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000099"><EM>
<BR>&gt;While Linux is fairly adept at running in low-resource environments,
<BR>&gt;they are not always by any means the most comfortable environments
<BR>&gt;in which to work. If you really don't want things to be complicated
<BR>&gt;and require work and thought, you should consider getting something
<BR>&gt;more current. Computers got <EM>REALLY</EM> cheap last year -- a decent
<BR>&gt;machine can be had -- new -- for under $400, if you shop really
<BR>&gt;carefully.
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
So you think I should get rid of my 486-33 sx laptop I'm writing
this mail on and get some newer hardware? I don't think so! In my...
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
Well, no, that's not what I said at all, now, is it?
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
And you are obviously <EM>not</EM> an unskilled user looking for a home
machine, so you're willing to put whatever time and extra effort might
be necessary into the job of running Linux (and X) on a low resource
machine.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Defenestration is my guess...
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Buzzword Bingo: "defenestration" means being thrown out of windows.
(Or maybe an opening, like in all those old movies where someone is
tossed out of the saloon bodily.) So perhaps meta-defenestration should
mean throwing Windows(tm) out a window.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Robos]
Hiya again.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Well, I just wanted to make a point that it's perfectly possible to
use even old hardware. And you don't have to be a nasa-scientist to
install linux even on those machines.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
BTW, whats that machine exactly? Something in the range of pentium
133-233 I guess? I also have one machine like that at my parents
place, running even enlightenment (not extremly fast, but workable).
And something like windowmaker or icewm will run even fast on those
machines. And the installation: Dunno about the likes of redhat and
suse if they can apply their framebuffer thingy, so with debian he is
on the safe side (a nice way of saying their installer design sucks
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">. OK, it is harder than suse or redhat, but he already knows TAG
and if he takes a look at debianhelp.org (where I also hang around
some times) he will do just fine. Do you also know such things as
"OSIPs"? It's Open Source Install Party and we do it regularly at my
university for the freshmen. But also non-students are welcome. Where
was the original querent from and does such things exist in his area
too?
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
In my region we call it an Installfest. The BSD folk call theirs
Install-a-thons.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
My own recipe for running GUI mode on a low resource machine:
</blockQuote>
<UL>
<li> Use as wimpy a window manager as you can get away with. Fvwm's good.
<br>
Icewm's good. Enlightenment would depend on a theme with not too
many total bits in it to eat memory, but could do okay, even on a
486. Blackbox is good. K desktop is right out, Gnome too; there's
too many moving parts loaded in the desktops.
<br>
<li> Avoid running ANY servers you don't need to. 2 gettys are plenty.
<br>
inetd can go. cron and atd can go if you don't use them. Ditch lpd
until you plan to do a bunch of printing.
<br>
<li> Have good swap space.
<li> Use a solid-color background instead of a pixmap, even a tiled one.
<li> Build a perfectly tuned kernel for your hardware. Modules, no bloat.
<li> No desktop toys like cpu meters, xmas snow, screensavers.
<li> Avoid framebuffer, it's heavy on real CPU usage.
<li> In a worst case, less colors = less memory spent on screen efforts.
<br>
</UL><blockQuote>
<A HREF="http://www.libranet.com/">LibraNet</A>'s a good <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</A> variety, among rpm matters I favor <A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A> as it
lets me be picky fairly safely, and both updaters are well behaved. SuSE
has a text mode available if the GUI doesn't work out. Libranet is a full
screen but text mode installer.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
If it makes you feel better I had a perfectly happy install of Redhat 3.03
with GUI and all, on a Pentium-60 with not an incredible boatload of RAM
amd about 500 Mb of hard disk. X has gotten bigger, but with X 4 it has
also gotten modular amd that may improve things too. But there are always
floppy-based dustros that speak X - they can't assume they're going to be
running on the hot multimedia monster, so they cut all the corners to fit,
just like you need.
</blockQuote>
<!-- end 6 -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<A NAME="tag/6"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 7 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
>Postfix name resolution fails, dig doesn't</H3>
<p><strong>From Faber Fedor
</strong></p>
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Ben Okopnik, Dan Wilder, Yann Vernier, Jay R. Ashworth, Heather Stern
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG>
Hey Gang!
You probably haven't noticed, but I've been a bit quiet the past few days. It's
certainly not by choice, however. I was recently switched over from @Home to
the lovely Comcast network. After a few birthing pains, everthing seemed to be
going well. However, I've sent out a few emails, including to the Gang, and
I've not seen them show up.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Looking into <TT>/var/log/maillog</TT>, I see, as an example, the following:
</STRONG></P>
<pre><strong>Mar 7 22:52:25 uranus postfix/smtp[12586]: 0A9F2FE16:
to=&lt;linux-questions-only@ssc.com&gt;, relay=none, delay=28121, status=deferred
(Name service error for ssc.com (Host not found, try again) while looking up
the MX record.)
</strong></pre>
<P><STRONG>
and I see this for every email I've tried to send for the last few days.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
So I check my ability to do name resolution. I do a `dig ssc.com mx` and I get
the correct response. dig, ping, nslookup works for every email address I've
sent to in the pat few days, but no emails are sent because of "Host not found
while looking up MX record".
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Any ideas where to look next?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
===== Sincerely, Faber Fedor
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Den]
Maybe postfix has managed to latch in your old nameserver information.
You might try the command:
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><BLOCKQuote>
postfix reload
</BLOCKQuote></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Yann]
Quite probable. Postfix also has a tendency to run as much as possible
in a chroot jail; to update the contents of that, you probably have to
run the <TT>/etc/postfix/chroot-setup-LINUX2</TT> script. This had me stumped for
a while after changing <TT>/etc/localtime</TT> but still getting american
timestamps in the mail.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Err, the Postfix FAQ has a point here and there of saying "oh, you want to
copy <TT>/etc/resolv.conf</TT> and <TT>/etc/services.switch</TT> down into the jail"
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Which would likely be true whether there is a script to help it do the
right thing or not.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ben]
My familiarity with Postfix is no more than skin-deep, but if it follows
the Exim way of doing things (i.e., emulating Sendmail options), you might
be able to try some of the following:
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><pre>sendmail -d11 -bt # Address testing mode
sendmail -d11 -bv # Address testing mode, skips "no_verify" routers
</pre></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
A debug level of 11 or above turns on DNS debugging (at least in Exim.)
Here's hoping that all this stuff is at least close... you might want to
read the Postfix manpage; if it's not the same options, they should at
least implement similar functionality.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Dan]
Sorry Ben, no direct debugging. Use syslog. Postfix isn't a monolithic
program,
but a cluster of cooperating daemons, with no protocol for centralizing
debugging info and having one of them dump to standard out. Rather than
reinvent the wheel, Wietse Venema has Postfix consolidate its log streams
via syslog.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Put it into verbose mode then tail -f whatever syslog puts
the various mail.* syslog streams into.
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><pre> postfix -v reload
tail -f whatever_log_file
</pre></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
and in another window
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><pre> postfix flush
</pre></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
to make it retry all pending spool entries and log what it sees happen.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
All nameservers in your <TT>/etc/resolv.conf</TT>, or the nameservers assigned by DHCP
(see logs) are reachable, I presume.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
In a manner of speaking, yes. postfix uses
<TT>/var/spool/postfix/etc/resolv.conf</TT> for name resolution. I assume that
has to do with the chroot jail that Yann was refering to (although I
don't have a script in <TT>/etc/postfix</TT> that corrects the problem).
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I didn't see the message about <TT>/var/spool/postfix/etc/resolv.conf</TT> not
being the same as <TT>/etc/resolv.conf</TT> since that only shows up when you
start/stop the postfix (NOT when you reload, btw).
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I think I'll go and find out why <TT>/var/spool/postfix/etc/resolv.conf</TT>
isn't (shouldn't?) be a symlink to <TT>/etc/resolv.conf.</TT>
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Either way, all better now!
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
-- Regards, Faber
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ben]
Erm, 'cause it's a chroot jail (best as I can tell from your description.)
Assuming that '<TT>/var/spool/postfix</TT>' is your jail's '<TT>/</TT>', "postfix" won't be
able to see anything above that level once it's chrooted.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
My knowledge of chroot jails is limited - I keep promising myself to build
a few of the damn things and experiment, as soon as I have the time (yah,
shuuure...) - but it only makes sense. A link <em> _inside</em> the jail to
'<TT>/etc/resolv.conf</TT>' is going to point at the <em> _inside</em> version of
'<TT>/etc/resolv.conf</TT>' (a.k.a., "<TT>/var/spool/postfix/etc/resolv.conf</TT>" when seen
from the outside.)
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
By my understanding of setting up ftp chroot jails, you can have
symlinks from inside the jail to the outside. This is A Bad Thing, of
course, because the entire purpose of a chroot jail is to keep the user
in a specific directory.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Now, I understand that symlinking libraries is a securoty breach, but I
don't see how symlinking a text file is a security breach. Can anyone
explain how an exploit like that would work?
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
Nope. Unless there's a bug.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
You can have <EM>hard</EM> links, though, but only between files, obviously.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
You can symlink <EM>into</EM> a chroot, but not out of it.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Or, more properly: you can make a symlink that <EM>looks</EM> like it points
to an external file, but when it's interpreted by a program inside the
chroot environment, it probably won't point anywhere useful.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
If you're wondering why it wasn't just automagically set up as a
hard link, it's not the way of distro's package folk
to assume they have any idea how your hardware is laid out, and hardlinks
only work on the same filesystem (for ext2/3 ... for other fs' you may
not have the ability at all).
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Besides, I don't think my postfix is chrooted; there's only one library
in <TT>/etc/var/postfix/lib</TT> and postfix has got to need access to more than
one library to function.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Dan]
Depends on how it was set up. The postfix source has a file called
INSTALL which discusses the pros and cons of chroot in some detail,
and gives procedures to establish it. Default (as of some time back)
was not to chroot.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Postfix comes in parts, some are jailed and some not; you have to look
at <TT>/etc/postfix/master.cf</TT> (a table describing features Postfix should apply
to its children) to be certain. And even then it's only for sure
if you recently reloaded postfix
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle"> It doesn't lurk on the file watching
for it to change.
</blockQuote>
<!-- end 7 -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<A NAME="tag/7"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 7 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
>Themes in Linux</H3>
<H4 ALIGN="center">a game of win-upsmanship</H4>
<p><strong>From Elliot
</strong></p>
<!-- ::
Themes in Linux
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
a game of win-upsmanship
:: -->
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Heather Stern, Jay R. Ashworth, Karl-Heinz Herrmann
</strong></p>
<blockQuote>
Elliot, John Karns
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
after reading a linux pocket book i found out that linux can have many
skins under gnome and kde, i am using mandrake 8.1 and would love to
download some like the windows 2000 and the matrix/x men themes do you
know of any good download spots thanks,
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [star]
themes.org
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
You'll be able to surf from there to themes sub-hosts for the specific
Window Manager which you are running; we have several.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
ps i want the windows themes as part of a joke to a friend who is
running windows 2000, him and i are battling to who has the better
operating system i say linux he says windows 2000, he will come to his
senses some time soon.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
from elliot
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [star]
The strangest and silliest case of "which OS looks cooler" effects I did
was to run a copy of Windows For Workgroups 3.1 under DesqView, with WFW
running Norton Desktop for Windows and themed up to look as close to a Mac
as I could get. (Which was actually <EM>very</EM> close, I'm a decent graphic
artists and rather sneaky about using my apps' splash screens) I was
doing NDW tech support at the time; Linux was so new we were using
Soft Landing Systems, and boy, was that a painful download.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
There is a documented case, somewhere, of someone running <EM>5</EM> emulators
deep, though I no longer remember which ones they were. I'm pretty
sure it involved a Windows em, a Mac one, and a Commie, but I no longer
remember the details.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
In a later and less silly age I used Fvwm95 to good effect on <A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</A>
systems, to get folks with no Linux nor BSD experience to be able to use
our systems quickly. All I had to make sure was that "Settings" menu
sorted out in the right order. Nowadays better file managers would make
faking out the Control Panel pretty easy too. In a modern day I'd probably
start with Icewm because someone else already did most of the work, and
Icewm works well with K and Gnome.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Ahh, but none of those were Linux. My usual one-upsmanship call for a
UNIX derivate over an MSwin derivate, is that the Linux/UNIX philosophy
has many small parts that do things by operating together -- even in those
cases when things break down fairly badly, it's usually quite easy to slip
over to another console and merely 'kill -9' the offending process. The
GUI is just one more piece in this sort of puzzle, and in fact X, the
graphical system, can be run without a window manager at all if you really
need to squeeze those resources.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
But the times when I've hung X fairly hard (hey, I was working with some
locally built stuff I'd wired up wrong, mea culpa) I was able to ssh in
from another terminal, kill -9 the process family responsible, and init
cleaned up the memory mess. No nasty reboot necessary
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle"> It's <EM>possible</EM>
to dig yourself into trouble so deep only a reboot would escape, but <EM>much</EM>
more difficult. The principle that not every app gets godly powers on the
whole disk helps this out a great deal...
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
The equivalent of the Windows BSOD is the Unix Panic. (Or the Linux
Oops...)
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
In <EM>20</EM> years of working with *nix boxen, I've seen...
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
10 panics.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
5 or 6 of those were my own machine, when the 1.0 kernel proved not to
be as resilient as the .99pl12f working with a WD 1007 ESDI controller.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<EM>All</EM> of the others were bad device drivers or bad hardware; I have
<EM>never in my life</EM> seen a Unix box lock up from userland software
problems.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
I've seen about 12 or 15 "device wedge" conditions. In themselves they don't
halt the system, but the wedged driver will never release its resources,
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
Typically, this is a driver for a "fast" device, which turned out to be
slow. Slow device drivers are interruptable. "fast" ones aren't.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
and the condition usually requires an exceedingly careful manual shutdown --
which you want to do, instead of let a UPS discover it can't shut you down
correctly. Most especially you want to make sure the wedging condition isn't
part of the startup sequence or you are really in hot water. The usual
reason for this is when am incorrect driver succeeds in loading anyway, much
to its dismay. And mine. (For our loyal readers, if anybody is willing to
<EM>believe</EM> me when I say I have a PCMCIA-LS120 that doesn't work, and willing
to help make it work, please let me know. That kind of coding is not my
specialty.)
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I've seen numerous "fatal embrace" conditions amongst 3 to 5 apps enough
times that I don't count them; not because they're common, but because I've
been doing this long enough I have better things to count. They can be killed
from other consoles -- the main reason X makes things a problem is that it
owns display and keyboard control -- thus it straddles userland and driver
space. If the X server or the X window manager cannot come to the foreground
because other apps are locked up, your directly-connected keyboard may be
unusable... whether or not those two are members of the lockup. Thus a quick
bout with 'ssh' and 'kill -9' is in order.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Occasional cases of someone passing incorrect hardware information to an app
which straddles userland and driverspace (PCMCIA, X, just about any emulator)
have led to frankly, expectable results. Debugging the smoking crater in
your foot, yes. D'oh!
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
In the scope of laptops only, poor quality APM or ACPI support on either end
of the hardware/driver equation has led many on mailing lists to wail that
resuming from suspend is a game of musical chairs for them (sometimes you
lose) or worse (tell me again about these journaling filesystems, I think I
really need that stuff) but I have only seen that for myself... um, about
7 times. But bear in mind that this includes that I played "musical chairs"
with resuming for about a month before I learned enough about APM to use it
correctly on my own laptop. Ahh, that was a much younger me. I was so
excited about everything else in my new distros.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [John]
Any tips for the rest of us out here who would like to do the same? I
really don't use the suspend feature on my laptop, as the success rate is
only about 30% - 50%.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Yes.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><ol>
<LI>I later learned that I succeeded so well at it ... translation, I didn't
crash 92.3% of the time... because I had such decently good timing in my
BIOS. I love my little blue laptop. It's great.
<LI>Once I actually built a kernel for myself with APM support turned on
crashes changed from "fairly common" to "rare"
<LI>Once I actually loaded apmd as part of normal startup sequence (duh,
how silly I feel now) the crashes went away entirely. Nowadays I put it
in the load sequence even if I think the kernel has no apm - it's safe to
do that, it merely bails out with a note about it.
</ol></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
To expand on (2), there are a handful of minor options that relate to what
APM sub-features are turned on, off, or hit over the head with a stick. You
may need to mess with some of them until you get a machine that stops being
crashy. Or <EM>mostly</EM> stops being crashy. If it never gets perfect and it's
a fairly new box (year 2000+) it may be worth trying ACPI instead.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
SMP's APIC behaviors give APM a nasty-bad case of indigestion, and so you
should not turn on "APIC for Uniprocessor" even if your CPU can use it,
when you stick with APM.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
To expand on (3), of course it's this userland daemon that allows things
like it turning of the pcmcia ports when I want to go to sleep, so the
unpowered ports don't block the interrupt request and result in immediate
wake again. Sound can do that too. Heh.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Hope that helps
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [John]
Thanx a bunch. Although I have apmd being called from the init scripts
and enabled in the (2.2.x) kernel, I was having a heck of a time with it.
However, it's been some time since I've tried it - (probably not since I
upgraded to 2.2.20), so it may be time to do some experimenting.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
In general anything that crosses the blood/brain barrier, er, kernel and
userland space has potential to do "something wicked" (a real error message,
I saw it once) or scare an operating system ("Aieee! tried to kill init!").
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I shan't count people thinking their screensaver errors represent some dire
system failure. ("xplanet not found")
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
Oh. I thought you meant the BSOD screensaver.
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":D"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [K.-H.]
I can/could force it rather easily into complete crash (i.e. completely dead:
no net, no keyboard, no mouse actions).
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
Eek.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [H.-H.]
Just switching fast between different screen resolutions X-screen textconsole
etc. will usually lock it hard at some point. Sometimes with running kernel
and network, but more often locked solid. Seems to happen with Matrox Mytique
graphic cards as well as a variety of more recent nvidia's.
When running <A HREF="http://www.dosemu.org/">DOSEMU</A> a long time agro (like 2-3 years) certain programs could
also lock me out completely because the keyboard was blocked. No ideas if the
net would have been still running.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
Likely so.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
While we mention odd documented cases, someone managed to get themselves
a situation where the stack was still active after they called for init to
halt ... and then abused this to their advantage by using their machine as
a router, whose only purpose for a userland at all was to establish his
packet filters before "shutting down". Darn near bulletproof. I don't
think you can do that anymore without hacking the kernel a teeny bit.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [K.-H.]
also starting vmware in fullscreen (with resolution change) locked an nvidia
card solid several times on the machine I'm just sitting at.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
All of these have one thing in common: direct hardware acess from more or
less userspace and hardware and/or keyboard locking going haywire. I try to
avoid that if at all possible. I also guess that dosemu by now is lots more
stable, but I somehow don't need it anymore.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
Indeed. Yeah, direct hardware access is the commin factor, no doubt.
Userspace people <EM>just are not</EM> as careful as the kernel hackers in
general...
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Some but not all distros also have some very smooth ways of keeping their
packages up-to-date; MS is a little slow on the uptake with security
updates, and some of those are worse than the disease since they can't resist
adding new functions in with it.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
What's more a decent <A HREF="http://www.winehq.com/">WINE</A> setup can run Windows apps within the Linux kit;
Mandrake's "gamers edition" has it all ready to go, plus Transgaming's
ActiveX support so most things run straight up.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
Hey, Heather: is a P266 with X4 and 96M of RAM enough to run Wine at
all reasonably?
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
I dunno, I haven't run WINE in a while ... and it's come a long way baby,
but I dunno if that means it uses more or about the same resources as it
did when I messed with it. Also for the record I've only seeing the
Transgaming stuff on other peoples' boxen, not my own.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I used a Pentium II. I'm pretty sure 96 MB is enough if you're the only
one abusing your workstation
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle"> "Reasonable" is totally subjective and
in my case is skewed heavily -- the only two remaining MSwin boxen around
here are a P130 laptop and a VMware session. The VMware session is molasses
compared even to the older boxen I was using back in my tech support days.
The P130 is reasonable.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
What Xfree86 version 4 adds to this puzzle I couldn't say.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
Cool.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Specifically, I need to run (and find a copy of) Corel Draw/Linux.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Run Corel Draw, or read its file format? Important distinction, that.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
I would, actually, like to run it; I didn't know anything was reading
.cdr files these days. There was a tuned port to Wine of either 8 or
9, but it's no longer a product.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
(back to Elliot here)
Which I suspect may answer about half of your other thread... For the other
half, run don't walk to your nearest search engine and type "linux 3d gaming".
That should get you lots to work with.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
On the flip side of one-upsmanship, so what if he wants to run MSwin? I mean,
I wouldn't go near that license they've got on XP with a 20 foot pole and
hazmat gear, but Win2k might be okay as a desktop system. I woldn't trust
it as a server, not because of the OS itself (others in the Answer Gang are
welcome to disagree, but I've no quibbles about proprietary bits here and
there in my life) but because many of the server apps are bug-ridden. If
I'm going to use <A HREF="http://www.apache.org/">Apache</A> and Sendmail anyway (they've been ported there long
since, and some effort is made to keep them updated) then I'd rather use
them on platforms they were built for first. In many contexts the BSD family
(<A HREF="http://www.openbsd.org/">OpenBSD</A>, FreeBSD, and for non-PC use <A HREF="http://www.netbsd.org/">NetBSD</A>) can do better than both of us,
so it really comes down to what you expect to <EM>do</EM> with a system, before you
decided what OS will be best for it.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Document compatability is a different problem, but Wordperfect, Applix (no
wait, that was renamed) Anyware, StarOffice all exist for both platforms.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
BTW I've seen Gnome and Enlightenment-looking themes for MSwin. Maybe he'd
like to try them. You can both have a contest against the rest of your
colleagues to make them have trouble telling which machine is which
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle"> Once
upon an age ago I saw a "Windows to <A HREF="http://www.kde.org/">KDE</A> theme converter" but I'm pretty sure
it was for KDE 1, and may not have been updated. Still, you're welcome to
use <A HREF="http://freshmeat.net"
>http://freshmeat.net</A> (A linux applications search engine) to go looking
for it.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Enjoy...
</blockQuote>
<HR width="10%" align="left"><blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
... and a Commie, but I no longer remember the details.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Commodore 64's used hammers and sickles? Oh, now I know what type of terminal
is wired up to Ben's dark glasses ...
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Mike]
I knew it, I just knew it. Heather, get the car, call the dogs and the SWAT
team.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ben]
The SWAT team is over here, drinking up my best rum.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
They obviously read the Answer Gang Members' FAQ
(<A HREF="http://ww.linuxgazette.com/tag/members-faq.html"
>http://ww.linuxgazette.com/tag/members-faq.html</A>); they couldn't stick with
the beers, you reserved 'em.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ben]
The dogs have all
turned out to be total pet sluts, and are doing that hind-leg-twitch thing
while their bellies are being scratched. As to the car, i stole the battery
weeks ago.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
You are doomed.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Ben forgets, I have <EM>ways</EM> of getting around without cars. That little
fellow in Doom could definitely use a boost from a jet pack.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Which leads us straight back to the gaming thread, doesn't it?
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":D"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<!-- end 7 -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<A NAME="tag/8"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 8 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
>gaming in linux</H3>
<p><strong>From Elliot
</strong></p>
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Karl-Heinz Herrmann, Heather Stern, Robos, Daniel S. Washko
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG>
i understand that you can download some patch to allow quake 3 Arena and
unreal tournament windows versions to run on linux,what do i need to
download to allow this,
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [K.-H.]
I thought there are <EM>native</EM> versions of these games for Linux...
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Robos]
Well, in order to get Q3 to play under linux you need the *.pak files
and the linux binary of the game. This binary is available from id
itself, they have a "demo" version for linux. If you have the full
*.pak files this demo will grow to a full version (haven't done this,
I bought the linux version).
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
are there any other games that can do this such
as counter stkrike/half life soldier of fortune etc.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [K.-H.]
There is a linux distribution coming with a specialized wine version which
seems to be able to run many popular windows games.
erm.... can't remember the name, sorry. Maybe search through linuxgazette --
I think I picked it up here some few months ago.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Mandrake Gaming Edition. Hmm, maybe they'd let him upgrade his regular
Mandrake over to it.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Robos]
Concerning Counter-Strike, three days ago I finally managed to get CS
to run with transgaming.com's WineX. You can check out their WineX at
their sourceforge-site for free (no support then of'cos). After
installation (I`m not entirely sure how's best: doing it their
Readme-way:
./tools/wineinstall
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
did not work for me, but at least this created all the necessary files
and dirs. When I did it with good'ol:
<TT>./configure</TT>, make depend, make, make install
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
it worked...) do a: wine hl.exe -- hl.exe --console --game cstrike
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
(you have to have the halflife dir in the "c" path). The menu works
<em>really</em> slow, but the game is normal speed. My sound is kinda broken,
but that is probably my bad onboard-sound...
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
The transgaming-folks have a list of games running as well as a rate
how good somewhere on their site, take a look. As do the wine folks at
codeweavers.com.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
And there is a halflife-wine howto and others at linuxgames.com.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
i am currently running mandrake 8.1 and have xfree 4.1.0 and have just
installed the latest nvidia drivers,
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Daniel]
Make sure you nvidia drivers are running properly: Fire up the gears screen
saver and verify they are not running at 1 fps. If they are, read the
Nvidia howto thoroughly.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
so it would be great to be able to use some games in linux,
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [K.-H.]
xpingus, tuxracer, bzflag, parsec,...
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Oh yeah, I didn't even go into how many "clone" games we have of popular
games - stopped counting how many minesweepers, tetris, and solitaire too.
We've more "asteroids" clones than you can shake a joystick at, too.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
But also: Lincity:Simcity :: Maelstrom:Asteroids :: crafty:Warcraft ... uh
or was that aleclome? Maybe I should check the <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</A> "availables" list for
the word "clone". Or <A HREF="http://www.freshmeat.net/">Freshmeat</A>.net for it. Hmm, had to narrow it down to
"clone game" in order to get 61 projects show there, all of whom have a
very good likelihood of being playable stuff
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [K.-H.]
then there are many commercial ones from a company porting them to linux
(mostly 1st person ego shooters) and there is civilisation (call to power)
somewhere out there as well.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
I'm looking at Myth II and Terminus on my desk -- Myth II was a Loki project,
Terminus by Vatical says "PC - Mac - Linux" on the package front. In short
they don't care which OS we're running, let's just get to the gaming. An
excellent attitude, in my opinion.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
thank you in advance
from elliot,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
ps i have read that winex has just ported Max Payne to linux making it
the first ever direct x 8 game to be supported under winex.
that is great and hopefully this means that linux will soon be able to
equal windows in terms of games availabilty and entice a few more
newbies to linuxing..............
</STRONG></P>
<HR width="10%" align="left">
<blockquote><em><font color="#000066">So far, so good, you would think. About 4 of a gang of answerfolk had
the time as well as any past experience in the use of WINE to give him
some comment about how to get his games going. The same fellow also
got other threads, one in where I commented to Jay that by my admittedly
wimpy requirements, WINE runs acceptably on a mere Pentium II. It
certainly runs better than VMware -pretending- to be a P150. But, for
some reason, he decided to mail again.
</font></em></blockquote>
<blockquote><em><font color="#000066">Perhaps our mail wasn't as readable without the sort of threading I
added above?
-- Heather</font></em></blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
where would i find the excecutible files to run windows versions of
quake 3 arena, unreal tournament , i know i can use winex but ive read
in a linux pocket book that i can download a "linux patch" i have bean
told that if i download the linux quake 3 arena demo and i have the
windows pak files it will make it the full version
what games also allow me to do this counter strike perhaps?
and which type of file should i look for on the websites, they are
excecutible right?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
any help would be great as i have a pile of windows games that i would
love to run in linux but hoepfully not through winex or a windows
compatibility layer eg. win4lin/vmware
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
thanks from elliot.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Robos]
OK pal, have you even read what I've told you the last time you asked?
And it <EM>really</EM> isn't difficult to find the demo of q3-linux. Google:
q3 linux demo -&gt; 9th hit.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Because of id's engagement for opengl their games are easy to port to
linux, macos and I even saw quake1 for neXt IIRC. But, those other
a**holes like to stick to win crap directx and since that is only on
win you're fscked. How about you don't write to us that you want to play
games under linux but rather to the ones that make the games? Then
they see that there is a market and will produce accordingly.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Concerning CS: if you would have tried what I told ye you would have
noticed that there is no performance loss (as far as I was concerned)
in the wine emulation, so whats the point?
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather] There's two problems here, and their solutions do not really belong
in the same paragraph.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>If you want Linux to run a piece of software you already bought for
Windows - whether it's a game or something else - then you are almost
certainly going to find that WINE is part of your solution. This is
not about whether you are old enough to play with alcohol
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle"> WINE
is the way that UNIX-like operating systems these days, just happening
to include Linux at the forefront, run the MSwin "protected mode exec"
file format and answer MSwin library calls. Heck, sometimes it even
works pretty well. WineX helps because it means we can then answer
the library calls to that bare-metal abuse the MSwin developers call
"DirectX".
</blockquote>
<blockquote>WINE home page:
<A HREF="http://www.winehq.com"
>http://www.winehq.com</A>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>DirectX support for WINE:
<A HREF="http://www.transgaming.com"
>http://www.transgaming.com</A>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>Sites specifically about gaming under Linux:
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgames.com"
>http://www.linuxgames.com</A>
<A HREF="http://www.linuxvoodoo.com/games"
>http://www.linuxvoodoo.com/games</A>
</blockquote>
<blockquote></blockquote>
<blockquote>There are occasionally people who will write readers for some data
normally sold on CD to MSwin users. One such example is Robert MIbus'
"ency", which reads the Star Trek Encyclopedia discs. You're more
likely to want one of the GUIs other people have wrapped around it,
but those are easy to find from his site. If you mail him how cool
it is, tell him his Comp Ops says "Hi!"
</blockquote>
<blockquote>Star Trek Ency Reader:
<A HREF="http://users.bigpond.com/mibus/ency"
>http://users.bigpond.com/mibus/ency</A>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>If you want "purity" - a real Linux binary - in many cases like Quake
they exist. Go to linuxgames.com or freshmeat.net and look them up.
But if they do not, you will have to TELL THE MANUFACTURER that this
is something that you will spend money on at the mall. Otherwise every
time you buy an MSwin game just to run it under WineX they will tell
themselves they have another happy Win2000 customer. They just can't
tell by the Visa receipt that you use Linux, folks.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>And all of this aside, we have squadzillions of native games for Linux
that have never been in shrinkwrap. Not all of them are clones of
anything nor even available for Windows. ("Thomas T Tuxedo, A Quest
For Herring" comes to mind.) The index servers have troves of them. Some
of them are even GLitzy (okay, bad pun. OpenGL is very cool.) Go
forth and have fun!
</blockquote>
<blockquote>Freshmeat, games and entertainment (almost 2000 projects when I looked):
<A HREF="http://freshmeat.net/browse/80"
>http://freshmeat.net/browse/80</A>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>TUCOWS, linux games index:
<A HREF="http://linux.tucows.com/games.html"
>http://linux.tucows.com/games.html</A>
</blockquote>
<!-- end 8 -->
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
<A NAME="tag/9"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 9 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
>linux questions</H3>
<p><strong>From zen maiku
</strong></p>
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Breen Mullins, mike martin, Ben Okopnik, Robos, Mike "Iron" Orr, Thomas Adam, Dan Wilder, Heather Stern
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG>
Dear The Answer Gang,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Hi, I just did a search on the Internet for a problem I was having, and
I was led to a site with an answer by "The Answerman" on it, and I
immediately thought he was great! Short, straightforward answers; to the
point, simple, and very helpful!
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
So, naturally, right away, I decided to come to him with my own
questions, and that's when I discovered that his E-mail may no longer exist.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
So now I am coming to you, The Answer Gang, who were mentioned as a
soon-to-be organized group of people, at the time of the article I was at.
(Linux Gazette Issue 55)
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
So, if you would please, I have some questions for you. I looked in
The Answer Gang Knowledge Base, but it didn't really give me the simple,
short and succinct answers I was looking for. There was some help in there,
but it was accompanied by a LOT of extra stuff. I'm writing in the hopes
that you can deliver as well as The Answerman did.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Breen]
Well, The Answer Guy is still here. We'll try to help though. Jim may
even toss in a suggestion or two.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
The reason you're not finding simple answers is that you're not asking
simple questions.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
I'm thinking about switching over to Linux on my personal computer to
replace Windows.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Breen]
Good!
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
I am not a seasoned Linux user, so I have encountered some
difficulty with a few aspects of its use.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Breen]
This is pretty common for newish Linux users.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Since it turns out that I have 12 questions total, and they are all
multi-part, AND because these questions are a serious impediment to my Linux
use, I have named them "The Linux Deadly Dozen". My questions, because I
can't seem to find too many straight answers online, are:
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><BLOCKQuote>
1. I'm a home user who uses the Internet a lot, plays games, works with
music, and other average activities, and I have above-average computer
literacy - Which Linux distribution is the best choice for me? What are the
major differences between Mandrake, <A HREF="http://www.redhat.com/">Red Hat</A> and Best Linux? Are they the
three best distributions out there?
</BLOCKQuote></STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Breen]
I'm not familiar with Best. I use Red Hat; others here prefer <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</A>
(which is probably NOT the best distribution for a new user). Mandrake
has a reputation for being easier on the new user. S.U.s.E is also very
well regarded. Other members of the Gang may have other favorites. The
best distro is the one that works for you. (I know, you wanted a simple
answer. There isn't one to this question.)
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [mike]
Not heard of Best, I use RH myself but for a newbie Mandrake is probably
good, <A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A> is also fairly good
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
2. Does Mandrake, Red Hat, or Best Linux support USB ports? Is support
built in, or do I have to download a patch or something? If the ports
themselves work fine with Linux, then is it simply a matter of getting Linux
drivers for specific USB devices?
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Breen]
USB support is pretty good with 2.4 kernels, which you'll get with a
recent distribution.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [mike]
Current versions have support built in
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather] SuSE has had working USB support since kernel revision 2.2.14 or so.
Both 2.2.x and 2.4.x kernels will have USB support. There will be lots
of modules, but usbmgr should deal with all that under the hood stuff
for you...
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
3. Can I get Linux to support my Rockwell HCF 56k winmodem?
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [mike]
Check on www.linmodems.org - Ithink they arenow supported
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
How about my
GeForce2 MX400 AGP video card, and my Soundblaster Live! Value sound card?
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather] Yes albeit weird (nVidia has two modules to add, one for the kernel and one
for X, but they are good), and probably. Creative Labs has been directly
on the bandwagon for awhile now.
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
How about cable modems?
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Iron]
linmodems.org is all for analog modems. A cable "modem" isn't really a modem.
External ones that connect to the computer via an ordinary Ethernet card have
a better chance of being Linux compatible than internal or USB ones. It all
depends on whether the modem requires a proprietary driver, and whether such
a driver exists for Linux.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Breen]
You should search Google for hardware compatibility information. (I'd
advise getting a real modem if you're even halfway serious about Linux.
Or even halfway serious about The Other System for that matter.)
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
4. What are the differences between <A HREF="http://www.kde.org/">KDE</A> and Gnome,
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [mike]
various but not that apparent to a convert
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
and why would I want to
use one over the other?
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [mike]
Personal preference
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Do they both contain office suites?
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [mike]
KDE does and gnome contains some very classy apps, gnumeric (excel)
evolution (what outlook should be), and galeon (web browser)
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Are they good,
or should I go with StarOffice? I want an office suite for word processing,
spreadsheets, and possibly web page building.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Breen]
This is a matter of personal preference. You should install both and try
them; then you'll know which is better for you from the strength of your
own experience.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
5. Should (can) I use Wine to run Windows programs like messengers and
games, or are there Linux versions of these things? I want to be able to
communicate with people on MSN Messenger and AIM,
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [mike]
Use everybuddy or gaim or AOL linux client
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Breen]
Messenger clients are a dime a dozen in Linux. You don't need an
emulator.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
and I want to play some of
the current popular games. What can Wine do for me that makes it a
must-have? (or is it a must-have?)
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Breen]
I'm not a gamer so I won't comment on whether emulation is
likely to be any good for your games.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [mike]
games are a problem
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ben]
Let's see - I just finished a rousing round of Quake2, and was running
Heretic yesterday - and I'm not a big-time game maven. Admittedly, there
are not nearly as many games for Linux as there are for Wind*ws (although
that's changing fairly quickly), but dismissing it with "games are a
problem" is rather simplistic. Take a look at the "Linux games" section at
Tucows; I think you'll be amazed at what's available. Trust me, I'm <em>not_</em>
talking about yet another version of Tetris here. As well, take a look at
some of the stuff currently in development at <A HREF="http://www.freshmeat.net/">Freshmeat</A>/SourceForge; people
are coming up with distributed game systems that will make Wind*ws stuff
look totally <EM>passe</EM> within a year or so.
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather] See another thread on that topic, this issue.
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
6. What are the most common Linux file types, and what are their Windows
counterparts? I notice Linux doesn't use .exe files? When I click on
certain files in Linux, it asks what I want to use to open them, but I have
no idea what to choose. Also, what are, and how do I use, RPM packages?
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Breen]
I'm going to skip this one right now. I think you'll do better to
concentrate on some of your other questions first.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [mike]
linux does not have file types like in the windows world. Files are
ssociated with mime-types although there some conventions
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>.sh shell scripts
<br>.pl perl scripts
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ben]
That's incorrect. Wind*ws does not have file types - its associations are
based on the extension that a file has (which can lead to some rather funny
situations.) Files under Linux are not associated with mime-types - that's
a purely optional mechanism that is often used by mail clients and browsers
(and a few other odd things) - but the only way a file is going to <em> _have</em> a
mime-type is if one has been <em> _assigned</em> to it by a mail client, etc. Under
Unix in general, files are recognized by their "magic", usually the first
few bytes with which a file begins.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
These extensions are conventions "more honored in the breach than the
observance". I usually tell my students that unless they're writing Perl
on a Wind*ws platform, they should <EM>not</EM> use the ".pl" extensions - and
if they are, to use ".plx", since ".pl" is the correct extension for a
Perl _library._ Under Linux, it doesn't matter whether you use the
extension or not.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Iron]
... unless the program itself requires them. For instance, top-level Python
scripts that you run from the shell or by clicking an icon may have the .py or
not--it doesn't matter. But if it's a Python module you want to import from
inside another Python program, it better have the .py extension or it won't
work.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas]
Ben, surely file "extensions" are depreciated
nowadays, since what is the purpose of the she-bang
line??? -- of course as mike said, <EM>some</EM> languages do
need the extension.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ben]
You're confusing filetype checking within the OS and <EM>filename usage</EM> in a
programming context. The OS, as per my earlier statement, does not care
about what extension you give the file - period. The fact that you can't,
for example, rename "<TT>/etc/resolv.conf</TT>" to "my_favorite_DNS_servers.really"
and have it work has nothing to do with this.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Dan]
Python compiles and saves modules at import time, and wants to
see the compiled module stored beside the source code, as file.py
and file.pyc.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Not having to wildcard the name or do a search possibly
shortens the "shall I compile this now" decision.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ben]
I can't see how that bears on the issue at all. Libraries and modules in
Perl are also required to have extensions that identify them <EM>within Perl</EM>,
but this has nothing to do with file identification within the OS itself.
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><pre>Baldur:/tmp$ cp /usr/lib/python2.1/uu.py .
Baldur:/tmp$ file uu.py
uu.py: a /usr/bin/python script text executable
Baldur:/tmp$ mv uu.py uu
Baldur:/tmp$ file uu
uu: a /usr/bin/python script text executable
Baldur:/tmp$
</pre></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
As far as identifying the file goes, the extension makes no difference.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas]
Ultimately though the colour options passed to "ls -l"
make it much easier for me to identify a file type...
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ben]
This <em> _still</em> does not use extensions. Actually, given the limited action of
the way it works, I suspect it just sets the colors based on the data in
the inode.
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather] Well, <EM>my</EM> set of /etc/DIR_COLORS definitely uses extensions; I like to see
that .jpg (and various permutations) .gif (likewise) .png (and so on) in a
given color to tell me that they are images, various permutations of tarball
(e.g. .tgz, .tar.bz2, .zip and its permutations, .deb, .rpm...) are packages,
and so on.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>I have a limited number of colors to play with but it's very helpful anyway.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>If ls knows how to read by magic rather than extensions it's news to me.
Of course it <EM>is</EM> useful to tell at a glance that I have the exec bit set,
or that a given item is a symlink and not a real directory.
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
7. Where can I get great Linux freeware, like the great freeware I use on
Windows; to handle picture viewing and editing, compressed files, music and
video files, and other such things? What are the best programs?
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [mike]
dont need it, most of the freeware programs for windows are either core
parts of the OS, and otherwise the web - loads of programs
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Breen]
<A HREF="http://sourceforge.net"
>http://sourceforge.net</A> will give you a list of more free programs than
you can shake a stick at.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Oh. The best? The usual answer: try some out. Start with the ones that
come with your distribution. My opinions won't match others anyway.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
8. Will a computer that's running Mandrake, Red Hat, or Best Linux with a
GUI like KDE or Gnome on it, be faster, slower, or about the same speed as a
computer running Windows 95? What about Windows 98, ME, XP? Will programs
and games load and run comparably?
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Breen]
Too many variables here; I don't think there's a meaningful answer. I
haven't used Windows in years anyway.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [mike]
difficult to say, probably slower than w95 but comparable with full GUI
to others (but nicer)
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather] variable 1: linux native binaries may run much faster. variable 2: our GUI
is not just X itself but the Window Manager too. We have more major Window
Managers than fingers, and a lot of minor ones too. That's wihout counting
the desktop environments. variable 3: different apps need different
resources, and as we're multiuser you can run lots of apps at once. There's
more tools to look at resources than you can shake a stick at too.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>I could go on...
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
9. What are the GPL, GNU, and Freeware Licenses about? What are the
differences between them? Are there other similar licenses I am unaware of?
My interest is in ad-free, popup free, commercial free freeware only. I
do not like shareware, commercial software (some exceptions), or adware,
since the (best) freeware out there has often been superior anyway.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [mike]
Use the term Free software - big subject, pop into www.slashdot.org to
get a feel of the subject
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Breen]
What, in 50 words or less? Rivers of ink have been spilled over
licensing issues. I'm not going to even attempt to summarize. (Besides,
this is yet another way to start a flame war and I didn't wear my
asbestos undies today.)
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather] I wrote an editorial ranting a bit on this subject awhile back, easy to
find if you type "kosher" into the LG Search page.
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
10. What's the deal with compiling libraries? What does it mean to do that,
why is it necessary, and how is it done? What is a compiler, and which one
is the best?
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Breen]
Don't worry about this. You probably won't need to compile anything at
all for at least six months after you move into your Linux system.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [mike]
When you are starting it is NOT neccesary, but has dvatages when you get
into it. Most programs are available as rpm's
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
11. What is X Windows? Is it part of Linux or KDE or Gnome or something?
Is it a must-have component, or built-in one, or neither, or both?
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Breen]
X is the underpinning of the graphical interface you're going to want to
use. Your distribution will install it; you probably won't need to worry
about it for, oh, six months.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [mike]
For all practical purposes a built in. gnome/kde run on top of X which
runs on top of Linux
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather] From an end user view, it's the GUI. You don't need a GUI to do cool
things in Linux... but lots of people like to have one. As opposed to
MSwin, where the GUI cannot be reasonably removed and even if you thought
you wanted that (?!) there are so very few decent console mode apps.
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
12. What is the best web browser to use on Linux? Do KDE and/or Gnome have
built-in web browsers? If so, are they good enough for most general purpose
Internet use, and eliminate the need to download anything else?
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Breen]
Boy, you're just trying to start a fight, aren't you? This is yet
another question without an answer. KDE and/or Gnome will install a
browser for you. Try one. Try several. Decide which one is best for you.
(I use and like one called Galeon. Another member of the Answer Gang
foams at the mouth when it's mentioned.)
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [mike]
Galeon (gnome app), have heard konquerer and Opera are OK
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather] I use lynx, it may be text mode but it's the fastest thing on the planet...
some who also like text consoles may prefer links, or w3m. All these have
SSL support available too.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>You said you hate adware so I dunno if there's an Opera version you'll
like yet...
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Thank you in advance for any help, and thank you for your time and effort.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Robos]
Hi!
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Lots of questions there, and a tremendous amount of answers in the
net. Therefore I give you some pointers where to start
reading. Because this is in my opinion the main difference between win
and linux: you have to actually read stuff! Lots of stuff. But as a
consequence - you learn something
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
(had this with a friend of mine and me (both quite good in
linux-matters) when he bought a mac with OSX: we simply pushed buttons
- without reading the manual - because you're supposed to do this if
you have a gui, aren't you?)
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
So, the list:
</blockQuote>
<UL>
<li> <A HREF="http://linuxdoc.org"
>http://linuxdoc.org</A> - lotsa nice stuff there
<li> <A HREF="http://linux-newbie.org"
>http://linux-newbie.org</A> (never taken a look...)
<li> very important: <A HREF="http://www.google.com/linux"
>http://www.google.com/linux</A>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
<li> <A HREF="http://www.kde.org"
>http://www.kde.org</A> and <A HREF="http://www.gnome.org"
>http://www.gnome.org</A>
<li> <A HREF="http://freshmeat.net"
>http://freshmeat.net</A> very important for application questions
<li> taking a look at <A HREF="http://slashdot.org"
>http://slashdot.org</A> 15 to 20 times a day
<br>
isn't that bad either
<br>
<li> Since I use debian I can only point you to their list, maybe the
<br>
others can provide something for the other distros:
<A HREF="http://packages.debian.org/testing/allpackages.html"
>http://packages.debian.org/testing/allpackages.html</A> - available
programs with a short description
<br>
<li> For games:
<A HREF="http://appdb.codeweavers.com/appbrowse.php?catId=2"
>http://appdb.codeweavers.com/appbrowse.php?catId=2</A>
or
<A HREF="http://www.transgaming.com/dogamesearch.php?order=working&amp;;showall=1"
>http://www.transgaming.com/dogamesearch.php?order=working&amp;;showall=1</A>
<br>
<li> For office suits:
koffice.org
openoffice.org
<br>
</UL><blockQuote>
I think with these you will be happy for the next month or two,
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ben]
Robos is The Man.
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I think that's one point that everybody, including me, forgot to make - and
it's possibly the most important one there is. Linux is <EM>not</EM> free. Oh, it
doesn't have to cost anything money-wise - you can download the complete
install, or borrow a CD from a friend (unlike dealing with Wind*ws, this is
actually <em> _encouraged</em> ) - but where it does cost is in the time invested in
learning it. Some people, however, see that as a very good thing indeed
(and I'm among them): not only do you get to have this nifty OS, but you
also get to understand it, woohoo! The thing is, you don't get to just lean
back and click on icons (unless you want just the basic functionality). As
soon as you want to get hold of some of the serious power that's available
with Linux, you've got to open the hood, reach under, grrrab those
high-voltage wires, and <EM>feel</EM> the power of Linux!... Oh, sorry - got a
little carried away there.
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Anyway, that's the big difference. When you want more out of Wind*ws,
well... you can pay lots of money and get, uh, something real pretty and
with lots of flash and neat sound-effects and stuff (functionality will be
included in the next release - no, REALLY!) With Linux, there's (usually)
no money involved and the power is available right now - but you <EM>do</EM> need
to sit down and <EM>study</EM>. If that trade-off sounds good to you... welcome to
Linux. You're in for a fun time.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Oh, and do be careful - those numbers on the speedometer are <EM>exponential</EM>
values.
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<!-- end 9 -->
<P> <hr> </p>
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<H5 align="center">This page edited and maintained by the Editors
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<a href=""
>Copyright &copy;</a> 2002
<BR>Published in issue 77 of <I>Linux Gazette</I> April 2002</H5>
<H6 ALIGN="center">HTML script maintained by
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<table cellpadding=7><tr><td>
<IMG SRC="../gx/bytes.gif" border=1 ALT="News Bytes">
</td><td>
<H3>Contents:</H3>
<ul>
<li><a HREF="#leg">Legislation and More Legislation</a>
<li><a HREF="#links">Linux Links</a>
<li><a HREF="#conferences">Conferences and Events</a>
<li><a HREF="#general">News in General</a>
<li><a HREF="#distro">Distro News</A>
<li><a HREF="#commercial">Software and Product News</a>
</ul>
</td></tr></table>
<STRONG>Selected and formatted by
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</center>
<P> Submitters, send your News Bytes items in
<FONT SIZE="+2"><STRONG>PLAIN TEXT</STRONG></FONT>
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<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<font color="green">
April 2002 <I>Linux Journal</I>
</font>
</H3>
<IMG ALT="[issue 96 cover image]" SRC="misc/bytes/lj-cover96.png" WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=268
ALIGN="left" HSPACE="20">
The April issue of <A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/"><I>Linux
Journal</I></A> is on newsstands now.
This issue focuses on interoperability. Click
<A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=NS-lj-issues/issue96&file=index">here</A>
to view the table of contents, or
<A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/subscribe/">here</A>
to subscribe.
<P>
<FONT COLOR="green">All articles through December 2001 are available for
public reading at
<A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/magazine.php">http://www.linuxjournal.com/magazine.php</A></FONT>.
Recent articles are available on-line for subscribers only at
<A HREF="http://interactive.linuxjournal.com">http://interactive.linuxjournal.com/</A>.
<BR CLEAR="all">
<a name="leg"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">Legislation and More Legislation</font></H3></center>
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">SSSCA/CBDTPA
</FONT>
</H3>
The US
<a href="http://cryptome.org/sssca.htm">
SSSCA</a>, so enthusiastically promoted by Senator Fritz Hollings,
has metamorphosed into the
<a href="http://cryptome.org/broadbandits.htm">
CBDTPA</a>: the Consumer Broadband and Digital
Television Promotion Act, which has now been introduced in the Senate.
Unfortunately, it has not become any more palatable during the transition.
The
<a href="http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51275,00.html">
direction of the bill</a>
is unchanged. If passed, it would mandate government-approved security
standards and "digital rights management" systems which would have to be
included in electronic devices. Import or interstate distribution of devices
not meeting these requirements would be illegal. Such
regulations would apply to software or hardware that reproduces, displays,
retrieves or accesses copyright work. Such a definition covers a staggeringly
broad range of devices and programs. Measures which would fulfil these
obligations could render even completely
<a href="http://hardware.earthweb.com/prodop/article/0,,12099_985991_,00.html">
legitimate procedures</a>
such as backups and disk optimisation impossible, or at least illegal.
<p>
(That "interstate distribution" clause is what allows the federal
government to get involved; they cannot interfere with in-state commerce.
However, this is small comfort, since most electronic products in the US are
imported from Asia, and few states have domestically-produced substitutes
available.)
<P>
Business support for the bill is not universal, and there were
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/24262.html">
heated exchanges</a>
between Hollings and Intel executive VP Leslie Vadasz at a recent hearing
before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
<a href="http://lwn.net/2002/0307/">
LWN's coverage</a>
provides some insight into the nature and conduct of this hearing.
Support for the proposed measures is strongest among "content providers"
such as Disney. The technology business naturally fears being hamstrung by
regulations which would diminish the usefulness of their products.
Following this apparently courageous stand by Vadasz, the
<a href="http://www.eff.org/">
Electronic Frontier Foundation</a>
requested that people mail Intel to express support and solidarity.
However, a subsequent
<a href="http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20020319aol_intel.htm">
joint statement</a> by AOL Time Warner and Intel painted a somewhat
different picture, critiqued by the EFF
<a href="http://www.eff.org/IP/SSSCA_CBDTPA/20020322_eff_aol-intel_critique.html">
here</a>. This statement "envisions a world in which corporate
negotiations decide consumers' rights, and government outlaws devices
falling outside a `consensus' imposed by Hollywood." It seems the
divisions are not only between companies, but also within. A Slashdot
<a href="http://slashdot.org/articles/02/03/01/1423248.shtml?tid3">
comment</a> on the story indicated that this is perhaps really a power
struggle between the two industries, with the tech business trying to evade
regulation so as to gain leverage over the entertainment business. It
sounds plausible, especially when Disney starts
<a href="http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/03/04/1445216">
accusing</a>
Apple of aiding and abetting music piracy.
<p>
Naturally, this story has gained a lot of coverage in the tech press.
Slashdot had stories on
<a href="http://slashdot.org/articles/02/03/01/1423248.shtml?tid3">
the hearing</a>,
the
<a href="http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/03/21/2344228">
introduction</a>
of the bill to the senate, and a
<a href="http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/03/22/2345249&mode=nested&tid=103">
follow up</a> to the same story.
Wired also ran a good
<a href="http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51274,00.html">
story</a>
or
<a href="http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51245,00.html">
two</a>
following the debut of the bill in the Senate.
An
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=5930">
excellent commentary</a> by
Doc Searls is available online at the Linux Journal website which comments
on the issues surrounding this case, and rebuts much of Hollings'
testimony to the clumsily titled
<a href="http://commerce.senate.gov/press/107-159.html">
Hearing on Protecting Content in a Digital Age-Promoting Broadband and the
Digital Television Transition </a>.
Another fine
<a href="http://lwn.net/2002/0328/">
commentary</a>, well worth reading, was published in Linux Weekly News.
<P>
Hopefully, after reading some of those links, one gets pretty angry about the
terrible laws some interests would like to control you with. This leads to the
question, what can be done? One important step is to stay informed about these
issues. As usual,
<a href="http://www.eff.org/">
EFF</a> have a
<a href="http://www.eff.org/IP/SSSCA_CBDTPA/">
page</a>
collecting various resources and documents surrounding this case. Also,
their
<a href="http://www.eff.org/cafe/">
CAFE (Campaign for Audiovisual Free Expression)</a>
webpage is a good source for info on this and related topics.
This
<a href="http://www.eff.org/alerts/20020322_eff_cbdtpa_alert.html">
EFF press release</a>
has some advice on specific measures which can be taken to help stop this
law. You are advised to:
<ul>
<li>
Send a letter to the senate, which has requested comments on the future
of digital media distribution. EFF provide a
<a href="http://www.eff.org/alerts/20020322_eff_cbdtpa_alert.html">
sample letter</a>,
though it would be best if you rephrased it yourself.
</li>
<li>
Use this
<a href="http://judiciary.senate.gov/special/input_form.cfm?comments=1">
webform</a>
to submit comments to the senate committee (closes April 8th, 2002).
</li>
<li>
Contact your local elected representatives, and tell them how important
this issue is. EFF has
<a href="http://www.eff.org/congress.html">
guidelines</a>
on "Contacting Congress and Other Policymakers".
</li>
<li>
Try to raise the visibility of this issue among people who would not
otherwise be aware of it.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
And before those in Europe start sniffing that this whole business is
typically American and couldn't happen here, they should take note of
<a href="http://lwn.net/2002/0307/">
LWN's warning</a>
that the European Commission is considering
<a href="http://lwn.net//2002/0307/ec-drm.pdf">
similar measures</a> [pdf].
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Patents
</FONT>
</H3>
<P>
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk">
The Register</a>
came up with a few good software patent stories over the last month.
<ul>
<li>
Symantec has been
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/24528.html">
awarded a patent</a>
on a heuristic technology used to detect viruses. This technique has
already been in use for some time.
<li>
</li>
Maz technologies have
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24557.html">
gained a patent</a>
on a "method of transparent encryption and decryption for an electronic
document management system". This would effectively put a lock on a
large part of the encryption industry, and has been preceded by
considerable prior art. It will be up to the companies being hassled
for licensing fees to challenge the validity of the patent.
<li>
</li>
The bizarre attempt by British Telecom to enforce a patent on
hyperlinks, has been
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/24440.html">
dealt a blow</a>
by a US Federal Court Judge who ruled that the patent in question might
not, after all, cover hyperlinks. This case is not over yet, though.
<li>
</li>
Finally, the Amazon 1-Click patent dispute with BN.com has finally
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/23/24345.html">
been settled</a>
out of court. This does nothing to challenge the daftness underlying
the patent.
</li>
</ul>
<P>
<hr noshade width="20%">
<P>
The argument is often made by pro-patent apologists that patents are
essential to a growing economy. Historically, this has not been shown to
be the case.
<a href="http://www.monbiot.com">
George Monbiot</a>
has written an excellent
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/globalisation/story/0,7369,665969,00.html">
article</a> in
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/">
The Guardian</a>,
which tells the story of how many of the companies now demanding
intellectual property rights were built without them. In particular,
patent free regions enjoyed exceptional growth, until political pressure
from patent enforcing nations lead to a change in policy.
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">GPL
</FONT>
</H3>
<P>
The GPL
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24286.html">
almost made it to the courtroom</a>
during the last month. The circumstances concern a dispute ongoing between
MySQL AB and NuSphere Corp. In June 2000 NuSphere licensed distribution
and support rights for the MySQL Database, from MySQL AB; under a deal that
was also to see significant code contributions from NuSphere into the body
of MySQL. Relations soured between the two companies. MySQL accused
NuSphere of trademark infringement (for setting up the mysql.org web site),
of breach of contract, and of infringing the GPL. The Free Software
Foundation became involved in the case as an expert witness on behalf of
MySQL.
<p>
Regarding the alleged GPL infringement, the
<a href="http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2002-02-26-013-20-PR-LL">
contention</a>
of the FSF is that by statically linking their Gemini product against the
GPL'ed MySQL code, and then failing to distribute source code, NuSphere
violated the terms of the license. NuSphere
<a href="http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2002-02-27-016-20-PR-LL">
vigorously opposed</a>
these allegations, asserting that their product did not infringe the
licence terms, and pointing out that they also distributed the Gemini code
under the GPL (an earlier version was, however, distributed without source
code).
<p>
Though the FSF
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24219.html">
expected</a>
the case would serve as a test of the GPL, the judge's preliminary
injunction
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24286.html">
limited the terms</a>
of the case to the copyright infringement issue. She took the position
that since NuSphere appeared to be currently in compliance with the
licence, it is unlikely any irreparable harm is being done to MySQL
AB.
<a name="links"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">Linux Links</font></H3></center>
<P>
Linux Weekly News has
<a href="http://lwn.net/2002/0314/security.php3">
drawn attention</a>
to several
security alerts which have come up all at once, affecting a broad area
of Linux code, including OpenSSH, PHP and zlib. If you are running a system it
is very important that you keep up to date with such security alerts.
LWN have thoughtfully provided links to most of the major distributions'
security advisories, so you have no excuse.
<p>
<a href="http://www.gentoo.org/news/20020225-guru.html">
Comments</a>
at Gentoo on some distributions' failure to pass patches upstream. If you
want to help, check out
<a href="http://kerneljanitors.org">
kerneljanitors.org</a>.
<P>
Newsforge ran
<a href="http://newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=02/03/28/0335245&tid=23">
a story</a>
on the LNX-BBC (Bootable Business Card) rescue disk project. This is a
descendant of the original Linuxcare BBC.
<P>
Eric S. Raymond on how
<a href="http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,5105485,00.html">
Microsoft could have killed off the open-source movement in 1998</a>
<p>
Linux on
<a href="http://www.eweek.com/article/0,3658,s=25200&a=24535,00.asp">
Big Iron</a>, saving big money.
<P>
<a href="http://www.unixpunx.org/">
Unix punks</a>
"counter-culture music, counter-culture operating systems."
<P>
Penguins around the World
<a href="http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/proj/penguins/main.html">
fun & facts about penguins</a>.
<p>Some links courtesy of
<a href="http://www.linuxtoday.com/">Linux Today</a>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://www.linuxsecurity.com/articles/network_security_article-4528.html">
Network Security with /proc/sys/net/ipv4</a>,
a review some of the basic essentials of the /proc/sys/net/ipv4
filesystem necessary to add to the overall network security of a Linux
server.
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reviews/4078/1/">
'Between the Sheets'</a> Linux spreadsheets review.
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/data/anw-28.02.02-006/">
Tux takes its seat
</a>
in Germany's federal parliamentary.
</li>
<li>
IBM DeveloperWorks on
<a href="http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/esdd/articles/porting_linux/index.html?t=gr,l=335,p=PortSolaris2Linux">
porting from Solaris to Linux</a>.
</li>
<li>
An
<a href="http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2002/0325.video.html">
article</a>
at LinuxWorld for people interested in starting to do video editing in
Linux.
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.linuxorbit.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=470">
Guide</a>
to dual booting Red Hat 7.2 and Windows XP.
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.machineofthemonth.org/articles/d2/index.html">
Guide</a>
to using CUPS with Gimp-print.
</li>
<li>
An
<a href="http://www.linuxorbit.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=168">
introduction</a>
to mini Linux Distributions.
</li>
<li>
The population of Retail Point of Sale Terminals running Linux in North
America increased 80% according to
<a href="http://www.ihlservices.com/en/2002Press4.asp">
a new study</a>
released by IHL Consulting Group.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
Some stories featured on
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/">The Register</a>
over the past month:
<ul>
<li>
UK Government deal
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24258.html">
opens up</a>
2m desktops to MS rivals.
</li>
<li>
Eric Raymond says
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24245.html">
Linux kernel patching is in crisis</a>.
</li>
<li>
MS to offer Europe extra
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24400.html">
antitrust 'concessions'</a> and why
Microsoft's EU 'concession' is
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/53/24490.html">
no concession at all</a>.
</li>
<li>
Cost the
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24397.html">
key factor</a>
in pushing business to open source.
</li>
<li>
Back Orifice for Unix flaw
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/24447.html">
emerges from obscurity</a>.
</li>
<li>
Scientologists
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/24533.html">
gag Google</a>
using DMCA.
</li>
<li>
Bill's Xenix vision for the
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24504.html">
future of the PC, c1980</a>.
</li>
</ul>
<P>
A few interesting links from the O'Reilly stable of websites,
<ul>
<li>
Running an open source household, one family
<a href="http://linux.oreillynet.com/pub/a/linux/2002/03/14/household.html">
tells their story</a>.
</li>
<li>
Online
<a href="http://www.oreillynet.com/linux/cmd/">
Directory of Linux Commands</a>
by the authors of Linux in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition.
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://linux.oreillynet.com/pub/a/linux/2000/06/29/hdparm.html">
Speeding up Linux</a>
using hdparm.
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://linux.oreillynet.com/pub/a/linux/2002/03/21/linuxps2.html">
Opening up</a>
the PlayStation 2 with Linux.
</li>
</ul>
<P>
Some links picked up from
<a href="http://slashdot.org">Slashdot</a>:
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://www.digitalconsumer.org/">
DigitalConsumer</a>
is trying to get a consumers' Bill of Rights passed for digital
content.
</li>
<li>
The
<a href="http://www.linuxandmain.com/features/os2retro.html">
Sad Parable of OS/2</a>.
Why OS/2 failed, and some lessons for Linux.
</li>
<li>
Wall Street
<a href="http://www.forbes.com/home/2002/03/27/0327linux.html">
embraces Linux</a>.
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-tosatti/?t=gr,p=Tosatti">
Interview</a>
with Marcelo Tosatti, maintainer of the 2.4 Linux kernel.
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.robval.com/linux/2002/browsers.html">
Comparative review</a>
of web browsers available on Linux
(<a href="http://www.opera.com">Opera</a>,
<a href="http://www.mozilla.org/projects/embedding/examples/galeon.html">
Galeon</a>,
<a href="http://www.mozilla.org/">
Mozilla</a>,
<a href="http://www.konqueror.org/">
Konqueror</a>
etc.,).
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://draco.mit.edu/teddyborg/">
Teddy Borg</a>: a teddy bear with a built-in Ethernet switch. The
cables come in through his feet, and his LED eyes flash as packets go
through.
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_534847.html?menu=news.latestheadlines">
Ancient Domesday Book</a>
outlives 1986 electronic version.
</li>
<li>
CNET
<a href="http://news.com.com/2010-1078-855155.html">
editorial</a>
by Bruce Perens that dismantles an earlier attack by Microsoft's Craig
Mundie on the GPL and the Liberty Alliance.
</li>
<li>
Loki, publisher of Linux games,
<a href="http://www.linuxandmain.com/news/loki.html">
goes bankrupt</a>, fails to pay employee salaries,
while officers loot company assets.
</li>
<li>
Finally, it is perhaps worth mentioning that Slashdot has begun to
<a href="http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/03/01/1352200&mode=nocomment">
offer a subscription service</a>. The reward for subscribing is to
avoid advertisements.
</li>
</ul>
<P>
Here is a collection of links to Linux Journal web articles which might be
of interest:
<ul>
<li>
Marco Fioretti
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=5818">
announces a new project</a>,
RULE, that wants to create a
small, essentials-only distribution for non-techies.
</li>
<li>
IBM Software Group's director of Worldwide Linux Solutions
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=5822">
discusses</a>
the union of open-source programs and commercially licensed software in
current business environments.
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=5831">
Installing Libranet 2.0</a>.
</li>
<li>
Linux
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=5472">
storms Hollywood</a> visual effects industry.
</li>
<li>
A
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=5869">
look at</a>
the misconception that a network is safe simply because the machines
are connected to switches.
</li>
<li>
A
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=5905">
tutorial</a>
on mirroring web sites on your hard disk from within your web browser.
</li>
</ul>
<a name="conferences"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">Upcoming conferences and events</font></H3></center>
<P> Listings courtesy <EM>Linux Journal</EM>. See <EM>LJ</EM>'s
<A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/events.php">Events</A> page for the
latest goings-on.
<!-- *** BEGIN events table [this line needed by Linux Gazette events.py *** -->
<table cellpadding=5 border=0 width=100%>
<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>
<tr><td valign=top>
<b>SANS 2002 (SANS Institute)</b><BR>
<td valign=top>April 7-9, 2002<BR>Orlando, FL<BR>
<a href="http://www.sans.org/newlook/home.htm" target="_blank">
http://www.sans.org/newlook/home.htm</A><BR>
<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>
<tr><td valign=top>
<b>LinuxWorld Conference & Expo Malaysia (IDG)</b><BR>
<td valign=top>April 9-11, 2002<BR>Malaysia<BR>
<A HREF="http://www.idgexpoasia.com/" TARGET="_blank">
http://www.idgexpoasia.com/</A><BR>
<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>
<tr><td valign=top>
<b>LinuxWorld Conference & Expo Dublin (IDG)</b><BR>
<td valign=top>April 9-11, 2002<BR>Dublin, Ireland<BR>
<BR>
<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>
<tr><td valign=top>
<b>Internet World Spring (Penton)</b><BR>
<td valign=top>April 22-24, 2002<BR>Los Angeles, CA<BR>
<a href="http://www.internetworld.com/events/spring2002/" target="_blank">
http://www.internetworld.com/events/spring2002/</A><BR>
<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>
<tr><td valign=top>
<b>Software Development Conference & Expo, West (CMP)</b><BR>
<td valign=top>April 22-26, 2002<BR>San Jose, CA<BR>
<a href="http://www.sdexpo.com/" target="_blank">
http://www.sdexpo.com/</A><BR>
<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>
<tr><td valign=top>
<b>Networld + Interop (Key3Media)</b><BR>
<td valign=top>May 7-9, 2002<BR>Las Vegas, NV<BR>
<a href="http://www.key3media.com/" target="_blank">
http://www.key3media.com/</A><BR>
<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>
<tr><td valign=top>
<b>Strictly e-Business Solutions Expo (Cygnus Expositions)</b><BR>
<td valign=top>May 8-9, 2002<BR>Minneapolis, MN<BR>
<a href="http://www.strictlyebusiness.net/strictlyebusiness/index.po?" target="_blank">
http://www.strictlyebusiness.net/strictlyebusiness/index.po?</A><BR>
<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>
<tr><td valign=top>
<b>O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference (O'Reilly)</b><BR>
<td valign=top>May 13-16, 2002<BR>Santa Clara, CA<BR>
<a href="http://conferences.oreillynet.com/etcon2002/" target="_blank">
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/etcon2002/</A><BR>
<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>
<tr><td valign=top>
<b>Embedded Systems Conference (CMP)</b><BR>
<td valign=top>June 3-6, 2002<BR>Chicago, IL<BR>
<a href="http://www.esconline.com/chicago/" target=_"blank">
http://www.esconline.com/chicago/</A><BR>
<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>
<tr><td valign=top>
<b>USENIX Annual (USENIX)</b><BR>
<td valign=top>June 9-14, 2002<BR>Monterey, CA<BR>
<a href="http://www.usenix.org/events/usenix02/" target="_blank">
http://www.usenix.org/events/usenix02/</A><BR>
<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>
<tr><td valign=top>
<b>PC Expo (CMP)</b><BR>
<td valign=top>June 25-27, 2002<BR>New York, NY<BR>
<a href="http://www.techxny.com/" target="_blank">
http://www.techxny.com/</A><BR>
<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>
<tr><td valign=top>
<b>O'Reilly Open Source Convention (O'Reilly)</b><BR>
<td valign=top>July 22-26, 2002<BR>San Diego, CA<BR>
<a href="http://conferences.oreilly.com/" target="_blank">
http://conferences.oreilly.com/</A><BR>
<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>
<tr><td valign=top>
<b>USENIX Securty Symposium (USENIX)</b><BR>
<td valign=top>August 5-9, 2002<BR>San Francisco, CA<BR>
<a href="http://www.usenix.org/events/sec02/" target="_blank">
http://www.usenix.org/events/sec02/</A><BR>
<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>
<tr><td valign=top>
<b>LinuxWorld Conference & Expo (IDG)</b><BR>
<td valign=top>August 12-15, 2002<BR>San Francisco, CA<BR>
<a href="http://www.linuxworldexpo.com" target="_blank">
http://www.linuxworldexpo.com</A><BR>
<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>
<tr><td valign=top>
<b>LinuxWorld Conference & Expo Australia (IDG)</b><BR>
<td valign=top>August 14 - 16, 2002<BR>Australia<BR>
<a href="http://www.idgexpoasia.com/" target="_blank">
http://www.idgexpoasia.com/</A><BR>
<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>
<tr><td valign=top>
<b>Communications Design Conference (CMP)</b><BR>
<td valign=top>September 23-26, 2002<BR>San Jose, California<BR>
<a href="http://www.commdesignconference.com/" target="_blank">
http://www.commdesignconference.com/</A><BR>
<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>
<tr><td valign=top>
<b>Software Development Conference & Expo, East (CMP)</b><BR>
<td valign=top>November 18-22, 2002<BR>Boston, MA<BR>
<a href="http://www.sdexpo.com/" target="_blank">
http://www.sdexpo.com/</A><BR>
<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>
</table>
<!-- *** END events table [this line needed by Linux Gazette events.py *** -->
<a name="general"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">News in General</font></H3></center>
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Good News for Mozilla
</FONT>
</H3>
It appears that following the recent
<a href="http://www.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla0.9.9">
0.9.9 release</a>,
<a href="http://www.mozilla.org/">
Mozilla</a> is finally nearing the magical
<a href="http://www.mozilla.org/roadmap/mozilla-1.0.html">
1.0 release</a>. The development tree has
<a href="http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=2176">
been closed</a> in preparation for the release.
<p>
Additionally, Newsforge has
<a href="http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=02/03/08/1957252&mode=thread">reported</a>
that AOL is to move closer to Linux and Mozilla, thus gaining more
independence from Microsoft and Internet Explorer.
The move
<a href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&u=/nm/20020312/tc_nm/tech_aol_redhat_dc_1">
towards Linux</a>
appears to involve a support deal with Red Hat to deploy Linux in back-room
functions. However Mozilla appears destined to
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24441.html">
be deployed</a>
on the ubiquitous AOL CD's. Though this development will be welcomed by
many in the Free Software and Linux communities, some
<a href="http://www.msnbc.com/news/729918.asp?cp1=1">
are worried</a>
it might lead to wider enforcement of web standards.
We should be so lucky.
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">HURD and Richard Stallman
</FONT>
</H3>
<P>
Richard Stallman, announced in a
<a href="http://www.idg.net/ic_829012_4394_1-3921.html">
recent interview</a>, that he expects
the
<a href="http://www.fsf.org/software/hurd/hurd.html">
GNU Hurd</a> to be ready for production release this year.
This story was
<a href="http://slashdot.org/articles/02/03/12/1236243.shtml?tid=117">
picked up</a> by Slashdot, and also received some
<a href="http://lwn.net/2002/0314/">
comment</a>
on Linux Weekly News.
<p>
While on the subject of Richard Stallman, you might be interested to note
that
<a href="http://www.oreilly.com/">
O'Reilly</a>
have published his biography, written by Sam Williams, entitled
<a href="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/freedom/">
Free as in Freedom</a>. You can view the
<a href="http://www.oreilly.com/openbook/freedom/">
book contents</a> online, as well as
an
<a href="http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2002/02/28/williams.html">
interview</a> with the author. Naturally, the book is published under the
<a href="http://www.oreilly.com/openbook/freedom/appc.html">
GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL)</a>.
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Open Source PCI Bridge Soft Core
</FONT>
</H3>
<P>
<a href="http://www.opencores.org/">
OpenCores</a> is
an organisation whose main objective is to design, reuse, and integrate IP
cores under the General Public License (GPL) helping the concept of freely
available, open-source hardware to emerge. OpenCores have recently
announced the immediate availability of the open-source, free, complete
33/66MHz 32-bit PCI Bridge Soft Core solution. The PCI Bridge Soft Core is
a complete, synthesizable RTL (Verilog) code that provides bridging between
the PCI and a WISHBONE (System-on-Chip) bus. The complete package includes
comprehensive specification and design documentation, a comprehensive
verification suite, and a test application.
<P>
Test application is a VGA card implemented using a Xilinx
Spartan II device on a PCI development board from Insight Electronics. PCI
bridge core is connected to a simple VGA controller core forming a
system-on-chip and comes with a Linux frame buffer device driver.
You can download the PCI Bridge Soft
Core from the
<a href="http://www.opencores.org/projects/pci">
OpenCores PCI Project Website</a>.
<a name="distro"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">Distro News</font></H3></center>
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Debian
</FONT>
</H3>
<P>
<a href="http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/">Debian Weekly News</a>
has
<a href="http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2002/13/">
reported</a>
that a new stable revision (2.2r6) is
<a href="http://master.debian.org/~joey/2.2r6/">
in preparation</a>.
The list of packages contains no less than 24 security uploads and
seven important updates currently. This revision should be out around
the beginning of April.
<P>
<hr noshade width="20%">
<P>
Also
<a href="http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2002/9/">
reported</a>
was a story on Debian as Aid Server. Matthew Grant from an
<a href="http://www.anathoth.gen.nz/">
organisation</a>
that hosts GNU/Linux Projects for Developing Countries
<a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0202/msg01786.html">
reported</a>
that they chose Debian to build an
<a href="http://linux-aid.anathoth.gen.nz/">
Aid Server</a>
whose purpose is to enhance communications for aid organisations and NGOs.
<P>
<hr noshade width="20%">
<P>
The
<a href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/securing-debian-howto/index.en.html">
Securing Debian Manual 2.0</a> has been released. Still a few FIXME's left
for people to help with, and translations are needed.
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Mandrake
</FONT>
</H3>
<a href="http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/">
Mandrake</a> have
<a href="http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1959&lang=en">
announced</a>
the release of a fourth beta of the upcoming
Mandrake Linux 8.2.
<P>
In less happy news, Mandrake is also under a bit of a cash squeeze at the
moment, which has led the company to
<a href="http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/mdkfuture.php3">
launch</a>
a subscription based club, priced from $5 per month.
This development was commented upon both
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24395.html">
in The Register</a> and
<a href="http://lwn.net/2002/0314/">
in Linux Weekly News</a>.
ZDnet also covered the story,
<a href="http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-866870.html">
reporting</a> dissatisfaction among club members when it appeared
that the terms of membership were being changed. This change was the
result of an unexpected change in Sun's pricing structure for Star Office.
Mandrake has replied to these criticisms, in its official announcement of the
availability for club-members of
<a href="http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/staroffice-6.0.php3">
StarOffice 6.0 for Linux</a>.
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Sorcerer
</FONT>
</H3>
<P>
There appears to be some feuding going on around the Sorcerer camp. An
unsigned webpage was
<a href="http://www.sorcerylinux.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=6&mode=thread&order=0">
posted</a> at
<a href="http://sorcerer.wox.org/">sorcerer.wox.org</a> alleging
that the distribution had effectively been stolen from its creator Kyle
Sallee. This page is no longer available, but can be read at this
<a href="http://www.sagelikefool.net/mark/sorcerer.wox.org-index.html">
mirror</a>.
These allegations were
<a href="http://www.sorcerylinux.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=7&mode=thread&order=0">
replied to</a>
by the guys at
<a href="http://www.sorcerylinux.org/">
http://www.sorcerylinux.org/</a>, who disagree with just about everything
in the original story. Interestingly,
<a href="http://sorcerer.wox.org/">sorcerer.wox.org</a>
does actually
<a href="http://sorcerer.wox.org/news.html">appear</a> to be operated by
Kyle. An interesting article to read in this context is
<a href="http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-dist1.html">
Making the distribution</a> (this link appeared in a comment on
sorcerylinux.org).
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">SuSE
</FONT>
</H3>
<p>
<a href="http://www.suse.de/en/">
SuSE Linux</a>
has announced the launch of the eighth generation of their Linux
distribution to be available from software retailers from mid-April. This
releases features an almost fully automated installation routine and the
KDE 3 graphical desktop environment. Improved hardware detection greatly
facilitates the installation. The SuSE system assistant YaST2 (Yet another
Setup-Tool) detects existing Windows 95/98/ME partitions and makes useful
suggestions for allocating hard disk space and selecting software. The
fast installation finishes by simply entering a user name and password and
confirming monitor resolution. Even printer, sound card, and TV card are
installed automatically with a mouse click.
<P> SuSE Linux 8.0 will be available from software retailers from mid-April
2002. The recommended retail price for SuSE Linux 8.0 Personal (3 CDs, 2
manuals, 60 days of installation support) is EUR 49.90; SuSE Linux 8.0
Professional (7 CDs, 1 DVD, 3 manuals, 90 days of installation support) is
EUR 79.90.
<hr noshade width="20%">
<P>SuSE Linux has also announced that the latest version of its
enterprise operating system, the 64-bit SuSE Linux Enterprise
Server 7 for IBM eServer zSeries, will be available by the
beginning of May.
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Yellow Dog
</FONT>
</H3>
<P>
Terra Soft have
<a href="http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2002-03-28-005-26-PR-DT-DP">
announced</a> the release of
<a href="http://www.yellowdoglinux.com/ydl_home.shtml">
Yellow Dog Linux 2.2</a>.
Features of this Red Hat 7.2 based distribution include XFree86 4.2.0,
KDE 2.2.2 and Gnome 1.4 with Nautilus and Evolution.
<p>
In a NewsFactor
<a href="http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/17007.html">
article</a>
Terra Soft co-founder and CEO Kai Staats
said that in real-world
applications, Motorola's processors are better equipped for Linux than their
Intel counterparts. (Link courtesy Linux Today).
<a name="commercial"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">Software and Product News</font></H3></center>
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Vim 6.1
</FONT>
</H3>
Bram Moolenaar has
<a href="http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2002-03-27-007-26-NW-DV">
announced the release</a> of
<a href="http://www.vim.org/">
Vim</a> 6.1. It is principally a bugfix release.
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Micro Sharp Technology
</FONT>
</H3>
<P>
<a href="http://www.netule.com">
Micro Sharp Technology, Inc.</a>
a technology provider of thin server solutions have
announced a way to head off virus attacks that are now making
their way into cellular phones.
Their solution is via
configuration of the Netule EM-I email server in conjunction with
a Netule FW-I enterprise firewall.
EM-I and FW-I are based on Linux, "an extremely powerful, stable and
reliable UNIX like operating system".
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Dossier
</FONT>
</H3>
The
<a href="http://www.ptf.com/dossier">
DOSSIER</a>
series now includes 14 volumes,
many of which are relevant to Linux systems. Current topics include C,
Email, File Systems, Kernel, PostgreSQL, Python, Security, and Text.
The demand-printed volumes may be ordered from
<a href="http://www.bsdmall.com">
BSDMall</a>.
The motivation and rationale for DOSSIER are
covered in
<a href="http://www.daemonnews.org/200201/dossier.html">
DOSSIER and the Meta Project (Part 1)</a>.
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <P>
<H5 ALIGN=center>
Copyright &copy; 2002, Michael Conry and
the Editors of <A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com"><I>Linux Gazette</I></A>.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR>
Published in Issue 77 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2002</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<H4 ALIGN="center">
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
</H4>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!--===================================================================-->
<center>
<H1><font color="maroon">HelpDex and Qubism</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:shane_collinge@yahoo.com">Shane Collinge</a>
and
<a href="mailto:sirflakey@core.org.au">Jon "Sir Flakey" Harsem</a>
</H4>
</center>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!-- END header -->
<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
[These cartoons are scaled down to fit into LG.
To see a panel in all its clarity, click on it. -Editor (Iron).]
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>
<A HREF="misc/collinge/aarghnyetscape.jpg">
<IMG ALT="[cartoon]" SRC="misc/collinge/aarghnyetscape.jpg"
WIDTH="640" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<BR CLEAR="all">
<A HREF="misc/collinge/hd-flashingled1.jpg">
<IMG ALT="[cartoon]" SRC="misc/collinge/hd-flashingled1.jpg"
WIDTH="640" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<BR CLEAR="all">
<A HREF="misc/collinge/hd-flashingled2.jpg">
<IMG ALT="[cartoon]" SRC="misc/collinge/hd-flashingled2.jpg"
WIDTH="640" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<BR CLEAR="all">
<A HREF="misc/collinge/hd-whatpart.jpg">
<IMG ALT="[cartoon]" SRC="misc/collinge/hd-whatpart.jpg"
WIDTH="640" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<BR CLEAR="all">
<A HREF="misc/collinge/missing.jpg">
<IMG ALT="[cartoon]" SRC="misc/collinge/missing.jpg"
WIDTH="640" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<BR CLEAR="all">
PS. Those commands actually do that. Try them.
<A HREF="misc/collinge/mrelectron.jpg">
<IMG ALT="[cartoon]" SRC="misc/collinge/mrelectron.jpg"
WIDTH="640" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<BR CLEAR="all">
<A HREF="misc/collinge/marssurveyor.jpg">
<IMG ALT="[cartoon]" SRC="misc/collinge/marssurveyor.jpg"
WIDTH="640" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<BR CLEAR="all">
<A HREF="misc/collinge/qb-darthgates.jpg">
<IMG ALT="[cartoon]" SRC="misc/collinge/qb-darthgates.jpg"
WIDTH="640" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<BR CLEAR="all">
<P> All Qubism cartoons and recent HelpDex cartoons are
<A HREF="http://www.core.org.au/modules.php?name=Cartoons">here</A>
at the CORE web site.
<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
<SPACER TYPE="vertical" SIZE="30">
<P>
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Shane Collinge</H4>
<EM>Part computer programmer, part cartoonist, part Mars Bar. At night, he runs
around in a pair of colorful tights fighting criminals. During the day... well,
he just runs around. He eats when he's hungry and sleeps when he's sleepy.</EM>
<P>
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Jon "SirFlakey" Harsem</H4>
<EM>Jon is the and creator of the Qubism cartoon strip and current
Editor-in-Chief of the
<A HREF="http://www.core.org.au/">CORE</A> News Site.
Somewhere along the early stages of
his life he picked up a pencil and started drawing on the wallpaper. Now
his cartoons appear 5 days a week on-line, go figure. He confesses to
owning a Mac but swears it is for "personal use".</EM>
<!-- *** END bio *** -->
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <!-- P -->
<H5 ALIGN=center>
Copyright &copy; 2002, Shane Collinge and Jon "Sir Flakey" Harsem.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR>
Published in Issue 77 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2002</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<H4 ALIGN="center">
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
</H4>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!--===================================================================-->
<center>
<H1><font color="maroon">Working with Micro-Distributions<BR>
--or--<BR>
Linux in Your Pocket</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:lkollar@despammed.com">Larry "Dirt Road" Kollar</a></H4>
</center>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!-- END header -->
<p>In these days of distributions that come on six CDs, it's
good to remember that a very functional Linux
fits on a Zip cartridge -- or even a couple of floppies.
<p>To prove the utility of a tiny Linux, I set up a two-floppy
system on a 486 and used it to write this article.
<h2>Introduction</h2>
<p>"It all" began when I was given a pair of PCs and one monitor.
The larger computer, an Aptiva, had a P133 CPU, a 2GB hard drive,
a CD-ROM drive, and no RAM at all.
The second computer was an HP Vectra 486/33N
with a 170MB hard drive, Windows 3.1, and 8MB of RAM (no CD).
Both systems had mice, but no keyboards.
A trip to Wal-Mart and $10(US) later, and I had a PS/2-compatible
keyboard.
Since the two computers both used 72-pin SIMMs, the first thing I
did was to swap the RAM into the Aptiva and see if anything useful
was on that big hard drive.
<p>I learned something valuable.
I learned what Window 98 chokes on insufficient RAM, ungraciously.
<p>I didn't happen to have any extra RAM lying around.
So I put the RAM back in the Vectra and dug up the RedHat 4.0 disks
I had... oops, they're CDs and this Vectra doesn't have a CD (and
no slots in the case to mount one).
Obviously, I needed another strategy.
<h2>Lookin' Mighty Floppy</h2>
<p><a href="http://lwn.net/daily/">Linux Daily News</a> is one of my
daily stops on the Web.
If LWN doesn't have the info you need, they have a link to it.
I pulled up the <a href="http://lwn.net/Distributions/">Distributions</a>
page and scrolled down to the floppy-based list.
<p>My first thought was everyone's favorite single-floppy rescue
distribution,
<a href="http://www.toms.net/rb/home.html">tomsrtbt</a>.
I have a Windows laptop at work, strictly secondary to my Mac G3,
but on occasion it actually makes itself useful.
Unfortunately, tomsrtbt uses some funky disk voodoo to pack
1.7MB onto a 1.44MB floppy, and IT had recently "up"graded the
laptop to Windows 2000.
W2K doesn't allow such shenanigans, and I don't have easy
access to another Windows system.
<p>Back to the list.
While poking around a few other resources, I found that
<a href="http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~ichi/baslinux.html">BasicLinux</a>
isn't really a CD-based distribution (like the LWN Distribution
page claims).
It comes in a single ZIP file, totalling 2MB, but the unpacked
files fit easily on two floppies and doesn't require you to
write an image (it uses LOADLIN.EXE to start from DOS).
Derived from Slackware 3.5, it sports a 2.0.34 kernel and libc5.
It also allocates only 4MB for its RAMdisk, allowing the Vectra
to get its first taste of free software.
<h2>Up and Away</h2>
<p>Despite differences in software vintage, disk format, and
intent, floppy-based distributions have a fairly similar startup
sequence:
<ol>
<li>Initialization, either at startup (LILO) or after DOS loads
(LOADLIN).
<li>The loader decompresses the kernel and starts it.
<li>The kernel creates a RAMdisk for its userland.
<li>The loader decompresses the userland and loads it into the RAMdisk.
<li>Booting proceeds as normal, with the RAMdisk mounted at root.
</ol>
<p>A disk image containing the userland (i.e. the contents of
the filesystem) usually
fits snugly on a 1.44MB floppy and expands to about 3MB.
Running from a RAMdisk, even a 486/33 feels pretty snappy.
<h3>Tradeoffs</h3>
<p>Wedging even a minimal Linux onto two floppies brings to mind
Heinlein's immortal observation "TANSTAAFL"
(There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch).
While it's possible to offer some basic utilities and even X11,
you won't find KDE, Gnome, or Mozilla.
Emacs addicts can just forget it (well, mostly).
<p>Even the basic commands and utilities, the things you expect
from any OS whose name ends in 'X,' are cut-back versions.
Actually, most of them are simply symbolic links to a program
called <a href="http://busybox.lineo.com/">BusyBox</a>.
Lineo developed this clever kit for embedded Linux systems,
but it has also found its way into the various rescue and
micro distributions.
It packs 54 of the essential commands into a single binary
of just over 110K.
Create a link (using ln -s) named <b>cp</b>, and when you
enter that command Busybox acts like a <b>cp</b> command.
When you run it as <b>mv</b>, it moves or renames files.
The <b>--help</b> option provides a brief description of
the command, eliminating an absolute need for manpages as well.
Without BusyBox, I dare say floppy-based distributions would
have to make even more compromises.
<h2>Working with BasicLinux</h2>
<p>BasicLinux is a compact but competent networking system.
Besides the essentials (via BusyBox), it provides network
connectivity through both Ethernet and dialup, and can
pull firewall duty using <b>ipfwadm</b>.
Utilities like <b>fetchmail</b> and <b>links</b> (not
<b>lynx</b>, that threw me) provide mail and web connectivity.
To keep seasoned Linux users comfortable as possible, it
provides the familiar <b>bash</b> shell.
The default inittab provides three console logins, more
than enough for my purposes (I sometimes use two consoles
at a time, one for me and one for root).
<p>Unlike some distributions, BasicLinux offers two text
editors, the tiny <b>e3</b> and the popular <b>pico</b>.
Taking advantage of some leftover space in the boot image,
and the historic
Slackware package archive, I replaced them both with
<b>joe</b>. Joe is an editor slightly larger than <b>pico</b>
but it can emulate <b>pico</b>, WordStar, and Emacs
(but without all the bloated Emacs hyper-functionality).
The result is a larger compressed image, but
one that still fits on a floppy.
<h3>Editing the Image</h3>
<p>The <b>readme.txt</b> file that comes with BasicLinux
is brief, but provides enough detail for anyone familiar
with a console to customize the system or create
a bootable floppy image.
<p>As I write this section of the article, I have the
BasicLinux files on the C: drive of a 486 that would
otherwise be running MS-DOS.
Customizing the image is simple:
<ol>
<li>Use <b>gunzip</b> to decompress the image.
<li>Mount the image on a loopback device.
<li>Make changes as desired.
<li>Unmount the image.
<li>Gzip the image.
</ol>
<P> I've written up a <A HREF="misc/kollar/loopback.html">separate page</A> describing
the loopback device.
<h2>Migrating to the Hard Drive</h2>
<p>This isn't difficult, if you're willing to wipe out everything
on the hard drive.
The Vectra had Windows 3.1 and a pile of applications,
nothing that I particularly needed to keep.
<p>Before plunging forward, I did a little research and backed
up the MS-DOS directory onto floppy (using a zip compressor that
was already on the computer).
With a 160MB hard drive and 8MB of RAM, I figured I would have
enough room to build a capable system without being tempted to
overload it.
<p>A Google search for partition resizing programs turned up
the free
<a href="http://www.igd.fhg.de/~aschaefe/fips/">FIPS</a>
(First non-destructive Interactive Partiton Splitting program).
Following the instructions, I put FIPS on a boot floppy and
used it to shrink the C: partition.
I wanted to reduce it to 10MB, but FIPS (for whatever reason)
would not go below 16MB.
After wiping out all the Windows 3.1 stuff and defragmenting
the hard drive, I had less than 5MB on C: so I'm not sure
what happened.
Oh well.
<p>Now I started Linux again and used the <b>fdisk</b>
utility that came with BasicLinux to create a 32MB swap
partition and dedicate the rest of the drive to root.
Running <b>mkswap</b>, <b>mke2fs</b>, and <b>e2fsck</b>
prepared the new partitions for use.
Finally, I unpacked the BasicLinux <b>instl2hd.zip</b>
archive and followed the instructions that came with it
to load my RAMdisk image (and some extras) onto the
hard drive.
From there, it was a simple matter of editing /etc/fstab
to point to the new root and swap partitions.
One more reboot, and I was running from the hard drive.
Life is good.
I copied my article to the Linux partition and continued
writing.
<h2>Caught in the Net</h2>
<p>With the console-based system using less than 5MB of
RAM, and leaving 3MB of RAM free, I set
my sights a little higher.
In short, I wanted to add:
<ul>
<li>groff (the GNU troff formatter)
<li>vim (first-class text editing)
<li>rogue (kill some monsters, break the mental block)
<li>X11 (display draft documents)
<li>gcc (at least temporarily, to compile groff and rogue)
</ul>
<p>Fortunately, the Vectra came with an SMB-Ultra network card.
It didn't take long to find the proper module, and the BasicLinux
documentation told me to load the 8390 module first.
Since I already have my Mac G3 running a NAT firewall
(ipchains) under Linux to share the dialup, adding the
Vectra to the network was mainly a matter of carrying it
into the room with the LAN and plugging in a cable.
After some fiddling and reading the <b>route</b> manpage
several times, I finally figured out the incantations
needed to get Skeeter (as I started calling the Vectra)
talking to the LAN then through the G3's gateway and into
the outside world.
<p>Downloading the X11 packages reminded me that there are
even slower network links than my dialup.
This was one of the few times I was glad to not have
broadband; I would have felt cheated.
But eventually, I got them all onto the hard drive,
then set about configuring X11.
Poking around on the net for help, I learned that
the SuperProbe utility would tell me what the Vectra's
on-board video was, and that my monitor was
strictly 640x480.
On my second evening, I got the GUI running and switched to
the recommended <b>icewm</b> for a window manager.
<b>Icewm</b>'s pager and small size made the cramped
screen tolerable if not palatable.
But to be fair, a 35-line <b>rxvt</b> window beats a 25-line
console screen for writing, so overall I'm satisfied.
<h3>The Rest</h3>
<p>With the network and GUI working, it was now time to
finish out the build.
At this point, the entire system weighed in at just under
21MB of hard drive space (out of 113MB available).
Adding the compiler packages took this up to 35MB.
<p>Adding the packages needed to compile
<a href="http://groff.ffii.org/">groff</a> and
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gawk/gawk.html">gawk</a>,
plus the compiled applications themselves, went over 60MB used.
After installing the programs and deleting the build directories,
I was satisfied with the 57MB in use.
<p>Having dealt with sharing a printer over a LAN via
<b>lpr</b> before, it wasn't long before I was able to
run a few test <b>groff</b> documents and have them
print to the G3's USB laser printer.
At this point, Skeeter is doing everything I'd planned for it.
I'd like to put a larger monitor on it (800x600 at least),
and perhaps compile Chimera 1.x for use as a graphical
web browser, but neither of these are absolute necessities.
<h2>Finding its Own Niche</h2>
<p>Besides being available for writing articles like this one,
Skeeter can connect to MUDs for recreation (imagine three
people sharing a dialup -- since two are using <b>telnet</b>,
and the third is just reading email in a browser, nobody
complains about the connection being slow).
Rogue captivated my teenage son and his friend -- the friend
marvelled at how a game without graphics could be so fun!
<p>Skeeter has also made itself useful as a sort-of remote
floppy drive.
The iMac (now running MacOS X) has no floppy, and the G3's
drive is somewhat dodgy.
So if we need to read or write a floppy, we call on Skeeter.
Skeeter may become a print server in the future as well.
<p>In the end, I deem the experiment a success.
An investment of $10
plus a little sweat equity gave me another useful
computer and some new skills.
<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
<SPACER TYPE="vertical" SIZE="30">
<P>
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Larry Kollar</H4>
<EM>Larry's job title is "Technical Writer," but he secretly dreams of
being a BOFH some day. At work, he manages to find time to
write scripts, set up departmental Linux servers (on Macs, of
course), and fend off hordes of jealous IT staffers who want
his G3. At his home at the bottom of the Georgia mountains,
he does what he can to keep a wife, two kids, and four computers
healthy and happy.</EM>
<!-- *** END bio *** -->
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <!-- P -->
<H5 ALIGN=center>
Copyright &copy; 2002, Larry "Dirt Road" Kollar.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR>
Published in Issue 77 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2002</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<H4 ALIGN="center">
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
</H4>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!--===================================================================-->
<center>
<H1><font color="maroon">Writing Your Own Toy OS (Part I)</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:krishnakumar_r@bharatmail.com">Krishnakumar R.</a></H4>
</center>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!-- END header -->
<EM> This article is a hands-on tutorial for building a small boot
sector. The first section provides the theory behind what happens at the
time the computer is switched on. It also explains our plan. The second
section tells all the things you should have on hand before proceeding
further, and the third section deals with the programs. Our little startup
program won't actually boot Linux, but it will display something on the screen.</EM>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="s1">1. Background</A></H2>
<H2>1.1 The Fancy Dress</H2>
<P>The microprocessor controls the computer. At startup, every
microprocessor is just another 8086. Even though you may have a brand
new Pentium, it will only have the capabilities of an 8086. From this
point, we can use some software and switch processor to the infamous
<EM>protected mode </EM>. Only then can we utilize the processor's full power.
<H2>1.2 Our Role</H2>
<P>Initially, control is in the hands of the <EM>BIOS</EM>. This is
nothing but a collection of programs that are stored in ROM. BIOS
performs the <EM>POST</EM> (Power On Self Test). This checks the
integrity of the computer (whether the peripherals are working properly,
whether the keyboard is connected, etc.). This is when you hear those beeps
from the computer. If everything is okay, BIOS selects a boot device. It
copies the first sector (boot sector) from the device,
to address location <EM>0x7C00</EM>. The control is then transferred
to this location. The boot device may be a floppy disk, CD-ROM, hard
disk or some device of your choice. Here we will take the boot device to be
a floppy disk. If we had written some code into the boot sector of the
floppy, our code would be executed now. Our role is clear: just write
some programs to the boot sector of the floppy.
<H2>1.3 The Plan</H2>
<P>First write a small program in 8086 assembly (don't be frightened;
I will teach you how to write it), and copy it to the boot sector of the
floppy. To copy, we will code a C program. Boot the computer with that
floppy, and then enjoy.
<P>
<H2><A NAME="s2">2. Things You Should Have</A></H2>
<P>
<DL>
<DT><B>as86</B><DD><P>This is an assembler. The assembly code we write
is converted to an object file by this tool.
<DT><B>ld86</B><DD><P>This is the linker. The object code generated by
as86 is converted to actual machine language code by this tool. Machine
language will be in a form that 8086 understands.
<DT><B>gcc</B><DD><P>The C compiler. For now we need to write a C program to transfer our OS to the floppy.
<DT><B>A free floppy</B><DD><P>A floppy will be used to store our
operating system. This also is our boot device.
<DT><B>Good Old Linux box</B><DD><P>You know what this is for.
</DL>
as86 and ld86 will be in most of the standard distributions. If not, you
can always get them from the site
<A
HREF="http://www.cix.co.uk/~mayday/">http://www.cix.co.uk/~mayday/</A>.
Both of them are included in single package, bin86. Good documentation is available at
<A HREF="http://www.linux.org/docs/ldp/howto/Assembly-HOWTO/as86.html">www.linux.org/docs/ldp/howto/Assembly-HOWTO/as86.html</A>.
<H2><A NAME="s3">3. 1, 2, 3, Start!</A></H2>
<H2>3.1 The Boot Sector </H2>
<P>Grab your favourite editor and type in these few lines.
<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
<PRE>
entry start
start:
mov ax,#0xb800
mov es,ax
seg es
mov [0],#0x41
seg es
mov [1],#0x1f
loop1: jmp loop1
</PRE>
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>This is an assembly language that as86 will understand. The first
statement specifies the entry point where the control should enter
the program. We are stating that control should initially go to label
<EM><CODE>start</CODE></EM>. The 2nd line depicts the location of the label
<EM><CODE>start</CODE></EM> (don't forget to put ":" after the start). The
first statement that will be executed in this program is the
statement just after <EM>start</EM>.
<P>0xb800 is the address of the video memory. The # is for representing
an immediate value. After the execution of
<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
<PRE>
mov ax,#0xb800
</PRE>
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
register ax will contain the value 0xb800, that is, the address of the
video memory.
Now we move this value to the <EM><CODE>es</CODE></EM>
register. <EM><CODE>es</CODE></EM> stands for the extra segment
register. Remember that 8086 has a segmented architecture. It has segments
like code segments, data segments, extra segments, etc.--hence the segment
registers cs, ds, es. Actually, we have made the video memory our extra
segment, so anything written to extra segment would go to video memory.
<P>To display any character on the screen, you need to write two bytes
to the video memory. The first is the ascii value you are going to
display. The second is the attribute of the character. Attribute has
to do with which colour should be used as the foreground, which for the
background, should the char blink and so on. <EM><CODE>seg es</CODE></EM>
is actually a prefix that tells which instruction is to be executed next with
reference to <EM><CODE>es</CODE></EM> segment. So, we move value 0x41,
which is the ascii value of character A, into the first byte of the
video memory. Next we need to move the attribute of the character to
the next byte. Here we enter 0x1f, which is the value for representing a white
character on a blue background. So if we execute this program, we get a
white A on a blue background. Finally, there is the loop. We need to stop the
execution after the display of the character, or we have a loop that
loops forever. Save the file as <EM><CODE>boot.s</CODE></EM>.
<P>The idea of video memory may not be very clear, so let me explain
further. Suppose we assume the screen consists of 80 columns and 25
rows. So for each line we need 160 bytes, one for each character and one
for each character's attribute. If we need to write some character to
column 3 then we need to skip bytes 0 and 1 as they is for the 1st column;
2 and 3 as they are for the 2nd column; and then write our ascii value
to the 4th byte and its attribute to the 5th location in the video memory.
<H2>3.2 Writing Boot Sector to Floppy</H2>
<P>We have to write a C program that copies our code (OS code) to first
sector of the floppy disk. Here it is:
<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
<PRE>
#include &lt;sys/types.h> /* unistd.h needs this */
#include &lt;unistd.h> /* contains read/write */
#include &lt;fcntl.h>
int main()
{
char boot_buf[512];
int floppy_desc, file_desc;
file_desc = open("./boot", O_RDONLY);
read(file_desc, boot_buf, 510);
close(file_desc);
boot_buf[510] = 0x55;
boot_buf[511] = 0xaa;
floppy_desc = open("/dev/fd0", O_RDWR);
lseek(floppy_desc, 0, SEEK_CUR);
write(floppy_desc, boot_buf, 512);
close(floppy_desc);
}
</PRE>
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>First, we open the file <EM><CODE>boot</CODE></EM> in read-only
mode, and copy the file descripter of the opened file to variable
<EM><CODE>file_desc</CODE></EM>. Read from the file 510 characters or
until the file ends. Here the code is small, so the latter case occurs. Be
decent; close the file.
<P>The last four lines of code open the floppy disk device (which mostly
would be /dev/fd0). It brings the head to the beginning of the file using
<EM><CODE>lseek</CODE></EM>, then writes the 512 bytes from the buffer
to floppy.
<P>The man pages of read, write, open and lseek (refer to man 2) would give
you enough information on what the other parameters of those functions
are and how to use them. There are two lines in between, which may be
slightly mysterious. The lines:
<P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
<PRE>
boot_buf[510] = 0x55;
boot_buf[511] = 0xaa;
</PRE>
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
This information is for BIOS. If BIOS is to recognize a device as a
bootable device, then the device should have the values 0x55 and 0xaa
at the 510th and 511th location. Now we are done. The program reads the
file <EM><CODE>boot</CODE></EM> to a buffer named boot_buf. It makes the
required changes to 510th and 511th bytes and then writes boot_buf
to floppy disk. If we execute the code, the first 512 bytes
of the floppy disk will contain our boot code. Save the file as
<EM><CODE>write.c</CODE></EM>.
<H2>3.3 Let's Do It All</H2>
<P>To make executables out of this file you need to type the following
at the Linux bash prompt.
<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
<PRE>
as86 boot.s -o boot.o
ld86 -d boot.o -o boot
cc write.c -o write
</PRE>
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>First, we assemble the <CODE><EM>boot.s</EM></CODE> to form an object
file <EM><CODE>boot.o</CODE></EM>. Then we link this file to get the
final file <EM><CODE>boot</CODE></EM>. The <EM><CODE>-d</CODE></EM> for
ld86 is for removing all headers and producing pure binary. Reading
man pages for as86 and ld86 will clear any doubts. We then compile the C program
to form an executable named <EM><CODE>write</CODE></EM>.
<P>Insert a blank floppy into the floppy drive and type
<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
<PRE>
./write
</PRE>
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
Reset the machine. Enter the BIOS setup and make floppy the first boot
device. Put the floppy in the drive and watch the computer boot from your
boot floppy.
<P> Then you will see an 'A' (with white foreground color on a blue
background). That means that the system has booted from the boot floppy we
have made and then executed the boot sector program we wrote. It is now in the
infinite loop we had written at the end of our boot sector. We must now reboot
the computer and remove the our boot floppy to boot into Linux.
<P> From here, we'll want to insert more code into our boot sector program, to
make it do more complex things (like using BIOS interrupts, protected-mode
switching, etc). The later parts (PART II, PART III etc. ) of this article will
guide you on further improvements. Till then GOOD BYE !
<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
<P>
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Krishnakumar R.</H4>
<EM>Krishnakumar is a final year B.Tech student at Govt. Engg. College Thrissur,
Kerala, India. His journey into the land of Operating systems started with
module programming in linux . He has built a routing operating system by name
GROS.(Details available at his home page:
<A HREF="http://www.askus.way.to">www.askus.way.to</A> ) His other
interests include Networking, Device drivers, Compiler Porting and Embedded systems.</EM>
<!-- *** END bio *** -->
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <!-- P -->
<H5 ALIGN=center>
Copyright &copy; 2002, Krishnakumar R..<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR>
Published in Issue 77 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2002</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<H4 ALIGN="center">
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
</H4>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!--===================================================================-->
<center>
<H1><font color="maroon">Network Security with /proc/sys/net/ipv4</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:david@lechnyr.com">David Lechnyr</a></H4>
</center>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!-- END header -->
<i>In additional to firewall rulesets, the /proc filesystem offers some significant
enhancements to your network security settings. Unfortunately, most of us are
unaware of anything beyond the vague rumors and advice we've heard about this
beast. In this article, we'll review some of the basic essentials of the /proc/sys/net/ipv4
filesystem necessary to add to the overall network security of your Linux server.
</i>
<p>Perhaps one of the more frequently neglected areas of firewall configuration
involves the /proc filesystem. The pseudo file structure within proc allows
you to interface with the internal data structures in the kernel, either obtaining
information about the system or changing specific settings. Some of the parts
of /proc are read-only, while others can be modified. It is often referred to
as a <i>virtual</i> filesystem in that it doesn't take up any actual hard drive
space; files are created only on demand when you access them. In this article,
we will be focusing specifically on /proc/sys/net/ipv4.</p>
<p> In order to benefit from the use of the /proc filesystem, you'll need to enable
two settings when building your kernel. CONFIG_PROC_FS is the setting that allows
you to access and view the /proc filesystem, and CONFIG_SYSCTL is the bit that
actually allows you to modify /proc entries without requiring a reboot of the
system or a recompile of the kernel. Settings are only available at boot time
after the /proc file system has been mounted. </p>
<h3>ICMP Specific Settings</h3>
<p>Ping scanning is typically used to determine which hosts on a network are up.
Typically this is done by sending ICMP ECHO request packets to the target host.
This is seemingly innocent behavior, however often network administrators will
block such traffic to increase their obscurity. The choices involve blocking
ICMP ECHO requests to broadcast/multicast addresses and directly to the host
itself. The respective commands to disable protection are:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><code>echo &quot;0&quot; &gt; /proc/sys/net/ipv4/icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts<br>
echo &quot;0&quot; &gt; /proc/sys/net/ipv4/icmp_echo_ignore_all</code></p>
</blockquote>
<p>ICMP redirect messages can also be a pain. If your box is not acting as a router,
you'll probably want to disable them:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><code>echo &quot;0&quot; &gt; /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/all/accept_redirects</code></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sometimes you will come across routers that send out invalid responses to broadcast
frames. This is a violation of RFC 1122, &quot;Requirements for Internet Hosts
-- Communication Layers&quot;. As a result, these events are logged by the kernel.
To avoid filling up your logfile with unnecessary clutter, you can tell the
kernel not to issue these warnings:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><code>echo &quot;1&quot; &gt; /proc/sys/net/ipv4/icmp_ignore_bogus_error_responses</code>
</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>IP Specific Settings</h3>
<p>Ironically, IP forwarding of packets between interfaces is enabled by default
on many systems in their startup scripts. If you're not intending for your box
to forward traffic between interfaces, or if you only have a single interface,
it would probably be a good idea to disable forwarding. Note that altering this
value resets all configuration parameters to their default values; specifically,
RFC1122 for hosts and RFC1812 for routers. As a result, you'll want to modify
this one before all other /proc settings.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><code>if [ -r /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward ]; then<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;echo &quot;Disabling IP forwarding&quot;<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;echo &quot;0&quot; &gt; /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward<br>
fi </code></p>
</blockquote>
<p>If instead you decide to enable forwarding, you will also be able to modify
the rp_filter setting; something which is often misunderstood by network administrators.
The rp_filter can reject incoming packets if their source address doesn't match
the network interface that they're arriving on, which helps to prevent IP spoofing.
Turning this on, however, has its consequences: If your host has several IP
addresses on different interfaces, or if your single interface has multiple
IP addresses on it, you'll find that your kernel may end up rejecting valid
traffic. It's also important to note that even if you do not enable the rp_filter,
protection against broadcast spoofing is always on. Also, the protection it
provides is only against spoofed <i>internal</i> addresses; external addresses
can still be spoofed.. By default, it is disabled. To enable it, run the following:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><code>if [ -r /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/all/rp_filter ]; then<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;echo "Enabling rp_filter"<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;echo &quot;1&quot; &gt; /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/all/rp_filter<br>
fi</code></p>
</blockquote>
<p>You may have also noticed the &quot;all&quot; subdirectory in this last example.
In <code>/proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf</code> there is one subdirectory for each interface
on your system along with one directory called &quot;all&quot;. Changing specific
interface directories only affects that specific interface, while changes made
to the &quot;all&quot; directory affects all interfaces on the system.</p>
<p> If you have compiled your kernel with CONFIG_SYNCOOKIES, you will be able
to <i>optionally</i> turn on or off protection against SYN flood attacks. Note
the emphasis, as compiling the kernel with this value does not enable it by
default. It works by sending out 'syncookies' when the syn backlog queue of
a socket overflows. What is often misunderstood is that socket backlogging is
not supported in newer operating systems, which means that your error messages
may not be correctly received by the offending system. Also, if you see synflood
warnings in your logs, make sure they are not the result of a heavily loaded
server before enabling this setting. They can also cause connection problems
for other hosts attempting to reach you. However, if you do want to enable this
setting, perform the following:<br>
</p>
<blockquote>
<p><code>if [ -r /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_syncookies ]; then<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;echo "Enabling tcp_syncookies"<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;echo &quot;1&quot; &gt; /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_syncookies<br>
fi</code></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Normally, a host has no control over the route any particular packet takes
beyond its first hop. It is up to the other hosts on the network to complete
the delivery. IP Source Routing (SRR) is a method of specifying the <i>exact</i>
path that a packet should take among the other hosts to get to its destination.
This is generally a bad idea for the security conscious, as someone could direct
packets to you through a trusted interface and effectively bypass your security
in some cases. A good example is traffic, such as SSH or telnet, that is blocked
on one interface might arrive on another of your host's interfaces if source
routing is used, which you might not have anticipated in your firewall settings.
You'll probably want to disable this setting with:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><code>if [ -r /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/all/accept_source_route ]; then<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;echo "Disabling source routing"<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;echo &quot;0&quot; &gt; /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/all/accept_source_route<br>
fi </code></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Packets that have source addresses with no known route are referred to as &quot;martians&quot;.
For example, if you have two different subnets plugged into the same hub, the
routers on each end will see each other as martians. To log such packets to
the kernel log, which should never show up in the first place, you'll need to
issue:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><code>if [ -r /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/all/log_martians</code><code> ]; then<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;echo "Enabling logging of martians"<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;echo &quot;1&quot; &gt; /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/all/log_martians</code><code><br>
fi </code></p>
</blockquote>
<h3>Additional Resources</h3>
<p>For more information regarding the /proc filesystem, you may want to refer
to the documentation that comes with the Linux kernel source. Of specific help
is <STRONG>Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt</STRONG>
by Bowden, Bauer &amp; Nerin. Additionally, you can refer to <STRONG>Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt</STRONG>
by Kuznetsov &amp; Savola.</p>
<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
<SPACER TYPE="vertical" SIZE="30">
<P>
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">David Lechnyr</H4>
<EM>David is a Network Administrator at the Human Resources department
of the University of Oregon. He holds a Master's Degree in Social Work along
with his MCSE+I, CNE, and CCNA certifications. He has been working with
Linux for the past five years, with an emphasis on systems security, network
troubleshooting, PHP scripting, and web/SQL integration.</EM>
<!-- *** END bio *** -->
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <!-- P -->
<H5 ALIGN=center>
Copyright &copy; 2002, David Lechnyr.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR>
Published in Issue 76 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, March 2002</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<H4 ALIGN="center">
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
</H4>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!--===================================================================-->
<center>
<H1><font color="maroon">Linux Line Printing Daemon for Mainframe Application "Print-to-Email"</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:lpitcher@sympatico.ca">Lew Pitcher</a></H4>
</center>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!-- END header -->
<dl>
<dt><h2><font color="green">Introduction</font></h2></dt>
<dd><p>In the middle months of 2000, a colleague came to me with a question. He wanted to know
if there was any way that we could have our mainframe host systems email their reports to selected
email addresses. After some investigation, I had to tell him that, with existing, approved tools,
there was no way that we could arrange to have a mainframe application send email.
<i>&quot;However,&quot;</i> I said, <i>&quot;there is a way to do this through the back door.&quot;</i>
I explained that the mainframe supports various modes of printing, and that with suitable arrangement,
it could be persuaded to direct print output to a Unix system that could then email the data as it
saw fit.</p>
<p>Although this back-door approach was not acceptable to the situation that he was investigating at
the time, the idea stayed with me. A year later, the question came up again, but this time the
situation was not as critical and I was given some latitude to investigate the possibilities. My
co-workers (Rob Corr and Phil Robson) and I crafted two &quot;proof-of-concept&quot; implementations,
one using tools that, while they weren't approved for our use, were built to provide mainframe application
access to email, and the other being the 'back-door' approach that I had suggested the previous year. This
paper describes how we implemented our 'back-door' proof-of-concept mainframe &quot;print-to-email&quot;
using a spare Linux box, some simple tools, and a bit of knowledge.
</p></dd><!-- end of the Introduction section -->
<dt><h2><font color="green">Beginnings</font></h2></dt>
<dd><p>Our goal was to be able to have host output, generated from an IMS transaction, a CICS
transaction, or a batch job, routed to an arbitrary, application selected email address. As there
was no direct route from the host online systems to our email service, we decided to try an indirect
route through a spare Linux box on our LAN. This proof-of-concept was not meant to be a production-ready
facility, but instead was intended simply to assist in determining what problems would have to be
resolved, and how a production-ready facility would have to be built.</p>
<p>At our disposal were:
<ul>
<li>an MVS/JES2 Operating System and the facilities and systems within it (IMS, CICS, batch)</li>
<li>the VPS mainframe print spooling package, and it's associated Windows NT protocol converter,</li>
<li>LAN-based Linux facilities, including Unix Line Printing Daemon (lpd) and Unix email client
(fastmail and sendmail), and</li>
<li>connectivity to the Internet through the corporate firewall</li>
</ul>
<p>In theory, it should have been possible to &quot;print to email&quot; using these existing MVS/JES and
Unix facilities. The process would be:
<ul>
<li>Application generates a printed report which is written to a JES2 print spool,</li>
<li>the JES2 print spooler 'prints' the report on a JES2 printer, which is implemented in software
on the MVS system</li>
<li>The MVS software printer (a pseudo-printer) uses (in our case) VPS to transmit the print data
to a Unix 'lpd' (RFC1179-compliant) print spooler (implemented on a Linux system),</li>
<li>The Linux lpd daemon processes the print data through other unix tools to email the print to an
arbitrary email userid</li>
<li>Linux email (sendmail) sends the print data email to the target email address</li>
</ul>
<p>In general, the flow of print data from sending application to receiving
client looks like
<A HREF="misc/pitcher/flowchart.png">this diagram</A>.
</dd><!-- end of the Beginnings section -->
<dt><h2><font color="green">Linux</font></h2></dt>
<dd><p>Our Linux system was a minimal installation of Slackware 7.0 on a spare Pentium 90 processor.
We had used this system for a number of proof-of-concept tests and it was sitting idle and available
for our print-to-email trial. We configured the system to accept lpd spool requests from the host
(indirectly, from the NT &quot;protocol converter&quot; system), process the print into emailable
text, and email the text according to the requirements embedded in the print
data's <a href="misc/pitcher/Jes_Flash_Page.html#flashpage">JES2 flash page</a><p>
<p>In order to permit the Windows NT protocol converter access to the Linux lpd resources, we had
to add the NT system to the lpd security files. Since the NT system was assigned a DHCP IP address
but no dynamic DNS (dDNS) hostname, we included it's IP address to the
<a href="misc/pitcher/Files_in_etc.html#hosts"><tt>/etc/hosts</tt></a> file along with a fake hostname, and added the
fake hostname to the <a href="misc/pitcher/Files_in_etc.html#lpdhosts"><tt>/etc/hosts.lpd</tt></a></p>
<p>Next, the lpd printer 'jesprt' was defined in the <a href="misc/pitcher/Files_in_etc.html#printcap"><tt>
/etc/printcap</tt></a> file. This definition includes details on the spool directory
(<tt>/var/spool/lpd/jesprt</tt>) and spool filter program (<tt>/var/spool/lpd/jesprt.filter</tt>) to be used
to process print to email.</p>
<p>Finally, the print filter
(<a href="misc/pitcher/Print_Filter_Files.html#filter"><b><tt>/var/spool/lpd/jesprt.filter</tt></b>)</a>
and it's support programs were written. jesprt.filter respooled the print data to a temporary file,
then extracted the destination email address and other details from the spooled data. Once all the
particulars had been established, the temporary file was emailed to the destination and the local
copy was deleted.</p>
<p>I wrote four support modules for this filter:
<ul>
<li><a href="#collapse"><tt>/usr/local/bin/collapse</tt></a></li>
<li><a href="#mailto"><tt>/var/spool/lpd/tools/jesprt.mailto.awk</tt></a></li>
<li><a href="#subject"><tt>/var/spool/lpd/tools/jesprt.subject.awk</tt></a>, and</li>
<li><a href="#notice"><tt>/var/spool/lpd/tools/jesprt.notice.text</tt></a></li>
</ul>
<p><a name="collapse"><a href="misc/pitcher/Print_Filter_Files.html#collapse">
<b><tt>/usr/local/bin/collapse</tt></b></a> took the print data prepared by the NT
&quot;protocol converter&quot; program and reformatted it into text lines. This was necessary
because the protocol conversion generated large print files where <a href="misc/pitcher/Jes_Flash_Page.html#od">
each print line consisted of many lines overprinting each other</a>. As the print filter extracted
information from the print data, this overprinting had to be 'collapsed' into single print lines.
Additionally, the protocol conversion performed a unique form of overprinting, where each pair of
blocks of overprint were positioned 1 character to the right of the previous pair., which, if not
accommodated, would lead to errors in the resulting print data.</p>
<p><a name="mailto"><a href="misc/pitcher/Print_Filter_Files.html#mailto">
<b><tt>/var/spool/lpd/tools/jesprt.mailto.awk</tt></b></a> looked through the leading flashpage,
and extracted a destination email address from the data. It checked in three places for the target
email address:
<ol>
<li>Stand-alone in the flashpage, prefixed with a &quot;<tt>EMAIL</tt>&quot; sentinel text, or
<li>as the first line of the &quot;<tt>ADDRESS: </tt>&quot;line, prefixed with a &quot;<tt>EMAIL:</tt>&quot;
sentinel text, or
<li>derived from the username that follows the &quot;<tt>USERID:</tt>&quot; sentinel text.
</ol>
<p>The &quot;<tt>USERID:</tt>&quot; username was fixed at MVS/JES2 job submission time. However,
the &quot;<tt>EMAIL:</tt>&quot; email addresses were dynamically assigned through one of four
<tt>ADDRESS</tt> parameters passed to the JES2 print spooling system. The two possibilities
accounted for in the awk script accommodated the placement of the email address in the first
or the second and subsequent <tt>ADDRESS</tt> parameters. If the email address text was passed through
the <i>first</i> <tt>ADDRESS</tt> parameter, then that text would be found in the flash page as part of
the first line of the &quot;<tt>ADDRESS:</tt>&quot; line, and prefixed with a &quot;<tt>EMAIL:</tt>&quot;
sentinel text. However, if the email address text was passed through a subsequent <tt>ADDRESS</tt> parameter,
then the email address would be found in the flash page as a stand-alone line and prefixed with a
&quot;<tt>EMAIL:</tt>&quot; sentinel text.
<p>Finally, no email address text were passed in any of the <tt>ADDRESS</tt> parameters, then the email
address would default to the MVS LOGONID for the job, which was found as the username that follows the
&quot;<tt>USERID:</tt>&quot; sentinel text in the flashpage.
<p><a name="subject"><a href="misc/pitcher/Print_Filter_Files.html#subject">
<b><tt>/var/spool/lpd/tools/jesprt.subject.awk</tt></b></a></a>
looked through the leading flashpage, and extracted an email subject line from the data. It obtained
this information from the text that follows the &quot;<tt>TITLE:</tt>&quot; sentinel text in the flash
page. Any text populated to the <tt>TITLE</tt> parameter was placed here by JES2. For example, if the
host program set the <tt>TITLE</tt> to the text string &quot;<tt>email subject goes here</tt>&quot;, JES2
would populate it to the flashpage, and <tt>/var/spool/lpd/tools/jesprt.subject.awk</tt> would extract
the text <b>&quot;<tt>email subject line goes here</tt>&quot;</b>from the flashpage. This text was then
be used to prepare the email subject line. If no text was found, the email subject line would just indicate
the source jobname, jobnumber, and system, as found on the flashpage.</p>
<p><a name="notice"><a href="misc/pitcher/Print_Filter_Files.html#notice">
<b><tt>/var/spool/lpd/tools/jesprt.notice.text</tt></b></a></a>
carried a notice text that is appended to the end of every report respooled by this print filter. This
allows us to add a &quot;message of the day&quot; to each print report indicating the processing performed
on it, if we desire.</p>
</dd><!-- end of the Linux section -->
<dt><h2><font color="green">NT Protocol Converter</font></h2></dt>
<dd><p>The VPS print spool package on the host communicated using SNA LU1 to a package running on a
Microsoft Windows NT system . This package reprocessed the print data using Window NT printer drivers
to communicate with the LAN-attached printers. We arranged for the owners of this system to setup the
connection between JES2 remote <b><tt>PTE01</tt></b> and our Linux <b><tt>jesprt</tt></b> lpd printer.
On the Windows NT side, this printer was configured as a <tt>&quot;Generic&quot; /
&quot;Generic/Text Only&quot;</tt> print driver using a local &quot;Microsoft LPR&quot; port connected
to printer <tt>jesprt</tt> on the Linux server.
<p>The Windows NT protocol converter was configured so as <i>not to</i> suppress the JES2 flashpages
(suppression is the default setting), so that the Linux side could retrieve the email subject and address
metadata from the JES2 flash page text. Host applications would be expected to generate their output and
direct it to a JES2 &quot;SYSOUT&quot;. JES2 &quot;SYSOUT&quot;s act like pipes into the print spooling
system.
</dd><!-- end of the VPS Protocol converter section -->
<dt><h2><font color="green">JES2 Host Printing</font></h2></dt>
<dd><p>On the MVS/JES2 side, applications can use one of three different methods of spooling print output,
depending on their environmental requirements: BATCH print spooling, IMS &quot;Spool API&quot; print
spooling, and CICS &quot;Spool API&quot; print spooling.
<dl><dt><h4>BATCH Print Spooling</h4></dt>
<dd>
<p>MVS/JES2 supports a background processing system that uses <a href="misc/pitcher/JES2_Spooling.html#Batch_JCL">
JCL (or &quot;Job Control Language&quot;)</a> instructions to control the execution of programs and the
distribution of their print data. In this environment, print data is referred to as &quot;SYSOUT&quot;, which
stands for &quot;System Output&quot;.
<p>Any SYSOUT directed to (in our case) printer <tt>DEST=PTE01</tt> would be respooled (by JES2) to VPS,
and on to the lpd support on our Linux system. The JES2 OUTPUT JCL statement was used to set the email subject
line and target email address for the report.
<p>The format and use of the JCL <tt>OUTPUT</tt> statement is documented in <u>Chapter 22</u> of the
<a href="misc/pitcher/Bibliography.html#JCL_Ref">OS/390 V2R10 MVS JCL Reference</a>, while the format and use of the
<tt>DD SYSOUT</tt> is documented in <u>Chapter 12</u> of <a href="misc/pitcher/Bibliography.html#JCL_Ref">the same manual</a>.
</dd><!-- end of the BATCH SPOOL subsection -->
<dt><h4>IMS &quot;Spool API&quot; Print Spooling</h4></dt>
<dd><p>For our IMS transaction to print to the JES2 spool (and thus onwards to email), it had to perform DLI
<tt>CHNG</tt> and <tt>ISRT</tt> calls to <a href="misc/pitcher/JES2_Spooling.html#IMS_PCB">a modifiable alternate
non-express PCB</a>.
<p>First, the transaction's application code prepared <a href="misc/pitcher/JES2_Spooling.html#IMS_CHNG_WS">specific
<tt>WORKING-STORAGE</tt> variables</a> and <a href="misc/pitcher/JES2_Spooling.html#IMS_CHNG_PD">performed a
<tt>CHNG</tt> call</a> to redirect the alternate modifiable non-express PCB (in this case PCB <tt>APM00001</tt>)
to the IMS Spool interface.
<p>Then, the application performed one or more ISRT calls to send print data to the PCB. The print data was
placed in <a href="misc/pitcher/JES2_Spooling.html#IMS_ISRT_WS">a structure</a> which was passed through the IMS
<a href="misc/pitcher/JES2_Spooling.html#IMS_ISRT_PD"><tt>ISRT</tt> call</a> to the JES2 print queue.
<p>This <a href="misc/pitcher/JES2_Spooling.html#IMS_ISRT_PD"><tt>ISRT</tt></a> was repeated for each line of the text
to be emailed. The email would be released to the spool at the end of the Unit of Work (at <tt>COMMIT</tt>
or at the next <tt>GU</tt> on the <tt>IOPCB</tt>), or when the next <tt>CHNG</tt> call to the modifiable
alternate non-express PCB was executed.
<p><u>Appendix A</u> of the <a href="misc/pitcher/Bibliography.html#IMS_Design">&quot;IMS Version 7 Application Programming:
Design Guide&quot;</a> provides a technical overview of the IMS SPOOL API and it's use in a JES2 environment.
Sections <u>1.3.2</u> and <u>1.3.7</u> from the <a href="misc/pitcher/Bibliography.html#IMS_TM">
&quot;IMS Version 7 Application Programming: Transaction Manager&quot;</a> manual provides details on
the specific IMS DLI calls necessary to spool output to MVS, and section <u>1.56</u> of the
<a href="misc/pitcher/Bibliography.html#TSO_CL">TSO/E V2R5 Command Reference</a> manual provides the format and
values of the spool control parameters.
</dd><!-- end of the IMS SPOOL API subsection -->
<dt><h4>CICS &quot;Spool API&quot; Print Spool</h4></dt>
<dd><p>For a CICS transaction to print to the JES2 spool (and onward to email), it must use the CICS SPOOL
API. The documentation here in the "CICS Application Programming Reference" describes the
SPOOLOPEN/SPOOLWRITE/SPOOLCLOSE verbs that must be used to create a JES2-spooled report.
<p>First, the application must SPOOLOPEN the printer. This is a bit tricky because the SPOOLOPEN verb
requires the <a href="misc/pitcher/JES2_Spooling.html#CICS_SPOOLOPEN_WS">print options parameter</a> to be an
indirect pointer to the print options list. To enable this, the program
<a href="misc/pitcher/JES2_Spooling.html#CICS_SPOOLOPEN_PD">must execute logic to</a> GETMAIN some storage,
manipulate the returned pointer to the GETMAINed memory to conform with CICS requirements, move
<a href="misc/pitcher/JES2_Spooling.html#CICS_SPOOLOPEN_WS">the print options list</a> into the GETMAINed memory,
use the GETMAINed area in the SPOOLOPEN verb, and FREEMAIN the print options storage once the
SPOOLOPEN is complete.
<p>Once this is done, the program can repeatedly load a <a href="misc/pitcher/JES2_Spooling.html#CICS_SPOOLWRITE_WS">
print buffer</a> with text data and <a href="misc/pitcher/JES2_Spooling.html#CICS_SPOOLWRITE_PD">EXECutes the SPOOLWRITE
function</a> to write each line of report data to the spool.
<p>When all the print data has been spooled, the program then
<a href="misc/pitcher/JES2_Spooling.html#CICS_SPOOLCLOSE_PD">EXECutes the SPOOLCLOSE function</a> to close the spool
and send the spooled output onward to the printer.
<p><u>Section 5.6</u> of the <a href="misc/pitcher/Bibliography.html#CICS_Guide">CICS TS for OS/390 V1R3 Application
Programming Guide</a> provides an overview of the CICS SPOOL API and examples of it's use, while
<u>Sections 1.227 through 1.231</u> of the <a href="misc/pitcher/Bibliography.html#CICS_Ref">CICS TS for OS/390 V1R3
Application Programming Reference</a> provides details on the specifics of the various EXEC SPOOLxxxx
calls necessary to spool output to MVS, while section <u>1.56</u> of the
<a href="misc/pitcher/Bibliography.html#TSO_CL">TSO/E V2R5 Command Reference</a> manual provides the format and
values of the spool control parameters used in the EXEC SPOOLOPEN call.
</dd><!-- end of the CICS SPOOL API subsection -->
</dl><!-- end of JES2 spool api list -->
</dd><!-- end of JES2 HOST PRINTING section -->
<dt><h2><font color="green">Conclusions</font></h2></dt>
<dd>In all, this exercise took about a month to go from inception to implementation, with most of that
time spent in the development of the CICS and IMS interfaces. Our tests of the 'print to email' process
proved that the facility worked well for our limited requirements. Volume testing was not performed, and
this print-to-email solution remains a proof-of-concept, for now.
<p>From this exercise, we not only established that a &quot;print-to-email&quot; facility <em>could</em> be built
without intrusion into the realm of MVS system programming, we also established that it was <em>easy</em> to
build such a system. Even if we shelve this project, the techniques we learned (IMS and CICS SPOOLING APIs,
JES2 printer setup, Linux and BSD LPD print spooler setup, etc.) can easily be applied to other projects in
our domain.
<p>For what it's worth, we learned a lot. We stood on the shoulders of giants
and saw further than we could have on our own. Perhaps we too have now given our
successors a footing from which to climb to greater heights.
<p>So, do you feel like doing a bit of climbing?
<p>
</dd><!-- end of Conclusions section -->
</dl><!-- end of the sectioned document -->
<hr>
<h4>Copyright (&copy;) Lew Pitcher, March 2002</h4>
<hr>
<p>This article has several supplemental files which are linked extensively in the text.
For convenience, here's a listing of all the files:
<dl>
<dt><a href="pitcher.html">pitcher.html</a> and <a
href="misc/pitcher/flowchart.png">flowchart.png</a></dt>
<dd>This is the main page of the document, and its single illustration</dd>
<dt><a href="misc/pitcher/Files_in_etc.html">Files_in_etc.html</a></dt>
<dd>This page describes the files in /etc that were changed to enable the print-to-email
printer.</dd>
<dt><a href="misc/pitcher/Print_Filter_Files.html">Print_Filter_Files.html</a></dt>
<dd>This page describes the files that made up the linux print-to-email print filter.</dd>
<dt><a href="misc/pitcher/Jes_Flash_Page.html">Jes_Flash_Page.html</a></dt>
<dd>This page describes the format of the JES2 flash page that the email subject and address
were extracted from.</dd>
<dt><a href="misc/pitcher/JES2_Spooling.html">JES2_Spooling.html</a></dt>
<dd>This page describes the COBOL coding techniques needed in IMS and CICS to generate and
spool print to the print-to-email server.</dd>
<dt><a href="misc/pitcher/Bibliography.html">Bibliography.html</a></dt>
<dd>This page carries links to the reference documentation that we used in building this
print-to-email solution.</dd>
</dl>
<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
<SPACER TYPE="vertical" SIZE="30">
<P>
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Lew Pitcher</H4>
Canadian by birth, and living in Brampton, Ontario, I am a career techie
working at a major Canadian bank. For over 25 years, I've programmed on
all sorts of systems, from Z80 CP/M up to OS/390. Primarily, I develop
OS/390 MVS applications for banking services, and have incorporated
Linux into my development environment.
<!-- *** END bio *** -->
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <!-- P -->
<H5 ALIGN=center>
Copyright &copy; 2002, Lew Pitcher.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR>
Published in Issue 77 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2002</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<H4 ALIGN="center">
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
</H4>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!--===================================================================-->
<center>
<H1><font color="maroon">Setting Up a Linux-based PPP Callback server</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:suniltt@vsnl.com">Sunil Thomas Thonikuzhiyil</a></H4>
</center>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!-- END header -->
<h2><b>Introduction</b></h2>
<p> In a PPP dialin server setup, users dial in through a telephone line and
modem to establish a PPP connection with a remote server. It is possible to
make a Linux box call back the user who dialed the server. This document
describes the step-by-step procedure to set up a Linux-based callback
server.
<p><h2><b>Requirements</b></h2>
<p> My server runs Debian Potato with kernel 2.4.17. A modem
attached to ttyS0 serves as the dial in and callback modem. My
client machine runs both Debian Potato and Win98. An external modem is
attached to ttyS1. It is assumed that you have installed minimum software needed to dial out to an ISP on both server and client.
In addition to this you have to install mgetty+sendfax package on the server.
<p><h2><b>The idea</b></h2>
<p> The principle behind a callback server may be summarized as follows. First I (the client) dial the telephone number of my callback server's modem. The modem on the server is
configured to accept incoming connections. Once the connection
is established, the server prompts me back with a welcome message
and a login prompt. I login as a special callback user. The modem on the
server drops the connection and dials back a specified number
attached to my client machine. The modem on my client machine is
kept ready to accept the callback connection, and once the connection is
established I am again prompted with a login prompt. Now I log in as
a normal PPP user and the connection is completed.
<p><h2><b>Configuring the dialin Server</b></h2>
<p> The first step to achieve the above setup is to configure your
server to accept incoming PPP connection.
<p>Here is what I did on the server
<p>1) Create a new user called pppuser
<p> Change the /etc/passwd entry for pppuser to
<br>pppuser:x:1001:1001:,,,:/home/pppuser:/usr/sbin/pppd
<p>2) Add a line to your /etc/inittab so that serial port can accept incoming connection.
<p> T0:23:respawn:/sbin/mgetty ttyS0 -D /dev/ttyS0
<p> Restart init by typing 'init q'
<br> This enables the ttyS0 line to accept incoming connections
<p>3) Change directory to /etc/mgetty (This is where configuration
files for mgetty is kept. On Redhat distributions it is at
/etc/mgetty+sendfax)
<br> Edit login.config and add the following line to it
<p> /AutoPPP/ - a_ppp /usr/sbin/pppd file /etc/ppp/options
<p> Comment out all other lines
<p>4) Change /etc/ppp/options to the following
<pre>
-detach
asyncmap 0
modem
crtscts
proxyarp
lock
require-pap
refuse-chap
ms-dns 192.168.50.100 #put your dns server ip here
usepeerdns
</pre>
<p>5) Create a file options.ttyS0 in /etc/ppp with following content
<pre>
192.168.0.100:192.168.0.2
noauth
</pre>
<p>The two ip addresses above are the address of your server and
the address the client should receive from server. Change them according
to your IP numbering scheme. If your modem is connected to ttyS1 name
the above file as options.ttyS1
<p>6) Change permission of pppd (on some distributions pppd is already
suid)
<br>
chmod u+s /usr/sbin/pppd
<p>7) Add an alias for ppp
<br>
<p> Add the following lines to /etc/profile
<pre>
alias ppp=`/usr/sbin/pppd -detach'`
</pre>
<br>
<p> Now try dialing to the server from a client. For this if you are using MS
windows, click dial up networking and then select new connection and fill out various
fields. Login as pppuser and verify whether your dialin server is
working perfectly. Check the connection by pinging the server from client.
Also you can verify the ip address assigned to client by typing winipcfg on command
prompt.
<p><h2><b>Configuring callback</b></h2>
<p>Once the dialin server is ready, configuring callback is quite
easy
<br>
<p>Here is what I did.
<p>1) Create a new user named back.
<p>2) Create an empty file named callback.conf in /ete/mgetty/ . (You can add init strings for your modem in this file if needed. But generally an empty file will do)
<p>3) Add the following line to /ete/mgetty/login.config.
<p> back - - /usr/sbin/callback -S 2561
<p>The number on the above line after -S is the number to be
called back. Change it to the phone number attached to your client.
<p><h2><b>Configuring clients</b></h2>
<p> <h3>1) MS Windows 98</h3>
Open dialup networking and start a new connection.
Fill out the various fields. Right click on the newly-created icon and select
properties. Select modem-&gt; Configure-&gt;connection-&gt;Advanced
options.
<br>Add &amp;c0s0=1 to Extra settings
<br>Select options and tick the checkbox to bring the terminal window
after dialing.
<p> You can leave the user name and password field empty.
<p> Now start dialing the server. Once the dialing is over a terminal screen will popup and you
will be presented with a login screen from the server.
<br>
<p>Login as 'back' (the special callback user).
<p>Now the server side modem cuts off the connection, wait for a few
seconds and will call you back . Once the callback connection is established you will again be prompted with login prompt.
Type login name as pppuser and enter password. Press continue on the terminal screen . Now you will
be logged in. Again check your connection by pinging the server.
<br>
<p>It is possible to write a script for this but I have not tried it yet. For other versions of Windows the procedure is similar. The important thing to setup is the modem init string ( &amp;c0s0=1)
<br>
<p><h3>2) Linux</h3>
<br>
<p>Configuring Linux client is little more trickier. Here is what I did on my Debian machine running kernel 2.4.17
<p>1) Create /etc/options file with following content
<pre>
lock
defaultroute
noipdefault
modem
115200
crtscts
debug
passive
asyncmap 0
</pre>
<p> 2) Create a file called pppcalback in /etc/ppp/peers/ with following
content
<pre>
ttyS1 19200 crtscts
connect '/usr/sbin/chat -v -f /etc/ppp/chat-callback'
noauth
</pre>
<p> 3) Create a file called /etc/ppp/chat-callback with following
content
<pre>
ABORT BUSY
ABORT VOICE
ABORT "NO DIALTONE"
ABORT "NO ANSWER"
"" ATZ
OK ATDT2562 # Telephone number of server
CONNECT \d\d
ogin: \q\dback
TIMEOUT 90
RING AT&amp;C0S0=1
ogin: \q\dpppuser
assword: \q\dpasswordforppuser
</pre>
<p>Properly change the lines above to reflect login names and passwords
for the accounts you have created.(Also refer to your modem's documentation for necessary init strings. May be you will have to replace ATZ with some thing like AT&amp;FX2)
<br>
<p>4) Create a script called /usr/bin/pppcall with following
contents
<pre>
#!/bin/bash
/usr/sbin/pppd -detach call pppcall &amp;
</pre>
<p> Make this script executable
<br>Now you can dial the server by calling the script pppcall
<p><h2><b>Related Information</b></h2>
<p>The following documents helped me to figure it out
<br> 1) <a href="http://linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/Call-back.html">Callback
mini howto</a>
<br> 2 <a href="http://www.bdcol.ee/linux/callback.shtml">Linux
callback</a>
<br> 3) Man pages of pppd
<br> 4) <a href="http://www.leo.org/~doering/mgetty/">Mgetty+Sendfax
Archive/Documentation</a>
<p> If you find any problems in setting up callback servers don't hesitate
drop me a mail. Comments and suggestions for improvement of this document are most welcome.
<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
<SPACER TYPE="vertical" SIZE="30">
<P>
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Sunil Thomas Thonikuzhiyil</H4>
<EM>I work as consultant information technology at the Kerala Legislative
Assembly Trivandrum India. I have been hooked on Linux since 1996. I have a
Masters in Computer Science from Cochin University. I am interested in all
sorts of operating systems. In my free time I love to listen to Indian
classical music.</EM>
<!-- *** END bio *** -->
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <!-- P -->
<H5 ALIGN=center>
Copyright &copy; 2002, Sunil Thomas Thonikuzhiyil.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR>
Published in Issue 77 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2002</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<H4 ALIGN="center">
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
</H4>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!--===================================================================-->
<center>
<H1><font color="maroon">Displaying Real Time System information on a LCD Display using LCDproc & lcdmod</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:tanejagaurav.hotmail.com">Gaurav Taneja</a></H4>
</center>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!-- END header -->
<P>Being a System Administrator or a Linux enthusiast/user, we almost
always keep an eye on important system information like disk usage,
memory usage, cpu load, users logged in etc., now how about having
all this information on a sleek LCD Display kept next to your monitor
?</P>
<P>LCD or a Liquid Crystal Display is almost seen everywhere ranging
from digital watches to microwave ovens, from audio systems to PDA's
and even some high-end servers. There are several cheap commercially
available displays which can be controlled through the computer's
parallel port or the serial port(RS-232). LCDs are manufactured by
quite a few different companies. Units typically seen in the surplus
market come from Hitachi, Epson, Hewlett Packard, Optrex, or Sharp.
Common configurations are 16, 20, 24, 32, or 40 characters by 1, 2,
or 4 lines.</P>
<P>I have personally tried out Hitachi HD44780 compatible 16X2 LCD
display which are easily available from many display vendors and can
be controlled through the parallel port. Please do note that some
displays come with an option of backlight and others don't, the ones
with a backlight option have some more pins to control the backlight
and are bit more expensive, so the choice is yours!!</P>
<H2>A Word of Caution</H2>
<P>Before you embark on this exciting exercise beware that LCD
Displays are really sensitive to improper wiring and operate only on
specific voltages(typically 5V or 12V), if anything is messy they
burn up!! also before you buy a display make sure that you also
procure a pin configuration diagram and a technical data sheet along
with it so that you have all the information handy when required.</P>
<H2>What all do i need?</H2>
<P>Before you begin do make sure that you everything in the checklist
given below:</P>
<UL>
<LI><P>A HD44780 compatible LCD Display (don't worry about the
brand, just make sure from the vendor that it is Hitachi HD44780
compatible. by the way HD44780 is a display with an onboard
controller which understands some standard instructions(protocol) to
show characters on the screen from it's internally defined character
set)</P>
<LI><P>A Parallel Port (Centronics) connector with a cable
attached(make sure you have a long cable with loose wires on the
other end).</P>
<LI><P>A soldering iron with some solder &amp; flux (ask any
electronic enthusiast friend of yours if you can't do this stuff
yourself).</P>
<LI><P>A power supply source (you'd typically require 5V or 12 V DC
power supply, a AC to DC adapter available at your local electronic
store will solve the purpose).</P>
<LI><P>LCDproc (can be downloaded at <A HREF="http://lcdproc.omnipotent.net/download.php3">http://lcdproc.omnipotent.net</A>)
or/and lcdmod (available at <A HREF="http://lcd-mod.sourceforge.net/">http://lcd-mod.sourceforge.net</A>)</P>
</UL>
<P><BR><BR>
</P>
<H2>Let's get Wired!!</H2>
<P>Before you attempt to wire up the display with your computer
remember that you have to be pretty cautious with what you do here
otherwise you can damage either the display or your computer, so if
you are not aware of assembling simple electronic circuits, don't get
disheartened. just ask some electronics geek friend of yours.</P>
<P>I am taking an example of a HD44780 Display which i have connected
with the parallel port of my linux box as per the following wiring
diagram:</P>
<P><IMG SRC="misc/taneja/parlcd.png" ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH=398 HEIGHT=285 BORDER=0 alt="Wiring Scheme (HD44780)"><BR CLEAR=LEFT>
<BR><BR>
</P>
<P>This wiring scheme works fine for all HD44780 type displays and
should hopefully work fine with your setup too.you can check whether
your display is alive by adjusting the 'Contrast' resistor in the
diagram above, it should show dark bands on the display when the
resistor is at it's minimum value.</P>
<H2>Installing the Software</H2>
<P>I have taken examples for both LCDproc and lcdmod, you can install
either of these to test your display. If you are a newbie it's better
you check out LCDproc first.</P>
<P>Firstly extract the archive you've downloaded:</P>
<P><PRE>[root@Linux gaurav]# tar -zxvf lcdproc-0.4.1.tar.gz</PRE>
<P>Next configure LCDproc with your parameters
</P>
<P>
<PRE>[root@Linux gaurav]# cd lcdproc-0.4.1
<P>[root@Linux lcdproc-0.4.1]# ./configure --enable-drivers=curses,hd44780</PRE>
<P>This will configure and generate a Makefile so that you can test
your installation with a curses based preview as well as use your
HD44780 compatible display.</P>
<P>Let's now compile and finish our installation:</P>
<P><PRE>[root@Linux lcdproc-0.4.1]# make install</PRE>
<P>After you're done, we can test our installation with a check on
the console itself by issuing the command</P>
<P><PRE>[root@Linux lcdproc-0.4.1]# LCDd -d curses -f</PRE>
<P>This shows a nifty little curses screen on your terminal with
vital system information scrolling one by one. now for the real
thing!! you can connect your LCD display with it's power supply on
and start up the display by:</P>
<P><PRE>[root@Linux lcdproc-0.4.1]# LCDd -d hd44780
</PRE>
<P>[root@Linux lcdproc-0.4.1]# lcdproc C M T X
</P>
<P>This should bring up your LCD Display to life and show something
like this:</P>
<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><IMG SRC="misc/taneja/lcdproc.png" ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH=121 HEIGHT=37 BORDER=0 alt="LCD Display"><BR CLEAR=LEFT>
<BR>
</P>
<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><IMG SRC="misc/taneja/lcdproc2.png" ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH=121 HEIGHT=37 BORDER=0 alt="LCD Display"><BR CLEAR=LEFT>
<BR>
</P>
<P><IMG SRC="misc/taneja/lcdproc3.png" ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH=121 HEIGHT=37 BORDER=0 alt="LCD Display"><BR CLEAR=LEFT>
<BR><BR>
</P>
<P>By the time you've installed and configured LCDProc you must have
realized that this software is actually based on a client-server
model. The LCDProc server starts first with the client programs
connecting to it and displaying the information. infact you can
telnet to the LCDProc server (LCDd, the daemon process) and execute
the commands manually.But, what if you want a faster mechanism to
display and want to do away with all this socket thing. Well lcdmod's
here to the rescue.</P>
<H2>Lcdmod</H2>
<P>Lcdmod is a Character device driver for all HD44780 compatible
displays written by Michael McLellan.It's much more faster then
lcdproc and you can write stuff to the lcd as you are writing to any
other device.</P>
<P>Let's get going through the installation, i've assumed that you
have your lcd display properly wired up and tested with LCDProc.
</P>
<P>Firstly let's uncompress the source archive:</P>
<P>
<PRE>[root@Linux gaurav]# tar -zxvf lcdmod-0.5.5.tgz
<P>[root@Linux gaurav]# cd lcdmod-0.5.5</PRE>
<P>Let's 'make' the source and install it:</P>
<P>
<PRE>[root@Linux lcdmod-0.5.5]# make
<P>[root@Linux lcdmod-0.5.5]# make install</PRE>
<P>This creates a LKM(Linux kernel Module) &amp; a device named
'lcd' that will point to your LCD hardware.</P>
<P>Insert the LKM we've bulit by issuing:</P>
<P>
<PRE>[root@Linux lcdmod-0.5.5]# insmod lcd io=0x378 disp_rows=2 disp_cols=16</PRE>
<P>This inserts the module specifying the i/o based address of your
parallel port (io), no. of rows(disp_rows) &amp; no. of columns
(disp_cols) of your display.</P>
<P>Now let's confirm whether the module has really gone in:</P>
<P><PRE>[root@Linux lcdmod-0.5.5]# lsmod</PRE>
<P>This should show an entry of the lcdmod module along with any
other modules inserted (if any).</P>
<P>You can now display any text on your LCD by just issuing the a
single command. eg.,</P>
<P><PRE>[root@Linux lcdmod-0.5.5]# echo Hello &gt; /dev/lcd</PRE>
<P>This displays 'Hello' on your display. The aim of this article was
to give you all the information to control an LCD display, so now it's
up to your creativity and skills that how you implement this
idea in your specific scenario. I've used a LCD Display for developing
an employee logging system with a custom keypad, with the whole thing
being web-enabled. ;-)</P>
<H2>More information</H2>
<P>More information about configuring and wiring schemes can be had
from <A HREF="http://lcdproc.omnipotent.net/">LCDProc</A> &amp;
<A HREF="http://lcd-mod.sourceforge.net/">lcdmod</A> Project Pages.</P>
<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
<SPACER TYPE="vertical" SIZE="30">
<P>
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Gaurav Taneja</H4>
I'm working with a Software MNC as a Technical Consultant in New Delhi,
INDIA and actively involved in open-source projects related to
Linux,Java,C/C++ with some projects hosted on
<A HREF="http://sourceforge.net/">SourceForge</A> also.
<P> In my spare time I work on developing computer interfacing circuits and
programs and developing software on Linux. I also run my own software
consulting company named
<A HREF="http://www.broadstrike.com">BroadStrike Technologies</A>.
<!-- *** END bio *** -->
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <!-- P -->
<H5 ALIGN=center>
Copyright &copy; 2002, Gaurav Taneja.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR>
Published in Issue 76 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, March 2002</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<H4 ALIGN="center">
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
</H4>
<P> <hr> <P>
<H1><font color="maroon">The Back Page</font></H1>
<H2>LG to get a makeover and wants your help</H2>
<P> LG will be getting a facelift in the next month or two. A stylesheet,
revamped headers/footers, and perhaps a few more images. My biggest pet
peeve of the current layout is all the the extra whitespace the browsers put
around headers and <CODE>&lt;HR&gt;s</CODE> (horizontal separators). Stylesheets make it
possible to squeeze out all that space, allowing more content to show on the
first screenful. Non-stylesheet browsers would still have the whitespace, but
at least they'd be no worse off than they are now.
<P> I'm actually thinking about an article header something like this:
<PRE>
-----------------------------------------------------------
| LG LOGO LG LOGO Home > issue 77 (April 2002) |
| LG LOGO LG LOGO Title Title Title |
| LG LOGO LG LOGO Title Title Title |
| LG LOGO LG LOGO by Author |
| making Linux ... more fun (e-mail link) |
-----------------------------------------------------------
</PRE>
That's a smaller version of the LG logo, and no more <CODE>&lt;H1&gt;</CODE>
and <CODE>&lt;HR&gt;</CODE>
in the header. "Home > issue 77 (April 2002)" would be Yahoo-style links like
we've used on the <I>Linux Journal</I> site in the past.
<P> I also aim to revamp
the navigation links between pages, to cut down on questions like "Why doesn't
LG get a search engine or an index of all issues?" (It already has them.)
Or, "How do I send a question to The Answer Gang? Oh wait, I didn't know there
was an Answer Gang, so I just sent it to gazette. I looked on the author info
page, but I'm still not sure where to send my News Bytes entry." All these
links are available... if you know where to look. Making the links more
findable in the places people are likely to look will be the goal.
<P> The Answer Gang and I are looking for some more images to decorate the
site with. Don't worry--we're sticking to our "minimum graphics" philosophy.
Just loosening it up a bit. The success of the various cartoon series in LG
over the past year shows that we can increase the size of LG slightly without
incurring the wrath of those who find 200 KB an expensive download.
<P> So, to Leon Czechowicz and all those who have been asking <A
HREF="../issue76/lg_mail.html#gaz/5">Why we stay plain when we could look
Really Cool</A>, now's your chance. <STRONG>Send in your suggestions, images,
HTML fragments, stylesheet fragments, navigation flowcharts and wishlist items
to <A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</A>.</STRONG> How would
you like LG to look? We'll probably make a decision (or start to think about
when to make a decision) around April 15th, so the sooner the better, or at
least send us an e-mail so we know something is coming. Any ideas or examples
we like but don't use we'll put into an article, so at least they'll get some
exposure.
<P> Those who follow LG closely know our general policies for layout. I've tried
to articulate them below, but no doubt have forgotten something or other.
<UL>
<LI> The site must be completely static so that it can be read from mirrors with
unknown webserver software, and from CD-ROMs and FTP files where there is no
webserver.
<LI> Each issue tries to be &gt; 2 MB, and the number of shared files should grow
only modestly. This is for people with slow modems, or who pay per minute or per
megabyte for downloads.
<LI> It must look OK and navigate OK on a wide variety of browsers, both graphical
and text.
<LI> The page width is normally 600 pixels, but may expand to 630 or 750 occasionally.
The layout must look good anywhere from 600-750.
<LI> <STRONG>Images</STRONG> should be PNG (preferred) or JPG (not GIF due to
patent restrictions). Use a white background, no transparency (Netscape
displays PNGs with transparent pixels as solid boxes), and no animation.
Maximum image size should be around 200x100, something we can put around a
header or next to a paragraph.
<LI> <STRONG>Stylesheets:</STRONG> There will be one global stylesheet for all articles,
TOC pages and the home page. (Perhaps we'll use mixin stylesheets down the road, but
that's later.)
<LI> Javascript, frames and sidebars are anathema. Javascript may be
considered in very limited circumstances, such as to submit a form when
pressing Enter in a text field. That provides a slight convenience to the
Javascript user but no degradation to the non-Javascript user. But any
Javascript must be functional rather than just cosmetic.
<LI> No tables around the article text! Keep layout tables to a minimum.
(I'll have to use a table for the article header though, since non-stylesheet browsers
can't do style columnizing.)
<LI> I think we'll be switching to text buttons for the navigation links rather than
graphical buttons. In a table with colored cell backgrounds, unless we find a style
strategy that's suitable and looks OK on non-style browsers. Not only do text buttons
download faster, but they're easier to change later.
</UL>
<P> So put on your thinking caps and send in some ideas.
<HR> <!-- ************************************************************** -->
<P> Happy Linuxing!
<P> Mike ("Iron") Orr<br>
Editor, <A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/"><i>Linux Gazette</i></A>, <A
HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</a>
<BR CLEAR="all">
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Copyright &copy; 2002, the Editors of <I>Linux Gazette</I>.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR>
Published in Issue 77 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2002</H5>
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