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260 lines
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<title>Red Hat and USB devices LG #80</title>
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<H4 ALIGN="center">
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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<H1><font color="maroon">Red Hat and USB devices</font></H1>
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<H4>By <a href="mailto:articles@gnujobs.com">Mark Nielsen</a></H4>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#Purpose">Purpose</a></li>
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<li><a href="#computer">The Emperor Linux Computer I have and USB</a></li>
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<li><a href="#mouse">The USB Optical Mouse</a></li>
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<li><a href="#camera">USB HP PhotoSmart 318 camera</a></li>
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<li><a href="#drive">BUSLink 40G USB external hard drive</a></li>
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<li><a href="#suggestions">Suggestions for Future</a></li>
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<li><a href="#conclusions">Conclusion</a></li>
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<li><a href="#REF">References</a></li>
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</ol>
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<h3><a NAME="Purpose"></a>Purpose</h3>
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The Purpose of this article is to get my USB mouse, USB camera, and
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USB hard drive to work with Linux.
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<h3><a NAME="computer"></a>The Emperor Linux Computer I have and USB</h3>
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I started to use Red Hat 7.3. Although it has come a long way and I really
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like how all the Linux Distributions are turning out, Red Hat 7.3 makes me
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mad for only a few reasons:
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<ol>
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<li>OpenOffice doesn't appear to be in the distribution. Whatever the reason
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is, it needs to be overcome. KDE Office and Gnome Office are cool, but not
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including OpenOffice is a big big big mistake. OpenOffice is one of the key
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suites to convert people to Linux. Having the choice of 3 office suites,
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Gnome Office,
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KDE Office, and OpenOffice (along with lots of other cool software like
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GIMP. Mozilla, Evolution, PovRay, etc) can really convert people over.
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</li>
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<li> The kernel under /usr/src/linux for Red Hat 7.3 doesn't seem to be
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configured the way they installed the kernels onto your system. I tried
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searching on Red Hat's website, but I didn't anywhere. Isn't it a little
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stupid that that don't supply (or make it easy to find) the configs
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files they used to compile the kernels? Perhaps I am blind, but it wasn't
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obvious to me where their custom config file was. It makes me mad because
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whenever I try to compile the kernel,
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I can never get all the features I want without
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it being too large (even though I try to modularize everything).</li>
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<li>The kernel installed apparently won't let you add modules that you
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create yourself. At least, when I tried to compile the usbide module
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outside the source tree of the kernel, it was giving some weird error saying
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it wasn't allowed to do it. However, on the computer I bought from
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Emperor Linux (Red Hat 7.2),
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I didn't have that problem (the kernel was compiled by the company and I was
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able to compile the usbide module without recompling the kernel).
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</li>
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</ol>
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<p>
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Even though my USB camera and mouse works in Red Hat 7.3, because I couldn't
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use the usb hard drive with it (without compiling a new kernel from scratch
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which I always screw up), I decided to use the usb hard drive and camera
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with the Linux laptop I got from Emperor Linux.
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<h3><a NAME="mouse"></a>The USB Optical Mouse</h3>
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I have 3 USB optical mice (different brands) and they all worked with
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Red Hat 7.3, Red Hat 7.2, and my Emperor Linux computer. I don't know if the
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default kernel in Red Hat 7.2 works with the optical mice because I compiled
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different kernels (to get my wireless network cards to work right).
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<p>
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NOTE: Whoever likes to use trackball mice compared to optical mice has to be
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an idiot. The optical usb/ps2 mice are very cheap these days and the balls
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on the standard mice always get cluttered with junk and wear out. Go out
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and replace the stupid trackball mice with an optical mouse today.
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<h3><a NAME="camera"></a>The USB HP PhotoSmart 318 camera</h3>
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My HP PhotoSmart 318 camera really rocks. Here is a help page I found.
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<br>
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<p><a href="http://lhd.datapower.com/db/dispproduct.php3?DISP=3101">
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http://lhd.datapower.com/db/dispproduct.php3?DISP=3101</a>
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<p>
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It rocks because on a price/performance ratio, it was the best camera
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out there for $179. All the other cameras that could do the same (or even less)
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were easily two or three times more expensive. I think the market changed
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and a lot of older models haven't dropped in price yet. For my needs it
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was perfect. It had enough resolution, it saved jpg images, and I could
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get memory expansion if I needed it (8 megs is fine so I will never
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need to get the expansion).
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<p>
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Bottom line, in Red Hat 7.3 and my Emperor Linux computer, just as the
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article said:
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<ol>
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<li>Changed the camera to hard drive mode.</li>
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<li>usb-uhci worked fine (in the article it didn't).</li>
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<li> In my /etc/fstab,
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<pre>
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### for my camera.
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/dev/sda1 /mnt/camera vfat noauto,sync,nosuid,user,unhide 0 0
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</pre>
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</li>
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<li> mkdir -p /mnt/camera</li>
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<li>mount /mnt/camera</li>
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</ol>
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And then the images where at "/mnt/camera/dcim/100hp318/". I didn't test
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deleting the images. I will just delete them when I use the camera, but
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I copied them over just fine. I am able to get about 14 images without
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additional memory expansion.
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<p>
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I think ultimately most people will be using digital cameras within 5 years
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and the standard camera industry will be dead except for photographers
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and the little cameras you buy for one-time events. Digital cameras will be
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able to contain so much memory in the next few years, hopefully
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within 5 years you can store hundreds of images on a simple small camera.
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Why would you want a film camera?
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<h3><a NAME="drive"></a>BUSLink 40G USB external hard drive</h3>
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My USB external hard drive was a pain in the butt. It was easy once
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I found this webpage,
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<a href="http://bravin.home.cern.ch/bravin/usbide/usbide.html">
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http://bravin.home.cern.ch/bravin/usbide/usbide.html</a>. It was a pain
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because I kept on trying and trying to figure what to do to get it to work.
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<p>
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<ol>
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<li> Downloaded usbide-1.2.2-b.tgz </li>
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<li>tar -zxvf usbide-1.2.2-b.tgz</li>
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<li>cd usbide</li>
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<li> make</li>
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<li>make install</li>
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</ol>
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There were a few problems,
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<ol>
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<li> I had to make a symbolic link from /usr/src/linux pointing to my copy of the Linux
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kernel source.</li>
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<li> The hard drive can only have one partition because it won't save changes
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if you try to change the heads/sectors/cylinders.</li>
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<li>When I stress-tested the hard drive by copying lots of data over,
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after 1 gig, it froze on me and gave me a weird error. I haven't
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had a problem since.</li>
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<li> For whatever reason, the standard Red Hat 7.3 wasn't configured
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right to let me compile my own module and add it to the modules
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under /lib/modules. Personally, I think that is stupid.</li>
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<li>For whatever reason, I couldn't find a config file for kernel compiling
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to get the exact same kernel Red Hat has installed on my system. If I had
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to compile a new kernel, I would want the exact same one with just a
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few of my changes. Maybe you can do it and their config file exists
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somewhere, as I didn't try that hard, but it
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wasn't obvious (which it should be). Thus I just used the computer I got
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from Emperor Linux.</li>
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</ol>
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<h3><a NAME="suggestions"></a>Suggestions for Future</h3>
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I have a webcam I was interested in trying out.
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Look at <a href="http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net/cameras.html">
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http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net/cameras.html</a>. My IBM NetCam is not
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supported on that list, bummer. They are cheap enough. I will just consider
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buying a new webcam.
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<h3><a NAME="conclusions"></a>Conclusions.</h3>
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Using USB devices is really cool. I used to hate USB devices, but now that
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I can have tons of stuff attached to my Linux boxes without them using
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up all the resources, I like it. I just wish more companies would help create
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Linux drivers for their products. I would never use a USB hard drive
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for anything except backups and I wouldn't rely on USB for stuff that
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requires a lot of cpu power. Firewire is good for heavy stuff.
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All the other USB devices (mice, keyboards,
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printers, webcam, camera, etc) are a good match for USB because they require
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low overhead.
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<p>
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I copied over 3 gigs of data to my hard drive and I got seek errors. I thought
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there could have been bad sectors, so I ran mkfs with the "-c" option, and
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it took all day. Eventually, mkfs bombed, so I am going to wait a little
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longer before I use the external hard drive with Linux. Most likely, I will
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check hardware compatibility and go out and buy a new external hard drive
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(maybe firewire instead of USB).
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<h3>
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<a NAME="REF"></a>References</h3>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="http://lhd.datapower.com/db/dispproduct.php3?DISP?3101">
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http://lhd.datapower.com/db/dispproduct.php3?DISP?3101</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://bravin.home.cern.ch/bravin/usbide/usbide.html">
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http://bravin.home.cern.ch/bravin/usbide/usbide.html</a></li>
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</ol>
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<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
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<SPACER TYPE="vertical" SIZE="30">
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<p>
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<h4><img align=bottom alt="" src="../gx/note.gif">Mark Nielsen</h4>
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<EM>Mark works at
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<a href="http://www.audioboomerang.com/">AudioBoomerang.com</a>
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which creates, delivers, and tracks personalized multimedia email, web,
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and newsletter campaigns. He works as a consultant delivering end products
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to AudioBoomerang.com clients, such as advanced customized statistical
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reports used for demographic or pyschological profiles for future campaigns.
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In his spare time, he writes articles relating to Free Software (GPL) or
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Free Literature (FDL) and is involved with the non-profit learning center
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<a href="http://www.eastmont.net">eastmont.net</a>.</EM>
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<!-- *** END bio *** -->
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<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
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<P> <hr> <!-- P -->
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<H5 ALIGN=center>
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Copyright © 2002, Mark Nielsen.<BR>
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Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR>
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Published in Issue 80 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, July 2002</H5>
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