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248 lines
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<TITLE>Linux Gazette 81: The Answer Gang</TITLE>
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><H1 align="center"><IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/../gx/lglogo.jpg"
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<IMG ALT="" SRC="../gx/navbar/left.jpg" WIDTH="14" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"><A HREF="lg_tips.html"><IMG ALT="[ Prev ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/prev.jpg" WIDTH="16" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"></A><A HREF="index.html"><IMG ALT="[ Table of Contents ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/toc.jpg" WIDTH="220" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom" ></A><A HREF="../index.html"><IMG ALT="[ Front Page ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/frontpage.jpg" WIDTH="137" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"></A><A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/cgi-bin/talkback/all.py?site=LG&article=http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue81/lg_answer.html"><IMG ALT="[ Talkback ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/talkback.jpg" WIDTH="121" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom" ></A><A HREF="../lg_faq.html"><IMG ALT="[ FAQ ]" SRC="./../gx/navbar/faq.jpg"WIDTH="62" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"></A><A HREF="lg_bytes.html"><IMG ALT="[ Next ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/next.jpg" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom" ></A><IMG ALT="" SRC="../gx/navbar/right.jpg" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="45" ALIGN="bottom">
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<center>
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<H1><A NAME="answer">
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<img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" alt="(?)"
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border="0" align="middle">
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<font color="#B03060">The Answer Gang</font>
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<img src="../gx/dennis/bbubble.gif" alt="(!)"
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border="0" align="middle">
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</A></H1>
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<BR>
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<H4>By Jim Dennis, Ben Okopnik, Dan Wilder, Breen, Chris, and...
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(<a href="tag/bios.html">meet the Gang</a>) ...
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the Editors of Linux Gazette...
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and You!
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<br>Send questions (or interesting answers) to
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The Answer Gang
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for possible publication
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(but read the <a href="../tag/ask-the-gang.html">guidelines</a> first)
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</H4>
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</center>
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<p><hr><p>
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<H3>Contents:</H3>
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<dl>
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<dt><a href="#tag/greeting"
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><strong>¶: Greetings From Heather Stern</strong></A></dl>
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<DL>
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<!-- index_text begins -->
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<dt><A HREF="tag/1.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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></a>Can't See Boot Messages Even Though RedHat 7.2 Boots OK --or--
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<dd><A HREF="tag/1.html"
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><strong>Shedding Light On A Monitor's Troubles</strong></a>
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<br>We're still in the dark, here.
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<dt><A HREF="tag/2.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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><strong>ide-scsi emulation for IDE IOMEGA ZIP 250MB</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/3.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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><strong>Sound</strong></a>
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<dt><A HREF="tag/4.html"
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><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
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alt="(?)" border="0"
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><strong>Version incompatibility</strong></a>
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<!-- index_text ends -->
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</DL>
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<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
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<A NAME="tag/greeting"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
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<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/hbubble.gif"
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height="50" width="60" alt="(¶) " border="0"
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>Greetings from Heather Stern</H3>
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<!-- begin hgreeting -->
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<blockQuote>
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It's been a slow month here at the Gazette, with some days actually being so light that
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some gang members piped up with "did I fall off the list?" Not so slow that we didn't
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get tips and threads, though. And not quite so slow that I'm publishing all the threads
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we got or anything like that.
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</blockQuote>
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<blockQuote>
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Readers are being very helpful to each other and I'm glad that the Help Wanteds are
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popular. Andy Fore tells us that with so much fuss over the Alcatel Speedtouch and
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its gory details, it now has a HOWTO of its very own (although not by him). Here it
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is:
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</blockQuote>
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<blockQuote><BLOCKQuote>
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<A HREF="http://linux-usb.sourceforge.net/SpeedTouch/howto.html"
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>http://linux-usb.sourceforge.net/SpeedTouch/howto.html</A>
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</BLOCKQuote></blockQuote>
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<blockQuote>
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I'm glad to see that with enough people's work on tiny bits here and there, we all
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grow richer for it.
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</blockQuote>
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<blockQuote>
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The Peeve Of The Month this time around is some fellow who, not getting more than
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raw guesses from The Answer Gang, and figuring it out himself, instead of chiming in
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with it decided to tell us off how stupid and flatfooted we all are, not to mention
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how dare <EM>we</EM> ask <EM>him</EM> for the answer. I'll save you all the grumpy replies. Let's
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just say that we didn't promise you our rose garden wouldn't have thorns, bugs, or
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that we'd have an instant gauze bandage (brand-name or otherwise) handy if you get
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bit. We try our best, when we've got a few moments free. That's all we can really do.
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</blockQuote>
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<blockQuote>
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Which brings me to the topic of my babbling this month. I certainly say it often
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enough face to face...
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</blockQuote>
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<h4 align="center"><br> When Did Your Important Data Become Important To You?
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</h4>
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<blockQuote>
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With the sub-thought... and perhaps you should decide what really is important,
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instead of discovering it in emergency. Take a good look at your own day for a week
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or two, and notice the things and people that you need the most.
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</blockQuote>
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<blockQuote>
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Unfortunately the financial world continues to be slow too. While Linux increasingly
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creeps onto people's desktops and has pretty much taken root in their LAN closers -
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especially places still small enough to use closets instead of glass houses and cardkey
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setups - there continues this persistent and patently false feeling that those free
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software zealots have no interest in spending money.
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</blockQuote>
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<blockQuote>
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Not true in the slightest. If it was there wouldn't be all these shows on our topic,
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like this month's LinuxWorldExpo in San Francisco (<A HREF="http://www.linuxworldexpo.com"
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>http://www.linuxworldexpo.com</A>).
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We just want to get our money's worth when we do.
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</blockQuote>
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<blockQuote>
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Take this example. Just last week the news that <em>Linux Weekly News</em>
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(<a href="http://www.lwn.net/">LWN.net</a>) was almost out of money - again -
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resulted in another heartening rush of help for them from readers eager to keep getting
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their dose of Linux events... enough for them to consider that a web based subscription
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model might not fall <EM>plop</EM> on its rear, after all.
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</blockQuote>
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<blockQuote>
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Free projects are good, but many of the finer ones have their commercial support avenues
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too, and not always with the obviosu product name placed in their URLs, either.
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Berkeley DB has Sleepycat (<A HREF="http://www.sleepycat.com"
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>http://www.sleepycat.com</A>), and so on. Without noting anybody in
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particular - I'm sure you all have different things you really use your computers for out
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there - I'd like to encourage everyone to continue to put their money where their mouth
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is. Pick up a distro at an installfest, and decide it doesn't drive you as batty as some
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other distro or OS you tried before? Buy their next version. Like an incredibly cool
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free software project that never asks a dime and says "we're doing this 'cuz it works,
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not 'cuz we need the bucks" ? Send something in thought of a thank you to one of the
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organizations that defend making it easy to pass these things around. The tops on
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my list are the <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</A> project (<A HREF="http://www.debian.org"
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>http://www.debian.org</A>), the Free Software Foundation
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(<A HREF="http://www.fsf.org"
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>http://www.fsf.org</A>), and the EFF (<A HREF="http://www.eff.org"
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>http://www.eff.org</A>) but you probably already
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guessed that, and I'm sure there are others.
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</blockQuote>
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<blockQuote>
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Don't be afraid to thow kudos in package authors' directions either -
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that's at least some pay in "The Coin of The Realm"
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(<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.org/issue64/lg_answer64.html#tag/greeting"
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>http://www.linuxgazette.org/issue64/lg_answer64.html#tag/greeting</A>). If your
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life with a package isn't quite perfect but you like it anyway, then pitch in with
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some elbow grease, being willing to fuss with ltrace, strace or waste a bit of disk
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space on some more verbose logging so your bug reports can be more useful, and even
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more importantly, be willing to try the new code when they think they've got some
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sort of fix for you.
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</blockQuote>
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<blockQuote>
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Err, don't forget to turn off all the traces and debug stacks when you're done, or
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you'll find yourself buying terabyte storage to go with it.
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</blockQuote>
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<blockQuote>
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If you <EM>have</EM> terabyte storage and nothing better to do with it, or at least don't
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mind, consider mirroring some projects that your site uses and enjoys the benefits
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from. You get a local download, crosslinks, and that's one less chance the project
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might disappear on you just because some poor fellow loses his job or completes his
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college curriculum and has to move... or that some poor company who was primary-hosting
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it will go the way of the dodo and the dotbomb.
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</blockQuote>
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<blockQuote>
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And what people usually mean when they say that fun little phrase:
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</blockQuote>
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<blockQuote><ol>
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<li> don't forget to make backups!
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<br>
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<li> They aren't bloody well helpful if they don't <EM>work</EM>, so check the
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restore procedures once in a while. Go ahead. Grab a spare machine and
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try it. Figure out if it really only takes you an hour and a half or
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all afternoon to bring the mail server or accounting department back up if
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that last power surge fries the UPS and a computer with it.
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<br>
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<br>(You laugh now, but I have seen a UPS blow out and take the machine with it. I can
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still smell the burning plastic and hear that horrible squeal. Thank goodness we
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cut off the real power before a <EM>real</EM> fire started. Ugh!)
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<br>
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<li> Make sure that you've rescued the human-generated work that goes into a
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system, not just the grubby details that make it able to boot up. People
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are limited in what they can regenerate, and people stressed from losing a
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lot of work, even more so.
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</ul></blockQuote>
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<blockQuote>
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Did I mention that we just passed Sysadmins Appreciation Day? It's the
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fourth Friday in July. (<A HREF="http://SysAdminDay.boxke.be"
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>http://SysAdminDay.boxke.be</A>) From the website:
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"Let's face it, System Administrators get no respect 364 days a year..."
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</blockQuote>
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<blockQuote>
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It's a tough world out there, folks. We've got to stand together these days.
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If we can't all be heroes, we can at least put our own sense of what heroism is
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to good use.
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</blockQuote>
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<blockQuote>
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Have a great August, folks. Now, enjoy the threads
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<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
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height="24" width="20" align="middle">
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</blockQuote>
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<!--endcut ========================================================= -->
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<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
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<H5 align="center">This page edited and maintained by the Editors
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of <I>Linux Gazette</I>
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<a href=""
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>Copyright ©</a> 2002
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<BR>Published in issue 81 of <I>Linux Gazette</I> August 2002</H5>
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<H6 ALIGN="center">HTML script maintained by
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<A HREF="mailto:star@starshine.org">Heather Stern</a> of
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Starshine Technical Services,
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<A HREF="http://www.starshine.org/">http://www.starshine.org/</A>
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</H6>
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