282 lines
4.2 KiB
HTML
282 lines
4.2 KiB
HTML
<HTML
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><HEAD
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><TITLE
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>Getting Help</TITLE
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><META
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NAME="GENERATOR"
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CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.57"><LINK
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REL="HOME"
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TITLE="HOWTO-template for Big HOWTOs"
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HREF="index.html"><LINK
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REL="PREVIOUS"
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TITLE="Further Information"
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HREF="moreinfo.html"><LINK
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REL="NEXT"
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TITLE="Concluding Remarks"
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HREF="remarks.html"></HEAD
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><BODY
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CLASS="SECT1"
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BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"
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TEXT="#000000"
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LINK="#0000FF"
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VLINK="#840084"
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ALINK="#0000FF"
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><DIV
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CLASS="NAVHEADER"
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><TABLE
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WIDTH="100%"
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BORDER="0"
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CELLPADDING="0"
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CELLSPACING="0"
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><TR
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><TH
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COLSPAN="3"
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ALIGN="center"
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>HOWTO-template for Big HOWTOs</TH
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></TR
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="moreinfo.html"
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="80%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="remarks.html"
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>Next</A
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></TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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><HR
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><H1
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><A
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NAME="HELP"
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>9. Getting Help</A
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></H1
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><P
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> In the end you might find yourself unable to solve your problems
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and need help from someone else. The most efficient way is either
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to ask someone local or in your nearest Linux user group, search
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the web for the nearest one.
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</P
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><P
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> Another possibility is to ask on Usenet News in one of the many,
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many newsgroups available. The problem is that these have such a
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high volume and noise (called low signal-to-noise ratio) that your
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question can easily fall through unanswered.
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</P
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><P
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> No matter where you ask it is important to ask well or you will
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not be taken seriously. Saying just <I
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CLASS="EMPHASIS"
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>my disk
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does not work</I
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> is not going to help you and instead the
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noise level is increased even further and if you are lucky someone
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will ask you to clarify.
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</P
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><P
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> Instead describe your problems in some detail that will enable
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people to help you. The problem could lie somewhere you did not
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expect. Therefore you are advised to list the following information
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about your system:
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</P
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><P
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> <P
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></P
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><DIV
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CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
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><DL
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><DT
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>Hardware</DT
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><DD
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><P
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> <P
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></P
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><UL
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><LI
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><P
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>Processor</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>DMA</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>IRQ</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>Chip set (LX, BX etc)</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>Bus (ISA, VESA, PCI etc)</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> Expansion cards used (Disk controllers, video, IO
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etc.)
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</P
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></LI
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></UL
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>
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</P
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></DD
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><DT
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>Software</DT
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><DD
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><P
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> <P
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></P
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><UL
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><LI
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><P
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>BIOS (On motherboard and possibly SCSI host adapters)</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>LILO, if used</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> Linux kernel version as well as possible modifications
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and patches
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>Kernel parameters, if any</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> Software that shows the error (with version number
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or date)
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</P
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></LI
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></UL
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>
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</P
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></DD
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><DT
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>Peripherals</DT
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><DD
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><P
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> <P
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></P
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><UL
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><LI
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><P
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> Type of disk drives with manufacturer name, version and type
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>Other relevant peripherals</P
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></LI
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></UL
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>
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</P
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></DD
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></DL
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></DIV
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>
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</P
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><P
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> Remember that booting text is logged to
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<TT
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CLASS="FILENAME"
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>/var/log/messages</TT
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> which can answer most of
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the questions above. Obviously if the drives fail you might not be
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able to get the log saved to disk but you can at least scroll
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back up the screen using the <B
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CLASS="KEYCAP"
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>SHIFT</B
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> and
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<B
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CLASS="KEYCAP"
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>PAGE UP</B
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> keys. It may also be useful to include
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part of this in your request for help but do not go overboard,
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keep it <I
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CLASS="EMPHASIS"
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>brief</I
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> as a complete log file dumped
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to Usenet News is more than a little annoying.
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
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><HR
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
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WIDTH="100%"
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BORDER="0"
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CELLPADDING="0"
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CELLSPACING="0"
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
|
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ALIGN="left"
|
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VALIGN="top"
|
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><A
|
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HREF="moreinfo.html"
|
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>Prev</A
|
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></TD
|
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><TD
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WIDTH="34%"
|
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ALIGN="center"
|
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VALIGN="top"
|
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><A
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HREF="index.html"
|
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>Home</A
|
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></TD
|
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
|
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ALIGN="right"
|
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VALIGN="top"
|
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><A
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HREF="remarks.html"
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>Next</A
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></TD
|
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></TR
|
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><TR
|
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><TD
|
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WIDTH="33%"
|
|
ALIGN="left"
|
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VALIGN="top"
|
|
>Further Information</TD
|
|
><TD
|
|
WIDTH="34%"
|
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ALIGN="center"
|
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VALIGN="top"
|
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> </TD
|
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><TD
|
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WIDTH="33%"
|
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ALIGN="right"
|
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VALIGN="top"
|
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>Concluding Remarks</TD
|
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></TR
|
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></TABLE
|
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></DIV
|
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></BODY
|
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></HTML
|
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> |