From p01419@hotmail.com  Mon Jul  3 07:40:18 2000
Return-Path: <p01419@hotmail.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 23EF0E986B
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon,  3 Jul 2000 07:40:18 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from hotmail.com (f69.law4.hotmail.com [216.33.149.69])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id 874E78028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon,  3 Jul 2000 07:40:16 -0700 (PDT)
Received: (qmail 93944 invoked by uid 0); 3 Jul 2000 14:39:57 -0000
Message-ID: <20000703143957.93943.qmail@hotmail.com>
Received: from 195.195.239.194 by www.hotmail.com with HTTP;
	Mon, 03 Jul 2000 07:39:57 PDT
X-Originating-IP: [195.195.239.194]
From: "- -" <p01419@hotmail.com>
To: gazette@ssc.com, answerguy@ssc.com
Subject: Linux Modem Problems....
Date: Mon, 03 Jul 2000 14:39:57 GMT
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Status: RO
Content-Length: 727
Lines: 19

Hi yall,

First off let me tell you that I am completely new to the Linux world! I 
have been <Stuck> with Windoze most of my computing life.. I have only 
recently discoverd this whole new world! So please make you answers as 
simple as possible to understand.. Thanx in advance!

I have recently installed Linux Mandrake on my K6 Machine. I am running it 
Dual Boot with Windoze.. I am having some reall problems setting up my modem 
to actually work..

I think this is solely down to my lack of knowledge towards Linux...
Could NE1 give me some advice?

Yours,
Michael Hudson.
________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com


From Hippo5@mweb.co.za  Tue Jul  4 11:45:20 2000
Return-Path: <Hippo5@mweb.co.za>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 70CD2E9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue,  4 Jul 2000 11:45:20 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from blizzard.mweb.co.za (blizzard.mweb.co.za [196.2.48.245])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7FAF58028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue,  4 Jul 2000 11:45:17 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from Hippo ("port 1527"@[196.30.182.66])
 by blizzard.mweb.co.za (Sun Internet Mail Server
 sims.3.5.2000.03.23.18.03.p10) with SMTP id
 <0FX600D0OS2PYM@blizzard.mweb.co.za> for gazette@ssc.com; Tue,
 4 Jul 2000 20:44:54 +0200 (SAT)
Date: Tue, 04 Jul 2000 20:38:21 +0200
From: Otto Schulze <Hippo5@mweb.co.za>
Subject: Which distributor ???
To: gazette@ssc.com
Message-id: <003701bfe5e7$1a7a6c20$1e010101@Hippo>
MIME-version: 1.0
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200
Content-type: multipart/alternative;
 boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0034_01BFE5F7.CAE43720"
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200
X-Priority: 3
Status: RO
Content-Length: 1931
Lines: 65

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------=_NextPart_000_0034_01BFE5F7.CAE43720
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Dear Sir

Thanx for your great site

I would like to know if you could advise me where to go and compare the =
different distributors, before acquiring Linux.

Really appreciate your help

Thanx
Otto Carl Schulze
Hippo5@mweb.co.za / Ottocarl@bigfoot.com / Otto_in_europa@hotmail.com
ICQ : 14 000 566
Tel / Fax +27 (021) 933 2377
Posbus 19154
Tygerberg
7505
Suid-Afrika



------=_NextPart_000_0034_01BFE5F7.CAE43720
Content-Type: text/html;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" =
http-equiv=3DContent-Type>
<META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2614.3500" name=3DGENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Dear Sir</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Thanx for your great site</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>I would like to know if you could =
advise me where=20
to go and compare the different distributors, before acquiring=20
Linux.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Really appreciate your =
help</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Thanx</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Otto Carl Schulze<BR><A=20
href=3D"mailto:Hippo5@mweb.co.za">Hippo5@mweb.co.za</A> / <A=20
href=3D"mailto:Ottocarl@bigfoot.com">Ottocarl@bigfoot.com</A> / <A=20
href=3D"mailto:Otto_in_europa@hotmail.com">Otto_in_europa@hotmail.com</A>=
<BR>ICQ :=20
14 000 566<BR>Tel / Fax +27 (021) 933 2377<BR>Posbus=20
19154<BR>Tygerberg<BR>7505<BR>Suid-Afrika<BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV></BODY></HTML>

------=_NextPart_000_0034_01BFE5F7.CAE43720--


From mm.krishna@idbi.co.in  Wed Jul  5 03:25:01 2000
Return-Path: <mm.krishna@idbi.co.in>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id B2175E989F
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed,  5 Jul 2000 03:25:00 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mailho.idbi.co.in (unknown [202.54.23.146])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 98D818028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed,  5 Jul 2000 03:24:49 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from i2608 (i2608 [192.168.18.113])
	by mailho.idbi.co.in (8.8.7/8.8.7) with SMTP id PAA13712
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed, 5 Jul 2000 15:57:01 +0530
Message-ID: <003c01bfe6d4$8dc95360$7112a8c0@pvt.idbi.co.in>
From: "Murali Krishna" <mm.krishna@idbi.co.in>
To: <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: help
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 15:58:35 -0700
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
	boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0039_01BFE699.E043FCC0"
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200
Status: RO
Content-Length: 3474
Lines: 89

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------=_NextPart_000_0039_01BFE699.E043FCC0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

   =20
dear sir,
i have a doubt regarding a particular setup to be made in our branch =
offices for sending E-mails.
we have sixteen branches connected through VSAT allover india.
As of now, our branches are able to only recieve the Internet E-mail but =
they are not able to send. The Internet E-mails for the branch offices =
will be recieved by Head Office first and then they are being sent to =
branches through VSAT. so they are able to receive them. but they cannot =
send internet E-mails. They can only send mails to people within our =
organisation allover the country.

Recently, we have decided to have a ISDN line and an internet login from =
an ISP, so that they can browse the internet and also can be able to =
send the internet E-mails through this internet account. Some of our =
branches are having layer III switches installed. so what are the steps =
i need to follow for seting up the system in our branch offices so as to =
enable them to send mails both intra-organisational and internet =
E-mails.

if u have any suggestions, please write to me
i will be thankful to u

warm regards
murali krishna


------=_NextPart_000_0039_01BFE699.E043FCC0
Content-Type: text/html;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" =
http-equiv=3DContent-Type>
<META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2614.3500" name=3DGENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;=20
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>dear sir,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>i have a doubt regarding a particular =
setup to be=20
made in our branch offices for sending E-mails.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>we have sixteen branches connected =
through VSAT=20
allover india.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>As of now, our branches are able to =
only recieve=20
the Internet E-mail but they are not able to send. The Internet E-mails =
for the=20
branch offices will be recieved by Head Office first and then they are =
being=20
sent to branches through VSAT. so they are able to receive them. but =
they cannot=20
send internet E-mails. They can only send mails to people within our=20
organisation allover the country.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Recently, we have decided to have a =
ISDN line and=20
an internet login from an ISP, so that they can browse the internet and =
also can=20
be able to send the internet E-mails through this internet account. Some =
of our=20
branches are having layer III switches installed. so what are the steps =
i need=20
to follow for seting up the system in our branch offices so as to enable =
them to=20
send mails both intra-organisational and internet E-mails.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>if u have any suggestions, please write =
to=20
me</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>i will be thankful to u</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>warm regards</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>murali krishna</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>

------=_NextPart_000_0039_01BFE699.E043FCC0--


From mick@videoscreens.com  Tue Jul  4 23:42:09 2000
Return-Path: <mick@videoscreens.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7CD13E9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue,  4 Jul 2000 23:42:09 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from oznet15.ozemail.com.au (oznet15.ozemail.com.au [203.2.192.116])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5354F8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue,  4 Jul 2000 23:42:04 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from masterserver (1Cust46.tnt5.syd2.da.uu.net [63.34.197.46]) by oznet15.ozemail.com.au (8.9.0/8.6.12) with SMTP id QAA21208 for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed, 5 Jul 2000 16:42:00 +1000 (EST)
Reply-To: <mickjf@iname.com>
From: "Mick Faber" <mick@videoscreens.com>
To: <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: Comparing files locally to those on an FTP server
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 16:40:43 +1000
Message-ID: <000a01bfe64b$f3347420$0301a8c0@masterserver>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook CWS, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0)
Importance: Normal
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200
Status: RO
X-Status: A
Content-Length: 886
Lines: 27

Hi
I have written a script that automatically connects my machine to an FTP
server and downloads a set of files that I need nightly.
The client downloads a file which is my indicator to any changes. In effect,
if this downloaded txt file has changed, then I need to download the other
files.

That part is ok. I can automatically download the check file, so I have two
files (current and new dir) called the same but in different directories.

I have written a script that says

Set a=cksum file1
Set b=cksum file2
If a=b
Then ...
Else ...

My problem seems to be even though the CKSUM results are differently when
done manually, in the script they ALWAYS are equal.  Is SET the wrong term
to use to set a variable. Is there another way to do this altogether.

Any assistance appreciated. Email preferred, but will keep checking this
here to check for any legendary solutions...

Mick


From APeda@INTERPUBLIC.COM  Wed Jul  5 15:31:46 2000
Return-Path: <APeda@INTERPUBLIC.COM>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id AD4B9E9872
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed,  5 Jul 2000 15:31:46 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from webserver.interpublic.com (phydeaux.interpublic.com [12.3.251.252])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id EB2E38028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed,  5 Jul 2000 15:31:44 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from NT05 by webserver.interpublic.com
          via smtpd (for passenger.ssc.com [216.39.159.17]) with SMTP; 5 Jul 2000 22:26:53 UT
Received: by nt05.interpublic.com with SMTP (Microsoft Exchange Server Internet Mail Connector Version 4.0.996.62)
	id <01BFE6AF.5170DE80@nt05.interpublic.com>; Wed, 5 Jul 2000 18:32:04 -0400
Message-ID: <c=US%a=_%p=Interpublic_Grou%l=NT05-000705223203Z-7216@nt05.interpublic.com>
From: <APeda@INTERPUBLIC.COM>
To: <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: Can I determine eth0 link beat programmaticly?
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 18:32:03 -0400
X-Mailer:  Microsoft Exchange Server Internet Mail Connector Version 4.0.996.62
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Status: RO
Content-Length: 456
Lines: 11

I have a notebook that I use at work, and of course on the road.  Now 
I took a lot of time to get the PCMCIA / ethernet  support to work 
(Linksys 10/100 using the tulip drivers), but the dhclient takes a 
little too long to timeout on startup when there is no network.

What I'd like to do I hook into some function that checks for the UTP 
link beat light.  This way I could put a sanity check into the 
"network start" boot script.  Any ideas?

Allan


From mick@videoscreens.com  Wed Jul  5 15:22:45 2000
Return-Path: <mick@videoscreens.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 372BAE9872
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed,  5 Jul 2000 15:22:45 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from oznet15.ozemail.com.au (oznet15.ozemail.com.au [203.2.192.116])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8CC6A8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed,  5 Jul 2000 15:22:41 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from masterserver (1Cust182.tnt4.syd2.da.uu.net [63.34.196.182]) by oznet15.ozemail.com.au (8.9.0/8.6.12) with SMTP id IAA27800 for <gazette@ssc.com>; Thu, 6 Jul 2000 08:22:40 +1000 (EST)
Reply-To: <mickjf@iname.com>
From: "Mick Faber" <mick@videoscreens.com>
To: <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: RE: Comparing files locally to those on an FTP server
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2000 08:19:37 +1000
Message-ID: <001101bfe6cf$1c8721a0$0301a8c0@masterserver>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook CWS, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0)
Importance: Normal
In-Reply-To: <20000705090625.A18119@ssc.com>
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200
Status: RO
X-Status: A
Content-Length: 1757
Lines: 41

Thanks so much for the reply, I have written this using VI on Redhat6.1   -
I don't know if that is the answer you need - I'm only a 2 week novice with
Linux and programming of this level for that matter ... Does this answer
your question?
The actual command line I want to use is
if cksum /usr/local/c_drive/batm/video/current/pod001.avc = cksum
/usr/local/c_drive/batm/video/new/pod001.avc; then
I also want to verify that the downloads are successful and not corrupted. I
figured CKSUM is the best for that as well - that problem is to get tackled
yet ....

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Linux Gazette [mailto:lg@ssc.com]
Sent:	Thursday, 6 July 2000 2:06 AM
To:	mickjf@iname.com; tag@ssc.com
Subject:	Re: Comparing files locally to those on an FTP server

On Wed, Jul 05, 2000 at 04:40:43PM +1000, Mick Faber wrote:
> Set a=cksum file1
> Set b=cksum file2
> If a=b
> Then ...
> Else ...
>
> My problem seems to be even though the CKSUM results are differently when
> done manually, in the script they ALWAYS are equal.  Is SET the wrong term
> to use to set a variable. Is there another way to do this altogether.

We need to know what language this script is written in.  From the "set"
statement, I'd assume it's csh or tcsh, although what you wrote appears
to violate the rules for (t)csh syntax.  (Capital letters, no `` around
"chksum file1", etc.)

Anyway, if the language is similar to C, the "a=b" expression should be
"a==b" to test for equality.  "a=b" means set a to the value of b.

  ______________________ _________________________________________
   Mike Orr, webmaster  |   Editor of the _Linux Gazette_
     gazette@ssc.com    |   SSC, publishers of Linux Journal
  ---------------------- -----------------------------------------


From lg@ssc.com  Thu Jul  6 09:33:56 2000
Return-Path: <lg@ssc.com>
Received: by mail.ssc.com (Postfix, from userid 30)
	id 9E5BCE9869; Thu,  6 Jul 2000 09:33:56 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from ratbert.ssc.com (ratbert.ssc.com [192.168.1.7])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id A8371E9869
	for <tag-admin@ssc.com>; Thu,  6 Jul 2000 09:33:55 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by ratbert.ssc.com (Postfix, from userid 698)
	id 4DCAF4B8E0; Thu,  6 Jul 2000 09:33:55 -0700 (PDT)
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2000 09:33:55 -0700
From: Linux Gazette <lg@ssc.com>
To: tag-admin@ssc.com
Subject: Mail to tag
Message-ID: <20000706093355.A25656@ssc.com>
Reply-To: gazette@ssc.com
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
X-Mailer: Mutt 0.95.3i
X-Loop: tag-admin
Sender: lg@ssc.com
Precedence: bulk
Status: RO
Content-Length: 1418
Lines: 29

I have started forwarding questions/answers received at gazette@ssc.com
to the tag list.  Michael, you can delete answers which have been thus
sent.  If you have any questions I sent you Monday, please bounce them
to tag; I thought I saved them but I can't find them.

I've received several messages from Jim sent to gazette.  Jim, please
send your answers to tag instead.  Shall I bounce the ones I've been
accumulating?

Heather, could you and Michael decide how to deal with Mailbag and Tips
messages?  It's probably simplest if you send them directly to him, and
he can format them and send me a snippet at the end of the month.  Or
if you want to send them to me, that would be fine too.

* * * *

LG will have a NEW EDITOR this month.  I will be training Don Marti
today or tomorrow.  Since he lives in California, there won't be as
much time for training as I would like.  So this month may require
some playing by ear.  I'll let you know more as things solidify.

  ______________________ _________________________________________ 
   Mike Orr, webmaster  |   Editor of the _Linux Gazette_
     gazette@ssc.com    |   SSC, publishers of Linux Journal
  ---------------------- -----------------------------------------

=========================================================================
To Unsubscribe: tag-admin-request@ssc.com, "unsubscribe" in message body
Report Problems to: owner-tag-admin@ssc.com

From lg@ssc.com  Thu Jul  6 09:33:56 2000
Return-Path: <lg@ssc.com>
Received: by mail.ssc.com (Postfix, from userid 30)
	id 9E5BCE9869; Thu,  6 Jul 2000 09:33:56 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from ratbert.ssc.com (ratbert.ssc.com [192.168.1.7])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id A8371E9869
	for <tag-admin@ssc.com>; Thu,  6 Jul 2000 09:33:55 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by ratbert.ssc.com (Postfix, from userid 698)
	id 4DCAF4B8E0; Thu,  6 Jul 2000 09:33:55 -0700 (PDT)
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2000 09:33:55 -0700
From: Linux Gazette <lg@ssc.com>
To: tag-admin@ssc.com
Subject: Mail to tag
Message-ID: <20000706093355.A25656@ssc.com>
Reply-To: gazette@ssc.com
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
X-Mailer: Mutt 0.95.3i
X-Loop: tag-admin
Sender: lg@ssc.com
Precedence: bulk
Status: RO
Content-Length: 1418
Lines: 29

I have started forwarding questions/answers received at gazette@ssc.com
to the tag list.  Michael, you can delete answers which have been thus
sent.  If you have any questions I sent you Monday, please bounce them
to tag; I thought I saved them but I can't find them.

I've received several messages from Jim sent to gazette.  Jim, please
send your answers to tag instead.  Shall I bounce the ones I've been
accumulating?

Heather, could you and Michael decide how to deal with Mailbag and Tips
messages?  It's probably simplest if you send them directly to him, and
he can format them and send me a snippet at the end of the month.  Or
if you want to send them to me, that would be fine too.

* * * *

LG will have a NEW EDITOR this month.  I will be training Don Marti
today or tomorrow.  Since he lives in California, there won't be as
much time for training as I would like.  So this month may require
some playing by ear.  I'll let you know more as things solidify.

  ______________________ _________________________________________ 
   Mike Orr, webmaster  |   Editor of the _Linux Gazette_
     gazette@ssc.com    |   SSC, publishers of Linux Journal
  ---------------------- -----------------------------------------

=========================================================================
To Unsubscribe: tag-admin-request@ssc.com, "unsubscribe" in message body
Report Problems to: owner-tag-admin@ssc.com

From mick@videoscreens.com  Thu Jul  6 19:31:27 2000
Return-Path: <mick@videoscreens.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP
	id 2D1DCE9869; Thu,  6 Jul 2000 19:31:27 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from fep9.mail.ozemail.net (fep9.mail.ozemail.net [203.2.192.103])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP
	id E85C78028; Thu,  6 Jul 2000 19:31:22 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from masterserver (1Cust219.tnt1.syd2.da.uu.net [63.12.0.219]) by fep9.mail.ozemail.net (8.9.0/8.6.12) with SMTP id MAA23833; Fri, 7 Jul 2000 12:31:20 +1000 (EST)
Reply-To: <mickjf@iname.com>
From: "Mick Faber" <mick@videoscreens.com>
To: <gazette@ssc.com>, <tag@ssc.com>
Subject: RE: Comparing files locally to those on an FTP server
Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2000 12:24:57 +1000
Message-ID: <000501bfe7ba$8c461640$0301a8c0@masterserver>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook CWS, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0)
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200
In-Reply-To: <20000706092152.D25372@ssc.com>
Importance: Normal
Status: RO
X-Status: A
Content-Length: 5054
Lines: 135

Hi, I am using the default program bash (have also tried sh as other
information I downloaded had this in it - are they significantly different?

I ran this command:

if [ "$(cksum /usr/local/c_drive/batm/video/current/pod001.avc)" = "$(cksum
/usr/local/c_drive/batm/video/new/pod001.avc)" ] ;then
	echo "They're the same."
else
	echo "They're different."
fi

and found the following results:

when the file is compared to itself, it works.
When compared to a file of the SAME NAME in another folder, if doesn't work.
It's almost as if the folder is taken into account, but when I run cksum
filename on the two files they give me the same CRC, no. bits and file name
as they should. I would expect then that this command should work.

I am interested only in the CRC value - perhaps we could use the -eq if we
can only extract the CRC value as a result instead of the other info CKSUM
give us....?

Feeling so close now.... Thanks again for your patience....


Regards,

Mick Faber



 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Linux Gazette [mailto:lg@ssc.com]
Sent:	Friday, 7 July 2000 2:22 AM
To:	mickjf@iname.com; tag@ssc.com
Subject:	Re: Comparing files locally to those on an FTP server

Vi is the editor you're building the file with.  What we need to know
is the program that's running the file.  From the "actual command line
below", it looks like a shell script, so I assume it's running under the
default Linux shell, bash.  Do you have a "#!" line at the top of the
file?  If so, what does it say?

The following script works when I try it comparing one file with itself,
then comparing it with a different file.

if [ "$(cksum /usr/local/c_drive/batm/video/current/pod001.avc)" =
     "$(cksum /usr/local/c_drive/batm/video/new/pod001.avc)" ] ;then
	echo "They're the same."
else
	echo "They're different."
fi

"if" takes a single command.  If the command's exit status is 0, the
"then" part is run.  If the command's exit status is non-zero, the
"else" part is run.  The brackets "[ ... ]" imply the "test" command,
which runs a test (in this case, a string comparision) and exits 0
if the answer is true.

"$( command arg1 arg2 )" returns the output of the specified command--
what it would have printed on the screen.  This is different from its
exit status.  The double quotes keep the output together even if it
contains spaces; otherwise the output would be misinterpreted.

Bash allows either "=" or "==" for string comparisions.  Another
operator "-eq" does numeric comparisions, but we don't want that here
since "cksum" returns more than just a simple number.  Some other
languages would require "==" instead of "=", as I said yesterday,
but bash isn't one of them.

Please cc: tag@ssc.com on subsequent e-mails about this issue.  This
is a mailing list which is used to build the Answer Gang/Answer Guy
column in Linux Gazette, and several people who may be able to help
read it.

  ______________________ _________________________________________
   Mike Orr, webmaster  |   Editor of the _Linux Gazette_
     gazette@ssc.com    |   SSC, publishers of Linux Journal
  ---------------------- -----------------------------------------


On Thu, Jul 06, 2000 at 08:19:37AM +1000, Mick Faber wrote:
> Thanks so much for the reply, I have written this using VI on
dhat6.1   -
> I don't know if that is the answer you need - I'm only a 2 week novice
with
> Linux and programming of this level for that matter ... Does this answer
> your question?
> The actual command line I want to use is
> if cksum /usr/local/c_drive/batm/video/current/pod001.avc = cksum
> /usr/local/c_drive/batm/video/new/pod001.avc; then
> I also want to verify that the downloads are successful and not corrupted.
I
> figured CKSUM is the best for that as well - that problem is to get
tackled
> yet ....
>
>  -----Original Message-----
> From: 	Linux Gazette [mailto:lg@ssc.com]
> Sent:	Thursday, 6 July 2000 2:06 AM
> To:	mickjf@iname.com; tag@ssc.com
> Subject:	Re: Comparing files locally to those on an FTP server
>
> On Wed, Jul 05, 2000 at 04:40:43PM +1000, Mick Faber wrote:
> > Set a=cksum file1
> > Set b=cksum file2
> > If a=b
> > Then ...
> > Else ...
> >
> > My problem seems to be even though the CKSUM results are differently
when
> > done manually, in the script they ALWAYS are equal.  Is SET the wrong
term
> > to use to set a variable. Is there another way to do this altogether.
>
> We need to know what language this script is written in.  From the "set"
> statement, I'd assume it's csh or tcsh, although what you wrote appears
> to violate the rules for (t)csh syntax.  (Capital letters, no `` around
> "chksum file1", etc.)
>
> Anyway, if the language is similar to C, the "a=b" expression should be
> "a==b" to test for equality.  "a=b" means set a to the value of b.
>
>   ______________________ _________________________________________
>    Mike Orr, webmaster  |   Editor of the _Linux Gazette_
>      gazette@ssc.com    |   SSC, publishers of Linux Journal
>   ---------------------- -----------------------------------------
>

--
-Mike


From jimd@mars.starshine.org  Sat Jul  8 21:21:51 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@mars.starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0E1B6E9893
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  8 Jul 2000 21:21:51 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (unknown [216.240.40.187])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 625758028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  8 Jul 2000 21:21:47 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id XAA19323;
	Thu, 6 Jul 2000 23:27:46 -0700
Message-Id: <200007070627.XAA19323@mars.starshine.org>
To: "Jaris Visscher" <Jarisv@dordt.edu>
Cc: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: The Linux Gazette Answer Gang <tag@ssc.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: Ever ran into this? 
In-Reply-to: <s958b480.078@defender4.dordt.edu> 
	Message Apparently From "Jaris Visscher" <Jarisv@dordt.edu> 
	Dated Tue, 27 Jun 2000 14:04:46 CDT.
Date: Thu, 06 Jul 2000 23:27:46 -0700
Sender: jimd@mars.starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 3363
Lines: 81



MMDF Anti-Relaying?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 
> mars.ncn.net is a Linux server which is having problems emailing us.
> We are having trouble with mars.ncn.net emailing us at mtc1.mtcnet.net.  =
> They seem to think it is our MMDF mail server.

> We have checked all of their reverse DNS info and it is correct.
> They are gettting the error
> Connections reset by mtc1.mtcnet.net
> Message could not be delivered for 5 days
> Message will be deleted from queue
 
> This has been going on for 2 months.
> Here is the exact message as it comes to our MMDF server in our log file.
> /usr/mmdf/log/chan.log
> As you will see we get a fetch of mars.ncn.net failed

 I'm not at all familiar with the MMDF mail transport system.  So 
 I don't know what sort of "fetch" is going on here.  However, 
 it looks like:

``
>  6/23 10:16:02 smtpsr8272:  h2chan ('mars.ncn.net', 1)
>  6/23 10:16:02 smtpsr8272:  h2chan table 'local'
>  6/23 10:16:02 smtpsr8272:  tb_fetch: dbminit
>  6/23 10:16:02 smtpsr8272:  fetch (mars.ncn.net)
>  6/23 10:16:02 smtpsr8272:  fetch of 'mars.ncn.net' failed
>  6/23 10:16:02 smtpsr8272:  h2chan table 'list'
>  6/23 10:16:02 smtpsr8272:  h2chan table 'smtpchn'
>  6/23 10:16:02 smtpsr8272:  ns_fetch (21, mars.ncn.net, 1)
>  6/23 10:16:02 smtpsr8272:  ns_fetch: timeout (0), rep (0), servers (0)
>  6/23 10:16:02 smtpsr8272:  ns: key mars.ncn.net -> 38
>  6/23 10:16:02 smtpsr8272:  ns_getmx(mars.ncn.net, 805db9c, 8068b58, 10)
>  6/23 10:16:02 smtpsr8272:  ns_getmx: sending ns query (30 bytes)
>  6/23 10:16:02 smtpsr8272:  ns_getmx: bad return from res_send, n=3D-1, =
>     errno=3D114, >  h_errno=3D0
>  6/23 10:16:02 smtpsr8272:  nameserver query timed out
''

 ... you're getting a name resolution failure while looking for MX
 records?

 Does mars.ncn.net have a valid MX record?  It doesn't look like it
 (from my own 'dig' commands).

 It sounds like ncn.net hasn't created MX records for you.  I don't
 know if you're MMDF installation has been configured for
 anti-relaying.  It may be that the anti-relaying (anti-spam)
 configuration that you used is requiring that the sender/relayer
 have an MX (mail exchanger) record rather than just an A (address
 record.

 Anyway, I'm sure that you know more about MMDF than I do.  However,
 it occurs to me that it may be best to point you at the the
 canonical MMDF resources page (http://www.ivine.com/~mmdf/) and let
 you read through the FAQ (http://www.ivine.com/~mmdf/mmdf.html)

 Hopefully that will make more sense to you, since you've configured
 some of these programs and channels.  There's also an searchable
 archive the mailing list.  I saw one message there that seemed to
 assert that MMDF won't fall back to A records when MX lookups have
 failed  (searching MX).  I would expect that to apply to SENDING
 mail, which is why I'm wondering if your MMDF is trying to use a 
 similar mechanism in an anti-spam measure while it's recieving 
 messages.

 Anyway, that should help.  Having your postmaster subscribe to
 that list and post MMDF questions there will also probably be
 much better than posting them to more general fora.  MMDF is a 
 bit of a niche, so you really want to talk to its specialists.


--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com


From jimd@mars.starshine.org  Sat Jul  8 21:23:05 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@mars.starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 43EDFE9893
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  8 Jul 2000 21:23:05 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (unknown [216.240.40.187])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1BE828028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  8 Jul 2000 21:23:02 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id CAA20387;
	Fri, 7 Jul 2000 02:12:06 -0700
Message-Id: <200007070912.CAA20387@mars.starshine.org>
To: "Stephen Richard Levine" <ak006@lafn.org>
Cc: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: The Linux Gazette Answer Gang <tag@ssc.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: linux using nt server data 
In-Reply-to: <000d01bfe633$ce5bb360$180ba8c0@ICC> 
	Message Apparently From "Stephen Richard Levine" <ak006@lafn.org> 
	Dated Tue, 04 Jul 2000 20:47:55 PDT.
Date: Fri, 07 Jul 2000 02:12:06 -0700
Sender: jimd@mars.starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 3833
Lines: 80



Accessing an NT Fileserver
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
> I cannot find a reference which would show me how to access data sitting on
> an nt server (version 4.0) in multiple directories. I want to use linux as
> the o/s, apache as a web-server, but the content all resides on nts as pdfs
> in separate subdirectories. each user has their own nt subdirectory. Any
> assistance would be appreciated.

 You could use the Linux SMBFS.  You'd have to compile support for
 that into your kernel and use the 'smbmount' command.

 SMBFS is similar to Samba (and based on the same free sources and
 work).  However, it is the client side (Linux access SMB
 filesystems) rather than the server.  (Samba is an SMB server).

 When you're accessing files via an MS-Win '95 "share" it's using
 the SMB (server message block) protocol.  Likewise for NT, Windows
 for Workgroups, the old OS/2 Lan Manager, and for printing and some
 of the MS Windows "popup" messages.  Samba is a free package
 written by Andrew Tridgell (and others).  It runs on most forms of
 UNIX, where it allows any UNIX or Linux system to emulate an NT
 server.  This allows all those MS Win '9x and NT workstation
 clients to access files on Linux and UNIX systems using their
 "native" protocols.  No special software has to be installed on the
 clients.  (That's a big win for two reasons: MS Windows clients
 don't offer very robust remote administration facilities, so
 installing software on them is expensive and time consuming; and MS
 Windows systems are frequently plagued with DLL and other software
 conflicts which makes manually installing software on them 
 difficult, frustrating and time-consuming).

 Anyway, you're trying to do the opposite of what Samba offers.
 You're trying to use your Linux system as a "client" to your 
 NT fileserver.  Personally I think that this is a backwards way
 to do things.  I'd suggest installing Samba on the Linux system
 (along with Apache and any other requisite tools) and let the 
 clients post their files directly to the Samba shares on the 
 Linux host.  It's possible to configure Samba to listen on
 a specific interface and to limit the IP address ranges with
 which Samba will interact.  Thus you can configure a system
 so that only local users can access the Samba shares while
 it's still publicly accessible as a web server.

 (In the "belts *and* suspenders" philosophy it's also possible
 to use ipchains to block SMB traffic from even reaching the
 public interfaces on your Linux box.  And of course you do that
 blocking on the host itself *and* on a separate border router).

 Another approach would be to house primary copies of these
 files on the NT server, and write some sort of replication 
 script that would periodically be executed (task scheduler?)
 to create an archive of the user files and push them over
 to the Linux box.  Probably that would be most easily done
 using the 'rsync' command (another UNIX/Linux tool, written
 by Andrew Tridgell).  You can run many freeware UNIX tools
 under Interix (formerly called "OpenNT" by a company
 formerly called Softway Systems, now owned by Microsoft) or
 under the Cygwin32 (Cygnus' package for supporting UNIX 
 APIs and libraries under on Win32 systems).

 rsync is very efficient (sending only the "diffs" of large
 files that have changed, rather than whole copies).  It is 
 the most popular replication tool on Linux these days.

 However, if you have some other constraint that really 
 mandates the use of NT for the fileserver, then I suppose
 you can use Linux' smbfs.  You can read more about it at
 the Samba web site (http://www.samba.org/samba/smbfs/).

--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com


  


From jimd@mars.starshine.org  Sat Jul  8 21:24:22 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@mars.starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id C92E2E9893
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  8 Jul 2000 21:24:22 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (unknown [216.240.40.187])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id C64028028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  8 Jul 2000 21:24:19 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id CAA20409;
	Fri, 7 Jul 2000 02:29:45 -0700
Message-Id: <200007070929.CAA20409@mars.starshine.org>
To: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
X-Mailer: MH 6.8.3
X-Resent-By: Jim Dennis <tag@ssc.com>
Subject: "Razor": Regarding: Plug and Pray Problems. (On your website)
Date: Fri, 07 Jul 2000 02:29:45 -0700
From: Jim Dennis <jimd@mars.starshine.org>
Status: RO
Content-Length: 2695
Lines: 69



 Here's a commend on a question from a while back. I don't remember
 that question (but it was about a year and a half ago).  I see that
 this was the same month that I write a 26 page guide to "routing an
 subnetting" and answered about a hundred other questions.  No
 wonder some of them weren't complete!



------- Forwarded Message

From: "Razor" <razorbuzz@antisocial.com>
To: answerguy@ssc.com
Subject: Regarding: Plug and Pray Problems. (On your website)
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 03:46:29 -0500
Sender: lg@ssc.com

Andswer Dude,

	Your ressponse to Tony Grant on the Plug and Play board problems (#36) can
be overcome in Linux itself.  You can manually set rc.S to run a config'
for the IRQ5 (Which, if memory serves, is Com3).  If you add this line: 

setserial /dev/ttyS3 uart 16550A port 0x2e8 irq 10

to the /etc/rc.d/rc.S file it'll be run on every boot (duh) and correct the
problem.  Of course the IRQ and IO need to be changed.  The chipset of
16550A is pretty much standard and most likely won't need changed...but if
it does, you can always grab it easily. All that command line does is
force's the box to accept the comport and recognize that it can in fact be
used. Dammed defaults tend to only recognize Com1-Com3...Hopefully the next
RH, Caldera OL, or Debian should have that fix (since Slackware is
just..well....lacking....nobody has hopes for that to ever get itself in
gear.)

- -=Razor=-
- -=Buzz=-

------- End of Forwarded Message

 Then again, looking at Tony's original question
 (http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue36/45.html) I see that the
 it wasn't clear that setserial would be the right tool for the
 job.  It was a question about a conflict between an ISDN TA
 (terminal adapter) and a ethernet card.  I have no idea how
 the setserial command would change the IRQ on the actual device.
 As far as I know all it does is configures the kernels serial
 driver --- to inform it of what IRQ the hardware is using.  

 So I stand by my original answer (in this case).

 (I understand that the ISDN TA was probably acting like a 
 modem, and thus probably had a UART of some sort --- probably 
 a 16550A since a 16450 or an 82xx series would be WAY too
 old and obsolete for any sort of ISDN equipment.  I don't 
 see any evidence in the message that the user had any way to 
 manually set hardware jumpers to specify non-conflicting IRQs
 for these devices).

 I wonder whatever happened to this correspondent?  Have they 
 long since switched to DSL?  Is that old ISDN TA a doorstop
 somewhere?  


--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com

From jimd@mars.starshine.org  Sat Jul  8 21:22:53 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@mars.starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id CEE95E9893
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  8 Jul 2000 21:22:53 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (unknown [216.240.40.187])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 352588028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  8 Jul 2000 21:22:50 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id DAA20733;
	Fri, 7 Jul 2000 03:42:03 -0700
Message-Id: <200007071042.DAA20733@mars.starshine.org>
To: mickjf@iname.com
Cc: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: The Linux Gazette Answer Gang <tag@ssc.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: Comparing files locally to those on an FTP server 
In-Reply-to: <000a01bfe64b$f3347420$0301a8c0@masterserver> 
	Message Apparently From "Mick Faber" <mick@videoscreens.com> 
	Dated Wed, 05 Jul 2000 16:40:43 +1000.
Date: Fri, 07 Jul 2000 03:42:03 -0700
Sender: jimd@mars.starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 8005
Lines: 206


Checksum Script
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> Hi

> I have written a script that automatically connects my machine to an FTP
> server and downloads a set of files that I need nightly.
> The client downloads a file which is my indicator to any changes. In effect,
> if this downloaded txt file has changed, then I need to download the other
> files.
 
> That part is ok. I can automatically download the check file, so I have two
> files (current and new dir) called the same but in different directories.
 
> I have written a script that says
 
``
> Set a=cksum file1
> Set b=cksum file2
> If a=b
> Then ...
> Else ...
''
 
> My problem seems to be even though the CKSUM results are differently when
> done manually, in the script they ALWAYS are equal.  Is SET the wrong term
> to use to set a variable. Is there another way to do this altogether.

 The code fragment you've included doesn't specify what scripting
 language you're using.  It isn't a valid fragment of bash, PERL, or
 even csh.  For one thing, the common UNIX scripting languages 
 are case sensitive.  Thus your capitalization of "If" and "Then"
 are  enough to cause this fragment to fail under most interpreters.

 Of than that there isn't enough context or code here to guess what
 scripting language you're trying to use.  However, the 'set'
 command isn't used in most Linux scripting languages (at least not
 for "setting values to variables").  csh, TCL (and
 'expect', a TCL derivative) and the MS-DOS batch language, use the
 "set" command for variable assignments.  

 This leads me to suspect that your code sample is in "MS-DOS
 batch" or some sort of psuedo-syntax.

 To do this with bash (or Korn shell or any similar interpreter)
 you'd use something like:

    ``
    #!/bin/sh
    a=$(cksum $1)
    b=$(cksum $2)
    if [ "$a" = "$b" ] ; then
       ...
       else
       ...
       fi
    ''

 ...assuming that you were calling the script with two parameters,
 the names of the two files.  Note: the $( ... ) expressions are
 the key here.  They "capture" the output from the enclosed
 command(s) and substitute those result into the expression in
 which they $(....) expressions have appeared.  This is called
 "command substition" (traditionally rendered as `...`
 using backticks).  This "command substitution" feature is 
 one of the shell's most powerful and useful scripting mechanisms 
 and it allows us to seamless assign the output from any normal 
 command (internal, or external) to shell variables.   

 (Note: Some very old Bourne shells might not recognized the 
  $(...) form and thus may require the backtick form.  However,
  all UNIX shells should be able to do command substitution.
  I've never heard of one that didn't.  csh/tcsh also requires
  the backticks, and can't use the more legible $(...) form).

 [Ignore the `` and '' lines --- those are formatting hints for
 the e-mail to HTML script].

 Actually this is an oversimplification.  The GNU 'cksum' command
 prints output of the form:

     2839321845 1516 /path/file.name

 Obviously if I take the output of two of these commands, with
 DIFFERENT FILENAMES the full text of each output will be different
 even if the checksums are the same.  I need to extract just the
 checksums, or at least filter out the differences in the filenames.

 My first thought was that the cksum command might have some 
 switches or options to suppress the extraneous output.  It seems 
 like the need to get *just* the numeric checksum value would be
 pretty common.  However, it appears that the FSF maintainer for
 this utility doesn't agree with me.  So we have to isolate it
 ourselves.  That's only a minor nuisance (taking far less time 
 for me to do than to explain).

 There are a couple of ways I can do that.  Here's the first that
 comes to mind.  Just insert the following at the top of the script.

   ``
   function cksum () { 
      command cksum $1 | { 
	  read a b x 
	  echo $a $b  
	  }
  }
  ''

 This creates a local shell function which over-rides the output of
 the external cksum command.  The "command" command forces the shell
 to execute the command (bypassing the shell functions and aliases
 --- and prevent a recursion loop).

 All I do here is pipe the output into a command that reads the
 first and second fields (the part I want to keep).  I read the rest
 of the output into a "throwaway" variable (which I expediently call
 "x").  Then I just echo out the two pits of info I cared about (the
 checksum and the size) leaving off the "rest."  This trick of using
 the read command to filter out fields that I want from lines of
 input is pretty handy.  It's a reasonable advantage over using the
 external 'cut' command because read and echo are internal commands.
 Also 'cut' defaults to using tabs as delimiters while I usually
 want to "cut" on *any* whitespace (any number of tabs or spaces).

 The advantage of writing this little shell function into our
 script is that I can leave the rest of the script alone.  I don't 
 have to re-write it.  Of course it's better to avoid the name 
 collision.  I could name my function "checksum" (and avoid having
 to use the "command" command).  Even if I do rename the shell 
 function I can leave my "command" command as is.  It doesn't 
 hurt anything.

 Naturally I could have also  just piped the output of each of
 these cksum command through cut like so:

    a=$(cksum $1 | cut -d" " -f 1-2 )

 ... which works fine.  Of course it is a little less
 maintainable.  Even though I'm only calling this expression 
 twice --- it's still better to consolidate it into a 
 shell function so it really works the say way in both
 invocations.  Otherwise a slight difference to one of the
 invocations could silently cause the later comparison to 
 always and erroneously fail.

 Note that we don't have to use "if... then ... else .... fi" 
 in most shell scripts.  We can shorten this script to:
 
     [ "$(checksum $1)" = "$(checksum $2)" ] && .... || ....

 (assuming I made my checksum shell function as before).

 ... where the command after the && is the same as you'd put after
 the "then" token in the earlier script.  The command after the ||
 operator is similar to the "else" block, but it would be execute if
 the checksums didn't match *or* if the if the command in the &&
 clause returned a non-zero value (an error).  This is frequently
 what you actually want in shell programming; though the differences
 can be subtle and important.

 Note: the && and || operators take a single command.  If you want
 to perform a block of commands under those conditionals you'll want
 to use command grouping or possibly a subshell --- using the 
 {...} (braces/grouping) or (...) (subshell) syntax.

 One "gotchya" that crops up in bash 2.x when using "grouping" is
 this:

		{ foo; bar }

 ... was accepted under bash 1.x and is an error under bash 2.x
 --- it's because the closing brace is being taken as an argument 
 to the bar command.  This is technically correct for the parser
 (it was a bug in bash 1.x that allowed the command to work).  

  So, good shell scripting requires that we us this syntax:

		{ foo; bar; }

 (or simply put the braces, particularly the closing brace, after
 a line end, perhaps on its own line).

 That's basic shell scripting.

> Any assistance appreciated. Email preferred, but will keep checking this
> here to check for any legendary solutions...
 
> Mick

 I don't know that my answers are "legendary" but I hope they 
 help anyway.   

 BTW:  When posting questions about scripting --- include a
 syntactically complete and semantically relevant portion of the 
 code.  Try to keep that under 25 lines.  Often the process of 
 isolating a testing a chunk of code that clearly illustrates the
 problem, leads you to an understanding and a solution or 
 work around.

--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com
  


From jimd@mars.starshine.org  Sat Jul  8 21:24:10 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@mars.starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id C8351E9893
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  8 Jul 2000 21:24:10 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (unknown [216.240.40.187])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id C8D188028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  8 Jul 2000 21:24:07 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id EAA20787;
	Fri, 7 Jul 2000 04:17:47 -0700
Message-Id: <200007071117.EAA20787@mars.starshine.org>
To: dudu <dudu@mpcnet.com.br>
Cc: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: The Linux Gazette Answer Gang <tag@ssc.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: Comment about AnsGuy LG#55 
In-Reply-to: <00070623303901.01116@hal9000.ddnet> 
	Message Apparently From dudu <dudu@mpcnet.com.br> 
	Dated Thu, 06 Jul 2000 23:22:39 -0300.
Date: Fri, 07 Jul 2000 04:17:47 -0700
Sender: jimd@mars.starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 1548
Lines: 49


More on "Simple Shell and Cron Question"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


> You answered in LG55 the following question: 
 
> ---BEGING QUOTE-----
> Simple Shell and Cron Question
>> From Amir Shakib Manesh on Thu, 08 Jun 2000 
 
> Dear ANswer Duy, I want to write a shell script, in which every 15 minutes it run a simple command, let say 'top
> -b'. Would you help me? 
 
>           Well one way would be to make a cron entry like: 
 
``
>     */15 * * * *  top -b
''
 
>     ... which you'd do by just issuing the command: 'crontab -e' from your shell prompt. That should put you in an
>     editor from which you can type this command. 
> ---END QUOTE-----
 
> But, when the cron job runs it has now default environment variables like PATH.
> So shouldnt one include the full path to the top binary in order to run it
> properly?
 
> Rgds.
> DUDU

 Of course cron runs it its own environment with its own PATH and
 other settings.  However, on most Linux systems 'top' is going to
 be located in /usr/bin --- which really should be in cron's PATH.

 So I think the example I gave was good enough for the common case
 and I think I did go into more detail later in that response.

 Of course I have a tendency to refer to programs and scripts 
 by their full path in my configuration files and scripts, but 
 by shorter names in examples and on the command line.

--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com

  


From jimd@mars.starshine.org  Sat Jul  8 21:22:44 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@mars.starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id CB46BE9893
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  8 Jul 2000 21:22:44 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (unknown [216.240.40.187])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1603A8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  8 Jul 2000 21:22:41 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id FAA20830;
	Fri, 7 Jul 2000 05:11:28 -0700
Message-Id: <200007071211.FAA20830@mars.starshine.org>
To: mickjf@iname.com
Cc: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: The Linux Gazette Answer Gang <tag@ssc.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: Comparing files locally to those on an FTP server 
In-Reply-to: <000501bfe7ba$8c461640$0301a8c0@masterserver> 
	Message Apparently From "Mick Faber" <mick@videoscreens.com> 
	Dated Fri, 07 Jul 2000 12:24:57 +1000.
Date: Fri, 07 Jul 2000 05:11:28 -0700
Sender: jimd@mars.starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 9609
Lines: 258



 
> Hi, I am using the default program bash (have also tried sh as other
> information I downloaded had this in it - are they significantly different?
 
> I ran this command:
 
> if [ "$(cksum /usr/local/c_drive/batm/video/current/pod001.avc)" = "$(cksum
> /usr/local/c_drive/batm/video/new/pod001.avc)" ] ;then
> 	echo "They're the same."
> else
> 	echo "They're different."
> fi
 
> and found the following results:
 
> when the file is compared to itself, it works.
> When compared to a file of the SAME NAME in another folder, if doesn't work.
> It's almost as if the folder is taken into account, but when I run cksum
> filename on the two files they give me the same CRC, no. bits and file name
> as they should. I would expect then that this command should work.

 Of course the "folder" (directory name) is part of what's being
 compared.  The "$(.....)" are expressions that evaluate to text
 strings.  The contents of those strings are set to the output of
 the commands that are included in the parentheses.  The [ (test)
 command takes a list of arguments and operators.  In this case the
 arguments are two strings (substitutes by the $(...)  expressions)
 and the = operator.  Note that the "=" sign here is just an
 argument to the test command --- which is also know as the '['
 command.  The closing ']' is just an argument that the 'test'
 command requires when it is called under the '[' name.

 Now, if you think about it you'll see that the '[' command has no
 reasonable way of "knowing" that you only care about the checksum
 values of the two strings.  It was give a couple of strings and an
 argument (the "=" sign).  So it (the test command) will return a
 value (exit code, errorlevel) based on whether the two strings are
 identical.

 
> I am interested only in the CRC value - perhaps we could use the -eq if we
> can only extract the CRC value as a result instead of the other info CKSUM
> give us....?

 I don't recommand that.  The 'test' command will probably emit an
 error about the format of the operands to the -eq option/operator.
 
> Feeling so close now.... Thanks again for your patience....

 See my long response of a few minutes ago.  The answer is simple,
 we include a bit in the $(....) expressions that filters out the
 irrelevant text.  I do this by over-riding the cksum (external)
 command with my own shell function, but the concept is the same.

 Note: I dove into that message and my earlier response before
 seeing that others had tried to help you with  your question.
 
 
> Regards,
> Mick Faber
 
>  -----Original Message-----
> From: 	Linux Gazette [mailto:lg@ssc.com]
> Sent:	Friday, 7 July 2000 2:22 AM
> To:	mickjf@iname.com; tag@ssc.com
> Subject:	Re: Comparing files locally to those on an FTP server
 
> The following script works when I try it comparing one file with itself,
> then comparing it with a different file.
 
> if [ "$(cksum /usr/local/c_drive/batm/video/current/pod001.avc)" =
>      "$(cksum /usr/local/c_drive/batm/video/new/pod001.avc)" ] ;then
> 	echo "They're the same."
> else
> 	echo "They're different."
> fi

 
> "if" takes a single command.  If the command's exit status is 0, the
> "then" part is run.  If the command's exit status is non-zero, the
> "else" part is run.  The brackets "[ ... ]" imply the "test" command,
> which runs a test (in this case, a string comparision) and exits 0
> if the answer is true.

 Actually the [ .... ] doesn't "imply" the test command.  [ is 
 really a built-in alias for 'test' (and it generally also exists as
 a symbolic link to the /usr/bin/test command, for those shells
 which don't implement it as a built-in).

 When the command 'test' is called under the name '[' then it
 requires the  ']' as a delimiter.  That's actually a bit silly,
 since the shell is still doing it's own parsing, and the shell 
 "knows" when the command ends quite independently of this "]"
 marker (which the shell ignores as it's just another argument 
 to the '[' command.

 However, these are just syntactic anomalies.  It's really better
 for beginning shell scripters to use the 'test' command (so that
 the really internalize that it is really just a command like any
 other Unix command.  It is not a "feature of the language" --- it's
 just a command that processes a list of command line arguments and
 returns and exit value.  (This is as true of '[' but it's less
 obvious to people who've been exposed to any other programming
 languages.
 
> "$( command arg1 arg2 )" returns the output of the specified command--
> what it would have printed on the screen.  This is different from its
> exit status.  The double quotes keep the output together even if it
> contains spaces; otherwise the output would be misinterpreted.
 
> Bash allows either "=" or "==" for string comparisions.  Another
> operator "-eq" does numeric comparisions, but we don't want that here
> since "cksum" returns more than just a simple number.  Some other
> languages would require "==" instead of "=", as I said yesterday,
> but bash isn't one of them.

 Although bash allows this, the external 'test' command requires
 that we use the = and will give an error if we try to use ==
 
 So, depending on bash' permissiveness is less portable.

 Incidentally, another approach we could have used (given the
 original problem) is to do something like:

 pushd $(dirname $1)
 a=$(cksum $(basename $1 ))
 cd $(dirname $2)
 b=$(cksum $(basename $2 ))
 popd
 ....

 ... this relies on the fact that the files being compare have the
 same names but reside in different directories.  However, it seems
 really bad to impose that constraint on our shell script even
 though this particular application/situation allows it.  It would
 make the resulting script useless for most other situations.
 However, the approach I recommended (filtering out the filename
 with and read/echo pair or a 'cut' command) gives us a more general
 script that we can re-use for similar purposes.

 This example does show the use of the very handy 'basename' and 
 'dirname' commands.  It also shows that the $(...) form of 
 command substitution can be nested (which overcomes a limitation
 of the older `...` backtick form).

> On Thu, Jul 06, 2000 at 08:19:37AM +1000, Mick Faber wrote:
>> Thanks so much for the reply, I have written this using VI on
> dhat6.1   -
>> I don't know if that is the answer you need - I'm only a 2 week novice
> with
>> Linux and programming of this level for that matter ... Does this answer
>> your question?
>> The actual command line I want to use is
>> if cksum /usr/local/c_drive/batm/video/current/pod001.avc = cksum
>> /usr/local/c_drive/batm/video/new/pod001.avc; then
>> I also want to verify that the downloads are successful and not corrupted.
> I
>> figured CKSUM is the best for that as well - that problem is to get
> tackled
>> yet ....

 Once you have local copies of the file, why not just use the 
 'cmp' command.  The cksum command is already going to read the
 whole file.  You've already burned up the bandwidth (transfer 
 the whole files to the local machine).

 So what's wrong with:

 ``
 if cmp -s /old/path/file1 /new/path/file1  
    then
      ...
    else 
      ...
    fi
 
 ''
 
 That seems quite a bit simpler.

 Also, let's assume that you have two directories.  A script
 to compare corresponding files in them would look something like:

 ``
 for i in $1/*; do
   cmp -s $i $2/$(basename $i) \
        && # their O.K ... 
	|| # Ooops: corrupt file
 done

 ''
    
 (This assumes that you're call it with just two
 parameters, the names of the old and new directories).

 Alternatively you can have a script take a directory name
 (the "new" directory for argument's sake) and a list of 
 files as probably provided by a "wildcard" (globbing) 
 pattern.

 That would look something like:


 ``
 d=$1
 [ -d "$d" ] || exit 1
 shift
 for i; do
    if cmp $i  $d/$( basename $i )
       then
          ....
       else
          ....
       fi
 done
 ''

 ... Here again I'm using the basename command.  I could also use
 the "parameter substitution" feature of the shell instead of
 basename: ${i##*/} However, I find that form to be almost
 unreadable.  If performance where an issue I might hide the
 ${1##*/} in a shell function that I'd name "basename" (and I'd toss
 in ${1%/*} as "dirname").  That would be a bit quicker for large
 directories since basename and dirname are external commands.  So
 using them entails quite a bit of fork()'ing and exec()'ing.
 Naturally the ${...} parameter substitution features are always
 internal if they are supported at all.


>>  -----Original Message-----
>> From: 	Linux Gazette [mailto:lg@ssc.com]
>> Sent:	Thursday, 6 July 2000 2:06 AM
>> To:	mickjf@iname.com; tag@ssc.com
>> Subject:	Re: Comparing files locally to those on an FTP server

>> On Wed, Jul 05, 2000 at 04:40:43PM +1000, Mick Faber wrote:
>>> Set a=cksum file1
>>> Set b=cksum file2
>>> If a=b
>>> Then ...
>>> Else ...

>>> My problem seems to be even though the CKSUM results are
>>> differently when done manually, in the script they ALWAYS are
>>> equal.  Is SET the wrong term to use to set a variable. Is there
>>> another way to do this altogether.

>> We need to know what language this script is written in.  From
>> the "set" statement, I'd assume it's csh or tcsh, although what
>> you wrote appears to violate the rules for (t)csh syntax.
>> (Capital letters, no `` around "chksum file1", etc.)

>> Anyway, if the language is similar to C, the "a=b" expression
>> should be "a==b" to test for equality.  "a=b" means set a to the
>> value of b.


From thaths@netscape.com  Fri Jul  7 15:29:53 2000
Return-Path: <thaths@netscape.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id AA259E9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Fri,  7 Jul 2000 15:29:53 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from netscape.com (h-205-217-237-46.netscape.com [205.217.237.46])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id C0EDF8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Fri,  7 Jul 2000 15:29:51 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from judge.mcom.com (judge.mcom.com [205.217.237.53])
	by netscape.com (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id e67MLag22475
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Fri, 7 Jul 2000 15:21:36 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from netscape.com ([207.1.145.44]) by judge.mcom.com
          (Netscape Messaging Server 4.15) with ESMTP id FXCMHR01.VWA;
          Fri, 7 Jul 2000 15:29:51 -0700 
Sender: thaths@netscape.com (Sudhakar Chandrasekharan)
Message-ID: <396659DE.E0AE7605@netscape.com>
Date: Fri, 07 Jul 2000 15:29:50 -0700
From: Sudhakar Chandra <thaths@netscape.com>
Organization: I didn't do it, nobody saw me do it, no one can prove a thing
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.73 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.2.17 i686)
X-Accept-Language: en, fr
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: gazette@ssc.com, matt@optimus.cee.cornell.edu
Subject: Netscape 2c tip
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Status: RO
Content-Length: 1154
Lines: 32

> Sat, 17 Jun 2000 09:36:15 -0400 (EDT) 
> From: Matthew Willis <matt@optimus.cee.cornell.edu> 
> 
> You can get a two-column printout from netscape by using the psutils
> packages. For letter-sized printouts, just change your "Print Command"
> in netscape to 
> 
> pstops -q -w8.5in -h11in -pletter "2:0L@0.7(8.in,-0.1in)+1L@0.7(8.in,4.95in)"  |  lpr -h 
> 
> The PSUtils are avalable at 
> http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/ajcd/psutils/index.html 
> 
> You will have to edit the Makefile and set PAPER=letter if you live
> in North America. 


Why bother with such a verbose command.  Part of the psutils package is a
program called psnup.  The preceding verbose command can be replaced by:

psnup -c -n 2 | lpr -pprinter

psnup has also been hacked (by yours truly ;-) to generate back-to-back
postscript documents.  See http://www.aunet.org/thaths/hacks/psutils/

Thaths
-- 
Homer: And, these Hardy Boys books are great, too! This one's about 
       smugglers!
Bart:  They're all about smugglers.
Homer: No, not this one! "The Smugglers of Pirate Cove". It's about 
       pirates.
Sudhakar C13n    http://www.aunet.org/thaths/    Lead Indentured Slave

From blakwolf@tiscalinet.it  Sat Jul  8 10:26:11 2000
Return-Path: <blakwolf@tiscalinet.it>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 53B81E986C
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  8 Jul 2000 10:26:11 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from twingo.tiscalinet.it (twingo.tiscalinet.it [195.130.224.85])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7F71E8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  8 Jul 2000 10:26:09 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from latana (62.11.158.1) by twingo.tiscalinet.it; 8 Jul 2000 19:22:25 +0200
Message-ID: <000e01bfe901$9ec03920$019e0b3e@latana>
From: "BlakWolf" <blakwolf@tiscalinet.it>
To: <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: PDA & Linux
Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2000 19:08:23 +0200
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/signed;
	protocol="application/x-pkcs7-signature";
	micalg=SHA1;
	boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0009_01BFE90F.E3A229A0"
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300
Status: RO
Content-Length: 4289
Lines: 76

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------=_NextPart_000_0009_01BFE90F.E3A229A0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="Windows-1252"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

I read in LG #48 that is available a port of Linux for (taken from LG)

"- Handhelds, [...], LinuxCE (to substitute WindowsCE), PDAs in general"

I'm interested in LinuxCE: does an HOWTO exists to substitute WindozeCE?

Thanks in advance.




------=_NextPart_000_0009_01BFE90F.E3A229A0
Content-Type: application/x-pkcs7-signature;
	name="smime.p7s"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: attachment;
	filename="smime.p7s"
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------=_NextPart_000_0009_01BFE90F.E3A229A0--


From venkatcc@bits-pilani.ac.in  Sat Jul  8 15:05:03 2000
Return-Path: <venkatcc@bits-pilani.ac.in>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id C92CEE9893
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  8 Jul 2000 15:05:02 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from asura.bits-pilani.ac.in (unknown [202.54.26.114])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 573268028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  8 Jul 2000 15:04:54 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from staff.bits-pilani.ac.in (IDENT:venkatcc@staff.bits-pilani.ac.in [192.168.1.2])
	by asura.bits-pilani.ac.in (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id DAA24243
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun, 9 Jul 2000 03:35:04 +0530
Date: Sun, 9 Jul 2000 03:27:01 +0530 (IST)
From: "C.C. Venkataraghavan" <venkatcc@bits-pilani.ac.in>
To: gazette@ssc.com
Subject: Red Hat Linux 6.2 Installation problem
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.04.10007090324330.20593-100000@staff.bits-pilani.ac.in>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Status: RO
Content-Length: 1389
Lines: 42

> Hi folks...
> 
> Have been having problems with the installation.
> 
> I have a machine running Windows NT 4.0(PIII,128 MB RAM) and I want to
> load Linux and use it as a dual boot machine. Initially, I had the 
> following partitions on my machine:
> 
> C Drive (NTFS)-2047 MB-Active Partition
> D Drive (NTFS)-2047 MB-Logical Drive
> E Drive (NTFS)-2047 MB-Logical Drive
> F Drive (FAT)-1875 MB-Logical Drive
> H Drive (FAT)-1624 MB-Logical Drive
> 
> I decided to use the F partition and I removed the existing partition and
> used the following partitions for Linux:
> 
> /boot-Linux Native-16 MB
> <swap space>-Linux Swap-128 MB
> /home-Linux Native-100 MB
> / - Linux Native-1600 MB(with the option "Grow to fill disk" turned on).
> 
> 
> The other steps are followed and a static Class C IP address(I am gonna
> connect to the LAN) is provided. And the next phase of installation, I
watched the packets being installed. It was
> pretty fast given the configuration of the machine and on an average(i
> have tried it 5 times already), it took about 18 minutes to finish 
> installing all the packages. And thats it...it gets stuck there. That is
> as long as I dont touch the mouse. Once I move the mouse,I get this
> message "...post-installation configuration" and stops yet again.
> 
> Could anyone help me???
> 
> Thanks in advance...
> 
> Venkataraghavan C Chandra
> 
> 
> 



From david.sarraf@paonline.com  Sat Jul  8 22:35:03 2000
Return-Path: <david.sarraf@paonline.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id EF1C7E9893
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  8 Jul 2000 22:35:02 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from paonline.com (paonline.com [207.44.20.2])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 720C88028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  8 Jul 2000 22:34:59 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from paonline.com [216.220.164.49] by paonline.com with ESMTP
  (SMTPD32-6.00) id AF00D6F206FE; Sun, 09 Jul 2000 01:34:56 -0400
Message-ID: <39680E30.16989A8E@paonline.com>
Date: Sun, 09 Jul 2000 01:31:28 -0400
From: david sarraf <david.sarraf@paonline.com>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en]C-3M;VANGRD  (Win95; U)
X-Accept-Language: en
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: noah.poellnitz@ssa.crane.navy.mil
Cc: gazette@ssc.com
Subject: Boot Floppy for Linux
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Status: RO
Content-Length: 782
Lines: 19

"I was wondering if you have ever heard of anyone booting up a system
with a linux boot floppy. The system previously lacks the ability to
boot from a CD , but after installing linux, uses the CD drive to
install another operating sytem which at teh same time will write over
the Linux system."

Noah:

Three different machines at work use boot floppies to start Linux. I
have had problems using LILO and modifying the boot sector on two of
those machines.  Using a floppy gives me a safe and simple way to have
Linux and Windows on the same machine with no changes to the boot
sector.  I did need to do an RDEV on the boot floppy's kernel to point
it toward the proper partition on the hard drive.  Other than that minor
detail using a boot floppy works quite well.

Dave Sarraf



From patmullen@meltel.net  Sun Jul  9 07:13:47 2000
Return-Path: <patmullen@meltel.net>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7BE4BE9893
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun,  9 Jul 2000 07:13:47 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from cmit.net (ns.cmit.net [206.10.62.3])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 43E728028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun,  9 Jul 2000 07:13:46 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from meltel.net [206.10.62.232] by cmit.net with ESMTP
  (SMTPD32-6.03) id A6D196100EC; Sun, 09 Jul 2000 09:14:25 -0600
Sender: pat@passenger.ssc.com
Message-ID: <396888D2.A158A6A9@meltel.net>
Date: Sun, 09 Jul 2000 09:14:42 -0500
From: Patrick Mullen <patmullen@meltel.net>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.73 [en] (X11; I; Linux 2.2.15-4mdk i686)
X-Accept-Language: en
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: news@linuxgames.com, cknudsen@radix.net, gazette@ssc.com,
	jd@linuxgod.net
Subject: XFree86 4.0.1 Review
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
 boundary="------------AE4A68639386CF55AB0B70D1"
Status: RO
Content-Length: 4369
Lines: 120

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--------------AE4A68639386CF55AB0B70D1
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
 boundary="------------19FC2687D44BEA48ED57CE72"


--------------19FC2687D44BEA48ED57CE72
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Hello everyone.  The Duke of URL has a new review on-line, this time
it's XFree86 4.0.1.  The
review includes benchmarks, and overview, and the latest NVidia drivers,
version 0.9-4.

I found these drivers by talking to one of the personel at NVidia and
they allow NVidia's line of
cards to be compatible with the newest version of XFree86 (4.0.1) and
even add a few FPS on top
of the already whopping frame rate you already get.

If possible, it would be great if you could post something about this in
your news-our server was
down for a few days (while moving), and it would help to let people know
we're still alive. :)

What? XFree86 4.0.1
Where? http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/misc/xfree86401
Who? The Duke of URL
Blurb: "First off, if you're looking to run the new XFree86 4.0.1 on an
NVidia card, you're going to
need the updated 0.9-4 drivers. These drivers fix bugs with XFree86
4.0.1, which it looks like
NVidia was taken a little by suprise with the new release. "

"So is 4.0.1 right for you? NVidia users shouldn't exactly feel a huge
need to jump, unless they'd
like to gain a few FPS. 3dfx Voodoo3 users may be split, depending on
what you use and how
intensively you use your 3dfx card's 3D capabilities. On the other hand,
Voodoo5 users have no
other choice than version 4.0.1, since Voodoo5 was just recently
introduced. ATI Rage 128 users
will definitely want to jump at 4.x, just as Matrox users will. "

--
-Patrick Mullen; CEO, Editor-The Duke of URL
http://www.thedukeofurl.org



--------------19FC2687D44BEA48ED57CE72
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
<html>
Hello everyone.&nbsp; The Duke of URL has a new review on-line, this time
it's XFree86 4.0.1.&nbsp; The
<br>review includes benchmarks, and overview, and the latest NVidia drivers,
version 0.9-4.
<p>I found these drivers by talking to one of the personel at NVidia and
they allow NVidia's line of
<br>cards to be compatible with the newest version of XFree86 (4.0.1) and
even add a few FPS on top
<br>of the already whopping frame rate you already get.
<p>If possible, it would be great if you could post something about this
in your news-our server was
<br>down for a few days (while moving), and it would help to let people
know we're still alive. :)
<p>What? XFree86 4.0.1
<br>Where? <A HREF="http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/misc/xfree86401">http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/misc/xfree86401</A>
<br>Who? The Duke of URL
<br>Blurb: "First off, if you're looking to run the new XFree86 4.0.1 on
an NVidia card, you're going to
<br>need the updated 0.9-4 drivers. These drivers fix bugs with XFree86
4.0.1, which it looks like
<br>NVidia was taken a little by suprise with the new release. "
<p>"So is 4.0.1 right for you? NVidia users shouldn't exactly feel a huge
need to jump, unless they'd
<br>like to gain a few FPS. 3dfx Voodoo3 users may be split, depending
on what you use and how
<br>intensively you use your 3dfx card's 3D capabilities. On the other
hand, Voodoo5 users have no
<br>other choice than version 4.0.1, since Voodoo5 was just recently introduced.
ATI Rage 128 users
<br>will definitely want to jump at 4.x, just as Matrox users will. "
<pre>--&nbsp;
-Patrick Mullen; CEO, Editor-The Duke of URL
<A HREF="http://www.thedukeofurl.org">http://www.thedukeofurl.org</A></pre>
&nbsp;</html>

--------------19FC2687D44BEA48ED57CE72--

--------------AE4A68639386CF55AB0B70D1
Content-Type: text/x-vcard; charset=us-ascii;
 name="patmullen.vcf"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Description: Card for Patrick Mullen
Content-Disposition: attachment;
 filename="patmullen.vcf"

begin:vcard 
n:Mullen;Patrick 
tel;fax:(320) 256-4025
tel;home:(320) 256-8324
tel;work:(320) 256-4027
x-mozilla-html:FALSE
url:http://www.thedukeofurl.org
org:The Duke of URL;Marketing
adr:;;516 2nd Ave SW		;Melrose;MN;56352;USA
version:2.1
email;internet:patmullen@meltel.net
title:CEO, Editor
x-mozilla-cpt:;-26016
fn:Patrick Mullen
end:vcard

--------------AE4A68639386CF55AB0B70D1--


From lmpinto@student.dei.uc.pt  Mon Jul 10 03:00:49 2000
Return-Path: <lmpinto@student.dei.uc.pt>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 12CD1E9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon, 10 Jul 2000 03:00:49 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from student.dei.uc.pt (student.dei.uc.pt [193.137.203.231])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3312E8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon, 10 Jul 2000 02:58:57 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from localhost (lmpinto@localhost)
	by student.dei.uc.pt (8.10.2/8.10.2) with ESMTP id e6A3DIq04900;
	Mon, 10 Jul 2000 04:15:48 +0100
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2000 04:13:12 +0100 (WEST)
From: Luis Pinto <lmpinto@student.dei.uc.pt>
To: mwdsmith@singnet.com.sg
Cc: gazette@ssc.com
Subject: RH Upgrade Problems
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.21.0007100402360.4795-100000@student.dei.uc.pt>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Status: RO
Content-Length: 1166
Lines: 38

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1


	Hi! I saw your question on Linux Gazette, which i try to respond:

	After the upgrade, you have probably erased your
/etc/X11/XF86Config. Now, the computer is trying to boot X upon the linux
boot because you have the line:

id:5:initdefault:

in your /etc/inittab file. You must change the number 5 to 3. To do so,
you must boot giving the 'single' option to LILO:

LILO boot: linux single

Then, you must edit the /etc/inittab file, change the previous line, and
reboot. After that, you must use Xconfigurator, XF86Setup or any other
tool to configure your X.

				Hope to have helped...
                                        Luis Pinto
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://student.dei.uc.pt/~lmpinto PHONE: +351-96-2433471 ICQ #15663369
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Open source software - with no walls and fences, who needs Windows and
Gates?"

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGP 6.5.1i

iQA/AwUBOWk/TYfF8HgH+Y51EQL+mwCfY0fkrxuqqGwsUmsNfZmTGQT+risAoOLq
MY7qOHPZH76NasOdrAD2zsbP
=1PyY
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----



From mick@videoscreens.com  Mon Jul 10 18:49:53 2000
Return-Path: <mick@videoscreens.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP
	id E86AFE9869; Mon, 10 Jul 2000 18:49:52 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from fep8.mail.ozemail.net (fep8.mail.ozemail.net [203.2.192.102])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP
	id C15748028; Mon, 10 Jul 2000 18:49:48 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from masterserver (1Cust122.tnt1.syd2.da.uu.net [63.12.0.122]) by fep8.mail.ozemail.net (8.9.0/8.6.12) with SMTP id LAA28236; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 11:49:40 +1000 (EST)
Reply-To: <mickjf@iname.com>
From: "Mick Faber" <mick@videoscreens.com>
To: "'The Linux Gazette Answer Gang'" <tag@ssc.com>
Cc: "'The Linux Gazette'" <gazette@ssc.com>, <star@starshine.org>
Subject: RE: Comparing files locally to those on an FTP server 
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 11:47:56 +1000
Message-ID: <000601bfeada$10ccf1a0$0301a8c0@masterserver>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook CWS, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0)
Importance: Normal
In-Reply-To: <200007071042.DAA20733@mars.starshine.org>
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200
Status: RO
Content-Length: 8454
Lines: 227

Thanks heaps for your help. I have resolved the issue.

FYI: I am using the command  "if cmp -e file1 file2" and not using the cksum
at all anymore.

Thanks again - you guys are lifesavers!!!

Mick

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	jimd@mars.starshine.org [mailto:jimd@mars.starshine.org]  On Behalf
Of The Linux Gazette Answer Gang
Sent:	Friday, 7 July 2000 8:42 PM
To:	mickjf@iname.com
Cc:	The Linux Gazette; star@starshine.org
Subject:	Re: Comparing files locally to those on an FTP server


Checksum Script
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> Hi

> I have written a script that automatically connects my machine to an FTP
> server and downloads a set of files that I need nightly.
> The client downloads a file which is my indicator to any changes. In
effect,
> if this downloaded txt file has changed, then I need to download the other
> files.

> That part is ok. I can automatically download the check file, so I have
two
> files (current and new dir) called the same but in different directories.

> I have written a script that says

``
> Set a=cksum file1
> Set b=cksum file2
> If a=b
> Then ...
> Else ...
''

> My problem seems to be even though the CKSUM results are differently when
> done manually, in the script they ALWAYS are equal.  Is SET the wrong term
> to use to set a variable. Is there another way to do this altogether.

 The code fragment you've included doesn't specify what scripting
 language you're using.  It isn't a valid fragment of bash, PERL, or
 even csh.  For one thing, the common UNIX scripting languages
 are case sensitive.  Thus your capitalization of "If" and "Then"
 are  enough to cause this fragment to fail under most interpreters.

 Of than that there isn't enough context or code here to guess what
 scripting language you're trying to use.  However, the 'set'
 command isn't used in most Linux scripting languages (at least not
 for "setting values to variables").  csh, TCL (and
 'expect', a TCL derivative) and the MS-DOS batch language, use the
 "set" command for variable assignments.

 This leads me to suspect that your code sample is in "MS-DOS
 batch" or some sort of psuedo-syntax.

 To do this with bash (or Korn shell or any similar interpreter)
 you'd use something like:

    ``
    #!/bin/sh
    a=$(cksum $1)
    b=$(cksum $2)
    if [ "$a" = "$b" ] ; then
       ...
       else
       ...
       fi
    ''

 ...assuming that you were calling the script with two parameters,
 the names of the two files.  Note: the $( ... ) expressions are
 the key here.  They "capture" the output from the enclosed
 command(s) and substitute those result into the expression in
 which they $(....) expressions have appeared.  This is called
 "command substition" (traditionally rendered as `...`
 using backticks).  This "command substitution" feature is
 one of the shell's most powerful and useful scripting mechanisms
 and it allows us to seamless assign the output from any normal
 command (internal, or external) to shell variables.

 (Note: Some very old Bourne shells might not recognized the
  $(...) form and thus may require the backtick form.  However,
  all UNIX shells should be able to do command substitution.
  I've never heard of one that didn't.  csh/tcsh also requires
  the backticks, and can't use the more legible $(...) form).

 [Ignore the `` and '' lines --- those are formatting hints for
 the e-mail to HTML script].

 Actually this is an oversimplification.  The GNU 'cksum' command
 prints output of the form:

     2839321845 1516 /path/file.name

 Obviously if I take the output of two of these commands, with
 DIFFERENT FILENAMES the full text of each output will be different
 even if the checksums are the same.  I need to extract just the
 checksums, or at least filter out the differences in the filenames.

 My first thought was that the cksum command might have some
 switches or options to suppress the extraneous output.  It seems
 like the need to get *just* the numeric checksum value would be
 pretty common.  However, it appears that the FSF maintainer for
 this utility doesn't agree with me.  So we have to isolate it
 ourselves.  That's only a minor nuisance (taking far less time
 for me to do than to explain).

 There are a couple of ways I can do that.  Here's the first that
 comes to mind.  Just insert the following at the top of the script.

   ``
   function cksum ()

      command cksum $1 |

	  read a b x
	  echo $a $b
	  }
  }
  ''

 This creates a local shell function which over-rides the output of
 the external cksum command.  The "command" command forces the shell
 to execute the command (bypassing the shell functions and aliases
 --- and prevent a recursion loop).

 All I do here is pipe the output into a command that reads the
 first and second fields (the part I want to keep).  I read the rest
 of the output into a "throwaway" variable (which I expediently call
 "x").  Then I just echo out the two pits of info I cared about (the
 checksum and the size) leaving off the "rest."  This trick of using
 the read command to filter out fields that I want from lines of
 input is pretty handy.  It's a reasonable advantage over using the
 external 'cut' command because read and echo are internal commands.
 Also 'cut' defaults to using tabs as delimiters while I usually
 want to "cut" on *any* whitespace (any number of tabs or spaces).

 The advantage of writing this little shell function into our
 script is that I can leave the rest of the script alone.  I don't
 have to re-write it.  Of course it's better to avoid the name
 collision.  I could name my function "checksum" (and avoid having
 to use the "command" command).  Even if I do rename the shell
 function I can leave my "command" command as is.  It doesn't
 hurt anything.

 Naturally I could have also  just piped the output of each of
 these cksum command through cut like so:

    a=$(cksum $1 | cut -d" " -f 1-2 )

 ... which works fine.  Of course it is a little less
 maintainable.  Even though I'm only calling this expression
 twice --- it's still better to consolidate it into a
 shell function so it really works the say way in both
 invocations.  Otherwise a slight difference to one of the
 invocations could silently cause the later comparison to
 always and erroneously fail.

 Note that we don't have to use "if... then ... else .... fi"
 in most shell scripts.  We can shorten this script to:

     [ "$(checksum $1)" = "$(checksum $2)" ] && .... || ....

 (assuming I made my checksum shell function as before).

 ... where the command after the && is the same as you'd put after
 the "then" token in the earlier script.  The command after the ||
 operator is similar to the "else" block, but it would be execute if
 the checksums didn't match *or* if the if the command in the &&
 clause returned a non-zero value (an error).  This is frequently
 what you actually want in shell programming; though the differences
 can be subtle and important.

 Note: the && and || operators take a single command.  If you want
 to perform a block of commands under those conditionals you'll want
 to use command grouping or possibly a subshell --- using the
 {...} (braces/grouping) or (...) (subshell) syntax.

 One "gotchya" that crops up in bash 2.x when using "grouping" is
 this:

		{ foo; bar }

 ... was accepted under bash 1.x and is an error under bash 2.x
 --- it's because the closing brace is being taken as an argument
 to the bar command.  This is technically correct for the parser
 (it was a bug in bash 1.x that allowed the command to work).

  So, good shell scripting requires that we us this syntax:

		{ foo; bar; }

 (or simply put the braces, particularly the closing brace, after
 a line end, perhaps on its own line).

 That's basic shell scripting.

> Any assistance appreciated. Email preferred, but will keep checking this
> here to check for any legendary solutions...

> Mick

 I don't know that my answers are "legendary" but I hope they
 help anyway.

 BTW:  When posting questions about scripting --- include a
 syntactically complete and semantically relevant portion of the
 code.  Try to keep that under 25 lines.  Often the process of
 isolating a testing a chunk of code that clearly illustrates the
 problem, leads you to an understanding and a solution or
 work around.

--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com



From mick@videoscreens.com  Mon Jul 10 19:12:10 2000
Return-Path: <mick@videoscreens.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8492EE9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon, 10 Jul 2000 19:12:10 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from fep8.mail.ozemail.net (fep8.mail.ozemail.net [203.2.192.102])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id C87288028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon, 10 Jul 2000 19:12:06 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from masterserver (1Cust122.tnt1.syd2.da.uu.net [63.12.0.122]) by fep8.mail.ozemail.net (8.9.0/8.6.12) with SMTP id MAA11789 for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 12:12:02 +1000 (EST)
Reply-To: <mickjf@iname.com>
From: "Mick Faber" <mick@videoscreens.com>
To: <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: HELP: Crontab not running nested executable
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 12:09:27 +1000
Message-ID: <000801bfeadd$2e44dc40$0301a8c0@masterserver>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook CWS, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0)
Importance: Normal
In-Reply-To: <20000705090625.A18119@ssc.com>
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200
Status: RO
X-Status: A
Content-Length: 934
Lines: 30

First of all, I am sorry if it shouldn't come to you like this. Could you
let me know who to send this email to, if there is a dedicated address?

Thanks.



I have two executable files that work when called manually. File2 is called
from within File1 so that when I run File1, File2 gets called as well.

When I set a CRONTAB job to run File1 (with the nested call to File2) ,
File1 runs, but File2 doesn't.

That's the simplified version.

The detailed version is that File1 dials out to an FTP server and downloads
File2 which is then supposed to run. I stress that when I manually run
File1, File2 is downloaded and runs correctly. When within a crontab job,
File1 runs, but doesn't appear to activate File2.

Is there something I am missing. My only thoughts lie in the fact that
perhaps I need to chmod the file in a different way, for it to be called
from within a crontab job successfully.

Any thoughts or Pointers?

Mick




From jliedeka@facstaff.wisc.edu  Mon Jul 10 22:06:43 2000
Return-Path: <jliedeka@facstaff.wisc.edu>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 10321E9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon, 10 Jul 2000 22:06:43 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from local.net (ras-c5800-1-49-60.dialup.wisc.edu [128.104.49.60])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 865508028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon, 10 Jul 2000 22:06:39 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from facstaff.wisc.edu (IDENT:jim@localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1])
	by local.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id AAA01607;
	Tue, 11 Jul 2000 00:10:04 -0500
Sender: jim@local.net
Message-ID: <396AAC2C.8ACEF8D0@facstaff.wisc.edu>
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 00:10:04 -0500
From: Jim Liedeka <jliedeka@facstaff.wisc.edu>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.2.16-3 i686)
X-Accept-Language: en
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: noah.poellnitz@ssa.crane.navy.mil
Cc: gazette@ssc.com
Subject: re: linux booting
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Status: RO
Content-Length: 1289
Lines: 39

I have run into the problem you are describing.  I added a SCSI card to
my machine which hosed Win95.  I never did get Win95 working but I kept
hosing my boot sector trying to reinstall it. The solution is really
pretty simple.

1.  Obtain a boot disk.  If you don't have one, you can make one from
linux by typing (as root)

mkbootdisk --device /dev/fd0 <kernel version #>

2.  This will save you some time,  copy down the information from
/etc/fstab related to your hard disk partitions.  When you boot from the
floppy, nothing will be mounted for you.  You have to do it manually.

3.  Boot from the floppy and type "rescue" at the lilo prompt.

4. Now you are in a minimal linux environment.  You won't have all the
nifty commands but that's okay.  You need to mount your / partition and
possibly other partitions if /etc, /sbin, /boot and possible /usr and/or
/usr/local.

5. chroot /, this isn't strictly necessary but the other way is much
harder.

6. run /sbin/lilo.  That should rewrite the boot sector and allow you to
boot with lilo.

I wrote this from memory so I may have left out a step or two but I hope
this will give you the idea.

    Jim

--
DIARY, n.  A daily record of that part of one's life, which he can
relate to himself without blushing.
    -- Ambrose Bierce




From adh_math@yahoo.com  Tue Jul 11 10:07:57 2000
Return-Path: <adh_math@yahoo.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id DF838E9881
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 10:07:56 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from web5505.mail.yahoo.com (web5505.mail.yahoo.com [216.115.106.188])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id 7C0AA8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 10:07:55 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <20000711165535.17011.qmail@web5505.mail.yahoo.com>
Received: from [64.250.8.231] by web5505.mail.yahoo.com; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 09:55:35 PDT
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 09:55:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: adh math <adh_math@yahoo.com>
Subject: KPPP Question
To: alp30@admin.cam.ac.uk, gazette@ssc.com
Cc: adh_math@yahoo.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Status: RO
Content-Length: 834
Lines: 27

Dear Ms. Parker,

I hope you've gotten your question posted at Linux
Gazette answered by now (six weeks later), but in case
not, here are some suggestions:

In the KPPP Setup dialogue, under the IP Address tab
there's a box "configure hostname automatically";
*un-check* this box. 

KPPP does indeed edit /etc/resolve.conf, but if (under
the DNS tab in Setup) you do not check the box
"disable existing DNS servers" then your default DNS
server (e.g., your local caching DNS server, if you've
set one up) should also work, and will be tried before
your ISP's DNS server is consulted.

Again, I hope this is *not* helpful (i.e., that you've
already gotten things working again:).

adh


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get Yahoo! Mail  Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/

From adh_math@yahoo.com  Tue Jul 11 10:07:57 2000
Return-Path: <adh_math@yahoo.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id DF838E9881
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 10:07:56 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from web5505.mail.yahoo.com (web5505.mail.yahoo.com [216.115.106.188])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id 7C0AA8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 10:07:55 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <20000711165535.17011.qmail@web5505.mail.yahoo.com>
Received: from [64.250.8.231] by web5505.mail.yahoo.com; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 09:55:35 PDT
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 09:55:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: adh math <adh_math@yahoo.com>
Subject: KPPP Question
To: alp30@admin.cam.ac.uk, gazette@ssc.com
Cc: adh_math@yahoo.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Status: RO
Content-Length: 834
Lines: 27

Dear Ms. Parker,

I hope you've gotten your question posted at Linux
Gazette answered by now (six weeks later), but in case
not, here are some suggestions:

In the KPPP Setup dialogue, under the IP Address tab
there's a box "configure hostname automatically";
*un-check* this box. 

KPPP does indeed edit /etc/resolve.conf, but if (under
the DNS tab in Setup) you do not check the box
"disable existing DNS servers" then your default DNS
server (e.g., your local caching DNS server, if you've
set one up) should also work, and will be tried before
your ISP's DNS server is consulted.

Again, I hope this is *not* helpful (i.e., that you've
already gotten things working again:).

adh


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get Yahoo! Mail  Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/

From adh_math@yahoo.com  Tue Jul 11 11:08:55 2000
Return-Path: <adh_math@yahoo.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3EBFBE9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 11:08:55 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from web5505.mail.yahoo.com (web5505.mail.yahoo.com [216.115.106.188])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id D186C8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 11:08:52 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <20000711180053.8268.qmail@web5505.mail.yahoo.com>
Received: from [64.250.8.159] by web5505.mail.yahoo.com; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 11:00:53 PDT
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 11:00:53 -0700 (PDT)
From: adh math <adh_math@yahoo.com>
Subject: X problems in RH6.2
To: mwdsmith@singnet.com.sg, gazette@ssc.com
Cc: adh_math@yahoo.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Status: RO
Content-Length: 4212
Lines: 105

Dear Mr. Smith,

Here are some (helpful, I hope:) suggestions regarding
your June 23 posting at the Linux Gazette.

First, Red Hat (and Mandrake) use "runlevels" (0, 1,
2, 3, 5, and 6 are currently used); in runlevel 3,
your machine will boot to a console prompt, while in
runlevel 5 your machine will (attempt to) boot to an X
login. (If you're curious, runlevel 0 shuts down, 1 is
"single-user" mode (a password-less root prompt for
system repair), and 6 reboots.) 

The default runlevel is specified in the file
/etc/inittab. To get your machine to stop trying to
start X, you'll need to change the default runlevel to
3; the first uncommented line (i.e., not starting with
a hash mark "#") in inittab should be 

id:5:initdefault:

and you should change this to 

id:3:initdefault:

(Be careful, since if you badly corrupt /etc/inittab
your life will be miserable:) If, when booting up, you
can't get to a prompt, either
1. Use a rescue disk ("Tom's" is excellent, see
http://www.toms.net/rb/ ), or
2. Boot from your hard drive; at the LILO prompt,
enter (no quotes) "linux single" which will take you
to runlevel 1 (i.e., you'll get a root prompt without
entering a password). Then edit /etc/inittab as
directed above, and (back at the root prompt) type
"exit", which should drop you to runlevel 3. If all
goes well, you'll shortly get a normal login prompt
(with the ASCII penguin next to it).

I suspect your underlying problem is that Mandrake is
(much?) better at detecting hardware than is Red Hat,
and that Red Hat either loaded the wrong X server (see
below) or that it set your monitor's sync rates
incorrectly in /etc/X11/XF86conf. If your monitor is
fixed-frequency (check the manual for your monitor),
have a look at the XF86config file and verify that the
HorizSync and VertRefresh rates (a.k.a. hsync and
vsync) are set properly. (The file is commented, and
explains what these numbers are. Also, see dire
warning at the bottom of this message...)

To see what X server (a.k.a. video card driver) you
have, do (no quotes)
"ls -l /etc/X11/X"; this should be a "symbolic link"
to ../../usr/X11R6/bin/<something>, where <something>
is the name of your X server, and reflects the type of
video card you have (e.g., S3 for S3 cards, Mach64 for
many ATI and other cards, Mono for B/W monitors,
etc...). If the driver does not match your video card
(say you have an ATI card, and the installed X server
is S3), then you'll need to install the correct X
server off your installation CD (either Red Hat or
Mandrake) by hand; it's in the RPMS directory, and
will be called
XFree86-<server_name>-<version_numbers>. As root, go
to the RPMS directory on your installation CD and do
"rpm -U --force --test XFree86-<whatever>"; if this
generates no error messages (and it shouldn't, but
it's always good to be prudent), repeat the command
without the "--test" option. This should copy the
server to /usr/X11R6/bin and create a new symbolic
link. If the symlink is wrong, do (as root)
"ln -sf  /etc/X11/X  /usr/X11R6/bin/<new_driver_name>"
which will create a new symlink to the correct driver.

Now try "startx" (as a normal user); if you don't see
anything legible, type <ctrl>-c to kill the X server
if necessary (it may well crash on its own), and try
"startx --probeonly" (as root), which should give you
detailed diagnostic information. 

The script "Xconfigurator" (which must be run as root;
also, note case!) will help you set up your XF86config
file. ("xf86config" is an alternative, but I believe
is being phased out...)

These steps may or may not resolve your problems, but
at this stage there are several contingencies,
depending on what you learn from probing your video
hardware. Please feel free to send email if you have
problems, or if any of this isn't clear. (I should
also give the standard caution that setting your hsync
rate incorrectly can *permanently* damage your video
card and/or monitor, so exercise caution when fiddling
with settings in XF86config. DO NOT set your hsync
randomly; consult your monitor manual.)

Good luck!

adh

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get Yahoo! Mail  Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/

From adh_math@yahoo.com  Tue Jul 11 11:20:15 2000
Return-Path: <adh_math@yahoo.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id DBAF8E9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 11:20:14 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from web5501.mail.yahoo.com (web5501.mail.yahoo.com [216.115.106.184])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id 8A5858028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 11:20:13 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <20000711181910.10392.qmail@web5501.mail.yahoo.com>
Received: from [64.250.8.159] by web5501.mail.yahoo.com; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 11:19:10 PDT
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 11:19:10 -0700 (PDT)
From: adh math <adh_math@yahoo.com>
Subject: fsck
To: igsys@telcel.net.ve, gazette@ssc.com
Cc: adh_math@yahoo.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Status: RO
Content-Length: 1305
Lines: 37

Dear Mr. Gauthier,

When you run fsck (or e2fsck) on a filesystem, it is
*very important* that the filesystem be mounted
read-only; otherwise fsck will do further (possibly
severe) damage to the filesystem being checked.

As you may know, Linux stores data in RAM buffers, so
when there's a sudden power-out, a lot of data about
the running system is lost. However, unless the power
goes out while you're booting, I don't think you
should lose configuration files like inetd.conf.
That's what makes me suspect that fsck was run on a
read-write filesystem. 

Recent kernels (2.2.14 or later, say) are better about
syncing RAM buffers to the disk every minute or so (so
less data is lost in a crash), and ext3 (the new
filesystem type) handles crashes better than ext2 (in
theory:)

About desktop applications, KDE allows you to add
executable icons on your desktop; right click on the
desktop and select "New Application" in the dialogue
box that pops up, then fill in information as
directed. You should have a couple of clock programs,
such as "xclock", "oclock", perhaps even "daliclock"
(perhaps this is a GNOME program...?).

Hope that's helpful.

adh

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get Yahoo! Mail  Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/

From adh_math@yahoo.com  Tue Jul 11 11:47:43 2000
Return-Path: <adh_math@yahoo.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 77510E9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 11:47:43 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from web5505.mail.yahoo.com (web5505.mail.yahoo.com [216.115.106.188])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id 0B1158028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 11:47:12 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <20000711184629.22708.qmail@web5505.mail.yahoo.com>
Received: from [64.250.8.89] by web5505.mail.yahoo.com; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 11:46:29 PDT
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 11:46:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: adh math <adh_math@yahoo.com>
Subject: Port forwarding
To: unitedusers@yahoo.com, gazette@ssc.com
Cc: adh_math@yahoo.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Status: RO
Content-Length: 1631
Lines: 46

Dear Mr. Adams,

Regarding your June 15 post at Linux Gazette, you
might swing the desired arrangement with port
forwarding on the proxy server (ipportfw, one of the
IP masquerading utilities), but it may not be easy
(read: impossible if you don't have root access on the
proxy, merely difficult otherwise). I'm pretty sure
it's impossible if the proxy is also accepting HTTP
connections on port 80, since you can't (to my
knowledge) run two services on the same port.

Even if the technicalities can be overcome, there are
good reasons not to allow telnet connections through
your proxy firewall's www port:

1. Your employer is presumably monitoring all network
activity, and may not appreciate having the firewall
breached (or circumvented, if you prefer).
2. It makes the firewall and the network behind it
more vulnerable to attack (because it complicates the
routing rulesets, opens another port/service, etc,
etc).
3. Telnet sends clear text passwords, and should not
be used for any reason over a non-private network; ssh
(secure shell) is a no-cost, open source, encrypted
replacement, and is very easy to compile and install
(again, if you have root access).

(That's just off the top of my head...I'm confident
there are other good reasons:)

Well, not to lecture, but it sounds like a bad idea to
me. More positively, I think you'd do better to
convince your employer to run an SSH server inside the
firewall, and/or to allow outgoing SSH connections.

Sincerely,

adh


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get Yahoo! Mail  Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/

From srinivasa_sa@yahoo.com  Tue Jul 11 13:28:59 2000
Return-Path: <srinivasa_sa@yahoo.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 66B5AE9883
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 13:28:59 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from web221.mail.yahoo.com (web221.mail.yahoo.com [128.11.68.121])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id CB1A88028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 13:28:57 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <20000711202852.14684.rocketmail@web221.mail.yahoo.com>
Received: from [192.11.223.102] by web221.mail.yahoo.com; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 13:28:52 PDT
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 13:28:52 -0700 (PDT)
From: Srinivasa Shikaripura <srinivasa_sa@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: sas@lucent.com
Subject: Re: The answers guy - File formats!!!
To: paul_nettleship@yahoo.co.uk
Cc: gazette@ssc.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Status: RO
Content-Length: 1658
Lines: 54

hi,

There are definitely well defined file formats.
If you are looking for Windows/Dos, the file formats
are .COM and .EXE. To get to know about these formats
refer to any standard assmbly language book, like
"Introduction to assmbley languge" (not sure about the title)
by Peter Norton and Socha. 

In *nix world there are two famous execution file
formats(AFAIK), 
"a.out" and "elf (Executable and Linking Format)".
"a.out" is a little old standard and Linux came out of that
format sometime back. elf is a old but very generic and good
one.

There is a standards document somewhere which defines the 
format of  an elf file. Even you could try 'man elf' and 
it could tell you something. 

In short, elf file contains a number of sections, 
one for each of constant-data, un-initialized data, 
executable code, startup-code and debug-info tables.

May be if you look at programs like objdump or elf library
(libelf.o) related header files, you would get interesting
things.

Hope that helps a little.

cheers
-Sas


---- Your original mail --
Hello,

I was just having a quick look through your magazine and the
'answers guy' sections really intrested me,
and prompted this question....
So, I've always wondered about file formats for exe and obj
files. I guess there is all sorts of
intresting data hiding away in there. Symbol tables, mark up
info and god knows what else.
Is there some standard for these! Or is it completely compiler
dependant?

Just out of interest, Paul.
-- Your original mail ----

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get Yahoo! Mail  Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/

From srinivasa_sa@yahoo.com  Tue Jul 11 13:43:09 2000
Return-Path: <srinivasa_sa@yahoo.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1449DE9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 13:43:09 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from web218.mail.yahoo.com (web218.mail.yahoo.com [128.11.68.118])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id 725288028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 13:43:07 -0700 (PDT)
Received: (qmail 5484 invoked by uid 60001); 11 Jul 2000 20:41:48 -0000
Message-ID: <20000711204148.5483.qmail@web218.mail.yahoo.com>
Received: from [192.11.223.102] by web218.mail.yahoo.com; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 13:41:48 PDT
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 13:41:48 -0700 (PDT)
From: Srinivasa Shikaripura <srinivasa_sa@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: sas@lucent.com
Subject: Re: Grep
To: Angus.Walton@eei.ericsson.se
Cc: gazette@ssc.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Status: RO
Content-Length: 1597
Lines: 53

hi,

Things you could try are:

1. Try 'finger -s| grep "^potato"', which greps all the user 
   names starting with potato.
   
2. You could use 'awk' to do whatever you want to (currently
   I am not in a mood to dig an awk script, it's been long!)

3. Also look into 'cut' command where you can cut fields
   of a multi-column line, which also could be used
   to do some tricky things.

As a advice, learn about regular expressions in *nix. The
first solution above, used the '^' symbol to indicate to
grep to get the lines starting with potato. You could do
many such things with regular expressions...

Hope that helps.

cheers
-Sas


---- You wrote --
Mon, 19 Jun 2000 11:16:34 +0200
From: "Angus Walton (EEI)" <Angus.Walton@eei.ericsson.se>
Subject: Grep

Hi,
I'm quite new to Linux, but I want to learn as much as possible.
Here's my question (not really a problem, it
would just be interesting to find out how to do this):
Lets say I do a 'finger' and heaps of users are spewed up onto
the screen. I only want to see the users which
are preceeded with the text 'potatoe'. So, I do the command
'finger | grep "potatoe" ' .But, some users, for
example tomatoe_man, are connected to the computer
'potatoe.shellaccount.mycomputer.com', which
means that they come up
aswell. Without making finger not display the 'Where' column,
how would I weed out these users?

Keep up the good work on the gazette. 

Aengus Walton
-- End of you wrote ----

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get Yahoo! Mail  Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/

From srinivasa_sa@yahoo.com  Tue Jul 11 13:51:23 2000
Return-Path: <srinivasa_sa@yahoo.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id B233FE9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 13:51:23 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from web213.mail.yahoo.com (web213.mail.yahoo.com [128.11.68.113])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id 2407E8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 13:51:22 -0700 (PDT)
Received: (qmail 13522 invoked by uid 60001); 11 Jul 2000 20:50:12 -0000
Message-ID: <20000711205012.13521.qmail@web213.mail.yahoo.com>
Received: from [192.11.223.102] by web213.mail.yahoo.com; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 13:50:12 PDT
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 13:50:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: Srinivasa Shikaripura <srinivasa_sa@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: sas@lucent.com
Subject: Re: Port 80 Telnet
To: unitedusers@yahoo.com
Cc: gazette@ssc.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Status: RO
X-Status: A
Content-Length: 987
Lines: 38

hi,

If I understand your problem, "you want to telnet to your
personal machine which is behind a http proxy, from outside
the proxy network".

My quick answer would be it is not possible.

If you are behind a http proxy, then you can't connet
to your machine using telnet from outside.
Since proxy talks only in HTTP protocol, your telnet clint
from outside wouldn't be able to talk to your machine through
it.


Coming to other part of the question on how to make the telnetd
accept telnet connections on port 80, you may need to modify
your '/etc/services' and /etc/inded.conf'.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
-Sas
----Your quick question was--
Hello,
Quick question.
I want to change my port to accept telnet connections to port
80. This enables me to connect from behind
my proxy at work. How do I do this?
Thanks,

Nick Adams
--End----

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get Yahoo! Mail  Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/

From srinivasa_sa@yahoo.com  Tue Jul 11 14:11:51 2000
Return-Path: <srinivasa_sa@yahoo.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9FB33E9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 14:11:51 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from web217.mail.yahoo.com (web217.mail.yahoo.com [128.11.68.117])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id EA01D8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 14:11:09 -0700 (PDT)
Received: (qmail 7067 invoked by uid 60001); 11 Jul 2000 21:09:50 -0000
Message-ID: <20000711210950.7066.qmail@web217.mail.yahoo.com>
Received: from [192.11.223.102] by web217.mail.yahoo.com; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 14:09:50 PDT
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 14:09:50 -0700 (PDT)
From: Srinivasa Shikaripura <srinivasa_sa@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: sas@lucent.com
Subject: Re: linux mail server to an MS Exchange?
To: crancapero@nationalsecurities.com
Cc: gazette@ssc.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Status: RO
Content-Length: 1590
Lines: 47

Advantages of moving from Linux mail server to MS Exchange:

1. Improves MS revenue, there by improving its financial status
   (very crucial after the DOJ battle)

2. When ever there is a "Mellissa" or "I LOVE YOU" virus,
   MS Exchange get clogged for 3 days and you could enjoy      
vacations, long weekends, frequently. (Anyway there will be
   MS to show finger at!)

3. You could have the pleasure of raising invoices for
   Pentium IV (V, VI, which ever is latest), 1 GB main memory,
   Windows 2000 systems and I tell you it is a good 
   administrative experience...:-)))

Dis-advantages of not moving to MS Exchange:

1. I have been on Netscape, IMAP, *nix mail for 2 years in my
   company and have accessed it from all sorts of environments
   and locations (dial-up, international) and had no problem
   with it. Bad luck, I couldn't tell my manager why I couldn't
   complete my assignments (only if it were to be MS Exchange!)

[Disclaimer: No hard feeling please. It is not a flaim bait.
             Just my experience with *nix mail 
             and my colleguages experience with MS Exchange]

cheers
-Sas


----You scrobe--
Tue, 6 Jun 2000 10:46:13 -0700
From: "Christine Rancapero" <crancapero@nationalsecurities.com>
Subject: hi

Do you have an issue regarding the advantages and disadvantages
of migrating linux mail server to an MS
exchange? Your help is gratefully appreciated....thank you very
much =)

--End----

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get Yahoo! Mail  Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/

From sas@lucent.com  Tue Jul 11 15:19:06 2000
Return-Path: <sas@lucent.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 67A13E9881
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 15:19:06 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from crufty.research.bell-labs.com (crufty.research.bell-labs.com [204.178.16.49])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id 221978028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 15:19:03 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from scummy.research.bell-labs.com ([135.104.2.10]) by crufty; Tue Jul 11 18:16:31 EDT 2000
Received: from silicon.div111.bell-labs.com ([135.3.80.5]) by scummy; Tue Jul 11 18:16:31 EDT 2000
Received: from lucent.com by silicon.div111.bell-labs.com (8.9.3/TK011700)
	id SAA14408; Tue, 11 Jul 2000 18:16:30 -0400 (EDT)
Message-ID: <396B9CA0.84961774@lucent.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 18:16:00 -0400
From: "Srinivasa A. Shikaripura" <sas@lucent.com>
Organization: Lucent Technologies
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (WinNT; U)
X-Accept-Language: en
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: gazette@ssc.com
Subject: Re: Port 80 Telnet
References: <20000711205012.13521.qmail@web213.mail.yahoo.com> <20000711140547.H871@ssc.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Status: RO
Content-Length: 2241
Lines: 73


Thanks for the info.

I agree with you that with custorm programs to handle Telnet proxy
we could telnet over proxy. But with a standard apache/Netscape/IIS
proxy web server it is not possible. Also, the proxy admin needs to 
install and enable corresponding telnet port to outside world, which
may be risky.

Here is one server which does telnet proxy:
http://www.nabe-intl.co.jp/faqs/telfaqs.html#tel001

Just FYI.

-Sas

Linux Gazette wrote:
> 
> There exist telnet-via-web applications, but they have to be installed
> on the host (i.e., proxy) machine.  I've never used them, so I don't
> know anything more about them.
> 
>   ______________________ _________________________________________
>    Mike Orr, webmaster  |   Editor of the _Linux Gazette_
>      gazette@ssc.com    |   SSC, publishers of Linux Journal
>   ---------------------- -----------------------------------------
> 
> On Tue, Jul 11, 2000 at 01:50:12PM -0700, Srinivasa Shikaripura wrote:
> > hi,
> >
> > If I understand your problem, "you want to telnet to your
> > personal machine which is behind a http proxy, from outside
> > the proxy network".
> >
> > My quick answer would be it is not possible.
> >
> > If you are behind a http proxy, then you can't connet
> > to your machine using telnet from outside.
> > Since proxy talks only in HTTP protocol, your telnet clint
> > from outside wouldn't be able to talk to your machine through
> > it.
> >
> >
> > Coming to other part of the question on how to make the telnetd
> > accept telnet connections on port 80, you may need to modify
> > your '/etc/services' and /etc/inded.conf'.
> >
> > Hope that helps.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > -Sas
> > ----Your quick question was--
> > Hello,
> > Quick question.
> > I want to change my port to accept telnet connections to port
> > 80. This enables me to connect from behind
> > my proxy at work. How do I do this?
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Nick Adams
> > --End----
> >
> > __________________________________________________
> > Do You Yahoo!?
> > Get Yahoo! Mail ? Free email you can access from anywhere!
> > http://mail.yahoo.com/
> 
> --
> -Mike

-- 
Srinivasa Shikaripura                http://thehungersite.com
Tel: +908-582-6595(O)   +908-464-3757(R)    Fax: 908-582-5180

From andcorp@softhome.net  Thu Jul 13 07:46:00 2000
Return-Path: <andcorp@softhome.net>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4D38DE986A
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Thu, 13 Jul 2000 07:46:00 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from tango.SoftHome.net (tango.SoftHome.net [204.144.231.49])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id 7C6DE8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Thu, 13 Jul 2000 07:45:57 -0700 (PDT)
Received: (qmail 1839 invoked by uid 417); 13 Jul 2000 14:51:20 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO andrew) (202.92.82.79)
  by smtpb.softhome.net with SMTP; 13 Jul 2000 14:51:20 -0000
Message-ID: <000a01bfecd9$16caa1a0$0200a8c0@andrew>
From: "Andrew Nye" <andcorp@softhome.net>
To: <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: i740 - OpenGL?? Possible ?
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 00:28:40 +1000
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
	boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0005_01BFED2A.75C33540"
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200
Status: RO
Content-Length: 2384
Lines: 65

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------=_NextPart_000_0005_01BFED2A.75C33540
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Gidday after readin your colum and coming across your previous post in =
regards to the i740 i was wondering to what extent does linux have 3d =
support. I have heard rumors in regards to later kernels supporting =
other 3d features.=20

To be more to the point to what extent am i likely to get linux running =
3d progams on my i740? and if it is possible how whould I be likly to do =
this ... as you can tell Im very new to linux and have so far been =
astounded by it... a truly wonderfull os for the peoples .. i hope that =
some day gnome etc will come with afeature set for the truly dumb user =
(with out loosing the advanced userset!) so we can kick microsoft off =
its high chair.=20

anyway thank you for your time.

Andrew Nye=20

------=_NextPart_000_0005_01BFED2A.75C33540
Content-Type: text/html;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" =
http-equiv=3DContent-Type>
<META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2614.3500" name=3DGENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Gidday after readin your colum and =
coming across=20
your previous post in regards to the i740 i was wondering to what extent =
does=20
linux have 3d support. I have heard rumors in regards to later kernels=20
supporting other 3d features. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>To be more to the point to what extent =
am i likely=20
to get linux running 3d progams on my i740? and if it is possible how =
whould I=20
be likly to do this ... as you can tell Im very new to linux and have so =
far=20
been astounded by it... a truly wonderfull os for the peoples .. i hope =
that=20
some day gnome etc will come with afeature set for the truly dumb user =
(with out=20
loosing the advanced userset!) so we can kick microsoft off its high =
chair.=20
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>anyway thank you for your =
time.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Andrew Nye </FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>

------=_NextPart_000_0005_01BFED2A.75C33540--


From philc@writeme.com  Fri Jul 14 16:23:01 2000
Return-Path: <philc@writeme.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 010B8E986C
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Fri, 14 Jul 2000 16:23:00 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from postfix2.free.fr (postfix2.free.fr [212.27.32.74])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8AAFD8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Fri, 14 Jul 2000 16:22:59 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from writeme.com (toulouse-2-7-234.dial.proxad.net [213.228.7.234])
	by postfix2.free.fr (Postfix) with ESMTP id ABB7C74050
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat, 15 Jul 2000 01:22:56 +0200 (MEST)
Message-ID: <396F9F53.4A82926A@writeme.com>
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 01:16:36 +0200
From: "Philippe.COVAL" <philc@writeme.com>
Organization: http://rzr.online.fr
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.73 [en] (Win98; I)
X-Accept-Language: en
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: "gazette@ssc.com" <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: question : Java 2 on Linux Debian 2.1
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Status: RO
Content-Length: 596
Lines: 21

Hi,

I was wondering if it is possible to run the JDK
on the basic linux debian 2.1 (potatoo)

blackdown said that their port was on a popato distro
but w/ glibc2.1 while potatos one is 2.0

If there is solution i wonder which one ?
thank you

--
_____________________________________________________________________
#if ( Philippe.COVAL http://RzR.online.FR MailTo:philc@writeme.com )
#include "/dev/quote"    /* This line is intentionnaly left blank */
#endif_______________________________________________________________

[ Get paid while you're surfing : http://rzr.online.fr/money.htm ]




From dermot@glade.perl.connectfree.co.uk  Sat Jul 15 14:41:42 2000
Return-Path: <dermot@glade.perl.connectfree.co.uk>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id CC425E986C
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat, 15 Jul 2000 14:41:42 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from radius.connectfree.net (ns1.connectfree.co.uk [212.1.130.32])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id B36428028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat, 15 Jul 2000 14:41:40 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from higrade.botwrights.farm (ppp-1-174.cvx6.telinco.net [212.1.156.174])
	by radius.connectfree.net (8.9.1/8.9.0) with ESMTP id XAA15906;
	Sat, 15 Jul 2000 23:21:45 +0100
Received: from glade.perl.connectfree.co.uk (IDENT:dermot@localhost [127.0.0.1])
	by higrade.botwrights.farm (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id WAA01536;
	Sat, 15 Jul 2000 22:41:29 +0100
Sender: dermot@glade.perl.connectfree.co.uk
Message-ID: <39708E07.EBE0722E@glade.perl.connectfree.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 17:15:03 +0100
From: Dermot Musgrove <dermot@glade.perl.connectfree.co.uk>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.61 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.2.12-10 i586)
X-Accept-Language: en-GB, en
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: jdahlgren@netreach.net, gazette@ssc.com
Subject: Re: modprobe: can't locate module ppp-compress-21
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Status: RO
Content-Length: 219
Lines: 11

Hi,

I have the following lines in my config file /etc/conf.modules to
supply aliases for these modules:

alias ppp-compress-21 bsd_comp
alias ppp-compress-24 ppp_deflate
alias ppp-compress-26 ppp_deflate

HTH, Dermot


From santoshpasi@hotmail.com  Sat Jul 15 05:25:43 2000
Return-Path: <santoshpasi@hotmail.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4D395E986C
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat, 15 Jul 2000 05:25:43 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from hotmail.com (oe16.law9.hotmail.com [64.4.8.120])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id 61C5D8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat, 15 Jul 2000 05:25:40 -0700 (PDT)
Received: (qmail 26637 invoked by uid 65534); 15 Jul 2000 12:25:41 -0000
Message-ID: <20000715122541.26636.qmail@hotmail.com>
X-Originating-IP: [202.9.139.253]
From: "S. K. Pasi" <santoshpasi@hotmail.com>
To: <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: TV-out Support
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 18:14:40 -0000
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
	boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0006_01BFEE88.8B624760"
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300
Status: RO
Content-Length: 2894
Lines: 90

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------=_NextPart_000_0006_01BFEE88.8B624760
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Dear Sir,
 =20
I have Asus AGP TNT34000 display card with TV out/in support.
It works absolutely fine in Win9x.

It also works fine in X-windows.  But I am unable to get  TV-out support =
in Linux.


Finally I have change the display card to SiS 6326 (with has direct =
output feature to tv).

I am able to get the command line output to TV.  But when I try to run =
X-Windows,
I am  unable to see any thing.=20

There can be some errors in XF86Config file regarding PAL/NTSC =
resolution and frequency settings.

Can anyone point me to some web-sites (or documentations) for TV-out =
support or software.

Can you suggest some other cards, which can give tv-out support. I am =
using 21" Color AIWA TV.
=20
I would like to see some articles on Tv-in/out(Video in/out) support.

Regards
Santosh Kumar Pasi


------=_NextPart_000_0006_01BFEE88.8B624760
Content-Type: text/html;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" =
http-equiv=3DContent-Type>
<META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2314.1000" name=3DGENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>Dear Sir,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT>&nbsp;&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>I have Asus AGP TNT34000 display card with TV out/in =

support.<BR>It works absolutely fine in Win9x.<BR><BR>It also works fine =
in=20
X-windows.&nbsp; But I am unable to get&nbsp; TV-out support in=20
Linux.<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>Finally I have change the display card to SiS 6326 =
(with has=20
direct output feature to tv).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>I am able to get the command line output to =
TV.&nbsp; But when=20
I try to run X-Windows,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>I am&nbsp; unable to see any thing. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>There can be some errors in XF86Config file regarding PAL/NTSC =
resolution=20
and frequency settings.</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>Can anyone&nbsp;point me to some web-sites (or =
documentations)=20
for TV-out support or software.<BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>Can you suggest some other cards, which can give =
tv-out=20
support. I am using 21" Color AIWA TV.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>I would like to see some articles on Tv-in/out(Video =

in/out)&nbsp;support.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>Regards<BR>Santosh Kumar=20
Pasi<BR></DIV></FONT></FONT></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>

------=_NextPart_000_0006_01BFEE88.8B624760--

From MiltM@wp.state.ks.us  Sat Jul 15 14:06:19 2000
Return-Path: <MiltM@wp.state.ks.us>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 376F8E986C
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat, 15 Jul 2000 14:06:19 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from NTSERVER1.WP.STATE.KS.US (unknown [165.201.19.4])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 172F18028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat, 15 Jul 2000 14:06:17 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from MILTM ([165.201.19.123]) by NTSERVER1.WP.STATE.KS.US with SMTP (Microsoft Exchange Internet Mail Service Version 5.5.2650.21)
	id 3TNHVYQV; Sat, 15 Jul 2000 16:06:33 -0500
Message-ID: <000e01bfeea0$4b4d5300$7b13c9a5@MiltM.wp.state.ks.us>
From: "Milt Martin" <MiltM@wp.state.ks.us>
To: <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: Article On OOP/C++
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 16:04:24 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3612.1700
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3612.1700
Status: RO
Content-Length: 95
Lines: 3

What about taking oop/c++ article and rewrite using Python or Java as a
comparison... Thanks.


From jventer@writeme.com  Sun Jul 16 00:36:24 2000
Return-Path: <jventer@writeme.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 46413E986C
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun, 16 Jul 2000 00:36:24 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from hub.dataline.net.au (hub.dataline.net.au [203.37.234.6])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id E2D5F8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun, 16 Jul 2000 00:36:19 -0700 (PDT)
Received: (qmail 4742 invoked from network); 16 Jul 2000 17:38:38 +1000
Received: from db-port013.dataline.net.au (HELO sphinx) (203.46.51.213)
  by hub.dataline.net.au with SMTP; 16 Jul 2000 17:38:38 +1000
Message-ID: <001501bfeef8$eb53c8e0$35646464@sphinx>
From: "Johan Venter" <jventer@writeme.com>
To: <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: A couple questions
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 17:39:03 +1000
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2919.6600
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600
Status: RO
Content-Length: 737
Lines: 21

Hi,

I'm a newbie Linux user, and I just have a couple questions about my newly
installed RedHat 6.0 system.

1. I'm trying to figure out how to run KDE from the console. Running startx
brings up either GNOME, Afterstep or FVWM and I can't switch to KDE from any
of those. I don't want to use GDM, and I found a script called 'kde' on my
system, which of course doesn't work because the X server is not up. I found
that 'X' was a symbolic link to my installed X server, and that brings up
the familiar gray background and mouse cursor. I tried just switching to a
console and running 'kde' again, hoping it would find the X server I just
started.

2. What the heck is the devpts entry in my /etc/fstab file????

Thanks,

Johan Venter.



From juvekars@vsnl.net  Sun Jul 16 08:29:29 2000
Return-Path: <juvekars@vsnl.net>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 69335E986C
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun, 16 Jul 2000 08:29:29 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from smtp01.vsnl.net (smtp01.vsnl.net [203.197.12.7])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 372608028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun, 16 Jul 2000 08:29:22 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from shashijvsnl.net.vsnl.net.in (UNKNOWN
          [203.197.76.21]) by smtp01.vsnl.net (Netscape Messaging Server
          4.1) with SMTP id FXSR0500.MFQ for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun, 16
          Jul 2000 20:58:53 +0530 
Message-ID: <000801bfef3b$3a94c340$154cc5cb@net.vsnl.net.in>
From: "Shashikant A Juvekar" <juvekars@vsnl.net>
To: <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: ppplogin reqd
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 21:03:42 +0530
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
	boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0005_01BFEF69.526F65A0"
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2014.211
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2014.211
Status: RO
Content-Length: 1000
Lines: 32

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------=_NextPart_000_0005_01BFEF69.526F65A0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

please send me ppplogin script for linux 6.0 version of redhat at=20
nirusj@eudoramail.com if possible

------=_NextPart_000_0005_01BFEF69.526F65A0
Content-Type: text/html;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" =
http-equiv=3DContent-Type>
<META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2014.210" name=3DGENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>please send me ppplogin script for =
linux 6.0=20
version of redhat at </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2><A=20
href=3D"mailto:nirusj@eudoramail.com">nirusj@eudoramail.com</A>&nbsp;if=20
possible</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>

------=_NextPart_000_0005_01BFEF69.526F65A0--


From tonymec@belgacom.net  Sun Jul 16 21:07:45 2000
Return-Path: <tonymec@belgacom.net>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0325FE9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun, 16 Jul 2000 21:07:45 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from trinity.skynet.be (trinity.skynet.be [195.238.2.38])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 857FC8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun, 16 Jul 2000 21:07:42 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from tonymec (unknown [62.4.193.11])
	by trinity.skynet.be (Postfix) with SMTP id EC4E31815E
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon, 17 Jul 2000 06:07:41 +0200 (MET DST)
Message-ID: <000901bfefa4$cd515e00$0bc1043e@tonymec>
From: "Mechelynck Antoine" <tonymec@belgacom.net>
To: <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: Addendum to Tech FAQ 4 ("Where do I find help")
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 06:09:27 +0200
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4133.2400
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400
Status: RO
Content-Length: 581
Lines: 9

If you prefer reading HTML to plain text, the KDE help system (program
kdehelp) provides a nice interface to man pages (But of course it's supposed
to be used under the kdm display manager, not on a "dumb" console.) Either
type "man:<command>" (without the quotes and <>) into the URL line, or go
through the main menu. It also provides an interface to the other help
system (info pages) but less nicely formatted (you can type "info:<command>
invocation" into the URL line but in this case I think it's easier to
navigate the menu system). :-) (s) tonymec@belgacom.net (Belgium)


From jimd@mars.starshine.org  Mon Jul 17 01:13:42 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@mars.starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 82383E9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon, 17 Jul 2000 01:13:42 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (209-128-93-020.bayarea.net [209.128.93.20])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 961688028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon, 17 Jul 2000 01:13:39 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id AAA06496;
	Mon, 17 Jul 2000 00:14:32 -0700
Message-Id: <200007170714.AAA06496@mars.starshine.org>
To: fuchangdong@sohu.com
Cc: almesber@lrc.epfl.ch, The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>,
	star@starshine.org
From: Jim Dennis <jimd@linuxcare.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: 
In-Reply-to: <f9e001bfa417$85f719b0$2fb96aca@sohu.com> 
	Message Apparently From <fuchangdong@sohu.com> 
	Dated Wed, 12 Apr 2000 08:39:12 +0800.
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 00:14:32 -0700
Sender: jimd@mars.starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 6565
Lines: 176


Binfmt/Exec Format Errors in /linuxrc on initrd
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> [1  <text/plain; us-ascii (base64)>]

> please give me some help,i didn't know how to explain at my
> implementing embeded os.  fuchangdong

 You're trying to use Linux for an embedded system?

> http://www.sohu.com/sas/temp/twoyear/2year.html
> http://www.sohu.com

> hi :

> i now have a question,please give me help, i use initrd and
> ramdisk to complete embedded linux on my hardware.
> first ,i create a initrd.img from command mkinitrd.and a bigger
> root fs:ram.img.gz ,to lilo it,and reboot it

 You're using the Linux initrd (initial RAM disk) feature.
 You use the mkinitrd command to create your RAM disk image
 install that and your kernel onto the target hardware (which 
 I presume is x86 because...) you then run /sbin/lilo on that
 and try to boot it.
 
> at init process,do_basic_setup,this line :
>   kernel_thread(do_linuxrc,"/linuxrc",0);
> at this function: do_linuxrc()
>   execve(shell,argv,envp_init);
> it return -1 ,and errno is 8,this tell that it is "exec format error"
 
> so i can't to exec linuxrc script file.

 According to the kernel sources it is calling the 
 kernel_thread(do_linuxrc,...) function and the do_linuxrc
 function returns  a failure on the execve(), with the errno
 global set to 8, which translates to "exec format error" 
 according to the strerror()/perror() function.
 
> linuxrc's content is :
>    #!/bin/sh
>    ls -l
> and chmod 0777 linuxrc

 The /linuxrc is a trivial (test) shell script.  You've tried
 marking that as executable with the chmod 0777 command.
 
> so i can't know what wrong with me? why initrd.img cant't be load right?
> but i find :
>   ret = open("/linuxrc",O_RDONLY,0);
>  ret = success.

 If you (patch the kernel?) to simply open the file you 
 don't see any error.
 
> and infomation have :
>  mount root filesystem (ext2);

 You think you have an ext2 filesystem mounted on root at
 this point?  (It's not clear how you are getting this
 info).
 
> so i can't get reason ,please give me help?
> linux is redhat 6.2
> linux kernel is 2.2.12-20
 
 The development environment is a Red Hat 6.2 system and you're
 using a 2.2.12-20 kernel.
 
> after, i test this ,give me these information:
> i add modprobe/insmod command in initrd.img, reboot it,
> this system give me information:
> " kmod:failed to load /sbin/modprobe -s -k binfmt-0000"

 When you try to run a modprobe command in the initrd.img
 you get a kmod binfmt error.
 
> execve() call do_execve(),do_execve() call request_mode()
> ,request_mod() call exec_modprobe(),so it's path is right.
> but i can see this inforamtion ,at boot ,system load script
> ,aout,elf binfmt.  so i can't know greater!!!  please give me help
> !!!

 This last bit of typing is utter gibberish.  Actually your
 whole message is basically incomprehensible.  However, I've 
 echoed a guess after each fragment of what you've said to see
 if I could understand the question.

 It sounds to me like you are somehow missing some of the necessary
 binfmt loaders from your kernel.  Now there are a couple of options
 in the 'make config' scripts that allow you to enable or disable
 a couple of different types of executable (binfmt) loaders.  You
 generally need at least one of them compiled directly into the
 kernel (so that it can execute a linuxrc and/or an init(8)
 process).

 I don't think it's possible to build a kernel without statically
 linking one of a.out (COFF) or ELF.  If 'make menuconfig' somehow
 let you pull that off, it's a bug in the Makefiles and
 dependencies.  

 You need one of those.

 In addition I've never seen an option to leave out the text/script 
 binfmt loader.  That is the loader that handles text files and
 uses the #!/.../ line to execute most scripts.

 However, it would seem that you have somehow managed to do this.
 I could see it if you had been applying your own patches to the
 kernel code, or if you were hand editing or bypassing the Makefiles
 with some of your own.

 I suppose English is not your native language (given the 
 distressing incompetance of your message).  I supposed you should
 look for a (Chinese?) users group, newsgroup, mailing  list or
 other forum where you can have someone translate your question into
 English.

 Other than that try recompiling your kernel and ensuring that 
 the ELF executable support (under "General Setup") is set to
 "Y" (NOT "M" and definitely NOT "N").

 To quote the help text that is associated with that menu
 config option:

	``
	Saying M or N here is dangerous because some
	programs on your system might be in ELF format.'
	''
  
 It is highly unlikely that you are somehow managing
 to compile your core shell and other software in a.out 
 format.  That actually might be quite useful for 
 embedded systems work --- but the older format and the
 tools to generate them haven't been used by any general
 purpuse distribution in a few years.  The only remaining
 a.out distribution that I know of is David Parsons' 
 Mastodon (http://www.pell.portland.or.us/~orc/Mastodon/).

 So, I think you can safely leave out the other binfmt loaders.

 BTW:  You also MUST have one of the filesystem types statically
 linked into the kernel.  You can just go through and blindly 
 mark EVERYTHING as modular.  It won't work.  The initial RAMdisk
 will have to be in some filesystem format (minix, ext2, something).
 Of course it would be possible to use the ROMfs.  This is much
 different than initrd --- it's readonly and you have to make the
 filesystem using a genromfs utility AND you'd have to link your
 ROMFS into your kernel.  I don't know of anyone that actually uses
 ROMFS.

 Anyway, I suspect that the reason your shell script isn't 
 working is that the kernel can't load the shell interpreter.
 The reason it can't load the shell interpreter is because your
 shell is probably in ELF (executable linking format) and you 
 left the ELF loader out or put it in as a module.  Of course
 the insmod/modprobe programs are also in ELF format --- and
 the kmod (kernel loader module) requires access to those 
 in order to actually load any modules.   (kmod doesn't
 load modules, it spawns a kernel thread, which runs modprobe
 to do the actual work.  You can read /usr/src/linux/kernel/kmod.c
 to see that.
 
>      my email is fuchangdong@sohu.com


 I hope that helps.

--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com



From jimd@mars.starshine.org  Sun Jul 16 22:17:21 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@mars.starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2F3D4E9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun, 16 Jul 2000 22:17:21 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (209-128-93-020.bayarea.net [209.128.93.20])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 150308028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun, 16 Jul 2000 22:17:17 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id VAA29097;
	Sun, 16 Jul 2000 21:19:07 -0700
Message-Id: <200007170419.VAA29097@mars.starshine.org>
To: sas@lucent.com
Cc: crancapero@nationalsecurities.com,
	The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: The Linux Gazette Answer Guy <tag@ssc.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: linux mail server to an MS Exchange? 
In-Reply-to: <20000711210950.7066.qmail@web217.mail.yahoo.com> 
	Message Apparently From Srinivasa Shikaripura <srinivasa_sa@yahoo.com> 
	Dated Tue, 11 Jul 2000 14:09:50 PDT.
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 21:19:07 -0700
Sender: jimd@mars.starshine.org
Status: RO
X-Status: A
Content-Length: 15593
Lines: 310


Linux vs. MS Exchange for Mail Server
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

``
>> Tue, 6 Jun 2000 10:46:13 -0700
>> From: "Christine Rancapero" <crancapero@nationalsecurities.com>
>> Subject: hi
''
 
>> Do you have an issue regarding the advantages and disadvantages
>> of migrating linux mail server to an MS
>> exchange? Your help is gratefully appreciated....thank you very
>> much =)

> Advantages of moving from Linux mail server to MS Exchange:
 
> 1. Improves MS revenue, there by improving its financial status
>    (very crucial after the DOJ battle)
 
> 2. When ever there is a "Mellissa" or "I LOVE YOU" virus,
>    MS Exchange get clogged for 3 days and you could enjoy      
> vacations, long weekends, frequently. (Anyway there will be
>    MS to show finger at!)
 
> 3. You could have the pleasure of raising invoices for
>    Pentium IV (V, VI, which ever is latest), 1 GB main memory,
>    Windows 2000 systems and I tell you it is a good 
>    administrative experience...:-)))
 
> Dis-advantages of not moving to MS Exchange:
 
> 1. I have been on Netscape, IMAP, *nix mail for 2 years in my
>    company and have accessed it from all sorts of environments
>    and locations (dial-up, international) and had no problem
>    with it. Bad luck, I couldn't tell my manager why I couldn't
>    complete my assignments (only if it were to be MS Exchange!)
 
> [Disclaimer: No hard feeling please. It is not a flaim bait.
>              Just my experience with *nix mail 
>              and my colleguages experience with MS Exchange]
 
> cheers
> -Sas
 
 All humor aside this would not be so much of a "special
 issue" (of LG) as a white paper.  Here are some thoughts:

Linux (and free software) vs. MS NT + MS Exchange for E-mail

 The first observation to make is that we are comparing 
 apples to fish heads.  Linux is an operating system kernel.
 There are many packages that can supply standard mail services
 under Linux.  Basically the UNIX/Linux e-mail model involves
 MTA (mail transport agents), MSA (mail storage/access agents)
 and MUAs (mail user agents). There are also a variety of 
 utilities that don't really quite fit in any of these categories.  

 Under Linux there are several MTAs including sendmail, the 
 most common across most forms of UNIX; and D.J. Bernstein's
 qmail and Wietse Venema's Postfix.  These accept and relay 
 mail.  This sounds quite simple, but in practice it can be 
 quite complex.  There are a number of routing and masquerading
 options that can be set by administrative policy --- and these
 amount to programming languages that filter and modify the 
 headers of each message as it is relayed.  In addition the
 process of routing mail and finding user mail boxes (mail 
 stores) can involve arbitrarily complex interactions with
 various directory services (DNS, passwd files, NIS, LDAP
 alias/dbm files, and all manner of custom databases).  

 These days MTAs also have to implement anti-spam features that
 amount to access control lists and rules about the address formats
 (to and from headers) that are allowed from specific domains and
 address ranges.  (Those generally also involve queries on tables or
 directory services, including those like Paul Vixie's RBL
 (real-time blackhole list: or MAPS, mail abuse prevention system)
 and it's ilk, like Dorkslayer/ORBS.  Recently, MTAs are being
 increasing required to enforce other policies and implement
 anti-virus/anti-worm features.

 The most common cases are easy enough to install and configure.
 However, all that power and flexibility comes at a price.  As your
 organization chooses to tailor its MTA to meet your special
 routing, nomenclature, security and anti-spam requirements you'll
 require more sophisticated configuration options and many of those
 will involve choreographing complex relationships between your MTA
 and various other subsystems (such as any LDAP and DNS servers
 you use).

 Once you've selected, installed and configured an MTA you
 generally will also need to go through the same process for
 an MSA.  Most organizations these days don't deliver mail 
 directly to desktop client systems.  They store the mail 
 on servers and have the users fetch their mail via POP or
 IMAP.  There are various protocols for managing a mail store
 but the only two that really count these days are POP3 and 
 IMAP4 (there are also older versions of each of these 
 protocols, of course).   As with the MTAs there are a number
 of programs (daemons) can can provide each of these services.
 Most MSAs can work with any common MTA.  In addition these 
 systems usually do locking and/or use other mechanisms so that
 multiple MSAs can be concurrently in use without conflict.  

 That means that you can have some users who access their mail 
 via POP, while others use IMAP and others might even log in
 and use a local MUA (such as pine, mutt, or elm).  Individual
 users can swith from what mail access method to another, usually
 without requiring any sysadmin intervention.  Clever users can
 often bypass the normal MSA/MUA tools and use normal UNIX commands
 (like cp, and mv) and FTP or rsync to move their mail around.
 (This is generally too clunky for normal use, but can be quite
 handy when fixing corrupted mailboxes, etc).

 The first time was ever called upon to set up a POP server on 
 an existing general purpose Linux server, I was surprised to 
 find that there was no work required.  A POP daemon had been 
 installed and enabled when I did the initial OS installation;
 I had disabled it (commenting out a line in the /etc/inetd.conf
 file) during my routine system hardening.  So "setting" up the 
 service simply require that I uncomment one line in one file,
 and restart one service/daemon.

 IMAP is similar.  Where POP generally transfers mail to the 
 client system and removes it from the server, IMAP allows one
 to store the mail on server side folder, and the copies on
 client systems are essentially a cache or "working copy" ---
 this usually costs more server storage space, but it allows
 the IT teams to focus on server backup/recovery and allows the
 client systems to be considered more-or-less disposable.  IMAP
 can be used just like POP (where the mail is expunged from the
 server by the clients after delivery).    Operationally, there
 isn't much difference.  Both services are normally started by 
 inetd (the network dispatcher service; Linux's "receptionist"
 if you will).

 A POP or IMAP server can run for years, serving hundreds, even
 thousands of mailboxes and users without ever requiring any special
 attention.  Usually you're users or their e-mail correspondents
 will occasionally do something stupid, or some software they run
 will exhibit some bug that will require the system administrator to
 go in and do some troubleshooting or cleanup.  

 For example, one time I had some complaining that his POP e-mail
 was broken.  I found out that one of his customers had sent him a
 bit of e-mail with a 100Mb file attachment!  (It was a Netware
 crash dump image).  This was bumping into some diskspace and
 speed/capacity limits on the old 32Mb 486 what we were using to
 serve mail to him and the other 50 people in the department.  I
 fixed it in a few minutes with some shell commands, used some
 command line tools to uudecode the attachment back into a file
 which I put in the user's home directory.  I tossed together a
 quick throwaway script to extract the rest of his e-mail by
 building a new mailbox for him.  (mbox files under UNIX are simple
 text files.  qmail mail stores are directories with individual
 small text files, one for each message).  Any competent
 intermediate system administrator could have done the same thing.

 So most of the problems you might encounter with MSAs and MTAs
 can be fixed with text editors and common UNIX filters and 
 utilities.

 There are many MUAs that will work with POP and IMAP servers
 (including Microsoft's Outlook).  Under Linux many people use
 'fetchmail' to fetch their mail to a local mail spool (mailbox).
 Then they can use any MUA (elm, pine, mutt, MH/exmh, EMACS' rmail,
 vmail, mh-e, gnus, and the plethora of GUIs like Balsa, Mahogany,
 etc).  Many other Linux users choose Netscape Communicator's
 built in mail client.

 Under Linux and UNIX there are other tools like procmail, vacation,
 biff, and fetchmail which, as I said before, don't fall into any of
 the three classic categories (MTA, MSA, MUA) that I describe
 earlier.

 procmail is usually used as a "local delivery agent" and as a mail
 processing agent.  It's generally used to filter the part of the
 final delivery of a message to its end recipients.  This allows a
 user to write scripts to automatically refile, reject, respond to,
 forward or otherwise work with selected bits of mail as they are
 received.  (It can also be used to post process mailboxes and as a
 more general e-mail programming language/library).

 (vacation is an old program that can be used to simply provide
 an automated response to e-mail upon reciept.  It was originally 
 used to warn correspondents that the recipient was "on vacation."
 This can be also done with a simple two line procmail recipe).

 biff is a utility to notify a user that mail has arrived.  (There
 are various similar utilities for doing this in GUIs, displaying
 icons, animations, emitting music or vocal announcements, relaying
 biff notifications over a network and using various backend
 MSA protocols, etc).

 This is all in contrast to Microsoft's approach.  With Microsoft
 you are almost forced to use the MS Outlook client, and the MS
 Exchange server.  They referred to that as "integrated."  They 
 also basically require that you use their "Back Office" for
 and "SMS" products for some management features, and their 
 WINS (or the newer ActiveDirectory?) for directory services.

 One of the costs of all this integration is CONTROL.  You must
 set up your network, your routers, and your servers in one of the
 approved Microsoft ways in order for any of to work.  You can't
 have one "farm" (cluster) of servers (say outside your firewall,
 possibly with some geographic dispersion) recieving and relaying
 mail with another cluster of servers (say inside your firewall, at
 specific regional and departmental offices.  You can't make your
 e-mail address names follow one convention (abstraction) such as
 "user_domain@department.yourdomain.com" while the actual underlying 
 routing and storage archictecture follows a different model
 (such as user@region.yourdomain.com).

 The UNIX/Linux model is scalable.  That's proven by the fact that
 it's used by well over 80% of the Internet (obviously the largest
 interconnecting set of computer e-mail networks in history).  

 As usual if the Microsoft package doesn't do what you want you'll
 have to do without.  There is very little option for administrators
 and users to customize the operations. Even if you do try to
 customize your Microsoft installation their internal complexity,
 tight coupling (integration) and overall fragility result in steep
 learning curves, and high risks (the packages you add in are more
 likely to conflict with other, seemingly unrelated, parts of the
 system or with other subsystems).

 Obviously with the Linux tools there are no arbitrary limits placed
 on number of users, number of accounts, number of sent or received
 messages, sizes of messages, etc.  While some specific tools may
 bump into limits, more often the default configuration, or the wise
 administrator, will impose constraints based on their own capacity
 planning needs and their own policies.  (Like when I modified my
 sendmail.cf to set limits after the incident I described above).

 With the Microsoft approach you're required to pay for every user;
 and those costs will probably become ANNUAL expenses (as Microsoft
 foists thier ASP software "subscription" model on their customers).

 In addition, of course, the Microsoft approach emphasizes the
 convenience for their programmers and the needs of their marketing
 people over the security of your users.  That's why we are
 regularly treated to the perrennial debacle of the e-mail macro
 virus epidemics (Melissa, ILOVEU, LoveBug, etc).  These macro
 viruses are basically caused by the very same programming flaws
 that gave us the WinWord and Excel Macro viruses (and they are
 written in basically the same language).  Similar bugs seem to have
 been found in Explorer.

 Microsoft thrives of shallow whizzy "features" and one of the
 easiest way to implement those is through poorly designed obscure
 "dynamic content" hooks which treat "special" data as programs.
 Those are precisely the kinds of "features" that are most
 attractive to cybervandals and most easily exploited.  Once they've
 been put into a system and used by other components on that system
 then they can't be removed or disabled (all in the name of
 backwards compatibility).

 Of course that hallowed "backward compatibility" will only be 
 honored to the degree that suits Microsoft's whims.  They will
 deliberately or neglectfully break their APIs in order to 
 force users and ISVs (independent software developers) to upgrade
 existing products as a requirement to upgrading other (seemingly
 unrelated) subsystems.

 Thus an upgrade to the latest Powerpoint may entail an upgrade
 to the rest of MS Office, which may require upgrades to the OS
 and thus to the mail client (Outlook or Express) and thence 
 possibly right up to the mail server (Exchange) and the server's
 OS (NT to W2K).  Microsoft generally benefits from such domino
 effects; though they do have to exhibit some restraint.  That's
 particularly true since they have enough trouble getting any 
 single product to ship on schedule and they can't try to sync
 them all for really massive coups.

 This is another cost of integration.  The "integrated" systems
 become rigid and hard to maintain, harder to upgrade or enhance,
 impossible to troubleshoot or repair.  

 Open systems are characterized by modularity --- separate
 components interacting through common APIs (sometimes via shared
 libraries), and communicating via published protocols.  Open
 systems generally have multiple combinations of clients and
 servers.   Of course that has its cost.  Some of these components
 will fail to implement their protocols in interoperable ways
 some of the time.   Sometimes this will require revisions to the
 protocols, more often to the components.  Some combinations of 
 components will not work, or will be a bad idea for other reasons. 
 Often the same functions will be implemented at multiple different
 points (duplication of feature sets).

 Overall these systems will be more robust, more resilient, and more
 flexible.  It will be possible for an organization to tailor their
 system to meet their needs.

 Such systems do require skilled, professional administrators (or
 least consultants for the initial deployments, and for follow-up
 support).  However, the "easy to use" MS Windows based systems,
 and even the famed "intuitive" MacOS networks required trained
 professionals for most non-trivial networks.

 Ultimately you should consider the availability of expertise
 in your IT decisions.  Hire people with broad experience and a
 willingness to learn.  Then ask them what systems they prefer
 to manage. 

--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com


From s_sourav@mailcity.com  Wed Jul 19 01:17:49 2000
Return-Path: <s_sourav@mailcity.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 933F7E9877
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed, 19 Jul 2000 01:17:49 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mailcity.com (unknown [209.185.123.96])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id 68F428028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed, 19 Jul 2000 01:17:46 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from Unknown/Local ([?.?.?.?]) by mailcity.com; Wed Jul 19 01:17:38 2000
To: gazette@ssc.com
Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2000 01:17:38 -0700
From: "Sourav Saha" <s_sourav@lycos.com>
Message-ID: <GGADCHGPHJAODAAA@mailcity.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Cc: bruce@debian.org, Alan.Cox@linux.org, linux@linuxnet.org,
	peter@linuxware.com, tad@csh.rit.edu, cshouse@csh.rit.edu,
	brammal@iamerica.net, cpizzi@bigfoot.com,
	glen@silver-182.silverlink.net, michael@actrix.gen.nz,
	editor@cpureview.com, docs@redhat.com
X-Sent-Mail: on
Reply-To: s_sourav@mailcity.com
X-Mailer: MailCity Service
Subject: Linux challenged by NT4.0 -pls. see this mail
X-Sender-Ip: 203.197.118.95
Organization: Lycos Communications  (http://comm.lycos.com:80)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Language: en
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Sender: s_sourav@mailcity.com
Status: RO
Content-Length: 2418
Lines: 25




Dear Sir,
In a debate between Linux and Windows NT 4.0 I am confronted by NT lovers on some OS architectural ground. One of the person argued, putting forward a recent study from PC week (Zdnet.com) which statistically shows, the efficiency of NT4 far above Linux. 
I am trying to summarize his argument against Linux. His argument indicates --
(1) NT 4.0 offers better performance than Linux on a single  processor system and 4-way system (statiscally shown).
(2) IIS 4.0 on NT 4.0 delivers even better performance on a single processor system as well as 4-way system than Linux and Apache (statistically shown).
(3) Using SSL, NT 4.0  with IIS 4.0 provides better performance than Linux and Stronghold. (statistically shown)
(4) Linux supports only 2 GB of RAM in  current x86 architecture compared to 4GB for NT 4.0. Again, there is a limitation of swap file size to 128 MB under Linux.
(5) NT 4.0 supports largest file size of 16 terrabytes compared to 2 GB under Linux.
(5) Linux does not support asychronous I/O, completion ports, and fine-grained kernel locks.
(6) Linux community promising for a major SMP from 1996 but yet to come up with. Kernel 2.2 only provides a early stage of SMP (for Intel and Sun CPUs).
(7) Linux users community loves to talk about Linux as a stable and powerful OS but there is no supportive statistical data from anybody.
(8) Linux lacks Journalizing File System which means in case of power failure there is potentiality of data loss, due to this every time Linux has to check the integrity of the file system at the system startup which can be time consuming in the case of large volumes.
(9) Linux developers community  still does not provided with commercially proven clustering technology as promised.
(10) There are no OEMs that provide  uptime gurantees for Linux unlike NT 4.0 where Compaq, HP, IBM, Data General and Unisys provide 99.9 % system-level uptime gurantee for Nt-based servers.

So, you see, according to modern business and development environment need the arguments put forward are quite serious. Are there any points to argue against it ? If you have some points, will you please send me the information. In case you know any other person or any community on the internet, that can suggest some information, please let me know. 
With regards,
Sourav Saha
Calcutta, India


Get your FREE Email and Voicemail at Lycos Communications - http://comm.lycos.com

From jimd@mars.starshine.org  Wed Jul 19 17:36:47 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@mars.starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 009A0E986A
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed, 19 Jul 2000 17:36:46 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (unknown [167.216.157.202])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 938CA8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed, 19 Jul 2000 17:36:44 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id QAA08445;
	Wed, 19 Jul 2000 16:38:43 -0700
Message-Id: <200007192338.QAA08445@mars.starshine.org>
To: "Joe Kellum" <joshel410@email.msn.com>
Cc: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: The Linux Gazette Answer Gang <tag@ssc.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: 
In-Reply-to: <000801bfef83$928afe00$c18b113f@default> 
	Message Apparently From "Joe Kellum" <joshel410@email.msn.com> 
	Dated Sun, 16 Jul 2000 20:11:24 EDT.
Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2000 16:38:43 -0700
Sender: jimd@mars.starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 744
Lines: 32


Computer Tax Credits
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
> Sir:

> Is there a program or programs that accept computer trade-in for
> tax credit?

> Joe Kellum-NYC
> [2  <text/html; Windows-1252 (quoted-printable)>]

 Probably.

 I did a Google (http://www.google.com) search on the phrase
 "computer donation tax" and got 35,000 hits.  The first
 several appeared relevant.

 However, this has nothing to do with Linux or with the 
 free software movement.  It's also not a technical question.
 Thus you've posted it to the wrong venue.

 Perhaps you should talk to a tax professional.
 

--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com




From merty@xs4all.nl  Thu Jul 20 11:21:20 2000
Return-Path: <merty@xs4all.nl>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3E53EE986A
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Thu, 20 Jul 2000 11:21:20 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from smtp5.xs4all.nl (smtp5.xs4all.nl [194.109.6.49])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id AE5C18028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Thu, 20 Jul 2000 11:21:18 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from xs3.xs4all.nl (merty@xs3.xs4all.nl [194.109.6.44])
	by smtp5.xs4all.nl (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA02339;
	Thu, 20 Jul 2000 20:21:18 +0200 (CEST)
Received: (from merty@localhost)
	by xs3.xs4all.nl (8.9.0/8.9.0) id UAA14696;
	Thu, 20 Jul 2000 20:21:18 +0200 (CEST)
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 20:21:17 +0200
From: Remco Schellekens <merty@xs4all.nl>
To: Angus.Walton@eei.ericsson.se
Cc: gazette@ssc.com
Subject: re: grep
Message-ID: <20000720202117.A14358@xs4all.nl>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
X-Mailer: Mutt 1.0.1i
Status: RO
Content-Length: 629
Lines: 15

Hi,

In answer to your question in the linuxgazette -"Help Wanted", if you haven't receive an answer yet:

you wrote:
> So, I do the command 'finger | grep "potatoe" ' .But, some users, for example tomatoe_man, are connected to the computer 'potatoe.shellaccount.mycomputer.com', which means that they come up aswell.
>Without making finger not display the 'Where' column, how would I weed out these users?

The answer is simple, since mosts greps are able to use regular expressions:
finger | grep '^potatoe'
The only difference is the '^' that will only give the lines that begins with potatoes.

Greetings,

Remco Schellekens

From parshwanath_c@yahoo.com  Fri Jul 21 08:43:21 2000
Return-Path: <parshwanath_c@yahoo.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id F32C5E9874
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Fri, 21 Jul 2000 08:43:20 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from pn2.vsnl.net.in (pn2.vsnl.net.in [202.54.10.17])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id EA2718028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun, 16 Jul 2000 08:23:26 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from ws3 ([203.197.94.56])
	by pn2.vsnl.net.in (8.9.0/8.9.0) with SMTP id VAA07485;
	Fri, 21 Jul 2000 21:11:21 +0530 (IST)
From: parshwanath_c@yahoo.com
Message-ID: <000801bff32c$31d02b60$0200a8c0@ws3>
To: <gazette@ssc.com>
Cc: <satish_online_2000@yahoo.com>
Subject: Please give me term paper for LINUX.
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2000 21:26:04 +0530
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
	boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0005_01BFF35A.46C9CDE0"
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200
Status: RO
Content-Length: 2939
Lines: 69

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------=_NextPart_000_0005_01BFF35A.46C9CDE0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Dear Sir,
             I satish phadke studying IInd year M.C.A .I am interested =
in giving Term-Paper in LINUX.
                      So please give me some infromation on the latest =
topic in LINUX for college level.=20
                                                                         =
        Thanking You,
=20
                                                                         =
       Satish Phadke.
my E-MAIL Add :- satish_online_2000@yahoo.com=20

------=_NextPart_000_0005_01BFF35A.46C9CDE0
Content-Type: text/html;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" =
http-equiv=3DContent-Type>
<META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2614.3500" name=3DGENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Dear Sir,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial=20
size=3D2>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbs=
p;&nbsp;=20
I satish phadke studying IInd year M.C.A .I am interested in giving =
Term-Paper=20
in LINUX.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial=20
size=3D2>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbs=
p;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;=20
So please give me some infromation on the latest topic&nbsp;in LINUX for =
college=20
level. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial=20
size=3D2>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbs=
p;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp=
;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;=
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&=
nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&n=
bsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nb=
sp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;=20
Thanking You,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>&nbsp;</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial=20
size=3D2>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbs=
p;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp=
;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;=
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&=
nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&n=
bsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nb=
sp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;=20
Satish Phadke.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>my E-MAIL&nbsp;Add :-=20
satish_online_2000@yahoo.com</FONT>&nbsp;</DIV></BODY></HTML>

------=_NextPart_000_0005_01BFF35A.46C9CDE0--


From frank@rosef.freeserve.co.uk  Fri Jul 21 15:47:04 2000
Return-Path: <frank@rosef.freeserve.co.uk>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 48AD8E987B
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Fri, 21 Jul 2000 15:47:02 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mail1.svr.pol.co.uk (mail1.svr.pol.co.uk [195.92.193.18])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3DF048033
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun, 16 Jul 2000 15:27:09 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from modem-237.copper.dialup.pol.co.uk ([62.136.28.237] helo=yrjqxhia)
	by mail1.svr.pol.co.uk with smtp (Exim 3.13 #0)
	id 13FlZL-0004tD-00
	for gazette@ssc.com; Fri, 21 Jul 2000 23:47:00 +0100
Reply-To: <frank@rosef.freeserve.co.uk>
From: "Frank Rose" <frank@rosef.freeserve.co.uk>
To: <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: Compiling and Installing from source code
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2000 23:46:38 +0100
Message-ID: <NBBBKBLNEPDOLPKFPGGPEEIHCAAA.frank@rosef.freeserve.co.uk>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0)
Importance: Normal
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600
Status: RO
Content-Length: 612
Lines: 20

Hi ,

	I have just started to try and use Linux and badly need help

Having extracted KDevelop I then, on entering ./configure  get a report that
there is no suitable C++ compiler, or it's not in the #Path..

	I am using Caldera OpenLinux 2.3 and have loaded what "The Complete Idiots
Guide Linux 2nd Edition) calls the standard config.

	Should I expect a c++ compiler to be part of this software ,or do I have to
load a compiler.

	Please, if I have to get a compiler where do you suggest I go for a
download? is there any particular directory I should put it?

Many thanks frank

frank@rosef.freeserve.co.uk


From cronk@erols.com  Sat Jul 22 06:11:52 2000
Return-Path: <cronk@erols.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0B213E986A
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat, 22 Jul 2000 06:11:52 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from smtp02.mrf.mail.rcn.net (smtp02.mrf.mail.rcn.net [207.172.4.61])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id E68158033
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon, 17 Jul 2000 05:51:57 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from 216-164-234-241.s241.tnt2.frd.va.dialup.rcn.com ([216.164.234.241] helo=erols.com)
	by smtp02.mrf.mail.rcn.net with esmtp (Exim 3.15 #2)
	id 13Fz4H-0006Ey-00
	for gazette@ssc.com; Sat, 22 Jul 2000 09:11:50 -0400
Sender: root@passenger.ssc.com
Message-ID: <39799C9D.59A10639@erols.com>
Date: Sat, 22 Jul 2000 09:07:41 -0400
From: Bill <cronk@erols.com>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (X11; I; Linux 2.2.13 i586)
X-Accept-Language: en
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: gazette@ssc.com
Subject: user account kppp/ppp problem
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Status: RO
Content-Length: 1571
Lines: 37

I am running SuSE 6.3 which has been really stable and loads of fun. All
was working great, root account, 3 additional user accounts, added other
software for image processing and some software developement packages.
All was working fine!

Mistake#1: One day I deceided it was time to upgrade the version of
Netscape being used, so I downloaded Netscape 4.73 and intsalled it.

Worked fine under root, internet access worked the same as always.
However, when I went over to my normal user account kppp worked fine,
but upon starting Netscape it would not connect to any web sites. I
tried whet was noted in one of the SuSE knowledge base files of
enterring the actuall address for SuSE and it worked!

Mistake#2: I got tired of messing with it and have since reinstalled the
original package from the SuSE6.3 distrobution. Ooops! That doesn't work
either!!

So... I am trying to come up with a path to go down to resolving this
problem: root account works just fine, user accounts don't work without
direct URL address entry. There is another Linux computer and 2 WinNT4.0
machines networked together. I am running YP and Samba. I have tried
many of the suggestions written up concerning Netscape and Linux, that I
have found on the web.

After fixing this problem, I still want to go back to Netscape 4.73
128bit and I want to additionally continue modify my installation so
that I can access the web from all the computers through the dialup of
the one Linux machine.

Any suggestions other than reinstalling Linux?

Thanks for your help.

Bill

email: cronk@erols.com

From pilolla@gateway.net  Sat Jul 22 16:28:04 2000
Return-Path: <pilolla@gateway.net>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id A605BE986A
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat, 22 Jul 2000 16:28:04 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from smtp6.gateway.net (relayb.gateway.net [208.230.117.250])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id E308B8033
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat, 22 Jul 2000 16:28:02 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from viper (1Cust29.tnt42.chi5.da.uu.net [63.17.58.29])
	by smtp6.gateway.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id TAA21187
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat, 22 Jul 2000 19:28:00 -0400 (EDT)
Message-ID: <000801bff434$d63a87a0$1d3a113f@viper>
From: "Jeannine and Chris  Gianakopoulos" <pilolla@gateway.net>
To: <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: Diamond Stealth Pro VL and X -- A Contribution, I Hope
Date: Sat, 22 Jul 2000 18:30:33 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
	boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0005_01BFF40A.EC1654C0"
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2919.6600
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600
Status: RO
Content-Length: 6555
Lines: 152

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------=_NextPart_000_0005_01BFF40A.EC1654C0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Hello, I have been playing with Linux for about 4 months, and I would =
like to share some information that may already be available, but not =
evident to me.  My system has an older VESA local bus motherboard, and =
the processor is a 486DX2 running at 66 MHz.  It took me approximately 2 =
months to get Xfree86 working with my Diamond Stealth Pro VL (VESA local =
bus) board which used an 80C929 device.  Anyway, I want to prevent other =
Linux people from pulling overnight hacks like I did (that will never =
happen), so here is the section of the XF86Config file of importance for =
a Diamond Stealth Pro VL video board (VL for VESA local bus).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
--------------------
Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Diamond Stealth Pro"
    VendorName  "Diamond Multimedia"
    BoardName   "Stealth Pro VL"
    VideoRam    2048
    Ramdac "ss2410"
    Option "diamond"
    Clockchip   "icd2061a"
    Chipset "s3_generic"
EndSection
-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
--------------------

My Linux distribution is SUSE 6.4.  The parameters in the above file =
reference the components in my video board.

The line which really made my system work without crashing while running =
X was the Chipset directive.  The default chipset was mmio_928.  When =
that option was used, I would get system hangs (you couldn't even =
telenet via the ethernet), segmentation faults, and lots of other =
problems.  I will make the bold (and possibly incorrect) assumption that =
the assumed memory locations (for memory mapped I/O) were in conflict =
with the memory space of a running process (possibly kernel space?)
I do not know for sure, but, using s3_generic (which implies I/O mapping =
for device registers) fixed the problem.

I have been a computer hacker since 1975, and when the CP/M operating =
system vanished and MSDOS came into existance, I really missed having a =
nice hacker's operating system.  I am pleased that Linux came into =
existance, and it is one of the ultimate hacks.  Your Linux Gazette has =
helped me lots and lots (I read all the back issues -- I am up to May =
2000), and I hope that I can achieve the knowledge to help other people =
the way your extensive documentation has helped me.

I hope that this information is useful to the Linux community.  (P.S. =
You can delete my babbling from this letter and keep the important stuff =
(the configuration file segment) -- I will not take offense)

Chris Gianakopoulos
(soon to be Linux hacker)

------=_NextPart_000_0005_01BFF40A.EC1654C0
Content-Type: text/html;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" =
http-equiv=3DContent-Type>
<META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2919.6307" name=3DGENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>Hello, I have been playing with Linux for about 4 =
months, and=20
I would like to share some information that may already be available, =
but not=20
evident to me.&nbsp; My system has an older VESA local bus motherboard, =
and the=20
processor is a 486DX2 running at 66 MHz.&nbsp; It took me approximately =
2 months=20
to get Xfree86 working with my Diamond Stealth Pro VL (VESA local bus) =
board=20
which used an 80C929 device.&nbsp; Anyway, I want to prevent other Linux =
people=20
from pulling overnight hacks like I did (that will never happen), so =
here is the=20
section of the XF86Config file of importance for a Diamond Stealth Pro =
VL video=20
board (VL for VESA local bus).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT=20
size=3D2>----------------------------------------------------------------=
-----------------------------</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>Section "Device"<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; =
Identifier&nbsp;=20
"Diamond Stealth Pro"<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; VendorName&nbsp; "Diamond=20
Multimedia"<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; BoardName&nbsp;&nbsp; "Stealth Pro=20
VL"<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; VideoRam&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; =
2048<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;=20
Ramdac "ss2410"<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Option =
"diamond"<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;=20
Clockchip&nbsp;&nbsp; "icd2061a"<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Chipset=20
"s3_generic"<BR>EndSection<BR>-------------------------------------------=
--------------------------------------------------</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>My Linux distribution is SUSE 6.4.&nbsp; The =
parameters in the=20
above file reference the components in my video board.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>The line which really made my system work without =
crashing=20
while running X was the Chipset directive.&nbsp; The default chipset was =

mmio_928.&nbsp; When that option was used, I would get system hangs (you =

couldn't even telenet via the ethernet), segmentation faults, and lots =
of other=20
problems.&nbsp; I will make the bold (and possibly incorrect) assumption =
that=20
the assumed memory locations (for memory mapped I/O) were in conflict =
with the=20
memory space of a running process (possibly kernel space?)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>I do not know for sure, but, using s3_generic (which =
implies=20
I/O mapping for device registers) fixed the problem.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>I have been a computer hacker since 1975, and when =
the CP/M=20
operating system vanished and MSDOS came into existance, I really missed =
having=20
a nice hacker's operating system.&nbsp; I am pleased that Linux came =
into=20
existance, and it is one of the ultimate hacks.&nbsp; Your Linux Gazette =
has=20
helped me lots and lots (I read all the back issues -- I am up to May =
2000), and=20
I hope that I can achieve the knowledge to help other people the way =
your=20
extensive documentation has helped me.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>I hope that this information is useful to the Linux=20
community.&nbsp; (P.S. You can delete my babbling from this letter and =
keep the=20
important stuff (the configuration file segment) -- I will not take=20
offense)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>Chris Gianakopoulos</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>(soon to be Linux hacker)</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>

------=_NextPart_000_0005_01BFF40A.EC1654C0--


From jecoleman@netnoir.net  Sat Jul 22 18:26:30 2000
Return-Path: <jecoleman@netnoir.net>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 19480E986A
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat, 22 Jul 2000 18:26:30 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from c014.sfo.cp.net (c014-h006.c014.sfo.cp.net [209.228.12.70])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id 5B2238033
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat, 22 Jul 2000 18:26:28 -0700 (PDT)
Received: (cpmta 26017 invoked from network); 22 Jul 2000 18:26:28 -0700
Date: 22 Jul 2000 18:26:28 -0700
Message-ID: <20000723012628.26016.cpmta@c014.sfo.cp.net>
X-Sent: 23 Jul 2000 01:26:28 GMT
Received: from [209.240.0.17] by mail.netnoir.net with HTTP;
    22 Jul 2000 18:26:28 PDT
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Disposition: inline
Mime-Version: 1.0
To: gazette@ssc.com
From: jecoleman@netnoir.net
X-Mailer: Web Mail 3.6.5.3
Subject: Free Linux ISPs Revisited
Status: RO
Content-Length: 752
Lines: 12

Some time ago I posted a question asking about free Linux ISPs. Lots and lots of folks were kind enough to write back telling me about FreeWWWeb, a free OS-independent ISP here in the continental USA (THANKS!).

Well, FreeWWWeb just went belly up and is trying to transition its customers to Juno.

That leaves Linux users up a creek since Juno (like all other free ISP software that I'm aware of) is Windows only.

So, once again I ask the question:

"Anyone know of any free LINUX-FRIENDLY ISP's in the continental USA?" A wide variety of access numbers would be ideal since I do travel with my Linux laptop but beggers can't be choosers, as they say. Thanks, all.

_________________________________________
Get free email at http://mail.netnoir.net

From allendtate@yahoo.com  Mon Jul 24 09:56:52 2000
Return-Path: <allendtate@yahoo.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 47773E9880
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon, 24 Jul 2000 09:56:52 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from web207.mail.yahoo.com (web207.mail.yahoo.com [128.11.68.107])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id 88FA48035
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon, 24 Jul 2000 09:50:34 -0700 (PDT)
Received: (qmail 20775 invoked by uid 60001); 24 Jul 2000 16:56:51 -0000
Message-ID: <20000724165651.20774.qmail@web207.mail.yahoo.com>
Received: from [165.138.8.31] by web207.mail.yahoo.com; Mon, 24 Jul 2000 09:56:51 PDT
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 09:56:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: Allen Tate <allendtate@yahoo.com>
Subject: Linux, Laptops, and Cooling Fans
To: gazette@ssc.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Status: RO
Content-Length: 346
Lines: 8

Anyone out there know anything about making the cooling fan run on a
laptop running Linux? Seems I read something somewhere about running a
module that made the fan run. Any advice is appreciated.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get Yahoo! Mail  Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/

From frank@rosef.freeserve.co.uk  Mon Jul 24 12:57:33 2000
Return-Path: <frank@rosef.freeserve.co.uk>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 10E65E9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon, 24 Jul 2000 12:57:33 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mail11.svr.pol.co.uk (mail11.svr.pol.co.uk [195.92.193.23])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 31DB48033
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon, 24 Jul 2000 12:51:14 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from modem-103.argonath.dialup.pol.co.uk ([62.136.124.103] helo=yrjqxhia)
	by mail11.svr.pol.co.uk with smtp (Exim 3.13 #0)
	id 13GoKW-0005Wz-00
	for gazette@ssc.com; Mon, 24 Jul 2000 20:56:00 +0100
Reply-To: <frank@rosef.freeserve.co.uk>
From: "Frank Rose" <frank@rosef.freeserve.co.uk>
To: <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: Compiling and installing from source code
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 20:57:03 +0100
Message-ID: <NBBBKBLNEPDOLPKFPGGPIEIKCAAA.frank@rosef.freeserve.co.uk>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0)
Importance: Normal
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600
Status: RO
Content-Length: 2925
Lines: 85

Hi,

	I am very much new to Linux and although I have managed to install Caldera
OpenLinux 2.3 and got much of it working I cannot incorporate new
applications. In trying to sort this out I started to work through the
article
"Use the Source, Luke: Compiling and installing from source code , by Sean
Lamb"

In trying to set up Kdevelop I managed to extract ,but on entering
./configure I get:
[root@noname /root]# cd downloads
[root@noname downloads]# cd kd
[root@noname kd]# ls
kdevelop-1.2
[root@noname kd]# ./configure
bash: ./configure: No such file or directory
[root@noname kd]# cd kdevlop-1.2
bash: kdevlop-1.2: No such file or directory
[root@noname kd]# cd kdevelop-1.2
[root@noname kdevelop-1.2]# ./configure
creating cache ./config.cache
checking for extra includes... no
checking for extra libs... no
checking for a BSD compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking whether make sets ${MAKE}... yes
checking for working aclocal... missing
checking for working autoconf... missing
checking for working automake... missing
checking for working autoheader... missing
checking for working makeinfo... found
checking for a C-Compiler...
checking for gcc... gcc
checking whether the C compiler (gcc  ) works... yes
checking whether the C compiler (gcc  ) is a cross-compiler... no
checking whether we are using GNU C... yes
checking how to run the C preprocessor... gcc -E
checking for a C++-Compiler...
checking for g++... no
checking for CC... no
checking for xlC... no
checking for DCC... no
configure: error: no acceptable C++-compiler found in $PATH
[root@noname kdevelop-1.2]#

I have run locate as below:
[root@noname /root]# locate g++
/opt/kde/share/apps/ktop/pics/g++.xpm
/usr/lib/gnulibc1/libg++.so.27
/usr/lib/gnulibc1/libg++.so.27.2.8

[root@noname /root]# locate CC
/root/.netscape/cache/00/cache396E0CC005502EB.gif
/root/.netscape/cache/0C/cache396E10CC013033D.gif
/usr/doc/FAQ/GCC-SIG11-FAQ
/usr/doc/HOWTO/other-formats/html/GCC-HOWTO-1.html
/usr/doc/HOWTO/other-formats/html/GCC-HOWTO-10.html
/usr/doc/HOWTO/other-formats/html/GCC-HOWTO-2.html
/usr/doc/HOWTO/other-formats/html/GCC-HOWTO-3.html
/usr/doc/HOWTO/other-formats/html/GCC-HOWTO-4.html
/usr/doc/HOWTO/other-formats/html/GCC-HOWTO-5.html
/usr/doc/HOWTO/other-formats/html/GCC-HOWTO-6.html
/usr/doc/HOWTO/other-formats/html/GCC-HOWTO-7.html
/usr/doc/HOWTO/other-formats/html/GCC-HOWTO-8.html
/usr/doc/HOWTO/other-formats/html/GCC-HOWTO-9.html
/usr/doc/HOWTO/other-formats/html/GCC-HOWTO.html
/usr/lib/perl5/5.00502/i386-linux-thread/B/CC.pm
/usr/share/i18n/charmaps/GREEK-CCITT
/usr/share/perl5/man/man3/B::CC.3.gz
/usr/X11R6/share/gimp/gradients/Full_saturation_spectrum_CCW

[root@noname /root]# locate xlc
/opt/teTeX/share/texmf/tex/latex/base/omxlcmex.fd

[root@noname /root]# locate DCC
[root@noname /root]#


Please will some one help me to solve my problem.


Many Thanks Frank,



From fvang@zantaz.com  Mon Jul 24 20:04:43 2000
Return-Path: <fvang@zantaz.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 82EA5E9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon, 24 Jul 2000 20:04:43 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mail01-oak.pilot.net (mail-oak-1.pilot.net [198.232.147.16])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6F8958033
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon, 24 Jul 2000 19:58:24 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from zipcode.zantaz.com (zipcode.zantaz.com [206.189.47.139]) by mail01-oak.pilot.net with ESMTP id UAA26952 for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon, 24 Jul 2000 20:04:32 -0700 (PDT)
Received: (from root@localhost)
	by zipcode.zantaz.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) id UAA10445;
	Mon, 24 Jul 2000 20:04:28 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from zantaz.com (localhost [127.0.0.1])
	by zipcode.zantaz.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA10441
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Mon, 24 Jul 2000 20:04:25 -0700 (PDT)
Sender: fvang@zipcode.zantaz.com
Message-ID: <397D66BF.6DBD6E2F@zantaz.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 03:06:55 -0700
From: Fong Vang <fvang@zantaz.com>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.2.14-5.0 i686)
X-Accept-Language: en
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: gazette@ssc.com
Subject: KDE 2.0 on Redhat 6.2
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Status: RO
Content-Length: 128
Lines: 5

Has anyone gotten KDE 2.0 to work?  I can't get the binary RPM to
install.  I've already tried building from the RPM source.




From Angus.Walton@eei.ericsson.se  Tue Jul 25 06:09:11 2000
Return-Path: <Angus.Walton@eei.ericsson.se>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 06359E9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 06:09:11 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from penguin-ext.wise.edt.ericsson.se (penguin-ext.wise.edt.ericsson.se [194.237.142.110])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 85C418033
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 06:02:50 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from esealnt409.al.sw.ericsson.se (esealnt409.al.sw.ericsson.se [153.88.251.32])
	by penguin.wise.edt.ericsson.se (8.10.1/8.10.1/WIREfire-1.3) with ESMTP id e6PD97Q03033
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 15:09:08 +0200 (MEST)
Received: from SMTP ([153.88.251.32]) by esealnt409.al.sw.ericsson.se with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2172.1);
	 Tue, 25 Jul 2000 15:09:07 +0200
Received: from esealnt743.al.sw.ericsson.se ([153.88.251.13]) by 153.88.251.32
  (Norton AntiVirus for Internet Email Gateways 1.0) ;
  Tue, 25 Jul 2000 13:09:07 0000 (GMT)
Received: by esealnt743.al.sw.ericsson.se with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2651.58)
	id <NNN6BYS4>; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 15:07:55 +0200
Message-ID: <339D005C5856D311A04C0008C791B2270357CFF7@eiedbnt500>
From: "Angus Walton  (EEI)" <Angus.Walton@eei.ericsson.se>
To: "'gazette@ssc.com'" <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: MBR
Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 15:08:45 +0200
Return-Receipt-To: "Angus Walton  (EEI)" <Angus.Walton@eei.ericsson.se>
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2651.58)
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="ISO-8859-1"
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 25 Jul 2000 13:09:07.0896 (UTC) FILETIME=[84115380:01BFF639]
Status: RO
Content-Length: 528
Lines: 10

Hi,

Last night, I messed up my Master Boot Record.. Now, when I boot the PC (without any bootable devices in the drives), the harddrive tries to boot (win98) but all it displays is the first 2 letters of "LILO" and hangs. So, When I get home, i'm planning to use a win98 boot disk to get into windows.. Although I can't keep doing this. 

So, my question is, does anyone know of a way to fix the MBR (to get it to load up windows on hda1) everytime my PC boots (unless theres other bootable media in the PC)?

Thanks,

Aengus


From dmarti@ssc.com  Tue Jul 25 10:15:48 2000
Return-Path: <dmarti@ssc.com>
Received: by mail.ssc.com (Postfix, from userid 1052)
	id B3D08E987E; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 10:15:48 -0700 (PDT)
Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 10:15:48 -0700
From: Don Marti <dmarti@linuxjournal.com>
To: gazette@ssc.com
Cc: tag@ssc.com
Subject: Re: Anti-spam question
Message-ID: <20000725101548.A27582@ssc.com>
References: <20000725100916.C32589@ssc.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
X-Mailer: Mutt 0.95.3i
In-Reply-To: <20000725100916.C32589@ssc.com>; from Linux Gazette on Tue, Jul 25, 2000 at 10:09:16AM -0700
Sender: dmarti@ssc.com
Status: RO
Content-Length: 653
Lines: 19

On Tue, Jul 25, 2000 at 10:09:16AM -0700, Linux Gazette wrote:

> Hmm, perhaps we should run a contest and publish the top 10 answers
> in order.  "Top ten answers on the board!  Survey SAYS!"

1. Filter out mail that's not actually to you. This works well for
lists, but not so well for individuals, since you lose big time if 
someone sends you "Bcc" mail.

2. Check headers for known spamware signatures.

3. Use RBL.

See the postfix anti-UCE page: http://postfix.cloud9.net/uce.html

-- 
Don Marti                               dmarti@linuxjournal.com
Technical Editor, Linux Journal
Published by SSC                            http://www.ssc.com/

From jimd@starshine.org  Tue Jul 25 16:16:12 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1D2C0E9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 16:16:12 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (unknown [167.216.157.202])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 420518033
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 16:16:10 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id PAA03028;
	Tue, 25 Jul 2000 15:16:23 -0700
Message-Id: <200007252216.PAA03028@mars.starshine.org>
To: Asghar Nafarieh <nafarieh@impact.xerox.com>
Cc: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: The Linux Gazette Answer Gang <tag@ssc.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: unable to open a initial console 
In-Reply-to: <39779F7D.1A7872F3@impact.xerox.com> 
	Message Apparently From Asghar Nafarieh <nafarieh@impact.xerox.com> 
	Dated Thu, 20 Jul 2000 17:55:25 PDT.
Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 15:16:22 -0700
Sender: jimd@starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 20685
Lines: 479


 Re: unable to open a initial console 
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	Also:  A Short Guide on How to do Backups and Recovery: 

> Hi,
 
> I hope you can help me on this problem.
> After booting my linux server (RedHat6.0) It goos through
> booting and comes back with the above prompts and hangs
> there. I have hat this machine running for 6 months and this
> is the first time this is happenning. I have a lot of data
> in there. I tried to use the resuce disk but I don't know
> how to get to the hard disk to check the problems. I appreciate
> your help.
 
 
> Thanks,
> -Asghar

 This error message basically means that the kernel was
 unable to find a console on which it could run init.

 That suggests that it can't find your /dev directory
 (on the root filesystem) or that it can't find the appropriate
 /dev/tty* and /dev/console device nodes thereunder.

 This is most commonly caused by one of two problems:

   1)  Perhaps you removed or damaged the /dev/* nodes
       that the kernel needs.

   2)  Perhaps the kernel is mounting the wrong filesystem
       on the root directory (a filesystem which doesn't 
       HAVE a /dev directory).

 So, here's how you use a rescue diskette the troubleshoot
 this sort of problem:

   1) Boot from the rescue diskette.
   2) Mount your root filesystem.  Use a command like:
         'mount /dev/hda3 /mnt'
   3) Look for a .../dev/console device thereunder. Use
      a command like:  'ls -l /mnt/dev/console'

      It should look something like:

``
crw-r--r--    1 root     root       5,   1 Jul 21 14:50 /dev/console
''

 If it's there then you want to try booting from your 
 hard drive again.  This time, at the LILO prompt you'd
 interrupt the boot process and pass the kernel some options.
 
 When you see LILO press the [CapsLock] or the [ScrollLock] key.
 Then hit the [Tab] key.  That should give you a list of available
 boot labels ("linux" and "dos" for example).  You'd type something
 like 'linux root=/dev/hda3 init=/bin/sh' (Be sure to refer to the
 same device, hda3, or whatever, as you did when mounting your root
 fs under the rescue diskette).

 In this case I've specified the kernel option "init=/bin/sh" just
 for further troubleshooting.  If that comes up O.K. you can then
 type 'exec /sbin/init 6' to force the system to shutdown and reboot
 under the normal init.

 I realize, from the tone of your question, that this may all be a
 bit confusing to you.  You don't mention what you've done to the
 system between the time that it was working and the time that this
 error started occurring.  I can guess at a few possibilities, but
 I'd only be guessing.

 For example: if you are someone else with administrative access to
 that system had built a new kernel it might be that you built it
 with a faulty "rootfs" flag.  A Linux kernel as a point to the
 default root filesystem device and partition compiled into it.  If
 it isn't passed a root= parameter, than the this compiled in
 pointer specified which device the kernel will try to find and 
 which partition it will try to mount as root.  Normally the 
 LILO boot loader has a root= directive in it.  That is usually
 in the "global" section and is used for any "stanza" which 
 doesn't over-ride it.  When we are typing in root= directives
 at the LILO prompt we are over-riding both the kernel's default
 and LILO's stored option.

 As you can infer from the foregoing the Linux kernel mounts a 
 root filesystem and then it opens a console device.  That done
 it prints alot of messages to the screen, and runs the init
 program.  It looks in several places  like /sbin, /etc, and
 /bin, for a program named 'init' then it looks for /bin/sh as a 
 failsafe.  Failling all those the kernel will print an error 
 message like: "No init found.  Try passing init= option to kernel."

 (You can read the kernel source code for these actions in 
 /usr/src/linux/init/main.c).

 Note that I haven't addressed the issue of whether there is a 
 Linux filesystem, recognized by your kernel, available.  If
 you had no Linux filesystem there, you'd be getting a error
 more like: "VFS Kernel Panic: Unable to mount root" or
 "VFS: Cannot open root device" (depending on whether the 
 filesystem/partition was nonexistent or corrupt, or whether
 the device couldn't even be found).

 I've also left out any discussion of the initrd (initial 
 RAM disk).  Red Hat does tend to use these, though they are
 not necessary for most systems.  Here's a little bit about 
 how those work:

 If you are using an initrd, then the loader (LILO) must load
 the kernel, and the initrd into memory.  It then passes the 
 kernel an option.  The kernel (with initrd support enabled) will
 then allocate memory for a RAM disk, and decompress the initrd
 image into that memory.  Normally the initrd will contain a 
 compressed filesystem image.  (It's actually possible for it
 to contain other sorts of data, but that's not a feature that I've
 ever heard of anyone using).

 Once the initrd (RAMdisk) has been initialized and populated,
 the kernel temporarily mounts that as the root filesystem and
 attempts to execute a command called /linuxrc.  After that 
 command exits, then the regular root filesytem is mounted,
 and the normal init process is run.  

 Note that this is basically a hook between the kernel's 
 initialization and the normal root fileystem mount and 
 init process.  Often the initrd will have no effect on 
 the regular boot process.  However the most common case is
 for the initrd to contain some modular device drivers, and
 for the /linuxrc to load them.  This is intended to allow
 the kernel to access devices for which it only has modular
 (rather than compiled in) drivers.

 (Usually I suggest that users learn how to compile their
 own kernel, statically including their main disk interface
 and network adapter drivers.  That obviates the need for an
 initrd, making the whole system a tiny bit easier to maintain
 and troubleshoot).

 I mention all of this in your case because it's possible that
 you kernel is fine, your root filesystem is fine but that your
 initrd has been corrupted and is setting the rootfs flag to 
 some

 For more details about this initrd subsystem you can read
 /usr/src/linux/Documentation/initrd.txt

 Of course I should also take this opportunity to give the standard
 parental lecture about the need to make and test backups.  However,
 I don't have a really good resource to which I can refer you. I
 don't know of a well-written "System Recovery HOWTO" and I should
 take it upon myself to write one.  (The third chapter of my 
 book on system administration is a start --- but it doesn't
 go down to step-by-step details).

 Let's just say this for now:

 If you end up re-installing here are some tips to make recovery
 from these sorts of disasters much easier:

 First, during installation, create at least three or four
 partitions.  I like using lots of partitions.  You want to
 have partitions for root (/), system (/usr), and data (/home) 
 at least.

 I like to have an alternative root filesystem (/mnt/altroot) (which
 is normally not mounted) and a /var partition.  Then I may add
 other partitions based on the needs of a specific machine.  I
 usually create /tmp and /usr/local partitions, and sometimes I add
 /var/spool and/or /var/spool/news partitions for some mail and news
 servers.

 One of the reasons for this partitioning is to facilitate 
 system and data recovery.  Most problems will only affect
 one of your filesystems.  For example, if you're root filesystem
 is damaged (as it appears has happened in your case) then you can
 just reformat and restore that without worrying about your data
 (which should mostly be stored on /home and/or /usr/local).  

 If you have a separate /boot partition it can be mounted read-only
 most of the time (just remounted in read-write mode when you are
 installing a new kernel).  That can also work around limitations
 of older BIOS' and versions of LILO with regards to the infamous
 1024 cylinder limit.  If you keep an extra "alternative root" 
 filesystem you can maintain a "mirror" (replication of) the root
 filesystem on that, with copies of all the system configuration 
 data (from under /etc).  Then when your root fs is damaged you
 can simply boot from the altroot using the root= kernel/LILO 
 option while booting.  (You could also use the root= directive
 when booting from a floppy disk or bootable rescue CD).

 You can copy all of your root fs to the alternative root with 
 a sequence of commands something like:

     ``
     mount /dev/hdc8 /mnt/altroot
     cp -ax / /mnt/altroot 
     umount /mnt/altroot
     ''

 ... assuming that you already have created a /mnt/altroot
 mountpoint (using mkdir) and that you have a partition like
 /dev/hdc8, the fourth extended partition on the primary IDE drive
 of the secondary controller, with a valid filesystem thereon.  Once
 your create an altroot partition

 I suggest keeping /usr as a separate filesystem for two reasons.
 You can keep it mounted read-only most of the time (remounting it
 in read-write mode during major system upgrades and while
 installing new packages).  That makes it more difficult for it to
 get damaged and might even protect your system from some of the
 sloppier "script kiddy" exploits (it's not a real security feature,
 a better exploit will remount filesystems read-only before
 installing a rootkit).
 
 Of course keeping /home as a separate partition should be fairly
 obvious.  If you're using your system in a sane fashion, most of
 your data should be under /home.  That means that you can focus on
 backing that system up.  The other filesystems should change
 somewhat less often, and you can be assured that the programs,
 libraries and other files are store on them are recoverable (from
 your installation CDs, and the Internet at large) or are expendable
 (temporary files, caches, logs, etc).

 Under Linux there are many different ways to perform a backup.  In
 general you can use 'tar', 'cpio' and/or the 'dump' commands for 
 individual systems, or you can use the free AMANDA package for 
 setting up a networked client/server backup infrastructure.  

 Each has its advantages and disadvantages.  You could also get BRU
 (the backup and recovery utility) which is probably the most
 popular among several commercial Linux backup packages.  

 Of course you need more than software to do backups.  You need to
 have places to store these backups (media) and a device to handle
 the media.  Some of your choices are tape drives, CD-R or CDRW,
 magneto optical or any of various types of removable storage
 ranging from floppies through LS120, Zip, Jaz, etc.

 Most systems sold these days don't include any backup devices.
 With common disk drive capacities of several gigabytes, we can't
 count 1.44Mb floppies as a reasonable backup device.  (Even in the
 days of 100 and 200 Mb hard drives, no one was using floppies to do
 full system backups).  Managing a thousand or more floppies per
 hard drive is absurd.

 Even the systems that sell with LS120 or Zip(tm) drives aren't
 really meeting the backup/recovery needs of an average user.  It
 wasn't too bad for one and two gigabyte systems (10 to 20 disks)
 but it's not reasonable for the 6 to 18 gigabyte hard drives we're
 seeing now (60 to 200 disks).  Even CD-R or CDRW are barely
 adequate for backing up individual systems (at 650Mb each you need
 about a dozen discs for a typical drive, and I'd need almost 30 of
 them to backup my laptop).

 So the only reasonable way to do full system backups on most
 moderns PCs is to use tape drives.  A 4mm DAT3 tape can store 12 Gb
 uncompressed.  DLT tape drive capacities range from 20 to 70 Gb.
 There are other drives ranging from 250Mb (FT) through over 100 Gb
 and most are supported by Linux drivers.

 The biggest problems with tape drives is that they are expensive.
 A good tape drive costs as much as a cheap PC.

 Let's say you bought a 4mm DAT drive (and a SCSI controller to go
 with it).  You could to a backup of your whole system with a
 command like:

     ``
     tar cSlvf /dev/st0 / /usr /home ...
     ''

 ... Note: here I'm not using compression, and I am using the "S"
 (--sparse: note that's a capital "S") and "l" (--one-file-system a
 lower case "ell") options to 'tar'.  I'm assuming the first
 (usually the only) tape drive which is called /dev/st0 (or
 /dev/nst0 if you want to prevent the system from rewind the tape
 after the access).  I'm listing the top level directory of each
 locally mounted filesystem (the mount points).  Using this
 technique avoids inadvertantly backing up /proc (a virtual
 filesystem) and any network mounted or other unusual filesystems.
 Obviously you'd only list those filesystems that made sense for
 your system (read your /etc/fstab for a list).  

 I could add a "z" flag to force 'tar' to compress the data,
 however that usually causes latency issues (the data doesn't 
 "stream" or flow smoothly to the tape drive).  Since the tape
 must be moving under the read-write head at a constant velocity,
 if the data doesn't stream you'll get "shoeshining."  The most
 common causes of this are compression and networking.  So, in 
 those cases you'd use a command more like:

     ``
     tar cSlvf - / /usr /home ...  | buffer -o /dev/st0
     ''

 (Here, I've changed 'tar' to write it's output into the pipe
 --- to stdout technically --- and added the buffer command
 which using a bunch of shared memory and a pair of read/write
 processes to "smooth out" the data flow).

 Hint:  You should write down the exact command you used to write
 your data on any tapes that you've created.  This allows any good
 sysadmin to figure out what command is required to restore the 
 data.  
 
 To restore a system using such a tape you'd follow the following
 procedure:

	1) Boot from a rescue diskette or CD (or onto your
	   altroot)

	2) Mount up a temporary filesystem using a command
	   like:  mount /dev/hda5 /tmp (or make sure your
	   RAM disk has a few meg of free space).

	3) Restore a table of contents (index) of your tar 
	   file to /tmp/files using a command like:
	      tar tf /dev/st0 > /tmp/files  

	4) Restore your /etc/passwd and /etc/group
	   files from the tape.  Overwrite those in your 
	   rescue system's (RAM disk based) /etc directory.
	   
	   NOTE: This must be done in order to ensure that
	   all the OTHER files that you restore will have 
	   their proper ownership and permissions.  Otherwise
	   you are quite likely to end up with all the files
	   on the system owned by the root user (depends on 
	   the version of 'tar').  Trust me, you need to do
	   this.  This may be a bit time consuming, since the
	   tar command will go throug the entire tape to find
	   those two files.  (It does make more sense in practice
	   to do do different backups to your tapes, one of 
	   just the root filesystem, or even just the /etc 
	   directory, and the other containing the rest.  However,
	   it is more complicated to understand and explain,
	   as you're dealing with "multi-member" tapes and have
	   to know how to use the 'mt' command with the nst0
	   device node to skip tape "members" (files).  This
	   method will work, albeit slowly).

	   To do this selective restore use a command like:

	      ``
		   tar xf /dev/st0 ./etc/passwd ./etc/group
	       ''

	    Note: when you did the backup as I described above
	    the GNU tar command will have prepended each filename
	    with "./"; if you weren't using GNU tar you should 
	    modify the command I listed to create the backup by
	    inserting a cd / command  before it, and changing each
	    directory/mountpoint reference to ./ ./usr, etc.  Of
	    course, if you weren't using GNU tar then the S and l
	    options might not work anyway.  Those are GNU 
	    extensions.
	   
	5) For each corrupted/damaged filesystem:
	   a) backup/copy any accessible files that are newer
	      than your last backup.
	   b) reformat using the 'mkfs' command.  Use the -c option
	      to check for bad blocks.
	   c) mount that filesystem under /mnt in the same
	      (relative) place where it would go under normal
	      operations.  For example a filesystem that would
	      normally be located under / would be under mnt, and
	      one that was usually under /usr would go under
	      /mnt/usr, and one that was under /usr/local would
	      now be mounted under /mnt/usr/local/  (see your
	      old /etc/fstab for details, restore that to /tmp
	      if necessary).  

	      Note: It may make sense to mount any undamaged 
	      filesystems read-only as part of this process
	      ... so that the whole directory tree will appear
	      more like you expect as you're working, but 
	      helping you avoid accidentally over-writing or
	      damaging your (previously) undamaged filesystems.
	      Obviously this is simpler if you're restoring to
	      a whole new disk or system --- and are thus restoring
	      EVERYTHING.
	      
	   d) restore the files that were on that filesystem.
	      If you are restoring a whole system (there were
	      no undamaged filesystems) then you can simply 
	      use a command sequence like:

	         ``
		 cd /mnt && tar xpvf /dev/st0
	         ''

	      (after you've mounted up all the filesystems under
	      /mnt in the correct relationship).

	      If you need to restore individual filesystems
	      you'd still cd to /mnt, then you'd issue a command
	      like:

	         ``
		 tar xpvf /dev/st0 ./home ./var ...
	         ''

               where ./home ./var ... are the list of top level
	       directories below which you want to restore your
	       files.

	       If you just want to restore a small list of files
	       (you can't use "*.txt" or other wildcard patterns
	       on the 'tar' command line) then the best method is
	       to use a "take list."  Take the "index" (table of
	       contents file) that you generated back in step 3
	       and either edit or "grep" it for the list files
	       that you want.  Filter out or delete the names of
	       all the files that you don't want.  Then 
	       use a command like:

	         ``
		 tar xpvTf /tmp/takelist /dev/st0 ./home ./var ...
	         ''

	       ... assuming that you stored the list of files
	       you want in /tmp/takelist.

	       If you know of a regular expression that 
	       uniquely describes the files you want to restore
	       you can use a command like:

	         ``
		 grep "^\./home/docs/.*\.txt" /tmp/filelist |
		    tar xpvTf - /dev/st0 ./home ./var ...
	         ''

	       ... to get them without having to create a
	       "takelist" file.  Here we are forcing 'tar' to 
	       "take" its list of files from "stdin" (the 
	       command pipeline in this case).

 I realize that all of this seems complicated.  However, that's
 about as easy as I can make it for people using the stock Linux
 tools.  If that's too complicated, then you might want to consider
 trying something like BRU (which has menu and GUI screens in
 addition to its command line utilities).  Personally I think those
 are really as complicated, but some of that complication is hidden
 from the common cases and only comes out to bite you during moments
 of extreme stress --- like when your system is unusable while
 you're trying to restore your root filesystem).

 BTW: you don't have to buy a tape drive for every computer on
 your network.  Linux and other UNIX systems can easily share tape
 drives using their standard tools.  For example you can use, 'ssh'
 (or 'rsh' if you have NO security requirements) and the 'buffer'
 program to redirect any 'tar', 'cpio' or 'dump' backup (or restore)
 to a tape drive on a remote system.

 Then you can use commands like:

 
     ``
     tar cSlvf - / /usr /home ...  | \	
        ssh -l bakoper tapehost buffer -o /dev/st0
     ''

 ... to do your backups.  (In this case I'm using ssh to 
 access a "backup operator" account (bakoper) on the host
 named "tapehost", and I'm directing my tar output to a 
 'buffer' process on that remote system).  Obviously there's 
 more do it than that.  You have to co-ordinate all the access
 to those tapes --- since it wouldn't do to have each machine
 over-writing one tape.  But that's what professional sysadmins
 are for.  They can write the scripts and handle all the 
 scheduling, tape changing etc.

--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com


From paul@kis.kiev.ua  Wed Jul 26 04:19:12 2000
Return-Path: <paul@kis.kiev.ua>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id E151FE9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed, 26 Jul 2000 04:19:11 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from acc0.visti.net (acc0.visti.net [195.64.225.233])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9F32A8033
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed, 26 Jul 2000 04:19:05 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from office.visti.net (office.visti.net [195.64.225.183])
	by acc0.visti.net (8.8.8-Elvisti-980428/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA23742
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed, 26 Jul 2000 14:18:58 +0300 (EEST)
Received: from gw.visti.net (gw0-dos.visti.net [195.64.225.161]) by office.visti.net (8.6.12/8.ElVisti) with ESMTP id OAA27858 for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed, 26 Jul 2000 14:18:58 +0300
Received: from kis.kiev.ua (acc1-72.dialup.elvisti.kiev.ua [195.64.227.72])
	by gw.visti.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA03512
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed, 26 Jul 2000 14:18:53 +0300 (EEST)
Sender: root@gw.visti.net
Message-ID: <397EC882.FBBA1AC2@kis.kiev.ua>
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 14:16:18 +0300
From: paul <paul@kis.kiev.ua>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.61 [en] (X11; I; Linux 2.2.12-20 i686)
X-Accept-Language: en
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: gazette@ssc.com
Subject: Trick to speed up StarOffice
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
 boundary="------------DC8C1C2C5DC8C9A5D7EA8449"
Status: RO
Content-Length: 5718
Lines: 154

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--------------DC8C1C2C5DC8C9A5D7EA8449
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

If you tried to start StarOffice for Linux (I have version 5.1), you
probably know, how hard to impress people with it. It takes about 20
(!!!) secont to load on my PIII-450 with 128M RAM. And for 15+ seconds
of loading it completely silent - there are no logo, no popup windows,
nothing!!! "Hey guys, wait, it loads slow but it COOL!" - nobody
listens.

What is StarOffice really need to fix this? Redesign from scratch? New
component architecture? No! Just one dumb, old and dirty marketing trick
a la Microsoft. I mean file precaching.

First, notice what time is it now. Then reboot and run StarOffice. Quit
it immediately after start. Then cd to StarOffice directory and run
ls -lRA --time=access --sort=time>~/StarOfficeAccessTimes
In your home directory you now have file StarOfficeAccessTimes. Delete
all entries with access times other then most recent. Then turn each
line with file into something like:
cat filename>/dev/null
If only few files from _large_ directory (for example, fonts) have
recent access times, probably you should add
ls directory>/dev/null
before cat-ing that files
Finaly, turn this file into executable shell script and put it in
.bashrc or elsewhere to be executed during startup. Now you can reboot
and call people again.
Precaching script runs for 14-15 second (start of any OS takes long
time, but people accustomed to be patient), but when you got to you
desctop, StarOffice runs in less then 5 second. 4-5 times increased
speed! "O, it really fast now! Have you got a new version?" - people
asked. "No, just a little patch..."

But notice - it is not a method for speed up StarOffice. Sum of two
times - precaching and running is exactly the same (or slightly more!)
than initial running time. But if you want to impress somebody... And
remember - you need 128M of physical RAM for this trick - 80M of cache
will be used. If you have less memory, result will be less impressing
because not all files will fit in cache. In that case you should cache
part of files - in order of loading till they fit in cache.

Examle of precaching script attached.

Paul Necklonger

--------------DC8C1C2C5DC8C9A5D7EA8449
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii;
 name="cache_SO"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline;
 filename="cache_SO"

#!/bin/sh
cd /usr/StarOffice
date +%s
cat ./install.ini>/dev/null
cat ./sofficerc>/dev/null
cat ./explorer/Workplace.scc>/dev/null
ls ./fonts/75dpi>/dev/null
cat ./fonts/75dpi/fonts.dir>/dev/null
ls ./fonts/type1>/dev/null
cat ./fonts/type1/fonts.alias>/dev/null
cat ./fonts/type1/fonts.dir>/dev/null
cat ./fonts/type1/psres.upr>/dev/null
cat ./fonts/type1/fonts.scale>/dev/null
ls ./help/01>/dev/null
cat ./help/01/shelp.dat>/dev/null
cat ./help/01/shelp.dir>/dev/null
cat ./help/01/tips.svh>/dev/null
ls ./lib>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libreg517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libsex517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libzip517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libcnt517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libgo517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libj517li_g.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libofa517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libone517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libosl517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/librtl517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libsb517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libset517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libsfx517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libso517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libsot517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libsvt517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libsvx517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libtk517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libtl517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libuno517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libusr517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libvcl517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./lib/libvos517li.so>/dev/null
cat ./store/file.scs>/dev/null
cat ./Desktop/calc.url>/dev/null
cat ./Desktop/draw.url>/dev/null
cat ./Desktop/events.url>/dev/null
cat ./Desktop/impress.url>/dev/null
cat ./Desktop/mail.url>/dev/null
cat ./Desktop/psetup.url>/dev/null
cat ./Desktop/staroffi.url>/dev/null
cat ./Desktop/sun.url>/dev/null
cat ./Desktop/tasks.url>/dev/null
cat ./Desktop/web.url>/dev/null
cat ./Desktop/writer.url>/dev/null
ls ./bin>/dev/null
cat ./bin/applicat.rdb>/dev/null
cat ./bin/hlp51701.res>/dev/null
cat ./bin/vcl51701.res>/dev/null
cat ./bin/ofa51701.res>/dev/null
cat ./bin/sfx51701.res>/dev/null
cat ./bin/svt51701.res>/dev/null
cat ./bin/svx51701.res>/dev/null
cat ./bin/iso51701.res>/dev/null
cat ./bin/cha51701.res>/dev/null
cat ./bin/javaldx>/dev/null
cat ./bin/soffice>/dev/null
cat ./bin/soffice.bin>/dev/null
ls ./config/groups>/dev/null
ls ./config/tasks>/dev/null
cat ./config/soffice.cfg>/dev/null
cat ./config/hlpagent.ini>/dev/null
cat ./config/oreg.ini>/dev/null
cat ./config/psetupl.xpm>/dev/null
cat ./config/desk_bck.gif>/dev/null
cat ./config/rootstg.scs>/dev/null
cat ./config/cmponent.ini>/dev/null
cat ./config/fntsubst.ini>/dev/null
cat ./config/rootstg.bak>/dev/null
cat ./config/servicesrc>/dev/null
cat ./config/inethist.dat>/dev/null
cat ./config/groups/bookmark.url>/dev/null
cat ./config/groups/explorer.url>/dev/null
cat ./config/groups/tasks.url>/dev/null
cat ./config/groups/work.url>/dev/null
cat ./config/tasks/calc.url>/dev/null
cat ./config/tasks/chart.url>/dev/null
cat ./config/tasks/dbase.url>/dev/null
cat ./config/tasks/draw.url>/dev/null
cat ./config/tasks/formula.url>/dev/null
cat ./config/tasks/frameset.url>/dev/null
cat ./config/tasks/global.url>/dev/null
cat ./config/tasks/html.url>/dev/null
cat ./config/tasks/image.url>/dev/null
cat ./config/tasks/impress.url>/dev/null
cat ./config/tasks/mail.url>/dev/null
cat ./config/tasks/writer.url>/dev/null
cd ~
date +%s
--------------DC8C1C2C5DC8C9A5D7EA8449--


From jimd@starshine.org  Wed Jul 26 14:55:06 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id BA1E5E9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed, 26 Jul 2000 14:55:06 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (unknown [167.216.157.202])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id BFE058033
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed, 26 Jul 2000 14:55:04 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id RAA03537;
	Tue, 25 Jul 2000 17:07:59 -0700
Message-Id: <200007260007.RAA03537@mars.starshine.org>
To: "Martinez, Maenard" <mmartinez@mcs.midrealms.com.ph>
Cc: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: The Linux Gazette Answer Gang <tag@ssc.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: connecting red hat workstation to nt server 
In-Reply-to: <F152567B5604D4119D7700A0CC346F1E01AC64@MCS-EXPRO> 
	Message Apparently From "Martinez, Maenard" <mmartinez@mcs.midrealms.com.ph> 
	Dated Mon, 24 Jul 2000 12:12:33 +0800.
Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 17:07:59 -0700
Sender: jimd@starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 2762
Lines: 59


Linux in a Windows NT Domain (under a PDC)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
> Is it possible to connect the Linux Red Hat 6.0 (costum installed) to the
> network wherein the PDC is a Windows NT 4.0 Server? Do I need additional
> tools to connect it? Is it similar to UNIX X-windows?
 
> Thanks,
> Maenard
 
 Basically all interoperation between Linux (and other forms of UNIX)
 and the Microsoft Windows family of network protocols (SMB used by
 OS/2 LANManager and LANServer, WfW, Win '9x, NT, and W2K) is done
 through the free Samba package.

 Normally Samba allows a Linux or other UNIX system to act as an 
 SMB file and print server.  There are various ways of getting Linux
 to act as an SMB client (including the smbclient program, which is
 basically like using "FTP" to an SMB server, and the smbfs kernel
 option that allows one to mount SMB shares basically as though they
 were NFS exports).

 Now, when it comes to having Linux act as a client in an MS Windows
 "domain" (under a PDC, or primary domain controller) it takes a 
 bit of extra work.  Recently the Andrew Tridgell and his Samba team
 have been working on a package called "winbind."  Tridge demonstrated
 it to me last time he was in San Francisco. 

 Basically you configure and run the winbind daemon, point it at 
 your PDC (and BDCs?) and it can do host and user lookups, (and 
 user authentication?) for you.   I guess there is also a libnss
 (name services selector) module that is also included, so you 
 could edit your Linux system's /etc/nsswitch.conf to add this,
 just as you might to force glibc linked programs to query NIS, 
 NIS+, LDAP or other directory services.

 Now I should point out two things about what Tridge showed me.
 First, it was under development at the time.  It probably still
 is.  You'd want to look at the Samba web pages and read about the
 current state of the code --- but it may not be ready for use
 on production systems.  (I hear that some sites are already 
 using it in production, but basically that's because it's their
 only choice).  The other thing I should mention is that I got the
 basic "salesman's" demo.  That's not any fault of Tridge's (he wasn't
 trying to "sell" it to me and he certainly can get into the technical
 nitty gritty to any level that I could understand).  It's just that
 we didn't have much time to spend together.  As usual we were both
 pressed for time.

 (I'm writing this on a train, which is why I can't look for 
 more details at the Samba site for you.  So, point your
 browser at: http://www.samba.org/ for more details.
 
--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com


From jimd@starshine.org  Wed Jul 26 17:10:34 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id D54A1E9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed, 26 Jul 2000 17:10:34 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (unknown [167.216.157.202])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 044C28033
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed, 26 Jul 2000 17:10:33 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id QAA04889;
	Wed, 26 Jul 2000 16:12:29 -0700
Message-Id: <200007262312.QAA04889@mars.starshine.org>
To: Yu-Kang Tsao <nathanatwork@yahoo.com>
Cc: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: The Linux Gazette Answer Gang <tag@ssc.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: Telnet to linux box from NT workstation in NT LAN 
In-Reply-to: <20000724200752.8711.qmail@web702.mail.yahoo.com> 
	Message Apparently From Yu-Kang Tsao <nathanatwork@yahoo.com> 
	Dated Mon, 24 Jul 2000 13:07:52 PDT.
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 16:12:29 -0700
Sender: jimd@starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 2405
Lines: 67


Connection Refused
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
> Hi James:
    
>                Now I am setting up a linux red hat 6.2
> server box in our NT LAN and I am trying to telnet
> connect to that box from one of the NT workstation in
> our NT LAN.  But it gives me connectiong refuse
> message.   Would you help me telnet connect to linux
> box ?  Thank you very much.
 
> Sincerely
> Nathan

 You probably don't have DNS, specifically your reverse DNS
 zones (PTR records) properly configured.

 Linux includes a package called TCP Wrappers (tcpd) which 
 allows you to control which systems can connect to which 
 services.  This control is based on the contents of two 
 configuration files (/etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny)
 which can contain host/domain name and IP address patterns
 that "allow" or "deny" access to specific services.

 You could disable this feature by editing your /etc/inetd.conf
 file and changing a line that reads something like:

``
telnet	stream	tcp	nowait	telnetd.telnetd	/usr/sbin/tcpd \
    /usr/sbin/in.telnetd
''

 to something that looks more like:


``
telnet	stream	tcp	nowait	telnetd.telnetd	/usr/sbin/in.telnetd \
	/usr/sbin/in.telnetd
''

 (Note: THESE ARE EACY JUST ON ONE LINE! THE TRAILING BACKSLASH
 is for e-mail/browser legibility)
 some of the details might differ abit.  This example
 is from my Debian laptop and Red Hat has slightly different
 paths and permissions in some cases).

 You should search the back issues of LG for hosts.allow and
 tcpd for other (more detailed) discussions of this issue.  It is
 an FAQ.  Of course you can also read the man pages for 
 hosts_access(5), hosts_options(5) and tcpd(8) for more details
 on how to use this package.

 Note:  You should also consider banning telnet from your networks.
 I highly recommend that you search the LG back issues for 
 references to 'ssh' for discussions that relate to that.  Basically,
 the telnet protocol leaves your systems susceptible to sniffing
 (and session hijacking, among other problems) and therefore greatly
 increases your chances of getting cracked, and greatly increases the
 amount of damage that an intruder or disgruntled local user can 
 do to your systems.  'ssh' and its alternatives are MUCH safer.

--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com

From jimd@starshine.org  Wed Jul 26 17:32:38 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0C924E9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed, 26 Jul 2000 17:32:38 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (unknown [167.216.157.202])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 09AC68033
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed, 26 Jul 2000 17:32:34 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id QAA04930;
	Wed, 26 Jul 2000 16:34:25 -0700
Message-Id: <200007262334.QAA04930@mars.starshine.org>
To: Allen Tate <allendtate@yahoo.com>
Cc: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: The Linux Gazette Answer Gang <tag@ssc.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: Linux, Laptops, and Cooling Fans 
In-Reply-to: <20000724165651.20774.qmail@web207.mail.yahoo.com> 
	Message Apparently From Allen Tate <allendtate@yahoo.com> 
	Dated Mon, 24 Jul 2000 09:56:51 PDT.
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 16:34:25 -0700
Sender: jimd@starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 3033
Lines: 66



Making the Laptop's Fan Run
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
> Anyone out there know anything about making the cooling fan run on a
> laptop running Linux? Seems I read something somewhere about running a
> module that made the fan run. Any advice is appreciated.

 What makes you think you need a special module or driver to 
 control your system's fan?

 On any reasonable equipment the fan should run when it is needed
 without any software support required.  The hardware should include
 its own thermostat which should operate completely indendently of 
 the OS.

 (Actually there's a good argument that we should be producing 
 better hardware that runs cooler, with lower power consumption.
 So that fans would be unecessary for most laptops and general purpose
 computing devices.  That's what Transmeta --- the company for
 which Linus works --- has recently introduced to the PC market).

 Anyway, I don't know of any module that "makes the fan run." or
 anything like that.  The closest I can think of would be the
 ACPI kernel features (ACPI is an advanced and somewhat complicated 
 alternative to APM --- advanced power management).  That would 
 require that you get a daemon to call those kernel functions from 
 user space.  Under Debian you'd just use the command 'apt-get install 
 acpid' to fetch and install that daemon, under other Linux distributions 
 you'd have to hunt for it on your CDs, and/or look for it on their
 FTP contrib sites, etc).  

 There is also a package called "LM_Sensors" which allows one to 
 monitor some values such as CPU temperature, fan speed, 
 power supply voltage, etc.   There are a number of motherboards
 which use an LM78 or similar chip and sensor set to allow 
 software access to these sorts of metrics.  Under Debian you 
 could get the sources to this package using 'apt-get source
 lm-sensors' which will fetch the original package sources and
 the Debian maintainer's patches and unpack them under your current
 directory.  I usually do that sort of thing from my /usr/src/debian
 directory.

 LM_Sensors consists of a kernel patch (you must recompile your
 kernel to add these features) and some user space utilities for
 querying the kernel driver.

 I highly recommend LM_Sensors to sysadmins who are maintaining
 servers at co-located facilities and in server closets.  Those are
 places where having this information available via software can
 save a great deal of downtime and damage.  (The audible alarms that
 might be in your case to warn of fan failures and overheating aren't
 very useful when there's no one there to hear them.  Also the 
 typical machine room has to much fan and air conditioning noise for
 anyone to hear the failure of one system).

 However, I don't know if any laptops have any of the support
 LM78 or similar sensor features.  So that's probably not useful
 to you.

--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com
  

From jimd@starshine.org  Wed Jul 26 18:15:23 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4CFF9E9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed, 26 Jul 2000 18:15:23 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (unknown [167.216.157.202])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 296138033
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed, 26 Jul 2000 18:15:21 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id RAA04968;
	Wed, 26 Jul 2000 17:17:17 -0700
Message-Id: <200007270017.RAA04968@mars.starshine.org>
To: "Kolasani, Hari P - DB Professionals" <Kolasani.Hari@con-way.com>
Cc: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: The Linux Gazette Answer Gang <tag@ssc.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: 
In-Reply-to: <BB1039DF9B86D011B32500805FA6927A08A519F7@ciies001.con-way.com> 
	Message Apparently From "Kolasani, Hari P - DB Professionals" <Kolasani.Hari@con-way.com> 
	Dated Mon, 24 Jul 2000 13:54:05 PDT.
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 17:17:17 -0700
Sender: jimd@starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 2943
Lines: 79


More on TCP Wrappers and telnet Connection Delays
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
> Hi, 
 
> I was looking at this  issue:-
> http://tech.buffalostate.edu/LDP/LDP/LG/issue38/tag/32.html
> <http://tech.buffalostate.edu/LDP/LDP/LG/issue38/tag/32.html>    ,  and I
> did not understand your solution correctly. 
 
> Can you please let me know what I need to do in order for telnet to work
> without any pause?
 
> I happen to see similar problem for FTP also.
 
> Thanks
> Hari Koalsani

 If you look at some of the other back issues (search on the string
 "tcpd" you can see that I've tried to explain the issue a few times and
 at great length.

 Basically there are three ways to approach this:

   1) Abandon telnet; use ssh instead.
   2) Fix your reverse DNS zones.  Make the PTR records consistent
      with the A (address/host) records.
   3) Remove TCP Wrappers protection from the telnet service on 
      this host.  Change the line in the /etc/inetd.conf file
      that reads something like:

``
telnet	stream	tcp	nowait	telnetd.telnetd	\
    /usr/sbin/tcpd	/usr/sbin/in.telnetd
''

   to look more like:
     
``
telnet	stream	tcp	nowait	telnetd.telnetd	\
    /usr/sbin/in.telnetd in.telnetd
''

 Personally I suggest that you use both methods 1 and 2.  Use
 ssh, which USUALLY doesn't use tcpd or libwrap, the library
 which implements tcpd access controls, AND fix your DNS zones
 so that your hosts have proper PTR records.

 As I said, I've written many pages on this topic.  I'm not going
 to re-hash it again.  Hopefully this summary will get you on the
 right track.  If you still can't understand what is going on and
 how to do this you should consider calling a tech support service
 (Linuxcare does offer single-incident tech support calls, though 
 they are a bit expensive; there may be other companies still doing
 this), or hire a Linux consultant in your area (look in the Linux 
 Consultants HOWTO http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Consultants-HOWTO.html
 for one list of them).

 They can provide hand holding services.  A good consultant can
 and will show you how to handle these sorts of things for yourself,
 and will ask some questions regarding your needs, and recommend 
 comprehensive solutions.  

 I would ask about why you are using telnet, who needs access to the
 system, what level and form of access they need, etc.  I can simply
 answer questions, but a good consultant will ask more questions 
 than he or she answers --- to make sure that you're getting the
 right answers.  Given my constraints here, I don't have the luxury
 of doing in-depth requirements analysis for this column.  (Also note 
 that I'm not currently available for consulting contracts, Starshine
 Technical Services is currently in hiatus).


--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com


From mikec@softhome.net  Thu Jul 27 07:02:53 2000
Return-Path: <mikec@softhome.net>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7D0D0E9869
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Thu, 27 Jul 2000 07:02:53 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from tango.SoftHome.net (tango.SoftHome.net [204.144.231.49])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id ED6C98033
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Thu, 27 Jul 2000 07:02:50 -0700 (PDT)
Received: (qmail 29302 invoked by uid 417); 27 Jul 2000 14:09:56 -0000
Received: from jop96.janics.com (HELO softhome.net) (206.102.191.96)
  by smtpa.softhome.net with SMTP; 27 Jul 2000 14:09:56 -0000
Message-ID: <398040F5.5AC91F01@softhome.net>
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 09:02:29 -0500
From: Mike Clark <mikec@softhome.net>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (Win95; I)
X-Accept-Language: en
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: gazette@ssc.com
Subject: Help with compiling sources!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Status: RO
Content-Length: 1811
Lines: 29

I installed Corel Linux just a few months ago.  I am having trouble
setting up a few of my hardware cards.  First, I can't get my network
card working.  My card is a Linksys Network Everywhere etherfast 10/100
network card.  It is supposedly supported by the tulip drivers.  I use
modconf to install the tulip drivers.  I just get an error that says
device or resource busy.  I read on a usenet group that in order to get
this card working you have to download the newest tulip.c source file.
Then compile it.  I used the Gucci command that the web site said.  It
starts to run then says that some file .ver is not found.  It says this
for about 20-30 files.  Then stops.  How can I get the tulip.c file
compiled right.  I am also having the same problem with my sound/modem
card.  I use sndconfig to set up the sound card.  It finds the sound
card with no problem as an aztech soundgalaxy card.  Then it installs
the sound.o driver.  This doesn't work.  I then go into modconf after
reboot and uninstall the sound driver and try to install the sgalaxy
driver.  I am just guessing that this is the right driver to get my card
to work.  I get the same error as above with my network card.  I guess I
also need to recompile the sgalaxy.c file.  How can I fix that?  Last,
my sound/modem card is an isa pnp card.  I use the pnpdump to set up
/etc/isapnp.conf.  Then I edit the file and it enables the sound and
modem.  I guess that this means that I should be able to get both
devices working.  Then I use setserial /dev/ttyS1 to set up my modem
which is on ttyS1 (com2 in window$).  I also pass the port and Irq that
are in isapnp.conf.  But my modem still doesn't work.  Any advice.
Sorry this message is so long.  I just wanted to be sure to give you all
the info I can.  Thanks in advance for helping.

-Mike


From meonkeys@hotmail.com  Thu Jul 27 11:05:00 2000
Return-Path: <meonkeys@hotmail.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 43E0FE9881
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Thu, 27 Jul 2000 11:05:00 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from hotmail.com (f13.law8.hotmail.com [216.33.241.13])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id D07A08033
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Thu, 27 Jul 2000 11:04:58 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC;
	 Thu, 27 Jul 2000 11:04:59 -0700
Received: from 63.94.230.106 by lw8fd.law8.hotmail.msn.com with HTTP;	Thu, 27 Jul 2000  GMT
X-Originating-IP: [63.94.230.106]
From: "Adam Monsen" <meonkeys@hotmail.com>
To: gazette@ssc.com
Subject: vim tip
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 11:04:59 PDT
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Message-ID: <F13sxf4yp8ARf3sllNY00000055@hotmail.com>
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 27 Jul 2000 18:04:59.0745 (UTC) FILETIME=[2DD20510:01BFF7F5]
Status: RO
Content-Length: 724
Lines: 18

This is straight outta the vim manual, but is buried enough to possibly 
warrant a 2 cent tip.
_______________________________________________________________________
Dos files have <CR> <LF> at endlines,
Mac files have <CR> at endlines,
Unix files simply have <LF> at endlines.

So who cares? Vim automagically understands any file upon loading. But...
You're using UNIX. When you have to send a colleague a text file (and they 
have a mac or Windows box), first issue the following command...
:set fileformat=x
where "x" can be "mac" or "dos".
then save the file.

-Meonkeys
________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com


From bradenja@kepler.pa.msu.edu  Thu Jul 27 11:41:10 2000
Return-Path: <bradenja@kepler.pa.msu.edu>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 48FB1E9897
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Thu, 27 Jul 2000 11:41:10 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from kepler.pa.msu.edu (kepler.pa.msu.edu [35.8.48.107])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7FDA98033
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Thu, 27 Jul 2000 11:41:08 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from pa.msu.edu (bradenja.user.msu.edu [35.10.132.188])
	by kepler.pa.msu.edu (8.9.3+Sun/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA20145;
	Thu, 27 Jul 2000 14:40:58 -0400 (EDT)
Message-ID: <3980823A.3310F9F7@pa.msu.edu>
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 14:40:58 -0400
From: Jazcek Braden <bradenja@pa.msu.edu>
Organization: Michigan State University
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (Win98; U)
X-Accept-Language: en
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: karthik_subramanian@grabmail.com, gazette@ssc.com
Subject: keyboard problems
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Sender: bradenja@kepler.pa.msu.edu
Status: RO
Content-Length: 399
Lines: 9

Well the problem that you have described is a physical hardware
problem.  The too nacks is usually what you get when you keyboard is
going bad or when your keyboard gets disconnected.  This might be easy
to fix as unplugging and reinserting your keyboard.  You might try a
different keyboard and see if it happens.  If it continues to happen you
could have a bad keyboard connector.


Jazcek Braden

From mrlozano123@yahoo.com  Fri Jul 28 08:41:15 2000
Return-Path: <mrlozano123@yahoo.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id EF76FE986E
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Fri, 28 Jul 2000 08:41:14 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from web5505.mail.yahoo.com (web5505.mail.yahoo.com [216.115.106.188])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with SMTP id 2D5BE8033
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Fri, 28 Jul 2000 08:41:14 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <20000728152255.12849.qmail@web5505.mail.yahoo.com>
Received: from [196.40.31.174] by web5505.mail.yahoo.com; Fri, 28 Jul 2000 10:22:55 CDT
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2000 10:22:55 -0500 (CDT)
From: =?iso-8859-1?q?mauricio=20lozano?= <mrlozano123@yahoo.com>
Subject: printer configuration
To: gazette@ssc.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Status: RO
Content-Length: 469
Lines: 15

Sir, i have a new printer P-1200 seies (P-1205i) HP
and i want toinstall it, the problem is i can't do it
because the pc has not CD port and the machine ask me
for some installation files if i can download these
files to my disk c i think i could, where can i find
them?
Regards 
Mauricio lozano
El salvador


_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Obtenga su direccin de correo-e gratis @yahoo.com
en http://correo.espanol.yahoo.com

From frank@rosef.freeserve.co.uk  Fri Jul 28 11:34:27 2000
Return-Path: <frank@rosef.freeserve.co.uk>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 80C57E986E
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Fri, 28 Jul 2000 11:34:27 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mail3.svr.pol.co.uk (mail3.svr.pol.co.uk [195.92.193.19])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id A24F38034
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Fri, 28 Jul 2000 11:34:25 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from modem-687.treecreeper.dialup.pol.co.uk ([62.137.154.175] helo=yrjqxhia)
	by mail3.svr.pol.co.uk with smtp (Exim 3.13 #0)
	id 13IExg-0007Oq-00
	for gazette@ssc.com; Fri, 28 Jul 2000 19:34:21 +0100
Reply-To: <frank@rosef.freeserve.co.uk>
From: "Frank Rose" <frank@rosef.freeserve.co.uk>
To: <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: flex and lex
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2000 19:33:55 +0100
Message-ID: <NBBBKBLNEPDOLPKFPGGPMEJBCAAA.frank@rosef.freeserve.co.uk>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0)
Importance: Normal
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600
Status: RO
Content-Length: 3384
Lines: 82

Hi,

	Much to my disappointment I have not received any, help, mail in response
to my first e-mail on the subject of installing Kdevelop, maybe to struggle
on wasn't so bad, since I have moved on. in that I now have a c++ compiler;
a rather basic omission I guess.

	However, I have now come to a grounding halt, with which I have struggled
to no avail ,so please, someone, help me.

Details are:
	I am very much new to Linux and although I have managed to install Caldera
OpenLinux 2.3 and got much of it working I cannot incorporate new
applications. In trying to sort this out I started to work through the
article
"Use the Source, Luke: Compiling and installing from source code , by Sean
Lamb"

In trying to set up Kdevelop I managed to extract ,but on entering
./configure I get:

checking whether g++ supports -fno-exceptions... (cached) yes
checking whether g++ supports -fno-rtti... (cached) yes
checking whether g++ supports -fno-check-new... (cached) yes
checking whether g++ supports -fexceptions... (cached) yes
checking whether g++ supports -frtti... (cached) yes
checking how to run the C++ preprocessor... (cached) g++ -E
checking whether g++ supports -frepo... (cached) yes
checking for Cygwin environment... (cached) no
checking for mingw32 environment... (cached) no
checking host system type... i586-pc-linux-gnu
checking build system type... i586-pc-linux-gnu
checking for ld used by GCC... (cached) /usr/i386-linux/bin/ld
checking if the linker (/usr/i386-linux/bin/ld) is GNU ld... (cached) yes
checking for /usr/i386-linux/bin/ld option to reload object files...
(cached) -r
checking for BSD-compatible nm... (cached) /usr/bin/nm -B
checking whether ln -s works... (cached) yes
checking how to recognise dependant libraries... (cached) pass_all
checking for object suffix... (cached) o
checking for executable suffix... (cached) no
checking for ranlib... (cached) ranlib
checking for strip... (cached) strip
loading cache ./config.cache within ltconfig
checking for objdir... .libs
checking for g++ option to produce PIC... (cached)  -fPIC
checking if g++ PIC flag  -fPIC works... (cached) yes
checking if g++ static flag  works... (cached) no
checking if g++ supports -c -o file.o... yes
checking if g++ supports -c -o file.lo... yes
checking if g++ supports -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions ... yes
checking whether the linker (/usr/i386-linux/bin/ld) supports shared
libraries..
. yes
checking how to hardcode library paths into programs... immediate
checking whether stripping libraries is possible... yes
checking dynamic linker characteristics... Linux ld.so
checking command to parse /usr/bin/nm -B output... ok
checking if libtool supports shared libraries... yes
checking whether to build shared libraries... yes
checking whether to build static libraries... yes
checking for dlfcn.h... (cached) yes
checking whether a program can dlopen itself... (cached) no
creating libtool
loading cache ./config.cache
checking for flex... no
checking for lex... no
./configure: flex: command not found
checking for flex... lex
checking for yywrap in -ll... no
checking lex output file root... ./configure: lex: command not found
configure: error: cannot find output from lex; giving up
[root@noname kdevelop-1.2]#

	I can't find either lex,or flex, what ever these might be, on my "Caldera
OpenLinux 2.3" Cdrom.


	Please, what should I do ?

	Regards and thanks frank


From dmiller23@neo.rr.com  Sat Jul  1 09:19:10 2000
Return-Path: <dmiller23@neo.rr.com>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5D59AE986B
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  1 Jul 2000 09:19:10 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from neo-dial.neo.rr.com (neo-dial.neo.rr.com [204.210.223.26])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9F5A18028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sat,  1 Jul 2000 09:19:07 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from neo.rr.com (IDENT:root@a2-2b247.neo.rr.com [24.93.201.247])
	by neo-dial.neo.rr.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA07051;
	Sat, 1 Jul 2000 15:15:21 -0400 (EDT)
Sender: root@neo-dial.neo.rr.com
Message-ID: <395E18E0.FB98369A@neo.rr.com>
Date: Sat, 01 Jul 2000 12:14:24 -0400
From: Dwayne Miller <dmiller23@neo.rr.com>
Reply-To: dmiller23@neo.rr.c_om
Organization: Ohio-Marine-Keepers@egroups.com
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.2.14-5.0 i686)
X-Accept-Language: en
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: schrunk@mediaone.net
Cc: gazette@ssc.com
Subject: Re: SuSe Linux and Micrsoft medialess OS
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Status: RO
Content-Length: 2186
Lines: 35

> Dear Linux Supporters: 
> 
> I have started playing around with SuSE Linux and am impressed with the product. I have been a died in the wool Microsoft user for
> the last eight years. I have seen them step on a lot of folks and that is part of business. I have also put up with their mindless CD keys
> that make a network administrators life miserable. Not copy protected is what it said on all of their software. That was until they
> controlled the market now everything is copy protected. 
> 
> But the latest rumor or plan that Microsoft has put me over the edge. I read the an article in the May 1, 2000 issue of INFO WORLD
> that Microsoft now wants to jam a "medialess OS" down our throats. The article is entitled "Users find Microsoft's medialess anti
> piracy play hard to swallow" explains their latest attempt to stop software piracy. This is it for me. 
> 
> I have been an ardent supporter up till this. I want to convert to something else. The problems are my word, access and other apps
> that use MS apps. Is there a way to continue to use these apps without Microsoft OS. Or is there a way to emulate win apps or is there
> other apps that transparently use their files? Any help would be greatly appreciated. 


Well as one newbie to another, good luck, Star office will import and
save in most if not all the MS formats for office, personally I was
using Star office on my MS machine, so I know it works at least for
word, and excel, never used access or powerpoint, so cannot tell you how
well those work.

This issue with MS medialess OS? I had not heard anything about it, but
sure am glad I am switching over to Linx myself. Very tired of Micr$oft
and its games, was waiting until I had found the apps needed to switch
over and with the release of Coreal office for linux,  I figured the
time was at hand. Now to convince my wife.....

I am looking over the stuff for development on the KDE platform, namely
the KDevelop IDE. If Microsoft would have developed something like this,
and gave it way, Windows would not be the mess it is. Alot more
developers would be able to work, without resorting to piracy to get the
tools needed.

Good luck and have fun...

From 101.234011@germanynet.de  Sun Jul  2 08:40:53 2000
Return-Path: <101.234011@germanynet.de>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4957CE986B
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun,  2 Jul 2000 08:40:53 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from thor.germany.net (thor.germany.net [151.189.8.10])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6F2F68028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun,  2 Jul 2000 08:40:51 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by thor.germany.net (Postfix, from userid 60001)
	id 8476A379C5; Sun,  2 Jul 2000 17:40:50 +0200 (MET DST)
From: "Werner Gerstmann" <101.234011@germanynet.de>
To: jdahlgren@netreach.net
Subject: ppp-compress-xx
Cc: gazette@ssc.com
X-Mailer: germany.net WebMail 0.9
X-Priority: 3
Return-Receipt-To: 101.234011@germanynet.de
Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Message-Id: <20000702154050.8476A379C5@thor.germany.net>
Date: Sun,  2 Jul 2000 17:40:50 +0200 (MET DST)
Status: RO
Content-Length: 264
Lines: 6

Hallo Jim,
your question in LG#55: You simply have to put into the conf.modules or modules.conf file in the etc directory:
alias ppp-compress-21 bsd_comp
alias ppp-compress-24 ppp_deflate
alias ppp-compress-26 ppp_deflate
and reboot. Regards Werner Gerstmann

From phma@oltronics.net  Sun Jul  2 14:49:54 2000
Return-Path: <phma@oltronics.net>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id DCFF0E986B
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun,  2 Jul 2000 14:49:54 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mail.oltronics.net (mail.oltronics.net [204.213.85.8])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id B96CF8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun,  2 Jul 2000 14:49:52 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from neofelis (root@localhost)
	by mail.oltronics.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id RAA25777;
	Sun, 2 Jul 2000 17:49:47 -0400
X-BlackMail: 207.15.133.37, neofelis, <phma@oltronics.net>, 207.15.133.37
X-Authenticated-Timestamp: 17:49:49(EDT) on July 02, 2000
From: Pierre Abbat <phma@oltronics.net>
To: alp30@admin.cam.ac.uk
Subject: Re: kppp playing up
Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2000 17:41:38 -0400
X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.0.28]
Content-Type: text/plain
Cc: gazette@ssc.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Message-Id: <0007021749470H.00989@neofelis>
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Status: RO
Content-Length: 512
Lines: 10

I have a LAN, so my boxes have 192.168 addresses, but I use kppp as you do.
Here are the relevant options:
Bring up kppp, hit Setup, under the Accounts tab select the ISP, and hit Edit.
IP: Uncheck "Auto-configure hostname".
DNS: If you run your own name server, the address list should have only
0.0.0.0. Some versions of libc will not work if /etc/resolv.conf has the word
"localhost" in it. If "Disable existing" is checked, the contents of
/etc/resolv.conf will be commented out while you are on line.

phma

From phma@oltronics.net  Sun Jul  2 14:57:31 2000
Return-Path: <phma@oltronics.net>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 88BB6E986B
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun,  2 Jul 2000 14:57:31 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mail.oltronics.net (mail.oltronics.net [204.213.85.8])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 238A98028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Sun,  2 Jul 2000 14:57:28 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from neofelis (root@localhost)
	by mail.oltronics.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id RAA25874;
	Sun, 2 Jul 2000 17:57:19 -0400
X-BlackMail: 207.15.133.37, neofelis, <phma@oltronics.net>, 207.15.133.37
X-Authenticated-Timestamp: 17:57:20(EDT) on July 02, 2000
From: Pierre Abbat <phma@oltronics.net>
To: igsys@telcel.net.ve
Subject: Re: linux crash
Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2000 17:53:36 -0400
X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.0.28]
Content-Type: text/plain
Cc: gazette@ssc.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Message-Id: <0007021757190I.00989@neofelis>
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Status: RO
Content-Length: 276
Lines: 6

You may have a bad sector. I had a bad sector in the inode area, and every so
often a file would land there and cause havoc. The worst was when /etc/mtab
landed on the bad inode. The computer couldn't tell what was mounted and
refused to boot. I fixed it with fsck -c .

phma

From jimd@mars.starshine.org  Tue Jul  4 02:43:09 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@mars.starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id F02E0E989D
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue,  4 Jul 2000 02:43:08 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (jupiter.in.starshine.org [216.240.40.186])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 99F768028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue,  4 Jul 2000 02:43:04 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id XAA31004;
	Thu, 29 Jun 2000 23:57:38 -0700
Message-Id: <200006300657.XAA31004@mars.starshine.org>
To: Henry White <a201326@flash.net>
Cc: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: Jim Dennis <jimd@linuxcare.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: Creating an .ios file 
In-Reply-to: <3958D655.C9A293E9@flash.net> 
	Message Apparently From Henry White <a201326@flash.net> 
	Dated Tue, 27 Jun 2000 11:29:09 CDT.
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2000 23:57:38 -0700
Sender: jimd@mars.starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 817
Lines: 27


Making CDs
~~~~~~~~~~

 
> Please point me to a place I can read on how to create an .ios file. I
> want to make a CD from this file.

> Thanks
> Henry White

 My guess is that you mean an ".iso" (as in International Standards
 Organization) which is a filename extension commonly used with IS0 9660
 (the formal specification on the formatting for data CD-ROM).

 Assuming that this is the case you want to get the mkisofs and the 
 cdwrite and/or the cdrecord utilities.  The mkisofs man page will
 help a bit.  However, you should also look at the CD-Writing HOWTO
 at http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/CD-Writing-HOWTO.html
 
 That is quite detailed.

--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com


From jimd@mars.starshine.org  Tue Jul  4 02:44:04 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@mars.starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id B0E2DE986B
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue,  4 Jul 2000 02:44:04 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (jupiter.in.starshine.org [216.240.40.186])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 206F18028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue,  4 Jul 2000 02:44:01 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id CAA01064;
	Sat, 1 Jul 2000 02:14:35 -0700
Message-Id: <200007010914.CAA01064@mars.starshine.org>
To: Todd Tredeau <todd@wisernet.com>
Cc: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: Jim Dennis <jimd@linuxcare.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: MX records and such 
In-Reply-to: <39568B6F.AE494B8@wisernet.com> 
	Message Apparently From Todd Tredeau <todd@wisernet.com> 
	Dated Sun, 25 Jun 2000 18:45:03 EDT.
Date: Sat, 01 Jul 2000 02:14:35 -0700
Sender: jimd@mars.starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 3717
Lines: 80


MX Records and Precedence Values
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

> I am trying to understand mx records, and the role the play in
> relationship to a backup queue server. I have two mail servers
> mx1.wisernet.com and mx2.wisernet.com, I also have a third emergency
> back server, to be manually added if I need it.
 
> If the primary mail store is on mx1 then should the priority be higher
> or lower?
 
> like mx1.wisernet.com  10 (primary)
>       mx2.wisernet.com  20 (backup)....
 
> your help would be greatly appreciated, I have all sorts of mail
> problems....Actually my antispam software was working so well at one
> point, I couldn't send messages from mx1 to mx2 and so on... got that
> straightened out though.  Nice web site.....
 
> Todd

 The MX record with the lowest value will have the highest
 priority.  Think of it as the "distance to user's mailboxes"
 and consider that the various MTAs (mail transport agents) which
 are relaying a piece of mail are each seeking to get the mail
 closer to its final destination. 

 Of course the host with the lowest MX value will either have 
 to accept the mail or there will have to be an accessible route 
 to an A record of the host.  (Note: CNAMES are never supposed to be
 used for mail exchanges).  Normally we have MX *and* A (address) 
 records for any host that is supposed to receive mail.

 In general there is nothing special to setting up backup MX
 relationships.   It used to be that you could simply add the
 appropriate MX records to your domain zones.  These days there
 is one extra step.  

 In recent years it has become almost mandatory for sites to limit
 their mail relaying.  Before the advent of widespread spamming it
 was common to allow "promiscous relaying."  That basically meant
 that my mail servers would attempt to forward/relay/deliver any
 piece of e-mail that landed on them, regardless of where it was
 from and regardless of who it was to.  That was basically a fault
 tolerance feature.  If a bit of e-mail got mis-routed and landed on
 my server --- the server would just try to get it delivered anyway.
 That was common courtesy in a co-operative Internet.

 However, the spammers ruined all of that forever.  They would 
 dump one item of e-mail, generally with a couple thousand recipient
 addresses, onto any open relay.  This allows the spammer to use a 
 small bit of their own bandwidth (as provided by a 14.4 or 28.8
 modem) while leaching much more bandwidth (a few thousand times
 their "investment" off of the rest of the Internet and the 
 host of the open relay in particular.

 So now we have to also configure the MTA on our backup MX hosts
 to access mail to our domain.  (Obviously that's no problem if
 we're talking about additional hosts within our domain --- they
 presumably are already configured to accept/relay mail for us.  It
 is also true of cases where we want to set up mutual backup MX
 services for and with other domains.  (Thus if the connection(s)
 into our domain is/are down, or if some regional outages prevent
 some customers from reaching us directly, but still allow
 connections to one of our MX partners, then the mail works its
 way towards us.  The correspondents feed their mail up to any 
 available MX server, so the mail doesn't languish on thier
 systems. 

 That's the idea, anyway.  I've had some people question whether
 configuring backup MX services is still appropriate in the 
 modern Internet.  Personally I think it is.  However, there are
 valid arguments on both sides of this issue.

--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com


From jimd@mars.starshine.org  Tue Jul  4 02:43:55 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@mars.starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id C5315E986B
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue,  4 Jul 2000 02:43:54 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (jupiter.in.starshine.org [216.240.40.186])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3D7A88028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue,  4 Jul 2000 02:43:51 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id BAA06576;
	Sun, 2 Jul 2000 01:27:54 -0700
Message-Id: <200007020827.BAA06576@mars.starshine.org>
To: Gillian Bennett <gillianb@webcentral.com.au>
Cc: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: Jim Dennis <jimd@linuxcare.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: dumping filesystems 
In-Reply-to: <415DD4BF903BD311A3D900A0C99F9022045D3E32@bnc.powerup.com.au> 
	Message Apparently From Gillian Bennett <gillianb@webcentral.com.au> 
	Dated Thu, 29 Jun 2000 17:32:07 +1000.
Date: Sun, 02 Jul 2000 01:27:54 -0700
Sender: jimd@mars.starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 1293
Lines: 37


Looking for a 'dump'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> Hi James,
 
> I guess that in all likelihood this is the wrong forum for this question,
> but there are so many mailing lists for linux that I wasn't sure which one
> to post to. I am reasonalbly new to linux after being an admin for sun, dec
> etc for a few years.
 
> I was wondering if there is a tool that will dump filesystems  (similar to
> ufsdump or some other dump tool from other unix flavours) on RH linux 6.X.
> The filesystems are ext2 type filesystems and are currently backed up using
> cpio (*SHUDDER*). 
 
> I appologise for the inconvenience,
> Regards, Gillian

 What have you got against cpio?

 Anyway there is a Linux 'dump' (and 'restore') package.  You should
 find it on your installation CD or on any good archive site.

 Of course it's version number is only 0.4b16 or so. In a rational
 world that would suggest that the author things it is roughly 
 40% "feature complete" to version 1.0.  However, some programmers
 in the Linux world don't like simple, rational versioning schemes
 so I have no idea what that version number is supposed to imply.

--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com

  


From jimd@mars.starshine.org  Tue Jul  4 02:43:32 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@mars.starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 85573E989D
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue,  4 Jul 2000 02:43:31 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (jupiter.in.starshine.org [216.240.40.186])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id CDD2A8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue,  4 Jul 2000 02:43:27 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id XAA12463;
	Mon, 3 Jul 2000 23:54:30 -0700
Message-Id: <200007040654.XAA12463@mars.starshine.org>
To: Rajan Karwal <karwalr@talk21.com>
Cc: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: Jim Dennis <jimd@linuxcare.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: LI boot problems 
In-Reply-to: <001701bfe335$65542b50$1ea301d5@rajan> 
	Message Apparently From "Rajan Karwal" <karwalr@talk21.com> 
	Dated Sat, 01 Jul 2000 09:21:44 BST.
Date: Mon, 03 Jul 2000 23:54:30 -0700
Sender: jimd@mars.starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 3264
Lines: 73


Removing Linux Partitions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  
> i recently read your cooments about LI on a web newsgroup.  My
> problem is this. I was running lunix on my machine but didnt like
> it so i want to go back to windows.  I deleted the several
> partitions that linux reated and formatted the drive.  Now all i
> get if i start my machine is "LI".(not at this point i have
> installed ms dos on the machine) The only way i can get to a C:/
> prompt is to use a boot disk.  Can you shed any light on this?
 
> Thanks for your time
> Raj

 Boot from an MS-DOS floppy and run FDISK /MBR

 One component of LILO is a "boot loader" (a bit of code that is
 stored on your primary hard drive in the "master boot record" (MBR)
 along with your partition table.  The LILO boot loader code stores
 some additional code beyond the 446 bytes that are available in the
 MBR (the other 66 bytes are the primary partition table and a
 "signature" that marks the drive as "formatted").  Usually that
 additional code is stored on one of your Linux filesystems (/boot,
 or the /, root filesystem, depending on how you've laid out your
 systems).
  
 When you removed your Linux filesystems, you also removed the
 additional boot loader code (the "secondary boot loader").  
 The reason that the boot process stops at: LI
 is that Werner Alsmesberger used a clever bit of programming
 to fit some diagnostics into the 446 of code.  The letters
 L, I, L, O are printed at different points of the boot process.

 So, if the boot loader hangs part way through the process, you 
 have some idea of how far it got.  There are many reasons why a 
 system might stop at LI and not get to the second L in LILO.
 All of them amount to "I couldn't load the second stage boot
 loader."  (Which makes sense in your case since you DELETED THEM).

 Note: I've heard of cases where people have removed partitions
 and/or kernels and were still able to boot from them.  That's 
 because LILO stores the raw disk addresses of these files (this
 refers to the data in a way that is "below" the filesystem 
 level). Removing the things from the partition tables or from 
 a filesystem marks space as "unallocated" --- but it doesn't 
 generally actually overwrite or affect the data.  It's just 
 changes the way that the space is accounted for and make it
 available to be used by other partitions/files. So it makes
 since that LILO can still be used to be boot the system from 
 an out-of-date mapping; until the data blocks that those 
 files and partitions are actually used by something else.

 Running the /sbin/lilo command updates those mappings, of 
 course.  The /sbin/lilo command is a program that uses
 the /etc/lilo.conf file to build a set of boot blocks and 
 maps.  I like to think of /sbin/lilo as a "compiler" for
 the "/etc/lilo.conf" program; that makes the boot records
 and maps analogous to the "program" and "libraries" that
 a compiler generates from your source code.   This analogy
 makes perfect sense to programmers --- but it seems to 
 sink in for quite a few non-technical users as well.
 

--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com



  


From jimd@mars.starshine.org  Tue Jul  4 07:05:06 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@mars.starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 453DAE986B
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue,  4 Jul 2000 07:05:06 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (jupiter.in.starshine.org [216.240.40.186])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id DC3D58028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue,  4 Jul 2000 07:05:04 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id EAA16729;
	Tue, 4 Jul 2000 04:16:33 -0700
Message-Id: <200007041116.EAA16729@mars.starshine.org>
To: "Martinez, Maenard" <mmartinez@mcs.midrealms.com.ph>
Cc: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: Linux Gazette Answer Guy <tag@ssc.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: postgres & c++ 
In-Reply-to: <F152567B5604D4119D7700A0CC346F1E01ABBA@MCS-EXPRO> 
	Message Apparently From "Martinez, Maenard" <mmartinez@mcs.midrealms.com.ph> 
	Dated Mon, 03 Jul 2000 12:54:51 +0800.
Date: Tue, 04 Jul 2000 04:16:33 -0700
Sender: jimd@mars.starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 4439
Lines: 94


Running Postgres and C++
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
> Hi. How do I run Postgres and C++ from Linux RedHat 6.0? I tried
> /usr/bin/postgres but the program was looking for a database. I was thinking
> that postgres is almost the same as Oracle or SQL Server products. The same
> with C++, it cannot find the program though I am sure that I installed
> everything.
 
> I accidentally formatted my boot disk. Do I have to reinstall the Linux just
> to have the boot disk?
 
> Thanks,
> Maenard

 I'm going to guess that you're talking about PostgreSQL (version
 7.0 the modern version of Postgres).  There have been a few
 packages in the Postgres line --- and early versions of Postgres
 and Postgres '95 are pretty different than the modern PostgreSQL
 (which is why the name is a little different).

 In order to run PostgreSQL you have to create it's databases.
 PostgreSQL, like most modern client/server SQL DBMS systems
 maintains quite a bit of administrative data in its own databases.
 Thus the list of databases, tables, users and permissions, etc are
 all stored in a set of administrative tables.  Until you've
 initialized those, the server won't launch completely.

 You should read about the initdb command.  Generally you should su
 (assume the identity of) the "postgres" user and run the initdb
 command.  In order to answer this question (since I didn't remember
 the name of the initdb command) I installed PostreSQL on my Debian
 laptop.  The postinst scripts with the Debian package prompted me
 with about three questions (I took the defaults, they had to do
 with my preferred international character set and date formats) and
 created my initial databases with a command like:

    su postgres -c "cd /var/lib/postgres; . ./.profile; \
      initdb -e UNICODE -l /usr/lib/postgresql/lib  \
      -r /var/lib/postgres/data -u postgres

 (Incidentally, my Debian installed version 6.5.3 --- version 7.0
 was released too close to the deadline to make it into the
 current/frozen tree.  I could over-ride that and force an upgrade
 to the unstable version --- but that's not important for me here.
 7.0 is also pretty recent; so it may be wise to stick with the
 older version for some production work unless you need some of the
 new features specifically).

 Once you've run initdb you'll want to start the PostgreSQL server
 (use the '/etc/rc.d/init.d/postgres start' script) and then you may
 need to su to the postgres or postmaster user and create some users
 and user databases.  You can do this interactively using the 'psql'
 "command shell."

 You'll probably want to read through the PostreSQL tutorial and
 some of the other docs to learn how to use the system and the
 included tools and libraries.

 As for your presumption that PostgreSQL would be similar to Oracle
 and (MS SQL Server?) or other SQL packages ... it seems to me that
 there isn't much similarity amongst any of them.  They all use
 relatively similar variations of the same query language (SQL) and
 provide similar major features.  However, they seem to have very
 little in common when it comes to their administrative commands,
 the names of their administrative tables, other configuration
 commands, etc.

 Regarding your question about C++:

 I don't really know what you're trying to do.  C++ is a programming
 language.  You don't "run" it per se.  Do you mean you're trying to
 compile a C++ program that you've written?  The gcc (GNU compiler
 collection) includes g++ and a set of C++ libraries, class
 hierarchies, and templates.

 Depending on your distribution its possible to install the C
 compiler and libraries without including the C++ support. I don't
 have a recent Red Hat distribution handy (I've switched most of my
 systems to Debian, and the others haven't been upgraded wholesale,
 just the relevant packages).  Anyway, look through the RPMs on your
 CD and make liberal use of the 'rpm -qpi' command to get short
 descriptions of specific packages.  You might have to install
 a couple of different packages (libraries and "-dev" toolkits)
 to get the full support.  Although you package manager should
 handle these dependencies --- the RPM system is a bit weaker at
 that sort of handling then Debian (which is the main reason I
 switched).
 
--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com

From jimd@mars.starshine.org  Tue Jul  4 06:34:26 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@mars.starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 208E3E986B
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue,  4 Jul 2000 06:34:26 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (jupiter.in.starshine.org [216.240.40.186])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id B5F438028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue,  4 Jul 2000 06:34:24 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id FAA17631;
	Tue, 4 Jul 2000 05:23:28 -0700
Message-Id: <200007041223.FAA17631@mars.starshine.org>
To: ajshields <ajshields@spiderweb.com.au>
Cc: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: The Linux Gazette Answer Guy <tag@ssc.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: booting larger than 8.4gb 
In-Reply-to: <39604022.806AE57D@spiderweb.com.au> 
	Message Apparently From ajshields <ajshields@spiderweb.com.au> 
	Dated Mon, 03 Jul 2000 17:26:26 +1000.
Date: Tue, 04 Jul 2000 05:23:28 -0700
Sender: jimd@mars.starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 6110
Lines: 135


FIPS
~~~~

 
> gday
 
>     how are  you,  I am new to Linux and am trying to install it as dual
> boot on my new 10gb seagate diskdrive i have already got windoze
> installed.  My bios doesn't support a 10gb drive so i downloaded
> seagates boot manager that allows me to use the hdd full potential.
> When i tried to run fips it said that the last bit of it has files on it
> (it doesn't).  And doesn't want to run anymore than that.
 
> Can you help
> Andrew

 Did you read the FIPS.DOC file that comes with the FIPS package?
 (FIPS is the "free internet partitioning software").  It discusses
 this in the doc file, in the FAQ and in the ERRORS.TXT file: 

``
Last cylinder is not free
  Since the new partition is created at the end of the old one and
  contains at least one cylinder, the partition can not be split if
  not at least the very last cylinder is completely free.
  Probably there is a hidden file like 'image.idx' or 'mirorsav.fil'
  in the last cylinder - see the doc.
''

 (That's from ERRORS.TXT).  In the doc and in the FAQ it describes
 what you should do about this:

`` 
But before starting FIPS you _must_ now defragment your
Harddisk. All of the space that will be used for the new partition
must be free. Be aware that the Windows Swapfile will not be moved
by most defragmentation programs. You must uninstall it (in the
386enhanced part of the Windows Control Panel) and rein- stall it
after using FIPS.  If you use IMAGE or MIRROR, the last sector of
the hard disk contains a hidden system file with a pointer to your
mirror files. You _must_ delete this file before using FIPS (it will
be recreated the next time you run mirror).  Do 'attrib -r -s -h
image.idx' or 'attrib -r -s -h mirorsav.fil' in the root directory,
then delete the file.  If FIPS does not offer as much disk space for
creation of the new partition as you would expect it to have, this
may mean that

a. You still have too much data in the remaining partition. Consider
   making the new partition smaller or deleting some of the data.

b. There are hidden files in the space of the new partition that
   have not been moved by the defragmentation program. You can find the
   hidden files on the disk by typeing the command 'dir /a:h /s' (and 
   'dir /a:s /s' for the system files). Make sure to which program
   they belong. If a file is a swap file of some program (e.g. NDOS)
   it is possible that it can be safely deleted (and will be 
   recreated automatically later when the need arises). See your 
   manual for details.

   If the file belongs to some sort of copy protection, you must
   uninstall the program to which it belongs and reinstall it after
   repartitioning.

   I can't give you more aid in this - if you really can't figure
   out what to do, contact me directly.
''

 Also Arno Schaefer, the author/maintainer of FIPS, suggests that
 you create a debugging report with the -d switch and that you
 include the resulting FIPSINFO.TXT file with any questions that you
 mail to him.

 The other approach would be to backup your data, check your backups
 (restore the critical data to another drive, another system, or at
 least a different subdirectory) and then do an old-fashioned
 re-partition, re-install (of MS Windows) and then do your Linux
 installation.

 I realize that this sounds dull, tedious, time consuming, etc.
 However, think of the advantages.  First, you'll have a backup!
 Also, your new installation of MS Windows may be much cleaner than
 the existing one (since their OS seems to gather cruft at a
 frightening rate).

 I've only used FIPS a couple of times (on other people's systems,
 at their insistence).  I prefer the old-fashioned approach.
 Actually I prefer to wipe out the old OS and give Linux the whole
 system.  Failing that I prefer to add an extra hard disk and use
 LOADLIN.EXE to run Linux off of that (non-primary) drive.  So
 repartitioning is third on my list of preferences; and using FIPS
 is fourth.  That would be followed quite distantly by using
 Partition Magic (which I've never tried).

 Of course I have no idea what files FIPS is complaining about.
 It might be some sort of hidden/system driver that was installed
 by that Seagate boot managed you mentioned.

 Incidentally I have no idea if Seagate's boot manager (software
 disk driver?) is compatible with LILO.  The LILO technical
 documentation describes their success in operating with a variety
 of partitioning drivers (like Ontrack's Disk Mangler^H^H^Hager, and
 Maxtor's (??) EZ-Drive).  However, I don't have the time to hunt
 down information about Seagate's software (particularly since you
 give no details about it --- not even the name of the package).

 As I said: my preference is to give Linux a whole hard drive.  If
 you can get a cheap little 1 or 2 Gb drive that your BIOS *does*
 support --- make that the master, install MS-Windows "C" drive on
 it; and give Linux the other drive (or most of it.  Of course you
 could also look at upgrading your BIOS, replacing your motherboard
 (getting a new BIOS along with that, of course), or installing a
 smarter IDE controller (with its own BIOS).

 Of course you can just try to do the installation.  It might
 just work with no fuss.  However, when novices try to install
 Linux, and they include these little constraints (wants dual
 boot on a big drive, on a system that doesn't support big 
 drives, and wants to non-destructively resize and repartition
 that drive) they naturally complicate their initial experiences.
 
 You're likely to get an unduly dim view of Linux "ease of 
 installation" by trying an installation with all of these 
 constraints.  (That isn't to say it can't be done just as you
 want --- it's just to point out that the process is often 
 more complicated than it needs to be).

 So, consider alternatives as I've suggested.  Ultimately 
 some hardware upgrades might save you enough time to offset
 the cost.  

--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com

From jimd@mars.starshine.org  Tue Jul  4 07:04:53 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@mars.starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8EC34E986B
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue,  4 Jul 2000 07:04:53 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (jupiter.in.starshine.org [216.240.40.186])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1C18D8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Tue,  4 Jul 2000 07:04:52 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id FAA17762;
	Tue, 4 Jul 2000 05:35:15 -0700
Message-Id: <200007041235.FAA17762@mars.starshine.org>
To: "- -" <p01419@hotmail.com>
Cc: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: The Linux Gazette Answer Guy <tag@ssc.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: Linux Modem Problems.... 
In-Reply-to: <20000703143957.93943.qmail@hotmail.com> 
	Message Apparently From "- -" <p01419@hotmail.com> 
	Dated Mon, 03 Jul 2000 14:39:57 GMT.
Date: Tue, 04 Jul 2000 05:35:15 -0700
Sender: jimd@mars.starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 2179
Lines: 56



Mandrake and the Missing Modem
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
> Hi yall,
 
> First off let me tell you that I am completely new to the Linux world! I 
> have been <Stuck> with Windoze most of my computing life.. I have only 
> recently discoverd this whole new world! So please make you answers as 
> simple as possible to understand.. Thanx in advance!
 
> I have recently installed Linux Mandrake on my K6 Machine. I am running it 
> Dual Boot with Windoze.. I am having some reall problems setting up my modem 
> to actually work..
 
> I think this is solely down to my lack of knowledge towards Linux...
> Could NE1 give me some advice?
 
> Yours,
> Michael Hudson.

 You're also having "some reall" [sic] problems describing your
 problem.  Read back through your message.  Try to pretend that you
 were getting this from some stranger.  Do you really think there is
 enough detail provided for any mere mortal to devine what you
 problem could be?

 I understand that you're a novice a Linux.  However, you could put
 a little energy into the questions you're going to ask.

 What did you try to do?  Did you run some program to try to "set
 up" you modem?  What do you mean by "set up"?  What kind of modem
 is it?  If you ran some program or command to try ot "set up" your
 modem; WHAT DID IT DO?  Did you get a error message?  What were you
 expecting the modem to do?  What did it do?

 Did you read any manuals or do searches through any Internet web
 search engines?

 Anyway, the problem is probably that you probably have a "winmodem"
 or a "softmodem" or some other useless piece of junk that isn't
 really a modem.  If you go back to the Linux Gazette (which you
 should have read in order to get this e-mail address) and you
 peruse the FAQ and maybe search on the word "modem" you'll find
 about 100 other messages where I've talked about modems, Linux,
 using modems under Linux, testing to see if you modem is supported
 by Linux, and especially about why "winmodems" are such losers.

--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com

  


From jimd@mars.starshine.org  Wed Jul  5 18:26:49 2000
Return-Path: <jimd@mars.starshine.org>
Received: from passenger.ssc.com (passenger.ssc.com [192.168.1.1])
	by mail.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id C0028E9872
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed,  5 Jul 2000 18:26:49 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars.starshine.org (unknown [216.240.40.188])
	by passenger.ssc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 44E0B8028
	for <gazette@ssc.com>; Wed,  5 Jul 2000 18:26:47 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mars (mars [127.0.0.1])
	by mars.starshine.org (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id GAA18095;
	Tue, 4 Jul 2000 06:03:27 -0700
Message-Id: <200007041303.GAA18095@mars.starshine.org>
To: "Edwin Ferguson" <eferguson@coralwave.com>
Cc: The Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>, star@starshine.org
From: The Linux Gazette Answer Guy <tag@ssc.com>
X-Mailer: NMH 
Subject: Re: 
In-Reply-to: <000801bfe53f$51151620$098ff6d0@coralwave.com> 
	Message Apparently From "Edwin Ferguson" <eferguson@coralwave.com> 
	Dated Mon, 03 Jul 2000 18:37:49 EDT.
Date: Tue, 04 Jul 2000 06:03:27 -0700
Sender: jimd@mars.starshine.org
Status: RO
Content-Length: 3525
Lines: 82


Basica Fascist SysAdmin's Laundry List
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

> Hello I am hoping that you can help me , even with your busy
> schedule, can you tell me how I can stop my network user from
> running chat room programs and instant messaging programs like ICQ
> , Yahoo and MSN. I use a linux box as a firewall and proxy
> server. I am running Red Hat 6.1, is there a way to also prevent
> them from running Real Player and other such applications that
> take up plenty bandwidth. Then finally how can I actually see what
> sites they are visiting and in turn block out porn sites etc. Your
> assitance is very much appreciated.
 
> Edwin Ferguson
> Technical Support


 What you've presented here is the basic laundry list of the 
 "fascist sysadmin?"  You're trying to enforce an acceptable
 use policy based on the assumption that your users are trying to 
 waste your bandwidth and your company's time and other resources.  

 You could spend a considerable amount of time tightening your
 packet filters, eliminating routing and IP masquerading in favor
 of application layer proxies, monitoring your proxy logs,
 installing and/or writing filtering software etc.  

 If you're users are motivated to break the rules and violate these
 policies then you'll probably find yourself in an escalating
 "cybercombat" with some of the more "hacker" oriented among them.  

 Ultimately this is a recipe for disaster.

 Now, back to your questions:

 Instead of making a list of all the things that you "don't want
 them doing" try turning it around to ask:  "What services should
 my users be able to access?"

 If all they need is e-mail, then you can block all IP routing
 masquerading and proxying for all the client systems.  You then run
 a local mail server that is allowed to relay mail from the
 Internet.  That's that!  If they need access to a selected dozen or
 hundred external web sites, consider installling Squid
 (http://www.squid-cache.org/) (an Internet caching deamon) and
 SquidGuard (http://www.nbs.at/linux/Squidguard/installation.html)
 (a filtering module for Squid) and define your acceptable list
 accordingly.

 If you remain more vague about what you policies are then you'll
 just enough up with an ever growing laundry list.  It's obviously
 that the list you gave here isn't comprehensive; you tossed in "and
 block porn sites etc" as an afterthought.   That approach will grow
 to consume all of your time and creative energy.  Be sure to
 explain this to your management, assuming that they are pushing on
 you to pursue this tack.

 The bottom line is that the there are some policies that are best
 enforced by human means (specifically by the HR department).
 Otherwise it may well be that your best recommendation will 
 read something like:

      "For each user we hire one full-time armed guard.
       Each guard is assigned a user, stands over his or
       her shoulder with weapon locked, loaded and aimed
       at the victim's temple...."

 (Of course you management might try doing some MANAGEMENT.  If the
 users are busy with their work, and if the management has
 reasonable productivity metrics and sane methods for monitoring
 behaviour --- then abuses of your precious bandwidth should be
 relatively limited ... unless management is spending all ITS time
 in IRC on the porno channels!).
 

--
Jim Dennis,		                  The Linux Gazette "Answer Guy"
Linux Gazette is Published under the GPL     http://www.linuxgazette.com
			    answerguy@ssc.com


