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Contents: |
Answers to these questions should be sent directly to the e-mail address of the inquirer with or without a copy to gazette@ssc.com. Answers that are copied to LG will be printed in the next issue in the Tips column.
Before asking a question, please check the Linux Gazette FAQ to see if it has been answered there.
Viddy these well, little bruthers, viddy well. It would seem that our friends 'ere, like, ave a problem with their Linux boxes. If thou woulds't be so kind as to, like, give them a little 'and, I'm sure they would love it, real horror-show like. But first me little droogies, an introduction mabye in the necessary. My name is Michael Williams and I live in the UK (Wales). As of now, I will be helping to format the mailbag's columns. What's with all the blurb you ask? Do we all speak like that it Wales. No! I'm actually basing my character on Alex from "A Clockwork Orange".
Fri, 5 May 2000 12:49:43 +0200
From: Joseph Simushi <jsimushi@pulse.com.zm>
Subject: New User - Help
Hi,
I am a new user of Linux and is running Red hat version 6.1.1
operating system. I am asking for your help in finding Materials
(Books, websites, CD-write-ups) on Linux to help me in the
Administering of this system. Regards,
Simushi Joseph
LAN Administrator
PULSE Project
P.O. Box RW 51269
Lusaka
Zambia.
Fri, 5 May
2000 15:24:48 +1000
From: Eellis <abacus2@primus.com.au>
Subject: Prepress Rip software
Hi i like to find out is there any 3rd party or shareware
rip-software to use on postscript and pdf files instead of using
scitex or adobe rip.
Many Thanks From Down under.
Ezra Ellis
Thu, 04 May
2000 20:35:28 -0400
From: Raul Claros Urey <raul@upsaint.upsa.edu.bo>
Subject: Help
I'm using linux red hat, kernel 2.5.5 and when it is booting this
report the fallowing errors:
RPC: sendmesg return error 105 Unable to send; errno = no buffer space available NFS mountd: neighbour table overflow Unable to register (mountd, 1, udp) portmap: server localhost not responding, time out
And I can't do anything the message "neighbour table
overflow" appears every time. do you know something about
it?
Atte.
Raul Claros Urey
Thu, 4
May 2000 04:34:58 EDT
From: <ERICSTMAUR@aol.com>
Subject: Password recovery for equinox database
Do you know if I can find a software which recovered my password
on a equinox database?
Mon, 01
May 2000 20:22:18 +0800
From: 61002144 <61002144@snetfr.cpg.com.au>
Subject: resolution
My comuter under linux redhat xwindow will only run 300x200
graphics. Even if I hit CTRL ALT + ,
it wont change. I have a SiS620 Card with 8mb. Can you please
help. I have spent a lot of time on the internet, It seems other
people have the same problem but no one can help.
Rudy Martignago
Sat, 29 Apr 2000 01:09:12 +0100
From: Andy Blanchard <andyb@zocalo.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Help wanted - updating a Linux distro's ISO image
While downloading the newly posted kernel updates to RedHat
6.2 the following question arose in my mind the answer to which
might be of use to anyone who has to build numerous Linux boxes.
If one were to replace arbitrary RPM (or DEB, or ...) files on
the distro with updated versions and burn a new CDROM - would it
still install cleanly? If I understand this correctly the answer
to this is "yes" if the installer runs:
rpm -install kernel-docBut will be "no" (unless you can frig the install script) if it runs:
rpm -install kernel-doc-2.2.14-12.i386.rpmCan anyone give me an answer? An inquiring mind wants to know...
Sat, 6
May 2000 13:08:20 +0200
From: Drasko Saric <doktor@beotel.yu>
Subject: trouble with full partitions...
Hi, I have a problem and I hope you'll help me. I have Linux SuSe
6.1 and WIN98 on one machine. Linux partition of 800MB is full
now, and I wish to add (if it's possible) an extra 800 MB to my
exisiting Linux partition from WIN98part, but I don't know how.
Can you help me?
Thanx in advance. Drasko,
Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Sun, 07 May 2000 00:35:12 -0500
From: edge or <edge-op@mailcity.com>
Subject: Help in setting up Red Hat as a dial-up server -- LG#53
I have searched and searched for 2 months now and
can not get any info on how to set up a server for customers to
dial into and access the internet with mail accounts and such. I
have been to every news group and discussion I can find. No one
will give any information on how to set this up. The ONLY help or
answer I get is...:"why do you want to be an ISP,
they are to expensive to set up?" Please have a
"How-To" for the beginner
to set up an ISP for the first time?
Thanks in advance.
First, I hope you've received better answers in the
meantime. Second, I
hope the following links helps (apologies for the mailcity
redirection
stuff):
http://alpha.greenie.net/mgetty/
Notice about midway down the page there are links
specifically related to
your question. This will get your callers connected to your
box.
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/fetchmail/index.html
This is nice for grabbing the mail and handing it off to
sendmail for
local delivery.
As for sendmail configuration, I'm clueless.
You could also check out the this howto http://www.linuxdocs.org/ISP-Setup-RedHat.html. It's meant for Red Hat systems, but I'm sure it could easily be adapted for another distribution with little difficulty.
Mon, 8
May 2000 11:22:19 +0100
From: Steven Cowling <steven.cowling@sonera.com>
Subject: bread in fat_access not found (error from Redhat 6)
The following error was scrolled down the screen:
bread in fat_access not found
We are running Redhat version 6 on a PC and it has been running fine for about 6 months. The latest work done has been to start using CVS which was installed with the initial installation of Redhat. CVS has been working fine for about a week. Since the bread error appeared we are unable to login either at the console or remotely using telnet from windows. Every time we try to login the "login incorrect" error appears. We have tried all user names and root. The strange thing is that we can still use CVS from our Windows machines using WinCVS 1.0.6 to login and check files in and out. Basically we can't login normally at all. Has any body seen this before? Or know what 'bread' is? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Steve Cowling
Mon, 8
May 2000 13:50:15 -0500
From: <Stephen.W.Thomas@Nttc-Pen.Navy.Mil>
Subject: High Availability Hosting
In you latest issue of Linux Gazette you have an article titled
"Penguin power credited for 100.000% network
availability". This article mentions about different Classes
of Web Hosting based on Uptime. Where on the net can I find a
definitive source for these different classes?
Thanks,
Steve.
Wed, 10
May 2000 09:49:25 -0400
From: Ruven Gottlieb <igadget@earthlink.net>
Subject: Redirecting kdm output from console to file
Hi,
I've been trying to figure out how to redirect console output
from tty1 to a file when starting kdm.
I use an alias:
startx="startx >& /root/startx.txt"with startx to send output to /root/startx.txt, but I can't figure out what to do to get the same thing to happen with kdm.
Tue, 09
May 2000 23:22:52 +0530
From: "pundu" <
pundu@mantraonline.com>
Subject: calculate cpu load
Hi,
I would like to know how one can calculate cpu load and memory
used by processes as shown by 'top' command. It would be nice if
anyone can explain me how you could do these by writing your own
programs, or by any other means.
Mon, 8 May 2000 10:32:25 +0000
(GMT)
From: Jimmy O'Regan <jimregan@litsu.ie>
Subject: Is There a Version of PC/NFS for Linux?
I have the O'Reilly book Managing NFS and NIS and there is a
section in the back of the book called PC/NFS describing a Unix
utility that enables a PC DOS machine to access a Unix machine
using the NFS file system as an extended DOS file system. I am
wondering if there is a Linux version of this available?
J.
[As far as I was aware, that program is an NFS client for the PC - it runs
on DOS, and lets you use NFS from a remote UNIX box. If I'm right, the
standard version should work with Linux.
You'd be better off setting up Samba though. It does what you're looking
for - makes Linux look like an MS server. This would be better for Ghost,
as Ghost works on MS shares. -Alex.]
Mon, 1 May 2000 08:57:32 -0700
From: lisa simpson <rflores@pssi-intl.com>
Subject: Mandrake and tab
When you hit the TAB key under a shell in Mandrake, it gives a
list instantly unlike in Redhat where you have to hit tab twice,
if there are several similar entries. How do I disable that
behavior?
[Look in the shell manual page under the options section. There are
options you can set that control this behavior. I don't remember
the names offhand, and it's different for each shell. -Ed.]
Thu, 11
May 2000 08:47:38 -0700
From: <agomez2@axtel.com.mx>
Subject: Installation of Linux using an HP 486/25NI
Hello,
I hope that you can help me, I´m new to linux and I´m trying to
install it using an HP 486 25 MHz.
The BIOS does not has the capability to recognize a second IDE
drive. (I have upgraded the BIOS to the latest available version
from HP website support)
The Motherboard has an integrated NIC, (I also have a 3COM
3c509).
I can not find the way to start the installation, since I have
Linux Mandrake as well as Turbolinux on CDROM.
I have tried doing it using the CDROM of my second PC running
windows 98, with cisco TFTP server and a local LAN between both
PC´s using a coax. 10 base2 cable.
Where can I find a detailed explanation with some suggestions to
my problem? The manuals included with my linux flavours are not
detailed enough, they assume that I have a CDROM for linux
installation
How about an installation from a FTP site?, where can I find some
DETAILED information about that?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Sincerely,
Alex
Thu, 11
May 2000 08:36:27 -0700
From: NANCY Philippe <Philippe.NANCY@UCB.FR>
Subject: Energy star support
Last year I bought one of these cheap(er) east-asian PC computers
(like many of us ?) with the Energy Star feature (i.e. No more
need to press any button to power off).
But this feature is implemented with M$ Win... and I've no idea
of the
way they manage the hardware behind this process.
So, as I recently installed a Corel distribution, I would like to
know if there is any mean to power off directly from Linux, and
not Shutdown-And-Restart, Open-M$Windows and Quit-From-There (and
Decrease-My-Coffee-Stock ;-} )
Thank you for your help.
Fri, 12
May 2000 07:02:37 -0700 (PDT)
From: Surfer PR <SurferPR1@excite.com>
Subject: Help with Voodoo3
I have followed every instruction I could find on how to install the voodoo3 and MESA and all the 3d tests run just fine... but when I try to run any game that uses glide or mesa (quakeII) I try all the renderes but it does not work and continues to use the very lame software.... I have all my resolutions set... I am mainly having problems with the glide2x.so or something like that.. everything else in Linux (Mandrake 7.0) is fine...
Please help me.
Mon, 15 May 2000 08:53:49 -0700
From: "VanTuyl, George" <George.VanTuyl@voicestream.com>
Subject: Backup to a CD- Re-Writeable drive
I have been asked to put together a backup strategy for the
company's Red Hat 6.1 Linux gateway server. The backup medium
chosen "not by this individual" is a HP 9200I parallel
port CD re-writeable drive /burner.
I would like to here some reflections and recommendations on this
strategy please.
Thanks gvt.
Mon, 15 May 2000 12:33:44 +0100
From: <marco.brouwer@nl.abb.com>
Subject: image
Hi,
Do you know where I can get the "Dont fear the Penguis"
logo names : linux-dont-f.jpg Or can you send it me...
cu
Wed, 17 May 2000 13:15:28 -0400
From: "Jeff Houston" <jhouston42@worldspy.net>
Subject: Video help
Howdy I have 2 problems. First and foremost I believe is when I
boot up linux none of my window managers will work. In my old
computer they did but not in my new one. I think it is because my
graphics card is not compatible but not sure about that I know
that it is not listed in setup but neither was my graphics card
in my other computer. Anyway I went to the website of my graphics
card and they had a file to supposedly add support for my card to
linux but how do i go about installing it? It is gzipped and to
be honest I have no clue where I am or what I am doing once I get
logged in to linux without any of the window managers. I have
only had redhat about 3 days now:) Anyway I have the file I
supposedly need on a floppy, but dont have any idea what to do
with it now. Alos after I installed RedHat for some reason Win98
became EXTREMELY slow and is giving me probs and a lot of
programs not responding any idea why this is?
Thanks for any and all help you can give me.
signed, NEWBIE
[It would seem that you are -extremely- confused here Jeff. It would appear you have no idea how to use the BASH prompt. Obviously, you need to read up upon the subject - http://www.linuxdoc.org has a variety of tutorials and howtos for Linux. Have you tried running 'Xconfigurator' (remember folks, it's case sensative)? See if your graphics card is listed there. To unzip a file that's gzipped, use the 'gunzip' command. That's about as much as I can tell you, since you do not provide enough information. As for your Win98 slowdown problem, I really see no link between installing Linux and that type of problem. Mabye I'm wrong, or mabye it's just you being a bit paranoid :) -Alex.]
Wed, 17
May 2000 10:12:38 -0700
From: "Jeffrey X" <krixsoft@hotmail.com>
Subject: "run of input data" error
I recently compiled the RedHat kernel 2.2.12-20. Everything
went well and I can start new kernel from lilo. Lilo.conf
looks like:
....<
image=/boot/vmlinuz label=linux root=/dev/hda5The problem I ran into is that I copied "bzImage" to "/boot/vmlinuz", ran lilo, and rebooted the system. When I tried to start new kernel with label "linux", the system halted with the following messages:
image=/usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage label=new root=/dev/hda5 ....
"Loading linux....." "Uncompressing Linux......" ran out of imput data" "-- System halted"Why? Where is the problem ? I had a 128MHz phsical RAM and 256MHz /swap.
17 May 2000 13:12:55 -0000
From: "narender malhan" <malhan@rediffmail.com>
Subject: linuxsoftwareraid HELP
Dear Sir,
I want to configure my linux box for mirroring(RAID1) with SCSI
cards. I
want help or HOWTO documents regarding this.
Hope u 'll reply soon,
waiting for an early reply,
yours,
singh.
Mon, 22 May 2000 11:56:08 +0200
From: REVET Bernard <bmrevet@igr.fr>
Subject: VIRUSES on the Net !!!
Many articles have been written in the press concerning the virus
"I love You " and similar one
It would be appreciated to have a general article in the Linux
Gazette about the problem of viruses as many computers have both
Microsoft Windows and Linux installed . What are the protections
of Linux against virus intrusions ? What
differentiates Microsoft OS from Linux concerning this problem?
Is it safe or reasonable to continue to use Microsoft Windows as
it costs so much to the community to get rid of these viruses? To
these financial worries one can add updating systems 95 Versions,
98, Millenium , plus WWW browser plus bugs plus plus.
Bernard
[I'm sure it's been said before, many, many times. But, just for the point of clarity, I'l say it again. Virii (viruses) are virtually a non-issue in Linux, especially those like the love bug. I myself have never expereinced that particular virus, but I've read about Linux users who have, and, after using a bit of common sense, I've come to the conclusion that it could not affect a Linux box. Why? The love bug is a Visual BASIC script designed to run on Windows computers. Under Linux, you could just download the script and read it, without it doing any damage to your system. Most virii will have little affect on Linux, most are Windows-centric, and only designed to run under the aforementioned GUI. There are virus scanners available for Linux, and true, there are Linux specific Virii. However, I wouldn't waste the time of the download if I was you - the odds of you getting one are -extremely low-. Thankyou, and goodnight. -Alex.]
Sat, 20 May 2000 12:02:59 -0500 (COT)
From: Servicios Telematicos <servicios@r220h253.telecom.com.co>
Subject: Missing root password
Hello
I use linux red hat 6.1 but my friend Fabian change the lilo
configurations and the root password. Please help me.
I need change the lilo configuration and root password.
Thanks,
victoriano sierra
Barranquilla
Colombia
Thu, 11 May 2000 13:19:41 -0500
From: Juan Pablo <j_pablo18@yahoo.com>
Subject: Linux
Hello, I want to know if there is books, texts, etc. of linux in spanish . Where explains HOW TO USE it? Thanks!!!
[See below about an upcoming Spanish translation of the Gazette. Also, the Linux Journal site has a section listing the Linux Users Groups in many countries. Perhaps you can find one near you. Where are you located? http://www.linuxjournal.com/glue . -Ed.]
Thu, 11 May 2000 13:19:41 -0500
From: Warren <warren@guano.org>
Subject: Spiro Linux
Were you ever contacted by someone at Spiro Linux? I am searching for information on the distribution, but the published website, http://www.spiro-linux.com, is not answering.
No, I haven't. The domain doesn't exist now. You can try a search engine. I'm printing this in case one of our readers knows.
I called the number for SPIRO-Linux, +1 (402) 375-4337, and an automated attendent identified the company as "Inventive Communications".
Web searches turn up a lot of reviews, but no news on what happened to the company.
Thu, 11 May 2000 13:19:41 -0500
From: <jshock@linuxfreemail.com>
Subject: Windoze 98 under WINE
I know wine is meant for running windows applications, but is it also possible to just run windows 98 from within linux using Wine? I tried to run win.com with wine, but i got a dosmod error of some sort. If it is possible to run windoze 98 under linux WINE then please tell me how; thanx in advance.
Thu, 11 May 2000 13:19:41 -0500
From: Eric Ford <eford@eford.student.princeton.edu>
Subject: read-only -> read/write
Back when I ran NetBSD, there was a way I could mount (or link?) a directory from a read-only medium (CD-ROM, NFS that I only have read permission for, etc.) to a directory on my hard disk as read-write. If I added a file to the directory, it would be stored on my hd. If I modified a file, then it would save my version on my hd and transparently use that version rather the version on the ro medium. If I deleted a file, it stored something locally so it knew to make it appear as if that file wasn't there.
Can I do this in Linux? If so, how?
Thu, 11 May 2000 13:19:41 -0500
From: Amrit Rajbansh <amrit_101@rediffmail.com>
Subject: remote login methods
My workstation has presently a damaged hard disk is there any provision that i can directly boot from the server using a linux bootable floppy,instead of installing a new hardisk in the work station
waiting eagerly for your reply
Sat, 29 Apr 2000 13:02:46 +0200
From: Jan-Hendrik Terstegge <helge@jhterstegge.de>
Subject: Linux Gazette - German translation
Hi folks.
I love the Linux Gazette, but the last time I think there are more and more Linux users in Germany who didn't speak english (yes it's possible to use Linux without speaking English. The SuSE does a very good translation) or have really problems to speak it. I think most of them want to learn a lot about Linux, but there are not so much german-languaged Pages. So I think if would be nice if there are some guys speaking english and german very well who help me to translate the Linux Gazette.
[As you know, we very much like to see versions of the Gazette in other languages. If you can translate a few articles per issue and put them up on a web site, that will be a start. Perhaps seeing the articles there will encourage some other people to offer to help. Remember to add your site to our mirrors list using the form at the bottom of http://www.linuxgazette.com/mirrors.html-Ed.]
Wed, 3 May 2000 08:33:41 -0700
From: Karin Bakker
Subject: Re: Linux gazette in a German version
How can I get the gazette in a German version ?
[A German-speaking reader or group will have to translate it and host it on their web site. This is how all our foreign-language mirrors work.Just this week I get a letter from somebody who may be willing to translate part of it but he's looking for others to do some of the work. Let's see if I can find his e-mail address... Here it is: Jan-Hendrik Terstegge <helge@jhterstegge.de>
Would you like to speak with him and see if you guys can figure out how to get a translation off the ground? -Ed.]
Sun, 30 Apr 2000 10:14:36 -0400
From: usrloco <usrloco@userlocal.com>
Subject: userlocal.com
I just wanted to thank you for listing my site (userlocal.com) in the May issue of Linux Gazette.
Mon, 1 May 2000 21:58:34 -0500
From: Brad Schrunk <schrunk@mediaone.net>
Subject: SuSE Linux and Microsoft medialess OS
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.
Wed, 3 May 2000 21:02:05 +0200
From: Alan Ward <award@mypic.ad>
Subject: RE: Here comes another article
Just a line to mention I liked a lot the new look. You also did well to put the programs in separate files.
Sat, 06 May 2000 01:53:15 -0400
From: Charlie Robinson <crrobin@iglou.com>
Subject: New Logo
Sir,
I am very excited about Linux and the work that you and your staff perform. Because I am very much a "newbie", I turn to your web site religiously every month. Thanks for all of the hand holding and the impressive looking new logo - I like it.
Thu, 18 May 2000 11:28:04 +0100
From: Paul Sims <psims@lombard.co.uk>
Subject: new logo
Nice new logo - well done!
Mon, 08 May 2000 16:42:12 +1200
From: Linux Gazette <gazette@ssc.com>
Subject: Rsync
Ewen McNeill <ewen@catalyst.net.nz>
and others wrote in about difficulties mirroring LG after we installed
wu-ftpd. In response, we have installed anonymous rsync also.
Many people
find rsync more convenient to use than mirror, and
it also has the advantage that it transfers only the changed portions of files,
saving bandwidth.
Hints for using rsync with Linux Gazette are in the
LG FAQ, question 14.
-Ed.
Tue, 09 May 2000 01:46:50 -0500
From: Felipe E. Barousse <fbarousse@piensa.com>
Subject: Spanish translation of Linux Gazette
Sirs:
I noticed on your mirrors list that there are "none known" translations to Spanish of Linux Gazette.
We are a Linux consulting firm based in Mexico City and with operations all across Latin America and the Caribbean.
We would like to take the task of translating LG into Spanish. We are able to coordinate a team of technical translators, Linux / Unix specialized and, eventually, when translated, host those pages in our web site.
I would like to know your opinion about this idea and, if approved, make all required arrangements for this to happen. We are also open to discuss any other outstanding issues to accomplish this project.
Hoping to hear from you soon.
[The translation is expected to go live on June 1 at http://www.piensa.com. The site has been added to the mirrors list. -Ed.]
Wed, 10 May 2000 13:50:05 -0400
From: Aurelio_Martínez_Dalis <aureliomd@cantv.net>
Subject: Suscribing Information
My Name is Aurelio Martinez (aureliomd@cantv.net).I am a linux beginner, and I have access to Internet only by e-mail. Is it possible to receive Linux Gazzete in HTML format by e-mail ? Thanks.
[Quoting from the LG FAQ:
The Gazette is too big to send via e-mail. Issue #44 is 754 KB; the largest issue (#34) was 2.7 MB. Even the text-only version of #44 is 146 K compressed, 413 K uncompressed. If anybody wishes to distribute the text version via e-mail, be my guest. There is an announcement mailing list where I announce each issue; e-mail lg-announce-request@ssc.com with "subscribe" in the message body to subscribe. Or read the announcement on comp.os.linux.announce.
You'll have to either read the web version or download the FTP files.
I asked our sysadmin whether we could set up a mailing list for the
Gazette issues themselves, and he was unwilling, again because of the size issue. Many mail transport systems are configured to reject messages larger than 1 or 1.5 MB. "And I don't want my sysadmin mailbox stuffed chock full of bounced 4M emails."Note to mirrors:
We receive at least one request a month to send the
Gazette via e-mail. So there is definitely reader demand for it. If you wish to offer Gazette via e-mail, you would need to send out the current issue's FTP file along with lg-base-new (the changed shared files) every month. Users would somehow need access to lg-base (all the shared files) when they subscribe and whenever they reinstall the Gazette. I don't know how you would handle changes to the FTP files later (i.e., corrections to back issues). -Ed.]
Wed, 17 May 2000 10:23:37 +0300
From: Shelter-Afrique <info@shelterafrique.co.ke>
Subject: Compliments
Thanks 4 maintaining this great magazine - its been really helpful!
D. S. Daju
[Thanks for the vote of encouragement. -Ed.]
Mon, 22 May 2000 09:11:22 EDT
From: <LFessen106@aol.com>
Subject: Kudo's
Hello! My name is Linc Fessenden and I first want to congratulate you on an outstanding magazine! I also happen to run a Linux User Group (Lehigh Valley Linux User Group) in eastern Pennsylvania. We were wondering if you might be willing to donate any promotional item(s) that we could give away at a meeting to help increase Linux enthusiasm and awareness, and also to promote the Gazette? Please let me know, and keep up the great work!
[Thanks for the feedback. We do not currently have any Gazette-specific merchandise. I have forwarded your request to our GLUE coordinator (GLUE = Groups of Linux Users Everywhere, http://www.linuxjournal.com/glue) who can give you further info. -Ed.]
Sat, 20 May 2000 12:55:34 +0200
From: Maciej Jablonski <maciekj@pik-net.pl>
Subject: a comment about page
On Polish version version of on-line Linux Gazette there are empty sides, for example: Accessing Linux from DOS!?
[Could you please send me some URLs that have the wrong behavior so I can see what the problem is? The master copy (all the way back in issue #1) is coming up fine.Each mirror is responsible for its own site. We do not update the mirrors centrally. -Ed.]
Sun, 30 Apr 2000 06:14:54 +0200
From: Meino Cramer <user@domain.nospam.com>
Subject: Moonlight-Atelier 3D ... sigh
Dear Editor!
In on one of the articles of issue 53 of the Linux Gazette Moonlight Atelier 3D is mentioned as a 3D-modeller and raytracer.
Unfortunately this program has been taken from the WEB for what reason ever.
Please take a look at www.moonlight3D.org.
I have used this program before its "shutdown" and I am really sad, that there is neither suppport nor any updates any more.
May be you can achieve some informations about this case ?
Thank you very much for your help and for the Linux Gazette!
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Contents: |
June 2000 Linux Journal
The June issue of Linux Journal is on newsstands now. This issue focuses on People Behind Linux.
Linux Journal has articles that appear "Strictly On-Line". Check out the Table of Contents at http://www.linuxjournal.com/issue74/index.html for articles in this issue as well as links to the on-line articles. To subscribe to Linux Journal, go to http://www.linuxjournal.com/subscribe/index.html.
For Subcribers Only: Linux Journal archives are available on-line at http://interactive.linuxjournal.com/
Best
Best Linux 2000 R2-Moscow is a Russian-language version of the Best Linux distribution, which is also available in English, Swedish and Finnish.
Bluetooth
Las Vegas, NV May 9, 2000 Today at Networld+Interop (N+I), Axis Communications is demonstrating a new wireless solution that provides broadband access to the Internet and LANs for a wide range of emerging wireless devices. General availability is expected in the fourth quarter. The Bluetooth Access Point will be used to create local "hot spots," areas where instant wireless broadband access to the Internet or a network is available to Bluetooth enabled devices, such as cell phones, PDAs, laptops and emerging Webpads. These hot spots will enable new and innovative services for a variety of user environments, in the office, home, hotels, retail establishments and other public places such as the airport.
In the hotel of the future, while you check into your room, your laptop checks into the office - retrieves e-mail, voicemail and accesses corporate Intranet services - all with broadband speed. Phone calls will be routed automatically via telephony services to your personal mobile phone, providing one number simplicity and lower-cost phone bills. The hotel will offer new conveniences: such as easy wireless faxing and printing from anywhere in the hotel to the business center, poolside food service ordering and streamlined checkout payment all from your PDA.
The Bluetooth Access Point from Axis is the first to support both data and voice services. The product platform is based on Axis' integrated system-on-a-chip technology and embedded Linux, which includes a Bluetooth stack for Linux developed by Axis and recently released under GNU General Public License (GPL) to the open source community.
Newlix
OTTAWA, Ontario - May 2, 2000 - Newlix Corporation announced today a strategic relationship with 3D Microcomputers Wholesale and Distribution to market its Newlix OfficeServer, a Linux-based network operating system.
Newlix is focusing on building an outstanding array of 'set-and-forget' performance features into a reliable, cost-effective network operating system, which runs on standard Intel-based hardware. The company's flagship product, Newlix OfficeServer, is a robust network operating system which features plug-and-play software installation coupled with easy-to-use, web-based configuration tools.
3D Microcomputers is the largest Canadian-owned manufacturer of computer systems. The company provides products and services to 6,000 computer resellers across Canada.
Ottawa, ON - May 3, 2000 - Newlix Corporation and Look Communications Inc. today announced a marketing partnership to promote the use of Newlix OfficeServer, a turnkey Linux-based network operating system for small and mid-sized businesses looking for secure, company-wide Internet access.
Look Communications is a leading wireless broadband carrier and one of the largest Internet Service Providers in Canada. The Newlix OfficeServer will be included in a host of Web-based applications Look offers to support business Internet requirements.
Newlix Corporation (www.newlix.com) is a privately funded company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario and founded in 1999. Corel Corporation (Nasdaq: CORL; TSE: COR) is an investor in the company. Newlix develops software for an easy-to-use Linux-based network operating system that meets the networking and internetworking needs of small to medium-sized businesses and provides OEMs, VARs and other partners with the essential building blocks to custom tailor networking solutions. The company's flagship product, Newlix OfficeServer, provides a robust, worry-free, 'set-and-forget' communications and networking platform, designed to be delivered in partnership with hardware vendors, connectivity providers and application service providers.
Red Hat
Red Hat releases 64-bit Itanium Linux (ZDnet article)
(
Official press release from Red Hat)
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--April 25, 2000--Red Hat, Inc., announced today that it is now taking orders for developer tools and services for the embedded Linux market. The Red Hat Embedded DevKit (EDK) begins shipping immediately and answers the demand for open source software and tools in the growing embedded space, which includes Internet appliances and handhelds.
The Red Hat EDK provides an integrated development environment (IDE) to deliver software developers everything needed to quickly and easily create embedded Linux applications on a wide spectrum of pervasive computing platforms. The targeted markets include manufacturers who are building Internet infrastructure appliances and consumer Internet appliances, as well as the traditional telecom, datacom, industrial and embedded enterprise markets.
The Red Hat Embedded DevKit is a completely open source software package and is sold via redhat.com with varying levels of services starting at $199.95.
A key advantage to the Red Hat Embedded DevKit is access to the premium support services that Red Hat has pioneered in the open source space. Red Hat Support customers receive assistance on the usage of the Embedded DevKit and response to questions about embedded Linux. In addition, customers are entitled to priority response on corrections to any EDK or kernel problems they submit. This ensures that customer projects stay on schedule.
For EDK, Red Hat offers two types of premium support:
Incident support for small workgroups, and Platinum Support for larger development teams. Incident packages provide the customer with priority response on a fixed number of requests. Platinum packages provide priority response on an unlimited number of requests, but are based on the number of software developers using the EDK.
LuteLinux
A distribution from Vancouver, Canada.
Filesystem Hierarchy Standard 2.1
FHS 2.1 is done!
I'm pleased to announce the release of FHS 2.1, a updated version of the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. FHS is part of the draft Linux Standard Base specification, which will soon be updated to reflect FHS 2.1.
FHS 2.1 supersedes both FSSTND 1.2 and FHS 2.0. There have been some significant improvements and bug fixes since FHS 2.0. Please see the FHS web site for details. (It has been a few years since the last official release, so check it out if you're using a previous version of FHS or FSSTND.)
What is FHS?
FHS defines a common arrangement of the many files and directories in Unix-like systems (the filesystem hierarchy) that many different developers and groups have agreed to use. See below for details on retrieving the standard.
The FHS specification is used by the implementors of Linux distributions and other Unix-like operating systems, application developers, and open-source writers. In addition, many system administrators and users have found it to be a useful resource.
FHS or its predecessor, FSSTND, is currently implemented by most major Linux distributions, including Debian, Red Hat, Caldera, SuSE, and more.
FHS 2.1 and other FHS-related information is available at http://www.pathname.com/fhs/
Information on the Linux Standard Base is available at http://www.linuxbase.org/
Daniel Quinlan <quinlan at pathname.com>
FHS editor
Linux Standard Base chair
Upcoming conferences & events
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Strictly eBusiness Solutions Expo |
June 7 & 8, 2000 Minneapolis Convention Center Minneapolis, MN Visit www.strictlyebusinessexpo.com
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USENIX |
June 19-23, 2000 San Diego, CA www.usenix.org/events/usenix2000/
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LinuxFest |
June 20-24, 2000 Kansas City, KS www.linuxfest.com
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PC Expo |
June 27-29, 2000 New York, NY www.pcexpo.com
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LinuxConference |
June 27-28, 2000 Zürich, Switzerland www.linux-conference.ch
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"Libre" Software Meeting #1 (Rencontres mondiales du logiciels libre), sponsored by ABUL (Linux Users Bordeaux Association) |
July 5-9, 2000 Bordeaux, France French: lsm.abul.org/lsm-fr.html English: lsm.abul.org
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Summer COMDEX |
July 12-14, 2000 Toronto, Canada www.zdevents.com/comdex
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* O'Reilly/2000 Open Source Software Convention |
July 17-20, 2000 Monterey, CA conferences.oreilly.com/convention2000.html
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Ottawa Linux Symposium |
July 19-22, 2000 Ottawa, Canada www.ottawalinuxsymposium.org
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IEEE Computer Fair 2000 Focus: Open Source Systems |
August 25-26, 2000 Huntsville, Alabama www.ieee-computer-fair.org
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Atlanta Linux Showcase |
October 10-14, 2000 Atlanta, GA www.linuxshowcase.org
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Fall COMDEX |
November 13-17, 2000 Las Vegas, NV www.zdevents.com/comdex
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USENIX Winter - LISA 2000 |
December 3-8, 2000 New Orleans, LA www.usenix.org
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News from the E-Commerce Times
The E-Commerce Times has a Linux section: http://www.ecommercetimes.com/linux/
Caldera sponsors Linux Professional Institute's (LPI)
exam-based certification program, TurboLinux partners with Computer
Associates for Unicenter, WordPerfect hits the 1-million-download mark.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/news/articles2000/000517-tc.shtml
One Year Ago: Penguin and Linux Taking Center-Stage.
(An article originally published in May 1999.)
For Linux, 1998 was kind of like the year its voice broke....
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/news/articles2000/000503-tc.shtml
The End of Linux Hysteria? 2000 could be the year that Linux comes fully
into its own....
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/news/articles2000/000509-1.shtml
IBM and Linux: A Test of Metal
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/news/articles2000/000522-1.shtml
Cobalt news
ONS
NAMPA, Idaho and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., - May 17, 2000 - HostPro, Inc., (www.hostpro.net), a Web hosting subsidiary of Micron Electronics , and Cobalt Networks, Inc., (www.cobalt.com)today announced an alliance to expand HostPro's Web hosting programs by offering dedicated server solutions on Cobalt RaQ 3 server appliances. The arrangement enables HostPro to offer direct sales and support to its dedicated Web hosting customers by using a server appliance platform specifically designed by Cobalt Networks for dedicated hosting.
Orlando, Florida, May 22, 2000 - Cobalt Networks, Inc. today announced Cobalt StaQware, a high availability clustering solution that ensures the uptime of business critical Web sites and applications. StaQware, which runs on Cobalt's RaQ 3i server appliances, offers 99.99 percent availability and requires no customization or modification to applications.
RAID solutions for Linux
Hello!
I read several of your Linux Gazette issues. Just to let you know- my company sells a line of RAID products that are Linux compatible.
Our address is www.raidweb.com
The advantages of our products are that we sell systems utilizing either SCSI or IDE hard drives. Also, our RAIDs are O/S independent--useful if your readers are utilizing multiple-boot or different operating systems.
NetMax products
Ann Arbor, Michigan, May 8, 2000 - Cybernet Systems Corporation today announced two new product releases with enhanced features for its popular Linux-based NetMAX Internet appliance software line, providing consumers with more capabilities and flexibility at the same low cost and in the same easy, 15-minute installation format. The NetMAX Internet Server Suite now includes the ability to host multiple domains on a single IP address, and improvements to the NetMAX FireWall Suite include a proxy server with 100 MB of cached storage to speed network performance.
Computer I/O streaming telecom server
Santa Clara, CA -- May 22, 2000 -- Computer I/O Corporation, a provider of communications servers, embedded software and services, announced the Easy I/O (TM) T1/E1 Streaming Server, a high-performance communications server specifically designed for data insertion, capture and analysis applications.
The Linux-based T1/E1 Streaming Server functions as a communictations probe enabling client applications to directly access T1/E1 DS0 channels from the LAN environment.
LinuxMall and EBIZ (TheLinuxStore) to merge
DENVER-- LinuxMall.com Inc. and EBIZ Enterprises Inc., announced today both parties have executed a letter of intent (LOI) to merge. The merger of LinuxMall.com and TheLinuxStore.com, a division of EBIZ Enterprises, will position the combined entity as the largest vendor-neutral Linux shopping mall and destination on the Internet. The resulting company will offer the most comprehensive selection of Linux products and solutions, information and services. The companies' combined prior fiscal year revenues were more than $25 million.
Under terms of the agreement, the new corporation will be known as LinuxMall.com. Today, LinuxMall.com is the No. 1 e-commerce site for the Linux community and was recently listed the No. 1 shopping destination in Linux Magazine's "Top One Hundred Linux Sites." The rise of the Linux operating system has been one of the top technology stories of the year as companies are adopting this system within their enterprises. TheLinuxStore.com Web site will become a store within the LinuxMall.com collection of online stores.
The new Company intends to apply for NASDAQ listing after successful completion of the proposed merger.
Software Carpentry Design Competition Finalists
The Software Carpentry Project is pleased to announce the selection of finalists in its first Open Source Design Competition. There were many strong entries, and we would like to thank everyone who took the time to participate.
We would also like to invite everyone who has been involved to contact the teams listed below, and see if there is any way to collaborate in the second round. Many of you had excellent ideas that deserve to be in the final tools, and the more involved you are in discussions over the next two months, the easier it will be for you to take part in the ensuing implementation effort.
The 12 entries that are going forward in the "Configuration", "Build", and "Track" categories are listed at the URL below. The four prize-winning entries in the "Test" category are also listed, we are putting this section of the competition on hold for a couple of months while we try to refine the requirements. You can inspect these entries on-line at http://www.software-carpentry.com/first-round-results.html
Stalker: StrongARM version of CommuniGate Pro
From the Big Iron down to a Pocket Server. Stalker Announces a Linux StrongARM version of the CommuniGate Pro Mail Server
MILL VALLEY, CA - May 15, 2000 - Just two weeks after the successful release of the AS/400 version of CommuniGate Pro, Stalker Software, Inc. today announced the Linux StrongARM version of their highly scalable, carrier-grade messaging server.
CommuniGate Pro was initially designed to be a highly portable messaging system that can effectively use the resources of any operating system on any hardware platform. Current installations include small to mid-size ISPs on up to the extra large ISPs and Fortune 500 companies.
With this release, Stalker expands the number of supported Linux architectures: besides the "regular" Intel-based systems, CommuniGate Pro can be deployed on PowerPC, MIPS, Alpha, Sparc, and now StrongARM processors running the Linux(r) operating system.
The highly scalable messaging platform can support 100,000 accounts with an average ISP-type load on a single server, and the CommuniGate Pro unique clustering mechanisms allow it to support a virtually unlimited number of accounts.
For office environments and smaller ISPs, CommuniGate Pro makes an ideal Internet appliance when installed on MIPS-based Cobalt Cubes(r) and, now, Rebel.com's NetWinder(r) mini-servers.
The CommuniGate Pro Free Trial Version is available at http://www.stalker.com/CommuniGatePro/.
First UK Linux Conference Set to Challenge IT in Business
First UK Linux Conference Set To Challenge IT In Business SuSE Linux Ltd, Europe's leading Linux distributor, will be hosting the first UK Linux Conference on 1st June at the Olympia Conference Centre in London. The Conference, in association with IBM, is set to position Linux as a viable option for the corporate desktop, whilst preserving its traditional role of powering many corporate servers. Leading industry figures, including Larry Augustin of VA Linux, Alan Cox of Red Hat, Dirk Hohndel of SuSE Linux and Vice President of the Xfree86 Project, and John Hall from Linux International, will discuss issues ranging from the origins and direction of Linux, to the increasing relevance it has in the business environment today.
Magic Software news
IRVINE, CA (May 17, 2000) - Magic Software Enterprises announced completion of two key acquisitions. Magic purchased a majority interest in Sintec Call Centers Ltd. (Sintec), a Magic Solutions Partner that is the developer of the leading call center management software in Israel. Magic plans to market and sell the Magic-based solution -- which already has been implemented extensively in Israel -- worldwide under the brandname, "Magic eContacit" Magic also has acquired ITM, another Magic Solutions Partner with expertise in the development and implementation of e-commerce projects.
IRVINE, CA (May 22, 2000) - Magic Software Enterprises (Nasdaq: MGIC), a leading provider of state-of-the-art application development technology and business solutions, announced today that it has signed a deal with Compass Group PLC, a major worldwide foodservice organization, to deliver an e-procurement solution. The e-procurement solution, which is being developed and implemented by Magic's French subsidiary at Compass Group France, will be built using Magic's award-winning business-to-business e-commerce solution, Magic eMerchant. The new application is expected to become operational in June 2000.
"We chose Magic over Oracle and IBM because they were able to provide us a competitive, fixed-price solution that could be implemented much more quickly and efficiently than the other two, and would adhere exactly to our specific data model," said Ludovic Penin, Compass Group's IS director in France.
Solemates chooses Lutris Technologies
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - May 22, 2000 - Lutris Technologies, Inc., an Open Source enterprise software and services company, today announced that its Professional Services group was chosen to deliver the interactive customatix (www.customatix.com) Web site for Solemates. Customatix.com is an interactive E-commerce site that enables customers to design and build their own shoes click-by-click from the sole up.
Solemates, the company behind customatix.com, relied on Lutris Technologies' Professional Services group to develop a site capable of delivering the three billion trillion combinations of custom shoe designs that only a Web-based business could offer customers. Visitors to customatix.com can select from a vast assortment of shoe design elements, including sole heights, materials, colors, laces, and other options to build a uniquely individual pair of shoes.
Lutris made customatix.com come to life quickly. Using Enhydra (www.enhydra.org), a leading Open Source Java(tm)/XML application server, the Professional Services group built a complex, multi-faceted application, architecting a solution that integrates seamlessly with Solemates' partners, including UPS, Cybersource, and FaceTime. The Enhydra Open Source application server decreased Solemates' time-to-market to a fraction of what it could have been using closed source, proprietary software.
Using Enhydra XMLC, Lutris was able to deploy Solemates' business in five months-roughly half the time it would have taken without this innovation, and at a cost of approximately one-third of what a pioneering site typically costs, according to recent GartnerGroup survey data. Enhydra XMLC separates HTML design and coding from business logic, allowing interface designers and Java programmers to work simultaneously yet independently. Since a core benefit of customatix.com's vision lay in allowing customers to view their creations in real-time, Enhydra XMLC provided the precise technology to support such an inventive business strategy.
Linux Links
LinuxMall's Ask Linus forum.
Proton Media specializes in creating multimedia web presentations using Flash 4.0. The same presentation may be used as a trade-show kiosk and also given away as a "CD-ROM business card". (This URL requires Macromedia's Shockwave Flash plug-in. A link to the Linux version is available at the site.)
TheLinuxExperts.com sells Linux servers in North America and installs office LANs.
Firstlinux.com "I've installed Linux: What Next?" is a series of articles aimed at helping you realise the full potential of Linux.
Making the Palm/Linux Connection (O'Reilly article)
Universal Device Networking -- the Future is Here (LinuxDevices.com article)
AnchorDeskUK article about Red Hat's default login mishap
ZDNetUK article: "Linux took another major stride towards corporate acceptance last week, with IBM's announcement that IBM Global Services would support S/390 versions of Linux from SuSE and TurboLinux."
Can Linuxcare stay afloat? (ZDNetUK article) "The real story behind a potential open-source disaster."
Browser Wars: the Future Belongs to the Dinosaurs
MS Kerberos, "medialess" OS, hypocracy, Gnutella, and overenthusiastic open-source enthusiasts
Most of these are linked directly or indirectly from the indicated OSOpinion articles.
How to publish a trade secret (Microsoft's Keberos specification)
Microsoft's Gamble of a Lifetime (switching from selling software to on-line subscription services).
Open source is (so far) a road to nowhere
Microsoft - The Penguin's Buddy (some more ways MS is shooting itself in the foot)
Napster and Gnutella
Infoworld article about the "medialess" OS
new release of BORG
We would like to announce that the next version (v0.2.20) of BORG (BMRT Ordinary Rendering GUI) is now available for download at www.project-borg.org. BORG is now running on most of the BMRT supported platforms including LINUX, WinNT, SOLARIS. (Requires Java 1.1.7 or higher.)
Linux Accounting
I would like to announce the availability of AccountiX for LINUX. this is a full featured, modular accounting package. The source code is available in order to provide customization to fit an end-users needs. Information on the package is located at www.accountixinc.com.
Frank Quirk, President
AccountiX, Inc.
Loki: Heavy Gear II
With "Heavy Gear II" Loki Entertainment Software is opening the door to new dimensions in the Linux world: with 3D audio effects and joystick support, a further step has been taken towards the acceptance of Linux by the home user.
With the release of the first "big" Linux game, "Civilization: Call To Power" (awarded the "Best End User Product of 1999" by Linux Journal), Loki Entertainment has already made a name for itself. Just like its successors, "Heavy Gear II" makes optimal use of the qualities of Linux in the network, whereby multi-player games based on rounds, or real-time, are possible. Due to its success, it is no surprise that around a dozen more titles are planned on being ported to Linux for the year 2000.
Loki is currently placing its main emphasis on 3D sound support by means of OpenAL. "OpenAL represents a milestone for Linux," realizes Scott Draeker, president of Loki Entertainment Software. "Until now, 3D audio features in games were reserved for users of other platforms. This has all changed now."
OpenAL, entirely in the tradition of the Open Source community, is issued under the LPGL license (GNU Library Public License).
Loki released 7 front-line Linux game titles in 1999, and plans 16 titles for 2000. For more information, visit www.lokigames.com.
Loki: Quake III Arena Editor
We proudly announce the beta release of Linux SDK for use with Quake III Arena.
The full version of Linux SDK will benefit Linux enthusiasts and aspiring game developers alike by allowing them to create maps and game code modifications under Linux. Windows users have had this capability since the release of the original Quake game.
Linux SDK offers Linux users a toolchain for content creation. It combines software for image processing, conversion and editing with a fully-featured map editor compatible with the Quake III engine. The features include custom texturing, lighting, patches, shaders, entities and more. It is based in part on the QERadiant code from id Software, Inc.
Download the unsupported beta version.
Other software
Public demo of Kylix, Borland's Delphi for Linux.
Aestiva HTML/OS is a simple way to build a database designed for the web.
CRiSP is a programmer's editor 7.0 including file compare, FTP client, GUI and text modes, vi/emacs emulation, and much more. (21-day evaluation copy)
Cybozu Office 3 is an English version of Cybozu's Japanese office suite. Includes ten applications. Dowload the 60-day trial at http://cybozu.com/download/index.html
Canvas 7 Linux Beta 2 by Deneba provides vector drawing, diagramming, technical illustration, creative drawing, image editing, web graphics and page layout features in one powerful application. Download the beta from Deneba's web site.
MontaVista real-time scheduler for the Linux kernel. (For embedded applications.) Download source and documentation at http://www.mvista.com/realtime/rtsched.html
EiconCard Connections for Linux, when combined with an EiconCard network interface card, provides the wide area communications needs for an easy-to-use, low-cost, and easy-to-manage communications server. The flexibility of the EiconCard, when combined with this software, provides powerful IP Routing over various WAN protocols, making it ideal for applications such as Web Servers or Thin Server Appliances. In addition, many Linux-based embedded systems, such as point-of-sales, can use the X.25 connectivity built into the software. It will be available in June.
Opera has signed a deal with RSA to use RASFE Crypto-Ci 1.0 encryption software in its Opera web browser.
The Answer Guy
Greetings From Jim Dennis
LILO hangs --or--
question on rm command --or--
Suse Linux telnet problem --or--
question on trees --or--
Telnet --or--
>>>> HELP ! Name of the 1st GUI used by original AOL software ??? --or--
Win4Lin nand NT = nil --or--
login script --or--
linux --or--
Question from a quasi Novice... --or--
Thanx for -->Re: hanging the IFS to newline --or--
Home partition sizes --or--
calculate cpu load --or--
Scheduling 3rd party services --or--
a quick question --or--
Shared Libraries --or--
Passwords problems --or--
Dual Boot Questions. --or--
Greetings from Jim DennisI had a great time this weekend at an annual science fiction conference named Baycon. Heather and I were staff in their first terminal room, sponsored by Red Hat, LinuxCare, and VA Linux Systems and it was a rousing success. Other SF conventions are looking forward to doing the same.
Good news: Heather, my wife and principle editor, will be taking over the Answer Blurb. She's refined her 'lgazmail' PERL script to the point where she can take up the slack and has graciously agreed to take over responsibility for the monthly blurb as well.
Long time readers may recall that early Answer Guy columns had no blurbs. They also had no HTML formatting. The URLs weren't even wrapped in links! I'd been frustrated by this for some time --- from about the time that I realized that Marjorie (then the editor of LG) was publishing my responses as a column, (and that she had dubbed me with as "The Answer Guy" --- a title that still makes me nervous).
Heather agreed to step of to the plate and do the formatting. She tried a few mail-to-web utilities like MHOnArc, and John Callendar's Babymail, etc. Then she decided to derive her own from a Babymail source. So her script reads "Jim's e-mail markup hints" and converts it to reasonable HTML.
Heather also designed and drew the new Answer Guy Wizard (TM?) with its distinctive Question Crystal Ball and Answer Speak Bubble --- which visually refer to the question and answer speak bubbles throughout the column. (She's also added the pilcrow bubble for editorial comments).
In other words, Heather went way beyond just "wrapping the URLs in links" and completely overhauled the visual look of our column.
I should also note that Heather is no slouch technically. She has often helped me find answers to questions --- including the answers that I've published here.
When we did that overhaul I also decided to add the "blurbs" The idea was to say things of interest that were not in response to any questions. (I suppose I could've use a shill to jury rig the desired questions, but that would be cheating!).
The blurb has sometimes been editorial (commenting on the Mindcraft/Microsoft fiasco and the wonderful Linux community anti-FUD response). Sometimes it's been a summary and commentary on the sorts of questions we got in the previous month, feedback that we got from my answers, and any trends that we were seeing, etc.
For awhile I tried to identify a specific person and forum every month --- to recognize them with the "Answer Guy's Support Award." I wanted to point out where other individuals were providing lots of technical support in more specific forms of support in various fora. For instance in May I wanted to recognize Ben Collins of the Debian-SPARC mailing list. He seems to respond to most of the questions that show up there. (Unfortunately I was too much of a flake to keep that up for long. It's hard to dig up a really good new selection every month).
Of course there have also been the two April Fool's hoax blurbs and a few others that weren't really there.
The sad fact is that I don't have enough time to conceive and compose articles for this column every month. It is much easier for me to answer questions (react) than to write from scratch. (I tend to digress enough when there IS a question at hand. I'm a regular attention deficit train wreck when left to my own devices!).
Let me reassure everyone that I'm not leaving the "Answer Guy" column. I'm somewhat compulsive about answering technical questions, and I used to make a hobby out of USENet netnews before the advent of LG ensured that I get a 100 or so diverse Linux questions every month in my inbox. I sometimes still make it out to USENet --- though I dropped the uucp netnews feed that used to fill the disk on antares on a semi-regular basis! (Now I just telnet out to a shell account at my ISP, or use my $NNTPSERVER environment setting to get to his news server).
I'll also probably still insert a few comments to supplement Heather's.
Greetings from Heather SternHi everybody. I suppose I don't have to introduce myself now. I will also be taking on some deeper organizational features -- in the next few months we'll see a revamp of how Tips, the Mailbag, and Answer Guy messages are formatted -- though I think they won't look all that different.
Also, we'll have more Wizards joining us. Jim had from the early days conveived of this as The Answer Gang -- he was just helping an editor with a few technical notes, a role which anyone can play. The Mailbag and Tips is popular and more gurus are around, now. If you'd like to join The Answer Gang as a regular, let us know what your specialties are.
I'll have something more "Blurb"ish next month. On to the answers!
LILO Hangs in SwitzerlandFrom Tom on Fri, 05 May 2000
Hi Jim (or James? Is Jim short for James?)
First let me thank you for the work you're doing in the LG. I've
read it for about 2 years now and have seen lots of tips. Even the
AnswerGuy section is interesting, sometimes amusing... But let me
come to the point now
I have Suse Linux 6.3, Kernel 2.2.13, with NCR SCSI and 2 disks. With fdisk I set Boot=Y on /dev/sda1.
mtab looks like:
/dev/sda1 /boot /dev/sda2 / /dev/sdb1 /home
But mtab will be processed after LILO has loaded the kernel, right?
/etc/mtab might be out of sync with you /proc/mounts in cases where the system is in single user mode --- and the root filesystem is mounted read-only, or under other add circumstances. /proc might not be mounted in some other cases. The structure of the two files is similar, but not quite identical. I've experimented with making /etc/mtab a symlink to /proc/mounts (and adjusting a few startup scripts to cope with that). It seems to work.
The main commands that use /etc/mtab are the 'mount' command (when used with no arguments, to display the list of currently mounted filesystems) and the 'df' command (which displays the currently available free space on each mounted fs). Personally I think these (and any others that need this info) should be adjusted to use /proc/mounts in preference to /etc/mtab --- since this would be one step that might allow us to mount / in read-only mode.
Of course that should be abstracted through a library and it should still be able to use /etc/mtab for cases where /proc isn't available (particularly on some sorts of embedded systems).
But I digress.
lilo.conf looks like:
initrd = /boot/initrd # exists boot = /dev/sda # put the Bootstrap code here #-#-#-#-# image = /boot/vmlinuz # exists root = /dev/sda2 # the device holding / label = lx # short but unique :-)
When running lilo, it shows
Addes lx *
When rebooting the system, it hangs after printing LI. I've read the lilo-README. It says that this is caused by "geometry mismatch" or having moved "/boot/boot.b without running the map installer."
Uuuuh?!? What's the problem? I just don't get it ... Please help me. - Thank you!
Tom
Greez from Switzerland!
Try running /sbin/lilo -v -v (should give more verbose output).
LILO: linear DirectiveFrom Tom on Mon, 08 May 2000
Hello Jim
Thank you for your quick response!
Try adding the "linear" directive to the global section of your /etc/lilo.conf. That would be the part before the first "image=" directive.
I've done that and ... it works! Why does it? Is there a general problem
with SCSI-drive(r)s and the old style adressing C/H/S? AFAIK "linear" means
that the sectors on a disk are counted from 0 to n, as the SCSI does itself
on block devices. But now I'm digressing
Thanks again! Tom
Basically the boot loader prints the letters LILO one at a time, and each at a specific point in its boot process. This is useful for debugging and troubleshooting. LI says the the first stage boot loader completed, and the second stage boot loader was found, but the mapping data (used to find the kernels, etc) was not. This is usually due to a problem where the BIOS and the LILO loader are using incompatible blocking addressing modes. (One is using CHS --- cylinder/head/sector --- while the other is using LBA/linear).
Sometimes SCSI expect linear addressing, some SCSI controllers or controller/drive combinations emulate the old WD1003 (ST506) interface closely enough that CHS addresses will do.
Sometimes you need to switch your CMOS/BIOS to use UDMA/LBA modes and/or add the "linear" to your /etc/lilo.conf --- sometimes you need to just take the "linear" directive out of /etc/lilo.conf (and re-run /sbin/lilo, of course).
Homework Answer: All about 'rm'From The Phantom on Mon, 01 May 2000
Hello,
I'm wondering if you can answer a few questions on the UNIX rm command. I need a response before May 3rd if possible. Your assistance on this matter is greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and service. Here's the questions
Well, at least you had the brights to use a hotmail account rather than sending this from your flunkme@someuniv.edu address.
The rm unix command lowers the link of an inode. When the link count goes
to zero the inode is made available to the system and cleared of extraneous
information.
BTW: This definition is an oversimplification. When the link count is less than 1 AND THERE ARE NO OPEN FILE DESCRIPTORS ON THAT FILE then the system does some sort of maintenance on the inode and any data blocks that were assigned to it.
Exactly what the filesystem does depends on what type of fs it is, and on how it was implemented for that version of that flavor of UNIX.
Usually the inode is marked as "available" in some way --- so that it can be re-used for new files. Usually the data blocks are added to a free list, so that they can be allocated to other files.
(It is possible for some implementations to mark and reserve these to allow for some sort of "undelete" process --- and it would certainly be possible to have "purge" and "salvage" features for some versions of UNIX).
1) Explain link count?
On UNIX filesystems a directory entry is (usually) a link to an inode. (On some forms of UNIX, on some types of filesystems there may be exceptions to this. Some filesystems can store symbolic link data directly in their directory structures without dereferencing that through an inode; some of them can even store the contents of small files there. However --- in most cases the directory entry is a link to an inode.
This allows one to have multiple links to a file. In other words you can have many different names for a file --- and you can have identical names in different directories.
It turns out that most filesystems use this feature extensively to support the directory structure. Directories are just inodes that are mostly just like files. Somewhere you have a parent directory. It contains a link to you. Each of your subdirectories contains a ".." link to its parent (you). Thus each directory must contain a link count that is equal to it's number of sudirectories plus two (one for . and another for ../somelink.to.me).
(Note: On most modern forms of UNIX there is a prohibition against creating additional named hard links to directories -- this is apparently enforced in order to make things easier for fsck).
2) Explain why the name of the command is called remove (rm)?
3) What hapens to the blocks referenced by the inode when the
link count goes to zero?
Note: On some forms of UNIX the filesystem driver might implement a secure deleted feature which might implement arbitrarily complex sets of overwritting the data with NULs, with random data, etc. There is a special feature in Linux which is reserved for this use -- but which is not yet implemented. You might find similar features in your favorite form of UNIX.
4) What data is present in these blocks after the inode has been
cleared?
If you're thinking: "Ooooh! That means I can peek at other people's data after they remove it!" Think again. Any decent UNIX implementation will ensure that those data blocks are clear (zero'd out) as they are re-allocated.
5) How does the removal of an inode which is a symbolic link
change the answer to 3) and 4)?
Symbolic links may also be implemented by reference to an inode --- and by storing the target filename in the data blocks that are assigned to that inode. In which case they are treated just like any other file.
Note that removing a symbolic link with 'rm' should NEVER affect the target file links or inodes. The symbolic link is completely independent of the hard links to which they point and the inodes to which those refer.
Thank you for your help.
You may also have noticed that I was a bit vague on a number of points. Keep in mind that there is quite alot of this that depends on which version of UNIX you're using, which filesystem your talking about (Linux, for example supports over a dozen different types of local filesystem), and how you've configured it.
Of course you could learn quite a bit more about it by reading the sources to a Linux or FreeBSD kernel
Can't telnet to Linux serverFrom kd on Mon, 01 May 2000
I recently installed Suse Linux on a machine to be a server, but I cannot telnet to the linux server from my other machines. can you help?
~kelly
You could have been a bit more vague. You could have left out the word "telnet"
When asking people technical support questions you have to ask:
How many possible causes are there to this problem? How many of them have I eliminated? How have I eliminated them? Can I eliminate some more? What is the error message I'm getting (if any)? What was I expecting? What happened that didn't match that/those expection(s)?
For example: Can you ping the server from the client system? (That eliminates many IP addressing, routing, firewall and packet filtering questions). Can you telnet from that client to any other server? (That eliminates most of the questions that relate to proper client software/system configuration and function). Can I access any other service on this client? (Web server, file or print services, etc.)
Then you ask: What did I expect to happen when I telnetted to that system? I'd expect to get a set of responses something like:
Trying 123.45.67.89 Connected to myserver.mydomain.not Escape character is '^]'. Debian GNU/Linux 2.2 myserver.mydomain.not myserver login:
So, what did you get. Did you see the "Trying" line? That would mean that the telnet DNS or other hostname lookup returned something. Did the IP address in the trying line match that of your new server? That would mean that your DNS is correct! Did you get the "connected to" line? That suggests that the routing is correct. Did it just sit there for a long time? How long? What if you wait for five or ten minutes? Does it eventually connect?
It sounds like you have the old "double reverse DNS" problem. You are probably using DNS and you probably don't have proper reverse DNS (PTR) records for you client system(s). Do a search in the Linux Gazette archives for several discussions on this.
When you are getting free software and free support, it's important to do your homework. I typically will put about 10 hours into trying to solve a problem before I'll write up a question to post to the newsgroups, mailing lists, authors/maintainers, etc.
Of course I can understand part of the problem you might be facing. It sounds like you have little or no Linux experience, or at least little or no experience in setting up Linux networking.
You probaby don't know all of the elements that go into "telnetting into your server." Here's the basic rundown:
You have to have a client (telnet command). That has to be on a system with TCP/IP installed, configured and working. It must have an IP address and a route to your server.
You have to have a server (in.telnetd). It would normally be launched on demand by a dispatch program (inetd) which would be reading configuration out of a configuration file (/etc/inetd.conf).
On Linux systems the /etc/inetd.conf is usually configured to run most programs under an access control and logging utility called "TCP Wrappers" (/usr/sbin/tcpd). That utility refers to a couple of configuration files (/etc/hosts.allow, and /etc/hosts.deny) and it does some "paranoid" consistency checking to try and ensure that the client "is who he claims to be." The specifics of this paranoid checking are referred to as a "double reverse DNS lookup."
This requires that the client system's IP address somehow be registered in some sort of naming service that the server is configured to query. The easiest of these in most cases is to simply add the appropriate IP address (and some arbitrary name) int the /etc/hosts file. A better way is to add an appropriate PTR record to your DNS zone.
Linux uses a modular name services resolution system. Newer versions of Linux use the /etc/nsswitch.conf files to control the list of name services that are used for each name space (users/accounts, groups, hosts and networks, services, mail aliases, file server maps, etc). In most cases you wouldn't have to modify the nsswitch.conf to make it look at the /etc/hosts file. In other cases you might.
In previous months I've gone into greater detail about how to troubleshoot problems in accessing TCP services on Linux systems. Look for references to tcpdump and strace to find out more.
(Summary: You can replace the entry in /etc/inetd.conf with a wrapper script that runs 'strace' on the program, thus logging what the program is trying to do in great detail. You can also run 'tcpdump' on any machine on the local LAN segment, seeing the traffic between your client and server in great detail).
Unfortunately these tools are rather advanced, very powerful and coresponding difficult to use effectively. (You can probably get the information from them pretty easily -- the problem is to configure them to provide just the info you need and in parsing and understanding what they tell you).
Hopefully I've guessed correctly on what you problem is. Otherwise search through my back issues and the FAQ and do lots of troubleshooting. Ask a more detailed question.
Another Homework Assignment from HotmailFrom Milton bradley on Tue, 02 May 2000
Hello,
Don't really know if you'll answer my questions but it doesn't hurt to give it a try. If you can all I can say is thanks. Well here goes
the situation is this
[I got another question from a different address at Hotmail yesterday. It had a similarly "Do my homework for me" tone to it.]
Directory tress can include large numbers of files. Referencing a
file by full path name can be burdensome on the user. Consequently
in UNIX there is an environment variable $PATH
(e.g. .:/bin:/usr/bin) which directs the system for the directories
it is to search for an executable file. All non-executable files
are looked for only in current working directory(.).
Non-executable files are found according to the semantics of the program doing the opening. Usually this is a path (either an absolute path from the root directly or one that is relative to the current working directory or $CWD).
The main flaw in your propositions is that the PATH exists primarily for convenience. There is actually a more important reason for things to use the PATH.
questions are
1) Why shouldn't other non-executable file be referenced by this mechanism?
2) SuperUsers are cautioned that the shell should not look in the
current working directory first (e.g. /bin:/usr/bin:.) for security
reasons. Why?
Let's say that you put . on your path. If you put it at the beginning of your path you've implemented a policy that any executable in the current directly takes precedence over any other executables by that name. So I'm an evil user and I just create a program name 'ls' which does "bad things(TM)"
(I'll leave the exact nature of "bad things(TM)" to your imagination).
When 'root' or any other user then does a 'cd' into my directory and types 'ls' (a very common situation) then my program runs in their security context. I effectively can do anything that they could do. I can access any file they can access. I can completely subvert their account.
Doh!
So let's put that . at the end of the PATH. That's solve the problem. Now the /bin/ls or /usr/bin/ls will be executed in preference to my copy of 'ls.'
So now the user "evil" has to get more clever. He makes a number of useful links to his "bad things(TM)" script. These are carefully crafted strings like: "sl" and "ls-al" (common typos that the hurried user might make make while visiting my directory).
Quod erat demonstratum.
3) The c-shell creates a hash table of the files in $PATH on
start-up. Give one advantage of this scheme:
The hash tables is basically an index of all executables on the path. Thus one can find, in O(logN) time if an executable exists and where it is. (Look up "theta notation" in any text book on "computational complexity analysis to understand that "big Oh" notation).
4) Give one disadvantage of the above mentioned scheme:
I'll give two.
- The shell will need to malloc more memory than a non-hash version would require. It needs to build the hash table and keep it in core. Moreover this data is not shareable memory --- it is private to each instance of the shell.
- The hash table may get out of sync with the real list of executables on the disk. Some additional binaries may be added and the shell has no way of detecting it. (Shells that support PATH hashing generally also offer some command to update their hash table --- 'rehash' and 'hash -r' are common).
5) Since the system can easily maintain a list of files referenced
in teh course of a login session, one could also maintain a
REFERENCE FILE TABLE and use it as part of a scheme to locate files.
Give one advantage of this scheme:
Hmm. MU!
Which "one" could do this? Would this be a new API? What programs would support it? How?
Ergo I unask your question.
6) Give one disadvantage of this scheme:
Commands with the same name are presumed to provide compatible semantics. Ambiguity among data files is likely to have severe consequence.
One could use expressions like `locate foo` in each case where one wished to refer to "the first file named 'foo' on my data search path." One could certainly implement an API that took filenames, perhaps of the form: ././foo and resolved them via a search mechanism.
(Note: GNU systems, such as Linux, often have the "updatedb" or "slocate" packages installed. These provide a hashed index of all files on the system which are linked through publicly readable directories. Thus the `locate` command expression could be used already --- though the user wouldn't be able to implement a policy over how many and in which order the file names were returned. It would a simple matter of programming to write one's own shell function or script which read a DPATH environment variable, called the 'locate' command and search the return list for matches in a preferential order).
BTW: Some shells implement a CDPATH environment setting.
Here's an excerpt from the 'bash' man page:
The Mailbag! CDPATH The search path for the cd command. This is a
colon-separated list of directories in which the
shell looks for destination directories specified
by the cd command. A sample value is ".:~:/usr".
As I see it the man reason for UNIX to implement support for executable search PATH is to allow scripts to be more portable, while allowing users and administrators to implement their own polices and preferences among multiple versions of executables by the same name.
Thus when I use 'awk' or 'sed' in a script I don't care which 'awk' or 'sed' it is and where this particular version of UNIX keeps its version of these utilities. All I care about is that these utilities provide the same semantics as the rest of my scripts and commands require.
If I find that the system default 'awk' or 'sed' is deficient in some way (and if I'm a "mere mortal user") I can still serve my needs by installing a personal copy of a better 'awk' (gawk or mawk) and/or a better 'sed' (such as the GNU version). PATHs are the easiest way to accomplish this.
So, the disadvantage of implement some sort of "data path" feature into the UNIX shells and libraries would basically be:
IT'S A STUPID IDEA!
Can't Telnet: Another possibilityFrom Walter Ribeiro de Oliveira Jr. on Tue, 02 May 2000
I read a question about not being able to use telnet to connect to a linux box... you complained about very few information, I agree with you, but I have a suggestion: isn't the problem about trying to make a telnet as the