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<H5>Copyright &copy; 1996-97 Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc.
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<H4>&quot;Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>&quot;</H4>  
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<H2><a NAME="mail"><IMG SRC="../gx/mailbox.gif" ALIGN=MIDDLE ALT=" ">
The Mailbag!</a> </H2>
Write the Gazette at <A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com"> gazette@ssc.com</A>
</td><td>
<H3>Contents:</H3>
<ul>
<li><a HREF="./lg_mail19.html#help">Help Wanted -- Article Ideas</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_mail19.html#gen">General Mail</a>
</ul>
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<a name="help"></a>
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<center><H3> Help Wanted -- Article Ideas </H3></center>

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Date: Mon, 23 Jun 1997 22:40:39 -0500<br>
From: Tom Cannon <a href="mailto:tomc@usit.net">tomc@usit.net</a><br>
Subject: Cobal

<p>Are there any Cobal compilers that will run under Linux,  I have a
serious need to move some code to the Linux platform if there is
something available.  Thanks.

<blockquote> <I>
(Check with Acucobol Inc., info@accubol.com, <A
HREF="http://www.acucobol.com/">http://www.acucobol.com</A> --Editor)
</I> </blockquote> 

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Date: Sat, 21 Jun 1997 16:02:04 -0400<br>
From: Linda Brooks <a href="mailto:lbrooks@stc.net">lbrooks@stc.net</a><br>
Subject: Packard Bell SOUND16A Soundcard

<p>I have a Packard Bell Pack-Mate 4990CD, which has a soundcard apparently
called a "SOUND16A" (the documentation doesn't make it clear whether PB or
Aztech made it, or if it was a joint production).  It is a 16 bit sound
card, which I can use under Windows 95 as such.  However, in Linux, the
best I can do is 8 bit sound (via Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 emulation).  The
card claims to support MSS, but nowhere in the documentation or setup
program does it specify which IRQ this runs at, although it does tell what
port.  I have contacted Packard Bell's tech support, but they say they only
support Windows software for free, and that if I wanted to talk about Linux
or some such operating system, I would need to get "special support" which
would cost a ridiculously high number.

<p>As a struggling college student, I don't have much money to spend on the
computer (it is actually my family's that I scratched up enough space to
install Linux on), so I can't get a new sound card, and I am not even sure
if the commercial sound drivers support this particular sound card.

<p>I'm probably spoiled by Windows, but it's not asking too much for 16 bit
sound so I can listen to 44KHz samples in stereo (I'm quite a MOD fan),
listen to MP2's or MP3's, etc...

<p>I'm not much of a coder, so I can't go about writing my own drivers.  If
anyone knows of how to set up this sound card for full 161 bit sound,
please inform me.  Or, if you know of any 8 bit .MP? players, that would
work too =)



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Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 12:03:00 -0400<br>
From: Albert Race <a href="mailto:race@dgms.com">race@dgms.com</a><br>
Subject: Linux HELP!

<p>I would like to install Linux on a Sun 386i machine with 16 meg of ram, 2
350 meg scsii drives color video adapter and a tape drive, and Network
support. When I try to install using a boot disk, I get the following message.

<pre>	Boot: Device fd(0,0,0): Invalid Boot Block</pre>

<p>This occurs with any boot disk except for Sun. Is there a way I can get
Linux to install to this system?  Any suggestions would be greatly
appreciated. If you can not help me, Please redirect this message to
someone who could. I don't know where to get this type of information. I
received these machines for free and would like to put them to use using
Linux. 

<p>Thank you
Albert F. Race



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Date: Mon, 16 Jun 1997 11:44:43 +0200<br>
From: Claudio <a href="mailto:cricci@cpiprogetti.it">cricci@cpiprogetti.it</a><br>
Subject: Matrox

<p>Is there a chance to correctly configure a Matrox Mystique with 4MB RAM
under X or I must throw away it ?



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Date: Mon, 2 Jun 1997 00:11:40 -0300 (EST)<br>
From: Rildo Pragana <a href="mailto:rpragana@acm.org">rpragana@acm.org</a><br>
Subject: Interfacing Genius Color Page-CS Scanner

<p>Hello,

Please help-me to interface my Color Page CS desktop scanner to Linux.
Now, I can scan only from Windows (Argh!!) and it would be fine to have
The Gimp accessing my scanned material.  I can program in C and Tcl/tk, if
I at least have the information on its SCSI card, and the scanner itself.

Any information you may have is precious to me. When I have this job done,
of course, I'll be happy to publish my adventures in the Gazette.

<p>best regards,<br>
Rildo Pragana <br>
Greetings from Recife, the Brazilian's Venice


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Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 14:36:09 -0400 (EDT)<br>
From: David Bubar <a href="mailto:bubarda@sch.ge.com">bubarda@sch.ge.com</a><br>
Subject: Q: How do you un virtual a virtual screen?

<p>My screen maybe 800x600 but my virtual screen is set at something like 1600x1200. How do I change this?

Note: 
<ol>
<li>This is not virtual Desktops, I like use of the PAGER
<li>I wish you would put out a configuration guide for X that does NOT 
have to be a TOME but a small book(let) that helps users customize
X to work the way they want.
</ol>

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Date: Mon Jun 16 13:46:14<br>
From: Ade Bellini, <a href="mailto:AdeBellini@aol.com">AdeBellini@aol.com</a><br>
Subject: *2+ Processing

<p>Sir, 
I am a 35 from Sweden using at present *2 90 Pentium /NT4 and Slakeware
1.2.13 and Red Hat 3.0 (and DOS 6.22 !) all on the same machine. (paranoid !)
I am interested in knowing how to take advantage of the *2 cpu's on a Linux
based machine.
Any thing regarding *2 + processing is of interest to me, as i use the NT4 as
a server and would like to try using Linux instead.
many thanks in advance
<p>Ade.


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Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 07:33:50 -0700 (PDT)<br>
From: David Mandel <a href="mailto:dmandel@transport.com">dmandel@transport.com</a><br>
Subject: CD Burners, Scanners, Digital Cammeras, etc.


<p>I have a mess of family photographs and possibly 35mm slides that I 
want to preserve.  One idea I'm considering is scanning these and putting
them on CDs.  So I have a few questions.
<ol>
<li>Will a Sony CDU926S burner work with xcdroast?
The documentation says a Sony CDU920S will work, but I don't know
     the differences between the CDU920S and CDU926S.  A bare bones
     (no docs, drivers, software) CDU926S is only $265.  The MS ready
     version is $350, but who would want that?

<li>What is a good, but cheap flatbed scanner to use?
     (Good means 24 bit color and &gt;= 300dpi optical resolution.)
     What software (in Linux) supports the scanner?

<li>I can't afford one, but...
     Are there any 35mm slide scanners on the market with Linux support?

<li>And as long as I'm asking dumb questions...
     Does Linux have support for any digital cameras yet?
     Someday many of us will want to change to digital photography,
     and it would be awful to have to learn Windows to do this.

</ol>
<p>Thank you for your time and help,<br>
         Dave Mandel
<blockquote> <I> 
(We'll have to depend on our readers for 1 and 3. As to 2, we use the HP5P
flatbed scanner, which fits your qualifications for good. As to cheap it
depends on your definition--it sells for around $400. The Linux software
that supports all HP scanners is XVscan, and a very nice program it is.
As to 4, the answer is yes; Hitach MP-EG1A, <A
HREF="http://www.mpegcam.net/">http://www.mpegcam.net/</A>. --Editor)
</I> </blockquote> 

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Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 09:01:06 +0100 (BST)<br>
From: Andrew Philip Crook <a href="mailto:shu96apc@reading.ac.uk">shu96apc@reading.ac.uk</a><br>
Subject: Ascii Problems with FTP

<p>When I use a dos ftp(in ascii mode) program to download a Linux Script,
because it is not running yet, the script fails to work when installed. 
This is because a ^M is appended to every line, take them out and it works. 

<p>What's happening?

<p>How can I stop it?

<p>Or how can a filter all the ^M's out?

<p>Many Thanks<br>
Andrew Crook.

<blockquote> <I> 
(In a couple of last year's issues, there are several Tips & Tricks for
getting rid of ^M. You can't stop them from happening. I personally get
rid of them in vi using a global replace (e.g., :%s/^M//g); one command and
they're gone forever. --Editor)
</I> </blockquote> 
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Date: Thu, 05 Jun 1997 23:08:08 -0400<br>
From: Steve Malenfant, <a href="mailto:smalenfant@cablevision.qc.ca">smalenfant@cablevision.qc.ca</a><br> 
Subject: Problems with XFree86

<p>I'm a new user to Linux and the problem still XFree86!  So then I tried
to know want can I do to Linux community.  In Issue #16, you said
that the problem is not video card and is Monitor balancing.  So why
Windows 95 can have all these preset on monitor and Linux don't have?
Why we can't use the stuff in the Microsoft Lib to transfer it into the
database of XF86Setup or something like that.  Cause that's real that
the dotclock and all this is very scrambled!  Why not just resolution
and Virtual Refresh, that's all we need to know, the program could do
the rest!  We don't have to know what horizontal frequency and dotclock
it is!

<p>Steve Malenfant

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Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 15:39:58 -0700<br>
From: Kevin Hartman <a href="mailto:KevinH@hsaeug.com">KevinH@hsaeug.com</a><br>
Subject: Afterstep

<p>Would anyone be interested in an Afterstep customization how-to/where to
get?

<p>Kevin 

<blockquote> <I> 
(Have you got one setup or just trying to find out if there's a need?
--Editor)
</I> </blockquote> 

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Date: Sat, 07 Jun 1997 02:34:57 -0400<br>
From: sinyz, <a href="mailto:sinyz@superlink.net">sinyz@superlink.net</a><br>
Subject: Need Help

<p>Hi,
 If you happen to have time on your end please be so kind as to answer a
few questions for a newbie!

<p>Well , here is the situation and I need to get some serious advice
from people like you. I have been reading the newsgroups and HOWTO's .
They have been quite informative and ,increasingly so, as I continue .
 Now , thank GOD I got my Linux (RED HAT 4.1) box set up and running on
my slave drive with Win95 on the Master. It detected my CDROM and I also
configured my Xwindows (X11R6) .

<p>But there are couple of questions
<ol>
<li>I have a video card of type diamond s3 virge 3D 2000 . The driver
for S3 was a choice in the XF86Setup which I chose and everything seems
to work fine. Also I chose the 800*600 resolution SVGA monitor . I have
been hearing rumors from friends that the video card when being used by
Xwindows may mess up the monitor . This has been troubling me quite a
bit . What's up with this ??

<li>I read using the dmesg command  that Linux at boot time does not
notice that there is a device on  tty1 . The specific line reads this
 <pre>Serial driver version 4.13 with no serial options enabled
 tty00 at 0x03f8 (irq=4) is a 16550A
 tty03 at 0x02e8 (irq=3) is a 16550A</pre> 
There seems to be no mention of tty1 (com 2 irq 3) where my modem is
installed at !How  to fix this ?? By the way my modem happens to be a
plug-n-play modem -SUpra 28.8bps. I have heard that pnp modems have
problems with Linux and there are fixes for pnp types - please recommend
any.(In effect how do I get my Modem to work)

<li>Also I did not notice during the boot time messages any thing to do
with PPP Protocol which I definitely need to dialup to an ISP . Does
that mean recompiling the Kernel -- HOw ( if red hat distribution has
specific or simpler way of doing things  then let me know )
Thanks a lot in anticipation.
</ol>

<P> <HR> <P> 
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Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 11:06:57 +0200 (MET DST)<br>
From: Martin Lersch <a
href="mailto:lersch@athene.informatik.uni-bonn.de">lersch@athene.informatik.uni-bonn.de</a><br>
Subject: User-Level Driver For HP ScanJet 5p?<br>

<P>Hello!

Please can you point me to some direction were I can find a user-level
driver for the HP ScanJet 5p? There exist the HPSCANPBM driver which
works in part, but does not support the -width and -height options
for the ScanJet 5p. I guess it was written for a ScanJet 4c or something like that. 
BTW: The homepage of HP does not give much support for Linux users. They do not publish the ESCAPE sequences of the scanners.

<p>Regards,

     Martin Lersch

<a name="gen"></a>
<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3> General Mail </H3></center>

<P> <HR> <P> 
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<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">


Date: Sun, 01 Jun 1997 00:56:52 -0500<br>
From: Piotr Mitros <a href="mailto:pmitros@mit.edu">pmitors@mit.edu</a><br>
Subject: WordPerfect for Linux

<p>Before more users spend many hours downloading the 50 megabyte (!) 
WordPerfect for Linux, you may want to note that the beta download lets
you get a demo version that times out after just 15 days. They seem to
have demo versions of WordPerfect 6 available, so it is not that big a
deal.

<p>However, I would like to see a comparison of WordPerfect for Linux, 
StarOffice's word processor and the what is planned for GNU WP.   

<p>Piotr
<blockquote> <I> 
(I'd like to see that comparisom too. --Editor)
</I> </blockquote> 

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Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 06:42:47 -0400<br>
From: Stephen L. Cito <a href="mailto:al256@detroit.freenet.org">al256@detroit.freenet.org</a><br>
Subject: Question about downloading the archive

<p>Hello,

I'd like to download the past issues of LG (having enjoyed LJ now since 
last fall), but I don't think I could even get an 11 meg file downloaded 
over my 14.4 modem within the 1 hour that I have before my local Internet 
connection (the Greater Detroit Free Net) times out on me.  Is there any 
way to download the past issues in smaller "chunks"?

<p>Thanks and have a real nice day...

<p>SC, Novi, MI

<blockquote> <I> 
(Hmmm, that is a problem. No, I don't save the individual tar files of
previous issues separately. There is, of course, TWDT,
option for each issue which gives you the issue as one great big
file. Not as nice as the normal multi-file format but very popular so must
work for some. --Editor)</I>


<P> <HR> <P> 
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Date: Wed, 04 Jun 1997 22:52:36 -0700<br>
From: James Zubb <a href="mailto:jimz_@ecom.net">jimz_@ecom.net</a><br>
Subject: ActiveX for Linux

<p>Hi,

I read the ActiveX for Linux question in the Answer Guy's article, I did a
little looking and came up with a web site:

<a href="http://www.sagus.com/Prod-i~1/Net-comp/dcom/index.htm">http://www.sagus.com/Prod-i~1/Net-comp/dcom/index.htm</a>

<p>I don't know if this is actually the ActiveX port for Linux or not, I
didn't feel like trying to figure it out, but there is a Beta for Linux
there.  Beats me what it does or how it does it...
<p>
--
Jim Zubb



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Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 19:01:40 +0100 (BST)<br>
From: Adrian Bridgett <a href="mailto:apb25@cam.ac.uk">apb25@cam.ac.uk</a><br>
Subject: Re: X Color Depth

<I>(In response to the message by Roland Smith)</I>

<P>Normally 8-bit displays use 256 colours chosen from 2^24 (16,777,216), and
15/16/24/32 bits displays just use a fixed number of colours spread
"evenly" throughout the colour spectrum. 

<p>16-bit displays use 5 bits for red, 5 bits for blue and 6 bits for green,
however the 65536 colours cannot be changed and so the overall
"resolution" of colour is lower than 256 bit displays. For instance you
can only have 2^5 different shades of green, rather than 2^8.

<p>Adrian


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Date:Thu June 12 08:39:19 PDT 1997<br>
Timothy Gray <a href="mailto:timgray@lambdanet.com">timgray@lambdanet.com</a><br>
Subject: CNE Certification for Linux?

<P>Oh, no not a certification suggestion......

<P>Linux was developed as a better and free version of UNIX.
Now someone wants to make a CNE for Linux? As a successful Linux Network
Administrator (and Business owner that proudly states no Microsoft here!)
I am appalled at charging ten's of thousands of dollars to get a piece of paper 
that states I can do my job.  As an Internet service provider and an avid
Linux, Freeware, and Free Software Foundation supporter I hire my network
administrators and Engineers( We call them System Administrators ) based on 
their abilities and trainability.  A CNE paper does not nor will ever impress
me. Even suggesting such an idea toward Linux is appalling. Let's keep our
last bastion of freedom from the clutches of cooperate greed! If we must 
have a Linux CNE make it 100% free and available to everyone on the planet.

<P>Thank you,

Timothy Gray


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->
<center>Published in Linux Gazette Issue 19, July 1997</center>
<!--====================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<A HREF="./index.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/indexnew.gif" ALT="[ TABLE OF 
CONTENTS ]"></A>
<A HREF="../index.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/homenew.gif" ALT="[ FRONT 
PAGE ]"></A> 
<A HREF="./lg_tips19.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/fwd.gif" ALT=" Next "></A>
<P>
<h5>This page written and maintained by the Editor of <I>Linux Gazette</I>,
<A HREF="mailto: gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</A><BR> 
Copyright &copy; 1997 Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc. </H5> 
<P> 
<H4>&quot;Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>
&quot;</H4>
<P> <hr> <P> 

<!-- QUICK TIPS SECTION ==================================================  -->
<center>
<H1><A NAME="tips"><IMG ALIGN=MIDDLE ALT="" SRC="../gx/twocent.gif">
More 2&#162; Tips!</A></H1> <BR>
Send Linux Tips and Tricks to <A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">
gazette@ssc.com
</A></center>

<p><hr><p>
<H3>Contents:</H3>
<ul>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#rude">Rude Getty</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#track">Keeping Track of File Size</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#pack">What Packages Do I Need?</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#sound">Sound Card Support</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#install">InstallNTeX is Dangerous</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#reply">Relpy to Dangerous InstallNTeX
Letter</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#monitor">Monitoring An FTP Download</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#ports">Programming Serial Ports</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#grep">Grepping Files in a Directory Tree</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#more">More Grepping Files</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#still">Still More on Grepping Files</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#files">More on Grepping Files in a Tree</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#tree">Grepping</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#zip">Untarring/Zip</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#duplic">Hard Disk Duplication</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#ncftp">Reply to ncftp</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#pipes">Sockets and Pipes</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#hex">Hex Dump</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#hex2">More on Hex Dump</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_tips19.html#zprotocol">Reply to Zprotocol</a>
</ul>


<P> <hr> <P> 
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<a name="rude"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
Rude Getty
</H3>
<P> 
Date: Mon, 23 June 1997 21:12:23<br>
From: Heather Stern <a href="mailto:star@starshine.org">star@starshine.org</a><br>

<p>I have a fairly important UNIX box at work, and I have come across a good
trick to keep around.

<p>Set one of your console getty's to a nice value of very rude, -17 or worse.
That way if a disaster comes up and you have to use the console, it won't
take forever to respond to you (because of whatever went wrong).



<P> <hr> <P> 
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<a name="track"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
Keeping Track of File Size
</H3>
<P> 
Date:Mon 16 June 1997 13:34:24<br>
From: Volker Hilsenstein <a href="mailto:vhilsens@aixterm1.urz.uni-heidelberg.de">vhilsens@aixterm1.urz.uni-heidelberg.de</a><br>

<p>Hello everyone,
I just read Bob Grabau's 2C-tip for keeping track of the size of
file. Since it is a bit inconvenient to type all these lines
each time you download something I wrote this little script:
<pre>
#!/bin/bash
# This script monitors the size of the files given
# on the command line.
while :
do
  clear
    for i in $@; do
     echo File $i has the size `ls -l $i   | tr -s " " | cut -f 5 -d " "` bytes;
   done
sleep 1
done
</pre>

<p>Bye ... Volker 


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="pack"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
Reply to "What Packages do I Need?"
</H3>
<P> 
Date: Tue 24 June 1997 11:15:56<br>
From: Michael Hammel, <a href="mailto:mjhammel@long.emass.com">mjhammel@long.emass.com</a>
<P> 

You asked about what packages you could get rid of and mentioned that you
had AcceleratedX and that because of this you "can get rid of a lot off the
X stuff".  Well, thats not really true.  AcceleratedX provides the X
server, but you still need to hang onto the X applications
(/usr/X11R6/bin/*) and the libraries and include files (/usr/X11R6/lib and
/usr/X11R6/include) if you wish to compile X applications or run X binaries
that require shared libraries.
 
<p>Keep in mind that X is actually made up of three distinct parts:  the
clients (the X programs you run like XEmacs or Netscape or xterm), the
server (the display driver that talks to your video adapter), and the
development tools (the libs, header files, imake, etc).  General users
(non-developers) can forego installation of the development tools but need
to make sure to install the runtime libraries.  Each Linux distribution
packages these differently, so just be careful about which ones you remove.
 
<p>One caveat:  I used to work for Xi Graphics, but that was over a year and a
 half ago.  Although I keep in touch with them, I haven't really looked at
 the product line lately.  Its possible they ship the full X distributions
 now, but I kind of doubt it.  If they are shipping the full X distributions
 (clients, server, development tools) then disregard what I've said.
 
<p>Hope this helps.<br>
-- 
Michael J. Hammel           


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="sound"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
Sound Card Support
</H3>
<P> 
Date: Mon 24 June 1997: 11:16:34<br>
From: Michael Hammel, <a href="mailto:mjhammel@long.emass.com">mjhammel@long.emass.com</a>

<p>With regards to your question in the LG about support for the MAD16 Pro from 
Shuttle Sound System under Linux, you might consider the OSS/Linux product 
from 4Front-Techologies.  The sound drivers they supply support a rather 
wide range of adapters.  The web paget http://www.4front-tech.com/osshw.html 
gives a list of what is and isn't supported.  The Shuttle Sound System 48 is 
listed as being supported as well as generic support for the OPTi 82C929 
chipset (which you listed as the chipset on this adapter).
 
<p>This is commercial software but its only $20.  I've been thinking of
getting it myself.  I have used its free predecessor, known at times as
OSS/Lite or OSS/Free, and found it rather easy to use.   I just haven't 
gotten around to ordering (mostly cuz I never seem to have time for doing
installation or any other kind of admin work).  I will eventually.
 
<p>4Front's web site is at http://www.4front-tech.com.
 
<p>Hope this helps.
<p>
-- 
Michael J. Hammel           

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="install"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
InstallNTeX is Dangerous
</H3>
<P> 
Date: Fri 06 June 1997 12:31:14<br>
From: Frank Langbein <a href="mailto:langbein@mathematik.uni-stuttgart.de">langbein@mathematik.uni-stuttgart.de</a><br>

<p>Dear James:<br>

<I>On Fri, 6 Jun 1997, James wrote:</I><br>

<p>You have still
 
  <pre> make_dir "       LOG" "$VARDIR/log"       $DOU 1777
 
   make_dir " TMP-FONTS" "$VARDIR/fonts"     $DOU 1777</pre>
 
<p>If I hadn't (now) commented-out your
 
    <pre>(cd "$2"; $RM -rf *)</pre>
 
then both my /var/log/* and /var/fonts/* files and directories would have
been deleted!

<p>Actually VARDIR should also be a directory reserved for NTeX only (something
like /var/lib/texmf). Deleting VARDIR/log is not really necessary unless
someone has some MakeTeX* logs in there which are not user writable. Any pk
or tfm files from older or non-NTeX installations could cause trouble later. 
Sometimes the font metrics change and if there are some old metrics used with
a new bitmap or similar the resulting document might look rather strange. 
Further log and fonts have to be world writable (there are ways to prevent
this, but I haven't implemented a wrapper for the MakeTeX* scripts yet), so
placing them directly under /var is not really a good idea. I am aware that
the documentation of the installation procedure is minimal which makes it
especially hard to select the directories freely. 

<p>The real problem is that allowing to choose the directories freely. Selecting
the TDS or the Linux filesystem standard is rather save and at most any other
TeX files are deleted. The only real secure option would be to remove the free
choice and only offer the Linux filesystem standard, the one from web2c 7.0
which is also TDS conform and a TDS conform sturcutre in a special NTeX
directory. The free selection would not be accessible for a new user. I could
add some expert option which still allows to use a totally free selection. 
Additional instead of deleting the directories they could be renamed. 

<p>There are plans for a new installation procedure, also supporting such things
as read only volumes/AFS, better support for multiple platform installation,
etc. This new release will not be available before I managed to implement all
the things which were planed for 2.0. But that also means that there will
probably be no new release this year as I have to concentrate on my studies. 
Nevertheless I will add a warning to the free selection in InstallNTeX. That's
currently the only thing I can do without risking to add further bugs to
InstallNTeX. Considering that my holiday starts next week I can't do more this
month.

<p>BTW, on another point, I had difficulty finding what directory was searched
for the packages to be installed.  Only in the ntex-guide, seemingly buried,
is there:

<p>This is caused by different ways to look for the package in NTeX-install, the
text version of InstallNTeX and the Tcl/Tk version of InstallNTeX. Therefore
you get some warnings even if NTeX-install would be able to install the
packages. The minimal documentation is one of the real big drawbacks of NTeX.
I'm currently working on a complete specification for the next release which
will turn into a real documentation.

<p>Thanks for pointing out the problems with the free selection of that paths. So
far I concentrated on setting the installation paths to non-existing
directories.
<p>
Regards,<br>
Frank

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="reply"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
Reply to Dangerous InstallNTeX Letter
</H3>
<P> 

To: Frank Langbein, <a href="mailto:langbein@mathematik.uni-stuttgart.de">langbein@mathematik.uni-stuttgart.de</a><br>
Date: Sat, 07 Jun 1997 10:11:06 -0600<br>
From: James <a href="mailto:james@albion.glarp.com">james@albion.glarp.com</a>

<p>Dear Frank:<br>

The hidden application of the operation <pre>rm -rf *</pre> to the unpredictable and
unqualified input from a broad base of naive users is highly likely to
produce unexpected and undesired results for some of these users.  This is
the kind or circumstance more usually associated with a "prank".  If this is
_not_ your intent, then further modifications to the script "InstallNTeX"
are required.

<p>The script functions at issue include: mk_dirchain() ($RM -f $P), make_dir()
($RM -rf * and $RM -f "$2"), make_tds_ln() ($RM -f "$3"), and link_file()
($RM -rf "$2").  The impact of the operations when using unexpected
parameters, from misspellings or misinterpretations, for instance, should be
considered.

<p>You might simply replace these operations with an authorization dialog, or
you could create a dialog with several recovery options.  (For the moment, I
have replaced them with `echo "&lt;some &lt;warning parm&gr;"'.)


<p>James G. Feeney


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="monitor"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
Monitoring An FTP Download
</H3>
<P> 

Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 19:54:25 +1000 (EST)<br>
From: Nathan Hand <a href="mailto:Nathan.Hand@anu.edu.au">Nathan.Hand@anu.edu.au</a><br>

<p>I saw the recent script someone posted in the 2c column to monitor
an ftp download using the clear ; <code>ls -l</code> ; sleep trick. I'd just like
to point out there's A Better Way.

<P>Some systems will have the "watch" command installed. This command
works pretty much like the script, except it uses curses and buffers
for lightning fast updates. You use it something like

<pre>   watch -n 1 ls -l</pre>

<p>And it prints out the current time, the file listing, and it does
the refreshes so fast that you don't see the <code>ls -l</code> redraws. I think
it looks a lot slicker, but otherwise it's the same as the script.

<p>I don't know where the watch command comes from. I'm using a stock
standard Red Hat system (4.0) so hopefully people with similar setups
will also have a copy of this nifty little tool.


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="ports"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
Programming Serial Ports
</H3>
<P> 
Date: Wed 18 June 1997 14:15:23<br>
From: Tom Verbeure <a href="mailto:to_verbeure@mietec.be">to_verbeure@mietec.be</a>


<p>Hello,

A few days ago, I had to communicate using the serial port of a Sun workstation. 
A lot of information can be found here:

<a href="http://www.stokely.com/stokely/unix.serial.port.resources">http://www.stokely.com/stokely/unix.serial.port.resources</a>
and here:
<a href="http://www.easysw.com/~mike/serial">http://www.easysw.com/~mike/serial</a>

<P>Reading chapters 3 and 4 of that last page, can do wonders. It took me about 30 
minutes to communicate with the machine connected to the serial port. The code 
should work on virtually any unix machine.

<P>Hope this helps,

Tom Verbeure

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="grep"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
Another Way of Grepping Files in a Directory Tree
</H3>
<P> 

Date: Thu 12 June 15:34:12<br>
From: Danny Yarbrough <a href="mailto:danny@interactive.visa.com">danny@interactive.visa.com</a>

<p>That's a good tip.  To work around the command line length limitation,
you can use xargs(1):
<pre>
find . -name "\*.c" -print | xargs grep foo
</pre>
this builds a command line containing "grep foo" (in this case), plus as
many arguments (one argument for each line of its standard input) as it
can to make the largest (but not too long) command line it can.  It then
executes the command.  It continues to build command lines and executing
them until it reaches the end of file on standard input.

<p>(Internally, I suppose xargs doesn't build command lines, but an array
of arguments to pass to one of the exec*(2) family of system calls.  The
concept, however is the same).

<p>xargs has a number of other useful options for inserting arguments into
the middle of a command string, running a command once for each line of
input, echoing each execution, etc.  Check out the man page for more.

<p>Cheers!

Danny


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="more"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
More Grepping Files
</H3>
<P> 
Date: Mon 16 June 1997 08:45:56<br>
From: Alec Clews <a href="mailto:Alec@tca.co.uk">Alec@tca.co.uk</a>

<pre>grep foo `find . -name \*.c -print`</pre>

<p>The only caveat here is that UNIX is configured to limit max chars in a
command line and the "find" command may generate a list of files too
huge for shell to digest when it tries to run the grep portion as a
command line. Typically this limit is 1024 chars per command line. 

<p>You can get around this with 

<pre>find . -type f -name \*.c -exec grep foo {} /dev/null \;</pre>

<p>Notes:
The <code>-type f</code> skips directories (and soft links, use <code>-follow</code> if
needed) that end with a <code>c</code>

<p>The /dev/null is required to make grep display the name of the file
it's searching. grep only displays the file name *and* the search string
when there are multiple files to search, and /dev/null is a 0 length
file.

<p>Regards,<br>
Alec

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="still"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
Still More On Grepping Files
</H3>
<P> 
Date: Sat 14 June 1997 10:57:34<br>
From: Rick Bronson <a href="mailto:rick@efn.org">rick@efn.org</a>


<p>Here is similiar way to grep for files in a directory tree.  This
method uses xargs and as such does not suffer from the max chars in
a command line limit.

<pre>sea () 
{ 
    find . -name "$2" -print | xargs grep -i "$1"
}</pre>

<p>I've defined it as a function in my .bashrc file, you would use it
like:

<pre>sea "search this string" '*.[ch]'</pre>

<p>Rick

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="tree"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
Grepping
</H3>
<P> 

Date: Thu 19 June 1997 09:29:12<br>
From: David Kastrup <a href="mailto:dak@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de">dak@neuroinformatic.ruhr-uni-buchum.de</a><BR>
<I>Reply to "Grepping Files in a Tree Directory"</I>

<p>Well right. That's why most solutions to this problem are given
using the xargs command which will construct command lines of
appropriate size.

<p>You'd write
<pre>find . -name \*.c -print|xargs grep foo</pre>
for this.  This can be improved somewhat, however.  If you suspect
that you have files containing newlines or otherwise strange
characters in them, try
<pre>find . -name \*.c -print0|xargs -0 grep foo --</pre>
This will use a special format for passing the file list from find to
xargs which can properly identify all valid filenames.  The <tt>--</tt> tells
grep that even strange file names like "-s" are to be interpreted as
file names.

<p>Of course, we would want to have a corresponding file name listed even
if xargs calls a single grep in one of its invocation.  We can manage
this with
<pre>find . -name \*.c -print0|xargs -0 grep foo -- /dev/null</pre>
This will have at least two file names for grep (/dev/null and one given by
xargs), so grep will print the file name for found matches.

<p>The <tt>--</tt> is a good thing to keep in mind when writing shell scripts.
Most of the shell scripts searching through directories you find
flying around get confused by file names like "-i" or
"xxx\
yyy"

and similar perversities.

<p>David Kastrup


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="files"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
More on Grepping Files in a Tree
</H3>
<P> 
Date: Mon 02 June 1997 15:34:23<br>
From: Chris Cox <a href="mailto:ccox@central.beasys.com">ccox@central.geasys.com</a>

<p>My favorite trick for look for a string (or strings - egrep) in
a tree:

<pre>$ find . -type f -print | xargs file | grep -i text |
   cut -f1 -d: | xargs grep pattern</pre>

<p>This is a useful technique for other things...not just
grepping.



<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="zip"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
Untarring/Zip
</H3>
<P> 
Date: Sun 22 June 1997 13:23:14<br>
From: Mark Moran <a href="mailto:mmoran@mmoran.com">mmoran@mmoran.com</a> 

<p>I read the following 2-cent tip and was excited to think that I've
finally reached a point in my 'linux' expertise I COULD contribute a
2-cent tip!  I typically run:<br>

<pre>tar xzf foo.tar.gz</pre><br>

to unzip and untar a program.  But as Paul mentions the directory
structure isn't included in the archive and it dumps in your current
directory.  Well before I do the above I run:<br>

<pre>tar tzf foo.tar.gz</pre><br>

<p>This will dump out to your console what going to be unarchived easily
allowing you to see if there's a directory structure!!!!
<p>
Mark

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="duplic"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
An Addition to Hard Disk Duplication (LG #18)
</H3>
<P> 
Date: Thu 12 June 1997 15:34:32<br>
From: Andreas Schiffler <a href="mailto:schiffler@zkm.de">schiffler@zkm.de</a><br>


<p>Not suprisingly, Linux can do that of course for free and - even from a
floppy bootimage for example (i.e. Slackware bootdisk console). 

<p>For identical harddrives the following will do the job:
<pre>cat /dev/hda &gt;/dev/hdb</pre>

<p>For non-identical harddrives one has to repartition the target first:
<table>
<tr>
<td>fdisk /dev/hda</td> <td>record the partitions (size, type)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>fdisk /dev/hdb</td>  <td>create same partitions</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>cat /dev/hda1 &gt;/dev/hdb1</td>  <td>copy partitions</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>cat /dev/hda2 &gt;/dev/hdb2</td>
</tr>
</table>
...

<p>To create image files, simply redirect the target device to a file.
<pre>cat /dev/hda &gt;image-file</pre>

<p>To reinstall the MBR and lilo, just boot with a floppy using parameters
that point to the root partition (as in LILO&gt; linux root=/dev/hda1) and
rerun lilo from within Linux.

<p>Have fun<br>
  Andreas



<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="ncftp"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
Reply to ncftp (LG #18)
</H3>
<P> 
Date: Fri 20 June 1997 14:23:12<br>
From: Andrew M. Dyer, <a href="mailto:adyer@mcs.com">adyer@mcs.com</a>

<p>To monitor an ftp session I like to use ncftp which puts up a nice
status bar.  It comes in many linux distributions.  When using the
standard ftp program you can also use the <pre>hash</pre> command which prints
a <pre>#</pre> every 1K bytes received.  Some ftp clients also have the <pre>bell</pre>
command which will send a bell character to your console for every file
transferred.


<p>For grepping files in a directory tree I like to use the -exec
option to find.  The syntax is cryptic, but there is no problem with
overflowing the shell argument list.  A version of the command shown in
#18 whould be like this:

<pre>find . -name \*.c -exec grep foo {} /dev/null \;</pre> 

(note the /dev/null forces grep to print the filename of the matched
file).  Another way to do this is with the mightily cool xargs
program, which also solves the overflow problem and its a bit easier to
remember:

<pre>find . -name \*.c -print | xargs grep foo /dev/null</pre>

(this last one is stolen from "UNIX Power Tools" by Jerry Peek, Tim
O'Reilly and Mike Loukides - a whole big book of 2 cent tips. 

<p>For disk duplication we sometimes use a linux box with a secondary
IDE controller, and use <pre>dd</pre> to copy the data over.  

<pre>dd if=/dev/hdc of=/dev/hdd bs=1024k</pre>

this would copy the contents of /dev/hdc to /dev/hdd.  The bs=1024k
tells linux to use a large block size to speed the transfer.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="pipes"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
Sockets and Pipes
</H3>
<P> 
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 23:22:38 +1000 (EST)
From: Waye-Ian Cheiw, <a href="mailto:itchy@jaguar.snafu.com">itchy@jaguar.snafu.com</a> 

<p>Hello!

<p>Here's a tip!

<p>Ever tried to pipe things, then realised what you want to pipe to is on another
machine?

<pre>spiffy $ sort &lt; file 
sh: sort: command not found 
spiffy $ # no sort installed here! gahck!</pre>

<p>Try "socket", a simple utility that's included in the Debian distribution.
Socket is a tool which can treat a network connection as part of a pipe.

<pre>spiffy $ cat file
c 
b
a
spiffy $ cat file | socket -s 7000 &   # Make pipe available at port 7000.
spiffy $ rlogin taffy
taffy $ socket spiffy 7000 | sort      # Continue pipe by connecting to spiffy.
a
b
c</pre>

<p>It's also very handy for transferring files and directories in a snap.

<pre>spiffy $ ls -F 
mail/	project/
spiffy $ tar cf - mail project | gzip | socket -qs 6666 &
spiffy $ rlogin taffy
taffy $ socket spiffy 6666 | gunzip | tar xf - 
taffy $ ls -F
mail/   project/</pre>

<p>The -q switch will close the connection on an end-of-file and conveniently
terminate the pipes on both sides after the transfer.

<p>It can also connect a shell command's input and output to a socket.  There is
also a switch, -l, which restarts that command every time someone connects to
the socket.

<pre>spiffy $ socket -s 9999 -l -p "fortune" &
spiffy $ telnet localhost 9999
"Baseball is ninety percent mental.  The other half is physical." 
Connection closed by foreign host. </pre>

Will make a cute service on port 9999 that spits out fortunes.


<p>-- Ian!!


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="hex"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
Hex Dump
</H3>
<P> 
Date: Tue 24 June 1997 22:54:12<br>
From: Arne Wichmann <a href="mailto:aw@math.uni-sb.de">aw@math.uni-sb.de</a>

<p>Hi.

<p>One of my friends once wrote a small vi-compatible hex-editor. It can be
found (as source) under vieta.math.uni-sb.de:/pub/misc/hexer-0.1.4c.tar.gz
<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="hex2"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
More on Hex Dump
</H3>
<P> 

Date: Wed, 18 Jun 1997 10:15:26 -0700<br>
From: James Gilb <a href="mailto:p27451@am371.geg.mot.com">p27451@am371.geg.mot.com</a>

<p>I liked your gawk solution to displaying hex data.  Two things (which
people have probably already pointed out to you).
<ol>
<li>If you don't want similar lines to be replaced by *  *, use the -v
option to hexdump.  From the man page:

     <p>-v    The -v option causes hexdump to display all input data.
           Without the -v option, any number of groups of output lines,
           which would be identical to the immediately preceding group
           of output lines (except for the input offsets), are replaced
           with a line comprised of a single asterisk.

<li>In emacs, you can get a similar display using ESC-x hexl-mode.  The
output looks something like this:
<pre>
00000000: 01df 0007 30c3 8680 0000 334e 0000 00ff  ....0.....3N....
00000010: 0048 1002 010b 0001 0000 1a90 0000 07e4  .H..............
00000020: 0000 2724 0000 0758 0000 0200 0000 0000  ..'$...X........
00000030: 0000 0760 0004 0002 0004 0004 0007 0005  ...`............
00000040: 0003 0003 314c 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ....1L..........
00000050: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 2e70 6164  .............pad
00000060: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0014  ................
00000070: 0000 01ec 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
00000080: 0000 0008 2e74 6578 7400 0000 0000 0200  .....text.......
00000090: 0000 0200 0000 1a90 0000 0200 0000 2a98  ..............*.
</pre>
(I don't suppose it is supprising that emacs does this, after all, emacs
is not just and editor, it is its own operating system.)

</ol>



<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="zprotocol"></a>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
Reply to Z Protocol
</H3>
<P> 
Date: Mon 09 June 1997 19:34:54<br>
From: Gregor Gerstmann <a href="mailto:gerstman@tfh-berlin.de">gerstman@tfh-berlin.de</a>

<p>In reply to my remarks regarding file transfer with the z protocol 
in LinuxGazette issue17, April 1997, I received an e-mail that may
be interesting to others too:

<p>Hello!

<p>I noticed your article in the Linux Gazette about the sz command, and really
don't think you need to split up your downloads into smaller chunks.

<p>The sz command uses the ZMODEM protocol, which is built to handle transmission
errors.  If sz reports a CRC error or a bad packet, it does not mean that the
file produced by the download will be tainted.  sz automatically retransmits
bad packets.

<p>If you have an old serial UART chip ( 8250 ), then you might be getting
intermittent serial errors.  If the link is unreliable, then sz may spend most
of its time tied up in retransmission loops. 

<p>In this case, you should use a ZMODEM window to force the sending end to expect
an `OK' acknowledgement every few packets.

 <pre>  sz -w1024</pre>

Will specify a window of 1024 bytes.

<p>
-- Ian!!

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->
<center>Published in Linux Gazette Issue 19, July 1997</center>
<P> <hr> <P> 
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<P> <hr> <P>
<h5>This page maintained by the Editor of <I>Linux Gazette</I>,
<A HREF="mailto: gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</A><BR> 
Copyright &copy; 1997 Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc. </H5> 
<P> 
<H4>&quot;Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>&quot;</H4>
<HR>
<center>
<table cellpadding=7><tr><td>
<IMG SRC="../gx/bytes.gif" border=1  ALT="News Bytes">
</td><td>
<H3>Contents:</H3>
<ul>
<li><a HREF="./lg_bytes19.html#general">News in General</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_bytes19.html#software">Software Announcements</a>
</ul>
</td></tr></table>
</center>

<a name="general"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3> News in General </H3></center>


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->

<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
SPAM Counter Attack!
</H3> 
<P> 
If you'd like to have your voice heard regarding SPAM mail, why don't you
consider writing a letter to your representative? 

<p>If you're not sure of who your representatives are, check the Congressional
websites:
<ul>
<li>House: <a href="http://www.house.gov/writerep/">http://www.house.gov/writerep/</a>
<li>Senate: <a href="http://www.senate.gov/senator/index.html">http://www.senate.gov/senator/index.html</a>
</ul>

<p>The postal addresses for your members are:

<table>
<tr>
<td>The Honorable (Senator name)</td>     <td>The Honorable (Rep. name)</td>

<td>Washington, DC 20510</td>           <td>Washington, DC  20515</td>
</tr>
</table>

<p>The letter doesn't have to be long... two paragraphs is as effective as 10
pages. And you don't need to write different letters, the same one can be
sent to each Member. (Just remember to change the mailing address!)

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->

<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
Linux-Access Web Pages
</H3> 
<P> 

The Center for Disabled Student Services at the University of 
Utah in Salt Lake City Utah, today announced it's newly re-designed
linux-access web pages.  linux-access is a mailing list hosted by   
CDSS which is used by both developers and users of the Linux operating  
system in order to aid development and integration of access related
technology into the Linux OS and available software.

<p>Both users and developers of Linux are encouraged to join the
mailing list and help Linux become more accessible to everyone.  Among
those encouraged to subscribe to the list are companies making Linux
distributions so that they can incorporate access technology into their
products as well as get valuable feedback from users.

<p>Location of the new pages is at:
<a href="http://ssv1.union.utah.edu/linux-access/">http://ssv1.union.utah.edu/linux-access/</a>.<br>

Location of the blinux FTP mirror is at
        <a href="ftp://ssv1.union.utah.edu/pub/mirrors/blinux/">ftp://ssv1.union.utah.edu/pub/mirrors/blinux/</a>.<br>

<p>An archive of the mailing list can be found on the Linux v2 Information HQ
site at:
  <a href="http://www.linuxhq.com/lnxlists/linux-access/">http://www.linuxhq.com/lnxlists/linux-access/</a>.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->

<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
Supreme Court Ruling
</H3> 
<P> 

The U.S. Supreme Court extended free-speech rights
to cyberspace in its recent ruling striking down a federal law
that restricted indecent pictures and words on the Internet computer
network. 

<p>The court declared the law that bans the dissemination of
sexually explicit material to anyone younger than 18 unconstitutional. 

<p>"Notwithstanding the legitimacy and importance of the congressional goal
of protecting children from harmful materials, we agree ... that the
statute abridges 'freedom of speech' protected by the First Amendment,"
Justice John Paul Stevens said for the court majority in the 40-page
opinion. 

<p>The ruling represented a major victory for the American Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU) and groups representing libraries, publishers and the
computer on-line industry, which brought the lawsuit challenging the law. 



<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->

<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
The Power OS
</H3> 
<P> 
 
Matthew Borowski has created a new website featuring Linux information. Entitled
"Linux - THE POWER OS", and featuring Linux links, software, help,
and a discussion forum, Linux - THE POWER OS is also a member of the
Linux Webring.

<p>The software listing is top-of-the-line, featuring a list of powerful
applications that will change the way you make use of Linux. The modem
setup section will help you get your modem working under Linux,
and the StarOffice-miniHOWTO will help fix Libc problems when 
installing Staroffice under Linux.

<p>If you have a chance, visit "Linux - THE POWER OS" at:
<a href="http://www.jnpcs.com/mkb/linux/">http://www.jnpcs.com/mkb/linux</a>
or
<a href="http://www.mkb.home.ml.org/linux/">http://www.mkb.home.ml.org/linux/</a>

<p>For more information write to 
<a href="mailto:mkb@poboxes.com">mkb@poboxes.com</a>

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->

<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
June 1997 PowerPC Project
</H3>
<P> 
  
The Linux for PowerPC project announces its June 1997 CD of the Linux
operating system for the PowerPC. The CD is the second release following
the first one in January 1997. The June release is significantly faster
and has improved memory handling. It now contains over 400 different
software packages and everything needed to install and run Linux on any
of the PowerPC machines manufactured by Be Inc, Apple Computer, IBM,
Motorola and most other manufactures of PowerPC computers. Go to
<a href="http://www.linuxppc.org/">http://www.linuxppc.org/</a> to order your own CD or to find out more
about


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->

<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
Sunsite Link
</H3> 
<P> 


Check out
<a href="http://sunsite.unc.edu/paulc/liv">http://sunsite.unc.edu/paulc/liv</a>

<p>This lets you view the contents of SunSITE's /pub/Linux/Incoming 
directory, but extracts all the descriptions out of the map files (.lsm) 
and displays them in a table. It has links for 24 hours/7 day/14 day and 
28 day lists.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->

<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
GLUE Announcement
</H3> 
<P> 


Caldera has announced that it will give a free copy of OpenLinux
Lite on CD-ROM for each group member of GLUE. Caldera, Inc. 
(http://www.caldera.com/) is located in Provo, Utah. For full details on
GLUE and to register your group as a member, visit the GLUE web site at
<a href="http://www.ssc.com/glue/">http://www.ssc.com/glue</a>.




<a name="software"></a>
<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3> Software Announcements </H3></center>

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->

<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
Woven Goods for LINUX
</H3>
<P> 


World-Wide Web (WWW) Applications and Hypertext-based Information about
LINUX. It is ready configured for the Slackware Distribution and
currently
tested with Version 3.2 (ELF). The Power Linux LST Distribution contains
this collection as an integral part with some changes.

<p>The Collection consists of five Parts, so it can be used for multiple
purposes depending on the installed Parts:

<p>The five Parts of Woven Goods for LINUX are:
<ol>
<li>World-wide Web Browser
The World-wide Web Browser from Netscape for X11 and Lynx for
ASCII terminals.

<li>LINUX Documents
The LINUX Documents contain the HTML Pages of Woven Goods for
LINUX,
FAQs, HOWTOs, LDP Documents and more in different formats like
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Text, PDF and Postscript.

<li>World-wide Web Server
The Apache World-wide Web Server with additional CGI Scripts for
Statistics, viewing MAN Pages and Counters, Glimpse Search Engine
and
the Documentation for Apache Server. Furthermore the Apache Module
PHP/FI as well as the BSCW system and the necessary Python
interpreter
are included.

<li>Hypertext Markup Language
The HTML-Editor asWedit allows the creation of HTML-Pages.
Some Graphic Tools allow the creation and modification of GIFs.

<li>External Viewers
The external Viewers are nessesary to present Information which can
not
be viewed by the WWW Browsers. Only the usefull Viewers (xanim,
acroread, ia, raplayer, str, splay, swplayer, vrweb, etc.) are
included
which are not part of the Slackware Distribution (xv, ghostview,
showaudio).
</ol>
<p>Availabilty & Download

<p>Woven Goods for LINUX is available via anonymous FTP from:

<a href="ftp://ftp.fokus.gmd.de/pub/Linux/woven">ftp://ftp.fokus.gmd.de/pub/Linux/woven</a>

<p>Installation

<p>For Installation Instructions see the Installation Guide:

<a href="ftp://ftp.fokus.gmd.de/pub/Linux/woven/README.install">ftp://ftp.fokus.gmd.de/pub/Linux/woven/README.install</a> or
<a href="http://www.fokus.gmd.de/linux/install.html">http://www.fokus.gmd.de/linux/install.html</a>


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->

<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
Qbib Version 1.1
</H3>
<P> 

Qbib is a bibliography management system based on Qddb. Features include
the Qddb database, import BibTeX .bib giles, custom export options and a
friendly user-interface just to name a few.

<p>For more information about Qbib (including an on-line manual),
see

<a href="http://www.hsdi.com/qddb/commercial">http://www.hsdi.com/qddb/commercial</a>

<p>To order Qbib or other Qddb products/services, visit the Qddb store:

<a href="http://www.hsdi.com/qddb/orders">http://www.hsdi.com/qddb/orders</a>


  
<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->

<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
WipeOut Version 1.07
</H3>
<P> 

WipeOut is an integrated development environment for C++ and Java. It
contains project manager, class browser, make tool, central text editor
with syntax highlighting and a debugger frontend. WipeOut is available
for Linux and SunOS/Solaris both under XView.

<p>For the new release we have especially extended the class browser and
the text editor. 
Check out the changes list for all new features and fixed bugs.

<p>You can obtain the software and documentation at:
<a href="http://www.softwarebuero.de/index-eng.html">http://www.softwarebuero.de/ndex-eng.html</a>



<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--================================================================-->
<center>Published in Linux Gazette Issue 19, July 1997</center>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<A HREF="./index.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/indexnew.gif" ALT="[ TABLE OF 
CONTENTS ]"></A>
<A HREF="../index.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/homenew.gif" ALT="[ FRONT 
PAGE ]"></A> 
<A HREF="./lg_tips19.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/back2.gif" ALT=" Back "></A>
<A HREF="./lg_answer19.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/fwd.gif" ALT=" Next "></A>

<P><HR><P>
<h5>This page written and maintained by the Editor of <I>Linux Gazette</I>,
<A HREF="mailto: gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</A><BR> 
Copyright &copy; 1997 Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc. </H5> 
<P> 
<H4>&quot;Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>&quot;
</H4>
<P> <hr> <P> 

<!-- ===============================================================  -->
<center>
<H1><A NAME="answer">
<img src="../gx/ans.gif" alt="" border=0 align=middle>
The Answer Guy
<img src="../gx/ans.gif" alt="" border=0 align=middle>
</A></H1> <BR>
<H4>By James T. Dennis,
<a href="mailto:jimd@starshine.org">jimd@starshine.org</a><BR> 
Starshine Technical Services, <A HREF="http://www.starshine.org/">
http://www.starshine.org/</A> </H4> 
</center>

<p><hr><p>
<H3>Contents:</H3>
<ul>
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer19.html#mount">Mounting Disks Under Red Hat 4.0</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer19.html#lilo">Weird LILO Problems</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer19.html#file">Running FileRunner</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer19.html#xlt">Adding Linux To a DEC XLT-366</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer19.html#disk">Disk Support</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer19.html#legib">Legibility</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer19.html#metro">MetroX Problems</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer19.html#install">Installing Linux</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer19.html#menus">Adding Programs to the Pull Down
Menus</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer19.html#skip">Linux Skip</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer19.html#active">ActiveX for Linux</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer19.html#bash">Bash String Manipulations</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer19.html#blink">Blinking Underline Cursor</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_answer19.html#files">File Permissions</a>
</ul>

<p><hr><p> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="mount"></a>
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
Mounting Disks Under Red Hat 4.0
</h3>
<P> <B> 
From: Bigby, Bruce W. <a href="mailto:bbigby@frontiernet.net">bbigby@frontiernet.net</a>

<p>Hi.  The RedHat 4.0 control-panel has an interesting problem.  I have
two entries in my /etc/fstab file for my SCSI Zip Drive--one for
mounting a Win95 Zip removable disk and another for mounting a removable
Linux ext2fs disk--

<pre>/dev/sda4 /mnt/zip   ext2fs rw,noauto 0 0
/dev/sda4 /mnt/zip95 vfat   rw,noauto 0 0</pre>

I do this so that I can easily mount a removable zip disk by supplying
only the appropriate mount point to the mount command--for example, by
supplying

<pre>mount /mnt/zip</pre>

when I want to mount a Linux ext2fs disk, and

<pre>mount /mnt/zip95</pre>

when I want to mount a Windows 95 Zip disk.

</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	Yes, 

	I do this all the time (except that I use the command
	line for all of this -- and vi to edit my fstab).  I also
	add the "user" and a bunch of "nosuid,nodev,..." parameters
	to my options field.  This allows me or my wife (the only 
	two users with console access to the machine) to mount a
	new magneto optical, floppy, or CD without having to 
	'su').
<P><B>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
Unfortunately, the control-panel's mount utility treats the two lines as
duplicates and removes the additional lines that begin with /dev/sda4. 
Consequently, the control panel's mount utility only sees the first
line,
 
<pre>/dev/sda4 /mnt/zip   ext2fs rw,noauto 0 0</pre>

In addition, the utility also modifies my original /etc/fstab.  I do not

</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	Bummer!  Since I don't use the GUI controls I never noticed
	that.
<P><B>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
desire this behavior.  I prefer that the utility be fairly dumb and not
modify my original /etc/fstab.  Has RedHat fixed this problem in 4.2? 


</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
	I don't know.  There are certainly enough other fixes and
	upgrades to be worth installing it (although -- with a .1 
	version coming out every other month -- maybe you want to 
	just download selective fixes and wait for the big 5.0).

<p>	(My current guess -- totally unsubstantiated by even 
	an inside rumor -- is that they'll shoot for integrating
	glibc -- the GNU C library -- into their next release.
	That would be a big enough job to warrant a jump in 
	release numbers).
<P><B>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">

Can I obtain the sources and modify the control-panel's mount utility so
that it does not remove, "so-called," duplicates?


</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	Last I heard the control-panel was all written in Python
	(I think they converted all the TCL to Python by 4.0)
	In any event I pretty sure that it's TCL, Python and Tk
	(with maybe some bash for some parts).  So you already have
	the sources.


<p>	The really important question here is why you aren't asking
	the support team at RedHat (or at least posting to their
	"bugs@" address).  This 'control-panel' is certainly 
	specific to Red Hat's package.

<P><B>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
 
<p>According to the bash man page, bash is supposed to source the .profile,
or .profile_bash, in my home directory.  However, when I login, bash
does not source my .profile.  How can I ensure that bash sources the
.profile of my login account--$HOME/.profile?


</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">


	The man page and the particular configuration (compilation)
	options in your binary might not match.

<p>	You might have an (empty?) ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bash_login
	(the man page looks for these in that order -- with .profile
	being the last -- and only it sources the first of them that 
	it finds).

<p>	You might have something weird in your /etc/profile or
	/etc/bashrc that's preventing your ~/.bash_* or ~/.profile
	from being sourced.

<p>	Finally you might want to double check that you really are 
	running bash as your login shell.  There could be all sorts
	of weird bugs in your configuration that effectively start
	bash and fail to signal to it that this is a "login" shell.

<p>	Normally login exec()'s bash with an "ARG[0]" of "-bash"
	(preceding the name with a dash).  I won't get into the 
	gory details -- but if you were logging in with something that
	failed to do this: bash wouldn't "know" that it was a login
	shell -- and would behave as though it were a "secondary"
	shell (like you invoked it from your editor)).

<p>	If all else fails go over to prep.ai.mit.edu and grab the
	latest version of the GNU bash sources.  Compile them
	yourself.
<p>
--
Jim 




<p><hr><p> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="lilo"></a>
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
Weird LILO Problem
</h3>
<P> <B> 
From: David Runnels <a href="mailto:david_runnels@smb.com">david_runnels@smb.com</a>

<p>Hi Jim. I read your column in the Linux Gazette and I have a question. (If I
should have submitted it some other way I apologize.)
</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
 
	I recommend using the tag@starshine.org address for now.
	At some point I hope to have SSC set up a tag@gazette.ssc.com
	address -- or maybe get linux.org to give me an account and 
	set up some custom mail scripts.


<p><b>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
I've been using Linux casually for the last couple of years and several
months ago I installed RedHat 4.0 on the second IDE drive of a Win95
system. Though I've used System Commander in the past I don't like
using it with Win95 so I had the RedHat install process create a boot
floppy. This has always worked fine, and I made a second backup floppy
using dd) which I also made sure booted fine.


</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	This probably isn't really a "boot" floppy.  It sounds 
	like a "lilo" floppy to me.  The difference is that a 
	boot floppy has a kernel on it -- a "lilo" floppy just has
	the loader on it.

<p>	The confusing thing about Linux is that it can be 
	booted in so many ways.  In a "normal" configuration
	you have Lilo as the master boot program (on the first
	hard drive -- in the first sector of track 0 -- with
	the partition table).  Another common configuration places
	lilo in the "superblock" (logical boot record) of the 
	Linux "root" partition (allowing the DOS boot block,
	or the OS/2 or NT boot manager -- or some third party
	package like System Commander) to process the partition
	table and select the "active" partition -- which *might*
	be the Linux root partition.

<p>	Less common ways of loading Linux:  use LOADLIN.EXE
	(or SYSLINUX.EXE) -- which are DOS programs that can 
	load a Linux kernel (kicking DOS out from under them
	so to speak), put Lilo on a floppy (which is otherwise
	blank) -- or on a none Linux boot block (which sounds
	like your situation).

<p>	Two others:  You can put Lilo on a floppy *with* a 
	Linux kernel -- or you can even write a Linux kernel
	to a floppy with no lilo.  That last option is rarely
	used.

<p>	The point of confusion is this:  LILO loads the Linux
	kernel using BIOS calls.  It offers one the opportunity
	to pass parameters to the kernel (compiled into it's 
	boot image via the "append" directive in /etc/lilo.conf --
	or entered manually at boot time at the lilo prompt).

<p>	Another source of confusion is the concept that LILO 
	is a block of code and data that's written to a point
	that's outside the filesystems on a drive -- /sbin/lilo
	is a program that writes this block of boot code according
	to a set of directives in the /etc/lilo.conf.  It's best
	to think of the program /sbin/lilo as a "compiler" that
	"compiles" a set of boot images according to the
	lilo.conf and writes them to some place outside of your
	filesystem.

<p>	Yet another source of confusion is that the Linux
	kernel has a number of default parameters compiled into
	it.  These can be changed using the 'rdev' command
	(which was originally used to set the "root device"
	flags in a kernel image file).  'rdev' basically 
	patches values into a file.  It can be be used to set
	the "root device," the "initial video mode" and a 
	number of other things.  Some of these settings can
	be over-ridden via the LILO prompt and append lines.
	LOADLIN.EXE can also pass parameters to the kernel that
	it loads.

<p>	There's a big difference between using a kernel image written
	directly on a floppy -- and a LILO that's built to load an 
	image that's located on a floppy filesystem (probably minix 
	or ext2fs).  With LILO the kernel must be located on some
	device that is accessible with straight BIOS calls.  

<p>	This usually prevents one from using LILO to boot off of a 
	third IDE or SCSI disk drive (since most systems require a 
	software driver to allow DOS or other OS' to "see" these 
	devices).  I say "usually" because there are some BIOS' and
	especially some BIOS extensions on some SCSI and EIDE 
	controllers that may allow LILO to access devices other than
	the first two floppies and the first two hard drives.  However,
	those are rare.  Most PC hardware can only "see" two floppy
	drives and two hard drives -- which must be on the same 
	controller -- until an OS loads some sort of drivers.

<p>	In the case where a kernel is directly located on the 
	raw floppy -- and in the case where the kernel is 
	located on the floppy with LILO -- the kernel has the 
	driver code for your root device (and controllers) built
	in.  (There are also complex new options using 'initrd'
	-- an "initial RAM disk" which allows a modular kernel
	to load the drivers for it's root devices.

<p>	Yet another thing that's confusing to the DOS user -- and 
	most transplants from other forms of Unix -- is that the 
	kernel doesn't have to be located on the root device.  In 
	fact LOADLIN.EXE requires that the kernel be located on 
	a DOS filesystem.

<p>	To make matters more complicated you can have multiple
	kernels on any filesystem, any of them might use any
	filesystem as their root device and these relationships
	(between kernel and root device/filesystem can be set
	in several ways -- i.e. by 'rdev' or at compile time,
	vs. via the LOADLIN or LILO command lines).

<p>	I recommend that serious Linux users reserve a small
	(20 or 30 Mb) partition with just a minimal installation
	of the root/base Linux software on it.  This should be
	on a separate device from your main Linux filesystems.

<p>	Using this you have an alternative (hard drive based)
	boot method which is much faster and more convenient than
	digging out the installation boot/root floppies (or having 
	to go to a working machine and build a new set!).   I recommend
	the same thing for most Solaris and FreeBSD installations.
	If you have a DOS filesystem on the box -- at least stash a 
	copy of LOADLIN.EXE and a few copies of your favorite kernels
	in C:\LINUX\ (or wherever).

<p> 	Now that more PC SCSI cards support booting off of CD-ROM's
	(a feature that's been long overdue!) you can get by 
	without heeding my advice -- IF YOU HAVE SUCH A CONTROLLER
	AND A CD TO MATCH. 

<p>		(Incidentally -- I found out quite by 
		accident that the Red Hat 4.1 CD is "bootable"
		on Adaptec 2940 controllers -- if you have the
		Adaptec configured to allow it.  I've also heard
		that the NCR SymBIOS PCI controller supports this
		-- though I haven't tested that yet).

<p>	In any event we should all make "rescue disks" -- 
	unfortunately these are trickier than they should be.
	Look for the Bootdisk HOWTO for real details about this.

<p><b>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">

About a week ago I put the Linux floppy in the diskette drive, reset
the machine and waited for the LILO prompt. Everything went fine, but
all I got were the letters LI and everything stopped. I have tried
several times, using the original and the backup diskette, with the
same results.


</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	Did you add a new drive to the system?

<p><b>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">

I have done nothing (that I can think of!) to my machine and I'm at a
loss as to what might be causing this. Just to ensure that the floppy
drive wasn't acting funny, I've booted DOS from it and that went fine.


</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	When you booted DOS where you able to see the drive?

	I'd get out your installation floppy (or floppies --
	I don't remember whether Red Hat 4.0 had a single
	floppy system or not -- 4.1 and 4.2 only require one
	for most hardware).  Boot from that and choose "rescue"
	or switch out of the installation script to a shell
	prompt.  You should then be able to attempt mounting
	your root filesystem.

<p>	If that fails you can try to 'fsck' it.  After that
	it's probably a matter of reinstallation and restoring
	from backups.

<p><b>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">

Any ideas you have would be appreciated. Thanks for your time.
<p>Dave Runnels 
</B>

</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

Glad I could help.
<p><hr><p> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="file"></a>
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
Running FileRunner
</h3>
<P> <B> 

David E. Stern <a href="mailto:kotsya@u.washington.edu">kotsya@u.washington.edu</a> 

I wanted to let you know that you were right about relying too heavily
on rpm.  In the distant past, I used file text-based file compression
utilities, so I tried it again and tarballs are actually quite nice.  I
also found that rpm --nodeps will help.  Tarballs are also nice because
not all apps are distributed with rpm. (bonus! :-)  I'm also told that
multiple versions of tcl/tlk can peacably coexist, although rpm won't
allow it by default.  Another ploy with rpm which I didn't see
documented was that to avoid circular dependencies, update multiple rpms
at the same time; i.e.: rpm -Uvh app1.rpm app2.rpm app3.rpm .  Another
thing I learned about was that there are some non-standard (contributed)
libraries that are required for certain apps, like afio and xpm.  Thanks
for the great ideas and encouragement.
  
<p>The end goal: to install FileRunner, I simply MUST have it! 
My intermediate goal is to install Tcl/Tk 7.6/4.2, because FileRunner
needs these to install, and I only have 7.5/4.1 . However, when I try to
upgrade tcl/tlk, other apps rely on older tcl/tk libraries, at least that's
what the messages allude to:
 
<pre>libtcl7.5.so is needed by some-app
libtk4.1.so is needed by some-app</pre>
 
<p>(where some-app is python, expect, blt, ical, tclx, tix, tk, tkstep,...)
 
<p>I have enough experience to know that apps may break if I upgrade the
libraries they depend on. I've tried updating some of those other apps,
but I run into further and circular dependencies--like a cat chasing it's
tail. 
 
<p>In your opinion, what is the preferred method of handling this scenario?
I must have FileRunner, but not at the expense of other apps.

</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	It sounds like you're relying too heavily on RPM's.
 	If you can't afford to risk breaking your current stuff,
 	and you "must" have the upgrade you'll have to do some
 	stuff beyond what the RPM system seems to do.
 
 <p>	One method would be to grab the sources (SRPM or tarball)
 	and manually compile the new TCL and tk into /usr/local
 	(possibly with some changes to their library default 
 	paths, etc).  Now you'll probably need to grab the 
 	FileRunner sources and compile that to force it to use the
 	/usr/local/wish or /usr/local/tclsh (which, in turn, will
 	use the /usr/local/lib/tk if you've compiled it all right).
 
 <p>	Another approach is to set up a separate environment 
 	(separate disk, a large subtree of an existing disk
 	-- into which you chroot, or a separate system entirely)
 	and test the upgrade path where it won't inconvenience you
 	by failing.  A similar approach is to do a backup, test your
 	upgrade plan -- (if the upgrade fails, restore the backup).
<P><B>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
Thanks, -david

</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
 
 	You're welcome.
 	This is a big problem in all computing environments (and
 	far worse in DOS, Windows, and NT systems than in most 
 	multi-user operating systems.  At least with Unix you have
 	the option of installing a "playpen" (accessing it with the
 	chroot call -- or by completely rebooting on another partition
 	if you like).  
 
 <p>	Complex interdepencies are unavoidable unless you require that
 	every application be statically linked and completely self-sufficient
 	(without even allowing their configuration files to be separate.
 	So this will remain an aspect of system administration where
 	experience and creativity are called for (and a good backup
 	may be the only thing between you and major inconvenience).
<p>
--
Jim 


<p><hr><p> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="xlt"></a>
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
Adding Linux t a DEC XLT-366
</h3>
<P> <B> 
From: Alex Pikus <a href="mailto:alex@webexpress.net">alex@webexpress.net</a>

<p>I have a DEC XLT-366 with NTS4.0 and I would like to add Linux to it.  I
have been running Linux on an i386 for a while.

<p>I have created 3 floppies:
<ul>
<li>Linload.exe and MILO (from DEC site)
<li>Linux kernel 2.0.25
<li>RAM disk
</ul>
<p>I have upgrade AlphaBIOS to v5.24 (latest from DEC) and added a Linux
boot option that points to a:\

</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	You have me at a severe disadvantage.   I've never
	run Linux on an Alpha.

	So I'll have to try answering this blind.
<P><B> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
When I load MILO I get the "MILO>" prompt without any problem.  When I
do <pre>show</pre> or <pre>boot ...</pre> at the MILO I get the following result ...

<p>SCSI controller gets identified as NCR810 on IRQ 28 ... test1 runs and
gets stuck "due to a lost interrupt" and the system hangs ...

<p>In WinNTS4.0 the NCR810 appears on IRQ 29.


</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	My first instinct is the ask if the autoprobe code in
	Linux (Alpha) is broken.  Can you use a set of command-line
	(MILO) parameters to tell pass information about your 
	SCSI controller to your kernel?  You could also see about
	getting someone else with an Alpha based system to compile
	a kernel for you -- and make sure that it has values in 
	it's scsi.h file that are appropriate to your system -- as
	well as insuring that the corrective drivers are built in.
<P><B> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
How can make further progress here?

</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">


	It's a tough question.  Another thing I'd look at 
	is to see if the Alpha system allows booting from a
	CD-ROM.  Then I'd check out Red Hat's (or Craftworks')
	Linux for Alpha CD's -- asking each of them if they 
	support this sort of boot.

<p>	(I happened to discover that the Red Hat Linux 4.1 (Intel)
	CD-ROM was bootable when I was working with one system that 
	had an Adaptec 2940 controller where that was set as an 
	option.  This feature is also quite common on other Unix
	platforms such as SPARC and PA-RISC systems -- so it is 
	a rather late addition to the PC world).
 
<P><B>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
Thanks!<br>
Alex.
</B>

<p><hr><p> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="disk"></a>
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
Disk Support
</h3>
<P> <B> 

From: Andrew Ng <a href="mailto:lulu@asiaonline.net">lulu@@asiaonline.net</a>

 
<p>Dear Sir,
 
I have a question to ask:	
Does Linux support disks with density
2048bytes/sector?


</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	Apparently not.

	This is a common size for CD-ROM's -- but it not
	at all normal for any other media.
<P><B>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
I have bought a Fujitsu MO drive which support up to 640MB MO disks with
density 2048bytes/sector. The Slackware Linux system does not support
access to disks with this density. Windows 95 and NT support this density
and work very well. Is there any version of Linux which support
2048bytes/sector? If not, is there any project working on that?


</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
	
	I believe the drive ships with drivers for DOS, Windows,
	Windows '95 and NT.  The OS' don't "support it"  the manufacturer
	supports these OS'.  

<p>	Linux, other the other hand, does support most hardware 
	(without drivers being supplied by the hardware manufacturers).
	Granted we get some co-operation from many manufacturers.  
	Some even contribute code to the main kernel development.

<p>	We prefer the model where the hardware manufacturer releases
	free code to drive their hardware -- whether that code is 
	written for Linux, FreeBSD or any other OS.  Release it once
	and all OS' can port and benefit by it.

<P><B>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
I hear a lot of praise about Linux. Is Linux superior to Windows NT in all
aspect?


</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	That's controversial question.  Any statement like:

		Is "foo" superior to "bar" in all aspects?

	... is bound to cause endless (and probably acrimonious)
	debate.

<p>	Currently NT has a couple of advantages:  Microsoft is a 
	large company with lots of money to spend on marketing and
	packaging.  They are very aggressive in making "partnerships"
	and building "strategic relationships" with the management of
	large companies.  

<p>	Microsoft has slowly risen to dominance in the core applications 
	markets (word processors, spreadsheets, and databases).  Many 
	industry "insiders" (myself included) view this as being the
	result of "trust"-worthy business practices (a.k.a. "verging
	on monopolistic").  

<p>	In other words may people believe that MS Word isn't the
	dominant word processor because it is technically the superior
	product -- but because MS was able to supply the OS features
	they needed when they wanted (and perhaps able to slip the
	schedules of certain releases during the critical development
	phases of their competitors).  

<p>	The fact that the OS, and the principal programming tools, 
	and the major applications are all from the same source has
	generated a amazing amount of market antagonism towards 
	Microsoft.  (Personally I think it's a bit extreme -- but
	I can understand how many people feel "trapped" and understand
	the frustration of thinking that there's "no choice").

<p>	Linux doesn't have a single dominant applications suite.
	There are several packages out there -- Applixware, StarOffice,
	Caldera's Internet Office Suite.  Hopefully Corel's Java Office
	will also be a useful to Linux, FreeBSD and other users
	(including Windows and NT).

<p>	In addition to these "suites" there are also several individual
	applications like Wingz (a spreadsheet system), Mathematica,
	(the premier symbolic mathematics package), LyX (the free word
	processor -- LaTeX front-end -- that's under development),
	Empress, /rdb (database systems), Flagship and dbMan IV
	(xBase database development packages), Postgres '95, mSQL,
	InfoFlex, Just Logic's SQL, MySQL (database servers) and a 
	many more.  (Browse through the Linux Journal _Buyer's_Guide_
	for a large list -- also waltz around the web a bit).

<p>	Microsoft's SQL Server for NT is getting to be pretty good.
	Also, there are alot of people who program for it -- more 
	than you'll find for InfoFlex, Postgres '95 etc.  A major
	problem with SQL is that the servers are all different enough
	to call for significant differences in the front end applications
	-- which translates to lots of programmer time (and money!)  if 
	you switch from one to another.  MS has been very successful
	getting companies to adopt NT Servers for their "small" SQL projects
	(which has been hurting the big three -- Oracle, Sybase and 
	Informix).  Unfortunately for Linux -- database programmers and
	administrators are very conservative -- they are a "hard sell."

<p>	So Linux -- despite the excellent stability and performance --
	is not likely to make a significant impact as a database server
	for a couple of years at least.  Oracle, Sybase and Informix
	have "strategic relationships" with SCO, Sun, and other Unix
	companies.  

<p>	The established Unix companies viewed Linux as a threat until
	recently. They now seem to see it as a mixed blessing.  On the 
	up side Linux has just about doubled the number of systems
	running Unix-like OS', attracted somewhere between two and
	eight million new converts away from the "Wintel" paradigm,
	and even wedged a little bit of "choice" into the minds of 
	the industry media.  On the down side SCO can no longer charge
	thousands of dollars for the low end of their systems.  This 
	doesn't really affect Sun, DEC, and HP so much -- since they are
	primarily hardware vendors who only got into the OS business to 
	keep their iron moving out the door.  SCO and BSDI have the 
	tough fight since the bulk of their business is OS sales.

<p>	(Note: BSDI is *not* to be confused with the FreeBSD, NetBSD,
	OpenBSD, or 386BSD (Jolix) packages.  They are a company that
	produces a commercial Unix, BSDI/OS.  The whole Free|Net|Open-BSD
	set of programming projects evolved out of the work of 
	Mr. and Mrs. Jolitz -- which was called 386BSD -- and I call
	"Jolix" -- a name with I also spotted in the _Using_C-Kermit_
	book from Digital Press).

<p>	So there don't seem to be any Oracle, SyBase, or Informix 
	servers available for Linux.  The small guys like JustLogic
	and InfoFlex have an opportunity here -- but it's a small
	crack in a heavy door and some of them are likely to get their
	toes broken in the process.

<p>	Meanwhile NT will keep getting market share -- because their
	entry level still a tiny fraction of the price of any of the
	"big guys."

<p>	I've just barely scratched the tip of the iceberg (to thoroughly
	blend those metaphors).  There are so many other aspects of
	comparison it's hard to even list them -- let alone talk about
	who Linux and NT measure up to them.

<p>	It's also important to realize that it's not just NT vs.
	Linux.  There are many forms of Unix -- most of them are 
	quite similar to Linux from a user and even from an 
	administrators point of view.  There are many operating systems
	that are vastly different than either NT (which is supposed to
	be fundamentally based on VMS) and the various Unix variants.

<p>	There are things like Sprite (a Berkeley research project),
	Amoeba and Chorus (distributed network operating systems),
	EROS, and many others.

<p>	Here's a link where you can find out more about operating 
	systems in general:

<a href="http://www.yahoo.com/text/Computers_and_Internet/Operating_Systems/Research/">Yahoo!
Computers and Internet: Operating Systems: Research</a>
<p>
--
Jim 


<p><hr><p> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="legib"></a>
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
Legibility
</h3>
<P> <B> 

From: Robert E Glacken <a href="mailto:glacken@bc.seflin.org">glacken@bc.seflin.org</a>

<p>I use a 256 shade monochrome monitor. The QUESTIONS are invisible.

</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	What questions?
	What OS?
	What GUI? (I presume that the normal text is visible in
	text mode so you must be using a GUI of some sort)?

<p>	I wouldn't expect much from a monochrome monitor set to 
	show 256 (or even 127) shades of grey.  That's almost no
	one in the PC/Linux world that uses those -- so there almost
	no one that tunes their color tables and applications to 
	support it.

<p>	Suggestions -- get a color screen -- or drop the GUI and 
	use text mode.

<p>
--
Jim 

<p><hr><p> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="metro"></a>
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
MetroX Problems
</h3>
<P> <B> 


From: Allen Atamer <a href="mailto:atamer@ecf.toronto.edu">atamer@ecf.toronto.edu</a>


<p>I am having trouble setting up my XServer.  Whether or not I use MetroX
or Xfree86 to set it up it's still not working.

<p>When I originally chose metrox to install, i got to the setup screen,
chose my card and resolution, saved and exited.  Then i started up the
xwindows, and my screen loaded the Xserver, but the graphics were all
messed up.  I exited, then changed some settings, and now i can't even
load the xserver.  The Xerrors file says it had problems loading the
'core'.

</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	Hmm.  You don't mention what sort of video card you're using
	or what was "messed up."  As I've said many times in my 
	column -- I'm not must of an "Xpert" (or much of a "TeXpert"
	for that matter).

<p>	MetroX and XFree86 each have their own support pages
	on the web -- and there are several X specific newsgroups
	where you'd find people who are much better with X than I.

<p>	Before you go there to post I'd suggest that you type up
	the type of video card and monitor you have in excruciating
	detail -- and make sure you go through the X HOWTO's and
	the Red Hat manual.  Also be sure to check the errata 
	page at Red Hat (http://www.redhat.com/errata.html) --
	this will let you know about any problems that were discovered
	after the release of 4.1.

<p>	One other thing you might try is getting the new version
	(4.2 -- Biltmore) -- and check it's errata sheet.  You can 
	buy a new set of CD's (http://www.cheapbytes.com is one
	inexpensive source) or you can use up a bunch of bandwidth
	by downloading it all.  The middle road is to to download
	just the parts you need.

<p>	I notice (looking at the errata sheets as I type this)
	that XFree86 is up to version 3.3.1 (at least).  This upgrade
	is apparently primarily to fix some buffer overflow (security)
	problems in the X libraries.
<P><B>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">

By the way, how do I mount what's on the second cd and read it?
(vanderbilt 4.1)


</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	First umount the first CD with a command like:

		umount /cdrom
	
	Remove it. 
	Then 'mount' the other one with a command like:

		mount -t iso9660 -o ro /cdrom /dev/scd0

	... where /cdrom is some (arbitrary but extent) mount point
	and /dev/scd0 is the device node that points to your CD drive
	(that would be the first SCSI CD-ROM on your system -- 
	IDE and various other CD's have different device names).

<p>	To find out the device name for your CD use the mount command
	BEFORE you unmount the other CD.  It will show each mounted
	device and the current mount point.

<p>	Personally I use /mnt/cd as my mount point for most CD's.

	I recommend adding an entry to your /etc/fstab file 
	(the "filesystems table" for Unix/Linux) that looks something 
	like this:
<pre>
# /etc/fstab
/dev/scd0      /mnt/cd            iso9660 noauto,ro,user,nodev,nosuid 0 0
</pre>
<p>	This will allow you to use the mount and umount commands
	as a normal user (without the need to su to 'root').

<p>	I also recommend changing the permissions of the mount
	command to something like:

<pre>-rwsr-x---   1 root     console		26116 Jun  3  1996 /bin/mount
</pre>
	(chgrp console `which mount && chmod 4550 `which mount`)

<p>	... so that only members of the group "console" can use the 
	mount command.  Then add your normal user account to that 
	group.

<p>	The idea of all this is to strike a balance between the 
	convenience and reduced "fumblefingers" exposure of running
	the privileged command as a normal user -- and the potential
	for (as yet undiscovered buffer overflows) to compromise the 
	system by "guest" users.

<p>	(I recommend similar procedures for ALL SUID binaries -- but 
	this is an advanced issue that goes *WAY* beyond the scope of
	this question).

<p>	Allen,

	You really need to get a copy of the "Getting Started"
	guide from the Linux Documentation Project.  This can be 
	downloaded and printed (there's probably a copy on your
	CD's) or you can buy the professionally bound editions from
	any of several publishers -- my favorite being O'Reilly &
	Associates (http://www.ora.com).  

<p>	Remember that the Linux Gazette "Answer Guy" is no 
	substitute for reading the manuals and participating in 
	Linux newsgroups and mailing lists.  

<p>
--
Jim 

<p><hr><p> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="install"></a>
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
Installing Linux
</h3>
<P> <B> 

From: Aryeh Goretsky <a href="mailto:aryeh@tribal.com">aryeh@tribal.com</a><br>

</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

[ Aryeh, I'm copying my Linux Gazette editor on this since I've put in 
  enough explanation to be worth publishing it ]
<P><B>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
.....  why ... don't they just call
it a disk boot sector .  ....

Okay, I've just got to figure out what the problem is, then.  Are
there any utilities like NDD for Linux I can run that will point 
out any errors I made when entering the superblock info?


</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
	
	Nothing with a simple, colorful interface.  'fsck' is
	at least as good with ext2 filesystems as NDD is with
	FAT (MS-DOS) partitions.  However 'fsck' (or, more specifically,
	e2fsck) has a major advantage since the ext2fs was designed
	to be robust.  The FAT filesystem was designed to be simple
	enough that the driver code and the rest of the OS could fit
	on a 48K (yes, forty-eight kilobytes) PC (not XT, not AT, and
	not even close to a 386).  So, I'm not knocking NDD when I 
	say that fsck works "at least" as well.

<p>	However, fsck doesn't touch your MBR -- it will
	check your superblock and recommand a command to restore
	the superblock from one of the backups if yours is damaged.
	Normally the newfs (like MS-DOS' FORMAT) or mke2fs
	(basically the same thing) will scatter extra copies of the
	superblock every 8K sectors across the filesystem (or so).
	So there are usually plenty of backups.
	
<p>	So, usually, you'd just run fdisk to check your 
	partitions and /sbin/lilo to write a new MBR (or other
	boot sector).  /sbin/lilo will also update its own 
	"map" file -- and may (optionally) make a backup of 
	your original boot sector or MBR.

<p>		(Note:  There was an amusing incident on
		one of the mailing lists or newsgroups -- in which
		a user complained that Red Hat had "infected his
		system with a virus."  It turns out that lilo had moved 
		the existing (PC/MBR) virus from his MBR to a 
		backup file -- where it was finally discovered.
		So, lilo had actually *cured* his system of the 
		virus).

<p>	Actually when you run /sbin/lilo you're "compiling" the
	information in the /etc/lilo.conf file and writing that
	to the "boot" location -- which you specify in the .conf
	file.

<p>	You can actually call your lilo.conf anything you like --
	and you can put it anywhere you like -- you'd just have to
	call /sbin/lilo with a -C switch and a path/file name.
	/etc/lilo.conf is just the built-in default which the -C
	option over-rides.

<p>	Here's a copy of my lilo.conf (which I don't actually use
	-- since I use LOADLIN.EXE on this system).
	As with many (most?) Unix configuration files the comments
	start with hash (#) signs.
<pre>
boot=/dev/hda
# write the resulting boot block to my first IDE hard drive's MBR.
# if this was /dev/hdb4 (for example) /sbin/lilo would write the 
# resulting block to the logical boot record on the fourth partition
# of my second IDE hard drive.   /dev/sdc would mean to write it to
# the MBR of the third SCSI disk.
# /sbin/lilo will print a warning if the boot location is likely to 
# be inaccessible to most BIOS' (i.e. would require a software driver
# for DOS to access it).

## NOTE:  Throughout this discussion I use /sbin/lilo to refer to the 
## Linux executable binary program and LILO to refer to the resulting
## boot code that's "compiled" and written by /sbin/lilo to whatever
## boot sector your lilo.conf calls for.  I hope this will minimize the
## confusion -- though I've liberally re-iterated this with parenthetical
## comments as well.

# The common case is to put boot=/dev/fd0H1440 to specify that the
# resulting boot code should be written to a floppy in the 1.44Mb
# "A:" drive when /sbin/lilo is run.  Naturally this would require
# that you use this diskette to boot any of the images and "other"
# stanzas listed in the rest of this file.  Note that the floppy
# could be completely blank -- no kernel or files are copied to it
# -- just the boot sector!


map=/boot/map
	# This is where /sbin/lilo will store a copy of the map file --
	# which contains the cylinder/sector/side address of the images
	# and message files  (see below)
	# It's important to re-run /sbin/lilo to regenerate the map
	# file any time you've done anything that might move any of 
	# these image or message files (like defragging the disk,
	# restoring any of these images from a backup -- that sort
	# of thing!).


install=/boot/boot.b
	# This file contains code for LILO (the boot loader) -- this is 
	# an optional directive -- and necessary in this case since it 
	# simply specifies the default location.
	
prompt
	# This instructs the LILO boot code to prompt the user for 
	# input.  Without this directive  LILO would just wait
	# upto "delay" time (default 0 tenths of a second -- none)
	# and boot using the default stanza.
	# if you leave this and the "timeout" directives out --
	# but you put in a delay=X directive -- then LILO won't 
	# prompt the user -- but will wait for X tenths of a second
	# (600 is 10 seconds).  During that delay the user can hit a 
	# shift key, or any of the NumLock, Scroll Lock type keys to 
	# request a LILO prompt.

timeout=50
	# This sets the amount of time LILO (the boot code) will 
	# wait at the prompt before proceeding to the default
	# 0 means 'wait forever'

message=/etc/lilo.message
	# this directive tells /sbin/lilo (the conf. "compiler") to 
	# include the contents of this message in the prompt which LILO
	# (the boot code) displays at boot time.  It is a handy place to
	# put some site specific help/reminder messages about what
	# you call your kernels and where you put your alternative bootable
	# partitions and what you're going to do to people who reboot your 
	# Linux server without a very good reason.

other=/dev/hda1
	label=dos
	table=/dev/hda
	# This is a "stanza"
	# the keyword "other" means that this is referring to a non-Linux
	# OS -- the location tells LILO (boot code) where to find the 
	# "other" OS' boot code (in the first partition of the first IDE --
	# that's a DOS limitation rather than a Linux constraint).
	# The label directive is an arbitrary but unique name for this stanza
	# to allow one to select this as a boot option from the LILO 
	# (boot code) prompt.

	# Because it is the first stanza it is the the default OS --
	# LILO will boot this partition if it reaches timeout or is 
	# told not to prompt.  You could also over-ride that using a 
	# default=$labelname$ directive up in the "global" section of the
	# file.

image=/vmlinuz
	label=linux
	root=/dev/sda5
	read-only
	# This is my "normal" boot partition and kernel.
	# the "root" directive is a parameter that is passed to the 
	# kernel as it loads -- to tell the kernel where its root filesystem
	# is located.  The "read-only" is a message to the kernel to initially
	# mount the root filesystem read-only -- so the rc (AUTOEXEC.BAT) 
	# scripts can fsck (do filesystem checks -- like CHKDSK) on it.  
	# Those rc scripts will then normally remount the fs in "read/write" 
	# mode.

image=/vmlinuz.old
	label=old
	root=/dev/sda5
	append= single
	read-only
	# This example is the same except that it loads a different kernel
	# (presumably and older one -- duh!).  The append= directive allows
	# me to pass arbitrary directives on to the kernel -- I could use this
	# to tell the kernel where to find my Ethernet card in I/O, IRQ, and 
	# DMA space -- here I'm using it to tell the kernel that I want to come
	# up in "single-user" (fix a problem, don't start all those networking
	# gizmos) mode.

image=/mnt/tmp/vmlinuz
	label=alt
	root=/dev/sdb1
	read-only

	# This last example is the most confusing.  My image is on some other
	# filesystem (at the time that I run /sbin/lilo to "compile" this 
	# stanza). The root fs is on the first partition of the 2nd SCSI drive.
	# It is likely that /dev/sdb1 would be the filesystem mounted under 
	# /mnt/tmp when I would run /sbin/lilo.  However it's not "required"
	# My kernel image file could be on any filesystem that was mounted
	# /sbin/lilo will warn me if the image is likely to be inaccessible
	# by the BIOS -- it's can't say for sure since there are a lot of 
	# BIOS' out there -- some of the newer SCSI BIOS' will boot off of a 
	# CD-ROM!
</pre>

<p>I hope that helps.  The lilo.conf man page (in section 5) gives
*lots* more options -- like the one I just saw while writing this
that allows you to have a password for each of your images -- or 
for the whole set.  Also there are a number of kernel options
described in the BootPrompt-HOWTO.  One of the intriguing ones is
panic= -- which allows you to tell the Linux kernel how long to 
sit there displaying a kernel panic.  The default is "forever" --
but you can use the append= line in your lilo.conf to pass a 
panic= parameter to your kernel -- telling it how many seconds to 
wait before attempting to reboot.

<p>In the years that I've used Linux I've only seen a couple (like 
two or three) kernel panics (that could be identified as such).  Perhaps
a dozen times I've had a Linux system freeze or go comatose enough that 
I hard reset it.  (Most of those involve very bad hardware IRQ conflicts).
Once I've even tricked my kernel into scribbling garbage all over one of 
my filesystems (don't play with linear and membase in your XConfig file --
and, in particular don't specify a video memory base address that's 
inside of your system's RAM address space).  

<p>So I'm not sure if setting a panic= switch would help much.  I'd be 
much more inclined to get a hardware watchdog timer card and enable
the existing support for that in the kernel.  Linux is the only PC
OS that I know of that comes with this support "built-in"

<p>For those that aren't familiar with them a watchdog timer card is 
a card (typically taking an ISA slot) that implements a simple count-down
and reset (strobing the reset line on the system bus) feature.  This is 
activated by a driver (which could be a DOS device driver, a Netware
Loadable Module, or a little chunk of code in the Linux kernel.  Once 
started the card must be updated periodically (the period is set as
part of the activation/update).  So -- if the software hangs -- the
card *will* strobe the reset line.

<p>(Note: this isn't completely fool-proof.  Some hardware states might
require a complete power cycle and some sorts of critical server failures
will render the systems services unavailable without killing the 
timer driver software.  However it is a good sight better than just
hanging).

<p>These cards cost about $100 (U.S.) -- which is a pity since there's
only about $5 worth of hardware there.  I think most Sun workstations
have this feature designed into the motherboard -- which is what 
PC manufacturers should scramble to do.
<br><hr><p>
 
<P><B>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
AG

<p>At 11:43 AM 6/10/97 -0700, you wrote:

Subject: Once again, I try to install Linux...
...and fail miserably.
 
This is getting depressing.

Someone wanna explain this whole superblock concept to me?  Use
small words....


</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	Aryeh,

	Remember master boot records (MBR's)?  Remember "logical"
	boot records -- for volume boot records?

<p>	A superblock is the Unix term for a logical boot record.
	Linux uses normal partitions that are compatible with the
	DOS, OS/2, NT (et al) hard disk partitioning scheme.  

<p>	To boot Linux you can use LILO (the Linux loader) which can
	be written to your MBR (most common), to your "superblock"
	or to the "superblock" of a floppy.  This little chunk of code
	contains a reference (or "map") to the device and logical sector
	of one or more Linux kernels or DOS (or OS/2) bootable partitions.

<p>	There is a program called "lilo" which "compiles" a lilo.conf
	(configuration file) into this LILO "boot block" and puts it
	onto the MBR, superblock or floppy boot block for you.  This is 
	the source of most of the confusion about LILO.  I can create a 
	boot floppy with nothing put this boot block on it -- no 
	kernel, no filesystems, nothing.  LILO doesn't care where I put
	any of my linux kernels -- so long as it can get to it using 
	BIOS calls (which usually limits you to putting the kernel on 
	the one of the first two drives connected to the first drive
	controller on your system).

<p>	Another approach is to use LOADLIN.EXE -- this is a DOS 
	program that loads a Linux (or FreeBSD) kernel.  The advantage
	of this is that you can have as many kernel files as you like, 
	and they can be located on any DOS accessible device (even if you
	had to load various weird device drivers to be able to see that
	device.

<p>	LOADLIN.EXE is used by some CD-ROM based installation packages
	-- avoiding the necessity of using a boot floppy.

<p>	The disadvantages of LOADLIN include the fact that you may have
	loaded some device drivers and memory managers that have re-mapped
	(hooked into) critical BIOS interrupt vectors.  LOADLIN often needs
	a "boot time hardware vector table"  (which it usually writes as
	C:\REALBIOS.INT -- a small hidden/system file).  Creating this file
	involves booting from a "stub" floppy (which saves the table) and 
	rebooting/restarting the LOADLIN configuration to tell it to 
	copy the table from the floppy to your HD.  This must be done whenever
	you change video cards, add any controller with a BIOS extension
	(a ROM) or otherwise play with the innards of your machine.

<p>	Call me and we can go over your configuration to narrow down the
	discussion.  If you like you can point your web browser at 
	www.ssc.com/lg and look for articles by "The Answer Guy" there.
	I've described this a greater length in some of my articles there.

<p>
--
Jim 

<p><hr><p> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="menus"></a>
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
Adding Programs to the Pull Down Menus
</h3>
<P> <B> 

From: Ronald B. Simon <a href="mailto:rbsimon@anet.bna.boeing.com">rbsimon@anet.bna.boeing.com</a><br>

<P>Thank you for responding to my request.
By the way I am using RedHat release 4 and I think TheNextLevel window 
manager.  I did find a .fvwm2rc.programs tucked away in... 


</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

Ronald,  
	TheNextLevel is an fvwm derivative.  

<P><B>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">

/etc/X11/TheNextLevel/.  I added a define ProgramCM(Title,,,program 
name) and under the start/applications menu I saw Title.  When I put 
the cursor over it and pressed the mouse button, everything froze.  I 
came to the conclusion that I am in way over my head and that I 
probably need to open a window within the program that I am trying to 
execute.  Any way I will search for some 'C' code that shows me how to 
do that.
Thanks again!

</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	I forgot to mention that any non X program should be run
	through an xterm.

	This is normally done with a line in your rc file like:

		Exec "Your Shell App" exec xterm -e /path/to/your/app &

	... (I'm using fvwm syntax here -- I'll trust you to translate
	to TNL format).

	Try that -- it should fix you right up.

<p>	Also -- when you think your X session is locked up --
	try the Ctrl-Alt-Fx key (where Fx is the function key
	that corresponds to one of your virtual consoles).
	This should switch you out of GUI mode and into your 
	normal console environment.  You might also try Alt-SysReq
	(Print-Screen on most keyboards) followed by a digit from
	the alphanumeric portion of you keyboard (i.e. NOT from the
	numeric keypad).  This is an alternative binding for VC
	switching that might be enabled on a few systems.

	If all of that fails you can try Ctrl-Alt-Backspace. This 
	should (normally) signal the X server to shutdown.

<p>	Mostly I doubt that your server actually hung.  I suspect
	that you confused it a bit by running a non-X program 
	not "backgrounded" (you DO need those trailing ampersands)
	and failing to supply it with communications channel back to
	X (an xterm).

<p>	Please remember that my knowlege of X is very weak.  I 
	hardly ever use and almost never administer/customize it.
	So you'll want to look at the L.U.S.T. mailing list, or
	the comp.windows.x or (maybe) the comp.os.linux.x (although
	there is nothing to these questions which is Linux specific).

	I looked extensively for information about TheNextLevel
	on the web (in Yahoo! and Alta Vista).  Unfortunately
	the one page that almost all of the references pointed
	to was down

<p>	The FVWM home page is at: 
<a href="http://www3.hmc.edu/~tkelly/docs/proj/fvwm.html">http://www3.hmc.edu/~tkelly/docs/proj/fvwm.html</a>

<p>
--
Jim 

<p><hr><p> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="skip"></a>
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
Linux Skip                    
</h3>
<P> <B> 

From: Jesse Montrose <a href="mailto:jesse@spine.com">jesse@spine.com</a>


</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

<I>Time warp:

This message was lost in my drafts folder while I was
looking up some of the information.  As it turns out the
wait was to our advantage.  Read on.</I>
<P><B>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
Date: Sun, 16 Mar 1997 13:54:34 -0800

<p>Greetings, this question is intended for the Answer Guy associated with
the Linux Gazette..

<p>I've recently discovered and enjoyed your column in the Linux Gazette,
I'm hoping you might have news about a linux port of sun's skip ip
encryption protocol.

<p>Here's the blurb from skip.incog.com:

  SKIP secures the network at the IP packet level. Any networked
  application gains the benefits of encryption, without requiring
  modification. SKIP is unique in that an Internet host can send an
  encrypted packet to another host without requiring a prior message
  exchange to set up a secure channel. SKIP is particularly well-suited
  to IP networks, as both are stateless protocols. Some of the
  advantages of SKIP include:
<ul>
    <li> No connection setup overhead
    <li> High availability - encryption gateways that fail can reboot and
      resume decrypting packets instantly, without having to
      renegotiate (potentially thousands) of existing connections
    <li> Allows uni-directional IP (for example, IP broadcast via
      satellite or cable)
    <li> Scalable multicast key distribution
    <li> SKIP gateways can be configured in parallel to perform
      instant-failover                                               
</ul>
</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	I heard a bit about SKIP while I was at a recent IETF
	conference.  However I must admit that it got lost in
	the crowd of other security protocols and issues.

<p>	So far I've paid a bit more attention to the Free S/WAN
	project that's being promoted by John Gilmore of the 
	EFF.

	I finally got ahold of a friend of mine (Hugh Daniel --
	one of the architects of Sun's NeWS project -- and 
	well-known cypherpunk and computer security professional)

<p>	He explained that SKIP is the "Secure Key Interchange Protocol"
	-- that is is a key management protocol (incorporated in
	ISAKMP/Oakley).  

<p>	For secure communications you need:
<ul>
<li>		Key management (which -- between strangers 
		 requires some sort of RSA (Public Key) or 
		 Diffie-Hellman key exchange or even some
		 variant of elliptic curve -- from what
		 I've heard).  

<li>		Encrypted Link (which will be built into
		 IPv6 and will be available as IPSec extensions
		 to IPv4 -- using tunnelled interfaces from 
		 what I gather).

<li>		Secure-DNS (this is related to the key management
		 problem -- we need a trustworthy source of 
		 public key information -- Verisign and Thawte
		 offer commercial "Certification Authority" 
		 services -- but the 'net needs something a 
		 bit more open and standards based).

</ul>
<P><B>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">

My employer is primarily an NT shop (with sun servers), but since I
develop in Java, I'm able to do my work in linux.  I am one of about a
dozen telecommuters in our organization, and we use on-demand ISDN to
dial in directly to the office modem bank, in many cases a long distance
call.


</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	I'm finally working on configuring my dial-on-demand ISDN
	line here at my place.  I've had diald (dial-on-demand over
	a 28.8 modem) running for about a month now.  I just want to
	cut down on that dial time.

<P><B>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">


We're considering switching to public Internet connections, using skip
to maintain security.  Skip binaries are available for a few platforms
(windows, freebsd, sunos), but not linux.  Fortunately the source is
available (http://skip.incog.com/source.html) but it's freebsd, and I
don't know nearly enough deep linux to get it compiled (I tried making
source modifications).

</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">


	If I understand it correctly SKIP is only a small part of 
	the solution.

<p>	Hopefully FreeS/WAN will be available soon.  You can 
	do quite a bit with ssh (and I've heard of people 
	who are experimenting with routing through some 
	custom made tunnelled interface).  FreeBSD and Linux 
	both support IP tunneling now.

<p>	For information on using ssh and IP tunnels to build a 
	custom VPN (virtual private network) look in this
	month's issue of Sys Admin Magazine (July '97).

	(Shameless plug: I have an article about C-Kermit appearing 
	in the same issue).

<p>	Another method might be to get NetCrypto.  Currently the
	package isn't available for Linux -- however McAfee  is 
	working on a port.  Look at http://www.mcafee.com 

<P><B>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">

After much time with several search engines, the best I could come up
with was another fellow also looking for a linux version of skip :)

Thanks!
jesse montrose       

</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">


<I>	Jesse,

	Sorry I took so long to answer this question.  However,
	as I say, this stuff has changed considerably -- even in 
	the two months between the time I started this draft message
	and now.</I>
<p>
--
Jim 

<p><hr><p> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="active"></a>
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
ActiveX for Linux      
</h3>
<P> <B> 

From: Gerald Hewes <a href="mailto:hewes@OpenMarket.com">hewes@OpenMarket.com</a>

<p>Jim,

I read your response on ActiveX in the Linux Gazette. 
At <a href="../issue18/lg_answer18.html#active">../issue18/lg_answer18.html#active</a>

<p>Software AG is porting the non GUI portions of ActiveX called DCOM
to Linux. Their US site where it should be hosted appears down
as I write this e-mail message
but there is a link of their home page on a Linux DCOM beta:

<a href="http://www.softwareag.com/">http:/www.sotwareag.com</a>

</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">
 
	I beleive the link ought to be 

<a href="http://www.sagus.com/prod-i~1/net-comp/dcom/index.htm">http://www.sagus.com/prod-i~1/net-comp/dcom/index.htm</a>

<P><B>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">

As for DCOM, its main value for the Linux community is in making
Microsoft Distributed Object Technology available to the Linux
community. Microsoft is trying to push DCOM over CORBA.


</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	I know that MS is "trying to push DCOM over CORBA"
	(and OpenDOC, and now, JavaBeans).  I'm also aware that
	DCOM stands for "distributed component object model" and
	CORBA is the "common object request broker" and SOM is 
	IBM's "system object model" (OS/2).

<p>	The media "newshounds" have dragged these little bones
	around and gnawed on them until we've all seen them.
	Nonetheless I don't see its "main value to the Linux
	community."

<p>	These "components" or "reusable objects" will not make
	any difference so long as significant portions of their
	functionality are tied to specific OS (GUI) semantics.
	However, this coupling between specific OS' has been a 
	key feature of each of these technologies.  

	<p>It's Apple's OpenDoc, IBM's DSOM, and Microsoft's DSOM!

<p>	While I'm sure that each as their merits from the programmer's
	point of view (and I'm in no position to comment on their
	relative technical pros or cons) -- I have yet to see any *benefit*
	from a user or administrative point of view.

<p>	So I suppose the question here becomes:


	<p>	Is there any ActiveX (DCOM) control (component)
		that delivers any real benefit to any Linux user?

		Do any of the ActiveX controls not have a GUI component
		to them?

		What does it mean to make the "non-GUI portions" of
		DCOM available?

		Is there any new network protocol that this gives
		us?  If so, what is that protocol good for?
	
<p>For more information, checkout <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/oledev/">http://www.microsoft.com/oledev</a>

<p>	While I encourage people to browse around -- I think 
	I'll wait until someone can point out one DCOM component,
	one JavaBean, one CORBA object, or one whatever-buzzword-
	you-want-to-call-it-today and can explain in simple "Duh!
	I'm a user!" terms what the *benefit* is.

<p>	Some time ago -- in another venue -- I provided the net
	with an extensive commentary on the difference between
	"benefits" and "features."  The short form is this:

<p>		I benefit is relevant to your customer.  To
		offer a benefit requires that you understand
		your customer.  "Features" bear no relation to
		a customers needs.  However mass marketing 
		necessitates the promotion of features -- since
		the *mass* marketer can't address individual and 
		niche needs.

<p>	Example:  Microsoft operating systems offer a "easy to use 
	graphical interfaces" -- first "easy to use" is highly subjective.
	In this case it means that there are options listed on menus
	and buttons and the user can guess at which ones apply to 
	their need and experiment until something works.  That is a feature
	-- one I personally loathe.  To me "easy to use" means having
	documentation that includes examples that are close to what
	I'm trying to do -- so I can "fill in the blanks"  Next there is
	the ubiquitously touted "GUI."  That's another *feature*.  To 
	me it's of no benefit -- I spend 8 to 16 hours a day looking at 
	my screen.  Text mode screens are far easier on the eyes than
	any monitor in graphical mode.  

<p>	To some people, such as the blind GUI's are a giant step 
	backward in accessibility.  The GUI literally threatens to cut 
	these people off from vital employment resources.

<p>	I'm not saying that the majority of the world should abandon
	GUI's just because of a small minority of people who can't 
	use them and a smaller, crotchety contingent of people like
	me that just don't like them.  I'm merely trying to point
	out the difference between a "feature" and a "benefit."

<p>	The "writing wizards" offered by MS Word are another feature
	that I eschew.  My writing isn't perfect and I make my share
	of typos, as well as spelling and grammatical errors.  However
	Most of what I write goes straight from my fingers to the 
	recipient -- no proofreading and no editing.  When I've 
	experimented with spell checkers and "fog indexes" I've consistently
	found that my discourse is beyond their capabilities -- much too
	specialized and involving far too much technical terminology.
	So I have to over-ride more than 90% of the "recommendations of 
	these tools.

<p>	Although my examples have highlighted Microsoft products we
	can turn this around and talk about Linux' famed "32-bit 
	power" and "robust stability."  These, too are *features*.
	Stability is a benefit to someone who manages a server -- 
	particularly a co-located server at a remote location.  However
	the average desktop applications user could care less about
	stability.  So long as their application manage to autosave
	the last three versions of his/her documents the occasional
	reboot is just a good excuse to go get a cup of coffee.

<p>	Multi-user is a feature.  Most users don't consider this to 
	be a benefit -- and the idea of sharing "their" system with
	others is thoroughly repugnant to most modern computer users.
	On top of that the network services features which implement
	multi-user access to Linux (and other Unix systems) and NT are
	gaping security problems so far as most IS users are concerned.
	So having a multi-user system is not a benefit to must of us.
	This is particularly true of the shell access that most people
	identify as *the* multi-user feature of Unix (as opposed to the
	file sharing and multiple user profiles, accounts and passwords
	that passes for "multi-user" under Windows for Workgroups and 
	NT).

<p>	So, getting back to ActiveX/DCOM -- I've heard of all sorts
	of features.  I'd like to hear about some benefits.  Keep in
	mind that any feature may be a benefit to someone -- so 
	benefits generally have to be expressed in terms of *who*
	is the beneficiary.   

<p>	Allegedly programmers are the beneficiary of all these
	competing component and object schema.  "Use our model
	and you'll be able to impress your boss with glitzy results
	in a fraction of the time it would take to do any programming"
	(that seems to be the siren song to seduce people to any of these).

<p>	So, who else benefits?

<p> 
--
Jim 

<p><hr><p> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="bash"></a>
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
Bash String Manipulations
</h3>
<P> <B> 

From: Niles Mills <a href="mailto:nmills@dnsppp.net">nmills@dnsppp.net</a>

<p>Oddly enough -- while it is easy to redirect the standard error
of processes under bash -- there doesn't seem to be
an easy portable way to explicitly generate message or redirect
output to stderr. The best method I've come up with
is to use the /proc/ filesystem (process table) like so: 

<pre>function error { echo "$*" &gt; /proc/self/fd/2 }</pre> 

<p>Hmmmm...how about good old <pre>&gt;&2</pre>?
<pre>
$ cat example
#!/bin/bash
echo normal
echo error >&2
$ ./example
normal
error
$ ./example > file
error
$ cat ./file
normal
$ bash -version
$ bash -version
bash -version
GNU bash, version 1.14.4(1)
</pre>
<p>Best Regards,
Niles Mills

</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	I guess that works.  I don't know why I couldn't come up
	with that on my own.  But my comment worked -- a couple of 
	people piped right up with the answer.
<P><B> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
Amigo, that little item dates back to day zero of Unix and 
works on all known flavors.  

Best of luck in your ventures.

<p>Niles Mills
</B>
<p><hr><p> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="blink"></a>
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
Blinking Underline Cursor
</h3>
<P> <B> 


From: Joseph Hartmann <a href="mailto:joeh@arakis.sugar-river.net">joeh@arakis.sugar-river.net</a>

<p>I know an IBM compatible PC is "capable" of having a blinking
underline cursor, or a blinking block cursor.  

<p>My linux system "came" with a blinking underline, which is very
difficult to see.  But I have not been able (for the past several
hours) to make *any* headway about finding out how to change the
cursor to a blinking block.  

</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">


	You got me there.  I used to know about five lines of 
	x86 assembly language to call the BIOS routine that sets
	the size of your cursor.  Of course that wouldn't work under
	Linux since the BIOS is mapped out of existence during the 
	trip into protected mode.

<p>	I had a friend who worked with me back at Peter Norton
	Computing -- he wrote a toy program that provided an
	animated cursor -- and had several need animated sequences
	to show with it -- a "steaming coffee cup," a "running man,"
	and a "spinning galaxy" are the ones I remember.

<p>	If you wanted to do some kernel hacking it looks like
	you'd change the value of the "currcons" structure in
	one of the /usr/src/linux/drivers/char/ files -- 
	maybe it would be "vga.c"

<p>	On the assumption that you are not interested in that 
	approach (I don't blame you) I've copied the author of 
	SVGATextMode (a utility for providing text console mode
	access to the advanced features of most VGA video cards)

<p>	Hopefully <a href="mailto:koen.gadeyne@barco.com"> Koen</a> doesn't mind the
	imposition.  Perhaps he can help.

<p>	I've also copied Eugene Crosser and Andries Brouwer 
	the authors of the 'setfont' and 'mapscrn' programs 
	(which don't seem to do cursors -- but do some cool 
	console VGA stuff).  'setfont' lets you pick your
	text mode console font.

<p>	Finally I've copied Thomas Koenig who maintains the 
	Kernel "WishList" in the hopes that he'll add this as
	a possible entry to that.

<p>
Any hints?
Best Regards,


</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	Joe,

	As you can see I don't feel stumped very often -- and
	now that I think about it -- I think this would be a neat
	feature for the Linux console.  This is especially true since
	the people who are most likely to stay away from X Windows are
	laptop users -- and those are precisely the people who are 
	most likely to need this feature.


<p>
--
Jim 

<p><hr><p> 
<!--================================================================-->

<a name="files"></a>
<h3><img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">
File Permissions
</h3>
<P> <B> 

From: John Gotschall <a href="mailto:johng@frugal.com">johng@frugal.com</a>
 
<p>Hi!

I was wondering if anyone there knew how I might actually change the 
file permissions on one of my linux box's DOS partition.


<p>I have Netscape running on one box on our local network, but it can't
write to another linux box's MSDOS filesystem, when that filesystem
is NFS mounted.  It can write to various Linux directories that have
proper permissions, but the MSDOS directory won't keep a permissions
setting, it keeps it stuck as owned by, read by and execute by root.

</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	What you're bumping into is two different issues.  

	The default permissions under which a DOS FAT filesystem 
	is mounted (which is "root.root 755"  that is: owned by
	user root, group root, rwx for owner, r-x for group and
	other).

<p>	You can change that with options to the mount (8) command.
	Specifically you want to use something like:

<pre>mount -t msdos -o uid=??,gid=??,umask=775</pre>

<p>	... where you pick suitable values for the UID and GID from
	your /etc/passwd and /etc/group files (respectively).

<p>	The other culprit in this is the default behavior of NFS.
	For your own protection NFS defaults to using a feature called
	"root squash" (which is not a part of a vegetable).  This
	prevents someone who has root access to some other system
	(as allowed by your /etc/exports file) from accessing your
	files with the same permissions as you're own local root account.

<p>	If you pick a better set of mount options (and put them in your
	/etc/fstab in the fourth field) then you won't have to worry 
	about this feature.  I DO NOT recommend that you over-ride that
	setting with the NFS no_root_squash option in the /etc/exports
	file (see 'man 5 exports' for details).  I personally would 
	*never* use that option with any export that was mounted
	read-only -- not even in my own home between two systems that
	have no live connection to the net!  (I do use the no_root_squash
	option with the read-only option -- but that's a minor risk
	in my case).
<P><B>
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ques.gif">

Is there a way to change the MS-DOS permissions somehow?


</B> <P> 
<img align=bottom alt=" " src="../gx/ans2.gif">

	Yes.  See the mount(8) options for uid=, gid=, and umask=.
	I think you can also use the umsdos filesytem type 
	and effectively change the permissions on your FAT based
	filesystem mount points.

<p>	This was a source of some confusion for me and I've never
	really gotten it straight to my satisfaction.  Luckily I find
	that I hardly ever use my DOS partitions any more.


<!--================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<center><H5>Copyright &copy; 1997, James T. Dennis <BR> 
Published in Issue 19 of the Linux Gazette July 1997</H5></center>

<P> <hr> <P> 
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<H4>
&quot;Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>&quot;
</H4>

<P> <HR> <P> 
<!--===================================================================-->

<center>
<H2>Adventures in Linux: A Redhat Newbie Boldly Treks Onto the Internet
Frontier</H2>
<H4>By A. Cliff Seruntine,
<a href="mailto:cliff@micronet.net">cliff@micronet.net</a></H4>
</center>
<p><hr>
<p>Ever tried using chat to dial out with your modem? If you have, then
after a few hours of mind-numbing inproductivity you may have found
yourself developing an odd, convulsive twitch and banging your head
against your monitor? Another dozen hours of typing in reworded chat
scripts and you will find yourself wishing the program was a living,
tangible entity so you could delete it once and for all out of the known
universe, and thus gain a measure of relief knowing that you have spared
others the terrible ordeal of sitting in front of their monitors for
perhaps days on end coding pleas for chat to just dial the #!%$
telephone. Truthfully, I have found few programs under any of the
operating systems I am familiar with give me the jitters the way chat
does.


<p>I recall one frosty summer morning (I live in Alaska, so I can honestly
describe some summer mornings as being frosty) when I boldly set off
where no Microsoft hacker has gone before-Linux, the final frontier.
Well, that's a bit extreme. Many Microsoft hackers have seen the light
and made the transition. Anyway, I had decided I was going to resist
Bill Gatus of Borg, and not be assimilated, so I put a new hard drive in
my computer, downloaded Redhat Linux 4.1 from Redhat's ftp server (a two
day ordeal with a 33.6 modem, I might add) and read enough of the
install documentation to get started.

<p>Now friends already familiar with the Linux OS offered to come by and
help me set it up. But I'd have none of it. After all, I owned a
computer and electronics service center. I was the expert. And I was
firmly convinced that the best way to truly learn something is to plow
through it yourself. So I sat down in front of my PC with a cup of tea,
made the two required floppy disks for a hard drive install, and began
my voyage into Linux gurudom.

<p>About 45 minutes later I was surprised to discover that I was done.
Linux had been installed on my system and little fishies were swimming
around my monitor in X windows. Well, I was impressed with myself.
"Hah!" I said to the walls. "They said it couldn't be done. Not without
background. Not without experience. But I've showed them. I've showed
them all! Hah! Hah! Hah!" And then, being the compulsive hacker that I
am, I began to do what comes naturally. I hacked. And being the Net buff
that I am, the first thing I decided to do was get on the Internet
through Linux. And all the stuff I'd read about in my printed copy of
the works of the Linux Documentation Project said that the way to dial
out with Linux was through chat.

<p>Four days later I found myself on my knees in front of my computer,
wearily typing in yet another reworded script for chat, half plea, half
incantation, hoping beyond reason that this time chat would perform the
miracle I had so long sought and just dial the $#%! phone. Yes, I was by
that time a broken man. Worse, a broken hacker. My spirit was crushed.
My unique identity was in peril. I could hear Bill Gatus in the
distance, but getting closer, closer, saying, "Resistance is futile. You
will be assimilated." Resigned to my fate, I wrung my hands, achy and
sore from writing enough script variants to fill a novel the size of War
and Peace, and prepared to type halt and reboot into Windows 95.

<p>Then a voice said, "Luke. Luke! Use the X, Luke!" I don't know why the
voice was calling me "Luke" since my name is Cliff, but somehow I knew
to trust that voice. I moved the cursor onto the background, clicked,
and opened up the applications menu. There I found a nifty little
program called Minicom. I clicked on Minicom, it opened, initialized the
modem, and a press of [CTRL-a, d] brought up the dial out options. I
selected the edit option with the arrow keys, and at the top entered the
name and number of my server. Then I selected the dial option with the
arrow keys, and pressed [RETURN]. The X was with me, the modem dialed
out, logged into my server, and with a beep announced that I should
press any button. Minicom then asked me to enter my login name and
password. I breathed a sigh of relief, opened up Arena, typed in an
address, and . . . nothing happened. Worse, after about a minute, the
modem hung up.

<p>"What?" I wondered aloud, squinting into my monitor, certain that behind
the phosphorescent glow I could see little Bill Gatuses frantically
chewing away the inner workings of my computer. "Join me, Cliff," they
were saying. "It is your destiny."

<p>"I'll never join you," I cried out and whipped out my Linux
Encyclopedia. I couldn't find anything in the index on how to avoid
assimilation, but I did find out that I needed to activate the ppp
daemon and give control of the connection from Minicom to the daemon.
The command line that worked best was:

<pre>pppd /dev/cua2 115200 -detach crtscts modem defaultroute</pre>

<p><pre>-detach</pre> is the most important option to include here. It causes the
daemon to take over control of the modem from Minicom. pppd activates
the Point to Point Protocol daemon. /dev/cua* should be given whatever
number corresponds to the serial port your modem is attached to, as long
as you have a serial modem. 115200 is the max speed of my modem with
compression. You should set this to the max speed of your own modem.
crtscts tells your modem to negotiate high speed transmissions. modem
simply indicates the daemon should use the modem as its means of
networking. It is a default setting, but I like to set it anyway to
remind me whats going on. And defaultroute tells the daemon which route
the incoming and outgoing data are going through.

<p>The trick is to enter all this before the Minicom connection times out.
You could go through the trouble writing it out every time you log on,
but a better way is to edit an alias in .bashrc. Go down to the /root
directory and type emacs .bashrc (or whatever your prefered editor is)
and enter the line below as follows:

<pre>alias daemon = &lt;pppd /dev/cua* &lt;your modem speed&gt; -detach crtscts modem
defaultroute&gt;</pre><br>

(Do not forget the quotes or your alias will not function.)

<p>Finally, go into the control panel, double click on the networking icon,
and select the last tab that appears. There you will find near the top
the option to set your default gateway and your device. Set your default
gateway to whatever your Internet server specifies. Specify your device
as /dev/cua (whatever serial port your modem is attached to). Sometimes
simply /dev/modem will work if it has been symbolically linked in your
system.  (By the way, if you haven't already done it, in X you also need
to double click the modem icon in the control panel and set your modem
to the correct /dev/cua(serial port number) there too).  And if you have
a SLIP account (rare these days) add the pertinent info while setting up
your gateway.

<p>Reboot your system. Now your new alias and settings will all be in
effect. Now just invoke Minicom and dial out. Then at xterminal type
daemon. Minicom will beep at you for taking away its control of the
modem. To be on the safe side, I like to kill Minicom to make sure it
stops fighting with the daemon for control of the modem. Occasionally it
will succeed and weird things will happen. Then invoke your browser and
you are on the World Wide Web.

<p>As a final note, Arena's HTML is kind of weak, and you may find it
locking up with newer, more powerful web code. It is a good idea to
download a more capable browser such as Netscape 3.01, which makes a
fine Linux browser, and install and use that as soon as possible.

<p>And that's all there is to taking your Linux webship onto the
Information frontier.  Well, I'm enjoying my time on the web. I think
I'll build a new site dedicated to stopping the assimilation.


<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<center><H5>Copyright &copy; 1997, Cliff Seruntine<BR> 
Published in Issue 19 of the Linux Gazette, July 1997</H5></center>

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<H4>
&quot;Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>&quot;
</H4>

<P> <HR> <P> 
<!--===================================================================-->

<center>
<H2>Atlanta Showcase Report</H2>
<H4>By Phil Hughes,
<a href="mailto:phil@ssc.com">phil@ssc.com</a> 
<a href="mailto:todds@ontko.com">todds@ontko.com</a></H4>
</center>
<P><HR>
<a href="http://www.ale.org/showcase">The Atlanta Linux Showcase</a>
is over, and everyone is beginning to recover.
Recover, that is, from being awake too long, being on a plane too long and
stuffing more Linux than will fit into one weekend.

<p>ALS was put together by the Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts, the local
Linux user's group in Atlanta, Georgia.
The show began on Friday evening, June 6 and ran through Sunday
afternoon.
More than 500 people attended.
The report following this one by Todd Shrider covers much of the show,
including the talks.

<p>I want to thank Amy Ayers and Karen Bushaw for making their photos
available to us with a special thank you to Amy for getting them scanned and
uploaded to the SSC ftp site.

<p>I spent most of my time in the <I>Linux Journal</I> booth giving away
magazines and talking to show attendees.
One aspect that made this show special for me is that I didn't spend
most of my time explaining that Linux is a Unix-like operating system to
the attendees.
Instead, I got to discuss Linux with experienced people with thoughtful
questions, letting them know in the process how <I>LJ</I> could help them.
Each attendee was truly interested in Linux and stopped at each booth in
the show.
I expect attendees appreciated the low signal-to-noise ratio in the
booths; that is, conversations were solely about Linux.

<h3>The Roast</h3>

<p>On Saturday night there was a roast--no, I didn't change from a
vegetarian into a meat eater overnight--we were roasting Linus.
That is, a group of people presented interesting stories about Linus,
intended to only slightly embarrass him.
At the end of the evening, I felt that the roast had been successful in
every way.

<p>In front of a crowd of about 115 people, Eric Raymond, David Miller, Jon
"maddog" Hall and I got to pick on this Linus character.
Topics varied from Linus almost being hit by a car in Boston because he was
so engrossed in talking about a particular aspect of kernel code, to the evolution of
the top-half/bottom-half concept in interrupt handlers and to why Linus was
apparently moving from geekdom to becoming a "hunk"
sportswear model. (See the cover of the San Jose <I>Metro</I>, May 8-14, 1997.)

<p>Maddog finished the roasting by telling a few Helsinki stories and showing
a video that included Tove's parents talking about Linus.
A good time was had by the roasters and the audience and, as Linus'
closing comment was "I love you all," we assume he had a good
time too and wasn't offended by our gentle ribbing.

<h3>The Future</H3>

<P>The show came off very well. I consider this sucess an amazing feat for an
all-volunteer effort.
The ALE members plan to write an article for <I>Linux Gazette</I> about how
they made this happen.
We'll also make this information available on the <a
href="http://www.ssc.com/glue">GLUE web site</a>.
I would like to see more shows put on by user groups.
The local involvement, the enthusiasm of the attendees and the all Linux
flavor of the show made this weekend a great experience.
We are already thinking about a Seattle or Portland show and would like to
help others make regional shows a reality.
<P><HR>
<p><a href="./alephotos.html">Take a look at the ALS Photo Album.</a>
<center><H2>More on ALS</H2>
by Todd M. Shrider, 
<a href="mailto:todds@ontko.com">todds@ontko.com</a></H4></center>
<P><HR>
<P>I first started writing this article in my hotel room late Sunday evening
(or early Monday morning) planning to get just enough sleep that I would
wake up in time to catch my plane. The plan didn't work--I
missed my 6:00 AM flight out of Atlanta.
I did the second draft while waiting for my new 9:45 AM flight.
The third draft
came (yes, you guessed it) while waiting for my 1:30 PM connection from
Detroit to Dayton, also having missed the previous connection because of
my first flight's late arrival. Suffice it to say, I'm now back home in
Indiana and still enjoying the high received from the Atlanta Linux
Showcase.

<P>Thanks to all the sponsors and to our host, the Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
user group, the conference started with a bang and went off
without a hitch. The conference was a three day event, starting with
registration Friday and ending Sunday with a kernel hacking session led
by none other than Linus himself. In between there were numerous
conferences found in both a business and technical track, several birds of
a feather (BoF) sessions and a floor show. These events were broken up
with frequent trips to local pubs and very little sleep.

<P>This was my first (but not last) Linux conference, and I found that an
added benefit of ALS was meeting all the people who
use Linux as a viable business platform/tool. (These same people tend to be doing
very cool things with Linux on the side).
From companies such as Red Hat to Caldera to others such as
MessageNet, Cyclades and DCG Computers, it was obvious that many people
have very creative ways to make money with
Linux. This wasn't limited, by any means, to the vendors. Many of the
conference speakers talked of ways to make money with Linux or of their
experiences with Linux in a professional environment.

<P>
All of these efforts seemed to compliment the key-note address, World
Domination 101, where Linus Torvalds, called for applications,
applications, applications. Did I say he thought Linux needed a few
more useful applications? Anyway, he pointed out the more or less obvious
fact that, if Linux is going to be a
success in a world of commercial operating systems, we need every
application type you find in other commercial operating systems. In other
words, if you're thinking about doing--don't think--just
do it.
Another thing that Linus pointed out, and that I was glad to hear echoed
throughout the conference, was that Linux needs to be easy to use. It
needs to be so easy that a secretary or corporate executive
could sit and be as productive as they would be
with Windows 95. We need to make people realize that Linux has gotten rid
of the high learning curve usually associated with Unix.

<P>Something pointed out by Don Rosenberg, while speaking on the "how-to" and
"what's needed next" of commercial Linux, was that we are now in a stage
where the innovators (that's us) and the early adopters (that's us as well
as the people using Linux in the business world today) must continue to
push forward so that we can get a group of early adopters (the old DOS
users) to take us seriously. In Maddog's closing remarks he urged us all
to find two DOS users, convert them to Linux and then tell them to do the
same. As a step in this direction, today I introduced a local computer corporate sales
firm to Linux; whether they take my advice and run is left to be seen, but
believe me, I'm pushing.

<P>The rest of the conference was filled with business and technical talks.
The business talks included things such as Eric Raymond's "The Cathedral
and the Bazaar", talks on OpenLinux by both Jeff Farnsworth and Steve
Webb and "Linux Connectivity for Humans" by none other than Phil Hughes.
Lloyd Brodsky was on hand to talk about Intranet Support of Collaborative
Planning while Lester Hightower brought us the story of PCC and their
efforts to bring Linux to the business world. Mark Bolzern spoke of the
significance of Linux and Bob Young talked of the "process" not
the "product" of Linux.

<P>The technical discussion track started with Richard Henderson's discussion
of the shared libraries and their function across several architectures.
Michael Maher gave a HOWTO of Red Hat's RPM package management system and
Jim Paradis discussed EM86 and what remains to be done,
so that one can run Intel/Linux binaries under Alpha
Linux. David Miller then followed giving a boost of enthusiasm with his
discussion of the tasks involved in porting Linux to SPARC and Miguel de
Icaza took us on a trip to the world of RAID and Linux. We convened the next
day to hear David Mandelstam discuss what is involved with wide-area
networks and Mike Warfields anatomy of a cracker's intrusion.

<P>All in all, the conference was a huge success. What I might suggest as an
improvement for next year is more involvement from the vendors (or maybe
just more vendors), a possible sale from the vendors of their special
Linux wares to the conference attendees and a possible tutorial session
like the ones seen at Uselinux (Anaheim, California, January 1997). Other than
that, a few virtual beers (I owe
you Maddog) and lots of great geek conversation made for one wild weekend.


<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<center><H5>Copyright &copy; 1997, Phil Hughes and Todd M. Shrider<BR> 
Published in Issue 19 of the Linux Gazette, July 1997</H5></center>

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<H4>
&quot;Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>&quot;
</H4>

<P> <HR> <P> 
<!--===================================================================-->

<P>SSC is expanding Matt Welsh's <I>Linux Installation & Getting
Started</I> by adding chapters about each of the major distributions. Each
chapter is being written by a different author in the Linux community.
Here's a sneak preview--the Caldera chapter by Evan Leibovitch.--editor 
<P><HR><P>

<center>
<H2>Caldera OpenLinux </H2>
<H4>By Evan Leibovitch,
<a href="mailto:evan@teely.on.ca">evan@teely.on.ca</a></H4>
</center>
<P><HR>

<p>This section deals with issues specific to the Caldera releases of
Linux, how to install the current release (Caldera OpenLinux) and
prepare for the steps outlined in the following chapters. It is
intended to be a complement to, not a replacement for, the "Getting
Started Guides" Caldera ships with all of its Linux-based
products. References to the Getting Started Guide for Caldera Open
Linux Base will be indicated throughout this chapter simply as "the
Guide".

<h3>What is Caldera?</h3>

<p>The beginnings of Caldera the company come from an internal Novell
project called "Corsair". While Novell had owned Unix System V in
the early 1990s, Corsair was formed to see if there were things Novell
could learn from Linux.

<p>Corsair was a casualty of the changing of the guard at Novell that
also caused it to sell off Unix to SCO and WordPerfect to
Corel. Novell founder Ray Noorda gave startup capital to this group
with the intention of making Linux available in a manner that would be
as acceptable to business users and corporate MIS as commercial
versions of Unix. Caldera is a privately-held company based in Orem,
Utah.

<p>The implementation of this goal has resulted in a series of
Linux-based products that "broken the mold" in a number of
ways. Caldera was the first Linux distribution to bundle-in commercial
software such as premium X servers, GUI desktops, backup software and
web browsers; at the time of writing, Caldera is the only Linux
distribution officially supported by Netscape.

<h3>The Caldera Network Desktop</h3>

<p>Caldera's first product, the Caldera Network Desktop (CND), was
released to the public in early 1995 in a $29 "preview" form (a
rather unusual manner to run a beta test), and in final release
version in early 1996.  The CND was based on the 1.2.13 Linux kernel,
and included Netscape Navigator, Accelerated-X, CrispLite, and the
Looking Glass GUI desktop.  It also was the first Linux release to
offer NetWare client capabilities, being able to share servers and
printers on existing Novell networks.  Production and sale of CND
ceased in March 1997.

<h3>Caldera OpenLinux</h3>

<p>In late 1996, Caldera announced its releases based on the Linux 2.0.25
kernel would be named Caldera Open Linux (COL) and would be made
available at three levels;

<ul>
<li>COL Base, which includes Navigator, CrispLite, and the Metro-X server;

<li>COL Standard, which would add the Netscape FastTrack secure web
server, the StarOffice desktop productivity suite, and NetWare
connectivity;

<li>COL Deluxe, which incorporates all the features of Standard and
also offers NetWare--server--capabilities.
</ul>

<p>As this is written, only the COL Base release is shipping,
and feature sets of the other packages are still being determined.
For specific and up-to-date lists of the comparative features of the
three levels, check the Caldera web site <a href="http://www.caldera.com">http://www.caldera.com</a>.

<p>Because all three levels of COL build on the Base release, all three
are installed the same way. The only difference is in the different
auxiliary packages available; their installation and configuration
issues are beyond the scope of this guide. Most of COL's add-on
packages contain their own documentation; check the /doc directory of
the Caldera CD-ROM for more details.

<h3>Obtaining Caldera</h3>

<p>Unlike most other Linux distributions, COL is not available for
downloading from the Internet, nor can it be distributed freely or
passed around. This is because of the commercial packages which are
part of COL; while most of the components of COL are under the GNU
Public License, the commercial components, such as Looking Glass and
Metro-X, are not. In the list of packages included on the COL media
starting on page 196 of the Guide, the commercial packages are noted
by an asterisk.

<p>COL is available directly from Caldera, or through a network of
Partners around the world who have committed to supporting Caldera
products. These Partners can usually provide professional assistance,
configuration and training for Caldera users. For a current list of
Partners, check the Caldera web site.

<h3>Preparing to Install Caldera Open Linux</h3>

<p>Caldera support the same hardware as any other release based on Linux
2.0 kernels. Appendix A of the Guide (p145) lists most of the SCSI
hosts supported and configuration parameters necessary for many
hardware combinations.

<p>Taking a page out of the Novell manual style, Caldera's Guide provides
an installation worksheet (page 2) that assists you in having at hand
all the details of your system that you'll need for installation. It
is highly recommended you complete this before starting installation;
while some parameters, such as setting up your network, are not
required for installation, doing it all at one time is usually far
easier than having to come back to it. Sometimes this can't be
avoided, but do as much at installation time as possible.

<h3>Creating boot/modules floppies</h3>

<p>The COL distribution does not come with the floppy disks required for
installation. There are two floppies involved; one is used for
booting, the other is a "modules" disk which contains many hardware
drivers.

<p>While the Guide recommends you create the floppies by copying them
from the CD-ROM, it is better to get newer versions of the disks from
the Caldera web site. The floppy images on some CD-ROMs have errors
that cause problems, especially with installations using SCSI disks
and large partitions.

<p>To get newer versions of the floppy images, download them from
Caldera's FTP site. In directory {\tt pub/col-1.0/updates/Helsinki}, you'll
find a bunch of numbered directories. Check out the directories in
descending order---that will make sure you get the latest versions.

<p>If you find one of these directories has a subdirectory called
<pre>bootdisk</pre>, the contents of that directory
are what you want.

<p>You should find two files:

<pre>install-2.0.25-XXX.img
modules-2.0.25-XXX.img</pre>

<p>The <pre>XXX</pre> is replaced by the version number of the disk images.
At the time of writing, the current images are 034 and located in the
001 directory.

<p>Once you have these images, transfer them onto two floppies using the
methods described on page 4 of the Guide, using RAWRITE from the
Caldera CD-ROM if copying from a DOS/Windows system or
<pre>dd</pre> from a Linux system.

<p>While Caldera's CD-ROM is bootable (if your system's BIOS allows it),
if possible use the downloaded floppies anyway, since they are newer
and will contain bug-fixes that won't be in the CD versions.

<h3>Preparing the hard disks</h3>

<p>This procedure is no different from that of other Linux distributions.
You must use fdisk on your booted hard disk to allocate at least two
Linux partitions, one for the swap area and one for the root
file system. If you are planning to make your system dual-boot COL
with another operating system such as MS Windows or DOS or even OS/2,
it's usually preferable to install COL last; its "fdisk" recognizes
"foreign" OS types better than the disk partitioning tools of most
other operating systems.

<p>To run the Linux fdisk, you'll need to start your system using the
boot (and maybe the modules) floppy mentioned above. That's because
you need to tell COL what kind of disk and disk controller you have;
you can't even get as far as entering <pre>fdisk</pre> if Linux doesn't
recognize your hard disk!

<p>To do this, follow the bootup instructions in the Guide, from step 2
on page 33 to the end of page 36. Don't bother going through the
installation or detection of CDROMs or network cards at this time; all
that matters at this point is Linux sees the booting hard disk so you
can partition it using fdisk. A brief description of the use of the
Linux fdisk is provided on page 28 of the Guide.

<p>Remember that when running fdisk, you need to set up both your root
file system (type 83) and your swap space (type 82) as new partitions.
A brief discussion of how much swap space to allocate is offered on
page 10 of the Guide.

<p>As soon as you have completed this and written the partition table
information to make it permanent, you will need to reboot.

<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<center><H5>Copyright &copy; 1997, Evan Leibovitch<BR> 
Published in Issue 19 of the Linux Gazette, July 1997</H5></center>

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<H4>
&quot;Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>&quot;
</H4>

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<!--===================================================================-->


<html><ClueLess.html, a new user help document>
<center><h3>CLUELESS at the Prompt: A new column for new users</h3></p>
<P>by Mike List,
<a href="mailto:troll@net-link.net">troll@net-link.net</a></center>
<P><HR><P>
<body><center><IMG ALIGN=MIDDLE SRC = "../gx/list/gnub.jpg" ></center><p>
<h4>Welcome to installment 6 of Clueless at the Prompt:
a new column for new users.</h4>
<P><HR><P>
This time let's take a quick look at
the XF86Setup utility. at X window managers, concentrating on FVWM, adding
popup menus, adding and subtracting apps from existing popups and other
relatively easy ways to get a custom appearance and feel. 
<hr>
 <h4>Using XF86Setup to configure X</h4><p>
Judging from the posts I've seen on the usenet, a lot of people aren't
aware that there's an easier way to get X up and running than configuring
it the old confusing way(at least I found it to be that way), using a
tcl/tk script called XF86Setup. While it doesn't totally eliminate the
need to manually edit your XConfig, it does provide a method of getting a
usable configuration for most common video cards and monitors.  XF86Setup
first appeared in the XFree86 3.2 distribution, and uses the lowest common
denominator VGA 16 color mode server and a tcl/tk(corrections welcome)
script to start the config process in X and by using the graphical nature
of this utility script you can be almost certain to have X running in a
couple of tries, and if worst comes to worst you can have it running in 16
color mode until you can get the details to optimize it to your video
hardware. Current downloads of Xfree86 all seem to have this included, and
if your CDROM diskribution has X 3.2 or better you already have it
available to install to your HD. If you download it from xf86.org, be sure
to read the Relnotes for the component files necessary to insure a
successful install. You'll need :<ul>
<li>preinst.sh      Pre-installation script
<li>postinst.sh     Post-installation script
<li>X3?bin.tgz      Clients, run-time libs, and app-defaults files
<li>X3?doc.tgz      Documentation
<li>X3?fnts.tgz     75dpi, misc and PEX fonts
<li>X3?lib.tgz      Data files required at run-time
<li>X3?man.tgz      Manual pages
<li>X3?set.tgz      XF86Setup utility
<li>X3?VG16.tgz     16 colour VGA server (XF86Setup needs this
server)</ul>, where ?=the level of the distribution you're using, ie.3.2,
3.3 etc.,
for all installations, read the relnotes for any oher files your specific
hardware might need.
Since the 3.3 version just came out, if you are just getting around to
setting up X you will most likely want to get this distribution, since
every successive version has support for more hardware and often better
support for hardware already supported.
<p>OK, you have the files you need, that is the ones listed above, and the
server for your particular video card, in my case the SVGA server, you may
need to do a little detective work to determine which server to use.
If you are using the X version that comes on your CDROM, you can probably
install all the servers(assuming there's space on your HD)and let the
XF86Setup prog make the choice. To install,type:
<pre>
       cd /usr/X11R6
</pre>
Next, copy the preinst.sh and postinst.sh scripts to /var/tmp, then go to
/usr/X11R6 and type:
<pre>

        cd /usr/X11R6
        sh /var/tmp/preinst.sh
</pre>
the script will remove some symbolic links, and check to see that all the
files you need are available, and may output a message asking for those
files that are needed but not present. But assuming that you have followed
the above, everything should be in place, and you should get a generally
encouraging message on exit from the script.
<p>
Now for the installation itself,type:
<pre>
       tar -zxvf /wherever/you/have/X3?files.tgz
</pre>
you'll have to repeat this step with each of the required files, although
if you have these files in a directory by themselves, you may be able
to type:
<pre>
       tar -zxvf /wherever/youhavethem/*.tgz
</pre>
although it's been awhile, and I can't recall if it works, it won't hurt
anything to try, since the alternative is to unpack each tgz file
separately.
<p> Next you run the postinst.sh script in the same manner as the
preinst.sh above, this will make sure that you have all the X components
in the correct places.Run ldconfig something like:
<pre>
       ldconfig -m /usr/X11R6/lib
</pre>
or reboot to run ldconfig automatically. This links the libraries
necessary to run X. At this point you should be able to start the actual
setup by typing, naturally:
<pre>
       XF86Setup
</pre>
which will present a dialog box asking if you want to start in graphical
mode or tell you it will start momentarily.
At this point you'll be in X, using the 16 color VGA server.Read all the
instructions, and follow the routine, which I found to be pretty
self-explanatory. You will probably have the most trouble finding the
right mouse device and protocol, but try each one in turn if you aren't
sure. You'll probably also want to change the keyboard to 102key  US
International keyboard. Specify the video card, and monitor info, don't
worry if you don't know the salient monitor inf, you cna start at the top
of the list and work your way down the list until you reach a good
setting.Much easier if you have your monitor manual available, so have it
on hand if you can. Finish the routine when you think it's right and that
should do it. Congratulations on your hopefully valid Xconfiguration. If
you muff it just try again using slightly different settings until you do
get it right.
<hr>
<h4>Window Managers</h4>
Most Linux distributions that i'm familiar with use the FVWM window
manager as default and the rest of them should have it present, unless you
downloaded the files directly from xf86.org, in which case the default is
TWM.
<p>
FVWM is highly configurable by editing the 
/var/X11R6/lib/fvwm/system.fvwmrc file.You can use the file as it is,
since it has the most common installed features already configured, but
you can comment out those programs that you don't have installed by adding
a "#" at the beginning of the lines you wish to drop, change colors, add
popup menus, and more just by following the examples. Just be sure to save
the system.fvwmrc by typing:
<pre>
       cp /var/X11R6/lib/fvwm/system.fvwmrc
/var/X11R6/lib/fvwm/system.fvwmrc.old
</pre>
or something similar, so if you do mess up on your customization you can
always start from scratch by cp'ing .old to the original system.fvwmrc.A
couple of months ago The Weekend Mechanic column had some very cool ideas
on wallpapering the root window, so you might want to check them out.
<p>I made "Internet" and "PPP" popup menus to include lynx, Netscape and a
couple of telnet sites, as well as an IRC client, and to use the chat
script from X. you may have other ideas more to your liking, don't be
afraid to try, you can always start over again if you don't like the
results.
<p>
Take a look at my <a href="cluelist">system.fvwmrc</a>, nothing too
sophisticated, but if you compare it to the original you should get the
idea. I commented the changes that I made so you can see some of the
ways in which you can customize yours.
<p> 

<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<center><H5>Copyright &copy; 1997, Mike List<BR> 
Published in Issue 19 of the Linux Gazette, July 1997</H5></center>

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</H4>

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<!--===================================================================-->
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Graphics Muse
</TITLE>
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     ============================================================= !-->

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				ALIGN="left" WIDTH="441" HEIGHT="216" border="0"></td>

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				&copy 1997 by
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		<!-- What is a Graphics Muse? -->
		<FONT size=4><B>muse:</B></FONT>
		<OL>
			<LI><I>v;</I> to become absorbed in thought
			<LI><I>n;</I> [ fr. Any of the nine sister goddesses of learning and the
				arts in Greek Mythology ]: a source of inspiration
		</OL>
		<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/w.gif ALT="W" ALIGN="left" 
			HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="36" HEIGHT="28">elcome 
		to the Graphics Muse!  Why a "muse"?  
		Well, except for the sisters aspect, the above definitions are
		pretty much the way I'd describe my own interest in computer graphics:  
		it keeps me deep in thought and it is a daily source of inspiration.

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	<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/t.gif ALT="T" ALIGN="left" 
		HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="26" HEIGHT="28">his 
	column is dedicated to the use, creation, distribution, and discussion of 
	computer graphics tools for Linux systems.  

	<BR clear=both>
	&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
	This month has been even more hectic than most.  I finished the first
	pass of an article on the 1.0 release of the GIMP and submitted it to the
	LInux Journal editors.  That will be out in the November Graphics issue.
	I'll probably have to do some updates after I get back the marked up
	version.  I'm also working on the cover art for that issue, using the
	developers release (currently at 0.99.10) of the GIMP.  I've also had
	quite of bit of regular work (that kind that pays the rent) since I'm
	getting very close to my code freeze date.  This weekend I'll be writing up
	documentation for it so I can give an introductory class to testers, other
	developers, Tech Pubs, Tech Support, and Marketing on Monday.  I think I
	picked a bad time to start lifting weights again.

	<BR clear=both>
	&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
	In this months column I'll be covering ...
	<UL>
		<LI> More experiences with printing using the Epson Stylus Colro 500
		<LI> A brief discussion about DPI, LPI, and Halftoning
		<LI> An even briefer discussion about 3:2 pulldown - transerring film
			to video.
	</UL>

	Next month may not be much better.  I don't know exactly what I'll be
	writing about, although I do have a wide list from which to choose.  Mostly
	I'm looking forward to my trip to SIGGRAPH in August.  Any one else going?
	I should have plenty to talk about after that.  I plan on going to at
	least two of the OpenGL courses being taught at the Conference.  I haven't
	completely decided which courses I'm going to take, however.

	<BR clear=both>
	&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
	I'm also looking forward to a trip to DC in August as well.  A real
	vacation.  No computers.  Just museums and monuments.  I may need to take 
	some sort of anti-depressant.  Nah.  I need the break.

	<P>
	
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<BR clear=both>
<TABLE width=560 border=0>
<tr>
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	<BR clear=both>
	&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
		Disclaimer:
		Before I get too far into this I should note that any of the news items I
		post in this section are just that - news.  Either I happened to run 
		across
		them via some mailing list I was on, via some Usenet newsgroup, or via
		email from someone.  I'm not necessarily endorsing these products (some of
		which may be commercial), I'm just letting you know I'd heard about 
		them in the past month.
		<P>

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<tr>
	<td width="50%">
		<H4> Announcing bttv version 0.4.0 </H4>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
		BTTV is a device driver for Booktree Bt848 based frame grabber cards 
		like the
		Hauppauge Win/TV pci, Miro PCTV, STB TV PCI, Diamond DTV2000, and
		AverMedia.  Major new features in version 0.4.0 are rudimentary 
		support for grabbing into user memory and for decoding VBI data 
		like teletext, VPS, etc. in software.
		<P>
		The Motif application xtvscreen now has better support for selecting 
		channels and also works in the dual visual modes (255+24 mil. colors) 
		of Xi Graphics AcceleratedX 3.1 X server.
		<P>
		Author:
		<BR>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
			Ralph Metzler <A HREF="mailto:rjkm@thp.uni-koeln.de">
			rjkm@thp.uni-koeln.de </A>
		<BR>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
			Marcus Metzler	<A HREF="mailto:mocm@thp.uni-koeln.de">
			mocm@thp.uni-koeln.de </A>
		<BR>
		Web Site:
		<BR>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
			<A HREF="http://www.thp.uni-koeln.de/~rjkm/linux/bttv.html">
			http://www.thp.uni-koeln.de/~rjkm/linux/bttv.html</A>

		</td>


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	<td width="49%" valign=top>
		<H4>
		OpenGL4Java 0.3
		</H4>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
		This is an initial developer's release of an (unoffical) port of
		OpenGL(tm) for java.  Leo Chan's original package has been
		ported to both WindowsNT/95 and to Linux.  
		Several features have been added, the main
		one being OpenGl now draws into a Java Frame.  
		What advantage does this provide?  Well, you can now add menus 
		to the OpenGL widget as well as receiving all normal events such 
		as MouseMotion and Window events.  You
		could very simply have a user rotate a OpenGL object by moving the mouse
		around in the Frame ( the demo for the next release will have this
		feature ).
		<P>
		You can grab it from the developers web page at 
		<A HREF="http://www.magma.ca/~aking/java">
		http://www.magma.ca/~aking/java</A>.

		</td>

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<tr>
	<td colspan=4>
		<H4>
		WebMagick Image Web Generator - Version 1.29
		</H4>
		WebMagick is a package which makes putting images on the Web as
		easy as magick.  You want WebMagick if you:

		<UL>
		<LI>Have access to a Unix system
		<LI>Have a collection of images you want to put on the Web
		<LI>Are tired of editing page after page of HTML by hand
		<LI>Want to generate sophisticated pages to showcase your images
		<LI>Want to be in control
		<LI>Are not afraid of installing sophisticated software packages
		<LI>Want to use well-documented software (33 page manual!)
		<LI>Support free software
		</UL>

		After nine months of development, WebMagick is chock-full of
		features. WebMagick recurses through directory trees, building
		HTML pages, imagemap files, and client-side/server-side maps to
		allow the user to navigate through collections of thumbnail
		images (somewhat similar to xv's Visual Schnauzer) and select
		the image to view with a mouse click. In fact, WebMagick
		supports xv's thumbnail cache format so it can be used in
		conjunction with xv.
		<P>

		The primary focus of WebMagick is performance. Image thumbnails
		are reduced and composed into a single image to reduce client
		accesses, reducing server load and improving client performance.
		Everything is pre-computed. During operation WebMagick employs
		innovative caching and work-avoidance techniques to make
		successive executions much faster. WebMagick has been
		successfully executed on directory trees containing many tens of
		directories and thousands of images ranging from tiny icons to
		large JPEGs or PDF files.
   
		<P>
		Here is a small sampling of the image formats that WebMagick
		supports:
   
		<UL>
			<LI>Windows Bitmap image (BMP)
			<LI>Postscript (PS)
			<LI>Encapsulated Postscript (EPS)
			<LI>Acrobat (PDF)
			<LI>JPEG
			<LI>GIF (including animations)
			<LI>PNG
			<LI>MPEG
			<LI>TIFF
			<LI>Photo CD
		</UL>
   
		WebMagick is written in PERL and requires the ImageMagick (3.8.4
		or later) and PerlMagick (1.0.3 or later) packages as well as a
		recent version of PERL 5 (5.002 or later). Installation
		instructions are provided in the WebMagick distribution.

		<P>
		Obtain WebMagick from the WebMagick page at
		<A HREF="http://www.cyberramp.net/~bfriesen/webmagick/dist/">
		http://www.cyberramp.net/~bfriesen/webmagick/dist/</A>. 
		WebMagick
		can also be obtained from the ImageMagick distribution site at
		<A HREF="ftp://ftp.wizards.dupont.com/pub/ImageMagick/perl">
		ftp://ftp.wizards.dupont.com/pub/ImageMagick/perl</A>.

		</td>

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			HSPACE="0" WIDTH="0" HEIGHT="0"></td>

<tr>
	<td width="50%">
		<H4>
		EasternGraphics announces public release of `opengl' widget
		</H4>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
		EasternGraphics announces the public release of `opengl' widget
		which allows windows with three-dimensional graphics output,
		produced by OpenGL to be integrated into Tk applications. The
		widget is available for Unix and MS-Windows platforms.
		<P>
		You can download the package from
		<A HREF="ftp://ftp.EasternGraphics.com/pub/egr/tkopengl/tkopengl1.0.tar.gz">
		ftp://ftp.EasternGraphics.com/
		<BR>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
			pub/egr/tkopengl/tkopengl1.0.tar.gz</A>
		<P>
		Email: <A HREF="mailto:wicht@EasternGraphics.com">
			wicht@EasternGraphics.com</A>
		<BR>
		WWW: <A HREF="http://www.EasternGraphics.com/">
			http://www.EasternGraphics.com/</A>
		</td>

	<td bgcolor="#000000" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 valign=top>
		<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif ALT="indent" ALIGN="left" 
			HSPACE="0" WIDTH="0" HEIGHT="0"></td>
	<td bgcolor="#ffffff" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 valign=top>
		<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif ALT="indent" ALIGN="left" 
			WIDTH="0" HEIGHT="0"></td>

	<td width="49%">
		<H4>
		ELECTROGIG's GIG 3DGO 3.2 for Linux for $99.
		</H4>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
		There is a free demo package for Linux.  Its roughly 36M tarred
		and compressed.  A 9M demo's file is also available for download.
		I had placed a notice about this package in the May's Muse column,
		but I guess ELECTROGIG had missed that, so they sent me another
		announcement (I got the first one from comp.os.linux.announce).
		Anyway, one thing I didn't mention in May was the price for the
		full Linux product:  $99.  This is the complete product, although
		I'm not sure if this includes any documentation or not (it doesn't
		appear to).  The Linux version does not come with any product
		support, however.  You need a 2.0 Linux kernel to run GIG 3DGO.

		<P>
		I also gave a URL that takes you to an FTP site for downloading the
		demo.  A slightly more informative page for downloading the demo and
		its associated files is at 
		<A HREF="http://www.gig.nl/support/indexftp.html">
		http://www.gig.nl/support/indexftp.html</A>

		</td>

<tr>
	<td colspan=4 bgcolor="#000000" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 valign=top>
		<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif ALT="indent" ALIGN="left" 
			HSPACE="0" WIDTH="0" HEIGHT="0"></td>

<tr>
	<td colspan=4>
		<H4>
		Type1Inst updated
		</H4>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
		<A HREF="mailto:J.Macnicol@student.anu.edu.au">James Macnicol</A>
		uploaded version 0.5b of his type1inst font installation utility
		to sunsite.unc.edu.  If its not already there, it will end up in
		/pub/Linux/X11/xutils.
		<P>
		Type1inst is a small perl script which generates the
		"fonts.scale" file required by an X11 server to use any
		Type 1 PostScript fonts which exist in a particular
		directory.  It gathers this informatiom from the font files
		themselves, a task which previously was done by hand.  The
		script is also capable of generating the similar "Fontmap"
		file used by ghostscript.  It can also generate sample sheets
		for the fonts.
		<P>
		FTP: 
		<A HREF="ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/X11/xutils/type1inst-0.5b.tar.gz">
		ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/X11/xutils/type1inst-0.5b.tar.gz</A>
		<P>
		Editors note:  I highly recommend this little utility if you 
		are intent on doing any graphics arts style work, such as with
		the GIMP.

		</td>
  
<tr>
	<td colspan=4 bgcolor="#000000" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 valign=top>
		<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif ALT="indent" ALIGN="left" 
			HSPACE="0" WIDTH="0" HEIGHT="0"></td>

<tr>
	<td colspan=4>
		<H4> 
		libgr-2.0.13 has been updated to png-0.96
		</H4>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
		It seems the interface to
		png-0.96 is not binary compatible with png-0.89, so the major
		version of the shared library was bumped to libpng.so.2.0.96 
		(last version was libpng.so.1.0.89).
		<P>
		WHAT IS LIBGR?
		<BR>
		Libgr is a collection of graphics libraries, 
		based on libgr-1.3, by Rob Hooft (hooft@EMBL-Heidelberg.DE),
		that includes:
		<UL>
			<LI>fbm
			<LI>jpeg
			<LI>pbm
			<LI>pgm
			<LI>png
			<LI>pnm
			<LI>ppm
			<LI>rle
			<LI>tiff
			<LI>zlib, for compression
		</UL>
		These are configured to build ELF static and shared libraries.
		This collection (libgr2) is being maintained by 
		<A HREF="mailto:neal@ctd.comsat.com">
		Neal Becker</A> &lt;neal@ctd.comsat.com&gt;

		<P>
		FTP:
			<A HREF="ftp://ftp.ctd.comsat.com:/pub/linux/ELF">
			ftp.ctd.comsat.com:/pub/linux/ELF</A>

	</td>


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	<td colspan=4 bgcolor="#ffffff" cellpadding=1 cellspacing=0 valign=top>
	<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif ALT="indent" ALIGN="left" 
		VSPACE="5" HSPACE="10" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="1"></td>
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	<td colspan=4 bgcolor="#000000" cellpadding=1 cellspacing=0 valign=top>
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			HSPACE="0" WIDTH="0" HEIGHT="0"></td>
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	<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif ALT="indent" ALIGN="left" 
		VSPACE="5" HSPACE="10" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="1"></td>

<tr>
	<td colspan=4>
		<!--
		  -- Did You Know Section
		  -->
		<H4>Did You Know?</H4>
		...there is a site devoted to settign up Wacom tablets under XFree86?
      <A HREF="http://www.dorsai.org/~stasic/wacomx.htm">
      http://www.dorsai.org/~stasic/wacomx.htm</A>
		The pages maintainer,
			<A HREF="mailto:stasic@dorsai.org">Edward</A>, says:
		<BLOCKQUOTE>
		So far, nobody has told me that he or she couldn't follow the
		instructions.
		<P>
		Fred Lepied is the man who actually created the support for the
		Wacom tablets under XFree86. He gave me instructions on setting
		my ArtPad II up and I repeated this, periodically, on Usenet.
		When the requests for help there turned into a steady stream,
		I decided to put up a web page (mainly to show that I can make
		one but not use it for a lame ego trip).
		</BLOCKQUOTE>
		<A HREF="mailto:adam@uunet.pipex.com">Adam D. Moss</A>
		&lt;adam@uunet.pipex.com&gt; has said he's also gotten this to work
		and offered to help others who might need assistance getting 
		things set up.


		<P>
		...there is rumored work being done on 3Dfx support for Linux?
		<A HREF="mailto:tige@umr.edu">Tige</A> writes:
		<BLOCKQUOTE>
		I was looking around for info about the 3Dfx based cards and came across
		a guy's page that said he is working on a full OpenGl driver for 3Dfx
		boards for NT.  What does this have to do with Linux?  Well, he says
		that after the NT driver is done, he is going to start work on 3Dfx
		drivers for Linux and an OpenGl driver for XFree86/3Dfx.
		<P>
		The guy's name is Zanshin and the address of his site is:
		<A HREF="http://www.planetquake.com/gldojo/">
		http://www.planetquake.com/gldojo/</A>
		<P>
		Most of this stuff is in the News Archives section under 4/18/97
		Oh yeah, he also mentions hacking SGIQuake to work with Linux, so we may
		get to see a hardware accelerated version of Quake for Linux.
		</BLOCKQUOTE>

		<P>
		...the MindsEye Developers mailing list has moved to
		<A HREF="mailto:mindseye@luna.nl">
		mindseye@luna.nl</A>.
		unsubscribing can be done by sending a body of
		<PRE>
         unsubscribe
		</PRE>
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		mindseye-request@luna.nl</A>
		and a body of
		<PRE>
         unsubscribe mindseye@luna.nl
		</PRE>
		to 
		<A HREF="mailto:majordomo@luna.nl">
		majordomo@luna.nl</A>
		Other majordomo commands should be send to majordomo@luna.nl
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		<!--
		  -- Q and A Section
		  -->
		<P><FONT size=3><B>Q and A</B></FONT>
		<P>
		<I>Q: 
		Forgive what might be a dumb question, but what exactly is meant by
		"overlays"?
		</I>
		<P>A: 
		Imagine a 24bpp image plane, that can be addressed by 24bpp visuals.
		Imagine an 8bpp plane in front of the 24bpp image plane, addressed by
		8bpp visuals.
		<P>
		One or more of the 8bpp visuals, preferably the default visual, should
		offer a 'transparent pixel' index.  When the 8bpp image plane is painted
		with the transparent pixel, you can see through to the 24bpp plane.
		You can call an arrangement like this, a 24bpp underlay, or refer to the
		8bpp visuals as an overlay.
		<P>
		Strictly, we call this "multiple concurrent visuals with different color
		depths", but that's rather a mouthful.  Hence, shorthand we refer to it
		as "24+8" or "overlays", with "24+8" as the preferred description.
		<P>
		<FONT size=2>
		From Jeremy Chatfield @ <A HREF="http://www.xi.com/">Xi Graphics, Inc.</A>
 
		</td>

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	<td colspan=4 bgcolor="#ffffff" cellpadding=1 cellspacing=0 valign=top>
	<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif ALT="indent" ALIGN="left" 
		VSPACE="5" HSPACE="10" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="1"></td>
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	<td colspan=4 bgcolor="#000000" cellpadding=1 cellspacing=0 valign=top>
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			HSPACE="0" WIDTH="0" HEIGHT="0"></td>
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	<td colspan=4 bgcolor="#ffffff" cellpadding=1 cellspacing=0 valign=top>
	<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif ALT="indent" ALIGN="left" 
		VSPACE="5" HSPACE="10" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="1"></td>
</table>



<P>
<A NAME="musings">
<table>
<tr>
<td>
<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/musings.gif ALT="Musings" ALIGN="left" 
	HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="247" HEIGHT="52">
</td>
</table>
</A>
<BR clear=both>

<TABLE width=560>
<tr>
	<td valign=top>
		<H4>
		Microstation update
		</H4>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
		After last months 3D Modeller update I received email
		from Mark Hamstra at Bentley Systems, Inc.  Mark is the man 
		responsible for the ports of Bentley's MicroStation and Masterpiece
		products that are available for Linux.  I've included his response
		below.  The stuff in italics is what I had orginally written:

		<BLOCKQUOTE>
		Thanks for the mention in Gazette #18 --it's kinda fun watching where
		MicroStation/Linux info pops up.  Being the guy that actually did the
		ports of MicroStation and Masterpiece, I'll lay claim to knowing the most
		about these products.  Unfortunately, you've got a few errors in Gazette
		#18; allow me to correct them:

		<P>
		<I>
  		Includes programming support with a BASIC language and linkages
  		to various commericial databases such as Oracle and Informix.
		</I>

		<P>
		Programming support in the current product includes the MicroStation
		Development Language (C syntax code that compiles to platform-independent
		byte-code), BASIC, and support for linking MDL with both MDL shared
		libraries and native code shared libraries (i.e., Linux .so ELF
		libraries).  For a look at the future direction of Bentley and 
		MicroStation, take a look on our web site at the recent announcement by
		Keith Bentley at the  AEC Systems tradeshow of MicroStation/J and our
		licensing agreement with Javasoft.  

		<P>
		Because of the lack of commercial database support for Linux, there are
		no database linkage facilities in the current Linux port of MicroStation.

		<P>
		<I>
  		This looks like the place to go for a commercial modeller, although
  		I'm not certain if they'll sell their educational products to the
  		general public or not.
		</I>

		<P>
		Nope, academic-only at this time; although we're collecting requests for
		commercial licensing (at our normal commercial prices) at
		<A HREF="http://www.bentley.com/products/change-request.html">
		http://www.bentley.com/products/change-request.html</A>.
		The <B>only</B> thing preventing MicroStation from being available 
		commercially for Linux is a lack of adequate expressed interest.

		<P>
		<I>
		Note that the Linux ports have not been released (to my knowledge - I'm
		going by whats on the web pages).
		</I>

		<P>
		The first two of our new Engineering Academic Suites that contain the
		Linux ports, the Building Engineering and GeoEngineering Suites, have been
		available in North America since the middle of February.  European and
		worldwide distribution should be underway now too, although it took a
		little longer.  Incidentally, the web pages you list are for our Europe,
		Middle East, and Africa (ema) division; you probably actually want
		<A HREF="http://www.bentley.com/academic">
		http://www.bentley.com/academic</A>.

		<P>
		<I>
		[output formats] Unknown
		</I>

		<P>
		We output a wide range of formats (and import a wider range than you give
		us credit for).  I always forget just which ones are actually in the
		product and which are only in my current builds from the most recent
		source, so I'll just refer you to
		<A HREF="http://www.bentley.com/products/microstation95">
		http://www.bentley.com/products/microstation95</A> and
		<A HREF="http://www.bentley.com/products/masterpiece">
		http://www.bentley.com/products/masterpiece</A>, and note that my copy of
		MicroStation/Linux currently lists DGN, DWG, DXF, IGES, CGM, SVF, GRD,
		RIB, VRML, Postscript, HPGL, PCL, TIFF, TGA, BMP, and a couple other
		raster and animation formats as output options -- and I know I haven't
		currently got some of our soon-to-be-released translators compiled.  Like
		I said, probably not all of these are in the current Linux port, but it's
		a simple matter to add whatever's not there to future versions of the
		Linux products, provided there's enough demand to keep the project
		going.  

		</BLOCKQUOTE>
		I wasn't sure what a few of these formats were, so I wrote Mark back
		to ask about them.  He informed me on the following (which were the ones I
		had asked specifically about):

		<UL>
			<LI> DGN is MicroStation-native design file format and 
				has its ancestry in the Intergraph IGDS file format.  
			<LI> SVF is the Simple Vector Format (see
				<A HREF="http://www.softsource.com">
				http://www.softsource.com</A>), 
				which works pretty good for web browser plug-ins.  
			<LI> GRD is used by our MicroStation Field product.  
			<LI> CGM is the Computer Graphics Metafile format, a 
				vendor-independent standard supported in various software 
				packages, browser plug-ins, printers/plotters, etc.
		</UL>

		I want to thank Mark for offering updated information so quickly.  My
		information is only as good as what I can find or am fed, and it helps 
		when vendors, developers or end users provide me with useful info like 
		this.  Many thanks Mark.

		<P>
		If you've used this product on MS platforms feel free to drop me a
		line and let me know what you thought of it.  I'm always out to support
		commercial ports of graphics-related products to Linux.
		</td>

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	<td bgcolor="#000000" cellpadding=1 cellspacing=0 valign=top>
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			WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="1"></td>

</table>

<TABLE width=560>
<tr>
	<td valign=top width="44%">
		<H4><I>
		Printing with an Epson Stylus Color 500
		</I> </H4>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
		I bought an Epson Stylus Color 500 printer back in December of last year 
		so I could print in color.  I had done some 
		<A HREF="../issue14/gm.html">
		research into what printers would be best</A>, 
		based in part on reviews in online PC magazines 
		and also on support available in the Ghostscript 4.03 package.  The
		Epson Stylus Color 500 was rated very high by the reviews and I found a 
		<A HREF="http://www.pe.net/~williams">
		web page</A> 
		which provided information on how to configure Ghostscript
		for use with the printer.  I bought the printer, got Ghostscript
		working in a very marginal way (that is to say, it printed straight 
		text in black and white).  But thats as far as it went.  I had gotten
		some minor printing in color done, but nothing very impressive and 
		most of it was downright bad.

		<BR>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
		Earlier this month I was given the opportunity to work on the cover
		art for an issue of the Linux Journal.  A few trial runs were given
		the preliminary ok but they were too small - the size of the image
		needed to be more than twice as big as the original I had created.
		Also, because the conversion of an image from the monitors display to
		printed paper is not a straightforward one (see the discussion on
		LPI/DPI elsewhere in this months column) it became apparent I needed
		to try printing my artwork to sample how it would really look on paper.
		I had to get my printer configuration working properly.

		<BR>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
		Well, it turned out to be easier than I thought.  The hardest part
		is to get Ghostscript compiled properly.  The first thing to do is 
		to be sure to read the text files that accompany the source code.
		There are 3 files to read:  
		<UL>
			<LI>make.txt - general compiling and installation instructions
			<LI>drivers.txt - configuration information for support of the 
					various devices you'll need for your system.
			<LI>unix-lpr.txt - help on setting up a print spooler for Unix
					systems.
		</UL>
		The first two are the ones that made the most difference to me.  I 
		didn't really use the latter, but my solution isn't very elegant.
		However, what it lacks in grace it makes up for in simplicity.
		
		<BR>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
		Building the drivers was fairly simple for me - I took most of the
		defaults, except I added support for the Epson Stylus Color printers.
		There is a section in make.txt devoted specifically to compiling on
		Unix systems (search for <I>How to build Ghostscript from source
		(Unix version)</I> in that file).  In most cases you'll just be able
		to type "make" after linking the correct compiler specific makefile 
		to <I>makefile</I>.  However, I needed to configure in the Epson
		printers first.
		
		<BR>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
		What I did was to edit the unix-gcc.mak file 
		to change one line.  The line that begins
		<BR><B>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
			DEVICE_DEVS=
		</B><BR>
		was modified to add
		<BR><B>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
			stcolor.dev
		</B><BR>
		right after the equal sign.  I also didn't need support for
		any of the HP DeskJet (DEVICE_DEVS3 and DEVICE_DEVS4) or 
		Bubble Jet (DEVICE_DEVS6) devices so I commented out those lines.
		Now, once this file had been linked to <I>makefile</I> I could just
		run 
		<BR><B>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
			make
		<BR>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
			make install
		</B><BR>
		At this point the Ghostsript package was ready for use.  Note that
		many of the current distributions already include Ghostscript, but may not
		have the 4.03 release.  Run 
		<BR><B>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
			gs -v
		</B><BR>
		to find out if you have Ghostscript 4.03.  You'll need it to work
		with the Epson Stylus Color 500.

		<BR>
		&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
		Now I needed to set up my print spooler.  This turned out to be
		rather easy.  First, you need to know that the stcolor driver
		(which is the name of the driver Ghostscript uses to talk to 
		Epson Stylus printers) has a pre-built Postscript file that is
		used to prepare the printer for printing.  This file, called
		stcolor.ps, is included with the 4.03 distribution.  The file
		contains special commands that are interpreted by the printer,
		however it does not actually cause anything to be printed.

		<P clear=both>
		<CENTER>
		<A HREF="#next-column">-Top of next column-</A>
		</CENTER>
		</td>

	<td bgcolor="#ffffff" cellpadding=1 cellspacing=0 valign=top>
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	<td valign=top width="53%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0>
	<table>
	<tr>
		<td valign=top cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0>
			<UL>
				<LH>
					<A NAME="next-column">
					<B>More Musings...</B>
					</A>
					</LH>
				<LI>
					<A HREF="more-musings.html#1">
					DPI, LPI, Halftoning and other strange things
					</A> - A short discussion on printing computer
					images.
				<LI>
					<A HREF="more-musings.html#2">
					How many frames makes a movie?
					</A> - a discussion with Larry Gritz about
					how video animations are transferred from film.

			</UL>
			<table width=100%>
			<tr>
				<td width=100% bgcolor="#000000" cellpadding=1 
						cellspacing=0 valign=top>
					<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif ALT="indent" ALIGN="left" 
						HSPACE="0" WIDTH="0" HEIGHT="0"></td>
			</table>

			<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif ALT="indent" ALIGN="left" 
				VSPACE="5" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="1">
			<BR clear=both>
			When you
			want to print something you need to first print this file followed
			by the file or files you want to print.  Don't worry about how to 
			do this just yet - I have a set of scripts to make this easier.

			<BR clear=both>
			&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
			There were a number of options I could use with Ghostscript for
			my printer, but I found I only needed to work with one:  display
			resolution or Dots Per Inch (DPI).  In order to handle the two 
			resolutions I simply created two scripts which could be used as
			input filters for lpr (the print spooler).  The 
			<A HREF="./stcolor.txt">
			scripts</A>
			are almost
			exactly the same, except one is called <I>stcolor</I> and one
			is called <I>stcolor-high</I>, the latter being for the higher
			resolution.   Both of these were installed under
			/var/spool/lpd/lp and given execute permissions.
		
			<BR clear=both>
			&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
			Next came the configuration for lpr.  I needed to edit the 
			<A HREF="./printcap.txt">
			/etc/printcap</A>
			file to create entries for the new printer filters.
			I decided to give the printers different names than the standard,
			non-filtered printer name.  In this way I could print ordinary
			text files (which I do more than anything else)  using the default
			printer and use the other printer names for various draft or
			final prints of images, like the cover art.

			<BR clear=both>
			&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
			Now the system was ready to print my images, but I still needed 
			to do a couple more things.  First, I wanted to write a script
			for handling printing of my images in the most common formats 
			I created.  I wrote a
			<A HREF="./print-tga.txt">
			script</A>
			to do this which I named <I>print-tga.sh</I>.  I made symbollic
			links from this file to variations on the name.  The script
			uses the name used to invoke it to determine which type of
			conversions to run before printing the file.
			The script converts the various formats, using the tools in
			the NetPBM kit, to Postscript files and then prints them to the
			high resolution printer setup in the previously mentioned printcap 
			file.

			<BR clear=both>
			&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
			Once I got all this done I was able to print full page images
			on high-gloss paper.  They come out beautifully.  The images I
			created for the cover art are far bigger than the paper, so Ghostscript
			resizes them to fit.  It wasn't until I got this working that I 
			realized just how good Ghostscript is.  Or just how good the Epson
			Stylus Color 500 is.

			<BR clear=both>
			&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
			As a side bonus, I also discovered that I could now print pages
			from my Netscape browser to my printer.  I configured the 
			print command to be <I>lpr -llpps</I> (using the lower resolution
			printer from the /etc/printcap file) in the Print dialog.  Since
			Netscape passes the page as a Postscript file to the filter, there
			is no need to do any conversions like I do with my images.  I now
			get full color prints of the pages I wish to save (like SIGGRAPH's
			registration forms).  I also can print directly from Applixware
			using the same printer configurations.  I just had to set up the
			print options to output as Postscript, which was simply enough to do.

			<BR clear=both>
			&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
			There are a number of other settings that can be set using the
			filters.  If you are interested in using these you should consult the
			devices.txt file for information on the stcolor driver.  There are
			probably some better settings than what I'm using for other types of
			printing needs.

			<BR clear=both>
			&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
			Well, thats about it.  I hope this was of some use to you.  I was
			really thankful when I got it working.  My setup is probably not
			exactly like anyone elses, but if you have the Epson Stylus Color
			500 you should be able to get similar results.  Don't forget:  if
			you plan on printing high resolution images using the 360 DPI (as 
			opposed to the 180 DPI also supported by the printer) then you'll 
			probably want to print on high-gloss paper.  This paper can be rather 
			expensive.  The high-gloss paper Epson sells specifically for this 
			printer is about $36US for 15 sheets.  Also, I should note that
			I recently heard Epson now has a a model 600 that is to replace
			the model 500 as their entry level color printer.   I haven't
			heard if the 600 will work with the stcolor driver in Ghostscript
			so you may want to contact the drivers author (who is listed
			in the devices.txt file, along with a web site for more info) if 
			you plan on getting the model 600.
		</td>

	<tr>
		<td bgcolor="#000000" cellpadding=1 cellspacing=0 valign=top>
		<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif ALT="indent" ALIGN="left" 
			WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="1"></td>

	<tr>
		<td valign=top cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0>
		<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif ALT="indent" ALIGN="left" 
			HSPACE="8" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="1">
		<BR clear=both>

		</td>
	</table>
	</td>



</table>


<P>
<A NAME="resources">
<table>
<tr>
<td>
<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/resources.gif ALT="Resources" ALIGN="left" 
	HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="246" HEIGHT="57">
</td>
</table>
</A>

<BR clear=both>
The following links are just starting points for finding more information
about computer graphics and multimedia in general for Linux systems.  If
you have some application specific information for me, I'll add them to my
other pages or you can contact the maintainer of some other web site.  I'll
consider adding other general references here, but application or site
specific information needs to go into one of the following general 
references and not listed here.

<BR clear=both>
<P>

<A HREF="http://www.csn.net/~mjhammel/linux/lgh.html">
Linux Graphics mini-Howto
</A>

<BR>
<A HREF="http://www.csn.net/~mjhammel/ugu/ugu.html">
Unix Graphics Utilities
</A>  

<BR>
<A HREF="http://www.digiserve.com/ar/linux-snd/">
Linux Multimedia Page
</A>  

<P>
Some of the Mailing Lists and Newsgroups I keep an eye on and where I get alot
of the information in this column:

<P> <A HREF="http://www.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/~gimp/">
		The Gimp User and Gimp Developer Mailing Lists</A>.
<BR> <A HREF="http://www.irtc.org">
		The IRTC-L discussion list</A>
<BR> <A HREF="news:comp.graphics.rendering.raytracing">
		comp.graphics.rendering.raytracing</A>
<BR> <A HREF="news:comp.graphics.rendering.renderman">
		comp.graphics.rendering.renderman</A>
<BR> <A HREF="news:comp.graphics.api.opengl">
		comp.graphics.api.opengl</A>
<BR> <A HREF="news:comp.os.linux.announce">
		comp.os.linux.announce</A>

<br>


<P>
<A NAME="future">
<H2>Future Directions</H2>
</A>
Next month:
<BLOCKQUOTE>
	I have no idea.  I have a ton of things that need doing, but I just
		haven't had time to figure out what I *should* do.  I still have part 3 of
		the BMRT series to do, which I plan on doing as part of the process of
		creating an animation.  The animation is another topic I'd like to do.
		I've also had requests for a number of other topics.  One good one was to
		cover the various Image Libraries that are available (libgr or its
		individual components, for example).  I have a review of Image Alchemy to
		do (long ago promised and still not done *sigh*).  Well, at least I'll
		never be short a topic.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<P>
<A HREF="mailto:mjhammel@csn.net">
Let me know what you'd like to hear about!</A>

<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<center><H5>Copyright &copy; 1997, Michael J. Hammel<BR> 
Published in Issue 19 of the Linux Gazette, July 1997</H5></center>

<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<A HREF="./index.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM SRC="../gx/indexnew.gif" 
ALT="[ TABLE OF CONTENTS ]"></A>
<A HREF="../index.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM SRC="../gx/homenew.gif"
ALT="[ FRONT PAGE ]"></A>
<A HREF="./clue.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/back2.gif"
ALT=" Back "></A>
<A HREF="./hallways.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/fwd.gif" ALT=" Next "></A>
<P> <hr> <P> 


<BODY>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>
Graphics Muse
</TITLE>
</HEAD>

<BODY text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff"
	vlink="#fa3333" alink="#33CC33" link="#0000FA">

<!-- =============================================================
		This Page Designed by Michael J. Hammel.
		Permission to use all graphics and other content for private,
		non-commerical use is granted provided you give me (or the 
		original authors/artists) credit for the work.

		CD-ROM distributors and commercial ventures interested in 
		providing the Graphics Muse for a fee must contact me,
		Michael J. Hammel (mjhammel@csn.net), for permission.
     ============================================================= !-->

<A NAME="musings">
<table>
<tr>
<td>
<H2>More...</H2>
<BR clear=both>
<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/musings.gif ALT="Musings" ALIGN="left" 
	HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="247" HEIGHT="52">
</td>
</table>
</A>
<BR clear=both>

<table>
<tr><td>
<UL>
	<LI><A HREF="#1">DPI, LPI, Halftoning and other strange things</A>
	<LI><A HREF="#2">How many frames makes a movie?</A>
</UL></td>
</table>

<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif ALT="indent" ALIGN="left" 
	VSPACE="5" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="1">
<BR clear=both>
<table width=100%>
<tr>
	<td width="100%" align=right>
	<FONT size=1>
	&copy 1997 <A HREF="mailto:mjhammel@csn.net">Michael J. Hammel</A>
	</FONT></td>
<tr>
	<td bgcolor="#000000" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 valign=top>
		<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif ALT="indent" ALIGN="left" 
			HSPACE="0" WIDTH="0" HEIGHT="0"></td>
</table>

<P>

<A NAME="1">
<H4>
</H4>
</A>
<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Raster images are always discussed in terms of pixels, the
number of dots on the screen that make up the height and width of the
image.  As long as the image remains on the computer there is no need to
worry about converting this to some other resolution using some other
terminology.  Pixel dimensions work well for Web pages, for example.

<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
The reality is that many images aren't very useful if they remain on the
computer.  Their real usefulness lies in their transfer to film, video tape or
printed paper such as magazines or posters.  The trouble with this is that
printing an image is much different than simply viewing it on the screen.
There are problems related to color conversions (RGB to CMYK), for example.
We'll have to deal with that some other time (like when I learn something
about it).  Printing also requires a different set of dimensions
because of the way they work.  Printed images are handled by the number of
Dots Per Inch that the printer can handle.  In order to get the image to
look the way you want it on the printer, you'll need to understand how
printers work.

<BR>
First, some background information:

<UL>
	<LI>Printer resolution is given in dots per inch (DPI).  That is the number
		of dots the device can output in an inch.
	<LI>
		Lines per inch (LPI) relates to halftoning.  Many devices (such as
		printers) only have bilevel channels, that is, either they paint a
		colored dot or they don't (there are no smooth steps).  Halftoning
		means using different patterns of dots to simulate a greater
		number of color shades.  Obviously, several dots must be used in
		certain on/off combinations to simulate having more shades.
</UL>
LPI comes from the world of photography while DPI comes from the world of 
design.  Whether it makes sense to speak of DPI resolution for a raster image
depends on what you'll be using that image for.  Most magazines, such as 
Time, are printed with 153 LPI or less.  Newspapers such as the Wall Street 
Journal are printed at 45-120 LPI.

<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<I>Halftoning masks</I> are the patterns used to create the shades of color
or levels of gray seen in the lines per inch on the printed media.
Most masks are square.  Let's say you have a printer which can do 300 DPI,
that is, it can print 300 dots in an inch.  If the halftoning mask is
4 pixels wide, then you'll have 300/4 = 75 lines per inch (LPI) for
the halftones.  That is the effective resolution of the device, since
you are interested in nice shaded printouts and not in single bilevel
dots.

<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
An ultra-expensive 1200 DPI typesetter will be able to do 300 LPI if
you use 4-pixel wide halftone masks.  Of course, the larger the
halftone size, the more shades you'll get, but the lower the effective
resolution will be.

<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
If you are only going to display an image on your screen, then perhaps
speaking of DPIs in the image is pointless.  You'll be mapping one
pixel in the image to one pixel on your display, so how physically
big the image looks will depend only on the size of your monitor.
This makes sense; when you create images for display on a monitor, you
usually only think in terms of available screen space (in pixels), not
about final physical displayed size.  I.e. when you create a web page
you try to make your images so that they'll fit on the browser's
window, regardless of the size of your monitor.

<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
The story is a bit different when you are creating images for output
on a hardcopy device.  You see, sheets of paper have definite physical
sizes and people do care about them.  That's why everyone tries to
print Letter-sized documents on A4 paper and vice-versa.

<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
The simplest thing to do is to just create images considering the
physical output resolution of your printer.  Let's say you have a 300
DPI printer and you create an image which is 900 pixels wide.  If you
map one image pixel to one device pixel (or dot), you'll get a 3-inch wide
image:  
<P>
<FONT size=2>
<CENTER>
900 pixels in image  / 300 dots per inch for printing = 3 inches of image.
</CENTER>
</FONT>

<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
That sucks, because most likely your printer uses bilevel dots and
you'll get very ugly results if you print a photograph with one image
pixel mapped to one device pixel.  You can get only so many color
combinations for a single dot on your printer --- if it uses three
inks, Cyan/Magenta/Yellow (CMY) and if it uses bilevel dots (spit ink
or do not spit ink, and that's it), you'll only be able to get a
maximum of 2*2*2 = 8 colors on that printer.  Obviously 8 colors is
not enough for a photograph.

<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
So you decide to do the Right Thing and use halftoning.  A halftone
block is usually a small square of pixels which sets different
dot patterns depending on which shade you want to create.
Let's say you use 4-pixel square halftones like in the previous
paragraphs.  If you map one image pixel to one halftone block, then
your printed image will be four times as large as if you had simply
mapped one image pixel to one printer dot.

<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
A good rule of thumb for deciding at what size to create images is the
following.  Take the number of lines per inch (LPI) that your printer
or printing software will use, that is, the number of halftone blocks
per inch that it will use, and multiply that by 2.  Use that as the
number of dots per inch (DPI) for your image.

<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Say you have a 600 DPI color printer that uses 4-pixel halftone
blocks.  That is, it will use 600/4 = 150 LPI.  You should then create
your images at 150*2 = 300 DPI.  So, if you want an image to be 5
inches wide, then you'll have to make it 300*5 = 1500 pixels wide.
Your printing software should take all that into account to create the
proper halftoning mask.  For example, when you use PostScript, you can
tell the interpreter to use a certain halftone size and it will convert
images appropriately.  However, most Linux software doesn't do this yet.
If you have a need to create an image destined for print you should check
with the printer to get either the LPI or DPI and the number of pixels used
in the Halftone that will be used.  You can then compute the number of
pixels you'll need in your image.

<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
The story is very different if you do not use regular halftoning
masks.  If you use a stochastic (based on randomness) dithering
technique, like Floyd-Steinberg dithering, then it may be a good idea
to design images with the same resolution as the physical (DPI)
resolution on your output device.  Stochastic screening is based on
distributing the dithering error over all the image pixels, so you
(usually) get output without ugly Moire patterns and such.  Then
again, using the same physical resolution as your output device can
result in really <B>big</B> images (in number of bytes), so you may want to
use a lower resolution.  Since the dithering is more or less random,
most people won't notice the difference.

<P>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
My thanks to Federico Mena Quintero for the majority of this discussion.
He summarized the discussion for the GIMP Developers Mailing List quite
some time back.  Fortunately, I happened to hang onto this his posting.

<P>

<table width=100%>
<tr>
	<td colspan=4 bgcolor="#000000" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 valign=top>
		<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif ALT="indent" ALIGN="left" 
			HSPACE="0" WIDTH="0" HEIGHT="0"></td>
</table>


<P>

<!-- ------------------------------------------------------------- -->
<!-- Part 2, if any                                                -->
<!-- ------------------------------------------------------------- -->

<A NAME="2">
<H4>How many frames makes a movie?</H4>
</A>

<BR>
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
The following comes from Larry Gritz in response to a question I posed to
him regarding something I noticed while framing through my copy of <I>Toy
Story</I> one day.  I thought his explanation was so good it deserved a
spot in the Muse.  So here it is.

<P>
<I>
BTW:  I noticed, as I framed through various scenes, that I had 4 frames of
movement and one frame of "fill" (exactly the same as the previous frame).
Standard video is 30 frames/sec and I've read that 15 or 10 animated frames
is acceptable for film but that this requires some fill frames.  Lets see,
if you did 15 frames per second you could actually render 12 frames with 3
fill frames.  Is this about right?
</I>

<P>
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
No, we render and record film at a full 24 frames a second.  We
do not "render on two's", as many stop motion animators do.

<BR>
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
When 24 fps film is converted to video, something called 3:2 pulldown
is done.  Video is 30 frames, but actually 60 fields per second --
alternating even and odd scanlines.  The 3:2 pulldown process records
one frame for three fields of video, then the next frame for 2 fields
of video.  So you get something like this:

<table>
<tr>
	<th align=center> video frame   
	<th align=center> video field   
	<th align=center> film frame
<tr>
	<td align=center> 1
	<td align=center> 1 (even)
	<td align=center> 1
<tr>
	<td align=center> 1
	<td align=center> 2 (odd)
	<td align=center> 1
<tr>
	<td align=center> 2 
	<td align=center> 1 (even)
	<td align=center> 1
<tr>
	<td align=center> 2 
	<td align=center> 2 (odd)
	<td align=center> 2 
<tr>
	<td align=center> 3
	<td align=center> 1 (even)
	<td align=center> 2
<tr>
	<td align=center> 3
	<td align=center> 2 (odd)
	<td align=center> 3
<tr>
	<td align=center> 4
	<td align=center> 1 (even)
	<td align=center> 3
<tr>
	<td align=center> 4
	<td align=center> 2 (odd)
	<td align=center> 3
<tr>
	<td align=center> 5
	<td align=center> 1 (even)
	<td align=center> 4
<tr>
	<td align=center> 5
	<td align=center> 2 (odd)
	<td align=center> 4
</table>

So every 4 film frames get expanded into 5 video frames, and hey,
30/24 == 5/4 !  This is how all films are transferred to video
in a way that doesn't mess up the original timing.

<BR>
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Your video probably only shows the first field when you're paused,
which makes it look like 1 in 5 frames is doubled, but it's actually
just a bit more complicated than that.


<P>

<table width=100%>
<tr>
	<td colspan=4 bgcolor="#000000" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 valign=top>
		<IMG SRC=../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif ALT="indent" ALIGN="left" 
			HSPACE="0" WIDTH="0" HEIGHT="0"></td>
</table>

<table width=100%>
<tr>
	<td align=right>
		<FONT size=1>
		&copy 1997 by <A HREF="mailto:mjhammel@csn.net">Michael J. Hammel</A>
		</FONT>
</table>


<H4>
&quot;Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>&quot;
</H4>

<P> <HR> <P> 
<!--===================================================================-->

<center>
<H2>Intranet Hallways Systems Based on Linux</H2>
<H4>By Justin Seiferth,
<a href="mailto:seifertj@af.pentagon.mil">seifertj@af.pentagon.mil</a>
</center></H4><P><HR>
   <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
   <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Mozilla/4.0b5 [en] (Win16; I) [Netscape]">
<p>
<CENTER><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=+2>Using Linux: An Intranet
Hallways System</FONT></FONT></CENTER>
<FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">Like many of you, I like to use Unix, esp.
Linux when ever and where ever it seems to be the best fit for the job.
This means I have to work fast and be creative; making opportunities when
and where ever I can't take them. I had just such an opportunity recently
when I put together a system which allows <A HREF="http://www.disa.mil">my
workplace</A> to publish the common file sharing areas of its Microsoft
Windows NT based desktops. I thought others might be interested in this
system and created a <A HREF="ftp://www.disa.mil/pub/linux_gazette/">distribution</A>
have your own Intranet Hallways system or as the popular press would put
it an "enterprise information warehouse".&nbsp; Don't let on how easy it
is and you'll be able to make a bundle reselling the system.&nbsp; Here's
what you need to do to make it happen:</FONT>
<LI>
<FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><A HREF="#Show">Kernel Options</A></FONT></LI>

<LI>
<FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><A HREF="#utilities">Support Utilities</A></FONT></LI>

<LI>
<FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><A HREF="#pages">HTML pages</A> and <A HREF="#scripts">scripts</A></FONT></LI>

<LI>
<FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><A HREF="#Stage">Some Configuration Changes</A></FONT></LI>

<LI>
<FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><A HREF="#install">A Quick installation</A></FONT></LI>

<LI>
<FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><A HREF="#Applause">Other things</A> you might
do with it</FONT></LI>


<P><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">Once you've retrieved the distribution,
it shouldn't take more than an hour to get things running; let <A HREF="mailto:seiferth@erols.com">me</A>
know what you think about the system when you do.</FONT>

<P><B><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=+1>The Opportunity</FONT></FONT></B>
<BR><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">Microsoft's Windows NT suffers from a
file system inherited from its MS-DOS lineage. For those of you who haven't
had the displeasure this means file systems are cryptically named A-Z,
can't automount and the process of manually mounting them is much more
complicated and error prone than the more user friendly tools like <A HREF="http://www.redhat.com">Red
Hat's</A>
fstool. These problems have been worked around somewhat at my agency through
a series of .bat files which mount server drives in standard places so
users can say "Just look at the T: drive" or something similar. This still
left users with problems searching tens of thousands of files spread thousands
of directories located on servers across the world. The Microsoft Windows
NT operators were trying to figure out a way to present an efficient, agency-wide
view of these servers so that users could easily find and retrieve things.
We used Linux to integrate and publish these file sharing areas on our
intranet.</FONT>

<P><B><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=+1>Before the<A NAME="Show"></A>Show</FONT></FONT></B>
<BR><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">Key to the system is the ability of the
Linux kernel (later 2.0 and 2.1 versions) to mount <A HREF="http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de:80/~loewis/ntfs/">local</A>
NTFS and remote <A HREF="http://samba.anu.edu.au/cifs/docs/smb-history.html">SMB</A>
volumes. There's nothing esoteric about enabling or using this option,
just <A HREF="http://www.disa.mil/.drafts/smbselect.gif">check it off </A>when
you're compiling the kernel. (Don't run away at the thought of compiling
a kernel! Most <A HREF="http://www.xnet.com/~blatura/linux.shtml#src">distributions</A>
include these options in their default kernel so you probably don't have
do anything- just try it out </FONT><TT>smbmount</TT><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">
and see if it works). If any of your network shares are coming from Windows
95 machines, make sure to also select the patch for Windows 95 machines
and long file names. If you are just serving Microsoft Windows NT or Samba
shares, don't use the Windows 95 option as I've found it has a noticeable
impact on the speed of the SMB mount and file operations.</FONT>

<P><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">Once you've got an SMB capable kernel installed
you're almost ready to go. The other critical components are the<A NAME="utilities"></A><A HREF="http://134.76.140.96/linux-lan/">smbfs</A>
utilities, the <A HREF="ftp://ftp.caldera.com/pub/mirrors">wu-ftpd</A>
suite, a <A HREF="http://www.apache.org">web server</A>, a search engine
and a javascript - capable <A HREF="http://home.netscape.com">browser</A>.
Your distribution has probably installed an operational FTP and HTTP server
and most people nowadays have a Netscape browser installed so all you really
need to do is compile the smbfs utilities and setup a search engine. If
most of the documents on your SMB shares are in text or HTML format, there
are a number of search engines that you can choose from- htdig and glimpse
come to mind. If you want to be able to search non-HTML documents then
you might need one of the commercial search engine. We use Netscape's catalog
server for Solaris.</FONT>

<P><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">The system will work without a javascript
browser; it just won't be a easy to use.</FONT> <FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">Hit
the links to grab the software tools you need from the list above set it
up. If you run into problems, be sure and check out the linux HOWTOs and
mailing list documentation on the sites offering the software.&nbsp; If
you have RedHat's RPM or Debian's package tools somebody else has probably
already made a binary available; just check your local archive.</FONT>

<P><B><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=+1>Set and<A NAME="Stage"></A>Stage</FONT></FONT></B>
<BR><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">I'm assuming you've tested your kernel
to make sure you can indeed mount SMB shares and that your ftp server is
up and alive. Before we can start serving your "enterprise information
warehouse" there are a few files which need to be added to or modified
on your system in addition to the <A HREF="http://www.w3.org">HTML</A>
files we'll discuss later. The first addition is a new init.d file for
automatically mounting SMB shares when you boot your system. Then we'll
enable a few features of your FTP server.</FONT>

<P><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">First, let's contend with mounting shares
automatically. I do this with a standard run-level 3/5 initscript; here's
an excerpt with the most critical lines:</FONT>
<BR>
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH="100%">
<BR><B><TT># Check that networking is up.</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>[ ${NETWORKING} = "no" ] exit 0</TT></B>

<P><B><TT># See how we were called.</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>case "$1" in</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>start)</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>echo -n "Mounting SMB shares..."</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>echo "Mounting share1"</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>/usr/sbin/smbmount //hostname/share /home/ftp/mountpoint -n
-uftp -gftp -f755 -Ihostnames_IP_address</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT># mount your other shares</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>echo ""</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>;;</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>stop)</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>echo -n "Umounting SMB shares..."</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>/usr/sbin/umount /home/ftp/mountpoint</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>#insert other mount comments here ....</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>echo ""</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>;;</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>*)</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>echo "Usage: hallways {start|stop}"</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>exit 1</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>esac</TT></B>
<BR>
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH="100%">
<BR><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">The </FONT><TT>smbmount(8)</TT><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">
and </FONT><TT>umount(8)</TT><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"> man pages have
more details on what all those flags are about. Basically, we are mounting
the shares into a directory accessible via anonymous FTP. The permissions
and groups are "fake" in the sense that they don't map to anything sensible
in the NT file system; they are only for the convenience and protection
of the Unix system. Our common shares are read/write for everyone; if your
site is more cautious you may want to review the implications of the file
permissions and ownership or perhaps impose access controls using your
file system and web server's security mechanisms.</FONT>

<P><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">Now, let's take a look at the scripts used
to startup your FTP server. You have to make sure you're taking advantage
of wu-ftpd's </FONT><TT>ftpaccess(5)</TT><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">
configuration capabilities. If you start your FTP daemon using the </FONT><TT>-a</TT><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">
option the </FONT><TT>/etc/ftpaccess</TT><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">
file will allow you to customize many aspects of the FTP server's performance
and capabilities. Normally, you enable the -a option of your FTP server
in your </FONT><TT>/etc/inetd.conf</TT> <FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">file;
some people run their FTP full time, in this case check out the startup
files in your </FONT><TT>/etc/rc.d/rc3.d</TT><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">
or </FONT><TT>rc5.d</TT><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"> directory and add
the option when the daemon is started up. Among the benefits of using </FONT><TT>ftpaccess</TT><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">
is the ability to specify header and trailer messages in the directory
listings generated by your FTP server. These directives, </FONT><TT>message
</TT><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">and </FONT><TT>readme </TT><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">are
key to our system's capabilities.</FONT>

<P><A NAME="pages"></A><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">We created an HTML
file within the directory structure accessible to the FTP daemon; in our
case it is called 'welcome.html', this file is placed in the root directory
of the FTP daemon's file area and the entry in </FONT><TT>ftpaccess </TT><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">looks
like:</FONT>
<BR><B><TT>...</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>message /welcome.html login</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>...</TT></B>
<BR><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">Now the contents of </FONT><TT>welcome.html</TT><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">
will be displayed at the beginning of directory listings. The contents
of </FONT><TT>welcome.html</TT><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"> are a little
tricky if you're not familiar with javascript. They are designed to both
dynamically tailor the HTML based on the position of the page within a
browser.&nbsp; These dynamic web pages tailor the help message to the context
of the display.</FONT>
<BR>
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH="100%">
<BR><B><TT>&lt;HTML></TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>&lt;HEAD></TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>&lt;SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"></TT></B>

<P><A NAME="scripts"></A><B><TT>function OpenNewWindow()</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>{</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>alert("To Upload a file go to file...Upload File on the browser's
button bar")</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>parent.frames[2].location.protocol = "ftp:"</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>window.open(parent.frames[2].location.href)</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>}</TT></B>

<P><B><TT>&lt;/SCRIPT></TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>&lt;/HEAD</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>&lt;BODY bgcolor="#FFFFFF"></TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>&lt;FORM></TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>&lt;SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"></TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>if (self!=top) {</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>document.write('&lt;i>&lt;B>Hi!&lt;/b>&lt;/i>' + "You can preview,
download files or search for information here.&lt;p>You can also upload
a file&lt;br>" + '&lt;FORM>' +</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>'&lt;CENTER>' + '&lt;INPUT TYPE="button" Value="Upload File"
onClick="OpenNewWindow()</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>">' + '&lt;/CENTER>' + '&lt;/FORM>');</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>}</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>else</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>{</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>document.write('&lt;i>&lt;B>Hi!&lt;/b>&lt;/i> This is a special
screen for adding information to hallways.&lt;p> To Upload a file, go to
FILE | Upload, like &lt;a href="http://webserver/access_directory/<A HREF="http://www.disa.mil/.drafts/file_upload.gif">file_upload.gif</A>"></TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>this&lt;/a></TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>&lt;p>');</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>}</TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>&lt;/SCRIPT></TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>&lt;/FORM></TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>&lt;/BODY></TT></B>
<BR><B><TT>&lt;/HTML></TT></B>
<BR>
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH="100%">

<P><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">This interface is not the first one we
tried. I really wanted to make the system intuitive; then we'd have to
spend less time answering questions and could spend more time working on
new ideas. The tests we conducted showed most people knew how to download
files but were not aware you could upload files or view the contents of
non-HTML files. We tried HTTP uploads and downloads but settled on the
combination of FTP and HTTP generated screens. We needed a design which
allowed easy navigation around a complicated system and kept at least minimal
help hints in front of the users all the time. The final HTTP based frame
design allowed us to put together an attractive interface. Encapsulating
the FTP file display simplified uploads and downloads. Unlike a web server,
our FTP server labels all files as a single MIME type allowing us to use
a single helper application to easily display all files.; Getting this
preview function to work will require editing the association of mine types
with an application on the user's computer. We use a universal viewer,
you can use one of these if your network already has one installed or you
might investigate one of the many plug-ins which allow viewing files within
the browser itself.</FONT>

<P><B><TT><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=+1>The&nbsp;<A NAME="Curtain"></A>Curtain
Rises</FONT></FONT></TT></B>
<BR><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">&nbsp;<A NAME="install"></A>Now the majority
of the work and trickery is done; all that remains is a frame based <A HREF="http://www.disa.mil/.drafts/interface.gif">user
interface</A>, a few snazzy graphics and some help files. In a nutshell,
if the FTP listing is contained within a frame then the if part of the
conditional is presented. This HTML allows the user to press an "upload"
button which will pop open another browser instance with the FTP directory
within the root window. When </FONT><TT>welcome.html</TT><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">
is displayed within this root window, it contains instructions on how to
upload a file using the FTP capabilities of the browser.</FONT> <FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">The
best way to understand how the code works is of course to just load it
up and experiment.</FONT>

<P><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">This isn't a tutorial on HTML so I'll just
let you know you can download this whole package (minus a few of the graphics
we used in our user interface) from ftp://www.disa.mil/pub/linux_gazette_stuff.tgz.
We can't redistribute some of the graphics we use but you can just draw
up your own and stick them into HTML code.</FONT>

<P><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">During your review of the code you may
notice that our frame definition document distributes this system across
several machines; for us this is an important feature. We make use of local
proxy servers for FTP and HTTP traffic. These proxy servers keep down the
loading of our backbone. Our system is distributed such that the web server
documents and graphics will be served from a local departmental web server
while the FTP server distributes information from another, centralized
location. Since the proxy and web are local to our subnet documents stored
on the SMB hallways area are served from the proxy (cache)- speeding up
the file transfer times dramatically and reducing our wide area network
traffic. We are also using the Solaris version of the Netscape Catalog
Server to allow users to expediently find any document or content within
a wide variety of popular Unix, MacIntosh and Windows application formats.
This feature provides some much needed help to users who must retrieve
one of several hundred thousand documents stored on servers spread across
the globe; it was absolutely infeasible using the Microsoft Windows NT
file manager search feature previously recommended by the Microsoft Windows
NT operators</FONT>

<P><A NAME="Applause"></A><B><TT><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=+1>Applause
and Royalties</FONT></FONT></TT></B>
<BR><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">You can provide many other enhancements
such as browser access to multiple file system types (NFS, Appleshare,
SMB, AFS, etc) and internet/intranet FTP areas are easily added. We are
also working on a management add-on using PHP/FI and Postgress to present
users with a fully graphical file upload facility which will also store
meta data on documents such as the originator of the information, the originators
e-mail address, etc. In fact I think with a little more work this system
is a pretty good replacement for some the proprietary commercial document
management applications that cost tens of thousands of dollars.</FONT><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"></FONT>

<P><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica">I hope these ideas and this system will
help you and your workplace out. If you have other creative examples of
simple systems that help bring people working around the world together,
<A HREF="mailto:seiferth@erols.com">I'd</A> like to here about them. Thanks
for listening...</FONT>

<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<center><H5>Copyright &copy; 1997, Justin Seiferth<BR> 
Published in Issue 19 of the Linux Gazette, July 1997</H5></center>

<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
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ALT="[ TABLE OF CONTENTS ]"></A>
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ALT="[ FRONT PAGE ]"></A>
<A HREF="./gm.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/back2.gif"
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<P> <hr> <P> 

<H4>
&quot;Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>&quot;
</H4>

<P> <HR> <P> 
<!--===================================================================-->

<center>
<H2>Linux and Artificial Intelligence</H2>
<H4>By John Eikenberry,
<a href="mailto:jae@ai.uga.edu">jae@ai.uga.edu</a></H4>
</center>
<P><HR>


    Three years ago when I was starting my last year of my masters of
    philosophy degree.  I found myself asking that eternal question,
    "Ok, now what in the hell am I going to do?" Not wanting to
    continue on in philosophy, what could a philosopher (and computer
    enthusiast) do that would be both fun and profitable. Artificial
    Intelligence of course (but you saw that coming didn't you?)
    <P></P>

    I had fallen in love with Linux in late 1993 and after seeing all
    the Suns scattered about the AI Dept, it seemed like the perfect
    OS for AI research. Guess what, I was right. I have found so many
    resources available for doing AI research on Linux that I had to
    write them all down (warning: blatant plug follows), thus my <a
    href="http://www.ai.uga.edu/students/jae/ai.html">Linux AI/Alife
    mini-HOWTO</a> came into being.  <P></P>
      
    Ok, enough of this drivel, now on to the meat of the article.
    <P></P>
      
    Modern AI is a many faceted field of research, dealing with
    everything from 'traditional' logic based systems, to
    connectionism, evolutionary computing, artificial life, and
    autonomous agents. With Unix being the main platform for AI, there
    are many excellent resources available for Linux in each of these
    areas. The rest of this article I'll give a brief description
    of each of these areas along with one of the more interesting
    resources available to the Linux user.  <P></P>

    <hr>
    
    <DL>

      <DT><b>PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES</B>
	
      <DD>
	I know I didn't mention this above, but there are many
	programming languages that have been specifically designed
	with AI applications in mind.
      </DD>
      
    <P></P>

      <DT>DFKI OZ<BR>
	Web page: <A HREF="http://www.ps.uni-sb.de/oz/">www.ps.uni-sb.de/oz/</A><BR>
	FTP site: <A HREF="ftp://ps-ftp.dfki.uni-sb.de/pub/oz2/">ps-ftp.dfki.uni-sb.de/pub/oz2/</A>
	
      <DD>
	Oz is a high-level programming language designed for
	concurrent symbolic computation.  It is based on a new
	computation model providing a uniform and simple foundation
	for several programming paradigms, including higher-order
	functional, constraint logic, and concurrent object-oriented
	programming.  Oz is designed as a successor to languages such
	as Lisp, Prolog and Smalltalk, which fail to support
	applications that require concurrency, reactivity, and
	real-time control.  <P></P>

	DFKI Oz is an interactive implementation of Oz featuring a
	programming interface based on GNU Emacs, a concurrent
	browser, an object-oriented interface to Tcl/Tk, powerful
	interoperability features (sockets, C, C++), an incremental
	compiler, a garbage collector, and support for stand-alone
	applications.  Performance is competitive with commercial
	Prolog and Lisp systems.
      </DD>
    </DL>
    
    <hr>

    <DL>

      <DT><B>TRADITIONAL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE</B>
	
      <DD>
	Traditional AI is based around the ideas of logic, rule
	systems, linguistics, and the concept of rationality.  At its
	roots are programming languages such as Lisp and Prolog.
	Expert systems are the largest successful example of this
	paradigm.  An expert system consists of a detailed knowledge
	base and a complex rule system to utilize it.  Such systems
	have been used for such things as medical diagnosis support
	and credit checking systems.
      </DD>
      
    <P></P>

      <DT>SNePS<BR> 
	Web site: <A
	HREF="http://www.cs.buffalo.edu/pub/sneps/WWW/">www.cs.buffalo.edu/pub/sneps/WWW/</A><BR>
	FTP site: <A
	HREF="ftp://ftp.cs.buffalo.edu/pub/sneps/">ftp.cs.buffalo.edu/pub/sneps/</A>
	
      <DD>
	The long-term goal of The SNePS Research Group is the design
	and construction of a natural-language-using computerized
	cognitive agent, and carrying out the research in artificial
	intelligence, computational linguistics, and cognitive science
	necessary for that endeavor. The three-part focus of the group
	is on knowledge representation, reasoning, and natural-language
	understanding and generation. The group is widely known for its
	development of the SNePS knowledge representation/reasoning
	system, and Cassie, its computerized cognitive agent.
      </DD>
    </DL>
    
    <hr>

    <DL>

      <DT><B>CONNECTIONISM</B> 

      <DD>
	Connectionism is a technical term for a group of related
	techniques. These techniques include areas such as Artificial
	Neural Networks, Semantic Networks and a few other similar
	ideas. My present focus is on neural networks (though I am
	looking for resources on the other techniques). Neural
	networks are programs designed to simulate the workings of the
	brain. They consist of a network of small mathematical-based
	nodes, which work together to form patterns of information.
	They have tremendous potential and currently seem to be having
	a great deal of success with image processing and robot
	control.
      </DD>

    <P></P>
      
      <DT>PDP++<BR>
	Web site: <a href="http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/PDP++/">www.cnbc.cmu.edu/PDP++/</a><br>
	FTP site (US): <a href="ftp://cnbc.cmu.edu/pub/pdp++/">cnbc.cmu.edu/pub/pdp++/</a><br>
	FTP site (Europe): <a href="ftp://unix.hensa.ac.uk/mirrors/pdp++/">
unix.hensa.ac.uk/mirrors/pdp++/ </a>

      <DD>
	As the field of connectionist modeling has grown, so has the
	need for a comprehensive simulation environment for the
	development and testing of connectionist models. Our goal in
	developing PDP++ has been to integrate several powerful
	software development and user interface tools into a general
	purpose simulation environment that is both user friendly and
	user extensible. The simulator is built in the C++ programming
	language, and incorporates a state of the art script
	interpreter with the full expressive power of C++. The
	graphical user interface is built with the Interviews toolkit,
	and allows full access to the data structures and processing
	modules out of which the simulator is built. We have
	constructed several useful graphical modules for easy
	interaction with the structure and the contents of neural
	networks, and we've made it possible to change and adapt many
	things. At the programming level, we have set things up in
	such a way as to make user extensions as painless as
	possible. The programmer creates new C++ objects, which might
	be new kinds of units or new kinds of processes; once compiled
	and linked into the simulator, these new objects can then be
	accessed and used like any other.
      </DD>
    </DL>

    <hr>

    <DL>
      
      <DT><B>EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTING [EC]</B>

      <DD>
	Evolutionary computing is actually a broad term for a vast
	array of programming techniques, including genetic algorithms,
	complex adaptive systems, evolutionary programming, etc.
	The main thrust of all these techniques is the idea of
	evolution. The idea that a program can be written that will
	<i>evolve</i> toward a certain goal.  This goal can be
	anything from solving some engineering problem to winning a
	game.
      </DD>

    <P></P>

      <DT>GAGS<BR>
	Web site: <A HREF="http://kal-el.ugr.es/gags.html">kal-el.ugr.es/gags.html</A><BR>
	FTP site: <A HREF="ftp://kal-el.ugr.es/GAGS/">kal-el.ugr.es/GAGS/</A>

      <DD>
	Genetic Algorithm </a> application generator and class library
	written mainly in C++.
	<BR>
	As a class library, and among other thing, GAGS includes:
        <UL>
	  <LI>A <em>chromosome hierarchy</em> with variable length
	  chromosomes.  <em>Genetic operators</em>: 2-point crossover,
	  uniform crossover, bit-flip mutation, transposition (gene
	  interchange between 2 parts of the chromosome), and
	  variable-length operators: duplication, elimination, and
	  random addition.  
	  <LI><em>Population level operators</em> include steady
	  state, roulette wheel and tournament selection.
	  <LI><em>Gnuplot wrapper</em>: turns gnuplot into a
	  <code>iostreams</code>-like class.
	  <LI>Easy sample file loading and configuration file parsing.
        </ul>
	As an application generator (written in <code>PERL</code>),
	you only need to supply it with an ANSI-C or C++ fitness
	function, and it creates a C++ program that uses the above
	library to 90% capacity, compiles it, and runs it, saving
	results and presenting fitness thru <code>gnuplot</code>.
      </DD>
      
    </DL>

    <hr>

    <DL>

      <DT><b>ALIFE</b>
	
      <DD>
	Alife takes yet another approach to exploring the mysteries of
	intelligence.  It has many aspects similar to EC and
	connectionism, but takes these ideas and gives them a
	meta-level twist. Alife emphasizes the development of
	intelligence through <i>emergent</i> behavior of <i>complex
	adaptive systems</i>.  Alife stresses the social or group
	based aspects of intelligence. It seeks to understand life and
	survival. By studying the behaviors of groups of 'beings' Alife
	seeks to discover the way intelligence or higher order
	activity emerges from seemingly simple individuals. Cellular
	Automata and Conway's Game of Life are probably the most
	commonly known applications of this field.
      </DD>

    <P></P>

      <DT>Tierra<BR>
	Web site: <A HREF="http://www.hip.atr.co.jp/~ray/tierra/tierra.html">www.hip.atr.co.jp/~ray/tierra/tierra.html</A> <br>
	FTP site: <A HREF="ftp://alife.santafe.edu/pub/SOFTWARE/Tierra/">alife.santafe.edu/pub/SOFTWARE/Tierra/</A><BR>
	Alternate FTP site: <a href="ftp://ftp.cc.gatech.edu/ac121/linux/science/biology/">ftp.cc.gatech.edu/ac121/linux/science/biology/</a>

      <DD>
	Tierra's written in the C programming language. This source
	code creates a virtual computer and its operating system,
	whose architecture has been designed in such a way that the
	executable machine codes are evolvable. This means that the
	machine code can be mutated (by flipping bits at random) or
	recombined (by swapping segments of code between algorithms),
	and the resulting code remains functional enough of the time
	for natural (or presumably artificial) selection to be able to
	improve the code over time.
      </DD>

    </DL>

    <hr>

    <DL>

      <DT><B>AUTONOMOUS AGENTS</B>

      <DD>
	Also known as intelligent software agents or just agents, this
	area of AI research deals with simple applications of small
	programs that aid the user in his/her work. They can be mobile
	(able to stop their execution on one machine and resume it on
	another) or static (live in one machine). They are usually
	specific to the task (and therefore fairly simple) and meant
	to help the user much as an assistant would. The most popular
	(ie. widely known) use of this type of application to date are
	the web robots that many of the indexing engines
	(eg. webcrawler) use.
      </DD>

    <P></P>

      <DT>Ara<BR>
	Web site: <A HREF="http://www.uni-kl.de/AG-Nehmer/Ara/">www.uni-kl.de/AG-Nehmer/Ara/</A>

      <DD>
	Ara is a platform for the portable and secure execution of
	mobile agents in heterogeneous networks. Mobile agents in this
	sense are programs with the ability to change their host
	machine during execution while preserving their internal
	state. This enables them to handle interactions locally which
	otherwise had to be performed remotely. Ara's specific aim in
	comparison to similar platforms is to provide full mobile
	agent functionality while retaining as much as possible of
	established programming models and languages.
      </DD>
    </DL>

<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<center><H5>Copyright &copy; 1997, John Eikenberry<BR> 
Published in Issue 19 of the Linux Gazette, July 1997</H5></center>

<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<A HREF="./index.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM SRC="../gx/indexnew.gif" 
ALT="[ TABLE OF CONTENTS ]"></A>
<A HREF="../index.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM SRC="../gx/homenew.gif"
ALT="[ FRONT PAGE ]"></A>
<A HREF="./hallways.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/back2.gif"
ALT=" Back "></A>
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<P> <hr> <P> 

<H4>
&quot;Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>&quot;
</H4>

<P> <HR> <P> 
<!--===================================================================-->

<center>
<H2>Linux: For Programmer Only--NOT!</H2>
<H4>By Mike List,
<a href="mailto:troll@net-link.net">troll@net-line.net</a></H4>
</center>
<P><HR>


<p>A couple of weeks ago, I was in a computer repair shop, trying to get a
deal on some hardware. The owner was trying to sell me on how cool Win95 is. I told
him I run Linux, then gave him the same hard/soft sell I give to every
one that I think might have use for Linux. I'm just a glutton for
punishment that way. He looked at me blankly, and said Unix is a
programmer's OS and it's not good for the average user. My turn to look
blankly, "Apparently that means that MS is an illiterate's OS, and not
good for the educated user". I didn't say that but I thought it
very loudly, and the conversation was over....

<p>I should have been more understanding of his attitude. Part of the reason
that Linux hasn't become more mainstream is the belief that you must be a 
highly trained programmer to make it run. That simply isn't the case.

<p>I hope to dispel some of this notion by pointing out my personal
experience with Linux. I am not a  programmer, I can barely write a good
shell script, but I am happy as a clam with my Slackware 3.2 beta
installation and only very infrequently boot to the DOS/WFWG 3.11
partition.
 
<p>Programming consists of writing code and compiling it, and
very little of this is required to effectively use Linux. Although many
applications are distributed as source code, the source code in most cases
require very little modification. Compiling source code, moreover is not
as complicated as it might seem. One command, "make" can usually 
accomplish this compilation and the advice to inspect MakeFiles can
largely be ignored(I probably should be horsewhipped for the previous
statement, but in my experience it's nonetheless true.).
There is no doubt that the Linux experience is enhanced by programming
ability. Linux does lend itself to source code modification, which is part
of the reason that its development and bug fixes have been so rapid, and
continuous improvement has been the hallmark of Linux, as well as the
whole of the GNU organization. 
 
<p>It might be closer to the truth to consider Linux a hacker's medium,
simply because "hacker" means different things to different people.I do
not consider myself a hacker, although several MS Windows users have
described me that way. "Hacker", "cracker" and "programmer" are, in my
opinion often erroneously used as synonyms, by people who haven't acquired
computer skills beyond user level.

<p>This myth is probably furthered by manufacturers of the more well known
OS, although not necessarily deliberately. Salesmanship requires
manipulation of certain facts, and in the case of OS software, this is
even more likely to be the case. FACT: There is no perfect OS. FACT:
Proponents of any OS tend to misplace that fact, even Linux advocates.

<p>In my own family there exists a conflict of opinion regarding WFWG 3.11
vs. Linux, which in time is growing weaker, with Linux becoming more
acceptable to my wife and kids(I have admittedly used subversive
techniques to accomplish this goal, such as leaving the computer on all
the time, in X). In addition, I made sure to download programs that were
similar to ones used by my kids in WFWG, such as xpaint, and Netscape, as
well as several games, both SVGALIB, and X. Koules is a big favorite, as
is SASTEROIDS, and some while ago I had a flight sim, FLY8111, that was a
litle too challenging so it quietly disappeared. I have put the BSD text
based games on as an inducement to get my 15 year old foster son to read
with some enthusiasm, with moderate success. All I have to do now is find
a word processing application that my wife will accept readily, and I'll
experience little resistance, hopefully to commandeering the drive that's
currently loaded with DOS and WFWG.When I recompiled the kernel, I added
sound support, and even though I've had a little trouble installing a
sound playing program, the kids and I still make use of a pair of 
extremely basic scripts based on the drivers README that allow us to
record and playback music. My sound card is an old eight bit SoundBlaster
so the sound quality isn't great, but I used it to rehearse the song I
sang at my oldest daughter's wedding, to good effect.

<p>Earlier, I stated that I'm not really capable of writing a decent shell
script, but very simple scripts similar to DOS batch files can be written
by nearly anyone, and examples of scripts abound on many sites, so
keystroke saving measures are available to any one who cares to try their
hand at it. The Linux Gazette, in particular has provided me with plenty
of template like scripts from which I have learned what little I know
about more advanced scripting.

<p>Linux advocates need, in my opinion to show patience with new users to a
greater degree than is currently the fashion. Banter among the initiated
has camaraderie value, but often puts off the prospective Linux convert.
When I was investigating Linux, I was told by one respondent to my usenet
posting "Do not meddle in the ways of wizards for their ways are subtle
and quick to anger." Hardly an encouraging statement, but with my
temperament it served to strengthen my resolve to show the SOB. I daresay
most casual computer users would not respond as I did, however.

<p>For the advancement of Linux I would recommend that you (Linux gurus)
choke on RTFM, unless you're sure that the person you are talking to has
acquired the skills needed to effectively read those FMs. My experience
has shown me that Linux distributions are almost as plug and play as
anything MS, IBM, Apple or anyone else has to offer. This provides a
jumping off point that will motivate users to learn skills that they
previously thought to be beyond them. By drawing them into Linux operation
slowly, they may become capable programmers, at which point they will have
made it their OS. A programmer's OS. 

<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<center><H5>Copyright &copy; 1997, Mike List<BR> 
Published in Issue 19 of the Linux Gazette, July 1997</H5></center>

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&quot;Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>&quot;
</H4>

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<!--===================================================================-->


<center><h1>QPS, A New Qt-Based Monitor</h1></center>

<center>
<h4><a href="mailto: layers@vax2.rainis.net">by Larry Ayers</a></h4>
</center>
<P>
<hr>

<center><h3>Introduction</h3></center>

<p>The Qt C++ software development toolkit, by Norway's Troll Tech, has been
available long enough now that applications are beginning to appear which use
Qt rather than Motif, Xlib or Tcl/TK.  Programs developed with Qt have an
identifiable and distinctive appearance, with some resemblance to both Windows
and Motif.  There has been some resistance in the Linux community to
widespread adoption of the toolkit due to its hybrid licensing arrangement.
The toolkit is freely available in the Linux version, and its use in the
development of free, GNU-ish software is free and unrestricted, but for other
platforms and for commercial Linux software Qt is a commercial product.

<p>Remember when Tcl/Tk began to become widely used a couple of years ago?
Applications and utilities written with the toolkit began to proliferate, one
reason being that the learning curve is relatively gentle and a quick X
interface to a command-line utility could be contrived in a short time.  C
programmers found that the guts of a program could be written in C, while the
tricky X-windows interface could be quickly put together with Tcl/Tk.  This
benefited the Linux community as a whole, making it easier for new users and
developers to gain a foothold on the sometimes forbiddingly steep unix
terrain.

<p>Qt is an entirely different sort of toolkit than Tk, since it is based on
C++ and doesn't have the interpreted script layer of Tk.  (It more closely
resembles Bruce Wampler's <a href="http://www.cs.umn.edu/~wampler">V</a>
package, described in the Dec. 1996 issue of Linux Journal.)  In order to run QT
applications the <em>libqt</em> shared lib must be available as well as a
small executable, <em>moc</em>.  The Qt header (include) files are needed as
well to compile these applications from scratch.  The Qt source package is
available from <a href="ftp://ftp.troll.no/qt">the Troll Tech FTP site</a>.
Many small sample applications and demos, as well tutorials and ample
documentation, are included in the package.

<center><h3>QPS</h3></center>

<p><a href="mailto: f91-men@nada.kth.se">Mattias Engdegrd</a> has recently
written and released a process monitor similar to <em>top</em>, the classic
interface to <em>ps</em>.  <em>Top</em>, though a character-mode application,
is commonly run in an xterm or rxvt window in an X session.  There is one
problem with <em>top</em> in a window; scrolling down to the bottom of the
process list doesn't work, so the entries at the bottom are inaccessible
without resizing the window.  There may be a way to do this, but I haven't
been able to find one.  A minor issue, I suppose, since the
ordering of the entries can be easily toggled so that either the most
memory-intensive or the most CPU-intensive processes appear at the top.

<p>Qps is a more X-friendly application than <em>top</em>, with scrollbars and 
a mouse-oriented interface.  Clicking on any of the header categories, such as 
%CPU, SIZE, or %MEM, will sort the processes in descending order.
<kbd>Alt-k</kbd> will kill a highlighted process.  A series of bar-graphs
along with an xload-like meter form a status bar at the top of the window.
This can be toggled on and off from the menu-bar.  When Qps is iconified the
icon is the small xload-like pane from the status-bar, which is a nice touch.    

<p>Here's a screenshot:<br>
<p>

<img alt="Qps screenshot" src="./gx/ayers/qps.gif">
<hr>

<p>Qt applications don't use the X resources typical of most X programs; one
result of this is that Qps seems to be confined to the default white, gray,
and black color scheme.  It <em>can</em> generate a resource file in your home
directory which specifies which fields you'd like to see and whether the
status-bar should be visible or not. 

<p>Qps could be thought of as a sort of second-generation Linux utility,
written for users who rarely work from the console and boot directly into an X
session.  It should fit in well with the <a href="http://www.kde.org">KDE</a> 
suite of applications, which are also being developed with Qt.  Though it uses
more memory than <em>top</em> in an rxvt window, I find myself using it often
while running X.  I think this is a solid, dependable application and deserves
attention from the Linux community.

<center><h3>Availability</h3></center>

<p>Currently the Qps-1.1 source is in the Sunsite 
<a href="ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/Incoming">Incoming</a> directory, but
will most likely end up in the
<a href="ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/status">status</a> directory.
An alternate Swedish site is
<a href="ftp://ptah.lnf.kth.se/pub/qps">here</a>.


<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<center><H5>Copyright &copy; 1997, Larry Ayers<BR> 
Published in Issue 19 of the Linux Gazette, July 1997</H5></center>

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<H4>
&quot;Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>&quot;
</H4>

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<!--===================================================================-->

<center><h1>The UnRpm-Install Package</h1></center>
<center>

<h4><a href="mailto: layers@vax2.rainis.net">by Larry Ayers</a></h4>
</center>

<P><hr>
<center><h3>Introduction</h3></center>

<p>No matter what distribution of Linux you have installed, there will come a
time when you would like to install a package in one of the other
distribution's formats.  No one distribution has available every possible
package, and the updates to packages often depend on a volunteer's inclination 
and time constraints.

<p>On a reasonably current and well-maintained Linux system, most of the
quality source-code packages will compile without much effort beyond perusal
of the README and INSTALL files.  In other words, <em>*.rpm</em> and
<em>*.deb</em> packages aren't vitally necessary, though the ease of upgrading
or removal possible with these packages makes them a time-saving convenience.

<p>But few people have both the time and/or inclination to compile every new
program from source.  It <em>does</em> take more time than using a precompiled 
package, and often a package maintainer will have access to patches which
haven't yet been incorporated into an official release.  One of these patches
might be just what it takes to insure a successful installation on your
system! Therefore it stands to reason that the more different genera of
precompiled packages you have available, the wider the pool of available
software.

<p>A year and a half ago I was running a Slackware 3.0 system, but had used
Redhat just long enough to appreciate the value of an <b>rpm</b> package.  As I
remember, there were a few pieces of software which I was unable, no matter
what tweaking I did, to successfully compile.  The <b>rpm</b>'s available for those
packages were tempting, but I didn't want to start from scratch and reinstall
the Redhat Linux distribution just for a few packages.  Poking around the
Redhat FTP site, I saw that the source for the then-current version of <b>rpm</b>
was available, and after various trials and tribulations I managed to
successfully compile and install it.  The crucial factor which made it all
work was downloading and installing a newer version of <i>cpio</i>, which was
right there in the Redhat <b>rpm</b> directory.  It wasn't the easiest installation
I've ever done, but I don't blame the folks at Redhat for not making it a
no-brainer.  After all, they evidently worked long and hard developing the <b>rpm</b> 
package system and they surely wanted to leverage its value in influencing
users to buy their distribution.  Redhat is to be commended for resisting
purely commercial urges and making <b>rpm</b> freely available.

<p>Two distributions later, I never have gotten around to reinstalling <b>rpm</b>,
partly because the Debian distribution has a utility called <b>alien</b>,
which will convert an <em>*.rpm</em> file into a <em>*.deb</em> file.  This is 
a nice utility, but sometimes I'd just like to poke around inside a package
and see what's there without actually installing it.  Both <b>rpm</b> and Debian's
<b>dpkg</b> utility have command-line switches for just listing the
contents, or extracting individual files from a package.  These aren't the
sort of switches I would use often enough to memorize, and it's a pain to read 
the man page each time.  So I gradually meander my way to the point of this
article...

<center><h3>UnRpm-Install</h3></center>

<p>Recently, in nearly daily updates, <a href="mailto: robotti@pop.erols.com">
Kent Robotti</a> has been releasing to the Sunsite archive site a
package of programs and scripts which simplify working with these various
package formats.  UnRpm is most useful when used in conjunction with the 
<b>Midnight Commander</b> file manager, as one component of the package is a
set of entries meant to be appended to the <em>mc</em> user menu.

<p>This is what the package includes:<br>

<ul>
  <li>the version of <b>cpio</b> which works well with <b>rpm</b>
  <li>two shell scripts from the Slackware distribution, <b>installpkg</b>
      and <b>removepkg</b>
  <li><b>rpm2cpio</b>, a program from Redhat which converts an <b>rpm</b>
      archive to a <b>cpio</b> archive
  <li><b>dpkgdeb</b>, a program from the Debian distribution which unpacks,
      packs, or provides information about a Debian archive file
  <li><b>unrpm</b> and <b>undeb</b>, two shell scripts which can either be 
      used as is or be called by the <b>Midnight Commander</b>.
  <li><b>Update.mc</b>, a shell script which will append entries for the above
      scripts and programs to the <kbd>/usr/lib/mc/mc.menu</kbd> file
  <li><b>Install</b>, a shell script which installs the above binaries and
      shell scripts, and also thoughtfully renames any pre-existing
      equivalents in case you may want to back out any of the installed files
</ul>

<p>The earlier versions of UnRpm-Install included statically-linked binaries, no
 doubt to make them usable by a wider variety of users, but with the
 disadvantage of large binaries.  Since most systems have compatible
<em>libc</em> versions installed, which is the only library linked with the
binaries, recent versions have included the smaller dynamically-linked
versions.

<p>The <b>Midnight Commander</b> in its recent incarnations has excellent
support built-in for treating these various archive formats as virtual
file-systems, allowing the user to browse through their contents without
actually expanding them.  The menu entries provided by UnRpm expand upon these 
capabilities, making it easier than ever to convert one format to another and
to see just what an archive will install on your system.

<p>There's nothing in UnRpm-Install which you couldn't gather up yourself, from
various FTP sites or distribution cd's.  What makes the package valuable is
that Kent Robotti has done this for you, and presented these disparate
binaries and scripts as a coherent whole, bound together by the Midnight
Commander used as archive manager.

<center><h3>Availability</h3></center>

<p>Various versions of UnRpm-Install are still in the /pub/Linux/Incoming directory of 
the <a href="ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/Incoming">Sunsite</a> FTP
archive, but the most recent version will eventually make its way into
<a href="ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/utils/compress">the archive
utility</a> directory.


<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<center><H5>Copyright &copy; 1997, Larry Ayers<BR> 
Published in Issue 19 of the Linux Gazette, July 1997</H5></center>

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<!--===================================================================-->

<center>
<H2>Single-User Booting Under Linux</H2>
<H4>By John Gatewood Ham,
<a href="mailto:zappaman@alphabox.compsci.buu.ac.th">zappaman@alphabox.compsci.buu.ac.th</a></H4>
</center>
<P><HR>
I was trained as a system administrator on HP, IBM, and Sun workstations 
while working as a DRT consultant assigned to Informix as an alpha-tester.  
There I learned the need for a true single-user operating mode in Unix.  
When I tried to use the single user mode with Linux, it did not work in the 
way that I expected.  After many, many reboots I worked out the right 
configuration to support a true single-user mode on the distribution I was 
using, Slackware 3.2, by modifying the boot process.
</P>
<P>
This article will now explain how to setup the bootup process for Linux so 
that single-user mode really works if you are using the Slackware 3.2 
distribution (or a derivative).  I will begin by assuming that your kernel 
is correctly configured and that the <CODE>init</CODE> program starts successfully.  
See the Installation-HOWTO at
<A HREF=ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/Installation-HOWTO><code>ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/Installation-HOWTO</code></A>
for help to get this far.  Once you have a system that boots, however, you 
have only begun.  Why?  Most distributions will give you a generic set of 
initialization scripts that are designed to work for an average installation.  
You will want to customize this in order to run extra things you want and/or 
to prevent  running things you do not want.  With the dozen or so standard 
startup scripts things can seem confusing, but after you read this article 
you should be able to understand enough to create a custom environment 
when you boot that exactly suits you.
</P>
<P>
As I stated earlier, I will begin by assuming that <CODE>init</CODE> has started 
successfully.  It will examine the file <CODE>/etc/inittab</CODE> to determine 
what to do.  In that file are located the lines to activate your login 
devices such as terminals, modems, and your virtual consoles.  Leave that 
stuff alone.  What we are interested in are the lines which call the 
startup/shutdown scripts.  These lines will look something like this:
</P>
<PRE>
# Default runlevel.
id:3:initdefault:

# System initialization (runs when system boots).
si::sysinit:/etc/rc.d/rc.S

# Script to run when going single user (runlevel 1).
l1:1:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc.K

# Script to run when going single user (runlevel S or s)
mm:S:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc.K2

# Script to run when going multi user.
rc:23456:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc.M

# Runlevel 0 halts the system.
l0:0:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc.0

# Runlevel 6 reboots the system.
l6:6:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc.6
</PRE>
<P>
The comments are present and are very helpful.  First you need to determine 
your default runlevel.  In this case it is 3.  The format of the <CODE>/etc/inittab</CODE>
file section we are looking at is simple.  Blank lines are ignored.  Lines 
with '#' as the first character are comments and are ignored.  Other lines 
have 4 parts separated by the colon character.  These parts are 1. symbolic 
label, 2. runlevel, 3. action and 4.command to run.  These are documented in 
the section 5 manual page for <CODE>/etc/inittab</CODE> (<CODE>man 5 inittab</CODE>).  First
we must find a line with an action of <CODE>initdefault</CODE>, and then see what runlevel 
it has.  That will be the default runlevel.  Obviously you should not have 2 
lines that have <CODE>initdefault</CODE> as the action in an <CODE>/etc/inittab</CODE> file.  Once you know 
the default runlevel, you will be able to know what <CODE>/etc/inittab</CODE> entries 
will be processed by <CODE>init</CODE>.  The 1 runlevel is considered single-user 
maintenance mode, but it supported multiple simultaneous logins in virtual 
terminals with the default <CODE>/etc/inittab</CODE> on my systems.  You can prevent this by 
removing the 1 from the getty lines of the tty2, tty3, tty4, etc.  The 3 
runlevel is considered the normal multi-user mode with full networking 
support.  The S runlevel is supposed to be true single-user, and you can 
theoretically enter that runlevel using the <CODE>lilo</CODE> parameter 
<CODE>single</CODE>.  However, for the Slackware 3.2 distribution, that does 
not put you in a single-user mode as you would expect, but instead you wind 
up in runlevel 3.  The <CODE>/etc/inittab</CODE> file I show here does not have that problem 
however.  Once you have read this article you can change the system to 
behave in the expected manner.  So we know we will go to runlevel 3.  That 
means <CODE>init</CODE> will perform every command in the <CODE>/etc/inittab</CODE> file that has a <CODE>sysinit</CODE>, 
then <CODE>boot</CODE>, or <CODE>bootwait</CODE>, and finally any entries for our runlevel 3.  When you 
want to run a script when entering a runlevel, it doesn't make sense to have 
more than one script line in the <CODE>/etc/inittab</CODE> file for that level.  Instead, you 
should put everything in 1 script, or call scripts from within the script 
mentioned in the <CODE>/etc/inittab</CODE> file using the dot method.  Once thing to note is 
that field 2, the runlevel field, can have more than 1 runlevel specified.  
The <CODE>init</CODE> program will first run the <CODE>si</CODE> entry 
(and we will wait for it to finish running <CODE>/etc/rc.d/rc.S</CODE>) since it has 
<CODE>sysinit</CODE> (which implies <CODE>wait</CODE>) in the third field.  Then it will run everything 
with 3 specified.  So in our example file we will run the <CODE>si</CODE> target, then 
the <CODE>rc</CODE> target (and we will wait for it to finish running the 
<CODE>/etc/rc.d/rc.M</CODE> script since the third field is <CODE>wait</CODE>), and finally 
we it will do the <CODE>c1</CODE> through <CODE>c6</CODE> targets which set up the virtual ttys during 
a normal boot.  
</P>
<P>
If we boot (via <CODE>lilo</CODE>) and add the <CODE>single</CODE> 
parameter, we will still run the <CODE>si</CODE> target (<CODE>/etc/rc.d/rc.S</CODE>) and wait for it to 
complete, but then we will run the <CODE>mm</CODE> target (<CODE>/etc/rc.d/rc.K2</CODE>).  Keep in mind 
that runlevel 1 and runlevel S are essentially the same when you enter them, 
but how you get there is very different.  Runlevel 1 can be entered by using 
the command <CODE>/sbin/telinit 1</CODE>, but <CODE>/sbin/telinit s</CODE> will send you to runlevel 5 
often for some reason (some kind of bug).  Runlevel 1 will give you a normal 
log in, and allows 1 user (<I>any</I> 1 user) to log in at the console.  
With this setup, runlevel S will give you a special root-only login that 
allows only root to use the console.  Since only root can log in, only a 
special password prompt is displayed.  If you press enter or ctl-D, the system 
will return to runlevel 3.  This root-only login is accomplished by using 
the <CODE>/bin/sulogin</CODE> program.  Runlevel S is probably what you want when you think 
single-user, but you have to reboot the machine and use <CODE>lilo</CODE> and have the 
single parameter to make it work.  You can use runlevel 1 to accomplish the 
same things, but remember you will have to manually return to runlevel 3 
when you are done with another call to <CODE>/sbin/telinit 3</CODE> or a reboot, and you 
must insure that nobody else can get to the console but the root user.  
WARNING: The true single-user mode entered with the single parameter to 
<CODE>lilo</CODE> with  my <CODE>/etc/inittab</CODE> and <CODE>/etc/rc.d/rc.K2</CODE> will support only 1 console and no other 
virtual terminals.  Do not run anything that locks up the terminal!
</P>
<P>
Ok, so what do we know now?  We know what scripts <CODE>init</CODE> will call and when they 
will be called.  But what can be in those scripts?  The scripts should be 
written for bash unless you are a real guru and KNOW the other shell you 
wrote scripts for will be available during boot.  There is nothing preventing 
you from using <CODE>perl</CODE> or <CODE>tcsh</CODE> or whatever, but traditionally most everyone uses 
<CODE>bash</CODE> scripts (ok, ok, Bourne shell scripts) for unix boot scripts.  The <CODE>/etc/rc.d/rc.S</CODE>
script which is called at system boot time should take care of things like 
<CODE>fsck</CODE>'ing your file systems, mounting them, and starting up swapping and other 
essential daemons.  These are things that you need independent of runlevel.  
The <CODE>/etc/rc.d/rc.M</CODE> script which is called when you enter runlevel 3 should start all 
the processes that remain that you usually need during normal system 
operation EXCEPT things like <CODE>getty</CODE>.  Processes that must be restarted whenever 
they stop running like <CODE>getty</CODE> should be placed in the <CODE>/etc/inittab</CODE> file instead of 
being started by a boot script.  So what is in a typical <CODE>/etc/rc.d/rc.M</CODE> script?  
Usually configuring the network , starting web servers, sendmail, and 
anything else you want to always run like database servers, quota 
programs, etc.
</P>
<P>
The only startup script I mention in my <CODE>/etc/inittab</CODE> that is not included in the
Slackware 3.2 distribution is <CODE>/etc/rc.d/rc.K2</CODE>, and it is merely a modified version 
of <CODE>/etc/rc.d/rc.K</CODE> set up for single user mode.  Remember this is the startup script 
that will be used if you choose to enter the <CODE>single</CODE> parameter to <CODE>lilo</CODE>.  At 
the end of this file you will see a line:
</P>
<PRE>
exec /bin/sulogin /dev/console
</PRE>
<P>
This will replace the current process which is running the script with the 
<CODE>/bin/sulogin</CODE> program.  This means, of course, that this has to be the last 
line in your script, since nothing after this line will be processed by <CODE>bash</CODE>.
After that program starts, it displays a message to either enter the root 
password or press ctl-D.  If you enter the correct root password, you will 
be logged in as root in a true single-user mode.  Be careful, though, 
because when you exit that shell the machine will go into runlevel 3.  
If you want to reboot before entering runlevel 3 you must remember to do 
it (via <CODE>shutdown</CODE>) instead of just exiting the shell.  If you press ctl-D 
instead of the root password, the system will enter runlevel 3.  I have 
changed the incorrect calls to <CODE>kill</CODE> to use the <CODE>killall5</CODE> program, since 
the lines with <CODE>kill</CODE> caused <CODE>init</CODE> to be killed and a runlevel change was
happening incorrectly.
</P>
<P>
Well, I hope that this description of how I enabled my Linux machine to 
have a single-user mode similar to that of the big-name workstations 
proves helpful to you.  Customizing your boot process is not too hard, 
once you understand something about how the <CODE>/etc/inittab</CODE> 
and <CODE>/etc/rc.d/*</CODE>
scripts work.  Be sure you 1. backup your entire system, 2. have a boot 
floppy, and 3. a rescue floppy that can restore the backup (or any 
individual files) you made in step 1 using the boot floppy from step 2 to 
boot the machine.  If you make a 1 character typo you can prevent the 
machine from booting, so the backup steps, while tedious, are really 
necessary to protect yourself before you experiment.
</P>
<h1><CENTER>The Files</CENTER></h1>
<P>
Here are the files I used.  Use at your own risk.  They work for me, but
may need to be modified to work for you.
</P>
<hr>
<h2><Center><code>/etc/inittab</code></center></h2>
<PRE>
#
# inittab	This file describes how the INIT process should set up
#		the system in a certain run-level.
#
# Version:	@(#)inittab		2.04	17/05/93	MvS
#                                       2.10    02/10/95        PV
#
# Author:	Miquel van Smoorenburg, <a href="mailto:miquels@drinkel.nl.mugnet.org">miquel@drinkel.nl.jugnet.org</a>
# Modified by:	Patrick J. Volkerding, <a href="mailto:volkerdi@ftp.cdrom.com">volkerdi@ftp.cdrom.com</a>
# Modified by:  John Gatewood Ham, <a href="mailto:zappaman@alphabox.compsci.buu.ac.th">zappaman@alphabox.compsci.buu.ac.th</a>
#
# Default runlevel.
id:3:initdefault:

# System initialization (runs when system boots).
si::sysinit:/etc/rc.d/rc.S

# Script to run when going maintenance mode (runlevel 1).
l1:1:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc.K

# Script to run when going single user (runlevel s)
mm:S:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc.K2

# Script to run when going multi user.
rc:23456:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc.M

# What to do at the "Three Finger Salute".
# make the machine halt on ctl-alt-del
ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -h now "going down on ctl-alt-del"

# Runlevel 0 halts the system.
l0:0:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc.0

# Runlevel 6 reboots the system.
l6:6:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc.6

# What to do when power fails (shutdown to single user).
pf::powerfail:/sbin/shutdown -f +5 "THE POWER IS FAILING"

# If power is back before shutdown, cancel the running shutdown.
pg:0123456:powerokwait:/sbin/shutdown -c "THE POWER IS BACK"

# If power comes back in single user mode, return to multi user mode.
ps:S:powerokwait:/sbin/init 5

# The getties in multi user mode on consoles an serial lines.
#
# NOTE NOTE NOTE adjust this to your getty or you will not be
#                able to login !!
#
# Note: for 'agetty' you use linespeed, line.
# for 'getty_ps' you use line, linespeed and also use 'gettydefs'
# we really don't want multiple logins in single user mode...
c1:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty1 linux
c2:235:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty2 linux
c3:235:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty3 linux
c4:235:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty4 linux
c5:235:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty5 linux
c6:235:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty6 linux

# Serial lines
#s1:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 19200 ttyS0 vt100
#s2:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 19200 ttyS1 vt100

# Dialup lines
#d1:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -mt60 38400,19200,9600,2400,1200 ttyS0 vt100
#d2:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -mt60 38400,19200,9600,2400,1200 ttyS1 vt100

# Runlevel 4 used to be for an X-window only system, until we discovered
# that it throws init into a loop that keeps your load avg at least 1 all 
# the time. Thus, there is now one getty opened on tty1. Hopefully no one
# will notice. ;^)
# It might not be bad to have one text console anyway, in case something 
# happens to X.
x1:4:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc.4

# End of /etc/inittab
</PRE>
<hr>
<h2><Center><code>/etc/rc.d/rc.K</code></center></h2>
<PRE>
# /bin/sh
#
# rc.K 		This file is executed by init when it goes into runlevel
#		1, which is the administrative state. It kills all
#		deamons and then puts the system into single user mode.
#		Note that the file systems are kept mounted.
#
# Version:	@(#)/etc/rc.d/rc.K	1.50	1994-01-18
# Version:	@(#)/etc/rc.d/rc.K	1.60	1995-10-02 (PV)
#
# Author:	Miquel van Smoorenburg <a href="mailto:miquels@drinkel.nl.mugnet.org">miquels@drinkel.nl.mugnet.org</a>
# Modified by:  Patrick J. Volkerding <a href="mailto:volkerdi@ftp.cdrom.com">volkerdi@ftp.cdrom.com</a>
# Modified by:  John Gatewood Ham <a href="mailto:zappaman@alphabox.compsci.buu.ac.th">zappaman@alphabox.compsci.buu.ac.th</a>
#
  # Set the path.
  PATH=/sbin:/etc:/bin:/usr/bin

  # Kill all processes.
  echo
  echo "Sending all processes the TERM signal."
  killall5 -15
  echo -n "Waiting for processes to terminate"
  for loop in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ; do
    sleep 1
    echo -n "."
  done
  echo
  echo "Sending all processes the KILL signal."
  killall5 -9

  # Try to turn off quota and accounting.
  if [ -x /usr/sbin/quotaoff ]
  then
	echo "Turning off quota.."
	/usr/sbin/quotaoff -a
  fi
  if [ -x /sbin/accton ]
  then
	echo "Turning off accounting.."
	/sbin/accton
  fi

</PRE>
<hr>
<h2><Center><code>/etc/rc.d/rc.K2</code></center></h2>
<PRE>
# /bin/sh
#
# rc.K 		This file is executed by init when it goes into runlevel
#		1, which is the administrative state. It kills all
#		deamons and then puts the system into single user mode.
#		Note that the file systems are kept mounted.
#
# Version:	@(#)/etc/rc.d/rc.K	1.50	1994-01-18
# Version:	@(#)/etc/rc.d/rc.K	1.60	1995-10-02 (PV)
#
# Author:	Miquel van Smoorenburg <a href="mailto:miquels@drinkel.nl.mugnet.org">miquels@drinkel.nl.mugnet.org</a>
# Modified by:  Patrick J. Volkerding <a href="mailto:volkerdi@ftp.cdrom.com">volkerdi@ftp.cdrom.com</a>
# Modified by:  John Gatewood Ham <a href="mailto:zappaman@alphabox.compsci.buu.ac.th">zappaman@alphabox.compsci.buu.ac.th</a>
#
# Set the path.
PATH=/sbin:/etc:/bin:/usr/bin

# Kill all processes.
echo
echo "Sending all processes the TERM signal."
killall5 -15
echo -n "Waiting for processes to terminate"
for loop in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ; do
  sleep 1
  echo -n "."
done
echo
echo "Sending all processes the KILL signal."
killall5 -9

# Try to turn off quota and accounting.
if [ -x /usr/sbin/quotaoff ]
then
	echo "Turning off quota.."
	/usr/sbin/quotaoff -a
fi
if [ -x /sbin/accton ]
then
	echo "Turning off accounting.."
	/sbin/accton
fi

# Now go to the single user level
exec /bin/sulogin /dev/console
</PRE>
<HR>
<address>
<A HREF="mailto:zappaman@alphabox.compsci.buu.ac.th">zappaman@alphabox.compsci.buu.ac.th</A>
<BR>
<A HREF="http://alphabox.compsci.buu.ac.th/~zappaman">Information about me.</A>
</address>


<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<center><H5>Copyright &copy; 1997, John Gatewood Ham<BR> 
Published in Issue 19 of the Linux Gazette, July 1997</H5></center>

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<P> <hr> <P> 

<H4>
&quot;Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>&quot;
</H4>

<P> <HR> <P> 
<!--===================================================================-->


<title>User Groups and Trade Shows:  Lessons from the Atlanta Linux Showcase</title>
</head>
<h1 align="center">User Groups and Trade Shows</h1>
<h3 align="center">Lessons from the Atlanta Linux Showcase</h3>
<a href="http://www.ale.org/showcase/">
<p align="center"><img src="./gx/als2-sm.jpg" width="214" height="90" align="bottom" ></a><a href="mailto:lfs@eskimo.com">

<p align="center">by Andrew Newton</a>
<P><HR>
<p>Trade shows and expos are not at all uncommon in the computer industry. But not since the early
days of microcomputers, when CP/M was King and toggle switches were the user interface, have
user groups been heavily involved. So in the era of powerful non-commercial software, couldn't
the trade shows also be non-commercial?

<p>We, the members of the <a href="http://www.ale.org/">Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts (ALE)</a>, found out the answer is yes. 
Originating from correspondence with <a href="http://www.li.org/">Linux International</a> for some local help for Linux vendors
at COMDEX and our own Linux demo fest (called the "Geek-Off") a year earlier, we put
together a non-commercial, user group organized trade show.  On June 7, 1997, we put on the
largest Linux vendor showcase to date.

<p><strong>Get Started With The Essentials</strong>

<p>So let's say you, being the Linux activist of your community, want to do your bit to spread the
word.  Where would you start?

<p>Although we didn't necessarily do this, we learned there are two essential things to get a Linux
trade show off the ground:  1) a time and place, and 2) a checking account.  And in the words of
our own Marc Torres, once you have those two items, "the rest grows from there."

<p>It was a given that we would hold the Atlanta Linux Showcase as close to COMDEX as possible. 
After all, this whole idea came from helping out the Linux vendors at COMDEX.  Plus the idea
of getting the COMDEX crowd was good.  We theorized that many people flying in for
COMDEX would stay over the following weekend to save on air fare.  And they could easily
justify it if they were attending another computer show.

<p>Picking the place was a little more troublesome, but not impossible. We finally decided on The
Inforum because it was located only blocks away from the venue for COMDEX, was in
downtown Atlanta, and well known to many.

<p>Finally, the checking account is very important.  As it turns out we didn't do this immediately
and paid the price in countless hours of meetings discussing logistics.  A checking account is
important because it gives you a place from which to send money and, more importantly, a place
to receive money.  People like it better when they can write checks to "Big Time Linux Event"
instead of "Bob Smurd."

<p>One of the major inhibitors behind our acquisition of a checking account was our incredible lack
of knowledge when it comes to the law.  After all, we are a bunch of computer jocks, not
attorneys.  We had many seemingly endless discussions on issues such as incorporation,
non-profit status, tax codes, the right to bear arms, etc.  In the end, David Hamm, one of our most
active members,  just ended up going to a bank and getting a new checking account under his
control.  Incidentally, David became the treasurer.

<p align="center"><img src="./gx/ssc6b.jpg" width="313" height="521" align="bottom" >

<p align="center"><em>David Miller eyes a bottle of ALS Ale. </em>- Photo by Amy Ayers

<p><strong>Put Time On Your Side</strong>

<p>Unfortunately, we didn't.  Of course, we had the COMDEX target date to shoot for giving us
little time between our mobilization and the event. If you can pick a date over six months out, do
so.  There are multiple reasons for this, most of which have to do with reserving space.

<p>First, you must reserve space somewhere to hold your event.  We lucked out in our case, but
many venues will require booking many months ahead of time, especially the ones that don't
often cost so much money such as college campuses and state buildings.

<p>Second, you must reserve space in print media for advertising and publicity.  While we were able
to get ads in our local computer magazines and the event listed in some calendars, we did miss
deadlines elsewhere. You may have noticed there were no advertisements for the Atlanta Linux
Showcase in Linux Journal.  We missed the deadline.  In addition, it takes time to grease the
wheels for free publicity.

<p><em>A brief word about FREE PUBLICITY</em> -  There is no such thing; you'll work for every last bit of
it.  Free publicity means getting listed in upcoming events calendars and maybe an article or two
about Linux in the local paper with a small plug at the end for the event.  If you do take the time
to pay for advertising, use the advertising representative as a way of getting your event some
extra publicity in that publication.  Many publications put on the appearance that their articles are
completely disjoint from their advertising on the basis of journalistic ethics, but with the
exception of SSC that isn't true.

<p><em>A brief word about paid advertising</em> - It is like buying a used car. What an ad rep puts on a rate
card isn't necessarily the price you have to pay. Try talking them down.  Again, this doesn't apply
to SSC.

<p><strong>Organize Your Volunteers</strong>

<p>We divided our group into two major camps, organizers and volunteers.  The first were the
people that planned the event out for months and did a lot of the leg work.  The second were the
people that showed up the day of the show and manned the registration desk, checked badges,
etc.

<p>You don't want to have too many organizers as it becomes difficult to manage a large group of
people over a large span of time.  We divided up our group into teams of 3 or 4, with many
people being on 2 or more teams.  This gave us what philosophical management types like to call
cross-functional teams.  By having more than one person on a team, it helped insure no one
person was the only source of information or action.

<p>We had the following teams:

<ul>
  <li>Vendor - contacted vendors</li>
  <li>Talks - organized the speakers and presenters</li>
  <li>Publicity - handled advertising and publicity</li>
  <li>Finance - dealt with our mounds of gold</li>
  <li>Logistics - managed booth layouts and site coordination</li>
</ul>

<p>In hind sight, we should have also created a "Registration" team to handle all the registrations for
both walk-in and pre-paid registrations.  Our answer to this was to make the Talks team and the
Logistics team work together, which worked but not as smoothly as we would have liked.  It is
better to have a group of people who are solely in charge of registration and aren't distracted with
other problems.

<p>We didn't solicit for volunteers until a month before our show.  In retrospect, it probably should
have been two months. We gave our volunteers a briefing the day before the Showcase and had a
work schedule already printed when they arrived. We also required them to work 2 three-hour
shifts for manageability purposes and to keep the number of volunteers to a minimum but in the
end solicited for some more at the last minute (thanks Ben and Vicki).

<p><em>A brief note about Volunteers</em> - Treat them well, because they are working for free.  And if you
do that, most will go the extra mile treating the attendees well and pulling those extra shifts or
duties you didn't anticipate (thanks James).  Also put your "people-person" types at the
registration desk where they will likely be needed the most.  More personable people will be able
to sell t-shirts and so forth much more easily (thanks Karen).  Finally, thank your volunteers. 
Everybody likes to be told they've done a good job (thanks everyone else).

<p>Another seemingly weird thing we did was to make our volunteers pay for the honor to work our
event.  It seems odd, but it worked.  The idea was to have them show us they weren't going to
volunteer and then back out on us at the last minute.  In exchange for their $30, they got a polo
shirt and were able to see all the presentations at a lower price than anyone else.  And the cash
flow didn't hurt either.  While we didn't mandate this for the organizers, it wouldn't be a bad idea. 
However, all the organizers did have to pay for their own shirts and many loaned hundreds of
dollars to the effort.

<p align="center"><img src="./gx/ssc3b.jpg" width="426" height="292" align="bottom" >

<p align="center"><em>Linus, Tove and Patricia meet Zeph Hull, a showcase volunteer. </em>- Photo by Amy Ayers

<p><strong>Coordinate Vendors</strong>

<p>Organize your vendor team so everybody knows which person is calling what company but only
one person is calling each.  It is nice for everyone to know the status of a potential vendor.  It is
not nice to have 3 separate people make 3 separate cold calls to the same potential vendor.

<p>When contacting vendors, use the phone as your primary means of communications and not
e-mail.  While it seems e-mail would work, it is human nature to give it a much lower priority
than a phone call.  We found many companies that ignored our e-mail's responded quite
positively to our phone calls.

<p>One of the things we should have done sooner was bill the vendors.  We charged each vendor
$400 for a booth and sent them an invoice.  While we were expecting one week turn turnarounds
on payment, the business world doesn't work that way.  In many cases, paperwork and payments
can take up to 30 days to get through the accounting offices of some companies.

<p><strong>Get People To Talk</strong>

<p>We solicited for speakers and presenters over the comp.os.linux.announce news group. This had
to be done multiple times, but eventually the offers started rolling in. We also drew upon some
local talent.  And in many cases, the vendors also wanted to give presentations.

<p>Getting speakers to volunteer was the easy part.  Getting them to the Showcase was the difficult
part.  We had to solicit money from sponsoring companies and the vendors in order to pay for the
travel and lodging expenses for Linus Torvalds, Eric Raymond, David Miller, Richard
Henderson, Miguel de Icaza, and the rest of the crew (and we still owe a debt of gratitude to
Digital and Caldera for all they did in this department).

<p>Once the money was appropriated, travel plans and hotel accommodations were made - at least
that's how it works in the ideal world. A lot of the travel costs were floated on the credit cards of
organizers until they could be reimbursed. Do make plane reservations and travel arrangements
as far ahead of time as possible; you can save on air fare that way.

<p><strong>Work The System</strong>

<p>This involves taking advantage of perks and getting the extras out of the people with whom you
are doing business.  For example, we decided to also rent some conference rooms at the Days Inn
which was just next store to The Inforum.  These conference rooms were used for Birds Of A
Feather sessions and impromptu meetings by our attendees.  In order to secure a good price on
the room rental, we made an agreement with the hotel management that we would guarantee they
got a certain number of room bookings based on our event.  We then set-up that hotel as our
"Official" hotel and asked most of our out-of-town guests to try the Days Inn first.  In addition,
our attendees were able to get a reasonable rate at a downtown hotel.  Our guest speakers were
also booked there. <a href="http://www.genietravel.com">

<p>Genie Travel</a> also became our "Official" travel agent.  Genie gave us a certain percentage on
every flight booked through them, and their air fares were very reasonable.  Although we didn't
take advantage of this until very late in the game, it would be very advantageous for us to do it
again.  Genie Travel<strong> </strong>uses Linux in their day-to-day operations and probably would be very happy
to repeat this arrangement with another Linux event.

<p>Another good idea would be to solicit the help of other Linux users groups.  Often other users
groups that are geographically close by may be able to help.  Be sure to get them in on it early in
the planning stage.  For instance, we solicited SALUG (Southern Alabama) and CHUGALUG
(Athens, GA), albeit at the last minute.  Coordinating with other users groups also insures that
the Linux community isn't throwing a trade show every month in towns only 100 miles apart
(this stretches the resources of the Linux vendors and the enthusiasm these shows generate)..

<p>One last thing that can help is to have a Sugar-Daddy.  In our case it was <a href="http://www.li.org/">Linux International</a>. 
Jon "Maddog" Hall of Linux International helped get us credit through which we were able
secure our lease on the rooms at The Inforum.  If you ask him nicely, he may do the same for
you.

<p><strong>Have Fun</strong>

<p>Keep in mind that organizing such an event is very hard word and requires a lot of time.  We
estimate over 2000 man hours were spent by ALE members putting together our show.  But with
any luck, your user group will be able to pull off a grand Linux event. And remember, have fun. 
Don't hold your trade show to make money.  Do it to spread the word of Linux and to cavort with
other like-minded Linux hobbyists.

<p>Finally, we'd like to thank all our volunteers, vendors, speakers, and organizers for helping out
with the Atlanta Linux Showcase.  If you are interested in any videos of the presentations at the
1997 Atlanta Linux Showcase or t-shirts and polo shirts, please visit our web site at
<a href="http://www.ale.org/showcase/">http://www.ale.org/showcase/</a>.  And if you have any questions, please feel free to send us e-mail
at <a href="mailto:ale-expo@cc.gatech.edu">ale-expo@cc.gatech.edu</a>.

<p align="center"><img src="./gx/greg2b.jpg" width="600" height="422" align="bottom" >

<p align="center"><em>Greg Hankins hangs out with Maddog and David Hamm.</em> - Photo by Amy Ayers

<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<center><H5>Copyright &copy; 1997, Andrew Newton<BR> 
Published in Issue 19 of the Linux Gazette, July 1997</H5></center>

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<H4>
&quot;Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>&quot;
</H4>

<P> <HR> <P> 
<!--===================================================================-->

<center>
<H2>Using Python to Generate HTML Pages</H2>
<H4>By Richie Bielak,
<a href="mailto:richieb@netlabs.net">richieb@netlabs.net</a></H4>
</center>
<P><HR>


<h2>Introduction</h2>

<p>I have waited for a long time to set up my own Web site, mostly
because I didn't know what to put there that others may want to
see. Then I got an idea. Since I'm an avid reader and an aviation
enthusiast, I decided to create pages with a list of aviation books I
have read. My initial intention was to write reviews for each book.
<p>

Setting up the pages was easy to start with, but as I added more books
the maintenance became tedious. I had to update couple of indices with
the same data and I had to sort them by hand, and alphabetizing was
never my strong suit. I needed to find a better way.
<p>

Around the same time I became interested in the programming language
Python and it seemed that Python would be a good tool to automatically
generate the various HTML pages from a simple text file. This would
greatly simplify the updates of my book pages, as I would only add one
entry to one file and then create complete pages by running a Python
script.
<p>

I was attracted to Python for two main reasons: it's very good at
processing strings and it's object oriented. Of course the fact that
Python interpreter is free and that it runs on many different systems
helped. At first I installed Python on my Win95 machine, but I just
couldn't force myself to do any programming in the Windows
environment, even in Python. Instead I installed Linux and moved all
my Web projects there.
<p>

<h2>The Problem</h2>

The main goal of the program is to generate three different book
indices, by author, by title and by subject, from a single input
file.  I started by defining the format of this file. Here is what a
typical entry describing one book looks like:
<pre>
	title: Zero Three Bravo
	author: Gosnell, Mariana
	subject: General Aviation
	url: 3zb.htm
	# this is a comment
</pre>
Each line starts with a keyword (eg. "title:" or "author:") and is
followed by a value that will be shown in the final HTML
page. Description of each book must start the "title:" line, there
must be at least one "author:" tag, and the "url:" entry points to a
review of the book, if there is one.  
<p>

Since Python is object-oriented we begin program design by
looking for "objects". In a nutshell, object oriented (OO) programming
is a way to structure your code around the things, that is "objects",
that the program is working with. This rather simple idea of
organizing software around what it works with (objects), rather than
what it does (functions), turns out to be surprisingly powerful.
<p>

Within an OO program similar objects are grouped into "classes" and the
code we write describes each class. Objects that belong to a given
class are called "instances of the class".
<p>

I hope it is pretty obvious to you that since the program will
manipulate "book" objects, we need a Python class that will represent
a single book. Just knowing this is enough to let us suspend design
and write some code.
<p>

<h2>The Book Class</h2>

Before we start looking at the code we need to consider briefly how
Python programs are organized. Each program consists of a number of
modules, each module is contained in a file (usually named with the
extension ".py") and the name of the file (without the ".py") serves
as the module name.  A module can contain any number of routines or
classes. Typically things that are related are kept in one module. For
example, there is <tt>string</tt> module that contains functions that
operate on strings. To access functions or classes from another module
we use the <tt>import</tt> statement. For example the first line of
the <tt>Book</tt> module is:
<pre>
    from string import split, strip
</pre>
which says that the routines <tt>split</tt> and <tt>strip</tt> are
obtained from the <tt>strings</tt> module.<p>

Next, I have to point out few syntactic features of Python that are
not immediately obvious the code. The most important is the fact that
in Python indentation is part of the syntax. To see which statements
will be executed following an "if", all you need to look at is
indentation - there is no need for curly braces, <tt>BEGIN/END</tt>
pairs or "fi" statements.<p>

Here is a typical "if" statement extracted from the <tt>set_author</tt>
routine in the <tt>Book</tt> class:
<pre>
	if new_author:
	    names = split (new_author, ",")
	    self.last_name.append (strip (names[0]))
	    self.first_name.append (strip (names[1]))
	else:
	    self.last_name = []
	    self.first_name = []
</pre>
The three statements following the "if" are executed if "new_author"
variable contains a non-null value. The amount of indentation is not
important, but it must be consistent. Also note the colon (":") which
is used to terminate the header of each compound statement.<p>


The <tt>Book</tt> class turns out to be very simple. It consists
of routines that set the values for author, title, subject and the URL
for each book. For example, here is the <tt>set_title</tt> routine:
<pre>
    def set_title (self, new_title):
	self.title = new_title
</pre>
The first argument to the "set_title" method (that is a routine which
belongs to a class) is "self". This argument always refers to the
instance to which the method is applied. Furthermore, the attributes
(i.e. the data contained in each object) must be qualified with "self"
when referenced within the body of a method.  In the example above the
attribute "title" of a "Book" object is set to value of "new_title".
<p>
If in another part of a program we have variable "b" that references an
instance of a "Book" class this call would set the book's title:
<pre>
    b.set_title ("Fate is the Hunter")
</pre>
Note that the "self" argument is <i>not</i> present in the call,
instead the object to which the method is applied (i.e. the object
before the ".", "b" above) becomes the "self" argument.
<p>


At this point a reasonable question to ask is "Where do the objects
come from?"  Each object is created by a special call that uses the
class name as the name of a function. In addition a class can define a
method with the name <tt>__init__</tt> which will automatically be
called to initialize the new object's attributes (in C++ such a
routine is called a constructor).
<p>
Here is the <tt>__init__</tt> routine for the <tt>Book</tt> class:
<pre>
    def __init__ (self, t="", a="", s="", u=""):
	#
	# Create an instance of Book
	#
	self.title = t
	self.last_name = []
	self.first_name = []
	self.set_author (a)
	self.subject = s
	self.url = u
</pre>
The main purpose of the above routine is to create all the attributes
of the new "Book" object. Note that the arguments to "__init__" are
specified with default values, so that the caller needs only to pass the
arguments that differ from the default.
<p>

Here are some examples of calls to create "Book" objects:
<pre>
    a = Book()
    b = Book ("Fate is the Hunter")
    c = Book ("Some book", "First, Author")
</pre>
<p>
There is one small complication in the "Book" class. It is possible
for a book to have more than one author. That's why the attributes
"first_name" and "last_name" are actually lists. We'll look more at
lists in the next section. <p>

The complete <tt>Book</tt> class is show in <a href=book.html>
Listing #1</a>. To test the class we add a little piece of code at the end
of the file to test if the code is running as <tt>__main__</tt> routine, 
that is execution started in this file. If so, the code to test the <tt>Book</tt>
will run.       

<h2>The Book_List Class</h2>

Once the <tt>Book</tt> is tested we can go back to designing. The next
obvious object is a list which will contain all the "book"
objects. For the purposes of our program we have to be able to create
the book list from the input file and we have to sort the books in the
list by author, title or subject. Sorted list will then be used as
input into the code that actually generates HTML pages. <p>

As it turns out one of Python's built-in data structures is a list. Here is
a snippet of code showing creation of a list and addition of some items
(this example was produced by running Python interactively):
<pre> 
Python 1.4 (Dec 18 1996)  [GCC 2.7.2.1]
Copyright 1991-1995 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam
&gt;&gt;&gt; s = []
&gt;&gt;&gt; s.append ("a")
&gt;&gt;&gt; s.append ("hello")
&gt;&gt;&gt; s.append (1)
&gt;&gt;&gt; print s
['a', 'hello', 1]
</pre>
Above we create a list called "s" and add three items to it. Lists
allow "slicing" operations, which let you pull out pieces of a list by
specifying element numbers. These examples illustrate the idea:
<pre>
&gt;&gt;&gt; print s[1]
hello
&gt;&gt;&gt; print s[1:]
['hello', 1]
&gt;&gt;&gt; print s[:2]
['a', 'hello']
&gt;&gt;&gt; print s[0]
a
</pre>
<tt>s[1]</tt> denotes the second element of the list (indexing starts
at zero), <tt>s[1:]</tt> is the slice from the second element to the
end of the list, <tt>s[:2]</tt> goes from the start to the third
element, and <tt>s[0]</tt> is the first item.
<p>

Finally, lists have a "sort" operator which sorts the elements according to
a user supplied comparison function.
<p>
Armed with the knowledge of Python lists, writing the <tt>Book_List</tt> class
is easy. The class will have a single attribute, "contents", which will be a
list of books. 
<p>
The constructor for the <tt>Book_List</tt> class simply creates a
"contents" attribute and initializes it to be an empty list. The
routine that parses the input file and creates list elements is called
"make_from_file" and it begins with the code:
<pre>
   def make_from_file (self, file):
	#
	# Read the file and create a book list
	#
	lines = file.readlines ()
	self.contents = []
</pre>
The "file" argument is a handle to an open text file that contains the
descriptions of the books. The first step this routine performs is to
read the entire file into a list of strings, each string representing
one line of text. Next, using Python's "for" loop we step through this
list and examine each line of text:
<pre>
	#
	# Parse each line and create a list of Book objects
	#
	for one_line in lines:
	    # It's  not a comment or empty line 
	    if (len(one_line) &gt; 0) and (one_line[0] != "#"):
    	            # Split into tokens
		    tokens = string.split (one_line)
</pre>
If the line is not empty or is not a comment (that is the first
character is not a "#") then we split the line into words, a word
being a sequence of characters without spaces. The call "tokens =
string.split (one_line)" uses the "split" routine from the "string"
module. "split" returns the words it found in a list.
<pre>
		    if len (tokens) &gt; 0:
			if (tokens[0] == "title:"):
			    current_book = book.Book (string.join (tokens[1:]))
			    self.contents.append (current_book)
			elif (tokens[0] == "author:"):
			    current_book.set_author (string.join (tokens[1:]))
			elif (tokens[0] == "subject:"):
			    current_book.set_subject (string.join (tokens[1:]))
			elif (tokens[0] == "url:"):
			    current_book.set_url (string.join (tokens[1:]))

</pre>
The first token (i.e. word) on the line is the keyword that tells us
what to do. If it is "title:" then we create a new <tt>Book</tt>
object and append it to the list of books, otherwise we just set the
proper attributes. Note that the remaining tokens found on each line
are joined together into a string (using "string.join" routine). There
is probably a more efficient way to code this, but for my purposes
this code works fast enough.
<p>
The other interesting parts of the <tt>Book_List</tt> class are the sort
routines. Here is how the list is sorted by title:
<pre>
    def sort_by_title (self):
	#
	# Sort book list by title
	#
	self.contents.sort (lambda x, y: cmp (x.title, y.title))

</pre>
We simply call "sort" routine on the list. To get proper ordering we
need to supply a function that compares two <tt>Book</tt> objects. For
sorting by title we have to supply an anonymous function, which is
introduced with the keyword "lambda" (those of you familiar with Lisp,
or other functional languages should recognize this construct). The definition:
<pre>
      lambda x, y: cmp (x.title, y.title)
</pre>
simply says that this is a function of two arguments and function result comes
from calling the Python built-in function "cmp" (i.e. compare) on the "title"
attribute of the two objects.<p>

The other sort routines are similar, except that in "sort_by_author" I
used a local function instead of a "lambda", because the comparison
was little more complicated - I wanted to have all the books with the
same author appear alphabetically by title.
<p>

<h2>Generating Pages:</h2>

Now that we have constructed a list of books, the next step is to create
the HTML pages. We begin by creating a class, called <tt>Html_Page</tt>, that
generates basic outline of a page and then we extend that class to create
the titles, authors and subjects pages.<p>

The idea that existing code can be extended yet not changed is the
second most import idea of OO programming. The mechanism for doing
this is called "inheritance" and it allows the programmer to create a
new class by adding new properties to an old class and the old class
does not have to change. A way to think about inheritance is as
"programming by differences". In our program we will create three
classes that inherit from <tt>Html_Page</tt>.<p>

<tt>Html_Page</tt> is quite simple. It consists of routines that
generate the header and the trailer tags for an HTML page. It also
contains an empty routine for generating the body of the page. This
routine will be defined in descendant classes. The <tt>__init__</tt>
routine let's the user of this class specify a title and a top level
heading for the page.<p>

When I first tested the output of the HTML generators I simply printed
it to the screen and manually saved it into a file, so I could see the
page in a browser. But once I was happy with the appearance, I had to
change the code to save the data into a file. That's why in <tt>Html_Page</tt>
you will see code like this:
<pre>
	self.f.write ("&lt;html&gt;\n")
	self.f.write ("&lt;head&gt;\n")
</pre>
for writing the output to a file referenced by the attribute "f". <p>
However, since the actual output file will be different for each page
opening of the file is deferred to a descendant class. <p>

You can see complete code for <tt>Html_Page</tt> in
<a href="html_page.html">Listing #3</a>.

The three classes <tt>Authors_Page</tt>, <tt>Titles_Page</tt> and
<tt>Subjects_Page</tt> are used to create the final HTML pages. Since these
classes belong together I put them in one module, called <tt>books_pages</tt>.
Because the code for these is classes is very similar we will only look at
the first one.<p>

Here is how <tt>Authors_Page</tt> begins:
<pre>
class Authors_Page (Html_Page):

    def __init__ (self):
	Html_Page.__init__ (self, "Aviation Books: by Author",
			    "&lt;i&gt;Aviation Books: indexed by Author&lt;/i&gt;")
	self.f = open ("books_by_author.html", "w")
	print "Authors page in--&gt; " + self.f.name
</pre>
To start with that the class heading lists the name of the class from
which <tt>Authors_Page</tt> inherits, mainly <tt>Html_Page</tt>. Next
notice that the constructor invokes the constructor from the parent
class, by calling the <tt>__init__</tt> routine qualified by the class
name. Finally, the constructor names and opens the output file. I decided
not to make the file name a parameter for my own convenience to keep
things simple. <p>

Since the book list is needed for to generate the body of each page I added
a <tt>book_list</tt> attribute to each page class. This attribute is set
before HTML generation starts. <p>

The <tt>generate_body</tt> routine redefines the empty routine from
the parent class. Although fairly long, the code is pretty easy to
understand once you know that the book list is represented as an HTML
table and the "+" is the concatenation operator for strings. <p>

In addition to replacing  the <tt>generate_body</tt> routine we also redefine
<tt>generate_trailer</tt> routine in order to put a back link to the book index
at the bottom of each page:
<pre>
    def generate_trailer (self):
	self.f.write ("&lt;hr&gt;\n")
	self.f.write ("&lt;center&gt;&lt;a href=books.html&gt;Back to Aviation Books Top Page&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/center&gt;\n")
	self.f.write ("&lt;hr&gt;\n")
	Html_Page.generate_trailer (self)
</pre>
Notice how right after we generate the back link, we include a call to 
parent's <tt>generate_trailer</tt> routine to finish off the page with
correct terminating tags.<p>

Complete listing for the three page generating classes are found in 
<a href="books_pages.html">Listing #4</a>.<p>


The main line of the entire program is shown in 
<a href="book_page_gen.html">Listing #5</a>. By now the code there
should be self explanatory.

<h2>Summary</h2>

As you can see this particular program was not hard to write. Python is
well suited for these types of tasks, you can quickly put together
a useful program with minimal fuss. <p>

After I have got the program to work I realized that its design
is not the best. For example, the HTML generating code could be more
general, perhaps the <tt>Book</tt> class should generate it's own
HTML table entries. But for now the program fits my purposes, but
I will modify if I need to create other HTML generating applications.<p>

If you like to see the results of this script visit my 
<a href="http://www.netlabs.net/hp/richieb/books.html">book page.</a><p>

To learn more about Python you should start with the <a
href="http://www.python.org">Python Home Page</a> which will point you
to many Python resources on the net. I also found the O'Reilly book
<i>Programming in Python</i> by Mark Lutz extremely helpful.
<p>
Finally, any mistakes in the description of Python features are
my own fault, as I'm still a Python novice.
<p>


<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<center><H5>Copyright &copy; 1997, Richie Bielak<BR> 
Published in Issue 19 of the Linux Gazette, July 1997</H5></center>

<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<A HREF="./index.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM SRC="../gx/indexnew.gif" 
ALT="[ TABLE OF CONTENTS ]"></A>
<A HREF="../index.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM SRC="../gx/homenew.gif"
ALT="[ FRONT PAGE ]"></A>
<A HREF="./trade.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/back2.gif"
ALT=" Back "></A>
<A HREF="./micro.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/fwd.gif" ALT=" Next "></A>
<P> <hr> <P> 

<H4>
&quot;Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>&quot;
</H4>

<P> <HR> <P> 
<!--===================================================================-->

<center>
<H2>Using SAMBA to Mount Windows 95</H2>
<H4>By Jonathon Stroud,
<a href="mailto:jgstroud@eos.ncsu.edu">jgstroud@eos.ncsu.edu</a></H4>
</center>
<P><HR>
<p>Many major universities are now offering network connections to
students in their rooms. This is really a wonderful thing for the
Linux community. Whereas, the majority of student owned computers
on these networks are still running Windows 95, many students are
making the switch to Linux. One thing that newcomers to Linux are
constantly asking is, "Can I access a directory shared by a
Windows 95 computer in the 'Network Neighborhood', and can I
share files to Windows 95 users?" The answer, of course, is YES.
I keep trying to tell them that there is nothing that Linux can
not do, yet they continue to come to me and ask if they can do
this in Linux, or if they can do that. I have never once answered
no.

<h3>Samba</h3>

<p>To mount a Windows 95 share, we use a program called Samba. Samba
is a program that allows Linux to talk to computers running
Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95, Windows NT, Mac OS, and Novel
Netware. Samba even allows you to share a printer between
computers using these different operating systems. Samba comes
with most distributions of Linux, but if you do not have it
installed, you can obtain a copy from the Samba home page at
http://lake.canberra.edu.au/pub/samba/. 


<h3>Mounting Windows 95 Shares</h3>

<p>The first thing you will probably want to do, is check to see
what directories are shared on the computer you are trying to
mount off of.  To do this type smbclient -L computername. This
will list all the directories shared by the machine. To mount the
directory, we use the command smbmount. Smbmount can be a little
tricky though. I have created a script, named smb, that allows
users to mount drives using smbmount, with relative ease.

<pre>   #usage  smb computername sharename
   #!/bin/sh
   if [ $UID = 0 ]; then
      if [ ! d /mnt/$1 ]; then
         mkdir /mnt/$1
      fi
   #You may want to add the -u option here also if you need to 
   #specify a login id (ie: mounting drives on Windows NT)
      /usr/sbin/smbmount //$1/$2 /mnt/$1 I $1 c etc
   else
      if [ ! d ~/mnt/ ]; then
         mkdir ~/mnt/
      fi
      if [ ! d ~/mnt/$1 ]; then
         mkdir ~/mnt/$1
      fi
   #You may want to add the -u option here also if you need to 
   #specify a login id (ie: mounting drives on Windows NT)
      /usr/sbin/smbmount //$1/$2 ~/mnt/$1 I $1 c etcfi</pre>

<p>To execute this script you simply type smb followed by the name
of the computer you are mounting off of, and then the directory
you wish to mount (ex. smb workstation files). If you are root,
the script creates a directory in /mnt by the same name as the
computer, and mounts the directory there. For any other user, the
script makes a directory in the users home directory named mnt.
In that directory it makes another directory by the same name as
the computer and mounts the share there.

<h3>Sharing files with Windows 95</h3>

<p>Now to share a file. This also is not too difficult. To share a
directory you need to edit /etc/smb.conf. By default, Samba
shares users' home directories, but they are only visible (and
accessible) to the owner. This means that the person accessing
the share should be logged into Windows 95 with the same loginid,
as they use to log into your Linux box. 

<p>Let's say you want to let 'bob' access the directory
'/shares/files', and you do not want anyone else to access it. To
do this, add these lines to your /etc/smb.conf file.

<pre>   [bobsfiles]
      comment = files for bob
      path = /shares/files
      valid users = bob
      public = no
      writable = yes
      printable = no</pre>

<ol>
<li> indicates the name the directory will be shared under. 

<li> is a comment that can be displayed in the Windows 95
Network Neighborhood.

<li> lists the directory on your computer that will be shared

<li> when set to yes allows users to access the directory with
guest privileges.

<li> indicates whether or not the user has write permissions to
the indicated directory

<li> when set to yes allows users to spool print jobs from that
directory
</ol>

<p>More examples on sharing files can be found in the default
smb.conf file.  For more help on setting up this file, see the
Samba web page, or type man smb.conf.

<h3>More cool Samba stuff</h3>

<p>If a Windows 95 user on your network is running winpopup (an
instant massaging program), you can send them a winpopup message
using Samba. To do this just type <pre>smbclient -M computername
message_text</pre>.



<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<center><H5>Copyright &copy; 1997, Jonathon Stroud<BR> 
Published in Issue 19 of the Linux Gazette, July 1997</H5></center>

<center>
<H1><IMG SRC="../gx/backpage.gif" alt="Linux Gazette Back Page"></H1>

<H5>Copyright &copy; 1997 Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc.<br>
For information regarding copying and distribution of this material see the
<A HREF="../copying.html">Copying License</A>.</H5>
</center>

<P> <hr> <P> 

<H3>Contents:</H3>
<ul>
<li><a HREF="./lg_backpage19.html#authors">About This Month's Authors</a>
<li><a HREF="./lg_backpage19.html#notlinux">Not Linux</a>
</ul>

<a name="authors"></a>
<P> <HR> <P> 
<!--======================================================================-->

<center><H3> About This Month's Authors </H3></center>

<P> <HR> <P> 
<!--======================================================================-->

<P> 
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Larry Ayers</H4>
Larry Ayers lives on a small farm
in northern Missouri, where he is currently engaged in building a
timber-frame house for his family. He operates a portable band-saw mill,
does general woodworking, plays the fiddle and searches for rare
prairie plants, as well as growing shiitake mushrooms. He is also
struggling with configuring a Usenet news server for his local ISP.

<P> 
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Jim Dennis</H4>
Jim Dennis 
is the proprietor of <A href="http://www.starshine.org">
Starshine Technical Services</A>.
His professional experience includes work in the technical 
support, quality assurance, and information services (MIS)
departments of software companies like 
<A href="http://www.quarterdeck.com"> Quarterdeck</A>, 
<A href="http://www.symantec.com"> Symantec/
Peter Norton Group</A>, and 
<A href="http://www.mcafee.com"> McAfee Associates</A> -- as well as 
positions (field service rep) with smaller VAR's.
He's been using Linux since version 0.99p10 and is an active
participant on an ever-changing list of mailing lists and 
newsgroups.  He's just started collaborating on the 2nd Edition
for a book on Unix systems administration.
Jim is an avid science fiction fan -- and was
married at the World Science Fiction Convention in Anaheim.

<P> 
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">John Eikenberry</H4>
John currently lives in Athens, GA where he is both a student and an
employee of the University of Georgia. He is working on his masters thesis
in artificial intelligence while working full time as a system administration
and programmer for the College of Education. Prior to his coming to Athens,
John studied psychology and philosophy ending with a Masters of Philosophy
from the University of Toledo. He has been using Linux since 1994 and
maintains the <a href="http://www.ai.uga.edu/~jae/ai.html">Linux Ai/Alife
mini-Howto</a>.

<P> 
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">John Gatewood Ham</H4>
John Ham was born June 10, 1964, in Florence, Alabama.
He has a
B.S., Mathematics, from The University of the South, Sewanee, TN and an
M.S., Computer Science, from The University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, MO.
He is currently working as an Instructor in the Computer Science Department
at Burapha University, Bang Saen, Cholburi, Thailand.
He teachs in English -- he does not speak Thai. He lives in Thailand, because his
wife is Thai and did not wish to live in the United States.
<A HREF="http://alphabox.compsci.buu.ac.th/~zappaman/">His Home Page</A>

<P> 
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Michael J. Hammel</H4>
Michael J. Hammel,
is a transient software engineer with a background in
everything from data communications to GUI development to Interactive Cable
systems--all based in Unix. His interests outside of computers
include 5K/10K races, skiing, Thai food and gardening. He suggests if you
have any serious interest in finding out more about him, you visit his home
pages at http://www.csn.net/~mjhammel. You'll find out more
there than you really wanted to know. 

<P> 
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Evan Leibovitch</H4>
Evan is a Senior Analyst for Sound Software of Brampton, Ontario, Canada.
He's installed almost every kind of Unix available for Intel systems over
the past dozen years, and this year his company became Canada's first
Caldera Channel Partner.

<P> 
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Mike List </H4>
Mike List is a father of four teenagers, musician, printer (not
laserjet), and recently reformed technophobe, who has been into computers
since April,1996, and Linux since July.

<P> 
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Andy Newton</H4>
Andy Newton is a Java programmer for Automated Logic Corporation and has
been an active member of the Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts for two years.
When not playing with computers, he enjoys running, backpacking, political
banter and spending time with his fiancee, Karen.
<A HREF="http://www.eskimo.com/~lfs/">His Home Page</A> 

<P> 
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Justin Seiferth</H4>
When Justin's
not busy improving our nation's information boreen, he's at home hacking
<A HREF="http://butler.disa.mil/ApacheConfig">various projects</A>.&nbsp;
If you are cut off by a silver <A HREF="http://www.xs4all.nl/~explorer/M635CSi/root.html">coupe</A>
with New Mexico plates on the roads around our nation's capital, feel free
to wave hello!&nbsp; Justin and his family will be making their annual
sojourn to relatives in <A HREF="http://www.mayo-ireland.ie/MotM.htm">Ireland</A>
during July- he'd like to hear from fellow Linux users over there.</FONT>

<P> 
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Cliff Serutine</H4>
Cliff Seruntine is a writer and an electronics and computer technician,
web designer and all around hacker. He lives in Alaska with his family
of four where they fight a never-ending battle against the evil computer
assimilators and spend their weekends salmon fishing. He'd love to have
you over to visit. Meet him at <a href="http://www.micronet.net/~cybertronics">http://www.micronet.net</a>

<a name="notlinux"></a>
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<P>
Thanks to all our authors, not just the ones above, but also those who wrote
giving us their tips and tricks and making suggestions. Thanks also to our
new mirror sites. 

<P> 
<IMG ALIGN=CENTER ALT="" SRC="../gx/rose.gif">
My assistant, Amy Kukuk, did all the work again this month.
She's so good to me. Thank you, Amy.

<P>
I'm going on vacation from July 3 to July 13, and I am truly looking
forward to it. I've been working much too hard since taking over as Editor
of <I>Linux Journal</I>, and a week or so with no work in my thoughts is
going to be a much needed break. Riley and I are flying to Southern
California to visit his dad--the esteemed UCLA Professor Emeritus, Dr.
Ralph Richardson. We also will be visiting my daughter Lara and her
children. Pictures of all my grandchildren are on my home page--they are, of
course, the most beautiful and most intelligent grandkids in the world. I
am very proud of them, as you can see.
<P> 
Have fun!

<P> <hr> <P> 
<A HREF="http://www.ssc.com/ssc/Employees/Margie/margie.html">
Marjorie L. Richardson</a><br>
Editor, <i>Linux Gazette</i> <A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</a>

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<I>Linux Gazette</I> Issue 19, July 1997, http://www.ssc.com/lg/<BR> 
This page written and maintained by the Editor of <I>Linux Gazette</I>,
<A HREF="mailto: gazette@ssc.com"> gazette@ssc.com</A>
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