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<H2>December 2000, Issue 60 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Published by <I>Linux Journal</I></H2> 

<A HREF=../lg_frontpage.html>Front Page</A> &nbsp;|&nbsp;
<A HREF=../lg_frontpage.html>Back Issues</A> &nbsp;|&nbsp;
<A HREF=../lg_faq.html>FAQ</A> &nbsp;|&nbsp;
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<H1><font color="#BB0000">Table of Contents:</font></H1>




<!-- *** BEGIN toc *** -->
<UL>
	<LI>  <a HREF="lg_mail60.html">The MailBag</A> 
	<LI>  <a HREF="lg_bytes60.html">News Bytes</A> 
	<UL>
		<LI>  <a HREF="lg_bytes60.html#distro">Distro News</A> 
		<LI>  <a HREF="lg_bytes60.html#general">News in General</A> 
		<LI>  <a HREF="lg_bytes60.html#software">Software Announcements</A> 
	</UL>
	<LI>  <a HREF="lg_answer60.html">The Answer Gang</A> , <EM>by The <EM>Linux Gazette</EM> Answer Gang</EM>
	<LI>  <a HREF="lg_tips60.html">More 2-Cent Tips</A> 
	<LI>  <a HREF="adler.html">Super Computing 2000</A> , <EM>by Stephen Adler</EM>
	<LI>  <a HREF="andreiana.html">Heroes of Might And Magic III</A> , <EM>by Marius Andreiana</EM>
	<LI>  <a HREF="collinge.html">HelpDex</A> , <EM>by Shane Collinge</EM>
	<LI>  <a HREF="correa.html">Joe Kaplenk and the OSes</A> , <EM>by Fernando Ribeiro Corr&ecirc;a</EM>
	<LI>  <a HREF="ferrari.html">Creating a Linux Certification Program, part 11: Inviting the World to Participate</A> , <EM>by Ray Ferrari</EM>
	<LI>  <a HREF="kasten.html">Tuxedo Tails</A> , <EM>by Eric Kasten</EM>
	<LI>  <a HREF="sharma.html">Secure Communication with GnuPG on Linux</A> , <EM>by Kapil Sharma</EM>
	<LI>  <a HREF="sipos.html">Sharing an Encrypted Windows Partition With Linux (and notes about Sendmail)</A> , <EM>by Juraj Sipos</EM>
	<LI>  <a HREF="steffler.html">Making Smalltalk:  Objects, Classes and Other Things</A> , <EM>by Jason Steffler</EM>
	<LI>  <a HREF="lg_backpage60.html">The Back Page</A> 
	<UL>
		<LI>  <a HREF="lg_backpage60.html#authors">About This Month's Authors</A> 
		<LI>  <a HREF="lg_backpage60.html#notlinux">Not Linux</A> 
	</UL>
</UL>

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<H3 ALIGN="center"><EM>Linux Gazette</EM> Staff and The Answer Gang</H3>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<STRONG>Editor:</STRONG> Michael Orr<BR>
<STRONG>Technical Editor:</STRONG> Heather Stern<BR>
<STRONG>Senior Contributing Editor:</STRONG> Jim Dennis<BR>
<STRONG>Contributing Editors:</STRONG>
Michael "Alex" Williams, Don Marti, Ben Okopnik
</BLOCKQUOTE>

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<P> <!-- ************************************************** -->
<table>
<tr><td>
<A HREF="issue60.txt.gz">TWDT 1 (gzipped text file)</A><BR>
<A HREF="issue60.html">TWDT 2 (HTML file)</A><BR>
are files containing the entire issue: one in text format, one in HTML. 
They are provided 
strictly as a way to save the contents as one file for later printing in
the format of your choice; 
there is no guarantee of working links in the HTML version.
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<center>
<I>Linux Gazette</I><img alt="[tm]" src="../gx/tm.gif">, 
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">http://www.linuxgazette.com/</A><BR> 
This page maintained by the Editor of <I>Linux Gazette</I>,
<A HREF="mailto: gazette@ssc.com"> gazette@ssc.com</A>
<P> 
<H5>Copyright &copy; 1996-2000 Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc.</H5>
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<CENTER>
<H4>"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"</H4>  
</CENTER>
<HR> 
<center>
<table width="100%" cellpadding=7><tr><td>
<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="#help">Help Wanted -- Article Ideas</a>
<li><a HREF="#gazette">Gazette Matters</a>
</ul>
</td></tr></table>
</center>

<a name="help"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="maroon">Help Wanted -- Article Ideas</font></H3></center>
<P> 
<H2>New submission address!</H2>
<P> Send tech-support questions, answers and article ideas to The Answer Gang
&lt;<A HREF="mailto:tag@ssc.com">tag@ssc.com</A>&gt;.  Other mail (including
questions or comments about the <EM>Gazette</EM> itself) should go to
&lt;<A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</A>&gt;.  All material
sent to either of these addresses will be considered for publication in the
next issue.  <EM>Please send answers to the original querent too, so that s/he
can get the answer without waiting for the next issue.</EM>

<P> Unanswered questions appear here.  Questions with 
answers--or answers only--appear in The Answer Gang, 2-Cent Tips, or here,
depending on their content.

<P> <STRONG>Before asking a question, please check the
<A HREF=../lg_faq.html><I>Linux Gazette</I> FAQ</A> to see if it has been
answered there.</STRONG>


<P> <EM>No unanswered 'help wanted' letters this month.</EM>



<a name="gazette"></a>
<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="maroon">Gazette Matters</font></H3></center>

<P> <HR> <P> 
<!--====================================================================-->
<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
Fri, 3 Nov 2000 09:39:41 -0000
<BR>From: Arthur G S Wilkinson &lt;<A HREF="mailto:agswilk@servalan.org">agswilk@servalan.org</A>&gt;
<BR>Subject: LG FTP listings have bogus "@" signs in them

<P> I have noticed that the Linux Guides FTP site at ftp://ftp.ssc.com returns 
the directory listing in a format which appears garbled in some versions
of Microsoft Internet Explorer. 

<P> Using the Windows command line FTP program the unix user and group 
ID's appear with @'s in them this appears to confuse IE.

<P> Can anything be done about this?

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[This was an artifact of our upgrade of wu-ftpd from 2.6.0 to 2.6.1
	following advisories against version 2.6.0.  As near as I can tell,
	"@" in the directory listings resulted from a defect in this
	new version of wu-ftpd.

	For this reason and because wu-ftpd was now experiencing segvs,
	indicating possible buffer overflows or memory allocation problems,
	we've retired it in favor of a relative newcomer, muddleftpd:
<A HREF="http://www.arach.net.au/~wildfire/muddleftpd/mailing.html">http://www.arach.net.au/~wildfire/muddleftpd/mailing.html</A>

	From the netnoise I've found so far, this daemon is well-recommended.
	The configuration is very simple and covers our needs nicely.

	Take a look and give us some feedback if you like.  -Dan.]
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>



<P> <HR> <P> 
<!--====================================================================-->
<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
Sun, 5 Nov 2000 11:19:15 EST
<BR>From:  &lt;<A HREF="mailto:Yestonight@cs.com">Yestonight@cs.com</A>&gt;
<BR>Subject: suggestion

<P> would help if content had a concise statement of what each article holds.  
sentence could appears only when  cusor passes over.

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[Regarding the first part (a concise abstract for each article), we'll
	consider that the next time we revise the </EM>Gazette's<EM> 
	layout.  The current Table of Contents doesn't have room for it, and
	we really want all the article links visible with as little scrolling
	as possible.

	<P> What should the concise statement contain that isn't already in the
	title?  I try to make the title as descriptive as possible, so that 
	readers will not miss an article about something they're concerned about
	simply because they didn't realize the article would be about that.
	
	<P> Regarding the second part (making the sentance appear only when
	the cursor passes over it) would require Javascript, and we have
	preferred to keep the site free of Javascript, style sheets, 
	etc--anything which might cause problems for some browsers.
	Perhaps in the future we'll revisit the question of Javascript now that
	it has a browser-neutral standard (ECMAscript).
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>
	


<P> <HR> <P> 
<!--====================================================================-->
<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
Thu, 9 Nov 2000 16:36:35 -0600
<BR>From: THE MAGE &lt;<A HREF="mailto:mage1@hehe.com">mage1@hehe.com</A>&gt;
<BR>Subject: Getting all the FTP files in one file

<P> Dear editor,
I would like to know if there is any way I could download all the issues in
HTML format within a tar.gz or .zip file.
I know that I could download each issue alone,but it would be very helping
if you could tell me a way to download all the magazine's issues together.

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[There is no single file that contains all the issues.  However, you
can have a program download all the files at once without human
intervention.</EM>

<DL>
	<DT><STRONG>ftp</STRONG>    
	<DD><PRE>
binary
prompt
mget *
</PRE>
Do the <TT>prompt</TT> command once or twice until it says "Interactive mode
off".  This prevents it from asking whether to download each file.

	<DT><STRONG>ncftp</STRONG>
	<DD><PRE>
get *
</PRE>

	<DT><STRONG>rsync</STRONG>
	<DD>See <A HREF="../lg_faq.html#rsync">http://www.linuxjournal.com/lg_faq.html#rsync</A>

	<DT><STRONG>mirror</STRONG>
	<DD>I don't know the options...
</DL>

<P> <EM>I personally would use ncftp for a one-time download, or rsync to
set up something which would regularly via cron, or rsync
on demand via a simple shell script.  The beauty of rsync is 
that it downloads only the portions of files that have changed, saving
time and bandwidth, especially if your Internet access is expensive.  -Mike.]
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>




<P> <HR> <P> 
<!--====================================================================-->
<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
Fri, 10 Nov 2000 19:29:16 -0500
<BR>From: Andy Kinsey &lt;<A HREF="mailto:ak47@pioneeris.net">ak47@pioneeris.net</A>&gt;
<BR>Subject: Kudos

<P> Just a note regarding one of your 2-cent tip submissions:

<P> I attempted to perform the 2-cent tip, from the March 2000 Linux Gazette
that places a weather screen on the desktop. I was having difficulty, so
I e-mailed the author, 
<A HREF="mailto:mbw8@cornell.edu">Matthew Willis</A>. Matt not only
replied quickly to my question, but suggested a way to fix the problem,
which worked. Thanks to Matt's assistance (which he did not have to do),
I discovered the problem and learned something new in the process. Matt
is a credit to <EM>Linux Gazette</EM>, and I'll be looking forward to many
more tips from him and others like him.



<P> <HR> <P> 
<!--====================================================================-->
<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
Sun, 12 Nov 2000 01:16:01 EST
<BR>From: Mike Cathcart &lt;<A HREF="mailto:mike_cathcart@hotmail.com">mike_cathcart@hotmail.com</A>&gt;
<BR>Subject: dmesg explained

<P> I just finished reading the  article
<A HREF="../issue59/nazario.html">'dmesg explained'</A>. Good article, although
I thought you might like to know that some of the excerpts from dmesg that are
shown are not visible in Konqueror. Basically, any excerpt that did not include
a <CODE>&lt;BR&gt;</CODE>
tag are not rendered. This can be fixed by adding a to the end of 
those excerpts, which will not change the appearance in other browsers. I'll 
be filing a bug report with 
<A HREF="http://kde.org">kde.org</A>, but I thought you might want to 'fix' 
the page in the meantime.

<H3>Your Editor wrote:</H3>

<P> You mean all the <CODE>&lt;PRE&gt;</CODE> blocks need a 
<CODE>&lt;BR&gt;</CODE> just before the <CODE>&lt;/PRE&gt;</CODE>?  Or they
need it on every line?

<H3>Mike responded:</H3>

<P> Actually, they just need a <CODE>&lt;BR&gt;</CODE> anywhere inside the 
<CODE>&lt;PRE&gt;...&lt;/PRE&gt;</CODE>, it doesn't really matter where or how
many. Kinda weird, but that seems to do it.

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[I added a <CODE>&lt;BR&gt;</CODE> tag inside the manual page excerpt.
	Does it look all right in Konqueror?
	
	<P> I'm not interested in putting <CODE>&lt;BR&gt;</CODE> tags in other
	articles, for this browser bug.  I suppose if it were Netscape or IE,
	I'd have to. -Mike.]
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>



<P> <HR> <P> 
<!--====================================================================-->
<IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
Sun, 12 Nov 2000 01:16:01 EST
<BR>From: BanDiDo &lt;<A HREF="mailto:bandido@drinkordie.com">bandido@drinkordie.com</A>&gt;
<BR>Subject: Kudos for LG

<P> LG is awesome, if you charged for it I would subscribe. When I get
some free time one of these I hope to pen a few articles and such.

<P> With appreciation for a fine publication<BR>
BanDiDo<BR>


<H3>Your Editor writes:</H3>

<P> Thanks.  <I>Linux Gazette</I> was established as a free zine and we firmly
intend to keep it that way.  There are already paid magazines out there
(we publish one of them :), but LG fills a unique niche.  No other
e-zine I know of (Linux or otherwise) is read, not just through a single
point of access, but in large part via mirrors or off-line (via FTP
files, CD-ROMS, etc).  

<P> Also, because <I>LG's</I> articles are written by our readers, you (readers)
are truly writing your own magazine.  I only put things together and
insert a few comments here and there, and occasionally write an article.
If it weren't for our volunteer authors, there would be no <I>Linux
Gazette</I>.  When I first took over editing in June 1999, I used
to wonder every month whether there would be enough articles.  But every
month my mailbox magically fills with enough articles not just for a
minimal zine (5-10 technical articles), but for a robust zine with 15+
articles covering a variety of content (for newbies and oldbies, technical
articles and cartoons).  A year ago, we never predicted there would be
cartoons in the Gazette, but the authors just wrote in and offered them,
and it's been a great addition.  It is truly a privilege to work with
such a responsive group of readers, and years from now when I'm retired
(hi, Margie!), I'm sure I will remember fondly what an opportunity it
was.

<P> Our biggest thanks go to The Answer Gang, especially Heather and Jim,
who each spend 20+ hours a month _unpaid_ compiling The Answer Gang,
2-Cent Tips and The Mailbag.  This has really made things a lot easier
for me.  

<P> We look forward to printing some articles with your name on them.
See the Author Info section at
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/lg_faq.html#author">http://www.linuxgazette.com/lg_faq.html#author</A>

<P> And you other readers who haven't contributed anything yet, get off your
asses and send something in!  Write a letter for the Mailbag, answer a
tech-support question, join The Answer Gang, do a translation for our
foreign-language sites, or write an article.  What do *you* wish the
Gazette had more of?  *That's* what it needs from you.

<H3>BanDiDo wrote back:</H3>

<P> Would be lovely if you guys established an EFNET irc channel :)



<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<H5 ALIGN=center>
This page written and maintained by the Editors of the <I>Linux Gazette</I>.
Copyright &copy; 2000, <A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</A>.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 60 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, December 2000</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->

<H4 ALIGN="center">"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"</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="#distro">Distro News</A>
<li><a HREF="#general">News in General</a>
<li><a HREF="#software">Software Announcements</a>
</ul>
</td></tr></table>

<STRONG>Selected and formatted by  <A HREF="mailto:michael.conry@softhome.net">Michael Conry</A>
and <A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">Mike Orr</A></STRONG>
</center>


<P> Submitters, send your News Bytes items in 
<FONT SIZE="+2"><STRONG>PLAIN TEXT</STRONG></FONT>
format.  Other formats may be rejected without reading.  You have been
warned!  A one- or two-paragraph summary plus URL gets you a better
announcement than an entire press release.





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

<center><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="misc/cover80.jpg" WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=268></center>
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<font color="green">
December 2000 <I>Linux Journal</I>
</font>
</H3>


<P> 
The December issue of <A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/"><I>Linux
Journal</I></A> is on newsstands now.
This issue focuses on System Administration.  Click 
<A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/80/index.html">here</A>
to view the table of contents, or 
<A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/subscribe/index.html">here</A> 
to subscribe.
<FONT COLOR="green">All articles through December 1999 are available for
public reading at 
<A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/mags.html">http://www.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/mags.html</A></FONT>.  
Recent articles are available on-line for subscribers only at 
<A HREF="http://interactive.linuxjournal.com">
http://interactive.linuxjournal.com/</A>.  



<a name="distro"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">Distro News</font></H3></center>



<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">ASP Linux
</FONT>
</H3> 

<a href="http://www.asplinux.com.sg">ASP Linux</a>
 - the first Singapore made Linux distribution for PC - has been developed by
SWsoft with the needs of Application Service Providers in mind. It combines a
user friendly Linux distribution (Red Hat 7 compatible) for home
and office desktops with professional server software packages
for ASPs, ISPs NSPs and others.
SWsoft are currently looking for mirrors located in Asia Pacific Region
for their distribution, source code and applications.



<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Caldera
</FONT>
</H3>

<P> OREM, UT-November 1, 2000: In a follow up to last month's item, 
<a href="http://www.calderasystems.com/">Caldera Systems</a>
announced its Linux
management solution (formerly code-named "Cosmos") has been named Caldera
Volution. The product, currently in open beta, is still available for download
from Caldera's Web site at
<a href="http://www.calderasystems.com/beta">www.calderasystems.com/beta</a>

Volution is a browser- and directory-based management product for
Linux systems that utilizes the strengths of LDAP directories.
Using Volution, network administrators can create policies and profiles to
manage a half dozen or thousands of Linux systems, without having to
individually manage/touch each.

<hr NOSHADE WIDTH="20%">
<p>
OREM, UT-November 6, 2000: Caldera Systems, Inc. announces its
upcoming Linux/Unix Power Solutions Tour 2000 which runs from November 14th
through December 12th.  The 12-city tour targets those who develop and
deploy on Linux and Unix-including VARs, ASPs, ISVs, developers, resellers,
consultants and corporate IT professionals. 
This tour presents Caldera's vision of the future for Linux and UNIX and
Linux training.
Each presentation on the tour includes two sessions: a morning business
briefing and an afternoon Linux Essentials course with hands-on training,
including for-sale software and solutions guides.
You can get more details from
<a href="http://www.calderasystems.com/partners/tour">
www.calderasystems.com/partners/tour</a>,
or call toll-free on  1-866-890-8388.


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">NeoLinux
</FONT>
</H3> 

<a href="http://www.neoware.com/">Neoware Systems</a>
showcases the first embedded Linux
designed specifically for desktop computing appliances at Comdex Fall 2000.
NeoLinux 2.0 is the latest version of its embedded Linux operating system.
NeoLinux features a newly designed, customizable user interface
designed specifically for desktop computing appliances, and made up of two
main components.
ezConnect provides  a user interface to allow users and administrators to
easily create connections to run a range of applications (e.g. MS Windows
applications on servers, or UNIX applications over X). ezSnap allows new
software features to be  easily added to appliances across a network.
As a stand-alone product NeoLinux 2.0 is
available for $60 per appliance with one year of technical support and
upgrades.


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Storm
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P> Storm sent us some links which may be of interest to those wanting to
find out about this distribution...
<ul>
<li>     LinuxISO.org  
<a href="http://www.linuxiso.org/distro-battle.html">Battle of the Distro's</a>
 - A Comparative Review of 5 Linux distro.'s.
<li>     LinuxISO reviews the   
<a href="http://www.linuxiso.org/stormix-firewall-review.html">
Storm Firewall</a>.
<li>
<a href="http://www.linuxworld.com/linuxworld/lw-2000-10/lw-10-vcontrol_3.html">
LinuxWorld.com</a>
 reviews of Storm Linux 2000.
</ul>


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




<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Upcoming conferences and events
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P> Courtesy <I>Linux Journal</I>.  For the latest updates, see <I>LJ's</I>
<A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/events/">Industry Events</A> page.


	<table cellpadding=10 border=0>

	<tr>
	<td valign=top>
		<b>USENIX Winter - LISA 2000</b><BR>
		<td valign=top>December 3-8, 2000<BR>New Orleans, LA<BR>
		<A HREF="http://www.usenix.org" target=_blank>www.usenix.org</A>
	</td></tr> 
		    
	<!--gray row--><tr bgcolor="BFBFBF"><td valign=top>
		<b>Pluto Meeting 2000</b><BR>
		<td valign=top>December 9-11, 2000<BR>Terni, Italy<BR>
		<A HREF="http://meeting.pluto.linux.it" target=_blank>
		meeting.pluto.linux.it</A>
	</td></tr>

	<tr>
	<td valign=top>
		<b>LinuxWorld Conference & Expo</b><BR>
		<td valign=top>January 30 - February 2, 2001<BR>New York, NY<BR>
		<A HREF="www.linuxworldexpo.com"
target="_blank">www.linuxworldexpo.com</A><BR>
	</td></tr>

	<!--gray row--><tr bgcolor="BFBFBF"><td valign=top>
		<b>ISPCON</b><BR><td valign=top>February 5-8, 2001<BR>Toronto, 
		Canada<BR><A HREF="http://events.internet.com/" target=_blank>
		events.internet.com</A><BR>
	</td></tr>

	<tr>
	<td valign=top>
		<b>Internet World Spring</b><BR><td valign=top>March 12-16, 2001<BR>
		Los Angeles, CA<BR><A HREF="http://events.internet.com/"
		target=_blank>events.internet.com</A><BR>
	</td></tr>  

	<!--gray row--><tr bgcolor="BFBFBF"><td valign=top>
		<b>Game Developers Conference</b><BR>
		<td valign=top>March 20-24, 2001<BR>San Jose, CA<BR>
		<A HREF="http://www.cgdc.com/" target=_blank>www.cgdc.com</A><BR>
	</td></tr>

	<tr>
	<td valign=top>
		<b>CeBit</b><BR><td valign=top>March 22-28, 2001<BR>
		Hannover, Germany<BR><A HREF="http://www.cebit.de/" target=_blank>
		www.cebit.de</A><BR>
	</td></tr> 

	<!--gray row--><tr bgcolor="BFBFBF"><td valign=top>
		<b>Linux Business Expo</b><BR>
		<td valign=top>April 2-5, 2001<BR>Chicago, IL<BR>
		<A HREF="http://www.linuxbusinessexpo.com/" target=_blank>
		www.linuxbusinessexpo.com</A><BR>
	</td></tr> 

	<tr>
	<td valign=top>
		<b>Strictly e-Business Solutions Expo</b><BR>
		<td valign=top>May 23-24, 2001<BR>Location unknown at present<BR>
		<A HREF="http://www.stricltyebusinessexpo.com/" target=_blank>
		www.strictlyebusinessexpo.com</A><BR>
	</td></tr> 

	<!--gray row--><tr bgcolor="BFBFBF"><td valign=top>
		<b>USENIX Annual Technical Conference</b><BR>
		<td valign=top>June 25-30, 2001<BR>Boston, MA<BR>
		<A HREF="http://www.usenix.org/" target=_blank>www.usenix.org</A><BR>
	</td></tr> 

	<tr>
	<td valign=top>
		<b>PC Expo</b><BR>
		<td valign=top>June 26-29, 2001<BR>New York, NY<BR>
		<A HREF="http://www.pcexpo.com/" target=_blank>www.pcexpo.com</A><BR>
	</td></tr>

	<!--gray row--><tr bgcolor="BFBFBF"><td valign=top>
		<b>Internet World</b><BR><td valign=top>July 10-12, 2001<BR>
		Chicago, IL<BR><A HREF="http://events.internet.com/"
		target=_blank>events.internet.com</A><BR>
	</td></tr>

	<tr>
	<td valign=top>
		<b>O'Reilly Open Source Convention</b><BR>
		<td valign=top>July 23-26, 2001<BR>San Diego, CA<BR>
		<A HREF="http://conferences.oreilly.com/" target=_blank>
		conferences.oreilly.com</A><BR>
	</td></tr>

	<!--gray row--><tr bgcolor="BFBFBF"><td valign=top>
		<b>LinuxWorld Conference & Expo</b><BR>
		<td valign=top>Conference: August 27-30, Exposition: August 28-30, 2001<BR>San Francisco, CA<BR>
		<A HREF="www.linuxworldexpo.com" target="_blank">www.linuxworldexpo.com</A><BR>
</td></tr>

<tr>
<td valign=top>
	<b>Linux Lunacy<br>Co-Produced by <i>Linux
	Journal</i> and Geek Cruises</b><BR>
	<td valign=top>October 21-28, 2001<BR>Eastern Carribean<BR>
	<A HREF="http://www.geekcruises.com/" target=_blank>
	www.geekcruises.com</A><BR>
</td></tr> 


</table>


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">OEone and Tatung Join Forces
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>Toronto, ON - October 31, 2000:
A joint agreement has been
announced between Ottawa-based 
<a href="http://www.oeone.com/">OEone</a> and 
<a href="http://www.tatung.com/">Tatung Co.</a>
of Canada. The two
companies will be working together to bring fully-integrated, Linux-based
Internet Computer solutions to leading OEM customers.
The core of this deal is an exclusive arrangement between the two
parties to fully integrate OEone's Linux-based Operating Environment and web
applications with Tatung's All-In-One plus additional custom computer
designs.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">SGI and ePeople Linux support
</FONT>
</H3> 
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. Nov. 6, 2000: SGI and ePeople are bringing a
new online technical support marketplace to Linux users. Linux users can
receive support through a new 
<a href="http://www.support.sgi.com/linux/helpdesk"> SGI Online Helpdesk</a> 
or through the 
<a href="http://www.epeople.com">ePeople</a> marketplace web site.
<P>  The agreement also allows the more than 200 SGI open source operating
system support technicians to join the ePeople marketplace to provide
fee-based Linux support to anyone who needs it. 
SGI also offers Web-based service incident packs, called WebPacks, from
its Online Helpdesk. WebPacks are prepaid
service agreements available in quantities of 5, 10 or 20 incidents,
(e.g. a 5-incident WebPack costs $449 (U.S. list)).


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Clarksville Linux Users Group
</FONT>
</H3>
Kinda a local news item (Tennessee, USA), but LUG's are a very important part
of the whole Linux movement:
The 
<a href="http://www.cllug.org/">CLlug</a> 
meets the third Thursday of every month in the Claxton
Bldg, third floor @ Austin Peay State University. CLlug has been around
for almost one year and is actively recruiting new members.
Mark, from CLlug, tells us that they are pushing for further Linux use in
the University, in particular by linking in with staff who
already use Open Source software. The group have also got the use of the
College's projection facilities for meetings and classes.

<p>Our Editor, Mike, recommends looking up 
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/glue">GLUE</a> (Groups of Linux Users
Everywhere) for anyone interested in finding like-minded
individuals in their area, or in publicising new groups.


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">IBM/KDE League and Voice Technology
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P> November 15, 2000 (Las Vegas, Nevada): Further to their existing support
for Linux, IBM  are now joining the KDE League, and integrating their Via
Voice technology into KDE.
IBM's ViaVoice is currently the only voice recognition software
commercially available for the Linux operating environment.
<p>The KDE League is a group of industry leaders and
KDE developers formed to focus on facilitating the promotion, distribution and
development of KDE.
The League will not be directly
involved in developing the core KDE libraries and applications, but rather
will focus on promoting the use of KDE and development of KDE software by
third party developers.



<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Linuxcare and Eazel partner
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P>SAN  FRANCISCO Nov. 7, 2000: 
<a href="http://www.linuxcare.com">Linuxcare</a>  and  
<a href="http://www.eazel.com">Eazel</a>
announced a partnership geared toward speeding Linux development.   


<P> Under  the agreement, Linuxcare will provide email support services to
customers of  Eazel's  Network  User  Environment  which  includes  Eazel
Services and the Nautilus    client    for   Linux   systems   which   can
be   downloaded   at 
<a href="http://www.eazel.com">www.eazel.com</a>.
Linuxcare will also maintain a
Linux knowledgebase support site  at  Eazel.com  by capturing documentation
and software updates, as well as managing and updating support FAQs.
Linuxcare's services will support the preview of Eazel's Internet services
and  Nautilus  client that  is  being integrated  with the GNOME 1.4
windowing system.



<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Training Pages (UK's Largest Online Training Directory) Reaches 10,000 Courses
</FONT>
</H3> 
Training Pages announced that it had just passed the landmark of ten
thousand (10,000) distinct and separate courses.
<P> Training Pages runs entirely on open source software,
including the Linux operating system, the Apache web server, the MySQL
database and the PHP scripting language.



<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Announcing Release 0.9.2 of the Computer History Graphing Project
</FONT>
</H3> 


<P> Version 0.9.2 of the Computer History Graphing Project has now been
released.  The project aims to graph all of computerdom in one large family
tree.
This version contains an updated version of the unified parser program,
parsech. It can now optionally output a DBM hash containing the parsed data.
The documentation has also been updated, in addition to the data trees. More
specifically, the NeXT, Palm, Windows, and Apple Darwin trees have all been
updated. The project's web site is located at
<a href="http://comp-hist.sourceforge.net">comp-hist.sourceforge.net</a>.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Linux Links
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P> Adobe beta tested a Linux version of FrameMaker, then decided not to
release a product.  <A HREF="http://www.lwn.net/2000/1130/">Linux Weekly News speculates why.</A>

<P> Is the Internet in China, rather than heralding an age of open
communication, actually solidifying Big Brother's control?  
<EM>Linux Journal</EM> author Bryan Pfaffenberger argues so in his web article
<A HREF="http://noframes.linuxjournal.com/articles/currents/0024.html">The Internet in China</A>.

<P> Tips on getting that <A HREF="http://www-sop.inria.fr/koala/colas/mouse-wheel-scroll/">darned mouse wheel</A> to scroll under X.

<P> Links from 
<a href="http://www.thedukeofurl.org/">The Duke of URL</a>:
<ul>
<LI>
<a href="http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/misc/mandrake72">
Linux-Mandrake 7.2</A> review.

<li>
<a href="http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/misc/bestlinux2000r2">
BestLinux 2000</a> 
review
<li>
<a href="http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/systems/pogogig">Review</a>
of Pogo Linux Gigahertz machine, a dual boot machine that has Red Hat 7 and
Windows Me
<li>
<a href="http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/misc/linuxguide6">
Monthly buyer's guide</a>, 
updated  to include an SMP system in the line-up.
<li>
<a href="http://www.thedukeofurl.org/contests.shtml">
The Duke of URL  and O'Reilly</a> 
 are giving away a signed book weekly to launch
their new newsletter. Sign
up for the newsletter and you're entered.
</ul>

Links from <a href="http://www.anchordesk.co.uk">Anchordesk</a> and 
<a href="http://www.zdnet.co.uk">ZDnet</a>:
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://cgi.zdnet.com/slink?61170:**(*subr_id)**">Should all
software be open sourced?</a>
A look at the advantages and disadvantages
of open source versus proprietary software.
<li>
<a href="http://cgi.zdnet.com/slink?62771:**(*subr_id)**">Linux's Sun Rises:</a>
The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) Japanese wing takes flight
and its first certification exams in a language other than English.
<li>
<P> 
<a href="http://cgi.zdnet.com/slink?63619:**(*subr_id)**">
Open source software is NOT free!</a>
Rick Lehrbaum examines the hours and sweat invested by individuals and
companies  in creating, testing, and maintaining it.
<li>
<P> 
<a href="http://www.anchordesk.co.uk/anchordesk/commentary/columns/0,2415,7106917,00.html">The  open-source life</a>
The author of an important development tool for Linux programmers,
writes about his project (the LTT) and complex GPL copyright issues.
<li>
<P> 
<a href="http://cgi.zdnet.com/slink?65357:**(*subr_id)**">
The coders' collective:</a>
FreeDevelopers.net
is seeking to reinvent the way companies produce software.  Is the
world ready for a democratically-elected software company?
<li>
<P> 
<a href="http://www.anchordesk.co.uk/anchordesk/commentary/columns/0,2415,7107164,00.html">Open-source rumble?</a>
A look at the rivalries in the open source community, and the effect on
software development.
</ul>

<p>
<a href="http://www.msnbc.com/news/490500.asp#BODY">MSNBC</a> have a good 
report from COMDEX 2000, focusing on the rise of embedded Linux systems.

<p>
A look at <a href="http://oreilly.linux.com/pub/a/linux/2000/10/09/rt.html">
Gnutella</a>, and possible legal implications.

<p>
<a href="http://www.sage-au.org.au/osda/">
Open-source developer's agreement</a>
(clauses for the contract between
developers and their employers)

<p>
<a href="http://slashdot.org/books/00/09/25/2233200.shtml">Slashdot review
of a book</a> 
explaining the Open Source revolution to non-tekkies.

<p>
<a href="http://www.linuxworld.com/linuxworld/lw-2000-11/lw-11-penguin_4.html">
From Linuxworld</a>, an article alleging that MS is using Linux code in the
latest Windows versions to make their product more stable.


<p>
Traceroute Java Servlet sources (under Linux) are now available
for free downloading from the
<a href="http://cities.lk.net/trdownload.html">
http://cities.lk.net/trdownload.html</a>




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

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">IBM Small Business Suite for Linux
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P> Somers, NY, November 6, 2000 . . . IBM today announced the industry's first
Linux-based integrated software solution for small businesses.
It delivers the tools necessary to help
customers with messaging and collaboration, productivity, Web site creation
and design, and data management. IBM also includes a fully integrated
install program.

<P> "This offering provides small businesses, and the Value-Added Resellers
(VARs) and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) that serve them, everything
they need to do serious e-business on Linux.," said Scott Handy, director,
Linux solutions marketing, IBM Software.  "The IBM Small Business Suite is
first-of-a-kind for Linux and delivers the three most requested servers:
database, e-mail and Web application server software, delivering a great
solution at a great price."

<P> The suite is available for US$499 at
<A HREF="http://www.ibm.com/shopibm">www.ibm.com/shopibm</A>.  Site licenses are also
available.  Supported distributions
include Caldera, Red Hat, SuSE and TurboLinux.  The installer program and 
desktop software are available in ten European and Asian languages.

<P> The Small Business Suite for Linux includes the following software:

<H4>Lotus Domino Release 5.04</H4>
Is a leading messaging and collaboration solution that allows customers to
get e-mail and Web sites up-and-running rapidly with a unified,
easy-to-manage administrator interface.  This solution provides desktop and
mobile e-mail, Web access, calendaring, group scheduling, bulletin
boards/newsgroups, workflow and database access. Domino sends and receives
e-mail using standard Internet e-mail protocols including native Internet
addressing, SMTP routing, and supports a wide variety of clients and
devices including a Web browsers, Lotus Notes clients, POP3 and IMAP4 mail
clients.

<H4>IBM WebSphere Application Server, Standard Edition Version 3</H4>
This delivers an open and flexible Web application runtime environment for
internal and external Web pages by allowing Java servlets to run on top
of an HTTP server including the Apache Web server or the included IBM HTTP
server powered by Apache.  The WebSphere Application Server makes it easy
to build security-enhanced, individual Web sites providing Web access to
credit, delivery, order processing or other business-critical information.
This offering also provides interaction with IBM DB2 Universal Database for
access to managed relational data directly from Web applications.

<H4>IBM DB2 Universal Database Version 7</H4>
This award-winning database is a powerful, easy-to-use multi-media ready
relational database management
system with the ability to handle the ad-hoc structured queries for a wide
variety of data types including text, data, voice, image or any binary
object.  Reports can be customized and generated from the information to
help run a small business more efficiently. Data from third party
applications that support DB2, such as accounting information, can be
stored, retrieved and reported on from DB2, routed or shared in a teamroom
with Lotus Domino or made accessible to
customers or suppliers over the internet with WebSphere Application Server.

<H4>IBM WebSphere Homepage Builder</H4> 
Includes the necessary templates, tools
and multimedia tutorials for creating and publishing Internet and intranet
Web sites and pages in minutes. This easy-to-use software is designed to
appeal to the ever-growing community using Linux as both a development
platform and a Web server environment.

<H4>IBM Suites Installer</H4>
This tool assists in the distributed installation and
configuration of the suite components and other applications, providing a
quick and easy way for customers to install the software.

<H4>WebSphere Studio</H4>  
Is a complete set of tools integrated and designed to
support all Web development levels, permitting content authors, graphic
artists, page scripters, Web programmers and webmasters to work on the same
projects simultaneously. WebSphere Studio features automated Web site
building, Java  applications and a host of other design and publishing
capabilities.

<H4>Domino Designer</H4>  
This rapid Web site design and development tool is used
to bring back office data to the Web and implement e-business processes
using HTML authoring, site/page design, frameset design and application
preview.



<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Wolfram Announces Mathematica 4.1
</FONT>
</H3> 

November 27, 2000--Champaign, IL: 
<a href="http://www.wolfram.com">Wolfram Research, Inc.</a> 
announces the release of Mathematica 4.1, the latest
version of their technical computing system.
Mathematica now supports all major
Linux platforms natively.
With Mathematica 4.1 and Parallel Computing Toolkit, the Linux
clusters popular in both academic and commercial settings can
easily solve large-scale problems.
There are currently more than
150 users of this powerful combination, including the Cornell
Theory Center.
<p>
Product details are available at
<a href="http://www.wolfram.com/products/mathematica/newin41.">
www.wolfram.com/products/mathematica/newin41.</a>

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Omnis Studio 3.0 now brings business solutions to the web even faster
</FONT>
</H3> 


<P> Omnis Software has announced the release of Omnis Studio 3.0, the latest
version of their  4GL rapid application development
(RAD) program. The new release incorporates extensive changes to their web
server and Web ClientT technologies, significantly speeding up web-based
business applications. It also includes a range of other enhancements to
make the development experience more intuitive, easier to use, and more
powerful.
<p>Omnis Studio is a high-performance
visual RAD tool that provides a component-based environment for building GUI
interfaces within e-commerce, database and client/server applications.
Development and deployment of Omnis Studio applications can occur
simultaneously in Linux, Windows, and Mac OS environments without changing
the application code.
<P>  A demonstration copy of Omnis Studio 3.0 can be downloaded from the web
site: <a href="http://www.omnis.net">www.omnis.net</a> and more details of the new version are available at:
<a href="http://www.omnis.net/v3">www.omnis.net/v3</a>.



<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Backup Utility Integrated into Linux NetworX Evolocity Clusters
</FONT>
</H3> 
SANDY, Utah, Nov. 8, 2000: 
<a href="http://www.linuxnetworx.com/">Linux NetworX, Inc.</a>
announced today the
integration of BRU(TM) Backup &amp Restore Utility into its Evolocity(TM)
cluster solutions. BRU is an award winning backup software solution for Linux
systems from 
<a href="http://www.estinc.com/">Enhanced Software Technologies, Inc.</a>.
<P> 	The reliability of tape device technology today is extremely high,
but the potential for errors on the tapes following the writing of the
archive can still occur in some cases.  BRU has the ability to effectively
detect and recover from errors when reading a tape to allow successful
completion of the restore.  
<p>
Evolocity cluster systems include computational hardware,
ClusterWorX(TM) management software, RapidFlow(TM) 10/100 and Gigabit
Ethernet Switch, applications, and storage, including the BRU backup
utility. 



<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Tribes(tm) 2 Coming to Linux: Beta Testers Needed
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P> Tustin, California - November 9, 2000:  
Loki Software, Inc.,  
publisher of commercial games for the Linux operating system, announces 
an agreement with Sierra Studios(tm) to bring the highly-anticipated 
Tribes(tm)  2 to Linux.
<P> Loki is porting this first-person action game alongside the Windows 
development, and is now accepting beta tester applications for the Linux 
version. Interested participants should visit 
<a href="http://www.lokigames.com">www.lokigames.com</a> and 
complete an online registration form.



<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Mahogany 0.60 GTK+/Win32 mail client with Python scripting
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P> A new release of the `Mahogany' e-Mail and News client has been made.
Mahogany is an OpenSource cross-platform mail and news client. It
is available for X11/Unix and MS Windows platforms, supporting a wide
range of protocols and standards, including POP3, IMAP and full MIME
support as well as secure communications via SSL.  Thanks to its
built-in Python interpreter it can be extended far beyond its original
functionality.
<p>
Source and binaries for a variety of Linux and Unix systems are
available at 
<a href="http://mahogany.sourceforge.net/">http://mahogany.sourceforge.net/</a>
and
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/mahogany/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/mahogany/</a>
<P> Binaries for Win32 systems and Debian packages will also be made available
shortly.



<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Opera for Linux Beta2
</FONT>
</H3> 


<P> The latest beta of Opera for Linux is
available at <a href="http://www.opera.com">Opera.com</a>.



<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Announcing GtkRadiant 1.1 Beta for Linux and Win32
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P> Loki Software, Inc. and QERadiant.com are pleased to release GtkRadiant 
1.1 beta for Linux and Win32. GtkRadiant is a cross-platform version of 
the Quake III Arena level editor Q3Radiant. GtkRadiant offers several
improvements over Q3Radiant and many new features.
<P> For more information, please visit
<a href="http://www.qeradiant.com/gtkradiant.shtml">
http://www.qeradiant.com/gtkradiant.shtml</a>.



<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Open Source Development Toolkit from Epitera
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P> LAS VEGAS - November 15, 2000:  AbsoluteX, a new Open Source development
toolkit, was officially launched at COMDEX 2000 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
AbsoluteX is an X-Window developer toolkit created by Epitera
(
<a href="http://www.epitera.com">http://www.epitera.com</a>
) to streamline and facilitate the process of developing
customized GUIs (graphical user interfaces) for Linux. It is available for
free download at (
<a href="http://www.absolutex.org">http://www.absolutex.org</a>
).
Epitera believes AbsoluteX will
help get Linux out of the exclusive IT world and into the mainstream desktop
world of home, work and novice users.


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Open Motif available on IA64 TurboLinux
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P> Integrated Computer Solutions, Inc. have announced  the first port of Motif to the 
upcoming IA64 platform from Intel. ICS says that this is important for the Linux community, 
because most of the existing Enterprise applications written for UNIX 
platforms (e.g., Suns, HP, SGI, etc.) use Motif as a GUI toolkit. Without 
the port of Motif to the IA64, it will be difficult and expensive for 
Enterprises to migrate to Linux.
<p>
A full 
<a href="http://www.ics.com/about/whatshot/press_releases/motif64.html">
press release</a>
is available. The software is also available for download from:
<a href="http://www.motifzone.net/download/dldform.php">
http://www.motifzone.net/download/dldform.php</a>



<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<H5 ALIGN=center>
Copyright &copy; 2000, Michael Conry and 
the Editors of <A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com"><I>Linux Gazette</I></A>.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR>
Published in Issue 60 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, December 2000</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->

<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -->
<center>
<H1><A NAME="answer">
	<img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" alt="(?)" 
		border="0" align="middle">
	<font color="#B03060">The Answer Gang</font>
	<img src="../gx/dennis/bbubble.gif" alt="(!)" 
		border="0" align="middle">
</A></H1> 
<BR>
<H4>By Jim Dennis, Ben Okopnik, Dan Wilder, Robert Uhl,
	Paul MacKerras, Dmitriy M. Labutin, Csar A. K. Grossmann,
 Niek Rijnbout, the Editors of <em>Linux Gazette</em>... and You!
<br>Send questions (or interesting answers) to
	<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com">tag@ssc.com</a>
</H4>
</center>

<p><hr><p>
<!--  endcut ======================================================= -->
<H3>Contents:</H3>
<dl>
<dt><a href="#tag/greeting"
	><strong>&para;: Greetings From Heather Stern</strong></A></dl>

<DL>
<!-- index_text begins -->
<dt><A HREF="#tag/1"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	></a>Caldera Names Linux Management Product Volution --or--
<dd><A HREF="#tag/1"
	><strong>LDAP users: look to Caldera.</strong></a>

<dt><A HREF="#tag/2"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>Windows NT Event Log on a Linux Box</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/3"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>Two OS</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/4"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>Best Linux Distro For A Newbie...?</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/5"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>newbie installation question</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/6"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>PPP protocol stack modification</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/7"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(!)" border="0"
	><strong>What IS "The Internet" anyway?</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/9"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>Classified Disk - Low-level Format</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/10"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>GPM is interfering with x...</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/11"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>Graphics Programming for Printing / Faxing</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/13"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>networked machine goes to sleep</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/17"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	></a>Internet server specifications --or--
<dd><A HREF="#tag/17"
	><strong>Web server/firewall hardware specifications, Apache and Zope</strong></a>

<dt><A HREF="#tag/18"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>'neighbour table overflow'</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/19"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>Networking</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/21"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(!)" border="0"
	><strong>DSL on Linux Information</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/22"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(!)" border="0"
	><strong>sticky notes</strong></a>
<!-- index_text ends -->
</DL>
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<A NAME="tag/greeting"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/hbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(&para;) " border="0"
	>Greetings from Heather Stern</H3>
<!-- begin hgreeting -->

<p>Hello, everyone, and welcome to issue 60... that means the whole 'zine has
   been here for 5 years now?  That's just amazing to me.  In fact I'm coming
   up on 3 years as the HTML wizardess for TAG in only a few months.  Y2K
   is almost over and all the usual questions are still here.  The only thing
   different is that politics grow more boneheaded every year  
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
                height="24" width="20" align="middle">  I don't care.  I
   have my own plans for the season - what a fun Xmas this is going to be!

<p>This seems to be the season that I get to help my friends who are only
   now getting into Linux (computing at all, in one case) get themselves
   all tucked in and snug in their distros.  With any luck enough of you
   out there are doing the same, and we'll see a new blush on some
   HOWTOs in the LDP project which have gotten a bit dusty.  (If you might
   want to work on that, see the thread 
   "<a href="#tag/5">newbie installation question</a>" below)  For one of
   these pals, I'm not even sure which distro we are going to end up using...
   only that she can't bear to see a poor old 486 trapped under the yoke
   of Redmond any longer... (For a dissertation on selecting distros, see
   the thread "<a href="#tag/4">Best Linux Distro for a Newbie</a>" where
   I recycled more than my fair share of electrons babbling about it.)

<p>We just got a sweet little toy for ourselves here in the Starshine
   network, specifically, an NIC (New Internet Computer) from 
	<a href="http://www.thinknic.com/">ThinkNIC.com</a>.  It comes
   with a CD, Linux based, and you just plug it in (power, modem or ether,
   it comes with speakers and keyboard), add a monitor and off you go.
   Errr, it didn't like our really old VGA monitor.  I wonder just how
   long it's been since <em>any</em> of our machines have used that monitor
   for graphics at all... um, where was I?  Oh yeah.  It took a little while
   to find ssh and VNC in there, but it's a pretty useful setup.  Nonetheless,
   we're going to see if we can run any other CD based distros on it too.  
   This will make for hours of fun.

<p>Now I suppose it's possible that you would be thinking of candied yams
   and duck dinners and the large fellow with the sack of toys about now.
   In our household it's more likely to be Bootable Business Card stocking
   stuffers (er, after we shave the contents down a bit - the RW business
   cards Jim got me are a bit small - but I'm sure you can find a dozen
   places selling 'em if you go to Google with the search keys 
	<tt>business card</tt> and <tt>CDRW</tt>.
   Depending on the nerdiness factor in your household, the CDRW's might
   make a great stuffer even if left blank 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
                height="24" width="20" align="top">

<p>As for the meal of the season, since Jim and I are heading out to 
   <a href="http://www.usenix.org/events/lisa2000/">LISA 2000</a> in
   New Orleans, the annual sysadmin's conference, we are going to enjoy 
   some jazz and jambalaya.  We'll also have a chance to hear Illiad as
   a keynote speaker.   BOFH meets 
   <a href="http://www.userfriendly.org">Dust Puppy</a>?  Oh my.  This 
   <em>is</em> gonna be fun...

<p>Wherever the season takes you, and whatever it happens to bring, remember
   we're all here to <em>make Linux a little more fun!</em>  

<!-- end hgreeting -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<A NAME="tag/1"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 1 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>LDAP users: look to Caldera.</H3>


<p><strong>From Caldera
</strong></p>
<!-- ::
LDAP users: look to <A HREF="http://www.caldera.com/">Caldera</A>.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:: -->
<BLOCKQUOTE>
As a followup to the LDAP discussions that have been answered here:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQuote>
Caldera Systems' Linux management solution (formerly code-named
"Cosmos") has been named Caldera Volution. The product, currently in open
beta, is available for download from Caldera's Web site at
</BLOCKQuote></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<A HREF="http://www.calderasystems.com/beta"
	>http://www.calderasystems.com/beta</A>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
More details can be found in our News Bytes
(<A HREF="bytes60.html#distro"
	>Distribution section</A>).
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 1 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<A NAME="tag/2"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 2 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Windows NT Event Log on a Linux Box</H3>


<p><strong>Answers by: Dmitriy M. Labutin, Csar A. K. Grossmann,
 Niek Rijnbout 
</strong></p>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Hi,
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
You can dump NT event log with dumpel utility (it comes with WindowsNT
Resource kit) into flat file.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Cheers
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Cesar]
To do this I must "be" in the NT computer. Not a thing I can schedule a
crontab at the Linux box to do it. I was thinking in some utility I can
use to dump the log remotely, from the Linux box, where I have some
freedom and tools to do nasty things such as reporting unusual
activities from the users...
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE>
<DL><DT>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Nick] See
<DD><A HREF="http://www.eventreporter.com/en"
	>http://www.eventreporter.com/en</A>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
</DL>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
...for a $25 application to send the NT log to a syslog host.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Regards
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<p><em>The app Nick mentions also appears to deal well with Win2000
	and offers email as well as syslog transfer of the events.
	-- Heather</em></p>

<!-- end 2 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<A NAME="tag/3"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 3 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Two OS</H3>


<p><strong>From Juan Pryor on Tue, 7 Nov 2000  
<br>Answered by: Heather Stern
</strong></p>

<P><STRONG>
I'm pretty new to Linux and I was wondering if there is a way in which I
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
can have two OSes working at the same time. I mean, I've had some trouble
with the people at my house since they want to go back to Win98 and I only
have one PC. Is there any win98 program that reboots and starts in Linux and
then when the computer reboots it starts in win98 again? Any help will do.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Juan,
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
It's very common for Linux users to have their systems setup as dual-boot,
sometimes up in MSwin, sometimes running Linux.  Some distributions even
try to make it easy to turn a box which is completely Windows into a half
and half setup (or other divisions as you like).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
There is a DOS program named <TT>LOADLIN.EXE</TT> which can easily load up a Linux
kernel kept as a file in the MSwin filesystem somewhere - my friends that
do this like to keep their Linux parts under c:\linux so they can find them
easily.  Loadlin is commonly found in a tools directory on major distro CDs.
Of course, you do have to let Windows know that Loadlin needs full CPU control.
In that sense, it's no different than setting up a PIF for some really cool
DOS game that takes over the box, screen and all.  Anyways, there's even a
nice GUI available to help you configure it, called Winux, which you can
get at <A HREF="http://www.linux-france.org/prj/winux/English"
	>http://www.linux-france.org/prj/winux/English</A> ... which, I'm pleased
to add, comes in several languages.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
It's also possible to setup LILO so that it always prefers to boot MSwin
(the option is often called '<tt>dos</tt>') instead of Linux... in fact, I recommend
this too, unless you want to not be able to boot Linux from anything but a
floppy if MSwin should happen to mangle its drive space too far.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Now this is kind of different from "two OSes working at the same time"...
It is possible to run VMware, and have a couple of different setups running
together, but doing this might be rather confusing to family who are not used
to anything but Windows.  They might accidentally hit some key combination
that switches to the other environment that's running, and think they broke
something even if it's all running perfectly.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
To finish off - it's also possible to find really friendly boot managers;
I've been looking over one named GAG (don't laugh, it's just initials for
Spanish words meaning "Graphical Boot Manager") that looks like it might
be fun, at <A HREF="http://www.rastersoft.com/gageng.htm"
	>http://www.rastersoft.com/gageng.htm</A>.  It was just updated, too.
Anyways, it can boot up to 9 different choices and has nice icons to use for
a lot of different OSs you may have on a system.  Unlike LILO and some other
boot managers that only replace the DOS "master boot record", though, it
takes over a fair chunk of track 0.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 3 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<A NAME="tag/4"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 4 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Best Linux Distro For A Newbie...?</H3>


<p><strong>From Michael Lauzon to tag on Tue, 14 Nov 2000  
<br>Answers by: Dan Wilder, Ben Okopnik, Heather Stern
</strong></p>
<strong><p>
I am wondering, what is the best Linux distro for a newbie to learn
on (I have been told never to ask this question or it would start a
flame war; I of course don't care)...so in your opinion: what is the
best Linux distro for a newbie?
</p></strong>
<strong><p>
---
Michael Lauzon
</p></strong>

<!--              . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .              -->
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Dan]
&lt;troll&gt;
<br><A HREF="http://www.slackware.org/">Slackware</A>.  Beause by the time you really get it
installed and running, you know a lot more about
what's under Linux's hood, than with any other
common distribution!
<br>&lt;/troll&gt;
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
--
<br>Dan Wilder
<br>Darn those trolls anyway.  They're eating the dahlias now!
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockquote>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
&lt;Grumble&gt; Sure, <em>you</em> don't care; <em>we're</em> the ones that 
need the asbestos raincoats! 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
Well yeah, but I usually put out the flame with a Halon cannister labelled
"waaay too much information."   It does make me popular in the mailing lists
though.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Spoilsport. 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle"> 
</BLOCKQUOTE>

</blockquote>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
To follow on in the spirit of Dan's contribution:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
&lt;Great Big Troll With Heavy Steel-Toed Boots&gt;
<br><A HREF="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</A>, <em>of course</em>. 
Not only do you get to learn all the Deep
Wizardry, you get all the power tools <em>and</em> a super-easy package
installer - just tell it which archive server you want to use, 
and it installs everything you want!
<br>&lt;/GBT&gt;
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
(The <em>Linux Gazette</em> - your best resource for Linux fun, info, and
<EM>polite</EM> flame wars... 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
Of course it helps if you know which archive server you want to use, or
that the way to tell it so is to add lines to <TT>/etc/apt/sources.list</TT> ...
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Oooh, are <EM>you</EM> in for a pleasant surprise! (I was...) These days, "apt"
(via dselect) asks you very politely which server you want to use, and
handles the "sources.list" on its own. I still wish they'd let you
<EM>append</EM> sources rather than having to rewrite the entire list (that's
where knowing about "<TT>/etc/apt</TT>" comes in handy), but the whole "dselect"
interface is pretty slick nowadays. It even allows you to specify
CD-based (i.e., split) sources; I'm actually in the process of setting
up Debian 2.2 right now, and my sources are a CD-ROM and DVD drive - on
another one of my machines - and an FTP server for the "non-free" stuff.
Being the type of guy who likes to read all the docs and play with the
new toys, I used "tasksel" for the original selection, "dselect" for the
gross uninstallation of all the extraneous stuff, and "apt-get" for all
subsequent install stuff. It's worked flawlessly.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
I did write a big note on debian-laptops a while back about installing
Debian by skipping the installer, but I think I'll let my notes about
the handful of debian based distros stand.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
I agree with your evaluation. It's one of the things I really like about
Debian; I was able to throw an install onto a 40MB (!) HD on a junk
machine which I then set up as a PostScript "server", thus saving the
company untold $$$s in new PS-capable printers.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
There is rpmfind to attempt to make rpm stuff more fun to install, but
it's still a young package.  I think the K guys have the right idea, writing
a front end that deals with more than one package type.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Yep; "alien" in Debian works well, but I remember it being a "Catch-22"
nightmare to get it going in RedHat. I've got package installation
(whatever flavor) down to a science at this point, but it could be made
easier.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
</blockquote>
<!--              . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .              -->

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
It's really a matter of requirements analysis.  Most of the flame wars arise
from people stating their own preferences, and fussing over those instead of
trying to figure out which would work best for <EM>you</EM>.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Learning linux is a big definition, some people mean learning the unixlike
features that they've never encountered before; some people mean learning to
use the same things in Linux that they already know how to use in other systems.
These are, to say the least, rather opposite needs...
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If you want to goof off learning Linux but are very afraid of touching
your hard drive's data, there are a few distributions designed to run off
of a CD, or out of RAM.  One pretty good one that runs directly from a
RAMdisk is <A HREF="http://www.toms.net/rb/">Tom's rootboot</A> (<A HREF="http://www.tons.net/rb"
	>http://www.tons.net/rb</A>).  While a lot of people
use it merely as a rescue disk, Tom himself lives in it day to day.  But,
it's not graphical.  And, it's libc5 based, so it's a little strange to get
software for.  It uses a different shell than most major distributions, but
the same kernels.  It's not exactly aimed at "just surfing the web and doing
email" which I often hear newbies say that they'd be happy with.  Linux
Weekly News (<A HREF="http://www.lwn.net"
	>http://www.lwn.net</A>) has recently sorted their distributions,
so you could find a CD based distro that meets these more mainstream desires
fairly easily there.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If you want to learn about things from their raw parts, the way some kids
like to learn about cars by putting one together themselves, there is a
Linux From Scratch HOWTO stored at the <A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/">LDP</A> site (<A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org"
	>http://www.linuxdoc.org</A>).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If the newbie's native language isn't English, he or she probably wants a
localized distro, that is, one that installs and whose menus, etc. are in
their language.  (I'm guessing that such a newbie wouldn't be you - your
.sig links were to purely English websites.)  You can find a bunch of those
at LWN too, but you'll have to go looking at home pages to be sure what
languages are covered.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Otherwise, you probably want a "normal" linux, in other words, a major distro.
Newbies generally want to be able to ask their local gurus for help, rather
than wonder if some random wizard on the internet will ever answer them.  If
your local techie pals have a favorite, try that - they'll be better at helping
you with it than stuff they don't know as well.  I could be wrong of course -
some techie folks prefer to learn stuff the same time you do, and you can get
a great sense of energy by sometimes figuring out a thing here and there faster
than they do.  But by and large, gaining from someone else's experience will
make things smoother, a smooth start will generally be more fun, and enjoying
your first experiences will make you more willing to experiment later.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If you like to learn from a book, there are a fair number of books that are
about a specific distro, and have a CD of that distro in the back.  These
are good, but not usually aimed at people who want to dual boot.  Just so
you know.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The big commercial brands usually try to push that they're an easy install.
What they don't push so much is their particular specialty, the market they
are aiming for.  I've heard good things about <A HREF="http://linux.corel.com/">Corel</A> (esp. for dual boot
plans), I've seen good things with both <A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A> and Storm.  Mandrake and <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</A>
have both been a little weird to install - not too bad, but I'm experienced,
and enjoy wandering around reading the little notes before doing things ...
if you want the computer to be bright enough to do it all by itself, these
might not be for you.  (note, my Mandrake experience is a version old.  And
they compile everything Pentium optimized, so if things go smoothly, it will
usually be a lot faster system.)  Several of the brands are now pushing a
"graphical installer" which is supposed to be <EM>even</EM> easier.  However, if
you have a really bleeding edge video card, it would also make the distro a
real pain to install.  Storm and RedHat favor graphical over non-graphical
installs.  <A HREF="http://www.libranet.com/">LibraNet</A> has a nongraphical install that still gives Debian a
somewhat friendlier setup.  I hear that <A HREF="http://www.slackware.org/">Slackware</A> is fairly friendly to
people who like to compile their own software, and I never hear anything
about their installer, so maybe it is really incredibly easy.  Or maybe my
friends don't want to tell me about their install woes once they get going,
I dunno 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If RedHat (6.2, I have to say I haven't tried 7 yet) is where you're going,
and their graphical install is a bummer for you, use their "expert" mode.
Their "text" mode is almost useless, and they really do have lots of help
in expert mode, so it's not as bad as you would think.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
In any case, I would recommend backing up your current system if there's
anything on it you want to keep, not because the installs are hard - they're
nothing like the days before the 1.0 kernel - but because this is the most
likely time to really mangle something, and you'll just kick yourself if you
need a backup after all and don't have one.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The next thing to consider is your philosophy.  Do you want to be a minimalist,
only adding stuff that makes sense to you (or that you've heard of), and then
add more later?  If so, you want a distro that makes it really easy to add
more later.  Debian and its derivatives are excellent for this - that includes
Corel, Libranet, and Storm.  SuSE's YaST also does pretty well for this, but
they don't update as often... on the other hand, they don't get burned at the
bleeding edge a lot, either.  If most of the stuff you'll add later is likely
to be commercial, RedHat or a derivative like Mandrake might be better - lots
of companies ship RedHat compatible rpm's first, and get around to the other
distros later, if at all.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If you have a scrap machine to play on, try several distros, one at a time;
most of them are available as inexpensive eval disks from the online stores.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If you'd rather install the kitchen sink and take things back out later, any
of the "power pack" type stuff, 3 CDs or more in the set, might work for you.
Most of these are still based on major distros anyway, there's just a lot more
stuff listed, and you swap a couple of CDs in.  Umm, the first things you'll
probably end up deleting are the packages to support languages you don't use...
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
A minimal but still graphical install should fit in a gigabyte or so - might
want 2.  A more thorough setup should go on 6 Gb of disk or so (you can, of
course, have more if you like).   It's possible to have usable setups in
300 to 500 Mb, but tricky... so I wouldn't recommend that a newbie impose
such restrictions on himself.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
To summarize, decide how much disk you want to use (if any!) and whether
you want to go for a minimal, a mostly-normal, or a full-to-the-brim
environment.  Consider what sort of help you're going to depend on, and
that might make your decision for you.  But at the end, strive to have fun.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Heather, I have to say that this is about the most
comprehensive answer to the "WITBLD" question yet, one that looks at a
number of the different sides of it; color me impressed.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<p><em>WITBLD = "What Is The Best Linux Distro"</em></p>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
The key thing here is that there are several aspects of a system.  When one
is "easiest" fo you it doesn't mean all the others are.  So, you have to decide
what parts you care the most about making easy, and what parts you consider
worth some effort for the experience you'll get.  Once you know that, you
are less of a newbie already.  I hope my huge note helped, anyway.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<p><strong><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Well, I bought <A HREF="http://www.caldera.com/">Caldera</A> OpenLinux eDesktop 2.4, so I am looking for
people who have had experience with OpenLinux.  I still haven't
installed it on a computer yet, as I need to upgrade the computer;
but once I do that I will install it (though i do plan on buying
other distros to try out).
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
---
Michael Lauzon
</strong></p>

<!-- end 4 -->
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<A NAME="tag/5"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 5 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>newbie installation question</H3>

<p><strong>From vinod kumar d
<br>Answers by: Heather Stern, Ben Okopnik
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG>
Hello
I'm about to install Redhat Linux as a dual boot on my
machine running win98 that came preconfig'd to use my
30 gigs all for windows, and for all the browsing i
did through red hat's online docs, i could'nt figure
out one basic thing:
should i have an unallocated partition to begin
installation, or will disk druid/fips do the
"non-descructive repartitioning" as part of the
install?
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
I do not remember if RedHat will do the right thing here
or not.  <A HREF="http://linux.corel.com/">Corel</A>Linux will (in fact, made a great PR splash by
being one to make this pleasant).  Um, but CorelLinux is
a debian-type system, not a rpm type system.  I'm not sure
what requirements had you pick RedHat, maybe you need
something a bit more similar.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Having recently done a couple of RH installations, I can give you the
answer... and you're right, it's <EM>not</EM> the one you'd like to hear. 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
No, RedHat does not do non-destructive repartitioning. Yes, you do need
to have another partition (or at least unallocated space on the drive)
for the installation - in fact, you should have a minimum of two
partitions for Linux, one for the data/programs/etc., and the other one
for a swap partition (a max of 128MB for a typical home system.) There
are reasons for splitting the disk into even more partitions...
unfortunately, I haven't found any resources that explain it in any
detail, and a number of these reasons aren't all that applicable to a
home system anyway.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
if i do need the unallocated partition, which is the
best partition software to use cos i have stuff that i
dont want to lose.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
If you feel up to buying another commercial product,
PartitionMagic is very highly regarded.  Not just amongst
us linux-ers, but also for people who wanted to make
a new D:, give half a server to Novell, or something like
that.  It's very smart.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
It's also what comes in CorelLinux...
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If you're more into Linux than MSwin and comfortable
with booting under a rescue environment, I'm pleased to
note that gparted (the GNU partition editor) deals well
with FAT32 filesystems.   <A HREF="http://www.tuxtops.com/">Tuxtops</A>  uses that.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If you're feeling cheap, FIPS is a program that can do
the drive division after booting from a DOS floppy, which
you can easily make under the MSwin you already have.
I'm pretty sure a copy of FIPS is on the redhat CD as
a tool, so you could use that.  It doesn't do anything
but cut the C: partition into two parts.  You'd still
use disk druid later to partition the Linux stuff the
way you want.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
(Of course mentioning buying a preloaded dual boot from
one of the Linux vendors like Tuxtops, <A HREF="http://www.valinux.com/">VA Linux</A>, Penguin,
or others is a bit late.  I'm sure you're fairly fond of
your 30 Gb system with the exception of wanting to set
it up just a bit more.)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
None of these repartitioners will move your MS Windows
swap file though.  In the initial setup MS' is as likely to
have the swap near the beginning of the drive, or the end.
I recommend that you use the control panel advanced system
options to turn off the swap file, and your favorite
defragmenter, and then run a nice solid backup of your
windows stuff before going onwards.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
This isn't because Linux installs might be worse than you
think (though there's always a chance) but because Windows
is fragile enough on its own, and frankly, backups under
any OS are such a pain that some people don't do them very
often, or test that they're good when they do.  (I can hardly
imagine something more horrible than to have a problem, pat
yourself on the back for being good enough to do regular
backups, and discover that the last two weeks of them simply
are all bad.   Eek!)  So now, while you're thinking:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQuote>
"cos i have stuff that i dont want to lose."
</BLOCKQuote></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
is a better time than most!
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Following on to Heather's advice, here's a slightly different
perspective: I've used Partition Magic, as well as a number of other
utilities to do "live partition" adjustment (i.e., partitions with data
on them.) At some point, <EM>all</EM> of these, with one exception, have
played merry hell with boot sectors, etc. - thus reinforcing Heather's
point about doing a backup NOW. The exception has turned out to be cheap
old FIPS; in fact, that's all I use these days.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
FIPS does indeed force you to do a few things manually (such as
defragmenting your original partition); I've come to think that I would
rather do that than let PM or others of its ilk do some Mysterious
Something in the background, leaving me without a hint of where to look
if something does go wrong. Make sure to follow the FIPS instructions
about backing up your original boot sector; again, I've never had it
fail on me, but best to "have it and not need it, rather than need it
and not have it."
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
In regard to the Windows swap file, the best way I've found to deal
with it is by running the defrag, rebooting into DOS, and <EM>deleting</EM>
the swapfile from the root directory. Windows will rebuild it, without
even complaining, the next time you start it.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
i really tried a lot of faq's before asking you, so
could you go easy if you're planning to:
a) flame me about rtfm'ing first.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
Oboy, a chance to soapbox about doing documentation 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle"> I
promise, no flame!
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If we should do this we generally are at least kind enough
to say which F'ing M's to R.  Which brings another thought
to mind.  FAQs and HOWTOs are okay, but they are sort of...
dry.  Maybe you could do an article for <em>Linux Gazette</em>
about your experience, and "make linux a little more fun"
(our motto) for others who are doing the dual boot install
their first time out.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Unfortunately it's really sad that the FAQs and HOWTOs
aren't as useful to everyone as they could be 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/unsmily.gif" ALT=":(" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If one of them was pretty close and just plain wasn't quite
right, or wasn't obvious until you already went through it,
give a shot at improving it a little, and send your notes back
to the maintainer.  If he or she doesn't answer you in a long
time (say a month or two) let us know, maybe get together with
some friends and see if you can become its new maintainer.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
To be the maintainer of a Linux project doesn't always mean to
write everything in it, just sort of to try and make sure it
stays with the times.  Linus himself doesn't write every little
fragment of code in the kernel - though maybe he reads most
of it :D - he maintains it, and keeps it from falling apart in
confusion.  This is <EM>really</EM> important.  Documents need this too.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Because these things are not meant to be ground in stone, they're
written to be <EM>useful</EM> and yeah, sometimes it happens that the
fella who first wrote a given doc has moved on to other things.
Meanwhile folks like you join the linux bandwagon every month and
still <EM>need</EM> them, but Linux changes and so do the distros.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
But, it's ok if you <EM>personally</EM> can't go for that.  It's enough
if we can find out what important HOWTOs could stand some
improvement, since maybe it will get some more people working
on them.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
b) ignoring me totally.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
Sadly, we do get hundreds and hundreds of letters a month,
and don't answer nearly that many.  But hopefully what I
described above helped.  If it isn't enough, ask us in more
detail - there's a whole Gang of us here, and some of us
have more experience than others.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Well, OK - you get off scot-free <EM>this</EM> time, but if you ever ask
another question, we'll lock you in a room with a crazed hamster and two
dozen Pokemon toys on crack. 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle"> The Answer Gang in general seems to
have taken its mandate from Jim Dennis, the original AnswerGuy: give the
best possible answers to questions of general interest, be a good
information resource to the Linux community, and eschew flames -
incoming or outgoing. &lt;Grin&gt; I like being part of it.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
btw really liked your answers in the column (well
here's hoping some old fashioned flattery might do the
trick 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";-P" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">)
<br>thanks in advance...
<br>vinod
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
Thanks, vinod.  It's for people like you (and others out
there who find their answer and never write in at all) that
we do this.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
If you scratch us behind the ears, do we not purr? 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="bottom"> Thanks, Vinod;
I'm sure we all like hearing that our efforts are producing useful
dividends. As the folks on old-time TV used to say, "Keep those letters
and postcards coming!"
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 5 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<A NAME="tag/6"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 6 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>PPP protocol stack modification</H3>


<p><strong>From David Wojik
<br>Answered by: Heather Stern, Paul MacKerras
</strong></p>

<P><STRONG>
I need to modify the PPP daemon code to enable dynamic requests
to come in and renegotiate link parameters. I also need to make
it gather packet statistics. Do you know of any textbooks or
other documentation that explain the structure of the PPP protocol
stack implementation? The HowTos only explain how to use Linux
PPP, not how to modify it.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanks,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Dave
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
Once the ppp link is established, it's just IP packets like the rest of your
ethernet, so you should be able to get some statistics via ifconfig or other
tools which study ethernet traffic, I'd think.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Still, renegotiating the link sounds interesting (I'm not sure I see what
circumstances should cause it ... your <EM>modem</EM> renegotiating a speed is not
at all the same thing).  Anyways, if for some reason the source code of the
PPP daemon itself isn't enough, your best bet would probably be to start a
conversation with Paul Mackerras, the ppp maintainer for Linux.  After all,
if you really need this feature, there are likely to be others out there who
need it too.  I've cc'd Paul, so we'll see what he has to say.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Hi Heather,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanks for responding so promptly. My problem is that the product I'm
working on uses Linux PPP to communicate between routers not modems.
My software needs to be able to do things dynamically like
take down the link, start an echo test, or change the mru.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
It sounds like you want to create a router-handler to do that part, that
looks like a serial interface as far as the ppp functions are concerned.
Then, these can remain seperated off.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
The
PPP protocol provides for dynamic renegotiation of link parameters but
since Linux PPP was written primarily for modems connecting to ISPs, the
PPP daemon is designed to take all of the parameters on the command line
when it is invoked; after that it locks out any new input. My software
also needs to count all of the different LCP packet types (Config-Ack,
Config-Nak, etc.) and provide an interface to retrieve them.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
And logically the router-handler would do these too?  (Sorry, I'm not up
on whether these are internal to the PPP protocols, they look like higher
level stuff to me.)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
The PPP Protocol Stack implementation consists of thousands of lines of
code. So what I am hoping to find is some high level documentation that
will help me to determine how to modify only the parts I need. Even
better would be to find some software that already does this as you
suggest.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
Hmm.  Well, best of luck, and we'll see if Paul can point us to something
good.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Thanks again,
<br>Dave
</STRONG></P>

<blockquote><img src="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" 
	height="28" width="50" alt="(!) " border="0"
	> [Paul]
David,
</blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
As you say, the Linux pppd doesn't currently let you change option
values and initiate a renegotiation (not without stopping pppd and
starting a new one).  It should however respond correctly if the peer
initiates a renegotiation.  I have some plans for having pppd create a
socket which other processes can connect to and issue commands which
would then mean that pppd could do what you want.  I don't know when
I'll get that done however as I haven't been able to spend much time
on pppd lately.  As for counting the different packet types, that
wouldn't be at all hard (you're the first person that has asked for
that, though).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
--
Paul Mackerras, Senior Open Source Researcher, <A HREF="http://www.linuxcare.com/">Linuxcare</A>, Inc.
<br>Linuxcare.  Support for the revolution.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 6 -->
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<A NAME="tag/7"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 7 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/bbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(!) " border="0"
	>What IS "The Internet" anyway?</H3>


<p><strong>Between Bryan Henderson and Mike Orr
</strong></p>
<!-- ::
What IS "The Internet" anyway?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
:: -->
<BLOCKQUOTE>
In answering a question about the role of an ISP in
making one's cable-connected computer vulnerable to
hackers, Mike Orr makes a misstatement about the
Internet that could keep people from getting the big
picture of what the Internet is:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	><font color="navy">
The cableco or telco connects you to your ISP through
some non-Internet means (cable or DSL to the
cableco/telco central office, then ATM or Frame
Relay or whatever to the ISP), and then the ISP takes
it from there. Your ISP is your gateway to the
Internet: no gateway, no Internet.
</font></STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Bryan]
The copper wires running from my apartment to the
telephone company's central office are part of the
Internet.  Together with the lines that connect
the central office to my ISP, this forms one link of
the Internet.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The Internet is a huge web of links of all different
kinds.  T3, T1, Frame Relay, PPP over V.34 modem,
etc.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The network Mike describes that all the ISPs hook up
to (well, except the ones that hook up to bigger
ISPs),
is the Internet backbone, the center of the Internet.
But I can browse a website without involving the
Internet backbone at all (if the web server belongs to
a fellow customer of my ISP), and I'm still using the
Internet.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I would agree that you're not on the Internet if you
don't have some path to the Internet backbone, but
that
path <EM>is</EM> part of the Internet.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<P><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike]
It depends on how you define what the Internet "is".  My definition is,
if a link isn't communicating via TCP/IP, it's not Internet.  (IP isn't
called "Internet Protocol" for nothing.)  This doesn't mean the link
can't function as a bridge between Internet sites and thus hold the
Internet together.
</p>
<p>
Internet hops can be seen by doing a traceroute to your favorite site.
The listing doesn't show you what happens between the hops: maybe it's a
directly-connected cable, maybe it's a hyperspace matter-transporter, or
maybe it goes a hundred hops through another network like ATM or Frame
Relay or the voice phone network.  Traceroute doesn't show those hops
because they're not TCP/IP--the packet is carried "somehow" and
reconstructed on the other side before it reaches the next TCP/IP
router, as if it were a direct cable connection.
</p>
<p>
Of course communicating with another user at your ISP is "Internet
communication", provided the ISP is using TCP/IP on its internal network
(as they all do nowadays, not counting a parallel token ring network at
an ISP I used to work at, where the mailservers were on the token ring).
And of course, the distinction is perhaps nitpicky for those who don't
care what precisely the network does as long as it works.
</p>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Bryan]
I'm with you there.  But the link between my house and
my ISP (which is quite ordinary) is TCP/IP.  I have an
IP address, my ISP's router has an IP address and we
talk TCP/IP to each other.  In the normal case that my
frame's ultimate destination is not the router, the
router forwards it, typically to some router in the
backbone.  Traceroute shows the hop between my house
and the ISP.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
All of this is indistinguishable from the way frames
get from one place to another even in the heart of the
Internet.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The layers underneath IP might differ, as you say, but
you seem to be singling out protocols used in the
home-ISP connection as not real TCP/IP, whereas the
links between ISPs are real TCP/IP.  There's no
material difference between them.  If not for the
speed
and cost disadvantage, the Internet backbone could be
built on PPP over 28.8 modems and POTS lines.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
One way we used to see that the home-ISP connection
really _wasn't_ the Internet was AOL.  You would talk
AOL language to an AOL computer which was on the
Internet and functioned as a gateway.  The AOL
computer
had an IP address but the home computer did not.  But
now even AOL sets up an IP link between the AOL
computer and the home computer.  It's via a special
AOL
protocol that shares the phone line with non-IP AOL
communications, but it's an IP link all the same and
the home computer is part of the Internet whenever AOL
is logged on.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 7 -->
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<!-- begin 9 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Classified Disk - Low-level Format</H3>
<p><strong>From Shane Welton
<br>Answered by: Ben Okopnik, Heather Stern, Mike Orr 
</strong></p>

<P><STRONG>
As you know the world has gone wild for Linux, and the company I work for
is no acception.  We work with classified data that can be some what of a
hassle to deal with.  The only means of formatting a hard disk is the analyze/
format command that comes with Solaris.  That method has been ensured as
declassification method.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> {Ben]
Actually, <EM>real</EM> low-level formats for IDE hard drives aren't
user-accessible any more: they are done once, at the factory, and the only
format available is a high-level one. This does not impact security much,
since complete data erasure can be assured in other ways - such as
multiple-pass overwrites (if I remember correctly, a 7-pass overwrite with
garbage data is recognized as being secure by the US Government - but it's
been a while since I've looked into it.)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
I was hoping you could tell me if Linux offers a very
similar low-level format that would ensure complete data loss.  I have
assumed that "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda" would work, but I need to be
positive.  Thanks.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> {Ben]
Linux offers something that is significantly more secure than an "all
zeroes" or "fixed pattern" overwrite: it offers a high-quality "randomness
source" that generates output based on device driver noise, suitable for
one-time pads and other high-security applications. See the man page for
"random" or  "urandom" for more info.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Based on what you've been using so far, here's something that would be
even more secure:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/hda
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If you're concerned about spies with superconducting quantum-interference
detectors &lt;grin&gt;, you can always add a "for" loop for govt.-level
security:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQuote><code>
for n in `seq 7`; do dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/hda; done
</code></BLOCKQuote></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
This would, of course, take significantly longer than a single overwrite.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike]
Wow, seven-level security in a simple shell script!
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
&lt;Grin&gt; *I've* always contended that melting down the hard drive and
dumping it in the Mariannas Trench would add just that extra touch of
protection, but would they listen to me?...
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
Sorry, can't do that, makes the Mariannas Trench too much of a national
security risk.  Someone could claim that our data has been left unprotected
in international waters.  
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";P" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Or, why security is a moving target: what is impossible one year is a mere
matter of technology a few years or a decade later.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

</blockquote>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
You wish.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike]
My point being, that a one-line shell script can do the job of
expensive "secure delete" programs.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
 <TT>/dev/urandom</TT> uses "real" randomness, that is, quanta from various
activities in the hardware, and it can run out of available randomness.  We
call its saved bits "entropy" which makes for a great way to make your
favorite physics major cough.  "We used up all our entropy, but it came back
in a few minutes." 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Hey! If we could just find the "<TT>/dev/random</TT>" for the Universe...
</BLOCKQUOTE>
</blockquote>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
When it's dry I don't recall what happens - maybe you device wait on it, that
would be okay.  But if you get non-randomness after that (funny how busy the
disk controller is) you might not really get what you wanted...
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
That's actually the difference between "random" and "urandom". "random"
will block until it has more 'randomness' to give you, while "urandom"
will spit up the the entire entropy pool, then give you either
pseudorandomness or a repeat (I'm not sure which, actually), but will not
block.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
You're welcome to experiment - by which I mean, try it and study the results,
check that they're what you want or not (confirm or refute the hypothesis).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I'm not clear from the original request if they're trying to clear the main
drive on a system, or some secondary data drive.  If it's the main, I'd
definitely want to boot from <A HREF="http://www.toms.net/rb/">Tom's rootboot</A> (a RAM based distro) so there'd
be no chance of the system resisting getting scribbled upon, or failing to
finish the job.   Also continuing to multitask (Toms has 4 virtual consoles,
you can read some doc files or something) will give <TT>/dev/urandom</TT> more noise
sources to gather randomness from.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<TT>/dev/random</TT> would be faster - not <EM>as</EM> random, but at 7 times, it's (wince
now, you know what I'm going to say) good enough for government work.  MSwin
doesn't <EM>have</EM> a <TT>/dev/urandom</TT>, it only has pseudorandomness.  At least, last
I looked.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Again, the other way around: "urandom" would be faster but marginally less
secure (after 7 overwrites? The infinitesimal difference croggles my
mind...), while "random" is slower but has the true <TT>/gelt/.</TT> Given that
"<TT>/dev/hda</TT>" was used in the original example, Tom's RootBoot would be an
excellent idea.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike]
I thought <TT>/dev/urandom</TT> was the faster but less random one.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
I just looked in the kernel documentation 
(<TT>/usr/src/linux/Documentation</TT>)
and you are correct. <TT>/dev/random</TT> (character major 1 minor 8) is 
listed as nondeterministic, and <TT>/dev/urandom</TT> (character major 1 
minor 9) is listed as faster and less secure.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Anyways our readers will have to decide for themselves whether they want
7 layers of pseudo-random, or if their system will be busy enough in different
ways to get a nice batch of true randomness out of the "better" source.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
</blockquote>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
I hear that the i810 motherboard has a randomness chip, but I don't know how
it works, so I don't know how far I'd trust it for this sort of thing.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Thanks for the help and the humor, I shall pass the information
on to our FSO in hopes that this will suffice.  Again, thanks.
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
Shane M. Walton
</strong></p>

<!-- end 9 -->
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<!-- begin 10 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>GPM is interfering with x...</H3>


<p><strong>From Dave
<br>Answered By: Ben Okopnik
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG>
Hello Answerguy,
<br>Since installing <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</A> a few days ago, I've been more than pleased with it.
However, I have run into a wee problem which I was hoping you could help me
with. Yesterday, I realised I hadn't installed GPM. I immediately got round
to installing using apt (a lovely painless procedure when compared to RPM).
All went great until I started to run X, at which point my mouse went insane
- just flying round the desktop at its own free will every time as I so much
as breathed on the hardware that operated it. I immediately killed GPM using
the GPM <TT>-k</TT> command, but to no avail. Then I shut down X, and restarted it
with no GPM running - the mouse refused to move at all. I then proceded to
uninstall GPM, and yet the pointer remains motionless :(. I'm using a PS/2
mouse.. Any suggestions?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I thank you for your time
<br>-Dave-
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Yep; it's a bad idea to kill or uninstall GPM.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
In the Ages Long, Long ago (say, 3 years back), it used to be standard
practice to configure two different ways to "talk" to the mouse: GPM
for the console, and the mouse mechanism built into X. Nowadays, the
folks that do the default configuration for X in most distributions seem
to have caught on to the nifty little "<TT>-R</TT> &lt;name&gt;" switch in GPM. This
makes GPM pass the mouse data onto a so-called "FIFO" (a "first in -
first out" interface, like rolling tennis balls down a pipe) called
"<TT>/dev/gpmdata</TT>" - which is where X gets _its_ mouse info. By removing
GPM, you've removed the only thing that pays any attention to what the
mouse is doing.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
So, what's to do? Well, you <EM>could</EM> configure X to actually read the
raw mouse device - "<TT>/dev/psaux</TT>" in most computers today, perhaps
"<TT>/dev/ttyS0</TT>" if you have a serial mouse on your first serial port (or
even "<TT>/dev/mouse</TT>", which is usually a symlink to the actual mouse
device.) My suggestion is, though, that you do not - for the same
reason that the distro folks don't do it that way. Instead, reinstall
GPM - in theory, your "<TT>/etc/gpm.conf</TT>" should still be there, and if
isn't, it's easy enough to configure - and make sure that it uses that
"<TT>-R</TT>" switch (hint: read the GPM man page.)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Once you've done all that, you'll now need to solve the "jumping mouse"
problem. In my experience, that's generally caused by the mouse type
being set to the wrong value (usually "PS/2" instead of "Microsoft".)
Here's the easy way to do it: from a console, run "XF86Setup"; tell it
to use your current configuration when prompted. Once X starts up and
you get the "Welcome" screen, tab to the "Mouse" button and press
"Enter". Read the presented info page carefully: since you'll be using
the keyboard to set the options, you'll need to know which keys do what.
If you forget, "Tab" will get you around.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Make sure that the "Mouse Device" is set to "<TT>/dev/gpmdata</TT>", and try the
various mouse protocols - these are obviously dependent on your mouse
type, but the most common ones I've seen have been PS/2 and Microsoft.
Remember to use the "Apply" button liberally: the changes you set won't
take effect until you do.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Once you have the right protocol, the mouse should move smoothly. I
suggest that, unless you have a 3-button mouse, you set the
"Emulate3Buttons" option - you'll need it to copy and paste in X! Also,
play with the resolution option a bit - this will set the mouse
response. I've seen high resolution "lock up" a mouse - but by now you
know how to use that "Tab" key... 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Once you're done, click "Done" - and you're ready to fly your X-fighter.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 10 -->
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<!-- begin 11 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Graphics Programming for Printing / Faxing</H3>


<p><strong>From G David Sword 
<br>Answered By; Ben Okopnik, Mike Orr
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
I have a text file full of data, which I would like to turn into a
bunch of fax documents for automated faxing.  I could simply parse
the file in perl, and produce straight text files for each fax.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Instead of this, I would like to be able to build up something which
resembles a proper purchase order, or remittance, containing logos,
boxes for addresses etc.
Could I have an expert opinion  (or six) on what would be the best
method to use to achieve this - I have read a bit about LaTeX and
groff, but I am not sure if they are the best solution or not.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanks in advance
<br>G. David Sword
</STRONG></P>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Since you have already implied that you're competent in Perl, why not
stick with what you know? Parse the data file (which you will have to
do anyway no matter what formatting you apply to it afterwards), then
push it out as HTML - Perl is excellent for that. I can't imagine
an order form so complex that it would require anything more than that.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
As a broader scope issue, learning LaTeX or groff is, shall we say,
Non-Trivial. In my !humble opinion, neither is worth doing just to
accomplish a single task of the sort that you're describing. SGML, on
the other hand, is an excellent "base" format that can be converted to
just about anything else - DVI, HTML, Info, LaTeX, PostScript, PDF, RTF,
Texinfo, troff-enhanced text, or plaintext (as well as all the formats
that _those_ can be converted into.) You can learn enough to produce
well-formatted documents in under an hour (no fancy boxes, though) -
"<TT>/usr/share/doc/sgml-tools/guide.txt.gz</TT>" (part of the "sgml-tools"
package) will easily get you up to speed. If you want the fancy boxes,
etc., check out Tom Gordon's QWERTZ DTD
&lt;<A HREF="ftp://ftp.gmd.de/GMD/sgml/sgml2latex-format.1.4.tar.gz"
	>ftp://ftp.gmd.de/GMD/sgml/sgml2latex-format.1.4.tar.gz</A>&gt;, or the
LinuxDoc DTD (based on QWERTZ.) I haven't played with either one to any
great extent, but they're supposed to do mathematical formulae, tables,
figures, etc.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike]
Let me second this.  If you need to get the reports out the door
yesterday, stick with what you know.  Get them to print in any
readable text format now and then worry about enhancements later.
The code you use to extract the fields and calculate the totals
will still be useful later, whether you plug it into the new
system directly or convert it into a new language.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
TeX and troff both have a learning curve, and you have to balance
this against how useful they will be to your present and future purposes.
At best, they make a better temporary "output format" nowadays than a
document storage format.  SGML or XML is a much better storage format
because it's more flexible, given the unpredictable needs of the future.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Actually, your "true" storage format will probably remain your flat
file or a database, and then you'll just convert it to SGML or XML
and then to whichever print format you want (via a generic
SGML-to-something tool or your own home-grown tool).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I would look at XML for the long term, even if you don't use it right
away.  Perhaps someday you'll want to store your data itself in XML
files rather than in the text files you're using.  This does allow
convenient editing via any text editor, and for new data, a program can
create an empty XML structure and invoke an editor on it.  And as time
goes on, more and more programs will be able to interpret and write XML
files.  On the other hand, it <EM>is</EM> darn convenient to have that data in
a database like MySQL for quick ad-hoc queries...
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If you just want to learn a little bit of formatting for a simple
document, troff is probably easier to learn than TeX.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
You can always use the "HTML cop-out" one of my typesetting friends
(Hi, johnl!) tells people when they ask him what's an easy way to write
a formatted resume.  Write it in HTML and then use Netscape's print
function to print it Postscript.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<!-- end 11 -->
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<A NAME="tag/13"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 13 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>networked machine goes to sleep</H3>

<p><strong>From Bob Glass (with a bonus question from Dan Wilder)
<br>Answered by: Ben Okopnik 
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Hi, everyone.  I'm a newbie and need help with a linux machine that goes
to sleep and has to be smacked sharply to wake it up.  I'm trying to run
a proxying service for user authentication for remote databases for my
college.  That's all the machine is used for.  The Redhat installation
is a custom, basically complete, installation of Redhat Linux 6.2.  The
machine is a 9-month old Gateway PIII with 128MB of RAM.  The network
adapter is an Intel Pro100+.  My local area network is Novell 5.x and my
institution has 4 IP segments.  I have not configured my linux
installation beyond defining what's needed to make the machine available
on the local network (machine name, hard-assigned IP address, default
gateway etc).
</STRONG></P>

<p><em>&lt;Snip&gt;</em></p>

<P><STRONG>
The problem I'm unable to deal with is:  my proxy machine disappears
from the network or 'goes to sleep.'  At that point, I can't use a web
browser to contact the proxy service machine, I can't telnet to the
machine, and I can't ping the machine.  However, if I go across the room
to the proxy machine, open the web browser, go to an weblink (i.e., send
packets out from the machine), then go back to my computer and test a
link, ezproxy responds and all is well.  However, usually in an hour or
so, the proxy machine is unreachable again.  Then much later or
overnight, it will begin to respond again, usually after a 5-7 second
delay.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
First, an easy temporary fix: figure out the minimum time between
failures and subtract a couple of minutes; run a "cron" job or a
backgrounded script that pings a remote IP every time that period
elapses. As much as I hate "band-aid fixes", that should at least keep
you up and running.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Second: I've encountered a similar problem twice before. Once with
sucky PPP in an older kernel (2.0.34, if I remember correctly), and one
that involved a flaky network card on a Novell network (I've sworn off
everything but two or three brands of cards since.) Perhaps what I'd
learned from troubleshooting those may come in useful.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockquote>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Dan]
If you don't mind saying, which brands have you had the best luck with
under Linux?
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Intel EE Pro 10/100Bs have been faultless. I've used a stack of those to
replace NE2K clones, and a <EM>number</EM> of problems - some of which I would
have sworn were unrelated to hardware - went away. I can't say the same
for the various 3Coms I've tried; whether something in the driver
software or in the cards themselves (under Linux and Windows both), I
could not get consistent performance out of them. My experience with
LinkSys has been rather positive, although I've never had the chance to
really beat up on them; perhaps this has to do with the quality of
Donald Becker's driver, as they have been very friendly to the Linux
community from the start (this was the reason I decided to try playing
with them in the first place.)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
For consistently high throughput, by the way, I have not found anything
to beat the Intels.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

</blockquote>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Note that I'm not trying to give you The One True Solution here; this
seems to be one of those problems that will require an iterative
approach. The way I'd heard this put before is "when you don't
understand the problem, do the part that you <EM>do</EM> understand, then look
again at what's left."
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
A good rule of thumb is that if the problem is happening at regular
intervals, it's software; if it's irregular, it's hardware. Not a
solution, but something to keep in mind.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
I have turned off power management in the BIOS.  I have stopped loading
the apm daemon.  I have tried a different network adapter, 3Com509b.  I
have even migrated away from another computer to the machine described
above.  And still the machine goes to sleep ...!?$#@
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
When it goes to sleep, have you tried looking at the running processes
(i.e., "ps ax")? Does PPP, perhaps, die, and the proxy server restart
it when you send out a request? Assuming that you have two interfaces
(i.e., one NIC that talks to the LAN and another that sees the great
big outside world), are both of them still up and running ("ifconfig" /
"ifconfig <TT>-a</TT>")?
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
What happens if you set this machine up as a plain workstation? No
proxy server, minimum network services, not used by anyone, perhaps
booted from a floppy with an absolutely minimal Linux system - with
perhaps another machine pinging it every so often to make sure it's
still up? If this configuration works, then add the services (including
the proxy server) back, a couple at a time, until something breaks.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
This is known as the "strip-down" method of troubleshooting. If it
works OK initially, then the problem is in the software (most likely,
that is: I've seen NICs that work fine under a light load fall apart in
heavy traffic.) If it fails, then the problem is in the hardware: NICs
have always been ugly, devious little animals... although I must admit
they've become a lot better recently; I can't say that I've had any
problems with Intel Pros, and I've abused them unmercifully. 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
(A related question: When you moved from one machine to the other,
did you happen to bring the NICs along? This could be important...)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
</blockquote>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
My bad, there; I missed the part about the different NIC in the original
request for help, even  though I quoted it (blame it on sleep-
deprivation...) - ignore all the stuff about the Evil NICs; it's
certainly starting to sound like software.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<!-- end 13 -->

<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
On Tue, Nov 07, 2000 at 11:37:46AM <TT>-0500</TT>, Bob Glass wrote:
Dear Mr. Okopnik,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanks so much for your suggestion about creating a cron job which pings
a network device.  I did just that, and now the problem is 'solved.'
(finding a source which detailed how to set up a cron job to run every
15 minutes _and_ not e-mail the output to the root account was a bit of
a challenge!)  It's a measure of what a newbie I am that this didn't
occur to me on my own!
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I've talked to many people about this problem and have come to the
conclusion that there's a weird mismatch between hardware and software
at both the machine and network level (routers, switches, NICs, Linux,
Novell who knows!@#$ I wish Novell would write network clients for Linux
and Solaris.  I have a Solaris machine which very occasionally has this
same problem.)  Having tussled with this for over a month and been shown
a workaround which both works and causes no problems, I'm satisfied.
And as director of my library, I've got to move on to other tasks.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Again, many thanks.
<br>Bob Glass
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
You're certainly welcome; I like being able to "pay forward" at least
some of the huge debt I owe to the people who helped me in my own early
struggles with Linux.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Pinging the machine is a workable solution, and I'm glad that it
mitigated the problem for you - but let me make a suggestion. If you do
not have the time to actually fix it now (or even in the foreseeable
future), at least write down a good description of the problem and the
workaround that you have used. The concept here is that of a shipboard
"deficiency log" - any problems aboard a ship that cannot be immediately
resolved go into this log, thus providing a single point of reference
for anyone who is about to do any kind of work. ("I'll just remove this
piece of wire that doesn't look like it belongs here... hey, why are we
sinking???") That way, if you - or another director/admin/etc. - have
to work on a related problem, you can quickly refresh yourself on
exactly <em>why</em> that cron job is there. A comment in "crontab" that
points to the "log" file would be a Good Thing.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
As I understand it, <A HREF="http://www.caldera.com/">Caldera</A>'s OpenLinux promises full Novell
compatibility/connectivity. I can't comment on it personally, since I
have no experience with OpenLinux, but it sounds rather promising - Ray
Noorda is the ex-CEO of Novell, and Caldera is one of his companies.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 13 -->
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<A NAME="tag/17"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 17 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Web server/firewall hardware specifications, Apache and Zope</H3>


<p><strong>From John Hinsley 
<br>Answered by: Mike Orr
</strong></p>
<!-- ::
Web server/firewall hardware specifications, <A HREF="http://www.apache.org/">Apache</A> and Zope
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:: -->
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
I want a web site, but it looks like I'll have to put together my own
server and put it on someone's server farm because:
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
What do you mean by server farm?  You're going to colocate your server
at an ISP? (Meaning, put the server in the ISP's office so you have
direct access to the ISP's network?)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
I need to run Zope and MySQL as well as Apache (or whatever) in order to
be able to use both data generated pages via Zope and "legacy" CGI stuff
(and it's far easier to find a Perl monger when you want one rather than
a Python one!). If this seems remotely sensible, we're then faced with
the hardware spec of this splendid server.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
I set up one Zope application at <em>Linux Journal</em>
(<A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/glue"
	>http://www.linuxjournal.com/glue</A>).  It coexists fine with our Python and
Perl CGI scripts.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
&lt;ADVOCACY LANGUAGE="python"&gt;
While it may be easier to find a Perl monger than a Pythoneer, us Python
types are becoming more common.  And anybody who knows <EM>any</EM> programming
language will find Python a breeze to snap up.  The programming concepts
are all the same, the syntax is very comprehensible, and the standard
tutorial is excellent.
&lt;/ADVOCACY&gt;
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
So, proposed spec:
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><BLOCKQuote>
Athlon 700, 3 x 20 GB IDE hard drives, 2 of which are software raided
together and the third of which is for incremental back up. 256 Mb of
Ram (at least), 1 100 Mbps NIC. Open SSH as a mode for remote
administration, but otherwise with a lean kernel with an internal
firewall.
</BLOCKQuote></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Does this sound like a remotely viable spec?
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
You didn't say how many hits per month you expect this site to receive.
Our server has less capacity than that, and it runs <em>Linux Journal</em> +
<em>Linux Gazette</em> + some small sites just fine.
And yes, our servers are colocated at an ISP.  You get much
better bandwidth for the price by colocating.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I discussed your spec with our sysadmin Dan Wilder (who will probably
chime in himself) and concluded:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQuote>
** An Athlon 700 processor is way overkill for what you need.  (Again,
assuming this is an "ordinary" web server.)  An AMD K6-2 or K6-3 running
at 233 MHz should be fine (although you probably can't get a new one
with less than 500 MHz nowadays...)  Web servers are more I/O intensive
than they are CPU intensive.  Especially since they don't run GUIs, or
if they do, the GUI is idle at the login screen most of the time!  And
if you really want the fastest chip available, an Athlon 700 is already
"slow".
</BLOCKQuote></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
** Your most difficult task will be finding a motherboard which
supports the Athlon 700 adequately.  One strategy is to go to the
overclocking web pages (search "overclocking" at www.google.com)
and see which motherboards overclock best with your CPU.  Not that
you should overclock, especially on a production server!
But if a motherboard performs OK overclocking your CPU, it should
do an adequate job running your CPU at its proper speed.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
** 256K MB RAM may or may not be adequate.  Since memory is the cheapest
way to increase performance at high server load, why not add more?
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
** 3 x 20 GB IDE (1 primary, 1 for RAID, 1 for backup) should be fine
capacity-wise.  Are you using hardware RAID or software RAID?
Software RAID is pretty unreliable on IDE.  Will you have easy access
to the computer when you have to work on it?  Or does the ISP have
good support quality, and will they handle RAID problems for you?
One thing we want to try (but haven't tested yet) are the 3Ware
RAID I cards.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
** IDE vs SCSI.  SCSI may give better performance when multitasking.
Of course, it's partly a religious issue how much that performance gain is.
Given that a web server is by nature a disk-intensive application, SCSI
is at least worth looking into.  Of course, SCSI is also a pain to install
and maintain because you have to make sure the cables are good quality,
ensure they are properly terminated, etc.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
** 100 Mbps Ethernet card.  Are you sure your ISP's network is 100 Mbps?
10 Mbps should be fine.  If your server saturates a 10 Mbps line, you're
probably running video imaging applications and paying over US$7000/month for
bandwidth.  Make sure your Ethernet card operates well at 100 Mbps;
many 10/100 Mbps "auto-switching" cards don't auto-switch that well.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
** OpenSSH for remote admin.  Sure.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The biggest FTP site in the world, ftp.cdrom.com, runs on an ordinary
PC with <A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</A>.  And the Zopistas at the Python conference in January
said Zope can handle a million hits per day on an ordinary PC.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
*****
There are several ways to integrate Zope with Apache.  We chose the
"proxy server" way because it allows Zope's web server (Zserver) to
multitask.  You run Apache at port 80, Zserver at 8080, and use
Apache's ProxyPass directive to relay the request to Zserver and back.
You have to do some tricky things with mod_rewrite and install a
scary Zope product, but it works.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
(Scary because it involves modifying the access rules for the entire
Zope site, which can lock you out of your database if you're not
careful, and because it makes Zope think your hostname/port is what
Apache publishes them as, rather than what they really are, and this can
also lock you out of your database if Apache isn't running or the
rewrites or proxying aren't working.  I refused to implement virtual
hosts on our Zope server--because they also require playing with access
rules--until a safer way comes along.  Why not let Apache handle the
virtual hosting since Apache is good at it?  You can use a separate Zope
folder for each virtual site, or even run a separate Zope instance for
each.)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
In the end, we decided not to go ahead with wide-scale deployment of
Zope applications.  This was because:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><ul>
<li>  Adequate Zope documentation was missing.  Most documentation was
geared for the through-the-web DTML content manager rather than the
application programmer.  It was a matter of knowing a method to do X
must exist, then scouring the docs to find the method name, then
guessing what the arguments must be.

<li>  Zope wants to do everything in its own private world.  But text
files and CGI scripts can handle 3/4 of the job we need.

<li>  Zope's main feature--the ability to delegate sections of a web site
to semi-trusted content managers who will write and maintain articles
using the web interface--was not really what we needed.  Our content
managers know vi and know how to scp a file into place.  They aren't
keen on adjusting to a new interface--and having to upload/download
files into Zope's database--when it provides little additional
benefit <EM>for them</EM>.
</ul>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
We decided what we really needed was better CGI tools and an Active
Server Pages type interface.  So we're now deploying PHP applications,
while eagerly waiting for Python's toolset to come up with an
equivalent solution.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Disclaimers: yes, Zope has some projects in development which address
these areas (a big documentation
push, Mozilla-enhanced administration interface, WebDAV [when vi
supports it] for editing and configuring via XML, built-in support
for virtual hosts, a "distributed database" that an ordinary filesystem
directory can be a part of), but these are more or less still in the
experimental stages (although deployed by some sites).  And yes, Python
has Poor Man's Zope and Python Server Pages and mod_python, but these
are still <EM>way</EM> in alpha stage and not as optimized or tested as PHP
is.  I also want to look into AOLserver's embedded Python feature we
read about in October
(<A HREF="../issue58/washington.html"
	>http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue58/washington.html</A>), but have not had
the chance to yet.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 17 -->
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<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike again]
I forgot to mention MySQL.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Our web server runs MySQL alongside Apache and Zope.  MySQL is called by
CGI applications as well as Zope methods.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
It took a while to get MySQLdb and the ZMySQLDA (the Zope database
adapter) installed, but they're both working fine now.  I spent a couple
weeks corresponding with the maintainer, who was very responsive to my
bug reports and gave me several unreleased versions to try.  These issues
should all be resloved now.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
One problem that remained was that ZMySQLDA would not return DateTime
objects for Date/DateTime/Timestamp fields.  Instead it returned a string,
which made it inconvenient to manipulate the date in Zope.  One problem
of course is that Zope uses a same-name but incompatible DateTime module
than the superior one the rest of Python uses (mxDateTime).  I finally
coded around it and just had the SQL SELECT statement return a pre-formatted
date string and separate month and year integers.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 17 -->
<!--              . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .              -->
<p><strong>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0">
Dear Mike,
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
thank you so much for a really comprehensive answer to my questions. Of
course, it raises a few more questions for me, but I think the view is a
bit clearer now.
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
Yes, I did mean colocation (co-location?). It's a term I have some
problems with as it seems to suggest putting something in two places at
one time.
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
We might be fortunate in that the funding for this is unlikely to come
through before 2.4 about which I hear "around Christmas, early New
Year". And even more so in that we could probably get away with hiring
some server space for a month or two while we played around with the new
server and tried to break it. Of course, this might well mean doing
without much in the way of interactivity, let alone a database driven
solution, but we can probably survive on static pages for a while and
get some kind of income dribble going.
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
My inclination would be to go with software Raid and IDE (hence the
attempt to break it!) but I will consider the other alternatives.
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
Ultimately whether we go with Zope (and in what context vis-a-vis
<A HREF="http://www.apache.org/">Apache</A>, or Zap) is going to have to depend on whether I can get it up
and running to my satisfaction at home, but it's good to be reminded
that PHP is a good alternative.
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
Once again, many thanks.
</strong></p>

<!-- end 17 -->
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<A NAME="tag/18"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 18 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>'neighbour table overflow'</H3>


<p><strong>From Alex Kitainik 
<br>Answered by: Heather Stern
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG>
Hi!
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I've found 'neighbour table overflow' question in your gazette.
Explanation for this case seems to be not complete although. The most
nasty case can happen when there are two computers with the same name in
the LAN. In this case neighbours' search enters endless loop and thus
'neighbour table overflow' can occur.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Actually, the arp cache doesn't care about names - it cares about MAC
addresses (those things that look like a set of colon seperated hex values
in your ifconfig output).  But, it is a good point - some cards are dip
switch configurable, and ifconfig can change the 'hw ether' interface
if you ask it to.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Between arpwatch and tcpdump it should be possible to seriously track down
if you have some sort of "twins" problem of either type, though.  At the
higher levels of protocol, having machines with the same name can cause
annoying problems (e.g. half the samba packets going to the wrong machine)
so it's still something you want to prevent.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
PS. I apologize for my English (it isn't my mother tongue...)
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Regards -- Alex.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Your English is fine.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 18 -->
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<!-- begin 19 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Networking</H3>


<p><strong>From Kopf
<br>Answered by: Ben Okopnik
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG>
Hi,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I want to set up a home network, with 2 machines - workstation &amp; server. The
problem is, I want to configure Linux so that if I use the workstation, nothing
is saved on the local drive, everything is kept on the server, so that if I
shut down the workstation, and I go up to the server, I can work away there,
without any difference of environments between the 2 boxes.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Another problem is, I'm a bit strapped for cash, so I don't want to buy a
server &amp; networking equiptment until I know what I want to do is possible.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanks!
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Kopf
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Not all that hard to do; in fact, the terms that you've used -
workstation and server - point to a solution.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
In the Windows world, for example, those terms have come to mean "basic
desktop vs. big, powerful machine." With Linux, the meanings come back
to their original sense: specifically, a server is a program that
provides a service (and in terms of hardware, the machine that runs
that program, usually one that is set up for only - or mainly - that
purpose.)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
In this case, one of a number of possible solutions that spring to mind
is NFS - or better yet, Coda (<A HREF="http://www.coda.cs.cmu.edu"
	>http://www.coda.cs.cmu.edu</A>). Either one
of these will let you mount a remote filesystem locally; Coda, at least
in theory (I've read the docs, haven't had any practice with it) will
allow disconnected operation and continuous operation even during
partial network failure, as well as bandwidth adaptation (vs. NFS,
which is <EM>terrible</EM> over slow links.) Coda also uses encryption and
authentication, while NFS security is, shall we say, problematic at
best.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Here is how it works in practice, at least for NFS: you run an NFS
server on the machine that you want to export from - the one you
referred to as the "server". I seem to remember that most distributions
come with an NFS module already available, so kernel recompilation will
probably not be necessary. Read the "NFS-HOWTO": it literally takes you
step-by-step through the entire process, including in-depth
troubleshooting tips. Once you've set everything up, export the
"home/kopf" directory (i.e., your home directory) and mount it under
"home/kopf" on your client machine. If you have the exported directory
listed in your "<TT>/etc/fstab</TT>" and append "auto" to the options, you won't
even have to do anything different to accomodate the setup: you simply
turn the machine on, and write your documents, etc. Your home directory
will "travel" with you wherever you go.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Since you mention being strapped for cash, there's always another
option: put together a minimal machine (say, a 486 or a low-end
Pentium) that does nothing more than boot Linux. Telnet to your "big"
machine, work there - run a remote X session, if you like. Other
advantages of this setup include the need for only one modem (on your
X/file server), the necessity of securing only a single machine, and,
of course, the total cost. I would suggest spending a little of the
money you save on memory and a decent video card, though - not that X is
that resource-intensive, but snappy performance is nice to have.
32-64MB should be plenty.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I also suggest reading the "Thinclient-HOWTO", which explains how to do
the NFS "complete system export" and the X-client/server setup.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Ben Okopnik
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 19 -->
<!--              . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .              -->

<p><strong>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Hi! Thanks for all the great info!
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
What you've said has really enlighened me - I had never thought of remote
mounting and stuff like that. Just one question, if I were to mount "<TT>/</TT>" on the
server as "<TT>/</TT>" on the workstation, how much diskspace would I need on the
workstation to start up Linux until it mounts all the drives? Or would I use a
bootdisk to do this, and have absolutely no partition for Linux on the
workstation?
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
You could indeed boot from a floppy, but it's a longish process, and
floppies are rather unreliable; I would think that scrounging around can
get you an small HD for just a few dollars. One of the things I really
appreciate about <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</A> is that you can do a "base setup" - a complete
working Linux system with networking and tons of system tools - in about
10 minutes, on about 20MB worth of drive space. I seem to remember that
<A HREF="http://www.slackware.org/">Slackware</A> does much the same thing.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
As to how much diskspace: you really don't need <EM>any</EM>. You could even
set your machine up as a terminal (a bit more of a hassle, but it
eliminates the need for even a floppy.) An HD is nice to have - as I've
said, booting from one is much more convenient - but start with the
assumption that it's a luxury, not a necessity. From there, everything
you do is just fun add-ons.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The point to this is that there are almost infinite possibilities with
Linux; given the tremendous flexibility and quality of its software, the
answer to networking questions that start with "Can I..." is almost
always going to be "Yes."
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Also - I know the risks associated with allowing "(everyone)" to mount "<TT>/</TT>" or
even "<TT>/home/</TT>" on Linux... Would I be able to restrict this to certain users, or
even certain computers on the network?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanks for all the help!
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Kopf
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
"Would I be able to..." qualifies; the answer is "Yes". The "NFS-Howto"
addresses those, and many other security issues in detail.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 19 -->
<p><strong>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Ben,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
by the way, you talked about putting in about 32mb of Video memory into one of
the computers to enhance X performance.. Which computer would  I put it in, the
X Server or Client?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanks!
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Perhaps I didn't make myself clear; I believe I'd mentioned using a
decent video card <EM>and</EM> 32MB of system memory. In any case, that's what
I was recommending. Not that X is that hungry, but graphics are always
more intensive than console use - and given the cost/performance gain of
adding memory, I would have a minimum of 32MB in both machines. As to
the video card, you'd have to go far, far down-market to get something
that was less than decent these days. A quick look at CNet has Diamond
Stealth cards for US$67 and Nvidia Riva TNT2 AGPs for US$89, and these
cards are up in the "excellent" range - a buck buys a lot of video bang
these days!
</BLOCKQUOTE>


<p><strong>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Ok, well, you've answered all questions I had!
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
Now 'tis time to make it all work.
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
Thanks again!
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
Kopf
</strong></p>

<!-- end 19 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<A NAME="tag/21"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 21 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/bbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(!) " border="0"
	>DSL on Linux Information</H3>


<p><strong>Answer by Robert A. Uhl
</strong></p>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I've some brief information on DSL for Linux.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Several phone companies do not officially support Linux since they do
not have software to support our favoured platform.  Fortunately I have
found that it is still possible to configure a DSL bridge and have had
some success therewith.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Let me note ahead of time that my bridge is a Cisco 675.  Others may
vary and may, indeed, not work.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The programme which you will use in place of the Windows HyperTerm or
the Mac OS ZTerm (an excellent programme, BTW; I used it extensively
back in the day) is screen, a wonderful bit of software which was
included with my distribution.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
To configure the bridge, connect the maintenance cable to the serial
port.  First you must su to root, or in some other way be able to access
the appropriate serial port (usually <TT>/dev/ttyS0</TT> or <TT>/dev/ttyS1</TT>).  Then
use the command
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
screen /dev/ttySx
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
to start screen.  It will connect and you will see a prompt of some
sort.  You may now perform all the tasks your ISP or telco request, just
as you would from HyperTerm or ZTerm.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
One quits screen simply by typing control-a, then \.  Control-a ? is
used to get help.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Hope this is some use to some of the other poor saps experiencing DSL
problems.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
--
Robert Uhl
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><em>
If I have pinged farther than others, it is because I routed upon the
T3s of giants.                                           --Greg Adams
</em></BLOCKQUOTE>


<p><em>... so mike asked ...</em></p>

<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Hmm, I have a Cisco something-or-other and it's been doing DSL for
Linux for almost two years.  The external modems are fine, because
there's nothing OS-specific about them, you just configure them
in a generic manner.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
It's the configuration that can be trouble.  When I've called the telco,
they've wanted to start a session to get various settings.  'Pon being
informed that I'm using Linux, it has generally been `Terribly sorry,
sir, but we don't support that.'
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
There's two ways to configure it: via the special serial cable that
came with it or via the regular Ethernet cable using telnet.  I tried
telnet first but I couldn't figure out the device's IP number (it's
different for different models and that information was hard to get
ahold of).  So I plugged in the serial cable and used minicom as if
it were an ordinary null-modem cable.  That worked fine.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
I had a deal of difficulty with minicom.  Screen seems to be doing a
right fine job, at least for the moment.  Figured I'd let others know.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Enjoy your magazine.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
--
Robert Uhl
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<p><strong><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike]
I said that I had used minicom on my
Cisco 675 bridge at home.
</strong></p>

<p><strong>
Guess what.  I had to configure a router at work last week.  On DSL
with a Cisco 675 bridge.  Minicom didn't work.  Screen did.  And I
never would have thought of using screen if it hadn't been for this
TAG thread.
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
I pulled out the serial cable inside the box and reseated it before
using screen, just in case it was loose, so perhaps it wasn't minicom's fault.
But at least now I have more alternatives to try.
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
--
Mike Orr
</strong></p>

<!-- end 21 -->
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<A NAME="tag/22"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 22 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/bbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(!) " border="0"
	>sticky notes</H3>


<p><strong>Answer from Roy 
</strong></p>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Want to set a sticky note reminder on your screen?  Create the tcl/tk
script "memo"
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
#!/usr/bin/wish
<BR>button .b -textvariable argv -command exit
<BR>pack .b
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
and call it with
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
sh -c 'memo remember opera tickets for dinner date &amp;'
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Want to make a larger investment in script typing?  Then make "memo"
look like this:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE><pre>
#!/usr/bin/wish
if {[lindex $argv 0] == "-"} {
    set argv [lrange $argv 1 end]
    exec echo [exec date "+%x %H:%M"] $argv &gt;&gt;$env(HOME)/.memo
}
button .b -textvariable argv -command exit
.b config -fg black -bg yellow -wraplength 6i -justify left
.b config -activebackground yellow
.b config -activeforeground black
pack .b
</pre></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
and the memo will appear black on yellow.  Also, if the first argument
to memo is a dash, the memo will be logged in the .memo file.  The
simpleness of the script precludes funny characters in the message, as
the shell will want to act on them.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
In either case, left-click the button and the memo disappears.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Preceed it with a DISPLAY variable,
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE><code>
DISPLAY=someterm:0 sh -c 'memo your time card is due &amp;'
</code></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
and the note will pop up on another display.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 22 -->
<!--startcut ======================================================= -->
<P> <hr> </p>
<H5 align="center"><a href="http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html"
	>Copyright &copy;</a> 2000, James T. Dennis 
<BR>Published in <I>Linux Gazette</I> Issue 60 December 2000</H5>
<H6 ALIGN="center">HTML transformation  by
	<A HREF="mailto:star@starshine.org">Heather Stern</a> of
	Starshine Technical Services
	<A HREF="http://www.starshine.org/">http://www.starshine.org/</A> 
</H6>
<!-- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -->


<H4 ALIGN="center">
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
</H4>

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

<center>
<H1><font color="maroon">Heroes of Might And Magic III</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:andreiana@yahoo.com">Marius Andreiana</a></H4>
</center>
<P> <HR> <P>  

<!-- END header -->




<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[This article contains 937 KB of inline images.  Click
<A HREF="misc/andreiana/index.html">here</A> to begin reading.  Use your
browser's <STRONG>Back</STRONG> button to return. -Ed.]
	</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>






<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <!-- P --> 
<H5 ALIGN=center>

Copyright &copy; 2000, Marius Andreiana.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 60 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, December 2000</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->


<H4 ALIGN="center">
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
</H4>

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

<center>
<H1><font color="maroon">HelpDex</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:shane_collinge@yahoo.com">Shane Collinge</a></H4>
</center>
<P> <HR> <P>  

<!-- END header -->




<IMG ALT="overkill.jpg" SRC="misc/collinge/overkill.jpg" 
	WIDTH="750" HEIGHT="303">
<BR CLEAR="all">

<IMG ALT="eighth.jpg" SRC="misc/collinge/eighth.jpg" 
	WIDTH="750" HEIGHT="303">
<BR CLEAR="all">

<IMG ALT="HD5.jpg" SRC="misc/collinge/HD5.jpg" 
	WIDTH="750" HEIGHT="303">
<BR CLEAR="all">

<IMG ALT="preload.jpg" SRC="misc/collinge/preload.jpg" 
	WIDTH="750" HEIGHT="303">
<BR CLEAR="all">

<IMG ALT="kill.jpg" SRC="misc/collinge/kill.jpg" 
	WIDTH="750" HEIGHT="303">
<BR CLEAR="all">

<IMG ALT="schizophrenic.jpg" SRC="misc/collinge/schizophrenic.jpg" 
	WIDTH="750" HEIGHT="303">
<BR CLEAR="all">

<IMG ALT="virtual.jpg" SRC="misc/collinge/virtual.jpg" 
	WIDTH="750" HEIGHT="303">
<BR CLEAR="all">

<P> Courtesy
<A HREF="http://www.linuxtoday.com/helpdex">
Linux Today</A>, where you can read all the latest <EM>Help Dex</EM> cartoons.




<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <!-- P --> 
<H5 ALIGN=center>

Copyright &copy; 2000, Shane Collinge.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 60 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, December 2000</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->


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

<UL>
<!-- index_text begins -->
<li><A HREF="#2c/1"
	><strong>Finding which RPM owns a file</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#2c/2"
	><strong>on creating tty for virtual consoles...</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#2c/6"
	><strong>Linux and Lexmark Printers</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#2c/8"
	><strong>Serial consoles (issue #59)<br>Also, be careful with cron.</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#2c/9"
	><strong>Gant charts / Project</strong></a>
<!-- index_text ends -->
</UL>
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="2c/1"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">2C tip</FONT></H3>
Sat, 25 Nov 2000 14:13:28 +0100 (CET)
<BR>From: Richard Torkar (<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com?cc:ds98rito@thn.htu.se">ds98rito@thn.htu.se</a>)

<BLOCKQUOTE>
I read your 2C tip regarding finding the rpm package a certain file
belongs to in the latest edition of linuxgazette.com
<A HREF="../issue58/lg_tips58.html"
	>http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue58/lg_tips58.html</A>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I have no idea if this is what you mean instead of your script but here it
goes:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
# rpm -qf /usr/bin/afm2tfm
<BR>tetex-afm-1.0.7-7
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
So the file <TT>/usr/bin/afm2tfm</TT> belongs to tetex-afm-1.0.7-7.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Is this what you meant?
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Regards,
<br>Richard Torkar
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 1 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="2c/2"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">on creating tty for virtual consoles...</FONT></H3>
Mon, 6 Nov 2000 15:43:04 -0800 (PST)
<BR>Carlos Torres (<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com?cc:Vlaadbrain@operamail.com">Vlaadbrain@operamail.com</a>) 

<P><STRONG>
Hi I recently downloaded smalllinux (kernel 2.2.0) and have had slight
trouble getting tiny X running.
I tries to load onto <TT>/dev/tty5</TT> and smalllinux only has four tty's for VT.
how do you use mknod? I can't make out what major and minor numbers are and
they are required to make the device.
<br>Anyway hope you can help me...
<br>Thanx
<br>Vlaad
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The major number should be the same, and the minor number should increase
by one for each.  You should be able to see the pattern if you do
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
ls -al /dev/tty[0-9]
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>

Under bash, the usual linux shell, those brackets indicate that it could
be any character 0 through 9 there.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<p><strong>
Well i found out what to do by probing <A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/">LDP</A> but thanx for reding these emails
<BR>I believe it was..
</strong></p>
<pre>
# mknod -m 666 /dev/tty5 c 4 5
</pre>
<p><strong>I think this is what I need for a X server anyway!
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";-}"
                height="24" width="20" align="middle">

well let me kow if on the right track!1
<BR>Thanx
VlaAd
</strong></p>

<blockquote>Yep, you're right on target! -- Heather</blockquote>


<!-- end 2 -->
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<P> <A NAME="2c/6"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Linux and Lexmark Printers</FONT></H3>
Wed, 1 Nov 2000 10:03:31 -0800
<br>Allen Tate (<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com?cc:allendtate@yahoo.com">allendtate@yahoo.com</a>) asking...
<BR>Tip From: Dan Wilder 

<P><STRONG>
Has anyone out there had any luck setting up Lexmark Printers on any
Linux distribution?
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
We've been using networked Lexmarks for years at LJ.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Key (at least for the older ones we use) is configuring as a network
printer using port 9100, with something like:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><code>
:lp=lex2.ssc.com%9100
</code></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
for the lp line in your printcap entry.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
We've a newer one on order, will post if the key is something
very different.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
--- Dan
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 6 -->
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<P> <A NAME="2c/8"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Serial consoles (issue #59)</FONT></H3>
Sun, 5 Nov 2000 19:59:11 -0700
<BR>From: Michal Jaegermann (<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com?cc:tag">tag</a>)

<BLOCKQUOTE>
In an answer to Joseph Annino you forgot to mention two details.
One - you will need to run some getty program on a serial console
you want to log in so an entry in <TT>/etc/inittab</TT> will be needed.
As modem controls are not used then 'mingetty' should work fine
but most anything ('agetty', 'getty_ps', 'mgetty', ....) also will
do.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Also Josephs wants to use that console for admnistration hence,
presumably, he wants to login there as 'root'.  If this is indeed
that case then an entry for the console port in <TT>/etc/securetty</TT>
will be also needed or logging will run into some problems.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I also have a comment to Richard N. Turner entry about cron jobs.
I would be much more careful with sourcing there things like
<TT>/home/mydir/.bash_profile</TT>. Cron jobs run unwatched and possibly
with root priviledges.  Unless you can guarantee that something
nasty will not show up in a sourced file now and anytime in the
future you can be for a rude surprise.  Setting precisely controlled
environment in a script meant to be run from cron is much more
appealing option.  Depending on the whole computing setup such
arrangements with sourcing can be ok, although I prefer to err
here on a side of a caution, but readers should be at least aware
about a potential big security hole.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Regards,
<br>Michal
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 8 -->
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<P> <A NAME="2c/9"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Gant charts / Project</FONT></H3>
Mon, 06 Nov 2000 08:50:40 +0000
<BR>Clive de Salis (<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com?cc:mch.uk.systems@cwcom.net">mch.uk.systems@cwcom.net</a>) asked...
<BR>Tip From: Ben Okopnik 

<P><STRONG>
On Mon, Nov 06, 2000 at 08:50:40AM +0000, Clive de Salis wrote:
Dear All
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I've converted my office in Birmingham in the UK to run entirely on
Linux using <A HREF="http://www.slackware.org/">Slackware</A> and have successfully run the business for
nearly 3 years now without my customers realising that I don't run
Windows or use Microsoft Office.... Which just shows that it can be
done.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I'm getting ready to convert the Monmouth office to the same using the
Mandrake distribution.  There is, however, one software application
that I can't find for Linux ... and that is the equivalent to
Microsoft Project.  Do you know of a Gant Chart based project planning
tool for Linux?
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Good to hear yet another "Linux in business" success story! Project
management software for Linux is not a huge field, although there seem
to be at least several groups <TT>-</TT> some with rather serious money behind
them <TT>-</TT> working on remedying the lack. There are several pieces of
software already in existence that use Gantt charts; check out
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<A HREF="http://linas.org/linux/pm.html"
	>http://linas.org/linux/pm.html</A>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
for a good start on software in the Call Center, Bug Tracking and
Project Management categories.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Good luck in your endeavours,
<br>Ben
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- sig -->


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<H4 ALIGN="center">
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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<center>
<H1><font color="maroon">Joe Kaplenk and the OSes</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:frc@linux.com.br">Fernando Ribeiro Corr&ecirc;a</a></H4>
</center>
<P> <HR> <P>  

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<P> 
<FONT SIZE="-1"><EM>Joe kaplenk is dedicated to the teachings about the UNIX
alike operating systems.  He is the author of many operating systems
administration books including </EM>UNIX System Administrator's Interactive
Workbook<EM> and </EM>Linux Network Administrator's Interactive
Workbook<EM>.</EM></FONT>

<p><FONT FACE="arial,helvetica">
<b>OLinux: Tell us about your career, personal life (age, birthplace, hobbies,
education...)</b></FONT><p>

<b>Joe Kaplenk:</b> I was born in Middletown, NY. I'm 53. My current hobbies include reading
and watching history. I'm particularly fascinated with population
migrations and the development of various nations. World War II and the
rise of the various political movements fascinate me. The other hobbies
include computers, of course, teaching and reading on technical business
trends.<p> 

My college background includes going to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
in Troy, NY where I majored in Math with a minor in Physics. From there
I went to the University of Utah and graduated in Physics. My
undergraduate interests included quantum mechanics. It was something I
would only study for about an hour week and did very well in. I could
recite much of the history of quantum mechanics while I was in High
School.<p> 

My favorite instructor was Robert Resnick at RPI. He wrote the premier
text series for undergraduate Physics. I was very fortunate to get in
his class since there was a long waiting list. He made Physics very real
and more exciting for me. Issac Asimov was my favorite author. Both of
them influenced me to go into writing.<p> 

For graduate work I studied courses without a major in Chemistry,
Biology, Biochemistry and Journalism and worked part-time as a science
reporter for the Daily Utah Chronicle, the campus paper. I hoped to go
into graduate school in Biochemistry and Biophysics and had been
accepted at several colleges after this. One of my fascinations included
studying the effects of radiation on genetics. I believed that it would
be possible to find a way to selectively modify genes with radiation,
given the right parameters, and was hoping to pursue this line of
research. Several of my advisors advised me against it and that it would
never work, but I felt strongly this was worth pursuing.<p>

However, after much thought I left graduate school at the University of
South Carolina my first week. At this point I decided that it would be
too much effort and the money wasn't there to support me. In the early
seventies I spent several years in the southern United States helping in
rural black communities. My religious beliefs as a Baha'i strongly
influenced me in this.<p> 

My wife Ramona has been a really good support network for me. She's the
love of my life. I have a daughter, Anisa, from a previous. She has been
an outstanding student and has received a number of commendations.<p> 

<FONT FACE="arial,helvetica">
<b>OLinux: For what company do you work and what is your job nowdays?</b></FONT><p>

<b>Joe Kaplenk:</b> I am currently working for Collective Technologies as a consultant. Some
of my assignments have been working with Red Hat Linux, but most of them
have been with Solaris. Previous to this, and until last March, I worked
with IBM Global Services and did some Linux work there as well as
supporting Solaris and AIX. In this position I was on the international
team that did the IBM Redbooks on Linux. I looked within IBM for
opportunities to do more Linux, but did not find anything that was
satisfactory at that time.<p> 

Some of my spare time is on teaching system admin, researching ways to
teach, and developing new methods of teaching. Other time is spent
playing with various software, doing installations and testing. The rest
of the time is spent on family things.<p> 

<FONT FACE="arial,helvetica">
<b>OLinux: When did you started working with Linux? What was your initial
motivation and how do you see it nowadays?</b></FONT><p>

<b>Joe Kaplenk:</b> My first exposure to Linux was around 1992. I was working as the main
UNIX system administrator at Loyola University Chicago. There were
several students that worked for me. We were all keeping up closely with
the USENET, the internet news groups. They found something about Linux
online. We had been playing with Minix, which was actually used in one
of the Math classes. This was prior to release 1.0. The students were
very excited when Linux 1.0 was released. This meant to then that it
could now be more stable. It wasn't long after that that Yggdrasil Linux
was released. We downloaded the code, did some installs and played with
it.<p> 

I thought this was great since this gave the students an opportunity to
play with a UNIX like operating system as root without causing havoc on
production servers. We were running AT&T 3B2s at that time. These were
the standard boxes for UNIX development then, so much of what they did
on Linux could be done on UNIX also.<p> 

I see Linux as being a major player in the operating system arena in a
very short time. Linux will not kill all the other versions of UNIX. But
I do see a reduction in the versions. With the GNOME foundation being
developed and settling on a common desktop for several versions of UNIX
it will make Linux even more widely used. However, there are some things
that proprietary operating systems can do better. They can be more
focused on new apps, throw money at it,  and bring together talent
quickly to solve a problem. The Linux community is largely dependent on
finding developers to do the projects that often do it for free or for
the love of the project. But quick development and focus are not
necessary attributes of this model. So both models will continue to be
used.<p>

<p>
<FONT FACE="arial,helvetica">
<b>OLinux: What role do you play in the Open Source world these days?</b></FONT><p>
 
<b>Joe Kaplenk:</b>One of my major efforts at the moment is in bringing Linux in the
training and academic system administration training area. Recently I
attended and did a presentation at Tech Ed Chicago 2000. The
presentation covered what I consider are the major areas of difficulty
in teaching system admin. I hope to have it on my website shortly at
<A HREF="http://users.aol.com/jkaplenk">http://users.aol.com/jkaplenk</A>. 
I did it in Star Office and want to make it available in other formats also.<p>  

This conference attracted educators and trainers from universities,
colleges, companies and institutions in Illinois. At the conference it
was strongly emphasized that there is an increasing shortage of system
administrators. The need to develop training programs needs to be given
a high priority.<p> 

The role I see myself playing is in helping to develop programs for
training system admins. Because Linux allows itself to run in more
places than any other operating system it is a natural solution to the
problem. Students can learn and develop skills that they might not
otherwise have. The materials I developed over the years developed into
my first two books, the UNIX System Administrator's Interactive Workbook
and the Linux Network Administrator's Interactive Workbook. They also
formed the start of the whole Prentice-Hall series on Interactive
Workbooks.<p> 

<FONT FACE="arial,helvetica">
<b>OLinux: As an educator, what do you think about this Linux certification
services proliferation? Beside your books, how can extent your
Linux/UNIX knowledge to the users?</b></FONT><p>
 
<b>Joe Kaplenk:</b> Some employers are demanding Linux certification. My last assignment was
one that required me to have my Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE), which
I have. Personally, I think certification is overemphasized and the
important thing is what the admin has done and can do. The RHCE comes
the closest to being a true test because it has three parts. The first
is multiple choice, the second is debugging and the third is
installation. The other certifications that I am aware of do not have
this. They are only multiple choice type questions. As an instructor
that uses multiple choice questions, I am very familiar with the
failings and I try to balance this with hands-on work.<p> 

I took the Sair Linux certification test right after passing the RHCE
test. I passed 3 of the 4 sections, but took the networking twice. I
failed the first time, so I answered any suspect questions differently
the second time. It made no difference in the final result. I teach
networking, have been doing it for 16 years and have written books on
it. The pre-test material says that you only need to have several years
experience. This indicates to me that there is some failing that will
need to be looked at. While someone can and I'm sure has passed it, they
may have passed it not because of knowledge but because of choosing the
answers that were being looked for.  But I know that sometimes the only
way to find out whether is test is good is to give it, so I'm sure with
time the bugs will be ironed out.  The best test is real-life
experience.<p>

As I solve problems or during installs I have started writing up docs
that explain the process. My focus is usually on the process itself. The
outcome is important, but I figure that if I can speed up, clarify, or
make easier the steps I have been a success. In one job I decreased the
process time from two months to two weeks by analyzing and automating as
much as possible. Eventually I'll have my own set of docs that people
can refer to for these processes.<p> 

<FONT FACE="arial,helvetica">
<b>OLinux: How good are the Linux support services? Can you indicate some
failure in these services?</b></FONT><p>
 
<b>Joe Kaplenk:</b> I don't have a lot of experience with Linux support services other than
doing them. Currently there are a lot of opportunities to do Linux
support and this will grow rapidly because of the growth of Linux.
Someday the CIOs are going to wakeup and see that they have production
Linux boxes and their support guy just left. They will need to find
someone to help them out.<p> 

The only failures might be in the lack of planning and training for what
is becoming a tidal wave of demand for Linux. I have been a user of
Solaris and AIX services and my observation is that Linux will be at
those levels soon if it isn't already.<p> 

<p>
<FONT FACE="arial,helvetica">
<b>OLinux: What are the better and the worse Linux platform features in
comparison with Windows platform?</b></FONT><p>

<b>Joe Kaplenk:</b> My jobs have required me to work with DOS, Windows 3.1/NT/95,98, AIX,
Solaris, HP-UX, AT&T UNIX and BSD. As a result I have come in contact
with many of the features, good and bad, of these operating systems.<p> 

Linux is very scaleable. Ignoring hardware memory requirements, Linux
can be put on wristwatches or IBM mainframes and run the same program.<p> 
 
The Linux source code is accessible so that a developer can figure out
how to talk to the operating system. All the system calls are
documented. This is not found in Windows where many system calls are
hidden and only Microsoft knows about them. This gives MS a competitive
edge. A Linux developer can know exactly what to expect whereas
oftentimes Windows developers are shooting blind and hope they hit the
target with enough ammo.<p> 
 
Windows does have some good points. It is widely used. There are many
applications that only run on Windows, so that the user is forced to use
Windows. However the open source community is coming along very quickly
and providing equivalent functionality to Linux programs. Microsoft
spends a lot of time and money testing applications on users to
determine the best way to make something available to the user. I find
some Linux apps confusing. They have simplified the process greatly. As
long as you do things the Microsoft way and buy Microsoft products you
won't have a problem.<p> 
 
But the problem is that there are many software manufacturers that write
for Windows and really don't seem to have a clue. I've installed McAffe
Office 2000, Norton Utilities and various Norton antivirus products over
the years and inevitably remove them. After the installs my boxes will
slow to a crawl, crash more often, lose icons and various other
insanities. I figure that for about 5 years I could count on spending 12
weeks a year trying to fix my MS boxes and ultimately I would have to
reinstall the whole mess. My final solution is to never install anything
that gets to close to the operating system like these utilities. Then
the boxes run a lot better. But I lose out the functionality of the
software. Basically, if I leave it alone once it is running then it
works great. But this loses a lot of the fun.<p> 

With Linux, and UNIX in general, the operating system and the apps are
practically always separate. So when you upgrade to another version of
the various system monitoring tools the system runs without a problem.
If there is a problem the developer, whose email address is available,
can fix it very quickly.<p> 
 
Microsoft is in a difficult position. They are trying to control the
process while giving a certain amount of flexibility to other companies.
They realize that other developers create ideas more quickly than MS. So
if they let others develop the ideas then Microsoft can buy these
companies out, steal the ideas or put them out of business. This model
won't last long. While MS has been pushing the UCITA laws that passed in
Virginia and which prevent reverse engineering they will have closed one
of the doors they use.  I'm reminded of TI that had the best 16 bit
microprocessor in the late 80s. I think it was the 9600. But HP decided
they could control the process and tried to design 96% of the software.
Eventually people went elsewhere and the processor did not achieve its
goals.<p> 
 
<FONT FACE="arial,helvetica">
<b>OLinux: What does mean the big companies, like IBM, involvement with Linux?
Is it really good for the Linux community?</b></FONT><p>

<b>Joe Kaplenk:</b> The Linux community is tending to go in two directions. There is the
Free Software Foundation or the GNU/Linux group that is devoted to the
purity of the GNU GPL license. These people are very fanatical about
keeping Linux in the direction that it started in. This is represented
commercially by the Debian GNU/Linux distribution.<p> 
 
However, the other direction is that many companies such as IBM are
getting involved. They are finding that they can make a lot of money on
Linux services. Let's remember that Bill Gates got his start because IBM
didn't want to develop an operating system for the PC. They figured the
money was in the hardware. This same mentality is still there. The
operating system can sell the hardware. If IBM can sell more boxes by
using Linux then they will. IBM is adding their apps to run on Linux.
They are pushing Linux because they know the market is going to Linux
and they can sell their apps and services on Linux and make money that
way.  In IBM's world Linux is one more product to support and make
money.<p> 
 
I don't see IBM creating their own distribution unless it is for some
specialized application such as Point of Sale Equipment (POS) used in
stores or for ATM machines. These have special requirements and even in
this case they would probably contract with someone else.<p> 
 
There are several manufacturers putting their own front ends on Linux or
developing their own version of Linux. But if the libraries and kernel
can continue to be compatible then I think Linux will be okay. There may
be forks, but the good ideas will be brought back in.<p> 
 
I do see the GNU/Linux folks getting frustrated at some of the
directions and I would expect that this will give more impetus to the
HURD kernel development. This is the GNU operating system that Richard M
Stallman was working on before Linux got fired up. If the Linux
community doesn't have a place for them then they may move on to their
own kernel and distribution separate from the other Linux distributions.
Fortunately FSF has felt very strong about their apps being able to run
on as many operating systems as possible, so this shouldn't be too
painful to the Linux community.<p>





<p>
<FONT FACE="arial,helvetica">
<b>OLinux: In your opinion, what improvements and support are needed to make
Linux a wide world platform for end users?</b></FONT><p>

<b>Joe Kaplenk:</b> Usability is constantly emphasized in the Linux/business community and I
agree with this. When I can sit my mother-in-law down at the computer
and she can use Linux as easily as Windows then we'll be there. When she
realizes that the box doesn't have to be rebooted for silly things that
Windows does then it will be a solid sale. Most users don't care about
the operating system. They want to use it. Windows has a lot of ease of
use and wide usability built-in. Linux is getting close. I try to use
Linux whenever I can and am moving things over. I have two windows boxes
and a laptop running Windows. My Windows needs have decreased and except
for arhived stuff, I don't use my other two Windows boxes. My laptop
runs Windows only because I use AOL for my dialup on the road and for
some other apps.<p> 
 
<FONT FACE="arial,helvetica">
<b>OLinux: What was the last book release? Is there any new publication under
way?</b></FONT><p>

<b>Joe Kaplenk:</b> My last solo book with the Linux Network Administrator's Interactive
Workbook. My last team effort was the IBM Redbook series on Linux which
was recently published by Prentice-Hall. This is a four-book series.<p> 

There are no publications currently underway. I have been gathering my
thoughts and hope to publish a UNIX system administration book based on
my research. I plan to merge my first two books and incorporate several
very unique concepts that I feel can make teaching and learning system
admin much easier.  I have a contract offer from Prentice-Hall that I am
evaluating. Once I sign the contract the writing will take up most of my
spare time.<p> 

<b>Joe Kaplenk:</b> Three years ago my goal was a book a year. In two years I had two book
published solo and four books as part of a team. I'm basically on track
or ahead of schedule.<p> 

<FONT FACE="arial,helvetica">
<b>OLinux: What were your most successful book? How many copies where sold? Did
it have many translations to other countries?</b></FONT><p>

<b>Joe Kaplenk:</b> I don't have numbers on the Redbooks, but the UNIX System
Administrator's Interactive Workbook was the best seller for the solo
books. It has sold at least 20,000 copies. But the numbers are usually
up to nine months behind. The networking book was intentionally limited
in content to allow the user to just build a network and so didn't sell
as well.<p>

There are no translations into other languages as far as I know.<p>
 
<FONT FACE="arial,helvetica">
<b>OLinux: How do evaluate the sharp fall os stocks as VA Linux yesterday? Is it
possible to make money as a linux company? How do address this problem?</b></FONT><p>
 
<b>Joe Kaplenk:</b> It was inevitable because new tech stocks in general have been the
darlings of the stock market. Linux fits this role perfectly. I also
suspect that something was going on that was unanticipated by this
process. As I interpret this situation people were doing after-hours
bids for the VA Linux stock before it sold. When investors and brokers
saw the prices that people were willing to pay, I suspect they made the
opening price ridiculously high. As a result many people made quick
fortunes. Since the stocks were way overpriced they quickly dropped.<p> 
 
I think the investors in the stock market IPOs have learned their
lesson. The IPOs will not be the rockets they once were. Though there
are occasional blips.<p> 
 
The biggest money to be made in Linux is in services and training. We
will very quickly see this happening. Hardware does not make as much
money and neither does the software. Though advanced software such as
backup software does sell as well on Linux as on other platforms.<p>
 
<FONT FACE="arial,helvetica">
<b>OLinux: What kind of relation do you have with Linux community?  Do you
currently work for any linux orgs?</b></FONT><p>

<b>Joe Kaplenk:</b> I don't have any formal relations with the Linux community other than
being a member of several of the local Linux groups. I am also a member
of Uniforum.  My time has been so busy with my writing, research,
teaching and working that I have avoided additional time commitments. I
get over 100 emails a day that I have to deal with also.<p>

I don't work for any Linux orgs, but I do occasionally get assignments
that originate from Red Hat.<p>

<b>OLinux: Leave a message to our users.</b></FONT><p>

<b>Joe Kaplenk:</b> Linux is going mainstream. This is an irreversible process. If you want
to succeed career-wise and financially you need to understand the
obstacles and have some wide experiences with several operating systems.
You also need to get down and dirty and play in the sandbox. This means
tearing apart the boxes and the software and becoming involved (or
should I say intimate?) with them.<p> 

Just like the early revolution with PCs and DOS this will move by very
quickly. Ten years down the road it might be something else. It won't be
MS and Windows and maybe not Linux. So take advantage of it while you
can. Keep yourself open to new ideas so that you can again be there when
it comes around.<p> 

My email is <a href=mailto:jkaplenk@aol.com>jkaplenk@aol.com</a> and I am always open to other ideas.
Educators that are working on the same issues in training system admins
as I am are especially encouraged to contact me. 




<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <!-- P --> 
<H5 ALIGN=center>

Copyright &copy; 2000, Fernando Ribeiro Corr&ecirc;a.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 60 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, December 2000</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->


<H4 ALIGN="center">
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
</H4>

<P> <HR> <P> 
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<center>
<H1><font color="maroon">Creating a Linux Certification Program, part 11:<BR>
Inviting the World to Participate</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:rferrari@rainmanintl.com">Ray Ferrari</a></H4>
</center>
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<p>It has been a very busy year for the Linux Professional Institute. At
shows and convention
halls around the world, people are interested in Linux*, and people
want to know more about where Linux is headed and the demands that will
be placed upon the administrators of these systems. The spectrum of the
interested Linux participant runs the full scale. From the outright beginner
who doesn't have a clue what all the buzz is over this new operating system,
to the down and dirty hands on faster than a speeding bullet kind of person;
everyone wants to be a player in the Linux game.
<p>The audiences for the Linux Professional Institute have been enthusiastic
and engaged. It seems everyone has a different opinion of what is truly
needed within the Linux community. But one thing that most seem to agree
on, that as Linux grows in demand, more professionals will be needed, and
a standard for competence is the best approach to ensuring qualified professionals.
<p>Linux appears no longer to be a fringe operating system. The representation
at COMDEX/Linux Business Expo in Las Vegas of 47,000 square feet and the
participation of the attendees from COMDEX was a sight to behold. Tens
of thousands of people toured the Linux related companies and I am sure
that the result will be in sales. As sales continue to increase for these
companies, a demand will be generated for Linux professionals. For the
Linux professional, having the right knowledge, the right tools, and the
right qualifications will be everything.
<p>And the Linux Professional Institute(LPI) has helped bridge the wide
gap between the many different players within the Linux professional ommunity
and the ever growing "newbie". The Linux Professional Institute; 
(<A HREF="http://www.lpi.org">www.lpi.org</A>)
 has been spreading the word about Linux and certification
of Linux professionals for the last two years. Their web site and related
information an now be read in French, German, Greek, Japanese, Polish,
Spanish, English.  Chinese is soon to be added, with more to come. All
of this has been
done with volunteers from around the world. LPI continues to be organized
and run with the help of thousands of people from every part of the globe.
<p>Japan just recently went online with 
<A HREF="http://www.vue.com">Virtual University Enterprises (VUE)</A>
for the Linux Professional Institute's tests for certification of Linux
administration. This was a milestone within the Linux community. The Japanese
are embracing Linux in a big way, and they believe in the certification
process. LPI views the interest in Linux in Japan, as one more piece of
evidence that Linux is here to stay. There is currently an LPI- China being
started by a group of professionals and educators in China. Sponsors have
been contacted and enthusiasm runs high for this group as they ready to
embrace their Linux audiences.
<p>Enthusiasm and a sense of community has taken hold for the Linux Professional
Institute. A lot of work remains to be done, and anyone interested in participating
or volunteering their expertise or time should contact 
<A HREF="mailto:wilma@lpi.org">wilma@lpi.org</A>,
<A HREF="mailto:dan@lpi.org">dan@lpi.org</A> or 
<A HREF="mailto:info@lpi.org">info@lpi.org</A>. The organization continues to
work on the next set of exams to be administered. Level two testing is
scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2001. Stay tuned to the web site for
further details.
<p>The Linux Professional Institute invites all Linux enthusiasts and professionals
to participate in their certification exams and
become known as an LPI -1, LPI -2 or LPI -3 Professional. This certification
is currently being recognized by IBM, SGI, HP,
SuSE, and TurboLinux, a partial list. Since the first exam was taken;
just a few months ago in June; there have been exams taken in almost every
part of the globe. The top five countries (for most tests taken, in descending
order) were the U.S, Germany, Canada, Netherlands, and Japan. But, there
were participants from Taiwan, Switzerland, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Brazil,
Bulgaria, China, Ecuador and many more.
<p>As has been the case for the last two years, 2001 appears to be even
busier for LPI. January brings the Linux Professional Institute to Amsterdam,
and New York, then to Paris in February. The rest of the year will ontinue
on this pace with appearances around the globe. To follow our movements,
log on to <A HREF="http://www.lpi.org/i-events.html">http://www.lpi.org/i-events.html</A>.
To help us at shows and conventions, contact 
<A HREF="mailto:info@lpi.org">info@lpi.org</A> or 
<A HREF="mailto:wilma@lpi.org">wilma@lpi.org</A>.
<p>Come join the Linux Professional Institute and all their sponsors in
challenging yourself as a Linux enthusiast. We invite you to participate
in our testing procedure which leads to certification. Certification of
professional Linux administrators. Be part of a world-wide organization
where you an make a difference. Join our many discussions through mailing
lists or help staff booths in different parts of the world. The Linux
Professional Institute invites anyone interested in helping the organization
through its next year of progress, to log on to 
<A HREF="http://www.lpi.org">www.lpi.org</A>
and click on "Getting Involved". We're looking forward to another
great year, and we hope you will be with us for the ride.

<p><EM>*Linux is a trademark of Linux Torvalds; Linux Professional Institute is
a trademark of Linux Professional Institute Inc .</EM>




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<P> <hr> <!-- P --> 
<H5 ALIGN=center>

Copyright &copy; 2000, Ray Ferrari.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 60 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, December 2000</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->


<H4 ALIGN="center">
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
</H4>

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

<center>
<H1><font color="maroon">Tuxedo Tails</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:kasten@sunpuppy.com">Eric Kasten</a></H4>
</center>
<P> <HR> <P>  

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<IMG ALT="bootfail.png" SRC="misc/kasten/bootfail.png" 
	WIDTH="312" HEIGHT="300">

<IMG ALT="wwwsanta.png" SRC="misc/kasten/wwwsanta.png" 
	WIDTH="312" HEIGHT="300">


<BR CLEAR="all">

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[Eric also draws the <I>Sun Puppy</I> comic strip at 
<A HREF="http://www.sunpuppy.com">http://www.sunpuppy.com</A>.  -Ed.]
	</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>




<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <!-- P --> 
<H5 ALIGN=center>

Copyright &copy; 2000, Eric Kasten.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 60 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, December 2000</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->


<H4 ALIGN="center">
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
</H4>

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

<center>
<H1><font color="maroon">Secure Communication with GnuPG on Linux</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:kapil@linux4biz.net">Kapil Sharma</a></H4>
</center>
<P> <HR> <P>  

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<p><b><font size=+2>Overview</font></b>
<p>GnuPG is a tool for secure communication and data storage. It can be
used to encrypt data and to create digital signatures. GnuPG is a complete
and free replacement for PGP. Because it does not use the patented IDEA
algorithm, it can be used without any restrictions. GnuPG uses public-key
cryptography so that users may communicate securely. In a public-key system,
each user has a pair of keys consisting of a private key and a public key.
A user's private key is kept secret; it need never be revealed. The public
key may be given to anyone with whom the user wants to communicate.
<p><b><font size=+2>Features</font></b>
<ul>
<li>
&nbsp; Full replacement of PGP.</li>

<li>
 Does not use any patented algorithms.</li>

<li>
&nbsp; GPLed, written from scratch.</li>

<li>
 Can be used as a filter program.</li>

<li>
 Full OpenPGP implementation.</li>

<li>
 Better functionality than PGP and some security
enhancements over PGP 2.</li>

<li>
 Decrypts and verifies PGP 5.x messages.</li>

<li>
 Supports ElGamal (signature and encryption), DSA,
3DES, Blowfish, Twofish, CAST5, MD5, SHA-1, RIPE-MD-160 and TIGER.</li>

<li>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Easy implementation of new algorithms using extension
modules.</li>

<li>
 User ID is forced to be in a standard format.</li>

<li>
 Supports key and signature expiration dates.</li>

<li>
 English, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, French, German,
Japanese, Italian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Portuguese (Portuguese),
Russian, Spanish and Swedish language support.</li>

<li>
 Online help system.</li>

<li>
 Optional anonymous message receivers.</li>

<li>
 Integrated support for HKP keyservers (wwwkeys.pgp.net).</li>

<li>
 Has lots of GUI frontend</li>
</ul>

<p><br>You can find all the software related to GnuPG at <a href="http://www.gnupg.org/download.html">http://www.gnupg.org/download.html</a>
<p><b><font size=+2>Installation</font></b>
<p>Copy the gnupg source file to ./usr/local/ directory or wherever you
want to install it and then cd to that directory.
<br>[root@dragon local]&nbsp; tar xvzf gnupg-1.0.4.tar.gz
<br>[root@dragon local]# cd gnupg-1.0.4
<br>[root@dragon gnupg-1.0.4]# ./configure
<br>[root@dragon gnupg-1.0.4]# make
<br>This will compile all source files into executable binaries.
<br>[root@dragon gnupg-1.0.4]# make check
<br>It will run any self-tests that come with the package.
<br>[root@dragon gnupg-1.0.4]# make install
<br>It will install the binaries and any supporting files into appropriate
locations.
<br>[root@dragon gnupg-1.0.4]# strip /usr/bin/gpg
<br>The "strip" command will reduce the size of the "gpg" binary for better
performance.
<br>&nbsp;
<p><b><font size=+2>Common Commands</font></b>
<p><b>1: Generating a new keypair</b>
<br>We must create a new key-pair (public and private) for the first time.
The command line option --gen-key is used to create a new primary keypair.
<p>Step 1
<br>[root@dragon /]# gpg --gen-key
<br>gpg (GnuPG) 1.0.2; Copyright (C) 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
<br>This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
<br>This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
<br>under certain conditions. See the file COPYING for details.
<p>gpg: /root/.gnupg: directory created
<br>gpg: /root/.gnupg/options: new options file created
<br>gpg: you have to start GnuPG again, so it can read the new options
file
<p>Step 2
<br>Start GnuPG again with the following command:
<br>[root@dragon /]# gpg --gen-key
<br>gpg (GnuPG) 1.0.2; Copyright (C) 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
<br>This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
<br>This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
<br>under certain conditions. See the file COPYING for details.
<p>gpg:/root/.gnupg/secring.gpg: keyring created
<br>gpg: /root/.gnupg/pubring.gpg: keyring created
<br>Please select what kind of key you want:
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp; (1) DSA and ElGamal (default)
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp; (2) DSA (sign only)
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp; (4) ElGamal (sign and encrypt)
<br>Your selection?&nbsp; 1
<br>DSA keypair will have 1024 bits.
<br>About to generate a new ELG-E keypair.
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
minimum keysize is&nbsp; 768 bits
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
default keysize is 1024 bits
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; highest suggested keysize is 2048 bits
<br>What keysize do you want? (1024) 2048
<br>Do you really need such a large keysize? y
<br>Requested keysize is 2048 bits
<br>Please specify how long the key should be valid.
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 0 = key does not expire
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &lt;n&gt; &nbsp; = key expires in n days
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &lt;n&gt; w = key expires in n weeks
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &lt;n&gt; m = key expires in n months
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &lt;n&gt; y = key expires in n years
<br>Key is valid for? (0) 0
<br>Key does not expire at all
<br>Is this correct (y/n)? y
<p>You need a User-ID to identify your key; the software constructs the
user id
<br>from Real Name, Comment and Email Address in this form:
<br&gt; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Heinrich Heine (Der Dichter) &lt;heinrichh@duesseldorf.de>"
<p>Real name: Kapil sharma
<br>Email address: kapil@linux4biz.net
<br>Comment: Unix/Linux consultant
<br>You selected this USER-ID:
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Kapil Sharma (Unix/Linux consultant) &lt;kapil@linux4biz.net&gt; "
<p>Change (N)ame, (C)omment, (E)mail or (O)kay/(Q)uit? o
<br>You need a Passphrase to protect your secret key.
<p>Enter passphrase: [enter a passphrase]
<p>We need to generate a lot of random bytes. It is a good idea to perform
<br>some other action (type on the keyboard, move the mouse, utilize the
<br>disks) during the prime generation; this gives the random number
<br>generator a better chance to gain enough entropy.
<br&gt; .++++++++++..+++++++++++++++..+++++....+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++.+++++.+++++.++++++++++..+++++.++++++++++....++++++++++..+++++>++++++++++.+++++^^^
<br>public and secret key created and signed.
<p>Now I will explain about the various inputs asked during the generation
of the keypairs.
<ul>
<li>
Please select what kind of key you want:</li>

<br>(1) DSA and ElGamal (default)
<br>(2) DSA (sign only)
<br>(4) ElGamal (sign and encrypt)
<br>Your selection?</ul>
&nbsp; GnuPG is capable of creating different kind of keypairs. There are
three options.
<br>&nbsp;A DSA keypair is the primary keypair usable only for making signatures.
An ElGamal subordinate keypair is also created for encryption. Option 2
is similar but creates only a DSA keypair. Option
<br>&nbsp;4[1] creates a single ElGamal keypair usable for both making
signatures and performing encryption. <b><i>For most users the default
option is fine.</i></b>
<br>&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>
You must also choose a key size. The size of a DSA key must be between
512 and 1024 bits, and an ElGamal key may be of any size.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
About to generate a new ELG-E keypair.
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
minimum keysize is&nbsp; 768 bits
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
default keysize is 1024 bits
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
highest suggested keysize is 2048 bits
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
What keysize do you want? (1024)
<p>&nbsp;There are advantages and disadvantages of choosing a longer key.
The advantages are: 1) The longer the key the more secure it is against
brute-force attacks
<br>&nbsp;The disadvantages are: 1) encryption and decryption will be slower
as the key size is increased 2) a larger keysize may affect signature length
<p>&nbsp; <b>The default keysize is adequate for almost all purpose and&nbsp;
the keysize can never be changed after selection.</b>
<br>&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>
Finally, you must choose an expiration date. If Option 1 was chosen, the
expiration date will be used for both the ElGamal and DSA keypairs</li>

<br>&nbsp; Please specify how long the key should be valid
<br>&nbsp; 0 = key does not expire
<br&gt; &lt;n>&nbsp; = key expires in n days
<br>&lt;n&gt; w = key expires in n weeks
<br>&lt;n&gt; m = key expires in n months
<br>&lt;n&gt; y = key expires in n years
<br>Key is valid for? (0)</ul>
For most users a key that does not expire is adequate. The expiration time
should be chosen with care, however, since although it is possible to change
the expiration date after the key is created,
<br>it may be difficult to communicate a change to users who have your
public key.
<br>&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>
You must provide a user ID in addition to the key parameters. The user
ID is used to associate the key being created with a real person.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
You need a User-ID to identify your key; the software constructs the user
id
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
from Real Name, Comment and Email Address in this form:
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
"Kapil Sharma (Linux consultant) &lt;kapil@linux4biz.net&gt; "
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Real name: <i>Enter you name here</i>
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Email address: <i>Enter you email address</i>
<br><i>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </i>Comment:
<i>Enter
any comment here</i>
<br>&nbsp;
<br>&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>
GnuPG needs a passphrase to protect the primary and subordinate private
keys that you keep in your possession.</li>

<br>You need a Passphrase to protect your secret key.</ul>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Enter passphrase:
<p>There is no limit on the length of a passphrase, and it should be carefully
chosen. From the perspective of security, the passphrase to unlock the
private key is one of the weakest points in GnuPG
<br>(and other public-key encryption systems as well) since it is the only
protection you have if another individual gets your private key. Ideally,
the passphrase should not use words from a
<br>dictionary and should mix the case of alphabetic characters as well
as use non-alphabetic characters. A good passphrase is crucial to the secure
use of GnuPG.
<br>&nbsp;
<p><b>2: Generating a revocation certificate</b>
<p>After your keypair is created you should immediately generate a revocation
certificate for the primary public key using the option --gen-revoke. If
you forget your passphrase or if your private
<br>key is compromised or lost, this revocation certificate may be published
to notify others that the public key should no longer be used.
<p>&nbsp;[root@dragon /]# gpg --output revoke.asc --gen-revoke mykey
<p>Here mykey must be a key specifier, either the key ID of your primary
keypair or any part of a user ID that identifies your keypair. The generated
certificate will be left in the file
<br>revoke.asc. The certificate should not be stored where others can access
it since anybody can publish the revocation certificate and render the
corresponding public key
<br>useless.
<br>&nbsp;
<br>&nbsp;
<p><b>3: Listing Keys</b>
<p>&nbsp;To list the keys on your public keyring use the command-line option
--list-keys.
<p>[root@dragon /]#&nbsp; gpg --list-keys
<br>/root/.gnupg/pubring.gpg
<br>------------------------
<br>pub&nbsp; 1024D/020C9884 2000-11-09 Kapil Sharma (Unix/Linux consultant)
&lt;kapil@linux4biz.net&gt; 
<br>sub&nbsp; 2048g/555286CA 2000-11-09
<p><b>4: Exporting a public key</b>
<p>You can export your public key to use it on your homepage or on a available
key server on the Internet or any other method. To send your public key
to a correspondent you must first export it. The command-line option --export
is used to do this. It takes an additional argument identifying the public
key to export.
<br>&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>
To export your public key in binary format, use the following command:</li>

<br>&nbsp; [root@dragon /]# gpg --output kapil.gpg --export kapil@linux4biz.net
<li>
To export your public key in ASCII armored output, use the following command:</li>

<br>&nbsp;[root@dragon /]# gpg&nbsp; --export-armor&gt;  kapil-key.asc
<br>Here "--export" is for extracting your Public-key from your pubring
encrypted file , "-armor" is to create ASCII armored output that you can
mail, publish it on a web page and "&gt; kapil-key.asc" is to put the result
in a file.
<li>
To export your public key in ASCII armored output and to view it , use
the following command:</li>

<br>&nbsp;[root@dragon /]# gpg&nbsp; --export-armor
<br>-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
<br>Version: GnuPG v1.0.2 (GNU/Linux)
<br>Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org
<p>[...]
<br>-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
<br>&nbsp;</ul>
<b>5: Importing a public key</b>
<br>Once your own keypair is created, you can put it into your public keyring
database of all keys from trusted third party in order to be able to use
the keys for future encryption and authentication communication. A public
key may be added to your public keyring with the --import option.
<p>&nbsp;[root@dragon /]# gpg --import &lt;filename&gt; 
<br>Here "filename" is the name of the exported public key.
<br>For example:
<br>[root@dragon /]# gpg --import mandrake.asc
<br>gpg: key :9B4A4024: public key imported
<br>gpg: /root/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg: trustdb created
<br>gpg: Total number processed: 1
<br>gpg:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
imported: 1
<p>In the above example we imported the Public key file "mandrake.asc"
from the company Mandrake Linux, downloadable from Mandrake Internet site,
into our keyring.
<p><b>6: Validating the key</b>
<br>Once a key is imported it should be validated.&nbsp; A key is validated
by verifying the key's fingerprint and then signing the key to certify
it as a valid key. A key's fingerprint can be quickly viewed with the --fingerprint
command-line option.
<br>[root@dragon /]# gpg --fingerprint &lt;UID&gt; 
<br>As a example:
<br>[root@dragon /]# gpg --fingerprint mandrake
<br>pub&nbsp; 1024D/9B4A4024 2000-01-06 MandrakeSoft (MandrakeSoft official
keys) &lt;mandrake@mandrakesoft.com&gt; 
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Key fingerprint = 63A2 8CBD A7A8 387E 1A53&nbsp;
2C1E 59E7 0DEE 9B4A 4024
<br>sub&nbsp; 1024g/686FF394 2000-01-06
<p>In the above example we verified the fingerprint of mandrake. A key's
fingerprint is verified with the key's owner. This may be done in person
or over the phone or through any other means as long as you can guarantee
that you are communicating with the key's true owner. If the fingerprint
you get is the same as the fingerprint the key's owner gets, then you can
be sure that you have a correct copy of the key.
<p><b>7: Key Signing</b>
<br>After importing and verifying the keys that you have imported into
your public database, you can start signing them. Signing a key certifies
that you know the owner of the keys. You should only sign the keys when
you are 100% sure of the authentication of the key.
<br>&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>
To sign a key for the company Mandrake that we have added on our keyring
above, use the following command:</li>

<br>[root@dragon /]# gpg --sign-key &lt;UID&gt; 
<br>As an example:
<br>[root@dragon /]# gpg --sign-key &lt;UID&gt; 
<br>pub&nbsp; 1024D/9B4A4024&nbsp; created: 2000-01-06 expires: never&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
trust: -/q
<br>sub&nbsp; 1024g/686FF394&nbsp; created: 2000-01-06 expires: never
<br>(1)&nbsp; MandrakeSoft (MandrakeSoft official keys) &lt;mandrake@mandrakesoft.com&gt; 
<br>&nbsp;
<p>pub&nbsp; 1024D/9B4A4024&nbsp; created: 2000-01-06 expires: never&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
trust: -/q
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Fingerprint: 63A2 8CBD A7A8 387E 1A53&nbsp; 2C1E 59E7 0DEE 9B4A 4024
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; MandrakeSoft (MandrakeSoft official keys) &lt;mandrake@mandrakesoft.com&gt; 
<p>Are you really sure that you want to sign this key
<br>with your key: "Kapil Sharma (Unix/Linux consultant) &lt;kapil@linux4biz.net&gt; "
<p>Really sign? y
<p>You need a passphrase to unlock the secret key for
<br>user: "Kapil Sharma (Unix/Linux consultant) &lt;kapil@linux4biz.net&gt; "
<br>1024-bit DSA key, ID 020C9884, created 2000-11-09
<p>Enter passphrase:
<br>&nbsp;</ul>
<b>8:&nbsp; Checking Signatures</b>
<br>Once signed you can check the key to list the signatures on it and
see the signature that you have added. Every user ID on the key will have
one or more self-signatures as well as a signature for
<br>each user that has validated the key. We can check the signatures of
the keys by the gpg option "--check-sigs:
<br>As an example:
<br>[root@dragon /]# gpg --check-sigs mandrake
<br>pub&nbsp; 1024D/9B4A4024 2000-01-06 MandrakeSoft (MandrakeSoft official
keys) &lt;mandrake@mandrakesoft.com&gt; 
<br>sig!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 9B4A4024 2000-01-06&nbsp;
MandrakeSoft (MandrakeSoft official keys) &lt;mandrake@mandrakesoft.com&gt; 
<br>sig!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 020C9884 2000-11-09&nbsp;
Kapil Sharma (Unix/Linux consultant) &lt;kapil@linux4biz.net&gt; 
<br>sub&nbsp; 1024g/686FF394 2000-01-06
<br>sig!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 9B4A4024 2000-01-06&nbsp;
MandrakeSoft (MandrakeSoft official keys) &lt;mandrake@mandrakesoft.com&gt; 
<p><b>9: Encrypting and decrypting</b>
<br>The procedure for encrypting and decrypting documents is very simple.
If you want to encrypt a message to mandrake, you encrypt it using mandrake
public key, and then only mandrake can
<br>decrypt that file&nbsp; with his private key. If Mandrake wants to
send you a message, it&nbsp; encrypts it using your public key, and you
decrypt it with your private key.
<p>To encrypt and sign data for the user Mandrake that we have added on
our keyring use the following command (You must have a public key of the
recipient):
<br>[root@dragon /]# gpg&nbsp; -sear &lt;UID of the public key&gt;  &lt;file&gt; 
<p>As an example:
<br>[root@dragon /]# gpg -sear Mandrake document.txt
<br>You need a passphrase to unlock the secret key for
<br>user: "Kapil Sharma (Unix/Linux consultant) &lt;kapil@linux4biz.net&gt; "
<br>1024-bit DSA key, ID 020C9884, created 2000-11-09
<p>Enter passphrase:
<p>Here "s" is for signing , "e" for encrypting, "a" to create ASCII armored
output (".asc" is ready for sending by mail), "r" to encrypt the user id
name and &lt;file&gt;  is the data you want to encrypt
<p&gt; To decrypt data ,use the following command:
<br>[root@dragon /]# gpg&nbsp; -d &lt;file&gt; 
<p>As an example:
<br>[root@dragon /]# gpg -d documentforkapil.asc
<br>You need a passphrase to unlock the secret key for
<br>user: "Kapil Sharma (Unix/Linux consultant) &lt;kapil@linux4biz.net&gt; "
<br>1024-bit DSA key, ID 020C9884, created 2000-11-09
<br>Enter passphrase:
<p>Here the parameter "d" is for decrypting the data and &lt;file&gt;  is a
data you want to decrypt.
<br>[Note: you must have the public key of the sender of the message/data
that you want to decrypt in your public keyring database.]
<p><b>10: Checking the signature</b>
<br>Once you have extracted your public key and exported it then by using
the --verify option of GnuPG anybody can check whether encrypted data from
you is also signed by you.
<ul>
<li>
To check the signature of encrypted data, use the following command:</li>

<br>[root@dragon /]#&nbsp; gpg --verify &lt;Data&gt; 
<br>Here "--verify" option is to check the signature and "&lt;Data&gt; " is
the encrypted data/file you want to verify.</ul>

<p><br><b><font size=+2>Some uses of GnuPG software</font></b>
<p>1: Send encrypted mail messages.
<br>2: Encrypt files and documents
<br>3: Transmit encrypted files and important documents through network
<br>&nbsp;
<p><b><font size=+2>Here is a list of some of the Frontend and software
for GnuPG</font></b>
<p><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="http://www.gnupg.org/gpa.html">GPA</a> aims to be the standard
GnuPG graphical frontend. This has a very nice GUI interface.</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Chip/3708/gpgp/gpgp-intro.html#this">GnomePGP</a>
is a GNOME desktop tool to control GnuPG.</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="http://geheimnis.sourceforge.net/">Geheimniss</a> is a KDE frontend
for GnuPG.</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="http://pgp4pine.flatline.de/">pgp4pine</a> is a Pine filter to
handle PGP messages.</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="http://www.physto.se/~p99jlu/MagicPGP.html">MagicPGP</a> is yet
another set of scripts to use GnuPG with Pine.</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="http://www.megaloman.com/~hany/software/pinepgp/">PinePGP</a>
is also a Pine filter for GnuPG.</b>
<br>&nbsp;
<p><b><font size=+2>More Information</font></b>
<p><a href="http://www.gnupg.org/docs.html">http://www.gnupg.org/docs.html</a>
<p><b><font size=+2>Conclusion</font></b>
<p>Anybody who is cautious about security must use GnuPG. It is one of
the best open-source programs which has all the functions for encryption
and decryption for all your secure data and can be used without any restrictions
since it is under GNU General Public License. It can be used to send encrypted
mail messages, files and documents for security. It can also be used
to transmit files and important documents through network securely.




<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <!-- P --> 
<H5 ALIGN=center>

Copyright &copy; 2000, Kapil Sharma.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 60 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, December 2000</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->


<H4 ALIGN="center">
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
</H4>

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

<center>
<H1><font color="maroon">Sharing an Encrypted Windows Partition With Linux<BR>
(and notes about Sendmail)</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:xvudpapc@savba.sk">Juraj Sipos</a></H4>
</center>
<P> <HR> <P>  

<!-- END header -->




<P> I published an article in the September issue of Linux Gazette (LG #57) titled
<A HREF="../issue57/sipos.html">Making a Simple Linux Network Including Windows 9x</A>. I
received questions regarding my encrypted Windows partition. People
asked me questions like. "How did you do that?" So I'd like to answer,
"how did I do that?" I would also like to describe my successful
configuration of sendmail, which remained open in my previous article.

<P> The above-mentioned article was about how to configure simple network
including Windows 9x, but I was at that time unsuccessful with
configuration of sendmail. First, let me say that I was not interested
to have a standard mail server--one server from which I would fetch
mail. I was interested to configure sendmail to have a possibility to
send mail from machine one to machine two, and from machine two to
machine one. This is something not very usual; however, the information
revealed here may also be useful for such a standard sendmail server
configuration.

<P> I am using a term "sendmail configuration", by which I do not mean
"configuration of sendmail.cf file", but rather "making sendmail work".
In other texts of Linux documentation files the term "sendmail
configuration" is understood as manipulation of sendmail configuration
files in /etc directory.

<P> The following article will briefly describe how I configured this and
how I successfully shared an encrypted Windows partition with Linux.

<P> Normally, I use Linux at home, so I did not give my Linux workstation a
network name - a host name. I found most of the programs people
recommended me in their answers as ineffective (webadmin, configure
sendmail).  This was obviously due to the following reasons including
the fact I must strongly emphasize here usually, sendmail is
preconfigured and no editing of its configuration file (sendmail.cf) is
necessary unless you want to do something special or at least something
of your particular choice:

<P> 1. The first important thing was to give my Linux a host name. I did
this with a "hostname one.juro.sk" command, where "one.juro.sk" may be a
name for your machine. If you do not have a real network name, it does
not matter. Just use the above-mentioned name and replace my name with
your name, e.g. one.frank.com. The article in September issue clearly
describes how to configure your network, so look there. The information
in the article you now read will also apply to configuring sendmail in
the plip network. You can open Linuxconf (RedHat) and change permanently
your 

<PRE>
hostname &gt; Basic sendmail configuration &gt; present your system as: one.juro.sk
</PRE>

You should also do this on the computer TWO, where you will put
two.juro.sk instead of one.juro.sk.
<P> 2. The file sendmail.cw in /etc directory must contain a line with the
following text: one.juro.sk in computer ONE, and two.juro.sk in computer
TWO. The sendmail.cw file is preconfigured as empty and it only contains
the following commented text:
      # sendmail.cw - include all aliases for your machine here.
<P> 3. DNS must be configured. DNS files are contained in the bind package.
Just install bind and change its configuration files in /etc directory.
Here I will give my DNS configuration files:

<PRE>
     /etc/named.boot
    ;
    ; a caching only nameserver config
    ;
    directory                             /etc/namedb
    cache           .                      root.cache
    primary         0.0.127.in-addr.arpa   named.local
</PRE>

The content of my /etc/named.conf file is different from the standard
Linux configuration. I changed it because I use FreeBSD and I backup the
/etc directory regularly. For me it is more convenient to have all
configuration files in /etc rather than few in /var and the rest in /etc
directory, but this is a matter of your choice. The file root.cache
contains the world root DNS servers and it is preconfigured, so I do not
include its content here. You will only make use of this file if you are
connected to the net. However, if you are not connected, it's OK to
leave it as it is. I noticed the file does not make any interference
with our configuration.

<H4>/etc/named.conf</H4>

<PRE>
   options {
           directory "/etc/namedb";
   };
   zone "." {
           type hint;
           file "root.cache";
   };
   zone "0.0.127.in-addr.arpa"{
           type master;
           file "named.local";
   };
   zone "juro.sk"{
           type master;
           file "juro.sk";
   };
   zone "0.0.10.IN-ADDR.ARPA"{
           type master;
           file "10.0.0";
   };
</PRE>

<H4>/etc/namedb/named.local</H4>

<PRE>
   $TTL    3600
   @               IN      SOA     one.juro.sk.    root.one.juro.sk. (
                           20000827 ; serial
                           3600 ; refresh
                           900  ; retry
                           3600000 ; expire
                           3600 )  ; Minimum
                   IN      NS     one.juro.sk.
   1              IN      PTR   one.juro.sk.
</PRE>

The periods at the end are not a mistake; they are important here to
keep (one.juro.sk.) You can find more information in the 
<A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/DNS-HOWTO.html">DNS-HOWTO</A>. If
you don't understand something, just forget it and feel fine with my
assurance that this DNS configuration will work.

<H4>/etc/namedb/juro.sk</H4>

<PRE>
    $TTL    3600
    @               IN      SOA     one.juro.sk.    root.one.juro.sk. (
                            2000080801 ; serial
                            3600 ; refresh
                            900 ; retry
                            1209600 ; expire
                            43200 ; default_ttl
                            )
                    IN      NS         one.juro.sk.
                    IN      MX    0 one.juro.sk.
    localhost.      IN      A       127.0.0.1
    ;info on particular computers
    ns              IN      A     10.0.0.1
    one            IN      A     10.0.0.1
    www                   CNAME   one
    ftp                       CNAME   one
    two            IN      A       10.0.0.2
 </PRE>

MX is a mail exchanger. NS is a nameserver, CNAME is a canonical name or
alias.
Now follows the reverse zone:

<H4>/etc/namedb/10.0.0  (yes the name of the file is simply "10.0.0")</H4>

<PRE>
    $TTL    3600
    @               IN      SOA     one.juro.sk.    root.one.juro.sk. (
                            1997022700 ; serial
                            28800 ; refresh
                            14400 ; retry
                            3600000 ; expire
                            86400 ; default_ttl
                            )
                     IN      NS      one.juro.sk.
    1               IN     PTR     one.juro.sk.
    2               IN     PTR     two.juro.sk.
    ; the above PTR is reverse mapping
</PRE>


SOA means Start of Authority, notice ";" at the beginning of some lines;
it is used as a comment. The numbers represent time in seconds.

<P> Now you can issue a command "ndc start". If your DNS (BIND) is already
running, try "ndc restart". You can try the nslookup command, which
should answer your queries, for example, issue nslookup. The shell
command line will change and you will see something like this:

<PRE>
$ nslookup
  Default Name Server: one.juro.sk
  Address:  127.0.0.1
</PRE>

<P> Now you can put 10.0.0.2 in the ndc command window and you should
receive a feedback that the computer you are asking for is two.juro.sk.
If you put 10.0.0.1, the reply will be one.juro.sk.

<P> No DNS server should be running on the other computer (TWO). This is a
detail, but newbies often configure DNS server on more machines. In our
network connection we have one DNS server and don't worry with the
Secondary DNS server. We're dealing here with a SIMPLE NETWORK. It's the
only way to start understanding something more complicated.

<P> 4. Putting the "domain juro.sk" in the resolv.conf file will tell the
second computer (and all other ones, if we plan to include them into our
network) about the domain we are in (juro.sk, frank.com, or planet.ru,
it's your choice, but keep only one domain. There's a possibility to
create more domains. This is something like "Workgroups" in MS Windows
and only computers in one domain [Workgroup] will be able to communicate
with one another, i.e. computers in the domain "juro.sk" will
communicate with one another; if you have computers in the "frank.com"
domain in the same network, "frank.com" computers will not communicate
with computers in "juro.sk" domain, albeit they all are cabled into one
network). And because we are using the private IP addresses here, there
will be no interference with Internet. Our DNS server will simply
translate one.juro.sk (or 1.frank.com) as 10.0.0.1. (However, for
Internet connection you need a router, if you want to use any of the
networked computers for dialing out. The router gives you a possibility
to share one modem with several computers. If you have a simple network
with two or three computers and need to make an immediate dial out
connection, try to dial out from the DNS server. A router is a computer
that serves as a gateway - a way out of the private Intranet. Please
look for information elsewhere, or else download a freesco mini dialout
router and install it; it's a preconfigured mini router with diald I
tested both from Windows and Linux and which worked well. You will only
need to configure your ISP. Find the software through search engines, freesco
should also be on <A HREF="http://freshmeat.net">http://freshmeat.net</A>, it's
a diskette mini distribution, so an old 386 without a hard disk might serve you
good).

<P> The computer TWO will read the DNS configuration from the computer ONE.
So the 10.0.0.1 is the address of the computer ONE (and 10.0.0.2 of the
computer TWO). The resolv.conf on the computer ONE has the following
syntax:

<PRE>
domain juro.sk
nameserver 127.0.0.1
nameserver 10.0.0.1         # (this is maybe not necessary, but I have it there)
</PRE>

The resolv.conf on the computer TWO needs this:

<PRE>
domain        juro.sk
nameserver 10.0.0.1
</PRE>

<P> Again, read my article from the September issue on how to configure the
simple network. If you have a working network and the above-mentioned
configuration ready, you will be able to send mails from root or user
accounts either from computer ONE to computer TWO, or from computer TWO
to computer ONE. If you connect to the net, the DNS name server we just
configured will show you all IP addresses of addresses like
www.linuxgazette.com. So when you execute a command nslookup and type
any www address in the command line, you will get its numerical IP
address. This information will be given to you through these root DNS
servers we mentioned above.

<P> If there is anything wrong, try to run "ndc restart". If there is still
a problem, check your network connection.

<H2>Linux and Windows</H2>

<P> I haven't tested it yet, but it will certainly work. However, you must
install a Windows mail server like sendmail in Linux. One alternative
how to do this is to try some freeware or to use a professional software
like Winroute, which has a mail server, DHCP server, etc. (Winroute for
MS Windows can also be used as a dial-up router). Here it will be DNS
that will help you send mail. Let me repeat the most important
information I have from this hard digging - no editing of sendmail.cf
file is necessary. The sendmail configuration file is preconfigured to
work immediately.

<H2>Sharing Encrypted Windows Partition With Linux</H2>

<P> Some five years ago I downloaded the PCGuardian Encryption Engine
(<A HREF="http://www.pcguardian.com">www.pcguardian.com</A>) and used it. Although it is a shareware with
expiration, I managed to delete my C: Drive several times, so I could
install it even after it was already installed. Please understand that
everything you do here like I did will be done at your own risk.

<P> The PCGuardian Encryption Engine will totally encrypt a DOS FAT16 or
WINDOWS FAT32 partition and you will have to enter to your system
through a password. If you use a diskette and look in the drive C:, you
will see a garbage. If you later want to delete the encrypted partition,
the DOS fdisk will refuse it, but not Linux fdisk or cfdisk.

<P> Here the problem is, if you have a boot manager, that you must use such
a boot manager that would not interfere with the password boot manager.
This is quite a complicated issue, but generally speaking, the password
engine of PCGuardian software behaves like a boot manager in that it is
installed in MBR. I used the BOSS boot manager from FreeBSD distribution
disks. BOSS was installed first and the PCGuardian password manager did
not damage the BOSS boot manager, or the MBR. This means that first I
received a password invitation, then the BOSS boot manager and then I
could easily boot the encrypted Windows partition or Linux. When I
selected the "Restart in MS-DOS Mode" from the Windows partition, I
could also use the loadlin.exe file to boot Linux from the encrypted
partition, however, the Linux partition was obviously on a different
disk. Other boot managers will not work with PCGuardian or other
encryption "MBR password" managers. This means that you will either
destroy the MBR (for example, Boot Manager Menu, which also destroyed my
whole encrypted disk), or all data on the disk. So far I can say that
GAG boot manager also may work. You can download GAG from
<A HREF="http://www.arrakis.es/~scostas/SOFTWARE/GAG/gageng.htm">http://www.arrakis.es/~scostas/SOFTWARE/GAG/gageng.htm</A>
It is probably the best boot manager and it is free. If you want to
download BOSS, follow ftp links from 
<A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org">www.freebsd.org</A>. Having two MBR
codes is a very dangerous thing. The best thing is not to try it.
Obviously, you cannot mount such an encrypted Windows partition from
Linux unless the manufacturer gave you a driver.




<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <!-- P --> 
<H5 ALIGN=center>

Copyright &copy; 2000, Juraj Sipos.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 60 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, December 2000</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->


<H4 ALIGN="center">
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
</H4>

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

<!-- END header -->




<img SRC="misc/steffler/penguinInBalloon.gif" height=230 width=200 align=right>
<center>
<h1>
<img SRC="misc/steffler/makingSmalltalk.png" ></h1></center>

<center>
<h3>Objects, Classes and Other Things</h3>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:jagwar@magma.ca">Jason Steffler</a></H4></center>

<h2>
<a NAME="abstract"></a>Abstract</h2>

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; For those who haven't read the previous articles,
be sure to read <font size=+1><a href="#statementOfPurpose">the statement
of purpose</a></font> first.&nbsp; This month, we're going to discuss objects
as well as classes, messages and encapsulation.&nbsp; For those looking
to read the whole series locally or info about upcoming articles, you can
<font size=+1><a href="http://www.magma.ca/~jagwar/makingSmalltalkForwardingPage.html">check
the MST page</a></font>.&nbsp; For those looking for further information
on learning Squeak, here are <a href="http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/squeak/377">some
good resources</a>.
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I also need to cover another item before we get
into this article, and it's important enough to put at the top as opposed
to the <a href="#questionsAndAnswers">Q&amp;A section</a>.&nbsp; I had
a number of people ask me how I knew what code to type, and where they
can find what objects Smalltalk has.&nbsp; I plan on getting to this in
article 4.&nbsp; I'm holding off on discussing this to simplify the presentation
and concentrate on fundamental concepts first.&nbsp; I've often thought
that the message isn't the medium, but rather the volume of the medium.&nbsp;
This has a number of connotations; in this context I don't want to present
too much too fast and overwhelm the folks who are coming in with no programming
experience at all.
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As a side note, I find it humourous and sad to see
technical books that are selling by the pound these days.&nbsp; You see
things like: '1000 pages of &lt;technology X> for only $19.<sup>95</sup>!',
and the Core Java 2 <i>Fundamentals</i> book that is <i>742</i> pages!&nbsp;
It's often been said that the syntax of Smalltalk is so simple that you
can put it on a postcard, as there are 2 operators, 5 reserved words<sup><a href="#footnotes">1</a></sup>,
and 9 reserved characters.&nbsp; For those interested I'll add an interlude:
<a href="#smalltalkSyntax">all I learned about Smalltalk syntax I learned
from a postcard.</a>
<h2>
<a NAME="quoteOfTheDay"></a>Quote of the day</h2>
"Smalltalk is a wonderful language to work with - in fact, it's hard to
imagine a serious programming language being more fun than Smalltalk.&nbsp;
Certainly, I've had more fun programming in Smalltalk than any other language
I've worked with; so much fun that at times it's seemed incredible that
I've also been paid to enjoy myself."
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; -Alec Sharp, "Smalltalk
by Example", pXIX
<h2>
<a NAME="firstLookAtObjects"></a>A first look at objects</h2>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Last month, we left off with describing an object as
anything you can think of that is a noun.&nbsp; We implicitly extended
this concept by talking about actions that objects can do when asked.&nbsp;
Let's extend this concept explicitly now by describing actions objects
can do when asked as verbs.&nbsp; For example, you could consider a Person
as an object.&nbsp; You could ask the Person object to do things like:
<ol>
<li>
Person, would you please sing?</li>

<li>
Person, would you please sing Mary Had A Little Lamb?</li>

<li>
Person, would you please sing Mary Had A Little Lamb, and do it loudly.</li>

<li>
Person, what is your height?</li>
</ol>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Notice action 1 was just an activity with no constraints
on it.&nbsp; We don't tell the person what to sing, or how fast, or how
loud, etc.&nbsp; In our 2nd request, we specify the song to sing and in
the 3rd request we also specify that it should be sung loudly.&nbsp; Action
4 shows that we can not only ask the person to do something, but also ask
them something about themselves.&nbsp; That's right, objects have properties
just like a real world thing would (we'll come back to this).&nbsp; Assuming
we had a Person object (we don't, at least not yet), the corresponding
Smalltalk code would look like:
<p><b>&nbsp;&nbsp; (Person new) sing.</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp; (Person new) sing: 'MaryHadALittleLamb'.</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp; (Person new) sing: 'MaryHadALittleLamb' andDoIt: 'loudly'.</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp; (Person new) sing: 'MaryHadALittleLamb' andDoIt: 'quietly'.</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp; (Person new) whatIsMyHeight.</b>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Pretty easy stuff eh?<sup><a href="#footnotes">2</a></sup>&nbsp;
Notice how the Smalltalk code is very readable and is very similar to how
I initially wrote the questions in English.&nbsp; Each one of these requests
would be what we Smalltalkers call a <a href="#articleGlossary">message</a>
that the Person responds to, and the method in which they respond is determined
by what we Smalltalkers call a <a href="#articleGlossary">method</a>.&nbsp;
Again, pretty easy and intuitive stuff.
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Note on the last message, I switched the perspective
around to <b>whatIsMyHeight</b> as opposed to <b>whatIsYourHeight</b>.&nbsp;
We could easily have made a method called <b>whatIsYourHeight</b>, but
it's common practice to name methods from the perspective of the object<sup><a href="#footnotes">3</a></sup>.
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Now, you'll notice that each request has <b>(Person
new)</b> in it; you'd be correct in assuming we're asking a 5 different
people to do something - we're asking a new Person to do something each
time.&nbsp; What if we want to ask the same person to do everything?&nbsp;
There's a few ways we could do this, one of them is:
<p><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; | aPerson |</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; aPerson := (Person new).</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; aPerson sing.</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; aPerson sing: 'MaryHadALittleLamb'.</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; aPerson sing: 'MaryHadALittleLamb' andDoIt: 'loudly'.</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; aPerson sing: 'MaryHadALittleLamb' andDoIt: 'quietly'.</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; aPerson whatIsMyHeight.</b>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The first line is declaring a temporary <a href="#articleGlossary">variable</a>.&nbsp;
Hmm, this is the first traditional computer term that we've used so far
in our discussion, not too bad.&nbsp; Since we don't have a name for the
person, we'll just call the person <b>aPerson</b>.&nbsp; Much better than
'<b>x</b>', '<b>y</b>', or '<b>i</b>' that you often see in other programming
languages.&nbsp; Not that you couldn't call a variable <b>x</b> in Smalltalk,
it's just that you're encouranged to name things descriptively.&nbsp; The
common convention is to run your words together with capitalizing each
successive word (IMHO, this includes acronyms too).&nbsp; For example,
you could ask the Person to <b>runToTheDmv.</b>&nbsp; So in the above code
snippet, we're creating a new person and assigning (<b>:=</b>) that person
to a temporary variable called <b>aPerson</b>.&nbsp; Then we're asking
aPerson to perform their various methods by sending them messages.
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; So the question naturally arises, what is '<b>Person</b>'?&nbsp;
Thinking in terms of nouns, a Person is a specific class or subset of nouns.&nbsp;
Well, in Smalltalk <b>Person</b> is an object too, but it's a special kind
of object that is called a <a href="#articleGlossary">class</a>.&nbsp;
You can think of a class as a blueprint object for making related objects.&nbsp;
When we ask a class to make a new instance of an object, it's called <a href="#articleGlossary">instantiating</a>
an object.&nbsp; Now, coming back to the properties of an object, they
are stored in what are called <a href="#articleGlossary">instance variables</a>
of the object<sup><a href="#footnotes">4</a></sup>.&nbsp; When we were
asking <b>aPerson</b> for their height, they probably responded with what
they had stored in their instance variable (we don't know for sure, as
we don't know how the person determines their height).
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Revisting our conception of what an object is, we
can now refine it:&nbsp; <i>an object is a grouping of messages and data
that its messages can operate on.&nbsp; </i>This brings us to our next
subject:&nbsp; Encapsulation.
<h2>
<a NAME="encapsulation"></a>Encapsu-what?</h2>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="#articleGlossary">Encapsulation</a> is a fancy
term to describe the grouping of messages and data within something we
call an object, such that other objects can't see the data and can only
get access to it via messages.&nbsp; The reason for the emphasis on this
topic is that this is a big difference from the way that procedural programming
traditionally viewed programs.&nbsp; Traditionally, the data and the methods
for changing the data were two very separate beasties.&nbsp; Often, when
these are in two different parts of your program, they get out of synch
and it's very hard to maintain the functions that manipulate the data when
the structure of the data changes or vice versa.&nbsp; This is one of the
problems that OO programming tries to address, by keeping the data and
the methods for changing the data close, it's easier to keep them in synch.&nbsp;
In fact, if you change how the data is stored in an object, or the method
by which you change that data, any other objects are none the wiser.&nbsp;
This is a Good Thing, as when you make changes, you make them in one spot,
as opposed to many spots.
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; So, though we could guess at what <b>aPerson</b>'s
height is, we don't really know until we ask them <b>whatIsYourHeight</b>.&nbsp;
Now, the person could respond by remembering the last time he walked past
a height marker in the local Quick-E-Mart.&nbsp; After a number of times
of asking their height, they realize that maybe they should give a better
answer, so they change the method of their respone by checking their height
against a measuring tape.&nbsp; To us, we had no idea that how they determined
their answer changed, and that's good as we really don't care how they
determine it, we only care about the answer.
<h2>
<a NAME="responsibilities"></a>Responsibilities</h2>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A <b><u>Very Key</u></b> thing in OO programming, is
considering the <a href="#articleGlossary">responsibilities</a> that an
object should have.&nbsp; Just like a real world person, <b>aPerson</b>
object also has responsibilities.&nbsp; In our example, <b>aPerson</b>
is rather lucky, as they only have the responsibility of singing or answering
their height.&nbsp; They don't have the <b>changeTheStinkyBaby</b> responsibility.
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Figuring out the appropriate responsibilities for
objects is one of the key things in OO programming.&nbsp; If you don't
have appropriate responsibilites, you run into problems like <a href="#articleGlossary">object
bloat</a>.&nbsp; This is when an object does too many things and is 'spread
too thin'.&nbsp; A jack of all trades does everything pretty poorly.&nbsp;
On the other hand though, you need to strike a good balance, as a specialist
that is too specialized does nothing very well, and it takes a huge number
of specialists to do anything.
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Did I mention figuring out the appropriate responsibilities
for objects is one of the key things in OO programming?
<h2>
<a NAME="puttingItAllTogether"></a>Putting it all together</h2>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I've been holding off running any code thus far, as
I wanted you to concentrate on the concepts.&nbsp; In the same vein, I'm
going to hold off describing how to make a <b>Person</b> class to concentrate
on other concepts first.&nbsp; We'll get to stepping through creating a
<b>Person</b>
class in the article after next, as I want to cover inheritence, polymorphism
and abstract classes first.&nbsp; In the meantime though, I've included
the <a href="#personSampleCode">source code below</a>, if you're curious
and want to peek or if you want to compare the code against other languages
you know.
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; To load the code, we need to <a href="#articleGlossary">file
it in</a> to Squeak.&nbsp; If you're reading this remotely, you need to
first download the code 
<a href="misc/steffler/Person-Article2.st.txt">from here</a>, rename 
it to remove
the ".txt" extension, save
it where ever you want.&nbsp; Now open the file list (<b>Menus>open...>file
list</b>), find your downloaded file (<b>Person-Article2.st)</b>, <b>left
click</b> on the file in the upper right corner to select, then <b>middle
click>fileIn.
</b>For the read-along folks, the file browser looks like:
<br><img SRC="misc/steffler/picFileListOnPerson.png" <cr >
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Now, you can go back to the above code and execute
it.&nbsp; If I was really motivated/sadistic, for the singing parts I could
have actually recorded myself singing the songs and have the commands play
them.&nbsp; However, I took the obvious shortcut and just opened windows
with the song text in them.
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; To exeute code, highlight the code, <b>middle click>do
it</b>&nbsp; (or you can hit <b>Alt-d</b>).&nbsp; Try doing one line at
a time, or multiple lines at a time.&nbsp; You'll note with the second
example that uses a temporary variable, you'll have to highlight multiple
lines to get that temporary variable included in execution.&nbsp; Try commenting
out parts with&nbsp; "double quotes" - double quotes, are the Smalltalk
comment indicator.&nbsp; ie:&nbsp; "This is a comment"&nbsp; You'll notice
that when we comment out code and re-execute that we didn't need to recompile,
which is nice... compiling is so pass&eacute; and time consuming.
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; For the read-along folk, when you execute, this
is what you'll see:
<p><b>(Person new) sing.</b>
<br><img SRC="misc/steffler/picPersonSing.png" height=239 width=429>
<p><b>(Person new) sing: 'MaryHadALittleLamb'.</b>
<br><img SRC="misc/steffler/picPersonSingMary.png" height=238 width=428>
<p><b>(Person new) sing: 'MaryHadALittleLamb' andDoIt: 'loudly'.</b>
<br><img SRC="misc/steffler/picPersonSingMaryLoudly.png" height=236 width=428>
<p><b>(Person new) sing: 'MaryHadALittleLamb' andDoIt: 'quietly'.</b>
<br><img SRC="misc/steffler/picPersonSingMaryQuietly.png" height=236 width=428>
<p><b>(Person new) whatIsMyHeight.</b>
<br><img SRC="misc/steffler/picPersonHeight.png" height=236 width=428>
<br>&nbsp;
<h2>
<a NAME="lookingForward"></a>Looking forward</h2>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The next article will cover inheritence, polymorphism,
and abstract classes as well as introducing the collection classes. <i>Note:&nbsp;
this time around, the sweet squeak is going to do some explaining, so be
sure to read that section.</i>
<h2>
<a NAME="smalltalkSyntax"></a>All I learned about Smalltalk syntax I learned
from a postcard</h2>
This is an aside really, if you're coming into Smalltalk cold and are confused
by this table, don't worry about it as we'll be covering this as we go
along.&nbsp; This is here for the curious or the folks who have other programming
experience to compare.
<ul>
<li>
<b>Operators</b></li>

<ul>
<li>
:=&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; this is assignment (or a left
pointing arrow in Squeak)</li>

<li>
^&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; this is return (or an
upwards pointing arrow in Squeak)</li>
</ul>

<li>
<b>Reserved Words</b><sup><a href="#footnotes">5</a></sup></li>

<ul>
<li>
nil&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; this is nothing, nada, nil</li>

<li>
true</li>

<li>
false</li>

<li>
self&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; this is the object itself</li>

<li>
super&nbsp;&nbsp; this is the object's parent</li>
</ul>

<li>
<b>Reserved characters</b></li>

<ul>
<li>
|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; this indicates
a temporary variable</li>

<li>
$&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; this indicates a character</li>

<li>
#&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; this indicates a literal</li>

<li>
!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; this is a fileout delimiter</li>

<li>
()&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; this indicates precedence</li>

<li>
[]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; this indicates a block of code</li>

<li>
"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; this indicates a comment</li>
</ul>
</ul>

<h2>
<a NAME="sweetSqueak"></a>A Sweet Squeak</h2>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; This section typically won't explore/explain code or
example, but this time we'll make an exception.&nbsp; This time, we're
going to play with numbers, as that's a common thing for introductory programming
articles/books to do and is an easy way to compare languages.&nbsp; People
with some programming experience will appreciate this more, people with
no programming experience will wonder why all languages can't do this.
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Let's start of with factorials.&nbsp; For those
not familiar with a factorial, it's most easily described by examples:
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1 factorial = 1
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2 factorial = 2*1
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 3 factorial = 3*2*1
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 4 factorial = 4*3*2*1
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; When you do the below snippet, you won't see anything
happen.&nbsp; That's because the below code doesn't open any windows to
report back it's results.&nbsp; To see it's results, you can do to things
instead of <b>doing it</b>:
<ul>
<li>
<b>print it</b> <b>(middle click>print it)</b></li>

<ul>
<li>
printing something will print an ASCII representation of the return object
to the workspace</li>
</ul>

<li>
<b>inspect it (middle click>inspect)</b></li>

<ul>
<li>
inspecting something will open up an object inspector on the return object.&nbsp;
This is an <b>incredibly powerful </b>feature, as you can look at and play
with objects in real time!&nbsp; If you're not sure how an object is working,
you can look at it and poke it to see how it behaves, and you can change
how it behaves in real time.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
"Try printing this, you'll see the answer '120' printed in the workspace"
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp; 5 factorial.</b>
<p>"Now print this, and you'll see a very large number as the result, since
it's 1067 digits long, I'm not going to paste it in here.&nbsp; <i>Note,
this takes 5.9 seconds to run on my P200, which is pretty respectable performance.</i>
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>Also note the size of the numbers you can work
with - you don't have the usual predefined fixed limits such as an int
that has the range from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647</i>."
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1000 factorial</b>
<p>"If you want to and have the time, just for grins try 10000 factorial
(I didn't have the patience to run this on my machine, even in another
thread)"
<p>"For the curious, no I didn't count the number of digits returned from
1000 factorial, since the message factorial returns a LargeInteger, we
can just ask that LargeInteger what size it is."
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (1000 factorial) size</b>
<p>"If you want to check that the correct numbers are actually being computed,
try this and it should give you an answer of 1000"
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1000 factorial // 999 factorial</b>
<p>"Looking for what kind of precision you can get?&nbsp; Try:"
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 123443/5432</b>
<br>"The interesting thing you'll note is that it returns a Fraction!&nbsp;
No rounding off to the first 5 decimal places by default.&nbsp; Instead
of printing it, try inspecting this guy, you'll see a Fraction object,
with a numerator and denominator just as you'd expect:"
<br><img SRC="misc/steffler/picFractionObject.png" height=181 width=318>
<p>"Of course, you can use floats too, in which case you do get a rounding
off - to 14 places give or take depending on the flavour of Smalltalk you're
using.&nbsp; Try this, and you'll get the answer: 22.72426793416332"
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 123443.45/5432.23</b>
<p>"Finally, for those curious about how long things take, to time something
in Smalltalk you can print this, which will print out the milliseconds
it took to run.&nbsp; These measurements are not even meant to be <a href="#articleGlossary">toy
benchmarks</a>, but are just presented for interest."
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>Time millisecondsToRun: [100 factorial]</b>
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>Time millisecondsToRun: [1000 factorial]</b>
<br>"On my P200, the above lines took:
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 0.020 seconds
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 5.967 seconds"
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; People with some programming experience will notice
that we didn't have to fuss with what types of numbers we're working with,
(integers, large integers, floats, large floats), or type mismatches, or
predefined size limitations, or wrapping primitive types in objects then
unwrapping them or any other of this type of nonsense ;-).&nbsp; We just
naturally typed in what we wanted to do without having to do any jumping
through hoops for the sake of the computer.&nbsp; This comes from the <b>power
of P&amp;P</b>:&nbsp; Pure objects and Polymorphism (which we'll discuss
next time).
<h2>
<a NAME="questionsAndAnswers"></a>Questions and Answers</h2>
These are the answers for questions on previous articles that I could work
through in my limited time available.&nbsp; I picked out the ones I thought
most appropriate for the series.&nbsp; If you want a faster response, or
I didn't get to your question, try posting your question to the comp.lang.smalltalk
newsgroup, or the <a href="http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/squeak/1">Swiki</a>.
<p><b>Q: Can you show how your examples can be done in Java?</b>
<br>I'll try and answer this without getting on a soapbox (language questions
are often equivalent to religous questions).&nbsp; There's three parts
to this answer:
<ol>
<li>
Over the years, I've programmed in a decent number of languages/environments<sup><a href="#footnotes">6</a></sup>.&nbsp;
I've been programming in Java off and on since '95, and like any language
it has its pros and cons.&nbsp; However, I don't find programming in Java
very fun.&nbsp; On my day job I'll work in Java, C, C++, etc as needed
since they're just tools to get a job done, but for my hobby projects I
use Smalltalk.</li>

<li>
I find Java is just redoing a lot of stuff that Smalltalk already had (garbage
collection, virtual machine, JIT VM, write once run anywhere) with the
baggage of trying to be similar to C/C++ (primitive types, large amount
of syntax, encouraging functional programming, strong typing).&nbsp; I
don't want to play around with old news for hobby projects, I like to play
with new and nifty stuff.</li>

<li>
I really like meta programming, which I just can't do in Java or Windoze.</li>
</ol>
<b>Q: What is a good beginner's Smalltalk book?</b>
<br>A: This really depends on what your motivations are.&nbsp; For Squeak,
I don't know of any good beginner's books as all the material I've seen
on it has been <a href="http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/squeak/377">free online
resources</a> (even better than a book IMHO) Be sure to check out <a href="http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/squeak/471">The
Squeak FAQ</a> (This is also a Wiki, so the cool thing is that you can
post your own questions to a living document).
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Personally, I've found many beginner Smalltalk books
to be written at too simple of a level.&nbsp; If pressed, I'd have to say
my favourite introductory Smalltalk book is <u>Smalltalk by Example</u>,
by Alec Sharp, ISBN 0-07-913036-4.&nbsp; It's geared towards beginner->intermediate
topics for VisualWorks Smalltalk.&nbsp; If you want you can get the NonCommercial
version of VisualWorks to play in, though many of his examples should work
in Squeak.
<p><b>Q: What is a skin?</b>
<br>A: A skin is an installable look-n-feel or theme.&nbsp; In squeak you
can install a Windoze look-n-feel, MacOS Aqua look-n-feel, etc.&nbsp; (not
sure how many skins are out there or what state they're in).&nbsp; I remember
VisualWorks Smalltalk having the skins concept back in '94 (wasn't called
a skin back then)- it's one of the things about Smalltalk that first caught
my eye.&nbsp; At the time I had just spent a year doing a very painful
port of OpenWindows to Motif for parts of a C based application, then I
stolled past a coworker's desk and they showed me how they could switch
the look-n-feel of their Smalltalk application from Windoze to Motif to
MacOS with a click of the mouse.&nbsp; Talk about a productivity boost!
<p><b>Q: Can you have Smalltalk run in web browsers?</b>
<br>A: You certainly can, in fact I thought about setting up a Squeaklet
that people could execute the snippets from this series in from the comfort
of their web browsers... yeah, you can have a development environment in
your web browser, not just runtime code.&nbsp; However, it was just one
more thing for me to do in my limited time and I decided to forgo it for
now.&nbsp; This is a possible future topic.&nbsp; BTW - most flavours of
Smalltalk have some mechanism to run thin clients in a web browser.
<p><b>Q: Where is the 'main' function?</b>
<br>A: Smalltalk doesn't have a 'main' function, this can be confusing
to Smalltalk newbies as so many other languages have this notion.&nbsp;
Conceptually, Smalltalk is an always running set of live objects which
is why there is no 'main' function - if your enviroment is always running,
having a 'main' function is nonsensical as you're not starting or ending
anywhere.&nbsp; When you want to start an application you've written, you
merely ask it to open up its window that it uses as a starting point.&nbsp;
When you deliver an application, you merely open up your application's
starting window and package your environment (this is a simplification
here).
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Realistically though, you have to have some starting
point as you need to shut down your computer sometimes.&nbsp; Well, Smalltalk
does what is called saving an image.&nbsp; It's called an image because
what you're saving is really a snapshot in time of your environment.&nbsp;
When you start it up again, everything is exactly where you left it.&nbsp;
To do this, Smalltalk has some bootstrap code to get itself going again,
which could technically be considered a 'main' function.&nbsp; However,
the point is that you do not have a 'main' function when writing an application.
<h2>
<a NAME="articleGlossary"></a>Article Glossary</h2>
This is a glossary of terms that I've used for the first time in this series,
or a term that I want to refine.&nbsp; If you don't see a term defined
here, try the ongoing glossary in the local location: <a href="../ongoingSeriesGlossary.html">[LL].</a>
<br><b>Class</b>
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (def 1-simple)&nbsp; You
can think of a class as a blueprint object for making objects.
<br><b>Encapsulation</b>
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The grouping of messages
and data within something we call an object, such that other objects can't
see the data and can only get access to it via messages.
<br><b>File it in</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </b>The act of loading Smalltalk
code into Squeak.
<br><b>Instance Variable</b>
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (def 1-simple)&nbsp; The
place where objects store their properties/characteristics
<br><b>Instantiate</b>
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; {In-stan-shee-ate} When
we ask a class to make a new instance of an object, we say that we're instantiating
that object.
<br><b>Message</b>
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (def 1-simple)&nbsp; A request
you can ask of an object.
<br><b>Method</b>
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (def 1-simple)&nbsp; Determines
how an object will respond to a message.&nbsp; The method in which an object
responds is determined by a method.
<br><b>Object</b>
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (def 2) an object is a grouping
of messages and data that its messages can operate on.
<br><b>Object bloat</b>
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (def1 - simple) When an
object does too many things and is 'spread too thin'.&nbsp; A jack of all
trades does everything pretty poorly.
<br><b>Responsibility</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </b>The things that an
object can/should do.
<br><b>Toy benchmark</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </b>A benchmark is a
method of measuring the performance of something, and a toy benchmark is
a trivial benchmark that doesn't give a good refection of performance as
it's too simple or too narrow.
<br><b>Variable</b>
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (def 1-simple)&nbsp; A holding
reference for something, for example, a holding space for an object.&nbsp;
It gives you a handle to refer to that something that it is holding on
to for you.
<h2>
<a NAME="footnotes"></a>Footnotes</h2>
[1] As Eric Clayberg once pointed out in comp.lang.smalltalk, technically
speaking Smalltalk has no reserved words, since you can create methods
using these reserved names (though you sure wouldn't want to!)&nbsp; Though
I agree on this technicality, I include these words, as for practical purposes
they are reserved.
<br>[2] Does it show I'm a Canuck?
<br>[3] Actually, in practice we'd probably just name the method <b>height</b>,
with the <b>whatIsYour</b> or <b>whatIsMy</b> height implied.
<br>[4] Properties of objects can be stored in other places too, but I'm
not going into that now, this is a very common place to store things.
<br>[5] See [1]
<br>[6] Smalltalk (VisualWorks, VSE, VisualAge, Squeak), Java (VisualAge,
J++), C, C++, Tcl/Tk/Expect, sh/ksh/csh scripting, Turbo Pascal, Fortran.
/ Solaris, SunOS, HP-UX, Linux, Windows NT, 95, &amp; 3.1, Mac OS
<p>
<hr WIDTH="100%">
<h2>
<a NAME="statementOfPurpose"></a>Statement of purpose</h2>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; When I wrote the first Making Smalltalk with the Penguin
<a href="http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue51/steffler.html">article
back in March of 2000</a> <a href="../issue0-tourOfSmalltalk/tourOfSmalltalk.html">[LL]</a>,
my target audience was experienced programmers who didn't have much exposure
to <a href="#articleGlossary">OO</a> programming or to Smalltalk.&nbsp;
The article's intent was to give an overview of my favourite programming
language on my favourite operating system.&nbsp; Since then, I've had a
fair amount of email asking introductory type questions about Smalltalk
and OO programming.&nbsp; So I thought I'd try my hand at a small series.
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The target audience for this series are people new
to OO or new to programming altogether.&nbsp; The intent is to not only
introduce OO programming, but to also spread the fun of Smalltalking.&nbsp;
Why do this format/effort when there's lots of good <a href="http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/squeak/377">reference
material out there</a>?&nbsp; Two reasons really:&nbsp; 1) Tutorials are
great, but can be static and dated pretty quickly.&nbsp; 2) An ongoing
series tends to be more engaging and digestible.
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; To help address the second reason above, my intent
is to keep the articles concise so they can be digested in under an hour.&nbsp;
Hopefully, as newbies follow along, they can refer back to the original
article and make more sense of it.&nbsp; I plan on having a touch of advanced
stuff once in a while to add flavour and as before, the articles are going
to be written for read-along or code-along people.
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Something new I'm going to try is to make the ongoing
series viewable in a contiguous fashion and downloadable in one chunk for
people who want to browse the series locally.&nbsp; To do this, click on
TOC grapic to at the top of the article.&nbsp; The articles also have 2
sets of links:&nbsp; one set for www links, another set for local links,
indicated as: <a href="#articleGlossary">[LL]</a> for downloaded local
reading.
<h2>
<a NAME="whySmalltalk"></a>Why Smalltalk?</h2>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I believe Smalltalk is <b><u>the best</u></b> environment
to learn OO programming in because:
<ul>
<li>
Smalltalk has a very active and very helpful community; when you post a
question to the Smalltalk newsgroups you very often get an answer, unlike
many other newsgroups</li>

<li>
is very easy to learn... one of it's original design intentions was to
be a learning environment for children</li>

<li>
is a pure OO environment and encourages OO programming (as opposed to encouraging
procedural/Object mixed programming)</li>

<li>
cutting your teeth in Smalltalk makes you a better OO programmer in any
other language, because of the previous bullet</li>

<li>
is a portable environment:&nbsp; write once, run anywhere, so people can
learn on whatever OS they're running&nbsp; (as opposed to just the M$ variety)</li>

<li>
can look at and manipulate objects in real time; I haven't seen this ability
in any other environment</li>

<li>
Smalltalk is written in Smalltalk.&nbsp; You can view how the language
is put together to learn the language, and you can change anything that
you don't like about it.</li>

<li>
has garbage collection, no manual memory management, no explicit pointers</li>

<li>
is a literate language; by this I mean the syntax is very simple and is
geared towards programmer readability.</li>

<li>
there's lots of Cool Things that you can do in it that I haven't seen anywhere
else (will have some examples along the way)</li>

<li>
...and best of all: <b><u>it's fun</u></b>.</li>
</ul>
In particular, I'm going to use <a href="http://www.squeak.org/">Squeak</a>
as the playing vehicle.&nbsp; You'll notice this is a different flavour
of Smalltalk than I used in my first article.&nbsp; I've never used Squeak
before, so this'll be a learning experience for me too.&nbsp; The reasons
for this are:
<ul>
<li>
It's a completely opensource project</li>

<li>
It has some Really Cool features that I haven't seen in other flavours
of Smalltalk</li>

<li>
It has a comparitively small footprint and it's very easy to install</li>

<li>
It has a strong <a href="http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/squeak/1">Swiki site</a>&nbsp;
(a <a href="#articleGlossary">Wiki</a> site hosted in Squeak, hence <b>S</b>queak
<b>Wiki</b>)</li>
</ul>

<hr WIDTH="100%">
<h2>
<a NAME="personSampleCode"></a><b>Person Sample Smalltalk Code</b></h2>
This is a sample of what the Smalltalk code looks like for the curious
or for people who want to compare with known languages.&nbsp; For people
who are confused by below code, don't worry, as we'll be stepping through
how you create it and what it means in a future article.
<p><b>"This is a Class definition"</b>
<blockquote><b>Object subclass: #Person</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;instanceVariableNames: ''</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;classVariableNames: ''</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;poolDictionaries: ''</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;category: 'MakingSmalltalk-Article2'</b></blockquote>

<p><br><b>"My Characteristics is a category of methods for the class (similar
to an interface in Java (but it's not enforced))"</b>
<blockquote><b>Person methodsFor: 'My Characteristics'</b></blockquote>
<b>"The 1 method in the My Characteristics category"</b>
<blockquote><b>whatIsMyHeight</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;"Actually, in practice we'd probably just name this method
'height', with the 'whatIsMy' implied.</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;Simple example to show how a query about my characteristic
can be done.&nbsp; Ah-ha - notice that the height is not being returned
via an instance variable as we guessed at above, but is in fact hardcoded...
A BAD PRACTICE TO DO, but is fine for this example to keep things simple,
and wanted to show how to do a ' in a string"</b>
<p><b>&nbsp;(Workspace new contents: 'My height is 5'' 7"') openLabel:
'This is my height'! !</b></blockquote>
<b>"This is the singing category, it has 6 methods"</b>
<blockquote><b>Person methodsFor: 'Singing'</b></blockquote>
<b>"And the methods for singing - method 1 of 6"</b>
<blockquote><b>maryHadALittleLambLyrics</b>
<p><b>&nbsp;^'Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb, Mary had
a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow.'</b></blockquote>
<b>"singing method 2 of 6, we use the 'my' prefix convention to indicate
a private method"</b>
<blockquote><b>mySing: someLyrics inManner: anAdjective withTitle: aTitle</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;"Using simple logic here for illustrative purposes - if the
adjective is not 'loudly' or 'quietly' just ignore how we're being asked
to sing"</b>
<p><b>&nbsp;| tmpLyrics |</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;anAdjective = 'loudly'</b>
<br><b>&nbsp; ifTrue: [tmpLyrics := someLyrics asUppercase].</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;anAdjective = 'quietly'</b>
<br><b>&nbsp; ifTrue: [tmpLyrics := someLyrics asLowercase].</b>
<br><b>&nbsp;self mySing: tmpLyrics withTitle: aTitle</b></blockquote>
<b>"singing method 3 of 6"</b>
<blockquote><b>mySing: someLyrics withTitle: aTitle</b>
<p><b>&nbsp;(Workspace new contents: someLyrics) openLabel: aTitle</b></blockquote>
<b>"singing method 4 of 6"</b>
<blockquote><b>sing</b>
<p><b>&nbsp;self mySing: 'Do be do be doooooo.' withTitle: 'A bad impression
of Sinatra'</b></blockquote>
<b>"singing method 5 of 6"</b>
<blockquote><b>sing: aSong</b>
<p><b>&nbsp;aSong = 'MaryHadALittleLamb'</b>
<br><b>&nbsp; ifTrue: [self mySing: self maryHadALittleLambLyrics withTitle:
'Mary had a little lamb']</b>
<br><b>&nbsp; ifFalse: [self sing].</b></blockquote>
<b>"singing method 6 of 6"</b>
<blockquote><b>sing: aSong andDoIt: anAdjective</b>
<p><b>&nbsp;aSong = 'MaryHadALittleLamb'</b>
<br><b>&nbsp; ifTrue: [self mySing: self maryHadALittleLambLyrics inManner:
anAdjective withTitle: 'Mary had a little lamb']</b>
<br><b>&nbsp; ifFalse: [self sing].</b></blockquote>

<a href="http://www.magma.ca/~jagwar/makingSmalltalkForwardingPage.html"><img SRC="misc/steffler/toc.jpg" ALT="Series Table of Contents" align=right></a>

<H2>Previous Articles</H2>
<UL>
	<LI> <A HREF="../issue51/steffler.html">A Quick Tour of Smalltalk</A>
	<LI> <A HREF="../issue59/steffler.html">Spreading the OO Fun (series introduction)</A>
</UL>

<P> The image on the right links to Steffler's site.
<BR CLEAR="all">

<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <!-- P --> 
<H5 ALIGN=center>

Copyright &copy; 2000, Jason Steffler.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 60 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, December 2000</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->


<H4 ALIGN="center">
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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<H1><font color="maroon">The Back Page</font></H1>
<ul>
<li><a HREF="#authors">About This Month's Authors</a>
<li><a HREF="#notlinux">Not Linux</a>
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<center><H3><font color="maroon">About This Month's Authors</font></H3></center>

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<P> 
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Steven Adler</H4>
While not building <a href="http://www.phenix.bnl.gov">detectors</a>
in search of the quark gluon plasma, Steve Adler spends his time either
4 wheeling around the lab grounds or writing articles about the people
behind the open source movement.


<P> 
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Marius Andreiana</H4>
Marius is 19 years old and a student in the first year at Politehnica
Bucharest, Romania.  Besides Linux, he also loves music (from rock to dance),
dancing, having fun, spending time with friends. He is interested also in
science in general (and that quantum spooky connection :) and says, <EM>"I like
cooking (okay, maybe I don't like it a lot, but I have to cook because I live
alone while I'm at studies in Bucharest. Poor me :-) poor neighbours :-)"</EM>


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<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Shane Collinge</H4>
Part computer programmer, part cartoonist, part Mars Bar. At night, he runs
around in a pair of colorful tights fighting criminals. During the day... well,
he just runs around.  He eats when he's hungry and sleeps when he's sleepy.                                           

<P> 
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Fernando Correa</H4>
Fernando is a computer analyst just about to finish his 
graduation at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Now, he has built
with his staff the best 
<A HREF="http://www.olinux.com.br">Linux portal</A> in Brazil and have further 
plans to improve services and content for their Internet users.

<P> 
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Ray Ferrari</H4>
I am a newbie to the Linux community, but have been following the rise of
popularity for almost two years now. I continue to learn as much as
possible about the Linux operating system in an attempt to become
proficient and knowledgeable in it's use as an internet platform. I have
volunteered on the Debian mailing list, and I continue to assist the Linux
Professional Institute(LPI) promote their agenda. I help staff the LPI
booths at events and write articles updating their achievements.

<P> 
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Eric Kasten</H4>
I'm a software developer by day and an artist, web developer,
big dog, gardener and wine maker by night.  This all leaves very little
time for sleep, but always enough time for a nice glass of Michigan
Pinot Gris.  I have a BS double major in Computer Science and
Mathematics and an MS in Computer Science.  I've been using and
modifying Linux since the 0.9x days.  I can be reached via email at
<A HREF="mailto:kasten@sunpuppy.com">kasten@sunpuppy.com</A> or through 
my website at <A HREF="http://www.sunpuppy.com">http://www.sunpuppy.com</A>.


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<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Kapil Sharma</H4>
Kapil is a Linux and Internet security consultant. He has been
working on various Linux/Unix systems and Internet Security for more than
2 years. He maintains a web site
(<A HREF="http://www.linux4biz.net">http://linux4biz.net</A>) for providing
free as well as commercial support for web, Linux and Unix solutions. 


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<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Juraj Sipos</H4>
I live and work in Bratislava, Slovakia as a library
information worker, translator and research reader at the Institute for
Child Psychology.  I published some of my poetry here and in USA, I
translated some books from English (e.g., Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Paul
Reps). You can see some of my stories and poetry at
<A HREF="http://www.crosswinds.net/~aproximetri/index.htm">
http://www.crosswinds.net/~aproximetri/index.htm</A>.
Computers are my hobby.


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<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Jason Steffler</H4>
<a href = "http://www.magma.ca/~jagwar">Jason</a> is a Software Architect for
McHugh Software International.&nbsp;
His computer related interests include: OO programming &amp;
design, Smalltalking, the peopleware aspects of software, and noodl'n around
with Linux.

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<H4>Penguins in Brazil</H4>

<P> NPR had a story this month about the penguins arriving on the beaches in
Rio de Janeiro and other parts of Brazil.  Usually there are five or
so penguins, but this year there are hundreds of penguins who used to stick
around the Falklands/Malvinas Islands but have now migrated to Brazil.

<P> Scientists suspect maybe it's a long-term climactic change, and the 
cold ocean currents they follow to find their food may have shifted.

<P> Some Brazilians have adopted penguins as pets, but many don't know how
to care for them.  The penguins don't do well when the weather turns hot,
so some ppl put them in the freezer.  Unfortunately, this gives the
penguins hypothermia, because this variety is used to a temperate
environment.  One of Brazil's zoos is building a penguin rehabilitation
center for the penguins it has acquired and the ex-pets who have been
donated to it.  

<P> Can any readers in Brazil provide any more information?

<H4>Penguins in Australia</H4>

<P> In January, <I>Linux Journal</I> published a short 
<A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/articles/culture/006.html">interview
article</A> about an oil spil near Australia's Phillip Island where fairy
penguins (aka little penguins, the kind that
<A HREF="../issue59/jones.html">bit Linus</A>) live, and how hackers
(including <I>LJ</I>) sent money to help rehabilitate the birds.  The article
describes how part of the rehabilitation included sweaters for the birds, made
apparently from socks.

<P> <A HREF="http://www.penguins.org.au/">http://www.penguins.org.au</A> has
pictures and whimsical drawings of penguins, and 
<A HREF="http://www.penguins.org.au/hightide/">panels from the High Tide comic
strip</A> featuring penguins.  The site features information about the Phillip
Island Nature Park.

<H4>Spam</H4>

The Spam of the Month award goes to the real estate company in Pakistan that 
offers programmers and sysadmins (certified in MCSE, Oracle, VB, e-commerce, 
etc.) for 240 hours per month for US$100.

<H4>WTO</H4>

<P> [Nov 30, 3:45pm] As I write, the N30 WTO II demonstrations have started in
downtown Seattle.  "Several hundred" protesters (600-800 according to the news)
are marching to Westlake Park from separate demonstrations on Capitol Hill and
the International District.  The most ingenious of their plans is a giant cake
they'll be presenting to Mayor Paul Schell and booster Pat Davis, to thank them
for bringing the WTO trade ministerial last year.... so they [the activists]
could expose what bastards they [the WTO] are.  In other matters, nine
Starbucks were hit yesterday and the day before....  Anyway, you'll know by the
time you read this whether news about N30 makes it outside the region.


<P> Michael Orr<br>
Editor, <A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/"><i>Linux Gazette</i></A>, <A
HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</a>
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<H5 ALIGN=center>
Copyright &copy; 2000, the Editors of <I>Linux Gazette</I>.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR>
Published in Issue 60 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, December 2000</H5>
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