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<H2>March 2001, Issue 64 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Published by <I>Linux Journal</I></H2> 

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<H1><font color="#BB0000">Table of Contents:</font></H1>




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	<LI>  <a HREF="lg_mail64.html">The MailBag</A> 
	<LI>  <a HREF="lg_bytes64.html">News Bytes</A> 
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		<LI>  <a HREF="lg_bytes64.html#distro">Distro News</A> 
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	<LI>  <a HREF="lg_answer64.html">The Answer Gang</A> , <EM>by The <EM>Linux Gazette</EM> Answer Gang</EM>
	<LI>  <a HREF="lg_tips64.html">More 2-Cent Tips</A> 
	<LI>  <a HREF="collinge.html">HelpDex</A> , <EM>by Shane Collinge</EM>
	<LI>  <a HREF="dellomodarme.html">ssh suite: sftp, scp and ssh-agent</A> , <EM>by Matteo Dell'Omodarme</EM>
	<LI>  <a HREF="evans.html">Kaptain - A Dialog Creator</A> , <EM>by Paul Evans</EM>
	<LI>  <a HREF="fevola.html">Mean Thoughts on the Linux Router Project</A> , <EM>by Mark Fevola</EM>
	<LI>  <a HREF="kohli.html">The GNU GRUB Boot Loader</A> , <EM>by Jaswinder Singh Kohli</EM>
	<LI>  <a HREF="nielsen.html">Displaying CVS Version Control Numbers in Webpages</A> , <EM>by Mark Nielsen</EM>
	<LI>  <a HREF="okopnik.html">Learning Perl, part 2</A> , <EM>by Ben Okopnik</EM>
	<LI>  <a HREF="sipos.html">Setting Up an International Keyboard with Xmodmap</A> , <EM>by Juraj Sipos</EM>
	<LI>  <a HREF="lg_backpage64.html">The Back Page</A> 
	<UL>
		<LI>  <a HREF="lg_backpage64.html#authors">About This Month's Authors</A> 
		<LI>  <a HREF="lg_backpage64.html#notlinux">Not Linux</A> 
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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>
Ben Okopnik, Dan Wilder, Don Marti
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<A HREF="issue64.txt.gz">TWDT 1 (gzipped text file)</A><BR>
<A HREF="issue64.html">TWDT 2 (HTML file)</A><BR>
are files containing the entire issue: one in text format, one in HTML. 
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strictly as a way to save the contents as one file for later printing in
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<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>
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<H5>Copyright &copy; 1996-2001 Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc.</H5>
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<H2><a NAME="mail"><IMG SRC="../gx/mailbox.gif" ALIGN=MIDDLE ALT=" ">
The Mailbag!</a> </H2>
Write the Gazette at <A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</A>
</td><td>
<H3>Contents:</H3>
<ul>
<li><a HREF="#help">Help Wanted -- Article Ideas</a>
<li><a HREF="#mailbag">General Mail</a>
<li><a HREF="#gaz">Gazette Matters</a>
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<center><a name="help"
	><H3><font color="maroon">HELP WANTED -- Article Ideas</font></H3
	></a></center>
<P>
<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
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answers--or answers only--appear in The Answer Gang, 2-Cent Tips, or here,
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<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
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<P> <HR> <P>
<!--====================================================================-->

<!-- BEGIN HELP WANTED -- Article Ideas -->

<UL>
<!-- index_text begins -->
<li><A HREF="#wanted/1"
	><strong>Email and News Access for Linux from a Server requireing NTCR authorization?</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted/2"
	><strong>telecommunication in a hospital</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted/3"
	><strong>Q: Initialising secondary video card under XFree86 4.0</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted/4"
	><strong>Linux PPP route question</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted/5"
	><strong>Linux-based companies</strong></a>
<!-- index_text ends -->
</UL>
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<P> <A NAME="wanted/1"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Email and News Access for Linux from a Server requireing NTCR authorization?</FONT></H3>
Tue, 13 Feb 2001 10:00:12 -0500
<BR>K.Woodward <a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com?cc:kwoodwar@mindspring.com"
	>(kwoodwar from mindspring.com)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
Hi,
</P>
<P>
I have a problem trying to setup Linux to access the servers at the
University of Phoenix.  The servers (Microsoft IIS) require a "log on using
Secure Password Authentication" under Microsoft Outlook Express.  I
understand that this requires a email and news reader to authenticate using
the WindowsNT Challenge/Response (NTCR) protocol [a really bad use of the
http protocol].  The school does have a website to get to the email and news
groups but it is timed and is very particular and seems to like rejecting
Netscape Navigator access.  The UOP Tech group's pat answer is that they
only support Outlook Express under Windows, I want a Linux answer.
</P>
<P>
Is there any program or daemon that I could run to allow me to authenticate
using this protocol so I could use Linux based email and news readers?  I
have tried using pine, staroffice, and leafnode and several others which are
common under <A HREF="http://www.kde.org/">KDE</A>/RedHat 6.2.
</P>
<P>
Thanks,
<br>K. Woodward
</P>

<!-- sig -->


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<P> <A NAME="wanted/2"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">telecommunication in a hospital</FONT></H3>
Sat, 27 Jan 2001 22:11:51 +0600
<BR>Nandalal Gunaratne <a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com?cc:madalal@itmin.com"
	>(nandalal from itmin.com)</a>

<!-- sig -->

<P>
Dear LG readers
</P>
<P>
I am a doctor working in a hospital in Sri Lanka. I am thinking of
connecting several computers in the hospital eg: one in the ward with the
operating theatre, the pathology laboratory etc. The cheapest wasy would be
via an internal modem and the use of the intercom telephones which work via
the telephone exchange in the hospital.
Is there a way of email/ file transfer which would allow say the doctor in
the ward to download the results from the biochemistry department?
I have read about C-kermit and UUCP but they are too confucing for us mere
doctors.
I have used RedHat Linux, but am hoping to use <A HREF="http://linux.corel.com/">Corel</A> Linux and Star Office
in the hospital as they are more user friendly.
Is there a simple, preferably GUI based communication tool which can do the
above? Can StarOffice do it? If one can see the other desktop and click and
download the file or email say with "ward 29 results on 26 January 2001"
after connecting up - that is a dream come true!
</P>
<P>
Dr Nandalal Gunaratne
</P>

<!-- sig -->


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<P> <A NAME="wanted/3"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Q: Initialising secondary video card under XFree86 4.0</FONT></H3>
Wed, 7 Feb 2001 01:23:55 +1100
<BR>Mark Tigwell <a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com?cc:tigs@zip.com.au"
	>(tigs from zip.com.au)</a>

<!-- sig -->

<P>
Hi there
</P>
<P>
I have two graphics cards in my machine:
</P>
<P><BLOCKQuote><code>
1:0:0 AGP 3DFX Voodoo3 2000 16Mb
2:0:0 PCI 3DFX Voodoo3 2000 16Mb
</code></BLOCKQuote></P>
<P>
I am running XFree 4.0 under kernel 2.2.17 with <A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A> 7.0
</P>
<P>
The problem is that I cannot get X to run on the second graphics card,
either in multihead or regular mode. My BIOS allows me to specify which card
is initialised as primary (the PCI or AGP card) and, depending on which one
I select, X will only run on that card. It runs perfectly on each respective
card when it is primary. I am trying to do multihead, but I can't get the
secondary card to work either way. It does initialise (ie the monitor
receives a signal) when I try to start X on the secondary card, but the
screen remains blank. I am forced to do a cold reboot and watch fsck go
through its motions every time.
</P>
<P>
Any thoughts?
</P>
<P>
Thanks
<br>Mark Tigwell
</P>

<!-- sig -->


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<P> <A NAME="wanted/4"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Linux PPP route question</FONT></H3>
Wed, 21 Feb 2001 07:59:47 -0600
<BR>Brian Smith <a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com?cc:bsmith3@charter.net"
	>(bsmith3 from charter.net)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
The following is a message I posted last night on redhat.networking.general,
I thought I'd send it to you guys as well since you always seem to be able
to provide good answers...
</P>
<HR width="10%" align="center"><P>
I'm trying to set up a demand-dialed PPP link to my employer's LAN.  I've
got it mostly working, except for one thing. I'd like to be able to just do
'ifup ppp0' (or have it done at boot) and then be able to bring up the link
on demand. The problem is, I need to 'route add -net 172.18.0.0/16 ppp0' so
that traffic from my machine to and address on the work LAN brings up the
link (DNS is not an issue, I'll be accessing the machines by numeric IP
address). The route command has to be done after pppd has started and the
ppp0 interface exists, but before the link is actually dialed. None of the
'ipup-post' processing helps me, because it doesn't get executed until after
the link is dialed. It's sort of a chicken-and-egg problem, eh? If I do the
ifup and then the route commands manually, everything works beautifully. I
just need a way to automate it better.
</P>
<P>
Also, it would be nice to be able to make a few mods to my ipchains ruleset
when the ppp0 interface comes up, but that's easier to work around because I
<EM>can</EM> set an ipchains rule for an interface which isn't up yet.
</P>
<P>
If anyone has a nice elegant solution to this, please let me know.  By
elegant I mean better than throwing the route command in rc.local - that's
going to cause problems if I ifdown and later ifup the interface, because it
won't get executed again.
</P>
<P>
Incidentally, this is on RedHat 7.0 with all the latest updates (except
kernel 2.2.17 - haven't gotten around to that yet).  In addition to the ppp0
I have eth0 (home LAN) and eth1 (cablemodem internet, and the reason that
pppd's 'defaultroute' option doesn't help me either).
</P>
<P>
Thanks,
<br>Brian Smith
</P>

<!-- sig -->


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<P> <A NAME="wanted/5"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Linux-based companies</FONT></H3>
Thu, 15 Feb 2001 17:01:10 -0800
<BR>Trent Carlyle <a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com?cc:trent@codehost.com"
	>(trent from codehost.com)</a>
<p>
Hi.
</p><p>

I have been paying attention to your magazine and web site quite a bit in
the past couple of months and have learned from and enjoyed the
information.  If you ever want to publish an article on companies that are
running successfully on open-source and/or Linux we would embrace the
opporuntity to be featured.  We are a custom software development company
who run all Linux work stations (including Marketing/Sales, Operations,
Programmers, Art, Human Resources, etc).  We are also dependent on Linux
for our servers, network, etc.  We have even gone as far as developing apps
internally that have proven to be very useful.
</p><p>

Have you thought of doing a monthly profile (like a quarter page column) on
companies that run mostly or all Linux products?  You could just build a
Q&A and companies could fill in the blanks.  i.e. "What desktop programs do
you use?" (or) "What are the biggest benefits/problems you've encountered?"
-- Just an idea.
</p><p>

I look forward to hearing from you.  Keep up the great work.
</p><p>

Regards, 
<br>Trent M. Carlyle
</p><p>

<!-- end 5 -->
<a name="mailbag"></a>
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="maroon">GENERAL MAIL</font></H3></center>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!--====================================================================-->

<!-- BEGIN GENERAL MAIL -->

<UL>
<!-- index_text begins -->
<li><A HREF="#mailbag/1"
	><strong>cocky arent we?</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#mailbag/2"
	><strong>Reference to Progeny</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#mailbag/3"
	><strong>Classified Disk - Low-level Format</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#mailbag/4"
	><strong>Alternative to "software released on the basis..."</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#mailbag/5"
	><strong>Good Atomic Clock Source (Cheap Hardware)</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#mailbag/6"
	><strong>geforce card</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#mailbag/7"
	><strong>Fw: Booting Problem after compiling kernel 2.4.0</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#mailbag/8"
	><strong>Re Spf for Linux</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#mailbag/9"
	><strong>Thank you</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#mailbag/10"
	><strong>Comment</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#mailbag/11"
	><strong>RH 7.0 update problems</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#mailbag/12"
	><strong>symlink</strong></a>
<!-- index_text ends -->
</UL>
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<P> <A NAME="mailbag/1"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">cocky arent we?</FONT></H3>
Sat, 24 Feb 2001 20:07:54 -0000
<BR>Lee Berube <a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?cc:lberube@twcny.rr.com"
	>(lberube from twcny.rr.com)</a>


<P><STRONG>
i just came across your website and was looking up bad clusters also.i've
seen some of your replies to theses people and you seem pretty cocky. you
sound like a total dick, like you dont have the time to just be nice and
say geesh im sorry but you have to look elsewhere.
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P>
You've reached an entire group of people.  It used to be one, renowned as
an expert in Linux, and I know it will sound weird, but the "chip on the
shoulder" you're complaining about is how he gained the renown.
</P>
<P>
It's our practice to be cocky <EM>and</EM> to give people useful answers, if they
ask questions which aren't too vague.  Often they need to know WHERE elsewhere,
just "go away" would in fact, be rude.
</P>
<P>
The "Answer Gang" column has become a tradition in our magazine and we have
written many times in the past about why we maintain the style.  If you want
either politically correct "cleaned up" speeches or formal listings of
questions and answers, go to formal and commercial entities, or go look
in the Linux Documentation Project HOWTOs (<A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org"
	>http://www.linuxdoc.org</A>).  But
if you want to stomp into the nearest Techy Bar and see if the alpha geek
has a real answer for your question, you've come to the right Answer Gang.
</P>
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
is it their fault that they use a search engine that brings up your
webpage and hoping for help ---they get you (unfortunatly).
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P>
This project is part of the Linux Documentation Project as well, and
translated into many languages.  Therefore yes, it will be found in a lot
of search engines.  This isn't a bug -- it's a feature!
</P>
<P>
Maybe these people you are talking who are "hoping for help" will either
</P>
<ol>
<li> use the Linux Gazette specific search engine at
	<br><tt><A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com//wgindex.html"
	>http://www.linuxgazette.com//wgindex.html</A></tt>
	<br>&nbsp;
<br>(pretty easy to get to really, just hit "search" off our home page)
...and look at all the other past articles in there (not all by the same
fellow, either).
	<br>&nbsp;
<br>or
	<br>&nbsp;
<li> Actually ask us a Linux question we can answer!  You didn't!
</ol>
<P>
LG is all volunteer work, though.  If you think that's <EM>unfortunate</EM> that
we hand out freebie answers with a little roughhousing in them -- your loss,
dude, get a new 'tude...
</P>
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
dude...lighten up a bit will ya? it happens....
<br>Lee
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P>
Let us know when you have a Linux question, Lee, maybe we'll be able to help.
Meanwhile, have a nice day 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</P>
</blockquote>
<P>-- Heather Stern</p>

<!-- sig -->


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<P> <A NAME="mailbag/2"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Reference to Progeny</FONT></H3>
Mon, 19 Feb 2001 12:27:43 -0800
<BR>Bruce Byfield <a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?cc::bbyfield@progeny.com"
	>(bbyfield from progeny.com)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
In the latest issue of The Linux Gazette, the following appeared:
</P>
<P><STRONG><BLOCKQuote>
[Heather] Well, then, keep an eye on the Progeny project - Ian Murdoch himself and a handful of trusted friends, are working on putting together a new debian based distro which is really aimed at desktop users &gt;more than the server and hardcore-linuxer crowd, yet is aware of the "standard" debian project enough to &gt;allow a smooth transition.
</BLOCKQuote></STRONG></P>
<P>
[Bruce Byfield, Director of Marketing and Communications,
Progeny Linux Systems]
<BR>
I wanted to mention that appearances are deceiving. In many ways,
Progeny <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</A> has taken on an 
unexpected life of its own, with many
features for the desktop market. However, that's only what everyone
is seeing right now.
</P>
<P>
In the long term, Progeny Debian is the foundation for Progeny's
Linux NOW (Network of Workstations) project, and therefore aimed
squarely at the server market.
</P>
<P>
Not that I'm complaining, you understand. Any coverage is good
coverage, and all that. However, because Progeny Debian is the first
Progeny project that will released, people are getting a distorted
view of what the company is about, and we don't want anyone to feel
that Progeny is misrepresenting itself.
</P>



<!-- end 2 -->
<!--              . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .              -->
<HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center">

<blockquote>
<P>
So the "Linux NOW" will be a clustering project, while the present
"Progeny Debian" is the side effect of work on a good installer system
for the project overall?  (just want to make sure that when I'm updating
my view of it, I'm getting it right this time.)
</P>
</blockquote>
<P>
Yes, you're basically right. That's not to say that desktop
refinements won't be added, but Progeny plans to be more of a
provider of services than a seller of software.
</P>
<P>
However, maybe I should add that, in the strictest sense, Linux NOW
isn't a clustering project. Although it could loosely be called
that, Progeny is avoiding the term to prevent misunderstandings (to
say nothing of criticisms). Instead, it's being called a network of
workstations or a networking computer solution. I suspect, though,
that it would be a welcome edition to a clustering solution.
</P>
<blockquote>
<P>
Thank you very much for correcting us in this regard.  I do like what I
am seeing and I suspect that when you roll out the big guns on the server
issues that a lot of netadmins will also be very happy with it. -- Heather
</P>
</blockquote>
<P>
Thank you!
</P>


<blockquote>
[Mike]
Bruce, our last announcement about Progeny
was <A HREF="../issue57/lg_bytes57.html"
	>http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue57/lg_bytes57.html</A> (search for
"Progeny").  If you have any more material to add, send it to <I>LG</I>.
</blockquote>

<!-- sig -->


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<P> <A NAME="mailbag/3"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Classified Disk - Low-level Format</FONT></H3>
Thu, 15 Feb 2001 21:46:05 -0500
<BR>Mark Nielsen<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?cc:nielsen@wwc.com"
	>(nielsen from wwc.com)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
Classified Disk - Low-level Format
</P>
<P>
Add my comment,
</P>
<P>
I was so impressed with that one line command at writing 7 times to the
hard drive, I included it in my article (though I only discovered it
after it got submitted to LG). I left it as an option for someone to
uncomment the command.
</P>
<P>
<A HREF="http://www.gnujobs.com/Articles/14/Wipe_It.html"
	>http://www.gnujobs.com/Articles/14/Wipe_It.html</A>
</P>
<P>
Mark
</P>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 3 -->
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<P> <A NAME="mailbag/4"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Alternative to "software released on the basis..."</FONT></H3>
Thu, 15 Feb 2001 14:40:04 -0600
<BR>Dave<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?cc:df@cameron.k12.wi.us"
	>(df from cameron.k12.wi.us)</a>

<P>
Heather,
</P>
<P>
In your answer in the latest Linux Gazette to the question concerning
the HSP (et al) modems, you requested a new word/name:   (Can someome
out there please spin up a new buzzword for "software released on the
basis that you get no tech support" so we can go back to using
"unsupported" for meaning "doesn't work" ?)
</P>
<P>
I have two suggestions:  On-your-own-ware     or      noware
</P>
<P>
Dave Forcey
</P>

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<P> <A NAME="mailbag/5"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Good Atomic Clock Source (Cheap Hardware)</FONT></H3>
Wed, 14 Feb 2001 20:46:28 -0600
<BR>Ross Jacobs<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?cc:rosskj@rossandkelly.com"
	>(rosskj from rossandkelly.com)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
Check out 
<a href="http://www.parallaxinc.com">http://www.parallaxinc.com</a>, 
they make microcontrollers and hobby kits
for electronics.  They offer a radio to serial device that receives atomic
clock broadcasted updates via radio waves, and outputs data to the a serial
port.  It can also be polled.
</P>
<P>
Ross K. Jacobs
</P>

<!-- sig -->


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<P> <A NAME="mailbag/6"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">geforce card</FONT></H3>
Mon, 29 Jan 2001 22:28:10 +0100
<BR>Jorge Gimenez<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?cc:jorge.gimenez@wanadoo.es"
	>(jorge.gimenez from wanadoo.es)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
Hi.
<br>Nvidia has released drivers for geforce 2 cards with opengl support. Visit
his web. <A HREF="http://www.nvidia.com"
	>http://www.nvidia.com</A> . I read on the documentation of that
drivers that Xfree 4.0.2 has support for this card. I have a tnt2,the same
drivers for geforce cards, working perfectly with nvidia drivers on a
redhat 6.1 with Xfree 4.0.1.
There is a mini howto called Nvidia-OpenGL howto that covers this stuff
very well , I would recommend you to download it
</P>
<P>
Later,
<br>Jorge
</P>

<!-- sig -->


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<P> <A NAME="mailbag/7"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Fw: Booting Problem after compiling kernel 2.4.0</FONT></H3>
Thu, 1 Feb 2001 14:14:22 +0530
<BR>santanu_jal2000 
	<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?cc:santanu_jal2000@yahoo.com"
	>(santanu_jal2000 from yahoo.com)</a>

<P>
Hello,
</P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
What do I do ??
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P><STRONG> [Heather]
Well, the startx text results from booting it under the other kernel, may
give you an idea of some features to actually declare in your XF86Config file.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Look
especially at the things that start with two dashes since those are things
it decides on its own.  If you succeed at declaring these in your config, the
server should boot up the same way on 2.2.16 but the same features will
change to being marked with two stars.  Then you can try it under the new kernel
and see if it straightens up and flies right.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I note that you may have a particularly old i810 server anyway, since
XFCOM are the Xfree Compatible series, and according to 
<A HREF="http://www.xfree86.org"
	>http://www.xfree86.org</A>
the i810 is among their source tree.  Defaulting to not building it, but
it's in there 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">  So a smarter i810 
server for 3.3.6 might be available from your
distro vendor's updates area.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Xfree86 4 is reported to work with the i810's as well.  The readme for
its 810 support mentions that the Tyan Tomcat and some settop box
(HappyPC)
also work.  That server includes the ability to declare a few features
(such as the DAC) if they get misdetected or just missed.  Switching from
X 3.3.x to X 4 has been very happy for some, tweaky for others, so I have
to leave that possibility up to you.
</STRONG></P>
</blockquote>
<P>
I figured out that I have to do some serious reading ( the kernel docs and
the
XFree86 docs , etc.) and then I will be more prepared to try out
the tweakings you mentioned above ( specially the first suggestion ).
Good thing I will learn a lot that way.
</P>
<P>
Last but not the least , I must say a big  <EM>Thanks</EM>  to You
for carrying on the 'conversation' .
I learnt a lot from you, specially how to go to the
heart of the problem.
Thanks again.
</P>
<P>
Here I dive into the  Docs . . . .
</P>
<P>
Bye!
</P>
<P>
Regards,
<br>Santanu Chatterjee
</P>

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<P> <A NAME="mailbag/8"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Re Spf for Linux</FONT></H3>
Sat, 17 Feb 2001 10:34:24 -0800
<BR>Mike Chard 
	<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?cc:mchard@uneclipse.com"
	>(mchard from uneclipse.com)</a>

<P>
Hi Heather,
</P>
<P>
Just to let you know that Uneclipse Software Systems has released an SPF
Editor for just $69.95 - <A HREF="http://www.uneclipse.com"
	>http://www.uneclipse.com</A>
</P>
<P>
Mike
</P>

<!-- end 8 -->
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<P> <A NAME="mailbag/9"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Thank you</FONT></H3>
Tue, 30 Jan 2001 19:27:16 -0800
<BR>Gerard Berthet
	<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?cc:gberthet@xmlnetworks.com"
	>(gberthet from xmlnetworks.com)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
Thank you for your site. I found what I needed, very easily, and
quickly about my Linksys Ether16 LAN Card. The Linksys web site
was useless in comparison.
</P>
<P>
Regards,
<br>Gerard Berthet
</P>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 9 -->
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<P> <A NAME="mailbag/10"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Comment</FONT></H3>
Wed, 7 Feb 2001 20:50:11 -0600
<BR>skimbrel<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?cc:skimbrel@home.com"
	>(skimbrel from home.com)</a>


<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
More AOL Instant Messenger Spying
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
From Jon Sandler on Mon, 11 Oct 1999
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
it is very important to me as well that i spy on other people's instant
messages - seeing messages from both the sender and the reciever. your help
would be greatly appreciated. and im not too in tune with the technical
stuff, so a simple way would be good. thank you very much.
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
You are also "not too in tune" with ethics. You're also not too bright,
and you're lazy (since I'm sure you know something about the basics of
capitalization, et al).
</STRONG></P>
</blockquote>
<P>
U R my hero!!!  THIS GUY NEEDS A LIFE.  Good work.
Sam
</P>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 10 -->
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<P> <A NAME="mailbag/11"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">RH 7.0 update problems</FONT></H3>
Sun, 4 Feb 2001 21:55:02 -0500
<BR>Bob Lee <a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?cc:general@gis.net"
	>(general from gis.net)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
Thank you for your quick response to my upgrade problems. After my two
experiences with  upgrades, your suggestion fills the bill on that
situation. Don't upgrade, do a new installation. Especially with the
hard drive resources and partitioning program available to work with.
</P>
<P>
Using Partition Magic for Linux, I created a fresh 10GB hard drive with
anly unallocated space on it and used PM to copy the 6.1 installation to
it and now have a 7.0 updrade on my other disk. Just as soon as I am
happy with RH 7.0. I will run a complete new install on the 10gig disk.
</P>
<P>
The reason for the big disk was to allow me to experiment with different
distributions and new kernels.
</P>
<P>
Your opinion is well valued and my experience bears out what you
suggested.
</P>
<P>
Many thanks to you and the Answer Gang and the many hours of enjoyable
reading and learning gained from the Linux Gazzette each month. It's
nice to have people  like you willing to share your knowledge and
experience with us.
</P>
<blockquote>
&lt;Smile&gt; Glad I could help, Bob. As far as I'm concerned, a well-documented
story of things going wrong can be quite valuable; it may save someone
else the trouble of trying the same route. Thanks for writing.
</blockquote>
<p>-- Ben Okopnik</p>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 11 -->
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<P> <A NAME="mailbag/12"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">symlink</FONT></H3>
Sun, 04 Feb 2001 01:30:53 +1000
<BR>Les Barron <a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?cc:les@spiderweb.com"
	>(les from spiderweb.com.au)</a>

<!-- sig -->

<P>
Why the big fuss ?? I downloaded the 2.4 kernel untarred it in <TT>/usr/src</TT>
symlinked it to linux configured and compiled it &amp; have been using it
for some time with no apparent problems. I use <A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A> 7.0 pro on a 433celeron.
Must admit I have not tried it on my other machine (a 233 cyrix)with
redhat caldera,windows &amp; turbolinux installed.(My apologies I did upgrade
modutils and several other utilities first) Cheers
</P>
<P>
les
</P>
<blockquote>
<P>
I finally came up with a much clearer way of expressing it, as a thread
on a similar vein came through the debian-laptops mailing list:
</P>
<P>
According to the fellow who berated The Answer Gang about this (suggesting
NOT moving around the include link -- Thanks Michal!) ... as passed through 
my tiny little "not a kernel hacker" brain ... the idea is that glibc has a 
certain set of the headers which it sort of generically expects to use 
when compiling userland apps.
</P>
<P>
Whereas the one inside the real linux sources is desperately needed to be
from the kernel sources, when compiling the kernel itself.  (Duh 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle"> )
</P>
<P>
The problem we keep running into is with apps that "cross the blood/brain
barrier" ... pcmcia as a <EM>prime</EM> example ... it probably would greatly
prefer the "real" includes.  But, you can't just <EM>move</EM> them -- 
most userland apps prefer the fakes!  Er... older versions.  The versions
that were there when glibc was itself built.  They're not at all fake. 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</P>
<P>
Worse, when we start hopping entire kernel versions, or if you are someone
who is developing kernel modules yourself.  Newer versions have a link in
<TT>/lib/modules</TT> called 'build' that says where it got its sources from, so that
something smart can be done, however, I have no idea if gcc does The Right
Thing with that yet.
</P>
<P>
Until then, in the debian distribution at least, <TT>/usr/include/linux</TT> contains
its <EM>own</EM> copy of headers for userland compiles.  Their docs for the libc6
package explain clearly to use:
</P>
<blockquote><code>
gcc -I/usr/src/linux-X.Y.Z/include  ...
</code></blockquote>
<p>
...if you really need the headers from a specific kernel.
</P>
<P>
All this doesn't really help a poor user decide, but I hope it makes a lot
more sense to you folks now.
</P>
<P>
Anyone who works in this magic at a deeper level is certainly welcome to
chime in and improve our view of Linux physics.  Send that techy stuff to
<A HREF="mailto:tag@ssc.com"
	>tag@ssc.com</A> so the whole Gang can see it.
</P>
</blockquote>
<p>-- Heather</p>

<!-- end 12 -->
<a name="gaz"></a>
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="maroon">GAZETTE MATTERS</font></H3></center>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!--====================================================================-->

<!-- BEGIN GAZETTE MATTERS -->

<UL>
<!-- index_text begins -->
<li><A HREF="#gaz/1"
	><strong>Re: Earthquake - SSC is fine.</strong></a>
<!-- index_text ends -->
</UL>
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="gaz/1"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Re: Earthquake - SSC is fine.</FONT></H3>
Wed, 28 Feb 2001 16:03:54 -0800
<BR>Don Marti <a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com"
	>(LJ Technical Editor)</a>

<P>
The SSC people in Seattle survive, just a few broken windows.
</P>
<!--startcut ======================================================= -->
<P> <hr> </p>
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<H5 align="center">This page edited and maintained by the Editors
	of <I>Linux Gazette</I> 
<a href="http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html"
	>Copyright &copy;</a> 2001
<BR>Published in issue 64 of <I>Linux Gazette</I> March 2001</H5>
<H6 ALIGN="center">HTML script maintained 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>
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</BODY></HTML>
<!--endcut ========================================================= -->

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

<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<font color="green">
March/April 2001 <I>Embedded Linux Journal</I>
</font>
</H3>

<IMG ALT="[cover image]"   SRC="misc/bytes/elj-cover2.jpg" WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=268 
ALIGN="left" HSPACE="20">

<P> 
The March/April issue of SSC's newest publication, 
<I>Embedded Linux Journal</I>, will hit the streets March 2nd.
<I>ELJ</I> focuses on the use of Linux and other open-source 
software to increase efficiency, economy and stability in
embedded design and development.

<P> <STRONG>Free</STRONG> subscriptions are available to qualified individuals
in the USA, Canada and Mexico.  Paid subscriptions to other countries are also
available.  Visit the <I>ELJ</I> web site at 
<A HREF="http://embedded.linuxjournal.com">http://embedded.linuxjournal.com</A>
to subscribe, read articles on-line and post your comments.

<BR CLEAR="all">






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

<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<font color="green">
March 2001 <I>Linux Journal</I>
</font>
</H3>

<IMG ALT="[cover image]"   SRC="misc/bytes/lj-cover83.jpg" WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=268 
ALIGN="left" HSPACE="20">

<P> 
The March issue of <A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/"><I>Linux
Journal</I></A> is on newsstands now.
This issue focuses on Consulting.  Click 
<A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/issue83/index.html">here</A>
to view the table of contents, or 
<A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/subscribe/index.html">here</A> 
to subscribe.

<P>
<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>.  

<BR CLEAR="all">


<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">SuSE
</FONT>
</H3> 


<P> <a href="http://www.suse.de/en/">SuSE Linux</a>  has announced the 
availability of SuSE 
Linux 7.1, with the newly released Kernel 2.4, in both Personal and
Professional editions.
SuSE will continue shipping the reliable 2.2 series kernels 
parallel to Kernel 2.4. 
For more information, please visit SuSE's 
<a href="http://www.suse.de/en/produkte/susesoft/linux/index.html">
product web page</a>.

<P> The Duke of
URL has recently posted a 
<a href="http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/misc/suse70/">
review</a> of  the very recently superceded SuSE Linux Professional 7.0. 
It will certainly give you a feel for the spirit of SuSE's distribution,
although of course there will be some extra features/updates in 7.1.

<hr noshade width="20%">

<P>SuSE Linux and IBM
Global Services have signed a worldwide technical support agreement,
covering various platforms, including IBM eServers. 
IBM Global Services will use SuSE's expertise to help address
customers' technical  Linux concerns. 

Since the announcement of SuSE Linux Enterprise Server for zSeries 
(formerly S/390) in October, SuSE is the only company delivering a 
worldwide Linux distribution for IBM xSeries, pSeries and zSeries 
eServers. At this time, SuSE supports more IBM server platforms 
than any other commercially available Linux distribution.

<hr noshade width="20%">

<P> SuSE Linux has also
announced the new SuSE Linux Knowledge 
Portal. The service can be accessed and searched on the 
Web at SuSE's
<a href="http://portal.suse.de">German</a>, 
<a href="http://portal.suse.co.uk">UK</a> and 
<a href="http://portal.suse.com">US</a> web-sites.

Topics covered are wide-ranging, and the site is aimed at
both Linux desktop newcomers and experienced system administrators. Much of
the information is not distro-specific.


<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> 

<!-- *** BEGIN events table [this line needed by Linux Gazette events.py *** -->

<table cellpadding=5 border=0 width=100%>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Bang!inux</b><BR><td valign=top>
        March 5-7, 2001<BR>Bangalor, India<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.Banglinux.com/" target=_blank>
        http://www.Banglinux.com/</A><BR>
        </td></tr>

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<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>LINUX Business Expo</b><BR><td valign=top>
      	March 7-9, 2001<BR>Sydney, Australia<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.linuxexpo.com.au/" target=_blank>
        http://www.linuxexpo.com.au</A><BR>
        </td></tr>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Computerfest</b><BR><td valign=top>
        March 10-11, 2001<BR>Dayton, OH<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.computerfest.com/" target=_blank>
        http://www.computerfest.com</A><BR>
        </td></tr>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></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://www.internetworld.com/"
	target=_blank>http://www.internetworld.com</A><BR>
	</td></tr>  

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>COMDEX Canada West</b><BR><td valign=top>March 13-15, 2001<BR>
        Vancouver, B.C.<BR>
	<A HREF="http://www.key3media.com/comdex/canadawest2001/" target=_blank>	http://www.key3media.com/comdex/canadawest2001</A><BR>
        </td></tr> 

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><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.gdconf.com/" target=_blank>
	http://www.gdconf.com</A><BR>
	</td></tr>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></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>
	http://www.cebit.de</A><BR>
	</td></tr> 

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>3rd USENIX Symposium on Internet Technologies and Systems</b>
	<BR><td valign=top>March 26-28, 2001<BR>San Francisco, CA<BR>
	<A HREF="http://www.usenix.org/events/usits01/" target=_blank>
        http://www.usenix.org/events/usits01</A><BR>
        </td></tr>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr> 

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>LinuxBazaar</b>
        <BR><td valign=top>March 28-29, 2001<BR>Prague, Czech Republic<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.linuxbazaar.cz" target=_blank>
        http://www.linuxbazaar.cz</A><BR>
        </td></tr> 

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Colorado Linux Info Quest Conference & Expo/CLIQ 2001</b><br>
        <BR><td valign=top>March 29-30, 2001<BR>Denver, CO<BR>
        <A HREF="http://thecliq.org/" target="_blank">
        http://thecliq.org</A><BR>
        </td></tr>  

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>  

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Association of C/C++ Users (ACCU)</b>
	<BR><td valign=top>March 29-31, 2001<BR>Oxford, England<BR>
	<A HREF="http://www.accuconf.com/" target="_blank">
	http://www.accuconf.com/</A><BR>
        </td></tr> 

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><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>
	http://www.linuxbusinessexpo.com</A><BR>
	</td></tr> 

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Linux Expo, Madrid</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>April 4-5, 2001<BR>Madrid, Spain<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.linuxexpomadrid.com/EN/home/" target=_blank>
        http://www.linuxexpomadrid.com/EN/home</A><BR>
        </td></tr>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Linux Expo Road Show</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>April 23-27, 2001<BR>Various Locations<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.linux-expo.com/" target=_blank>
        http://www.linux-expo.com</A><BR>
        </td></tr> 

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Open Source Development Network Summit</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>April 30 - May 1, 2001<BR>Austin, TX<BR>
        <A HREF="http://osdn.com/conferences/handhelds/" target=_blank>
        http://osdn.com/conferences/handhelds/</A><BR>
        </td></tr>                              

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Linux for Industrial Applications</b><br>3rd Braunschweiger
	Linux-Tage<BR>
        <td valign=top>May 4-6, 2001<BR>Braunschweig, Germany<BR>
        <A HREF="http://braunschweiger.linuxtage.de/industrie/" target=_blank>
        http://braunschweiger.linuxtage.de/industrie/</A><BR>
        </td></tr> 

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Linux@Work Europe 2001</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>May 8 - June 15, 2001<BR>Various Locations<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.ltt.de/linux_at_work.2001/" target=_blank>
        http://www.ltt.de/linux_at_work.2001</A><BR>
        </td></tr>  

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Linux Expo, S&atilde;o Paulo</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>May 9-10, 2001<BR>S&atilde;o Paulo, Brazil<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.linux-expo.com" target=_blank>
        http://www.linux-expo.com</A><BR>
        </td></tr>   

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>SANS 2001</b><BR><td valign=top>May 13-20, 2001<BR>
	Baltimore, MD<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.sans.org/SANS2001.htm" target=_blank>
       	http://www.sans.org/SANS2001.htm</A><BR>
        </td></tr>   

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>7th Annual Applied Computing Conference</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>May 14-17, 2001<BR>Santa Clara, CA<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.annatechnology.com/annatech/HomeConf2.asp" 
	target=_blank>
        http://www.annatechnology.com/annatech/HomeConf2.asp</A><BR>
        </td></tr>  

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Linux Expo, China</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>May 15-18, 2001<BR>Shanghai, China<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.linux-expo.com/" target=_blank>
        http://www.linux-expo.com</A><BR>
        </td></tr>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr> 

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>SITI International Information Technologies Week</b><br>
	OpenWorld Expo 2001<BR>
        <td valign=top>May 22-25, 2001<BR>Montr&eacute;al, Canada<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.mediapublik.com/en/" target=_blank>
        http://www.mediapublik.com/en/</A><BR>
        </td></tr>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr> 

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

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Linux Expo, Milan</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>June 6-7, 2001<BR>Milan, Italy<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.linux-expo.com" target=_blank>
        http://www.linux-expo.com</A><BR>
        </td></tr>   

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><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/events/usenix01/" target=_blank>
	http://www.usenix.org/events/usenix01</A><BR>
	</td></tr> 

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></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>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>     
	<b>Internet World Summer</b><BR><td valign=top>July 10-12, 2001<BR>
	Chicago, IL<BR>
	<A HREF="http://www.internetworld.com/" target=_blank>
	http://www.internetworld.com</A><BR>
	</td></tr>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></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>
	http://conferences.oreilly.com</A><BR>
	</td></tr>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>10th USENIX Security Symposium</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>August 13-17, 2001<BR>Washington, D.C.<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.usenix.org/events/sec01/" target=_blank>
        http://www.usenix.org/events/sec01/</A><BR>
        </td></tr> 

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>HunTEC Technology Expo & Conference</b><br>Hosted by Hunstville IEEE<BR>
        <td valign=top>August 17-18, 2001<BR>Huntsville, AL<BR>
	URL unkown at present<br>
        </td></tr>    

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Computerfest</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>August 25-26, 2001<BR>Dayton, OH<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.computerfest.com/" target=_blank>
        http://www.computerfest.com</A><BR>
        </td></tr>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

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

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
	<b>Linux Lunacy<br>Co-Produced by <i>Linux
	Journal</i> and Geek Cruises</b><BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/lunacy/cruise.html" target=_blank>
        Send a Friend <i>LJ</i> and Enter to Win a Cruise!</A><BR> 
	<td valign=top>October 21-28, 2001<BR>Eastern Caribbean<BR>
	<A HREF="http://www.geekcruises.com/" target=_blank>
	http://www.geekcruises.com</A><BR>
	</td></tr> 

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>LinuxWorld Conference & Expo</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>October 30 - November 1, 2001<BR>Frankfurt, Germany<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.linuxworldexpo.de/linuxworldexpo/index.html" 
	target=_blank>
        http://www.linuxworldexpo.de/linuxworldexpo/index.html</A><BR>
        </td></tr>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>5th Annual Linux Showcase & Conference</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>November 6-10, 2001<BR>Oakland, CA<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.linuxshowcase.org/" target=_blank>
        http://www.linuxshowcase.org/</A><BR>
        </td></tr> 

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Strictly e-Business Solutions Expo</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>November 7-8, 2001<BR>Houston, TX<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.strictlyebusinessexpo.com/" target=_blank>
        http://www.strictlyebusinessexpo.com</A><BR>
        </td></tr> 

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>  

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>LINUX Business Expo</b><BR>Co-located with COMDEX<br>
        <td valign=top>November 12-16, 2001<BR>Las Vegas, NV<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.linuxbusinessexpo.com" target=_blank>
        http://www.linuxbusinessexpo.com</A><BR>
        </td></tr>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>15th Systems Administration Conference/LISA 2001</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>December 2-7, 2001<BR>San Diego, CA<BR>
        <A HREF="http://www.usenix.org/events/lisa2001/" target=_blank>
        http://www.usenix.org/events/lisa2001</A><BR>
        </td></tr>  

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr> 



</table>
<!-- *** END events table [this line needed by Linux Gazette events.py *** -->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Steeleye and Linux Networx Partnership
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P>
<a href="http://www.steeleye.com/">SteelEye Technology,</a>
Inc.
have announced an OEM agreement with 
<a href="http://www.linuxnetworx.com/">Linux NetworX, Inc.</a>.
Linux NetworX will offer SteelEye's LifeKeeper for Linux  platform in the
solutions it provides to eBusiness
customers.  The agreement also includes co-marketing and joint technical
support activities.
SteelEye's LifeKeeper monitors system and
application health to maintain client accessibility and provide
uninterrupted data access. LifeKeeper 
automatically restores application services by
either restarting them locally or relocating them to another server in the
cluster.



<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">AMD Showcases First VirtuHammer Simulator
</FONT>
</H3> 


<P>
<a href="http://www.amd.com/">AMD</a> announced at 
LinuxWorld events in New York and Paris the first public 
demonstration of "VirtuHammer," the 
tool developed by AMD and 
<a href="http://www.Virtutech.com">
Virtutech</a> to allow 
software developers to write and test 64-bit programs for AMD's 
next-generation "Hammer" family of processors. 
AMD, along with <a href="http://www.suse.de/en/">SuSE</a>
have reported  significant 
progress in the Open Source community's efforts to port Linux to 
AMD's x86-64 technology. The x86-64 technology extends the x86 
instruction set to enable 64-bit computing and is the backbone 
behind AMD's planned 64-bit processor family, code-named "Hammer." 
AMD's "Hammer" family is planned for commercial introduction in 
the first half of 2002.

For additional information on the x86-64 instruction set, visit 
<a href="http://www.x86-64.org">http://www.x86-64.org</a>


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

<P> The Simi-Conejo Linux Users Group will be holding LUGFest IV on April 21st
and 22nd, 2001, in Simi Valley, California. 
The LUGFest is intended to be an opportunity for Linux users to demo
Linux (or other Open 
Source operating systems), Linux applications, attend seminars, and BOF (Birds
Of a Feather) sessions.  Additionally, Linux vendors may participate and
show off their wares.  
For more info, to register for LFIV, or to volunteer to do a demo, contact 
<a href="mailto:gareth@wiked.org">gareth@wiked.org</a>, or visit 
the <a href="http://www.lugfest.org">LUGFest</a> web-site.


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">CLIQ 2001 Conference and Exhibit
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P> Colorado Linux Info Quest - <a href="http://thecliq.org">CLIQ</a>
have announced sponsorship from 
Hewlett Packard, XFree86 and GNOME (among others)
for CLIQ2001 (March 30th).
Daryll Strauss (VA Linux, XFree86) and Havoc Pennington (Red Hat, GTK+ and
GNOME)  have agreed to speak at the event which will take place
March 29th-30th at the Denver Marriott Tech Center.  All scheduled talks and
the exhibit floor are scheduled for the 30th, with early registration and a few
smaller informal events expected on the 29th.



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

<p><a href="http://www.thedukeofurl.org/">The Duke of URL</a> has some links
which may appeal to you:
<ul>
    <li>A <a href="http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/misc/conectiva6">
    review</a> of Connectiva Linux 6.0, featuring the new APT mechanism for RPM
    (to take care of dependencies), kernel 2.2.17, XFree86 4.0.1
    <li>A <a href="http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/misc/unrealgoty">
    look at</a>
    Unreal Tournament, GotY edition for (among others) Linux.
    <li>The <a href="http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/misc/linuxguide8">
    Linux Buyer's Guide #8</a> with a focus on working with Kernel 2.4.1 and
    XFree86 4.0.2. Systems are studied at 4 price points.
    <li>OpenBSD 2.8 is
    <a href="http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/misc/openbsd28">reviewed.</a>
    <li>Plus, a
    <a href="http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/lit/books0201">review</a> of
    a selection of technical books that may be of interest.
</ul>

The folks on 
<a href="http://www.slashdot.org/">Slashdot</a> have featured the following
stories during the past month:
<ul>
    <li>
    An <a href="http://slashdot.org/articles/01/01/30/0435256.shtml">
    article</a> looking at the latest Bind Vulnerabilities. Probably serious
    if you are affected since there is a known exploit (though perhaps not
    in the wild,
    YET). You have been warned! Also check-out the
    <a href="http://securityfocus.com/">Security Focus</a>
    <a href="http://securityfocus.com/frames/?content=/templates/article.html?id=144">
    article</a> on the subject.
    <li>On a lighter note, there is the
    <a href="http://slashdot.org/articles/01/02/15/046242.shtml">story</a>
    on an assembler coded in Bash.
    <li> And the duelling hackers
    <a href="http://slashdot.org/articles/01/01/25/1343218.shtml">
    story</a> of the DirecTV hacker game.
</ul>
<p>Three articles on
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/">The Register</a> which may be of
interest:

<ul>
    <li>
    A <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/16447.html">report</a>
    on the change of ownership of Egroups to Yahoo, and the new terms/conditions
    being imposed.
    <li>
    The <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/16434.html">
    news</a> that Microsoft have partially outsourced their DNS servers to a
    firm (Akami) that appears to be using Linux for the job. I suppose all
    companies get things right from time to time!
    <li>
    And, <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/2/16469.html">
    information</a> on the new 
    <a href="http://www.mountainviewdata.com/us/technology/linuxdisk.html">
    LinuxDisk</a> software developed by Peter Braam. The driver allows a Linux
    system running commodity hardware to appear to the network as a storage
    device, much like a low-end SAN.
</ul>


<p><a href="http://www.userlocal.com/">Userlocal.com</a> offer a site
focusing mostly on Slackware Linux, though much of the information is useful
for all Linux users.

<p>
<a href="http://www.osopinion.com/">OSOpinion</a>  take a look at
<a href="http://www.osopinion.com/perl/story/7007.html">
MS .net and Linux</a>:
whether Microsoft will have Corel port .NET to
Linux, and how the possible antitrust split of MS may affect this. 
The hurried sale of the shares 
<a href="http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-02-22-009-20-NW-CL-MS">
reported</a> by
<a href="http://linuxtoday.com/">Linux Today</a> and
<a href="http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/02/22/1928203&mode=thread">
discussed</a> on 
<a href="http://www.slashdot.org/">Slashdot</a>, just makes the story more
fascinating. One to watch.


<p>Rainer Gerhards has written an
<A HREF="http://www.adiscon.com/Common/en/Articles/EventReporter-Monitor-Windows-NT-From-Unix.asp">
article</A> on integrating Windows NT into a Unix syslog based management
system (having Windows reporting to Unix via Syslog).

<p><a href="http://www.linuxtoday.com.au/">Linux Today</a>
have an 
<a href="http://www.linuxtoday.com.au/r/article/jsp/sid/805730">overview</a>
of 
<a href="http://www.berlin-consortium.org">
Berlin</a> (a possible future alternative to X). You can get a bit more info
from TAG in our very own LG issue 61
<a href="../issue61/lg_answer61.html#tag/35">here.</a>
<p><a href=""></a>
<p><a href=""></a>
<p><a href=""></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 Personalization Software for Linux Announced
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P>
<a href="http://www.ibm.com/">IBM</a> have announced that the latest
version of its 
<a href="http://www.ibm.com/websphere">
WebSphere Personalization</a> software now supports Linux.
This software enables businesses to focus their websites more precisely at
their individual users through "personalization", and then to optimise this
process through analysis of activity. For more information
<a href="http://www.ibm.com/websphere">
on Websphere</a> and
<a href="http://www-4.ibm.com/software/webservers/personalization/">
Personalization</a> and
<a href="http://www.ibm.com/linux">
IBM/Linux</a> follow the links.


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Partnership to create Comprehensive Motif GUI
 Solution on Linux for Enterprises
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
<a href="http://www.ics.com">Integrated Computer Solutions, Inc.</a>
and 
<a href="http://www.sitraka.com">Sitraka Software</a>
are entering into
a partnership focusing on their BX PRO and XRT PDS 
<a href="http://www.motifzone.net/">Motif</a> development
products. ICS has developed a kit that allows integration of Sitraka's XRT
PDS with their own BX PRO product, and have now arranged a Reseller agreement
with Sitraka for XRT PDS.  With this agreement, ICS can now claim to offer
the largest selection of Motif development tools on UNIX and Linux systems.
This solution is shipping on various platforms, including Linux (Intel).

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">2netFX and Linux NetworX to Offer Streaming Server Solution
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P> The solution integrates the 
<a href="http://www.2netFX.com">2netFX </a>
ThunderCast Server and StreamRider
Client Player software
with
<a href="http://www.linuxnetworx.com">Linux NetworX</a> Evolicity clusters.
The StreamRider client will be offered on the Linux NetworX Evolocity
1240s.  Four independent CPUs will share the Web serving workload through a
software-level load balancer. If one compute module should fail, the others
continue providing services, providing maximum system uptime. Clustering
technology offers advantages in redundancy and scalability.


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

<a href="http://www.dell.com/">Dell</a> has announced its intention to offer
<a href="http://www.borland.com/">Borland</a> Kylix, to
U.S. customers of its 
<a href="http://www.dell.com/precision">Dell Precision Workstations</a>
beginning in February.
<a href="http://www.borland.com/kylix/">
Borland Kylix</a> is a development environment enabling Linux
developers to build and deliver powerful desktop, client-server,
database and Apache Web-based applications.

<hr noshade width="20%">

Dell has also announced that select components
of its OpenManage server management suite of tools are available for use
with Red Hat based servers.
Dell OpenManage Server Assistant for Linux supports the installation
of Red Hat Linux 6.2 and 7 and all of the latest drivers, making it easier
to install the Linux operating system as well as reducing server setup time.


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">
VMware and the NSA Team to Build Advanced Secure Computer Systems
</FONT>
</H3> 

<a href="http://www.vmware.com/">VMware, Inc.</a> have announced a
cooperative research and development agreement for a joint initiative with
the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) to enhance and certify the security
of VMware's virtual machine technology. The project will enable
government users to safely use commercial off-the-shelf software for certain
sensitive or classified applications and environments. 
NSA's project NetTop plans to use security enhanced virtual machines as
building blocks for applications requiring separation of information
domains, such as providing secure remote access to classified computer
networks over the Internet. VMware plans to
incorporate the security enhancements resulting from the agreement in its
future product releases.
Details of the NetTop project are available online in
<a href="http://www.vmware.com/pdf/TechTrendNotes.pdf">PDF format</a>.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Arkeia Enterprise Backup Software Included in SuSE eMail
Server II
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P> 
Knox Software have informed us
that the Free Version of their flagship product, 
<a href="http://www.arkeia.com/">Arkeia</a>, is included
into SuSE's 2nd Generation eMail Server II. 
The SuSE eMail Server II is an Open Source solution which administrates mail
on a central server, and is in accordance with the IMAP standard.
Arkeia 4.2 provides incremental and full backups, scheduled or on
demand, and preserves directory structure, registry, symbolic links and
special attributes.  


<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<H5 ALIGN=center>
Copyright &copy; 2001, 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 64 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, March 2001</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->


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

<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, 
	the Editors of Linux Gazette... 
	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"
	><strong>A Question About Answering Questions</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/2"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>Interrupt for Linux</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/3"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>Please help I am at wits end</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/4"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>Training?</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/6"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	></a>Finding a tutor --or--
<dd><A HREF="#tag/6"
	><strong>Looking for a Tutor</strong></a>

<dt><A HREF="#tag/7"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(!)" border="0"
	><strong>netscape bash function</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/9"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>More help with Linux Multimedia</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/11"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	></a>Hope you can help! --or--
<dd><A HREF="#tag/11"
	><strong>Readline Features in the Bash 'read' built-in</strong></a>

<dt><A HREF="#tag/12"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	></a>Moving System to another device --or--
<dd><A HREF="#tag/12"
	><strong>Duping a Drive Under Linux</strong></a>

<dt><A HREF="#tag/15"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>Fortran Compiler</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/16"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>Modules cannot load with kernel recompile</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/18"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	></a>Installing Apps --or--
<dd><A HREF="#tag/18"
        ><strong>The "Now what" Experience:  
Using Apps After They're Installed</strong></a>

<dt><A HREF="#tag/20"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>ISP and Internet.</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/22"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	></a>virtual e-mail domain --or--
<dd><A HREF="#tag/22"
	><strong>Virtual E-mail and POP Services with a Webmail Chaser</strong></a>

<dt><A HREF="#tag/24"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	></a>Question --or--
<dd><A HREF="#tag/24"
	><strong>LILO: Password Protected Entries</strong></a>

<dt><A HREF="#tag/25"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>Question in shell programming</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/26"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>qmail pain</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/28"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(!)" border="0"
	><strong>Regarding backups</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/29"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>uninstall linux</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>
There are folks out there who wonder about us open sorcerors :)  Sometimes,
they are ecstatic, and amazed: "How can you do all this for no pay?" 
</p><p>
Others are not so nice: "well what do you expect for free.  Humph."  
</p><p>

The fact is that the programmers and documenters and we here of The Answer
Gang who serve as some tech support for free software *do* get paid, and 
we tend to give a bit of effort in relation to our pay.  What our detractors
don't understand is that their gripes and grumps sure don't pay us, so why
should we help *them*?  They need to learn about...

<h4>The Coin of The Realm</h4>

<p>
<IMG ALT="[the weekend mechanic]" src="../gx/fisk/mechanic.gif"
WIDTH="147" HEIGHT="66" ALIGN="left" VSPACE="20" HSPACE="20">
<P> The realm itself is the first thing that is confusing.  This is the weekend 
neighborhood.  The crunching of unbzipped tarballs hitting the disk and the
tippity tap of new code being typed in and committed to builds is our buzzing 
of power saws in the garage workshop.  The chore of making the documentation
begin to describe the program it came with is handled with the same care as 
mowing the lawn on Sunday - some households are dutiful, sometimes a 
neighbor's kid will be helpful but only do a half job, some homes obviously 
hire someone to deal with it regularly, some tea gardens are clearly a well 
loved art... err, some just give up on having a lawn.  It all got turned
into workshop space.  Sigh.  

</p><BR CLEAR="all"><p>
<IMG ALT="[the weekend attendant]" src="../gx/fisk/attndant.gif"
WIDTH="129" HEIGHT="99" ALIGN="right" VSPACE="20" HSPACE="20">
<P> If it took extra help from the neighbors, we do things for each other.  
There's give and take, arguments here and there, and often an occasional lost 
hedge clipper.  Sometimes a kindred spirit strolls through, helps a bit (or 
hinders?) and moves on.  The debts that build up here from these little bits
of lost balance aren't about money.  "Pay back the net" is what I've seen 
said - once upon a time on BBS' and later on newsgroups and mailing lists
and IRC channels. (Check out  
<A HREF="http://www.openprojects.net">www.openprojects.net</A>
if you don't believe me.  
IRC doesn't have to be just for idle chatter.  And tell lilo that the
Editor Gal says Hi.) The loose change of knowledge gathered in your pockets 
- including the knowledge gained by mistakes - isn't considered worth much 
if you don't spill it back into circulation.

</p><BR CLEAR="all"><p>
Like those weekend projects, our projects also vary in their degrees of
completeness... and in their likelihood of ever being "done" in their 
author's eye.  "Scratch your own itch" is a phrase I've heard a few times
lately.  If the neighborhood handyman has a problem to solve and the tools
in his workshop, he'll likely solve it right there and never know a better
answer was available at the corner store.  (Or do it because the corner
store wants an arm and a leg for what he could do himself.)  For many it's
done enough when it works for them, but they post it to public forums anyway.

</p><p>
Why?  For many, what fun's a job well done if you can't show it off?  Call it 
"bragging rights" or "a chip on his shoulder" or respect.  We like to know 
whether the trophy we've posted could stand a better polishing or stood just 
fine on its own.  Telling us it just rots isn't cool.  Telling us what you 
tried to do (that didn't work) and what convinced you our stuff was going to 
work for you, that's what we want to know.  And yes, an occasional housewife 
really might be good enough to go into the jam and spreads business, but it'll
take a few neighbors saying so to convince her of it.

</p><p>
Okay, sometimes you find someone whose days in the garage are through.  Rare 
is the time that he or she won't at least lend a hand briefly to someone who's 
willing to haul that old rattletrap to their own garage and keep plugging away 
at it.  If you have in mind to take up the ropes to a dust covered project, 
give a shot at letting the old hands know you're interested.  You'll never 
know what extra parts they might bring forward for you if you don't ask. 

</p><p>
My editing peeve of the month is "confidential" signature blocks.  If you
don't want to discuss your problems publicly we understand, but, you're not
paying in the coin of our realm if we can't share the results, so don't
expect an answer here (unless by chance someone else asks the same question).  
Check the 
<A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Consultants-HOWTO/">Consultants-HOWTO</A>
instead and find someone who will take your
money and sell you their services in a timely fashion, too:


</p><p>
Money isn't bad - but it is the coin of another realm, that strange one
called Real Life that keeps roofs over our heads and the bandwidth bills paid
up.  I'm glad to say that I see a lot of *our* sort of coin change hands here
in the *Gazette* regularly. Thanks to everyone who sends thank you notes and 
especially those Two Cent Tips!

</p><p>
Enjoy your stroll past our garage sales and half tended lawns 
	<img src="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" alt=":)"
		height="20" width="24" align="middle">  
</p>

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[The automobile images are from John Fisk's
Weekend Mechanic column which appeared in 1997 and 1998 in
</EM>LG<EM>. -Mike.]
	</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end hgreeting -->
<p><hr width="75%" align="center"><p>
<a name="tag/1">
<!-- begin 1 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>A Question About Answering Questions</H3>
</a>

<p><strong>From Chris Gianakopoulos 
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Mike Orr, Heather Stern, Dan Wilder
<br></strong></p>

<!-- sig -->

<P><STRONG>
Where do these questions come from.  Is there a central location from which
all of you retrieve these questions (a repository of some sort),
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
I have to warn you that the volume is pretty high, but if you'd like to
take a look at some of the stuff that came in the past month or two and
are <EM>not yet answered</EM> let me know, and I can forward you a reduced mbox.
Same offer is open to my fellow AnswerGuys.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
or when
questions are sent to <A HREF="mailto:tag@ssc.com"
	>tag@ssc.com</A>, does the message automatically get
forwarded to the members of the Answer Gang?
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike]
<A HREF="mailto:tag@ssc.com"
	>tag@ssc.com</A> is a mailing list.  The subscribers are people who want to
answer questions.  The public sends in a question...
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Dan]  Anybody in the world can post (which
causes a certain amount of spam to clear the spam-filter), and postings
are forwarded to all subscribers.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
        HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
        > [Mike] ... all the TAG
members see it.  Anybody who feels herself/himself qualified will send
an answer, both to TAG and to the querent.  We try to include TAG and
the querent on any follow-ups to the answer; e.g., if another TAG member
wants to contradict it or add additional information.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
At the end of the month, Heather sorts the questions and answers, selects
threads to publish, and distributes them to the Mailbag, 2-Cent Tips and
The Answer Gang columns.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Anybody is welcome to subscribe to TAG and offer answers.  Send mail to
<A HREF="mailto:tag-request@ssc.com"
	>tag-request@ssc.com</A> with "subscribe" in the message body.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Dan] the list admin may have to
approve your subscription, and in any case the list server will send
you a cookie in the mail with instructions for its return.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
When the listserver gets your return mail (and maybe after the list
admin approves your request), you're on.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
List members are asked to copy list responses to the original poster.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
        HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
        > [Heather]
Which, thanks to the reply-to being forced to <A HREF="mailto:tag@ssc.com"
	>tag@ssc.com</A> so the querent
won't accidentally take the whole thread private, is something you <EM>do</EM>
have to pay attention to.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
        HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
        > [Mike]
There is also an "inner circle" of TAG volunteers who have a greater
commitment to keeping TAG functioning and also offer other technical
advice to the Gazette.  These people are listed on the LG home page.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
When I once asked a
friend how I could ever pay him back for some side jobs that he gave
(software stuff), he told me "Don't pay back -- pay ahead".  So I am just
attempting to pay ahead the gift of knowledge that all of those fine authors
of textbooks, Linux Gazettes, and other stuff have given me.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike]
"Pay ahead" is exactly right, and I've never heard it expressed that way
before--thank you.  We all volunteer what we know so that somebody will
help us when we need it.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
P.S. Keep up the good work!  Also, let me know if this email has been sent
as clear text -- I have set up my Microsoft mailer to do that.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Dan] It arrived as clear text.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
        HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
        > 
[Heather] Yeah, now if you could give us the steps you did for that so we
can put it into the FAQ.... hey Chris, welcome to the Gang!
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 1 -->

<p><hr width="75%" align="center"><p>
<a name="tag/2">
<!-- begin 2 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Interrupt for Linux</H3>
</a>


<p><strong>From auejei 
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Mike Orr
<br></strong></p>
<P><STRONG>
I would lik to know about interrupt handle for Linux .
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
How dose it diffrence from another OS ?. And I would like to know interrupt
vector for Linux .
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thank you
S. Auejai(Thailand)
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike]
This question is very general and so difficult to answer.
What specifically do you want to know about the interrupt handlers and
interrupt vectors?
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Have you looked at the kernel source?  Then you can see exactly what
it's doing, and there may be some documentation in the Documentation/
directory as well.  Find a kernel mirror close to you at www.kernel.org.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
There are also two kernel guides at <A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/guides.html"
	>http://www.linuxdoc.org/guides.html</A>
that may answer your question.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 2 -->
<p><hr width="75%" align="center"><p>
<a name="tag/3">
<!-- begin 3 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Please help I am at wits end</H3>
</a>

<p><strong>From Spicer 
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By  Dan Wilder, Ben Okopnik, Heather Stern
<br></strong></p>


<!-- sig -->

<P><STRONG>
I have Redhat 7 on my computer.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Dan]
First mistake.  Try <A HREF="http://www.redhat.com/">Red Hat</A> 6.2.  If you must use Red Hat.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Though by all accounts 7 usually installs OK.  Your real troubles
begin after that.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
I'm not as strongly spring-loaded as Dan against RH7, but if I was having
problems with installing it and could borrow 6.2 anywhere, I'd probably
try that, just to see if there's any difference. Getting the same error
with a different distro would cause me to strongly suspect hardware.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
I am relatively new to this so please bare with me. I first tried to
insert disk and install, that didn't work I got the error below. So by
suggestions of friends I first made a boot disk and fdisked the machine. Now
that was ok I got into Bios and made it run from CD-Rom and it booted up the
disk like it should but as soon as the machine tried to start formatting
Swap Partition the error below once again popped up. So thinking this an
error on my part I tried to fdisk it again. 
</strong></p>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Well... I don't know exactly what you're using, but 'fdisk' can be
relatively confusing, and (in my opinion) is more of an expert tool. For
someone new to Linux, I'd recommend sticking with DiskDruid, 'cfdisk', or
even - heaven forfend! 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle"> - DOS's 'fdisk' (the failure mode there is not to
do anything, and this is a Good Thing when you're not sure of what you're
doing.) The nice thing with that last is that you can boot DOS in seconds,
run 'fdisk', and be done quickly. I never <EM>could</EM> find a use for either the
security features or the multitasking capabilities of Linux while fdisking
a machine... 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Since I have no OS at the moment I
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Dan]
You don't have any idea why it is trying to make swap on <TT>/dev/hda12</TT>, do
you?  That'll be the eleventh (or something like that) usable partition
on the disk.  Unless you've got a huge hard drive and you're booting
a half-dozen different OSs, that's probably not where you want to be.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
She may not have a choice (RH 6.2's anaconda likes swap to go last) but I 
agree, it sounds like too many partitions.  I had a system with 14 but
it was a triple boot with a strange partition layout.
</blockquote>

<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
decided to use fdisk Linux style. But when I do fdisk from CD rom and type in
'linux rescue' all seems well until I get:
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><CODE>
/usr/bin/anaconda-runrescue: line 10: 37 Bus Error ln -s /mnt/runtime/etc/$i
</CODE></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Well, it does give me a prompt so I go ahead and type fdisk <TT>/dev/hda</TT> and get
Unable to open <TT>/dev/hda</TT> and I get that with any variable of fdisk I try.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Dan]
That doesn't sound good.  When I see something like that I begin
to suspect hardware.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Ooops. I'm in agreement with Dan, here: bus errors generally indicate
hardware problems, or at the very least improperly configured BIOS
settings. Not a good sign.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
What that "<tt>unable to open /dev/hda</tt>" says is that Linux can't 
even see the 'hda' device -
this is about as low in the chain as you can go. Sounds more and more like
hardware, to me.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Try this: since, by your description, you're starting with a "bare"
machine (no partitions, no info stored anywhere), go into the BIOS
settings and restore them to the default ones - most BIOSes these days
have such an option. If yours doesn't, you might have to call Dell and
have their tech support people give you a couple of hints - I've found
them to be helpful and knowledgeable in the past, unlike a number of other
tech support departments.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
What we're trying for here is elimination of any ugly possibilities;
starting from scratch, so to speak. Write down the HD specifics - heads,
cylinders, sectors - then, delete the info and have the BIOS redetect the
drive. Now, try installing again. If you get the same error... it might be
time to talk to Dell about replacing some hardware.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
So when I try to boot it with disk I get
Fdisk error( machine needs to be fdisked I assume) and I can't fdisk it. 
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Actually, it's probably saying "I can't find anything to run 'fdisk'
<em>on!</em>"
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> So
I made a boot disk of Windows 98 and tried to fdisk it that way by booting
up that boot disk and all was going well until I was told I couldn't fdisk
primary logical drive with an ext dos, so obviously I went to try and fdisk
ext dos but then it told me it couldn't fdisk with a primary logical drive. Which
by the way there is no logical drives found when I look.
I have discovered through the web looking for info my problem was that someone
told me to when making the partitions to put everything left in <TT>/</TT> which I
know now is not a good idea. 1024 I believe is the maximum. I have also tried
EXDrive and various other efforts in my attempt to fix this.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Dan]
With current LILO, there's no longer a maximum number of cylinders
for the boot drive, and the maximum for the root drive is 'way
bigger than that.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I'm conservative and still arrange drives with three partitions:
boot (usually 16M), swap (generally 64M), and root (all the rest).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
You may run afoul of some limit I'm unaware of with an 80G drive.
The biggest I've done that way is 20G.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Hmm. Given some of the error messages below (like the fact that 'anaconda'
is trying to make swap on hda12 (???)), I would be inclined to try
'flushing' the MBR (master boot record) on the drive, just in case
something ugly - a virus, maybe? - has placed some weird partition info in
there. Mind you, the above errors all point to hardware, but it would be
interesting to find out - I've seen, in the past, virus-created <EM>stuff</EM> in
the MBR that made it look as though the drive had failed (a combo of the
oddities of the Compaq BIOS and a modified 'Stoned' virus gave a "Track 0"
error. &lt;shudder&gt
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">. Boot DOS, type
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><blockquote><code>
lock c:
</code></blockquote></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
agree to the the horrific "You might destroy the world!!!" message, type
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
fdisk /mbr
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
That <EM>should</EM> clear the MBR; I actually prefer to go in there with
Norton's Disk Editor and overwrite everything with zeroes (at least the
partition table), but that requires a bit of special tooling. 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
So I can't by my knowledge fdisk it that way. I have run out of options
as I sit here looking at a bright blue screen that keeps telling me "you may
safely reboot your system". I would like any advise or directions to web
sites on how I can get my computer running again and why that dang error is
happening. I have included below my system stats and the error report.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thank you,
Stephanie
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
System stats:
</STRONG></P>
<strong><pre>DELL  Dimension 4100.
256MB SDRAM at 133MHz.
80GB  ultra ATA hard drive ( 5400 RPM )
Pentium III processor at 800 MHz.

............................................................................
.............

Exception Occured

Traceback (innermost last):
 File "/usr/bin/anaconda.real",
line 225, in ?
intf.run(todo, test == =
test)
File
"/tmp/lib/python1.5/site-packages/text.py",
line 1000, in run
rc == apply (step[1](), =
step[2])
File
"/tmp/lib/python1.5/site-packages/text.py",
line 572, in __call__
 if todo.doInstall ():
File
"/tmp/lib/python1.5/site-packages/todo.py",
line 688, in makeFilesystems
 raise RuntimeError, "error making =
swap on "=

+ device
RuntimeError: error making swap on hda12
</pre></strong>
<P><STRONG>
Thank you so much,
Stephanie
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
That one really makes me wonder. On the one hand, it says that it can't
see "<TT>/dev/hda</TT>", on the other, it says that there are 12 partitions on
it... it's time for those low-level tools that I've described above; all
the graphical stuff and specialized routines ('anaconda', etc.) are just
getting in the way of seeing what's really going on.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
A guy I used to work for, Mark Minasi, came up with an excellent way to
<EM>gurantee</EM> that you blast out your MBR; I just did a web search, and - 
lo and behold! - Mark had messed around with a multi-OS install (including
Linux) and got his MBR terminally confused. So, he went ahead and
documented the method - thanks, Mark! - which only used to be available as
a part of the course that we taught, a rather expensive affair. Here is
the link:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQuote><code>
<A HREF="http://www.winntmag.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=5327"
	>http://www.winntmag.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=5327</A>
</code></BLOCKQuote></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Seems a bit strange, linking to "winntmag.com" from an LG article - but
good info is good info, regardless of source...
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Note that you'll probably still want to use 'lock', as above; Windows has
nasty habits in regard to letting things write directly to cylinder 0.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

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<!--              . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .              -->
<HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center">
<!-- begin 3 -->

<!-- sig -->

<P><STRONG><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>
I thank you so much for your help! It was excellent. I was able to fix the
Linux and it is working now better than before because now I know more
because of looking up this error in the first place. I really just wanted to
say thanks.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Hi, Stephanie -
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I'm very glad to have been able to help... but can you give us some
feedback on what actually worked for you? I believe that this information
could be very useful to anyone struggling with an identical problem.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- sig -->
<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 3 -->

<p><hr width="75%" align="center"><p>
<a name="tag/4">
<!-- begin 4 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Training?</H3>


<p><strong>From Travis Gerspacher
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Mike Orr, Heather Stern
<br></strong></p>

<!-- sig -->
<P><STRONG>
I have been looking around for training programs and I have come
across the LPI and the RHCE. How recognized are these certifications by
employers. Being a RHCE just won't mean as much if a potential employer has
no idea what the heck it is. I welcome any comments or guidance from
anyone!!!
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike]
I can't answer this directly, but have you seen the LG articles on LPI?
Dan York and Ray Ferrari trace the creation and achievements of the
Linux Professional Institute over two years, how they sought to
gain recognition for it, and how they succeeded.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
If it helps any, when listing them on your resume' you could give their
full names, followed by the short form in parentheses.  RHCE is the
<A HREF="http://www.redhat.com/">Red Hat</A> Certified Engineer program, so it expresses that Red Hat thinks
that you are sufficiently versed as a Linux technician, because you have
the skills (as expressed by the testing series you went through, real life
may give you different mileage).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Doing a Google! search on the single keyword "RHCE" finds 42000 hits,
one of the top of which is a review on Amazon for a book to help study
for it.  The reviewer states that "my boss wants me to take the RHCE exam!"
and that by starting to delve into the book, he realized that he really
wasn't ready yet.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
In either the RHCE or LPI series, it's not a single test, and it's not
a "rubber stamp".  The RHCE tests include a hands-on exam (so it's not
just "multiple guess" bubbled tests).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Any given employer may have heard of them;  if they have, their interest
may be in your actual skills, or in the ability to pit RHCE or LPI against
college degrees and other buzzwords.  The LPI has tried to be very
scientific.  The RHCE focuses on practical experience (with their
distribution).  This may help you pick which, if you're only planning to
go for one and feel you will be competing with degrees and so on.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If they haven't, you still have the skills they tested for, and should be
able to show that in your interview or regular review.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
It may be worthwhile to you to see if you can tell what kind of things
your hoped-for employers already say they are looking for in their other
hiring.  That may give you a basis to guess if they care about such things.
It's up to you to decide if you think they should care that <EM>you</EM> have
these.  If you think many people are competing for the job, you with an
apparently valid certification may get past non-technical screeners more
easily.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I don't have any good statistics(*) to determine how many employers <EM>have</EM>
heard of these but think certifications are a waste of time, or that these
certifications in particular aren't useful.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<ul>
<li> okay, I don't have any bad statistics either, I didn't look.
</ul>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I have the feeling that statistics about certification will be about how many
people are taking the tests, not how many people are ignoring the results.
You certainly shouldn't take my word as a very useful statistic!  I encourage
you to investigate for yourself.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<p><em>See also the Two Cent Tips item this issue about 
	<a href="lg_tips64.html#17">books for your own crash course</a>.
-- Heather</em></p>

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<p><hr width="75%" align="center"><p>
<a name="tag/6">
<!-- begin 6 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Looking for a Tutor</H3>


<p><strong>From Rosebud
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Jim Dennis
<br></strong></p>

<!-- sig -->

<!-- ::
Looking for a Tutor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:: -->
<P><STRONG>
I am looking for someone to help me lean more about Linux so I can
pass my cerification test for Linux Admin.  I would like to hire a tutor to
help me.  Can you tell me where I could possible search for one on the web?
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD]
Oddly enough, Starshine Technical Services, (my wife's consulting
sole-proprietorship; sometimes run by yours truly) started out as
"Starshine Tutoring Services" in Los Angeles over a dozen years ago.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Heather did some tutoring through the LAVCC (<A HREF="http://www.lavc.cc.ca.us"
	>http://www.lavc.cc.ca.us</A>)
and some of her clients suggested that they'd be happy to pay her
directly (the tutoring was sponsored by the college from what I
gather).  So she hung out her shingle; focusing primarily on computer
related topics.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Over the years she and I have taken over the business whenever we
weren't working a traditional position.  I used it as a research
vehicle while I was writing my book (specializing in sysadmin support
and training).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Anyway, onto your question.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The obvious first step would be to search for "tutoring services" on
the Google! Linux (<A HREF="http://www.google.com/linux"
	>http://www.google.com/linux</A>) engine.  I get
62 hits.  Searching on just "training" gives us about 40,000 hits
one of the first of which points at the Linsight/LinTraining
(<A HREF="http://www.lintraining.com"
	>http://www.lintraining.com</A>) portal.  One of the first links therefrom
gets us to Henry White's "Basic Linux Training" web-based courseware
(<A HREF="http://www.basiclinux.hypermart.net"
	>http://www.basiclinux.hypermart.net</A>).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I've referred people to the LinTraining and to Henry White's online
courses before.  These are the best online resources for free Linux
training that I know of.  Note that the Basic Linux Training course
lasts for several weeks and courses start every other month.   The
LPI web site also refers interested parties to the LinTraining
web site for information about training centers.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Of course there are always your local users groups and community
colleges. I've also seen video tutorials in the local Fry's (computer
stores in California, Arizona, and possibly some other western U.S.
states.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

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<p><hr width="75%" align="center"><p>
<a name="tag/7">
<!-- begin 7 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/bbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(!) " border="0"
	>netscape bash function</H3>


<p><strong>Answer From Allan Peda
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Comments By Ben Okopnik, Heather Stern
<br></strong></p>

<!-- sig -->

<p>
I wrote a quick wrapper function to pass html directly to netscape if it is running, else
to launch netscape with the local file.  I find it quicker than clicking the file -&gt; open ..
menus since I have an xtern open all the time.
</p>
<p>
I simply type:
</p>
<BLOCKQuote><code>
mybox]$ ns README.html
</code></BLOCKQuote>
<p>
or
</p>
<BLOCKQuote><code>
mybox]$ ns <TT>/tmp/README.html</TT>
</code></BLOCKQuote>
<p>
It takes care of the rest.
</p>
<p>
Here (from .bash_profile):
</p>
<p align="center">See attached <tt><a href="misc/tag/ns.bash.txt">misc/tag/ns.bash.txt</a></tt></p>

<!-- sig -->

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
One thing to be careful of, Allan: there is already a program called "ns"
(<TT>/usr/bin/ns</TT>) that is part of the "dnsutils" package. It's a good idea to
check for that kind of conflicts.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<p><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Allan Peda]
Thanks:
</p>
<p>
This is where the various packages <TT>/</TT> Unices get confusing, since I don't have
this on my desktop PC RH7 system.
</p>
<p>
Thanks for the tip.
</p>

<pre>apeda]$ unset ns
apeda]$ ns
bash: ns: command not found
apeda]$ ll /usr/bin/ns
ls: /usr/bin/ns: No such file or directory
apeda]$
</pre>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
If you <EM>do</EM> find a conflict, it's very easy to use capitals instead.  For
example, I gave my dad-in-law a bash alias named Elm which does some mail
prep for him and then launches elm.  So you could name your alias Ns and it
is unlikely to bump heads... or even N, unless you like to use one character
variables in your scripts a lot.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
But definitely, thanks for the script!
</BLOCKQUOTE>


<!-- end 7 -->
<p><hr width="75%" align="center"><p>
<a name="tag/9">
<!-- begin 9 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>More help with Linux Multimedia</H3>


<p><strong>From James Coleman 
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Ben Okopnik
<br></strong></p>

<!-- sig -->
<!-- sig -->

<P><STRONG>
I enjoyed the <a href="../issue63/andreiana.html"
	>Linux Multimedia article</a> in the February 1/2 2001
LinuxGazette. Though I was hip to most of what the author covered, I
could use some help with another aspect of Linux multimedia.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I'm in the process of building a web site for a local non-profit
organization I work with. Among other things, the web site will feature
mp3s from several of the bands we've worked with over the years. Problem
is, not every band can afford to have CDs of its music so I've got a
fair number of cassette tapes to deal with. I hate the idea of leaving
this music out by default but the fact is, I have zero experience
transfering cassette tunes to a PC. I've found Linux tools to handle
problems like sound level control but I've been unable to find software
designed to assist in creating wav files from the tapes in the first
place. Anyone familiar with such an animal? Any tips at all would be
appreciated. Thanks!
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
I did that a year or so ago. I used 'brec' (part of the 'bplay' package) to
do the recording; I simply patched the output of my tape player to the
input of my audio card and ran 'brec' with the appropriate options. I then
split the huge resulting .WAV file into individual songs with 'mixviews' -
<EM>that</EM> is one terrific, well-written program - and wrote them out to a CD.
Pretty much a problem-free process.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Thank you, Ben! I'll be sure to give brec a spin. I've found lots of
(<A HREF="http://www.freshmeat.net/">Freshmeat</A>) leads on software to convert the wavs to mp3 once I've got 'em
on the system so I think I'll be all right in that department. I've got a
6GB drive installed just for this purpose... Can I presume that's going to
be enough for serious work or should I pop in a 30GB? In other words, how
large is a 9 or 10 minute wav gonna be? Thanks!
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
If I remember correctly, the songs came out at ~ 20-40MB each, just like
making WAV/RAW files from audio CDs; that would have meant ~ 200-250MB per
tape side. 6GB should be plenty.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I did remember one quirk; in order to get good recording quality, I had to
set the input level at 80% or so - any more than that, and I got
horrendous distortion, whereas anything below 50% was silent - and do the
fine adjustment with the tape player volume knob. Your Mileage May Vary,
of course - it was probably related to the quality of my sound card - but
if you get no output, check the input level.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Good luck with your project!
</BLOCKQUOTE>

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<!-- end 9 -->
<p><hr width="75%" align="center"><p>
<a name="tag/11">

<!-- begin 11 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Readline Features in the Bash 'read' built-in</H3>


<p><strong>From Harv Frost
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Jim Dennis
<br></strong></p>

<!-- sig -->

<!-- ::
Readline Features in the Bash 'read' built-in
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:: -->
<P><STRONG>
Dear Mr. Dennis,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I've got a problem with cursor keys in a bash shell script and I
sure hope you can help me.  In it's simplest form the script goes
like this:
</STRONG></P>

<pre><strong>#!/bin/bash
tput cup 4 47	# position the cursor in a field for input
read afield
</strong></pre>
<P><STRONG>
If the user makes a mistake typing in this field and tries to backup
using the left arrow key, a "^[[D" is displayed instead of the
cursor moving backward a character.
I've tried working with the inputrc file but no joy.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD]
Try read -e to enable the read command to use
the readline "editing" features.  That might help.
However, they'd have to use the [Backspace] or [Ctrl]-[H]
key to erase characters (according to your stty settings)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Why is it that the left and right arrow
keys work fine on the command line but not from a shell script that
reads input?  Boy if you can be of help, I'd be forever in your
debt.  Thanks a million.  I've enjoyed reading some of your articles
and appreciate your help on so many things.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD]
It's documented in the info pages under the section on
the read command in the "built-ins" references.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If you don't use read -e then none of the "readline" library
routines are active; thus arrow keys won't work.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
BTW: I don't recommand that you serious try to build
forms applications under bash.  You could use the
Linux "dialog" utility or Python or Perl curses modules
to get <EM>much</EM> better control over the keyboard and screen
then will ever be possible with tput and read commands.
I doubt that it is feasible to create a robust full
screen interface using sh and commonly available command
line utilities like tput, stty, and echo.
</BLOCKQUOTE>


<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 11 -->
<p><hr width="75%" align="center"><p>
<a name="tag/12">
<!-- begin 12 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Duping a Drive Under Linux</H3>


<p><strong>From Leon
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By The Linux Gazette Answer Gang  
<br></strong></p>

<!-- sig -->

<!-- ::
Duping a Drive Under Linux
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:: -->
<P><STRONG>
I need to move my entire redhat 6.2 installation to another hard drive.
It currently resides on a portion of DRIVE-2.    I want to move it to
DRIVE-3 and use the whole drive for the system.  After I move the files
I intend to remove the partition from drive 2.  DRIVE-3 has no files and
has not been formatted.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I have files installed in the system that I need and it would take days
to re-install and reconfigure them.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
In windows, Laplink enables you to transfer or move files and their
subdirectories across drives or computers.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Do you know of a utility that can do this?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Leon
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD]
Linux comes with several utilities for archiving your files.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
In the simplest case you can simply use the GNU cp command
with the -a (--archive) and possibly the -x (--one-file-system)
options.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Here's an example.  Assume that you are using <TT>/dev/hda</TT> now
and that you've adding a new <TT>/dev/hdc</TT> to your system.  (I'll
assume that <TT>/dev/hdb</TT> is your CD-ROM, not that it matters).
Let's say that your Linux system is on <TT>/dev/hda5</TT>, <TT>/dev/hda6</TT>
and <TT>/dev/hda7</TT> (and that OS/2, Windows or whatever is on
<TT>/dev/hda{1</TT>,2,3}). Let's assume that you have <TT>/dev/hda5</TT> mounted on
<TT>/</TT>, <TT>/dev/hda6</TT> mounted on <TT>/usr</TT>, and <TT>/dev/hda7</TT> on <TT>/home</TT> (a minimal
but reasonable fs arrangement).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
First I'd suggest partitioning <TT>/dev/hdc</TT> (using fdisk or cfdisk)
making your new filesystems (using mke2fs -c --- check for bad
blocks just in case; I know they're quite rare on modern hard
drives: but if the drive remaps out enough to spares it will have to
show some of them).  You can make the new filesystems any
size you like; though you should probably make them at least as
large as your existing filesystems.  Perhaps you'd like to
also move <TT>/var</TT> off of <TT>/</TT> and onto it's own filesystem (often a
good idea).  So you might make a one or two hundred Mb /
on <TT>/dev/hdc1</TT>, a 127 Mb swap on hdc2, an "extended" container
for hdc3, and three filesystems (5, 6, and 7) for <TT>/usr</TT>, <TT>/var</TT>,
and <TT>/home</TT> restectively.  So you create all of those.  (<TT>/dev/hdc4</TT>
is unused in this example, since it is a "primary" partition and
we didn't need three primaries; in fact we could have just
created one primary for the <TT>/</TT> or <TT>/boot</TT> filesystem and put all of
the rest, including our swap partition into the extended container
as "logical" partitions from 5 through whatever).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Because I'm so studly at the command prompt I could (after
writing my new partition table) make all of these filesystems
with a short and a long command like:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
mkswap /dev/hdc2
<BR>for i in 1 5 6 7; do mke2fs -c /dev/hdc$i; done
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
... and I can then mount them like so:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
mount /dev/hdc1 /mnt &amp;&amp; cd /mnt &amp;&amp; mkdir proc usr var home &amp;&amp; mount /dev/hdc5 usr &amp;&amp; mount /dev/hdc6 var &amp;&amp; mount /dev/hdc7 home
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
(all those &amp;&amp; thingies ensure that each previous step was completed
without an error before going to the next step.  The backslash just
marks a line continuation.  Of course we can enter each command
one at a time and just manually make sure that it went O.K for
ourselves.  Sometimes I'm just too studly for my own good).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Now, I'd have all of my new filesystems mounted under <TT>/mnt</TT> in
a way that corresponds to their intended arrangement on <TT>/</TT> (the
root directory).  In other words, if <TT>/mnt</TT> were my root directory
then *it's* <TT>/usr</TT>, <TT>/var</TT>, and <TT>/home</TT> would be properly mounted.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Thus my target disk space is prepared and arranged for  a full
copying.  Here's how:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
cp -ax / /usr /home /mnt
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
That's all!  We're directing the GNU cp command to "archivally" copy
(<TT>-a</TT>) everything below <TT>/</TT>, <TT>/usr</TT>, and <TT>/home</TT> (including all of their
subdirectories; which is one of the implications of the -a option)
but <EM>excluding</EM> any <EM>external</EM> filesystems.  That's why we have to
list / <EM>and</EM> <TT>/usr</TT> <EM>and</EM> <TT>/home</TT> (our three mounted local filesystems).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
This command will not copy <TT>/proc</TT> (which is a special, virtual filesystem
that represents the kernel's PROCess state as if they were files
and directories).  It will also skip any devfs, <TT>/dev/pts</TT>, and other
virtual filesystems as well as any NFS or other filesystems that we
didn't explicitly list on our command line.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Now you might understand why I spent so many paragraphs "setting up"
this example.  If you had 11 filesystems (<TT>/</TT>, <TT>/usr</TT>, <TT>/var</TT>, <TT>/home</TT>,
<TT>/opt</TT>, <TT>/var/spool</TT>, <TT>/var/cache</TT>, <TT>/var/spool/news</TT>, <TT>/var/spool/mail</TT> and
<TT>/tmp</TT>, and <TT>/usr/local</TT>) then you'd probably want to list all of them
on your cp command.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If you left off the -x and just did a <tt>cp -a / /mnt</TT> then you'd
have two problems.  You'd be making a copy of <TT>/proc</TT> to <TT>/mnt/proc</TT>
(which would waste lost of disk space and be hard to track down
after you rebooted and mount the virtual <TT>/proc</TT> over the
<TT>/proc</TT> containing "regular" files).  Of course you could simply
follow your cp command with an '<tt>rm -fr /mnt/proc</TT>' --- but
that's a waste of time and CPU cycles; and an extra opportunity of
mess things up (particularly since you're doing all of this as
'root' where any mistake can destroy the whole system).  Worse,
you'd copy some things from <EM>twice</EM> (once into <TT>/mnt</TT> and again
into <TT>/mnt/mnt</TT>).  That's a classic recursion problem.  Again,
you <EM>could</EM> follow up such a mistake with an rm -fr command
--- but you still might cause problems (you might fill up your
<TT>/mnt</TT> filesystem with duplicate <TT>/mnt/mnt</TT> and <TT>/proc</TT> junk).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
So, it's wise to use -x (limit the cp command's recursion or
"descent through subdirectories" to those filesystems that the
cp command "started on").
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
There are similar ways to accomplish this task using any of
tar, cpio, rsync or the dump/restore pair of utilities.   In fact
it's even possible using these with ssh to security duplicate your
system or any of its directory trees across a network to another
system.  However, I'll defer discussion of that for a more
comprehensive "Recovery and Backup HOWTO."
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 12 -->
<p><hr width="75%" align="center"><p>
<a name="tag/15">
<!-- begin 15 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Fortran Compiler</H3>


<p><strong>From Yvonne Swagg 
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By  Dan Wilder, Jim Dennis
<br></strong></p>

<!-- sig -->

<P><STRONG>
Hi there,
<br>I have read that Linux has a compiler for fortran but cannot find it in the
OS.  Is it the GNU software that does it and could you please tell me what
extension I would save my file as?  You help would be greatly appreciated.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Yvonne
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Dan]
Part of what is now called the Gnu Compiler Collection, gcc.  Which
includes C, C++, Objective C, Fortran, and others I no doubt fail at
the moment to recall.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Fortran may be invoked as
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
g77
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
on source files with suffix ".f", ".for", or ".FOR".
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If g77 is not installed on your machine, check your distribution; it is
quite likely present in the distribution.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD]
A couple of years ago I had a group of rocket scientist (aeronautics
engineers, actually) who asked me to come in and help this with a little
old dual processor Linux box which was only staying up for about a
week at a time.  (That's an abysmal stability record for Linux).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
They were running a 2.0.x kernel with SMP enabled on thing; which was
never a good idea.   I fetched and built a newer kernel and it was
fine (it was a beta/developmental kernel --- but even those usually
give much better uptimes than 1 week; so I didn't consider it to be
much of a risk.  The box was used solely for computation; so no other
services or files were at risk.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Anyway, the manager there explained to me that the engineers in his
group all wanted to use this particular machine instead of their
Sun UltraSPARCs, their HP's and their other RISC boxes --- because
they had found that the best Fortran compiler for them was from NAG
(Numerical Algorithms Group:  <A HREF="http://www.nag.com"
	>http://www.nag.com</A>).  NAG makes a
commercial Fortran compiler and a number of libraries and other
software products.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
So, yes.  There are fortran compilers for Linux.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
There is a GNU fortran compiler; which is called g77; this
is a Fortran '77 compiler which produces an intermediate code
and then uses gcc to produce the optimized machine binaries.
(<A HREF="http://www.gnu.org/software/fortran/fortran.html"
	>http://www.gnu.org/software/fortran/fortran.html</A>).  It's apparently
considered to be part of the GCC (GNU compiler collection) at this
point.  I'm not qualified to comment on wether g77 is any good,
or how closely it conforms to the 1977 ANSI specification or anything
like that.  I notice that some of the Fortran '90 enhancements are
supported, so g77 is as archaic as the '77 might imply).
</BLOCKQUOTE>


<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Thanks very much for your help!  I was about to try that to see if it
worked.  I do not believe the g77 is installed on my system.  I still have
to apply the Errata updates, maybe then it will install the g77.
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
Yvonne
</strong></p>

<!-- end 15 -->
<p><hr width="75%" align="center"><p>
<a name="tag/16">
<!-- begin 16 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Modules cannot load with kernel recompile</H3>


<p><strong>From Michael Hansen 
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Ben Okopnik, Chris Gianakopoulos 
<br></strong></p>


<!-- sig -->

<P><STRONG>
Hello TAG--
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I have attempted recompiles of RH 6.2 several times, and have
encountered similar problems every time.  After recompiling the
kernel, the new kernel will boot correctly but some modules don't
load because of dependencies on other modules that are not loaded.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Just now, I have encountered a more fatal problem--no modules
will load at all.  When I try to "insmod" or otherwise load the
module, it lists symbols that it cannot resolve.  One in particular
that I checked out--best_malloc--is a symbol that appears to be in
the kernel itself.  Every module seems to need it, and none can
find it.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
The modules themselves appear to be in the right place.  ksyms -a
appears to see the symbols that the modules are looking for,
when those symbols aren't in other modules that aren't loaded.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
So, two questions.  (1) Is there a simple utility/series of steps
for compiling and loading all modules and their dependent modules,
avoiding potential problems in xconfig associated with not
specifying all of the proper module dependencies, and (2) do
you know why this latest recompile doesn't let any modules load
at all due to external symbols that it can't find in the kernel?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Any help is appreciated.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Just a guess, off the top of my head - are you doing the "make modules"
and the "make modules_install" steps? Here is the complete list of steps
for a "from-scratch" kernel compile for my own system:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
make mrproper                           # Not necessary for a recompile
<BR>make [config|menuconfig|xconfig]        # Choose one; xconfig is easiest
<BR>make dep
<BR>make clean
<BR>make [zImage|bzImage]                   # I always use bzImage these days
<BR>make modules
<BR>make modules_install
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><dl>
<dt>Save the old kernel (I keep a "current" and an "old" copy) -
<dd><tt>mv /boot/vmlinuz-2.2.17 /boot/vmlinuz-2.2.17-old</TT>
</dl></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><dl>
<dt>Put the new image in <TT>/boot</TT> and rename it -
<dd><tt>cp /usr/src/kernel-source-2.2.17/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-2.2.17</TT>
</dl></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I have symlinks, "<TT>/vmlinuz</TT>" and "<TT>/vmlinuz-old</TT>", to "<TT>/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.17</TT>"
and "<TT>/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.17-old</TT>";
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
all that remains, since my "<TT>/etc/lilo.conf</TT>"
is properly set up, is to run "<TT>/sbin/lilo</TT>":
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><pre>
Odin:~# lilo
Added Linux *
Added OldLinux
Added dos
Odin:~#
</pre></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><dl>
<dt>Save the old system map -
<dd><tt>mv /boot/System.map /boot/System.map-old</TT>
</dl></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><dl>
<dt>Copy the new one -
<dd><tt>cp /usr/src/kernel-source-2.2.17/System.map /boot</TT>
</dl></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><dl>
<dt>Save the old configuration file -
<dd><tt>mv /boot/config-2.2.17 /boot/config-2.2.17-old</TT>
</dl></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><dl>
<dt>Copy the new one -
<dd><tt>cp /usr/src/kernel-source-2.2.17/.config /boot/config-2.2.17</TT>
</dl></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Obviously, all of the above can (and should) be put in a shell script with
some options on what to run.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Done.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Note that if you try to run a new kernel with old modules (or vice versa,
by not installing the new kernel properly), you'll get just the kind of
errors that you're reporting.
</BLOCKQUOTE>


<p><strong><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
        HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
        > Regarding not making the modules...
I did go through the process of
</strong></p>
<strong><BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
make modules ; make modules_install
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE></strong>
<p><strong>
and it appeared to copy the right object files in
the right directory tree, and compiled cleanly.
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
Is it possible that the symbol table used
to resolve external references between modules and
the kernel has been corrupted?
</strong></p>


<!-- sig -->

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
        HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
        > [Chris]
Hey Mike,
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
This may or may not help you.  I use <A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A> 6.4 as my distribution (2.2.14
kernel).  I too have to go through all of that cool build stuff.  One thing
that the SuSE distribution says to do.  I have to copy
<TT>/usr/src/linux/System.map</TT> to the root directory (<TT>/</TT>).  That file contains
kernel symbols which are needed by the modules to launch kernel functions
correctly.  I know that Linux is Linux, but, I must be careful when passing
this information.  It applies to the SuSE 6.4 distribution; maybe it applies
to your <A HREF="http://www.redhat.com/">Red Hat</A> distribution.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Let someone with more Linux knowledge answer your other questions.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Chris G.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- sig -->


<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Thx for the interest...should have laid out the entire process
that I followed for compiling but didn't because I don't have
linux on the net, needed to switch to Windows to send e-mail...
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Still stumped.  Something is really broken.  I must be doing
something wrong to not have the kernel compile right out of
the box.  Just can't find it.  Followed all directions to the
letter.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
It's not necessarily you doing anything wrong. The compile-and-install
procedure, as I have laid it out, is somewhat tedious (hence, my
suggestion of a shell script) but not difficult - if you follow it step by
step and it still doesn't work, you need to look at other things.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Where did you get the source? If possible, you should use the package that
your distro producer has - they may have done some quirky stuff in the
setup that needs to be there for it to work properly. In theory, you
<EM>should</EM> be able to just download it from kernel.org, compile, and run -
but people like RedHat have <EM>so</EM> many things already configured in that
I'd rather not guess. Somehow, (mirabile dictu!) I've avoided doing a
RedHat kernel recompile, and <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</A> has never cared where the source comes
from, but it's a possibility.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Try "disabling" the old modules by renaming the directory that contains
them -
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
mv /lib/modules/2.2.17 /lib/modules/2.2.17-old
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Then, after doing the "make modules_install", check in "<TT>/lib/modules</TT>" to
make sure that you have a new "2.2.17" directory, that there is a
reasonable directory tree under it ("block", "fs", "misc", "net", etc.),
and that the modules that should be there are indeed there. (Obviously,
you'll have to change the numbers for your own kernel version.) I seem to
remember having a problem, in the past, where "modules_install" failed
rather quietly and did not create the directories or copy the modules...
I'm trying to recall the fix, but the best I can come up with is that it
had something to do with the Makefile syntax in "modules_install".
Whatever it was, moving the old modules directory made the error obvious,
and the fix wasn't a difficult one.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Whenever I've found myself in this kind of a maze of little passages, all
alike, The Canonical Fix that always worked was a complete, from-scratch
(meaning, including "mrproper" and "clean") compile, perhaps including
deleting the existing source tree and re-unpacking the tarball or package.
If <EM>that</EM> doesn't work, I'd either suspect the provenance of the source, or
I'd write to the kernel maintainers with a complete description.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Of course, if you're building an experimental kernel, you're on your own.
Subscribing to a developer's list might be the only answer.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 16 -->
<p><hr width="75%" align="center"><p>
<a name="tag/18">
<!-- begin 18 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>The "Now what" Experience:  Using Apps After They're Installed</H3>


<p><strong>From Ray
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Jim Dennis
<br></strong></p>

<!-- sig -->

<!-- ::
The "Now what" Experience:  Using Apps After They're Installed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:: -->
<P><STRONG>
Hiya.  I admit it, I'm a newbie.  Coming from a world of windows, it's
sometimes difficult to get the grasp of what is being installed where, when
a new app is installed.  For example, I am using <A HREF="http://www.gnome.org/">GNOME</A>.  If I install an
app, does a shortcut automatically get placed in my programs bar?  Does it
depend on the app whether or not it does?  Is there any sort of "standard"
behaviour as far as installing programs and getting links to them on your
desktop?
<br>Thanks,
<br>Ray
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD]
You're right. There isn't a standard way for applications to
"install themselves" into the menus, icon groups or other UI of
you system.  That's primarily because there is no standard
UI for Linux.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
When you're in X under Linux then you could be running any of
several user interfaces under it.  Most of these are in the form of
"Window managers" such as twm, fvwm, Enlightenment, icewm, Afterstep
and sawfish (my current favorite).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Under <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</A> there is a system by which package maintainers can
"register" the GUI or menuing interfaces to their programs and by
which any window manager (or, presumably, any other menuing system)
can update its menus.  That works great for those applications that
are available as properly maintained Debian packages.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I know that <A HREF="http://www.redhat.com/">Red Hat</A> and other RPM distributions have some similar
mechanisms; but I don't think any of those has become a defacto
standard across different distributions.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
This is one area where the LSB (Linux Standards Base) may eventually
offer considerable benefit to Linux users.  Of course LSB and FHS
(the File Hierarchy Standard) are for general purpose Linux distributions.
We'd never expect embedded, or special purpose distributions to
adhere to these standards.  The purpose of LSB is to provide a way
for ISV (independent software vendors) and other programmers to
write their programs so that they can install and operate on any sort
general purpose Linux system without having to code up twenty
different mechanism for 40 different systems and 200 versions
(just the differences among Red Hat versions 4.2, 5.x, 6.x and the
newer 7.x would be enough to drive most ISV's crazy).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
For now you just need to read the vendor's or maintainers docs
and figure out what to run after you application is installed,
and you have to read your window manager's docs to figure out how
to configure your custom menu items.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Under GNOME you have a set of "panels" which are miniature applications
that work with your window manager (usually sawfish or enlightenment).
You can usually add items to your panels by "right clicking"
(which actually means that you click with your "secondary mouse button"
--- that might be the right or the left button depending on how you
have your pointer configured).  There are features in the standard
panel menus for adding new items to your GNOME panels.  These
are completely independent of your window manager's menus.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
You window managers' menus usually popup when you click on the
"wallpaper" (called the "root window" in X parlance).  For
sawfish (formerly known as sawmill) you can just read the
"info" (TeXinfo) pages using EMACS or the standalone "info"
program.  TeXinfo is the tool/format used for documenting many
GNU programs.  It is a sort of hypertext system (though it's
somewhat different than the "hypertext" model of the WWW that
most people have been using more often in recent years).
Interactive "info" tutorials are built into the info utility
and into the EMACS info package.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
For most traditional UNIX/Linux X window managers you customize
them, including their menus, by editing a text file and inserting
definitions in what amounts to a small programming language.
Each of these is somewhat different.  In the case of sawmill/sawfish
the programming language is derived from elisp (the version of LISP
used/implemented by EMACS).  However the menus are defined with
a set of very simple lisp expressions which simply define the
menus (which are lists of data structures containing the labels,
commands and arguments of each of the items on your menus).  That's
not too surprising since LISP is the original LISt Processing language.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Hope that helps.  Hopefully this is something that will get easier
as Linux is used on more desktop workstations.  The fact that Sun
and other major workstation vendors have joined forces to back
the GNOME project suggest that things will at least be good for
GNOME users.  Since GNOME is still a free and open source project
that means that all of the information necessary to make programs
interoperate with GNOME will also be available to <A HREF="http://www.kde.org/">KDE</A> and other
communities with competing user interface suites.  So it shouldn't
<EM>force</EM> us into using GNOME, either.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Until then, good luck and perservere.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 18 -->
<p><hr width="75%" align="center"><p>
<a name="tag/20">
<!-- begin 20 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>ISP and Internet.</H3>


<p><strong>From Neemc 
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Mike Orr, Jim Dennis
<br></strong></p>

<!-- sig -->

<P><STRONG>
Hi all, I am Mike,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
As far as I read your answers about ISP and Internet servers, I never found
an answer about the difference between an Internet server and an ISP. I mean,
what is the difference between an ISP and if I run my own Internet server
which allow dial-in?
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike]
Traditionally, "Internet Service Provider" (ISP) has meant an
organization that provides an upstream access point to the Internet (via
dialup, DSL, T-1, etc).  This can be a professional ISP company or (in
large companies) an "internal ISP" run by their own IT staff.  And of
course, the big backbones are "ISPs to the ISPs".  One can informally
call personal server offering dialup connections to a few certain
people <EM>some</EM> kind of ISP.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
AOL and MSN used to be private networks with their own content, along
with CompuServe, Prodigy, etc.  They offered something very different
from "Internet access", which meant a connection to the Internet
and then you were on your own to find content.  But now AOL has combined
the two, stretching the definition of what an ISP is.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
At the same time, people used to get their webhosting and e-mail via
their own ISP, but now they are increasingly using organizations who do
not offer dialup access directly.  And now there are new services like
remote backup or "word processing via the web" (which, parenthetically,
are a serious application of the old "multiplayer game" concept).  Are
these organizations ISPs?  It's debatable.  If you take this definition
to its limit, anybody with a server offering any Internet service is an
ISP.  I don't think most people would want to go that far.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD]
If you have an Internet connection, and you allow people to
dial-in (or otherwise access) the Internet through your connection
--- then you are providing Internet service.  If that is your primary
business then you are certainly an ISP.  Otherwise the point is
somewhat moot.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Of course every ISP has to connect with or through other ISPs.
The "Internet" is an "internetwork" of connected networks.  (I
know that's a tautology, but bear with me here).  The Internet
is an internetwork of networks which all speak TCP/IP and have
agreed on a set of common address delegations and naming services.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Thus their can only be <EM>one</EM> delegation of the address
198.41.0.6 on the Internet.   Likewise the name www.internic.net
must be delegated to one authority (which can publish various
addresses, mail exchange and other types of records about that
name).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Of course it gets more complicated than that in many cases.
For example it used to be common to have gateways between the
Internet and various other online services and networks.  Once
upon a time AOL, CompuServe, Delphi, Fidonet and various other
networks were <EM>NOT</EM> "on the Internet" --- though e-mail and
some other services (file transfers) could be accessed through
gateways.  The distinction between a "gateway" and an "Internet
connection" basically boils down to the matter of addressing
and naming.  Those networks didn't have globally direct routable
IP addresses (DRIPs) and (thus) their internal nodes couldn't
have name/records in the DNS (domain naming services) system.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Of course many corporations use their own internal IP addressing
(usually following RFC1918 which reserves 10.*.*.*,
172.{16..31}.*.*/12 and 192.168.*.* from use in the global
address space).  Systems on these networks use application
level proxies or NAT (Network Address Translation: specifically
IP masquerading) to access the Internet.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Proxies are also known as "gateways."  I friend of mine likes
to say that "if your connecting to the 'net via NAT then your
'NAT' really on the 'net!"  We can think of NAT as a network
layer "transparent" proxying service.  (And there are some
protocols can don't work through NAT, or requiring kludges
to "mostly" work through it).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Of course some companies may offer you "Internet service" through
a set of NAT gateways and/or proxies.  I think that some of the
cable modem services, wireless and even some of the DSL services
are NAT'd these days.  Whether they are "really" ISPs is a moot
point.  If you can get the specific services you need through these
companies then they can be "service providers" for you.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Of course, I prefer a traditional ISP (one that gives me a static
block of DRIP addresses, a route to my dedicated line, a dial-up line
for fail over and remote use, and control of my own DNS and even
control of my reverse DNS --- which is only a subnet of a class C
in my case).  I pay a much higher rate for these services than
most DSL, and cable modem customers though I get a relatively
paltry bandwidth for it --- only 1.44Kbps over IDSL.  I don't
complain because this gives me the flexibility to do anything
"on the Internet" as any ISP or corporation (only slower than
the big guys).  Besides, I pay less than a quarter of what a few
friends of mine used to pay for 56K frame relay leased lines only
five years ago.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
So, I would conclude with the following definitions (and let
the hair splitters pull out their loops and razors):
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
An "internet server" is any host which is "on the Internet" and
providing services to clients over it.  Usually this means
"public services" (such as most web, FTP, DNS, etc that you've
ever heard of).  I would even say that a "server" could
actually be a small cluster of systems which are providing a
service as a group (usually behind some sort of load-balancing
NAT router) constitutes an "internet server."
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
An ISP is a company or organization which provides internet
services (connection to the world wide Internet address space,
routing and naming system) to customers (as opposed to their
own staff, departments or satellite offices).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
(Note that I *don't* count companies, such which provide a
stack of dedicated remote access lines their employees and let
them access the Internet through their corporate connection as
"ISPs" in this sense.)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
A "tier 1" Internet connection is one which has an AS
(autonomous system) number, which is a sort of routing address
that is completely different then IP addresses, and uses that
for "peering" (exchanging routing data) with multiple other
tier 1 internetworks.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
A "tier 1" ISP would logically be a company which has a tier 1
Internet connection <EM>and</EM> which provides Internet connections
to customers.  (Note that some organizations which have first
tier Internet connections are not ISPs --- some large
educational, governmental, and military organizations, for
example).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
On the next tier down are ISPs and organizations that lack AS
numbers and which don't peer; but which do have CIDR blocks of
DRIP addresses.  (CIDR is "classless interdomain routing" ---
a way of aggregating blocks of numerically adjacent addresses
so that they entire block can be managed with a single entry
in the global routing tables.  Such organizations might
be "multi-homed" (given them some load-balancing, and
failover redundancy through their own policy based routing).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The lowest tier of ISPs aren't multi-homed (don't have
multiple independent Internet connections) and/or don't
have their own address block delegations.  They have to
get their addresses from their ISPs and they have no
redundancy (or they are completely dependent on their
single ISP, even if they do have multiple dedicated lines
to them).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Of course there are places where customers rent rackspace and connect
their computers to an Internet connection, and power. These are
colocation facilities. In some cases you're renting whole cages.
In most cases they are providing UPS (uninteruptible power supply and
generator power backups), physical security, 24 hour monitoring,
and other services (such as access to network tape drives for
your backups and terminal servers for remote console access to your
systems).  Colocation facilities allow you to bring your computer to the
Internet (rather than bringing the Internet all the way to your
computer).  They are an imminently logical approach when you need
high speed and low latency at moderate cost for your internet servers.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 20 -->
<p><hr width="75%" align="center"><p>
<a name="tag/22">
<!-- begin 22 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Virtual E-mail and POP Services with a Webmail Chaser</H3>


<p><strong>From MAMATHA C.V
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Jim Dennis
<br></strong></p>

<!-- sig -->

<!-- ::
Virtual E-mail and POP Services with a Webmail Chaser
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:: -->
<P><STRONG>
dear sir/madam,
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD]
Sir for most of the TAG team, and Madam for Heather
(our illustrious editor).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
...aww, shux. I have done any illustri-ing in a while 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle"> 
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
i have created virtual e-mail domains and
vpop accounts to virtual e-mail domains.
DNS is configured.
A record and ip address are set.
virtual e-mail domains are identified through nslookup and telnet.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD]
What kind of "virtual" e-mail domains did you create?  What
MTA (mail transport agent) are you using?  sendmail, qmail,
Postfix, Courier, exim?  What POP daemon are you using?
You've set A (address) records up in DNS?  What about your MX
records?
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
You've used nslookup (or dig) to confirm that your domains and
hostname records appear as you intended them.  However, you haven't
explained to us what you did and how you <EM>think</EM> it's supposed to
work.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
when i send mail to vpop account to virtual e-mail domain
i am getting error
</STRONG></P>

<pre><strong> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
 &lt;mamata@vvv.webber&gt;
     (reason: system config error)
    ----- Transcript of session follows -----
 553 5.3.5 mail.webber. config error: mail loops back to me (MX problem?)
 554 5.3.5 &lt;mamata@vvv.webber&gt;... Local configuration error
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------
</strong></pre>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD]
This example looks completely bogus.  "webber" doesn't look like
an Internet domain at all.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Obviously you don't understand the problem well enough to
explain your expectations, give relevant excerpts from the config
files that are involved, and provide details about which packages
you are using.  Either you don't understand enough to ask an
answerable question, or you're too lazy to do so. (I hope it's
the former).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
please send step by step procedure to create virtual e-mail domains
and vpop accounts. is imap and pop3 server is sufficient or vpop3 server is
required.How to check mails for vpop accounts.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD]
No.  The "step-by-step" procedure for creating domains and POP servers
are covered in a number of HOWTOs and involve a large number of
decisions that must be made based on an understanding of a very large
body of information about networking.  Also those steps and processes
differ greatly based on which packages you select.  The selection of
packages is also a complex issue which should be based on a clear
requirements analysis.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Your question amounts to a request for us to perform a rather involved
consulting project for you.  You should hire a consultant to provide
these services.  If your needs are for a non-profit or community
service project, then you should solicit some local expertise to help
you with the project.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
the frontend we are using is webmail.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD]
I have recently set up something that sounds remarkably like
what you need here.  I grabbed the Courier MTA and webmail
package from (<A HREF="http://www.courier-mta.org"
	>http://www.courier-mta.org</A>) site and built
the MTA (esmtpd), POP and IMAP servers, and the SQwebmail
CGI gateway (MUA: mail user agent).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Actually, I'm still setting it up.  Unfortunately I haven't
had time to write up the basic details and I certainly haven't
had time to play with its advanced features and to figure out
how to host virtual domains on it.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Maybe, in a month or two, I'll have enough experience with
Courier and enough time to write up a HOWTO.  I might also work
on creating a suite of <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</A> packages for (some of) them (since
Debian currently only support the Courier-IMAP daemon).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
please reply at the earliest
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD]
Sorry, but you need a whole lot more specialized help then we
can give.  Please feel free to write up a <EM>detailed</EM> explanation
of what you're trying to do and how your trying to do it, and
we <EM>might</EM> offer some further suggestions.  As for "the earliest"
please keep in mind that this is a volunteer effort.    If you want
timely service, pay for it.
</BLOCKQUOTE>


<!-- end 22 -->
<p><hr width="75%" align="center"><p>
<a name="tag/24">
<!-- begin 24 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>LILO: Password Protected Entries</H3>


<p><strong>From Tom Frye
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Jim Dennis
<br></strong></p>

<!-- sig -->

<!-- ::
LILO: Password Protected Entries
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:: -->
<P><STRONG>
I have LILO <TT>/</TT> GRUB installed as my boot loader, and I want to add BeOS to
the list. I figured out how to do that, but is it possible to password
protect that selection? BeOS can read <TT>/</TT> write to Linux without any security
measures, so I need to block out users.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD]
Do you have LILO or GRUB installed?  I really doubt you'd be using
<EM>both</EM> (one in the MBR and the other in the superblock?).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
In <TT>/etc/lilo.conf</TT> you can specify a password.  This can be done
in the global section or in any "stanza").  If it is done in the
global section then the "restricted" will allow you to "restrict"
those images to being booted without a password IF and only IF
they are being booted without any additional parameters.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
So, set a password.  Leave the "restricted" option off of your
BeOS stanza(s) (so it/they always require(s) a password) and add
it to your Linux stanza(s) (to prevent someone from simply using
init=/bin/sh rw to bypass your desired policy of preventing console
users access to your ext2 filesystems unless they have your passwords
and respect the Linux permissions/ownership settings).  Note that there
exist some MS-DOS/MS-Windows utilities for accessing ext2 filesystems
as well.  So access to those should also be restricted if you want to
protect yourself with more than a simple layer of obscurity.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Of course, securing your system from console access also requires that
you change the default CMOS/BIOS settings to prevent booting from
removable media (or physically lock the floppy and/or CD-ROM
slots or remove those devices).  You'll also have to set CMOS passwords
to prevent the console user from simply changing the setting back.
You'll also want to consider locking the case in its own cabinet or
getting a case lock of some sort (so users don't simply open the case,
short the CMOS/NVRAM battery, resetting it to factore defaults).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Finally you should be aware that some (most?) PC BIOS' include a
factory password to allow their support staff to help hapless users
who have set CMOS passwords and forgotten them.  Luckily those are
quite obscure --- I don't happen to know any of them.  However,
a persistent session with a search engine would probably find a
few of them for me; and a bit of social engineering on a call
to the PC's manufacturer would probably get me the one I wanted
(if I was sitting in front of your machine trying to break-in).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I really wish I could recommend a BIOS manufacturer that I could
guarantee *DIDN'T* have a backdoor password.  I will be much
happier when <EM>someone</EM> get a usable OpenBIOS replacement working
for <EM>some</EM> reasonably available motherboard/chipset.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
(I still won't someone to write a sane BIOS bootloader that stores
a list of device/bootblock address <EM>with</EM> checksums in the NVRAM; and
that has hardware write-protect pins/jumpers on the NVRAM; we won't
have truly robust PCs until someone does so).
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 24 -->
<p><hr width="75%" align="center"><p>
<a name="tag/25">
<!-- begin 25 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Question in shell programming</H3>


<p><strong>From Jane Liu
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Dan Wilder, Jim Dennis 
<br></strong></p>

<!-- sig -->

<P><STRONG>
I wanted to change the first letter of each line to upper case? How can I do it with awk?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanks,
Jane
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Dan]
Here's one way:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><pre>
#!/usr/bin/awk -f

{
a = substr($0, 1, 1)
b = toupper(a)
sub(a, b, $0)
print
}
</pre></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
"a" has the length-1 substring of the current input record, $0,
beginning at the first character of the input line.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
"b" has the upper-case equivalent of "a".
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
"sub" substitutes what's in "b" in place of the first
match in the string for what's in "a".  The third argument
to "sub" may be left implicit, but I prefer not to do so,
feeling that putting $0 in makes the operation of the program
more obvious at a glance.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- sig -->
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD]
Here's a simple one liner:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
awk '{ sub(/^./,toupper(substr($0,1,1))); print; }'
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
... substitute the first character of the implicit pattern space
($0) with the value returned by the <TT>"toupper()</TT>" function, when
it's called on the substring of $0 (the default pattern space) from
the first character and continuing for one character.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Then print the thing.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Can't get much simpler than that.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<p><strong><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Thanks a lot! It works perfectly.
</strong></p>
<strong></p>
Thanks again!
<br>Jane
</strong></p>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 25 -->
<p><hr width="75%" align="center"><p>
<a name="tag/26">
<!-- begin 26 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>qmail pain</H3>


<p><strong>From Mic Nowland  
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Dan Wilder 
<br></strong></p>

<!-- sig -->

<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
G'day there,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I have a couple of machines named Lin and winy on my local network myplace.net.au connected to my RH6.1 NAT/Firewall, samba server, squid cache with caching DNS and using a part-time dialup connectin to my ISP myisp.com.au
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Local2remote works fine, Qmail will rewrite the domain in From: field by setting QMAILHOST=myisp.com.au and QMAILINJECT=f in my enviroment no probs.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Emails from <em
	>Lin@myplace.net.au</em> addressed to <em
	>winy@myplce.net.au</em>  get sent,noprobs there either.
However, I cannot get qmail to rewrite the From: field to <em
	>Lin@myisp.com.au</em> when I send email from either Lin or winy to say <em
	>billsux@microsloth.com</em> it remains Lin or winy @myplace.net.au, which is wrong.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Do I need to use mess822 (gulp) or what ?   Please help, I am at my wits end.
Michael
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Dan]
There's probably a way to do it using Qmail, but sad to say, I haven't
a clue, as my relationship with Qmail lasted only about two weeks.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
You might consider asking your MUA (Mail User Agent, your email client)
to use correct "From:" headers in the first place.  Most MUAs now
are able to adapt to working on private networks, where email headers
should <EM>always</EM> reflect reachable addresses, not private ones.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Another possibility would be switching over to Postfix.  In my
admittedly limited experience, Postfix is <EM>much</EM> easier to configure
than Qmail, and it will certainly do any reasonable header rewrite
you might need.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Postfix will do the particular rewrite in question if you add
the following line to <TT>/etc/postfix/main.cf:</TT>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE><code>
masquerade_domains = $mydomain
</code></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The line is taken from <TT>/etc/postfix/sample-rewrite.cf</TT>, installed
by "make install".
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
This simplicity is typical of Postfix configuration.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
P.S. Postfix does Maildir delivery quite nicely, if you ask it to.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

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<p><hr width="75%" align="center"><p>
<a name="tag/28">
<!-- begin 28 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/bbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(!) " border="0"
	>Regarding backups</H3>


<p><strong>Answer From Bruce Harada 
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Comments by Heather Stern
<br></strong></p>

<!-- sig -->

<p>
Hi. I read your answer to the person trying to backup their notebook's
hard drive with tar. The way I do backups of my notebooks is as follows:
</p>
<ol>
<li> Start the notebook up from a bootdisk floppy that includes support for
network connectivity and NFS (I use <A HREF="http://www.slackware.org/">Slackware</A>'s bootdisk/rootdisk/pcmcia
three-disk combination, but it requires some fiddling with).

<li> Mount a directory from the computer you want to make the backup to (I'm
leaving out the setup requirements for NFS (<TT>/etc/export</TT>, etc.), since if
you want to use this method, you're probably familiar with them already).
One thing you should probably be careful of is that the exported
filesystem should use no_root_squash to avoid permission problems when
writing the backup file.

<li> Say your laptop has its HD as <TT>/dev/hda</TT>, and you've mounted the remote
directory as <TT>/tmp/mnt/backup/</TT> on the notebook. Do the following:

<blockquote><pre> # dd if=/dev/hda of=/tmp/mnt/backup/notebook-hda
</pre></blockquote>
This will send the entire contents of <TT>/dev/hda</TT> to the remote directory as
a single file.
<br>&nbsp;
<br>One thing some people might be saying here is, "What if the notebook's HD
is larger than 2GB?" Some Linux systems support files larger than 2GB, but
NFS (at least V2; I don't know about V3) almost certainly doesn't. In that
case, you can try:

<blockquote><pre> # dd if=/dev/hda | gzip &gt;/tmp/mnt/backup/notebook-hda.gz
</pre></blockquote>
which will compress it for you (hopefully to below the 2GB limit, although
it's probably a good idea not to try this unless you're positive that the
final file will come in under 2GB). Compressing it <EM>will</EM> take longer than
you think it should, though, so be ready to wait a while.

<li> When you need to restore the backup, just use the bootdisk to start up
the notebook, mount the exported filesystem as before, and do:

<blockquote><pre> # dd if=/tmp/mnt/backup/notebook-hda of=/dev/hda
</pre></blockquote>
or, if you compressed it,

<blockquote><pre> # gunzip -c /tmp/mnt/backup/notebook-hda.gz | dd of=/dev/hda
</pre></blockquote>
This backup takes care of <EM>everything</EM>, including partition tables and
bootblocks, which (in my book) makes it much more reliable than tar.
I've used it to back up some of my older notebooks, with around 500MB hard
drives, and the final (compressed) file was about 350MB. Both backup and
restore worked fine, without any problems.
</ul>
<p>
That's about it - I hope it's of help.
</p>
<p>
--
Bruce Harada
</p>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
        HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
        > [Heather]
it's worth noting that this works best when restoring to the same
size hard drives, or especially, the exact same drive;  a larger one may
leave its extra space invisible, a smaller one will have bits falling off
the end, and some drives of the same approximate size have different
geometries, so fdisk may think strangely of you 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/unsmily.gif" ALT=":("
                height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
However for backing up your own notebook to a stable desktop server
it works great!
</BLOCKQUOTE>

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<!-- end 28 -->
<p><hr width="75%" align="center"><p>
<a name="tag/29">
<!-- begin 29 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>uninstall linux</H3>


<p><strong>From Gordon Van Vliet, Randy Filkin, Les Barron
</strong></p> 
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Ben Okopnik, Heather Stern...
		and Les Barron.
<br></strong></p>

<!-- sig -->

<p><strong>
i just read one of your previous posts re removing linux from a system.
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
i installed linux mandrake 6 in a dual boot win98 setup.
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
i just wanted to learn about linux a bit at a time but now im tired of it
and want to remove it and lilo completley. I formatted the entire c drive
and nothing would run because lilo was still there and parts of linux. How
and where do I remove lilo? I read about the lilo -u , but where,when do i
do this?
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
Since I'm bothering you anyway.. I have a compaq presario with all the
pre-installed crap. I would like to format everything completley and
install a clean win98-me but even prior to any linux i tried this and it
says this version of win is unsupported by your bios .so i am forced to
use the compaq re-install disk that has all the garbage. what can I do
to nuke everything and start fresh ??
</strong></p>
<p><strong>
thanks for any help
<br>gordon
</strong></p>

<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Randy Filkin]
does anyone have suggestions for uninstalling Linux
Mandrake 7.2?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I have searched high and low and cannot find any help
in this regard.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Strange; a quick Google search of the Web gives me over 1200 hits on
"uninstall Linux" with 68 of those containing the word "Mandrake". Even a
search of the past issues of LG comes up with 16 hits. What is your
definition of "high and low"?
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Randy FIlkin]
I have an HP Pavilion that <EM>had</EM> windows 98 on it.
After exhausting all
resources that I know of, I ran the recovery CD,
doing a recover once or
twice and then doing a full FDisk and then recovery.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
What could you possibly hope to recover after doing a "full fdisk"? I
don't know which recovery CD you ran - Windows? Mandrake? There is no such
generic term as a 'recovery CD', anyway - or what it was supposed to do,
so the above provides no useful information.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Randy Filkin]
Everytime I would
seem to successfully recover my original system
configs and reboot,
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Which system? What are 'configs'?
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>  [Randy Filkin]
Linux would still be there, I would get the root
password, and then I
would once again insert my recovery CD and reboot to
initiate the
recovery process. I have checked their web page at
<A HREF="http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en"
	>http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en</A> as well as help
files on the CD and
cannot find <EM>any</EM> info of getting rid of Linux
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Have you checked Microsoft's site for instructions on how to get rid of
Windows? I haven't but I'd be willing to bet that you won't find anything
like that - any more than you will find instructions on the General Motors
site on how to trade in a Chevrolet on a Ford. You're looking for
information in a place that obviously would not have it.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>  [Randy Filkin]
Thank you for your time and attention!
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I am a very irritated customer of Linux. All I want
to do is a
successful uninstall of the O/S and no matter where I
look in your
documentation, I cannot find <EM>any</EM> info on this!
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
No, you're not an irritated customer of Linux. You may be irritated, and
you may be someone's customer - Mandrake's, perhaps? that is, assuming that
you actually bought their CD - but not of Linux, since Linux doesn't have
customers. Friends, perhaps. Fans. Advocates. Customers, no. Linux is an
operating system and a community - not a business.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Whenever someone writes in with a misconception as basic as that, I usually
ignore their request, since it carries the presumption of "you <EM>owe</EM> me
help, I'm an irritated customer!", and it's one I don't appreciate. All of
us here at TAG are volunteers, and we put out the effort to do this for
our own reasons - but I believe that all of us like to have our efforts
recognized and appreciated; for me, it's one of the major 'returns' on my
investment of time and effort here. To be told that we "owe" it is an
up-front refusal to "pay" that appreciation and recognition, and a demand
that I, personally, find delete-worthy.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
However, I'm going to go ahead and assume that your statement was based in
lack of understanding rather than a "reputation hostage play" - plus, I
have a habit of "paying in good coin" whenever I hijack someone's request
to discuss a point of my own. So, here is my slight variation on what Jim
Dennis has so capably covered in the past issues of LG (#s 25, 36, 46, and
48, to be exact):
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQuote>
Assuming that you want to clear off the entire drive and have no concerns
about losing any of the data that is on it, boot Linux and enter
</BLOCKQuote></BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockquote><pre>dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1
</pre></blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE>
NOTE: this will completely wipe your entire Master boot Record! Not only
will you not be able to boot from this drive, you will not even be able to
read it once you've rebooted: it will require partitioning (via fdisk) and
formatting. Be sure that you have your new OSs boot floppy close to hand!
</BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If you wish, you can partition the disk while still in Linux (wiping out
the MBR only makes itself felt after you reboot); "fdisk" and "cfdisk"
will happily write DOS partitions to your drive.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If you have to do this from DOS, try entering the following commands:
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockquote><pre>lock c:
fdisk/mbr
</pre></blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Several folks have reported having no luck with "fdisk <TT>/mbr</TT>" - which, in
my long experience with it (I discovered it by reading the strings in
"command.com" in  DOS5.0 well before someone documented it as an
"undocumented feature") both succeeds and fails silently. I believe that
in the case of Windows-based installs, this is due to the fact that Windows
disallows "raw writes" to the disk: a useful thing to prevent a certain
percentage of viruses, but a hindrance when you need to fix something.
"lock c:", above, "locks" the drive to allow them, and should make
"fdisk/mbr" effective.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If you have further questions, or need a really radical (but guaranteed to
work) solution, please see my article "Clearing out the Master Boot Record"
in the mid February 2001 edition of LG:
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue63/okopnik.html"
	>http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue63/okopnik.html</A>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
        HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
        >  [Randy Filkin]
Thanks for your time and attention.
</strong></p>

<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Les Barron]
Dear Answer gang
<br>Mandrake is the only system that I know of that uses a Linux extended
partition that nothing else can read. could this be part of the problem.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Just to correct wrong information: 'ext2' is the <EM>standard</EM> filesystem for
Linux, whether Mandrake or otherwise. Saying that "nothing else can read
[it]" shows, at the very least, lack of familiarity with the issue (a
number of other OSs, including Solaris and MSWindows, are capable of
reading 'ext2'-formatted partitions - though software may be required.)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Les Barron]
I formatted my hard drive before I found this out. Personally I find
<A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A> the easiest to set up  &amp; 
the most stable of the 6 or 7 distros that I have tried.
</STRONG></P>
<p><em>...flame bait and apologies for same, ellided.  
	discoveries, though...
</em></p>

<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Les Barron]
I am very sorry about my previous statement. However what I actually
meant is that Mandrake marks the extended partition type 85.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I have made a mistake when I stated windows that I lost windows. I had
windows98 on a primary partition
and Windows 2000 on the first logical drive Windows2000 was no longer bootable
after installing Mandrake. whereas redhat suse and others mark the
extended partition as a win or dos type.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I do not mean to knock any linux distribution I have enjoyed using all of them.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I do very much enjoy the Linux Gazette
and downloaded all of the back issues this evening.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
cheers 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle"> les
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
Glad you're enjoying the Gazette, Les; it makes all my hard work worth
more to me knowing folks find it helpful.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
As they say, "no worries". The etiquette of getting along with other,
perhaps strongly opinionated, people ("opinionated, <Em>me?</em> <strong>Surely</strong> you
don't mean <Em>me!</em>" &lt;grin&gt
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle"> is a learned skill - one that I find is somewhat
forcefully taught in the various Linux (and other) newsgroups. Be sure to
bring along an asbestos overcoat at first, though. &lt;smile&gt;
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
By the way, good move on downloading the back issues of LG. I find that
they are an excellent "local" reference for me: I've zipped all the text
versions into a single file, and do a "zipgrep" on it whenever I can't
find an answer to a Linux question in the manpages or "<TT>/usr/doc</TT>". As a
side note, I use "zip" and "zipgrep" because that combination returns the
"internal" filename that matches the "grep", whereas "gzip" and "zgrep" do
not.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I haven't played with Mandrake all that much, except for fixing up a minor
configuration problem on a friend's machine, but I do find it sort of
surprising that it would mess up another OS. Does Mandrake actually
<EM>automatically</EM> mark the partition with type 85, or is that an install
option? If I recall correctly, '85' says that the entire extended partition
should be of type 'ext2',
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
This is not <EM>quite</EM> correct.  While it is true that the (linux) fdisk label
for type 85 is "linux extended" - it merely means logical sub items (I am led
to believe) are allowed to be larger than those of DOS... I've never seen
anything that enforced that its further contents should be ext2 at all, except
(merely?) that DOS won't even look in there.  It would be less useful if it
did - swap volumes aren't ext2 !
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I've actually <EM>had</EM> to personally use this type to keep win98 from spotting
the extend; with a standard type 5 extend... it went into deep space looking
for a D: that simply wasn't there :(  And hanging a newbie's system on boot
we know is a Bad Thing(tm)
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
... which would indeed prevent Windows from being
installed there, but it definitely should not do so automatically -
especially if there's already a defined extended partition in place (I
believe that it would be marked as '5' (DOS extended) or 'F' (Win95
extended). 
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
It should be possible to allow the D: and any other extra partitions to
live in a type 5 or type F while declaring a new Extend of type 85 to house
Linux partitions.  That's the other thing.  You can't have two of the DOS
type extend volumes or MSwin will have a tantrum.  I'm not sure two of type
85 will be allowed either.  But I think you <EM>can</EM> have one of each safely.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
(Someone ought to test that.)
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
Overwriting an existing partition definition would be even worse
than anything that Windows does (overwriting an existing boot sector),
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
<EM>This</EM> I agree with!  Anyways the much more critical thing is that all the
DOS visible portions have to be to the front of the drive.  Unless MS has
changed something this winter, it will stop searching when it finds partition
types it disfavors, and if it doesn't know how to boot by then, you <EM>will</EM>
hang.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Which, sadly, is why we have all these questions about having a horrible
time with a replaced MBR - most flavors of MS' bootloader simply won't
chain over to other OS partitions (NT a possible exception, forcing it
with LOADLIN is also possible) - so we have to replace the MBR with our
own, which can be trained to do the reverse (boot windows safely).  But, it
isn't always perfect and when it fails - ouch! People have a good reason then
to bail, but rarely know what it's safe to do next...
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
...of course the glitzy installers do NOT anticipate failing at their job, so
folks have no real instructions what to do.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
There have been some fairly creative self-inflicted disasters seen amongst
our querents.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
There needn't be very many of the linux-adopting population suffering this
problem anymore - until it's just plain zero, I can simply say, every one of
them who does, will be gnashing their teeth and asking <EM>someone</EM> for help.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
... and
would merit an emergency-level bug report to Mandrake. You might want to
play with that, and if you can confirm it, you'd be doing the entire Linux
community a favor by reporting it.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- sig -->
<hr align="center" width="40%">

<STRONG><dl><dt><img src="../gx/dennis/bbubble.gif"
        height="50" width="60" alt="(!) " border="0"
	> [Les Barron] They do have a fix for the problem posted at
<DD><A HREF="http://www.linux.mandrake.com"
	>http://www.linux.mandrake.com</A>
</DL></STRONG>
<P><STRONG>
I just wonder how many newbies this discouraged and stopped them using
linux.
However I suppose linux is not for those who give up easily.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
There, I agree with you completely. It does take a bit of perseverance -
not to say a certain bloody-mindedness - to get over that initial hump.
Once over, though, it's all downhill (note that I've very carefully
refrained from saying <EM>which meaning</EM> of 'downhill' I refer to... 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Les Barron]
Thank you for your forbearance I shall now retire my typing finger and
forever hold my peace 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">cheers.
Les Barron
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben]
You might want to revisit that decision. Consider that your experience has
caused this very useful (to any Mandrake folks) bit of information to
percolate into a widely-read publication. That's a contribution that's got
some good value to it - and the real strength of Linux, its underpinnings,
is the fact that folks who use it are willing to give feedback on their
experiences, good or bad. You've made a small but positive difference - and
I invite you, and all of our readers, to set that sort of good example.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather]
Amen to that, brother AnswerDude.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 29 -->



<P><HR><P>
<center>
<H1><A NAME="tips"><IMG ALIGN=MIDDLE ALT="" SRC="../gx/twocent.jpg">
More 2&cent; Tips!</A></H1> <BR>
<!-- BEGIN tips -->

Send Linux Tips and Tricks to <A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</A></center>
<UL>
<!-- index_text begins -->
<li><A HREF="#tips/1"
	><strong>How to Extract the Hardware address of Ethernet card in Linux.,</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/2"
	><strong>Reading Tapes From Another Operating System</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/4"
	><strong>A bit of help for Ling Ling</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/5"
	><strong>REF: The Answer Gang - issue 63 - 5-linux anti virus</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/6"
	><strong>$0.02 tip: tab width toggling in vim and emacs</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/7"
	><strong>Looking for packages ...</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/8"
	><strong>2c tip: universal X server and X on tv</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/9"
	><strong>Deleting directories with invalid names</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/10"
	><strong>Baffled & A Rather Unique Query in January 2001 Issue</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/11"
	><strong>FreeSCO: "Free Cisco"</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/12"
	><strong>LILO problems</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/13"
	><strong>Wanted firewall access, a script</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/14"
	><strong>renaming ethernet devices - Feb 00 issue</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/16"
	><strong>NTPDATE binaries for solaris 6</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/17"
	><strong>Trying to build a crash course...</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/18"
	><strong>SGID Directories</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/19"
	><strong>smtp</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/20"
	><strong>Mandrake Linux and Cable modems - LG Feb 2001</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/21"
	><strong>Memory mystery? lots of tips!</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/26" 
	><strong>distro version upgrade? (slackware)</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/27"
	><strong>script on linuxgazette.com</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/28"
	><strong>Makes Windows Explorer Choke - fix!</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/29"
	><strong>FIPS is getting old, try Parted</strong></a>
<!-- index_text ends -->
</UL>
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="tips/1"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">How to Extract the Hardware address of Ethernet card in Linux.,</FONT></H3>
Mon, 5 Feb 2001 11:31:22 -0800
<BR>Dan Wilder <a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com">(The Answer Gang)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P><STRONG>
Vinayaka.B.S. wrote:
<br>Dear Sir.,
<br>
Can u please guide me in the issue of extraction of Hardware address
of Ethernet card in Linux by providing a code for the above.,
I'm using Linux 6.0 Hedwig Edition.,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanking You.
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
If you can get the card detected by the kernel at all, and successfully
ifconfig'ed, ifconfig can then show you the hardware address:
</blockquote>

<blockquote><pre>root@dilbert:/proc/net$ ifconfig
lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:3924  Metric:1
          RX packets:3295144 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:3295144 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          Collisions:0

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:60:97:9D:36:98
          inet addr:192.168.1.3  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:744305466 errors:40 dropped:0 overruns:2 frame:67
          TX packets:760536636 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:365
          Collisions:11443106
          Interrupt:10 Base address:0xe000
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
-- Dan Wilder
</P>

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<P> <A NAME="tips/2"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Reading Tapes From Another Operating System</FONT></H3>
Mon, 05 Feb 2001 02:35:29 -0600
<BR>Jim Dillon<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (jdillon from maxbaud.net)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
If the tapes were created on an AS/400 they are probably in EBCDIC whereas
your PC is probably using ASCII.  I have successfully used the "dd" command
to read tapes from an IBM mid-range computer.  Depending on how the tape
was created it may have "header records" in front of the data.  One way to
proceed would be to take the tape to an AS/400 and print a "VTOC" (volume
table of contents).  This would show the block size, etc.  Try the "dd"
command to read the tape.  Also, try the "non-rewind tape option" (look in
the <TT>/dev</TT> directory for your tape drive device, if it is "mt0" the
non-rewind device is probably "nmt0".  The non-rewind device allows you to
position the tape read/write head to a particular file on the tape, rather
than each read or write request re-winding the tape back to the start).
It would be something like this "dd if=/dev/nmt0 of=myfile ibs=32768
obs=32768 cbs=512 conv=ascii".
</P>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>if = input file
<br>of = output file
<br>ibs = input block size
<br>obs = output block size
<br>cbs = convert block size (This is the record length of the records coming in from the tape, so you need to know the record length.)
<br>conv = ascii (This tells the "dd" program to convert the data to ascii).
</font></code></blockquote>
<P>
Using nmt0 instead of mt0 will cause the tape head to not re-wind so you
can read the next file on a subsequent "dd" command.
</P>

<P><HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center">
Mon, 05 Feb 2001 12:09:38 -0500
<BR>Joe St.Clair <a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com">(ksimach from ksimachine.com)</a>

<!-- sig -->

<P>
This is in response to a question from Layton Davis in the Feb., 2001
issue about reading tapes from other OS'.
</P>
<P>
The first question I would ask is how (software - command) is Layton
attempting to read the tape?
I often read tapes from Sun, AIX, HP, and others on my Linux box.  The
tapes have all been created using "tar".
</P>
<dl>
<dt>I set the block size for all tapes to "0" - 
	<dd><tt>mt -f /dev/st0 setblk 0</tt>
</dl>
<P>
I have to do this every time I load a new tape.
</P>
<P>
I have 3 tape drives.  The first uses old QIC-6150 tapes, very old but
still works great.  The second is a 4mm DAT tape drive.  The third is a
8mm DAT drive, but I don't believe the type of drive will matter.
</P>
<P>
I have been using Linux to read CAD data from the different flavors of
Unix for about 4-5 years and have had to use the same method of setting
the block size from the start.  Some tapes may not need to have the
block size set in this way but by setting it I can read anything that
doesn't have a problem on the tape.
</P>
<P>
Joseph St.Clair - KSI Machine &amp; Engineering
</P>

<!-- sig -->


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<P> <A NAME="tips/4"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">A bit of help for Ling Ling</FONT></H3>
Sun, 04 Feb 2001 23:40:10 -1000
<BR>Ben Beeson<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (beesond001 from hawaii.rr.com)</a>

<!-- sig -->

<P>
Hello Answer Guys,
</P>
<P>
I was catching up on your column recently and I noticed the below in
the January edition (edition 61)of Linux Gazette.
</P>
<P><STRONG>
Ling Ling asked,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
... I have a RH 6.2 server running as FTP server. Upon customer response,
I will have to send certain syslog message to their LAN account, like say
<em>admin@system.com</em>.
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P>
Depending on what Ling Ling needs mailed from from the log file,
"Logcheck"  from
<A HREF="http://www.psionic.com"
	>http://www.psionic.com</A> may be just what Ling Ling needs.  I use this
tool to selectively e-mail to myself at home and at work certain logfile
entries from <TT>/var/log/messages</TT> and <TT>/var/log/secure.</TT>  The logcheck
utility can be trained to parse the logfiles for  messages of various
formats.  That way, you don't have to send the complete logfile, only
the entries you need to worry about.    For my case,  I am now aware of
ftp connections,  ftp file transfers, and various questionable
connection attempts against services that I do not run, or otherwise
reperesent signatures for possible attacks.   I even get the source
IP address and hostname logged from some other utilities that I run to
try and keep up with my system's status.    All this shows up in my
e-mail at preselected intervals and sure beats wading through the
complete log file everyday.
</P>
</blockquote>
<P>
Hope this helps,
<br>Ben Beeson
</P>

<!-- sig -->


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<P> <A NAME="tips/5"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">REF: The Answer Gang - issue 63 - 5-linux anti virus</FONT></H3>
Fri, 23 Feb 2001 01:44:36 -0500
<BR>Ed Wiget<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (ewiget from rhpstudios.com)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
I just came acrossed an article in which a person asked about antivirus
software being used on a mail server to check mail destined for Windows
machines.  One that I have tried, used, and recommend for just that is made
by Kaspersky Labs/Central Command.  The link is <A HREF="http://www.avx.com"
	>http://www.avx.com</A>  You can
use gui or command line virus scanning, and it can be configured using cron
jobs to scan individual folders, times, frequency.  In my personal
evaluations of more than 30 antivirus software packages for various operating
systems and network topologies, the AVX line always ranks right up at the
top.  The Windows version has network scanning built-in, and the linux
version can also scan NFS/Samba shares.  The cost for full version is less
than $50.00.  They also have a trial version too for evaluation.
</p><p>
--
<br>Thank You for Your time,
<br>Ed Wiget
<br>Senior Network Security Adviser
</P>

<!-- sig -->


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<P> <A NAME="tips/6"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">$0.02 tip: tab width toggling in vim and emacs</FONT></H3>
Thu, 15 Feb 2001 08:25:19 -0700 (MST)
<BR>Theodore Roth<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (troth from verinet.com)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
When reading code written by other people, I often have to change my tab
width setting in vim and emacs to make everything indent like the original
author intended. To make this a simple, single key operation, I added the
following to my .vimrc and .emacs files.
</P>
<P>
Here's the .vimrc addition:
</P>
<blockquote>See attached <a href="misc/tips/tabstops.vimrc.txt">misc/tips/tabstops.vimrc.txt</a></blockquote>
<P>
Note that the ^M is a single character (generated in insert mode with
CTRL-V&lt;return&gt
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT="; )" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">.
</P>
<P>
Here's the .emacs version:
</P>
<blockquote>See attached <a href="misc/tips/tabstops.emacs.txt">misc/tips/tabstops.emacs.txt</a></blockquote>
<P>
Both of these use the F1 key, but it should be obvious how to change it to
another key.
</P>
<P>
Enjoy.
</P>
<P>
Theodore Roth
</P>

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<P> <A NAME="tips/7"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Looking for packages ...</FONT></H3>
Mon, 12 Feb 2001 22:57:29 -0600
<BR>Chris Gianakopoulos<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (The Answer Gang)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P><STRONG>
Antonio Sindona wrote:
<br>Hi,
<br>I'm actually looking for the following packages:
<br>1) An application performance analisys tool, to understand the load for each process in terms of CPU, mem and so on.
<br>2) A simulation tool (something better than the SIMULA67 language ...)
<br>3) A network monitoring tool (possibly with graphic interface ...)
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
May You suggest something to me (possibly free software) ?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanks
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P>
Hey Antonio,
</P>
<P>
I cannot answer your first two questions.  As far as a network monitoring tool is concerned, do you only need packet sniffer functionality.  For LInux, there is a tool called ethereal.  It collects packets and can dissassemble those packets.
</P>
<P>
If a packet sniffer (for IP traffic) is not your desired goal, I will venture to guess that you really want a network monitoring tool which determines the health of your network.  An example would be an SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) manager.  An example of this would be HP OpenView.  HP OpenView costs lots of money, and I am only citing this tool as an example of a network manager.  SNMP network managers (the software) can display graphs of data throughput and all kinds of other stuff by retrieving variables from an abstract database called a MIB (Management Information Base).  Is this what you desire?
</P>
<P>
You can also monitor network traffic (in a kind of raw form) by using tcpdump.  See the man page for tcpdump for its usage.  I use tcpdump when I am doing network troubleshooting.
</P>
<P><DL><DT>
I performed a search on <a href="http://www.google.com/">www.google.com</a> 
(a wonderful search engine) and got lots of hits.  One interesting site that it found was at:
<DD><A HREF="http://rak.isternet.sk/win/linux-netman/monitoring.html"
	>http://rak.isternet.sk/win/linux-netman/monitoring.html</A>
</DL></P>
<P>
I hope that this stuff helps you, Antonio.
</P>
</blockquote>
<P>
Good luck,
Chris Gianakopoulos
</P>

<!-- sig -->


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<P> <A NAME="tips/8"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">2c tip: universal X server and X on tv</FONT></H3>
Sun, 11 Feb 2001 08:24:57 -0800
<BR>Reiner Hammerschmidt<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (reiner.hammerschmidt from web.de)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
hello,
</P>
<P>
here's a 2c tip for all who are lookin for a appropriate X-server:
for a long time I was looking for a working X-server for my ATI rage
fury card. But then i have heard of the wonderful framebuffer device
which makes it possible to get nearly <EM>every</EM> graphics card to speak X.
So I added fb device to my 2.2.14 kernel, made the devices and the magic
began. In addition both 640*480 and 800*600 sizes appeared on my tv
screen also 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle"> And all color depths are selectable. Detailed
description can be found on the <A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A> faq pages. Now I'm very happy i can
also play (sound) with Tux in the living room.
</P>
<P>
Cheers, Reiner
</P>

<!-- sig -->


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<P> <A NAME="tips/9"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Deleting directories with invalid names</FONT></H3>
Mon, 29 Jan 2001 15:41:21 -0800
<BR>Steve Johnson <a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com">(steve from bbdltd.com)</a>
<BR>Mike Orr and
<BR>Heather Stern <a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com">(The Answer Gang)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P><STRONG>
To delete the directory, just specify the entire path;
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><CODE>
rmdir /home/-h
</CODE></STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
Or use option "--" to signify no more options.  Many GNU commands follow
this convention.
</blockquote>

<blockquote><pre>rmdir -- -h
</pre></blockquote>
<p>-- Mike</p>

<blockquote>You don't have to remember to run pwd to figure out where "here" 
is.  <tt>./-h</tt> (dot slash dash h) would also get rid of the annoying -h 
filename, by referring to the current directory (dot).</blockquote>

<p>-- Heather</p>  


<!-- sig -->


<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 9 -->
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<P> <A NAME="tips/10"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Baffled & A Rather Unique Query in January 2001 Issue</FONT></H3>
Wed, 31 Jan 2001 18:48:14 -0700
<BR>Claude baker<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (cabaker from home.com)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
Baffled - When I first connected a Linux (RH 5.1) to a cable modem 18
months ago I experienced the same "problem" logging on - no password
required. I formatted and reloaded 5 times in a month before I built a
firewall. The requirement for a password has remained intact since I put
a firewall between me and the Internet. By the way, the "experts"
recommend reformatting to fix a compromised system unless you have a
clear picture of precisely what happened.
</P>
<P>
A Rather Unique Query (I hope) - I recently upgraded from RH 6.1 to  RH
7.0 on one of my systems and had no graphics after the upgrade. After a
bit of exploration, I found that RH 7.0 has switched to XFree86 Version
4.0. Version uses a new driver model and there aren't yet many drivers
available. With a visit to XFree I found Version 4.0.2 which included a
driver for my old Trident 9660.
</P>
<P>
Claude Baker
</P>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 10 -->
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<P> <A NAME="tips/11"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">FreeSCO: "Free Cisco"</FONT></H3>
Tue, 06 Feb 2001 17:22:32 -0800
<BR>taylor864 <a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com">(taylor864 from yahoo.com)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<!-- ::
FreeSCO: "Free Cisco"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:: -->
<P><STRONG>
First, let me comment that I think TAG is exceptional.  I stumbled upon it
by accident, and ended up reading every question and answer, and after this
email, will be going to look for previous months.
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P>
Glad you like it.  I take it you have a passing interest in Linux.
Would you like to join The Answer Gang and see questions
as they are received throughout the month, and help us hash out
answers to them?
</P>
<P>
(This model won't scale past a couple of dozen gang members ---
but we're O.K for now).
</P>
</blockquote>
<p><em>Actually, getting folks their answers individually scales great!
	We get a lot more people their answers than we used to.  But I'd 
	need an Editor Gang after a while. -- Heather</em></p>
<P><STRONG>
Anyhow, in reference to one of the questions asked about a firewall
(Firewall for a SOHO From Tom Bynum), you suggested a 3 legged Linux box to
do his routing <TT>/</TT> Firewalling.  There is a free router <TT>/</TT> firewall called
FreeSCo (stands for FREE ciSCO) (<A HREF="http://www.freesco.org"
	>http://www.freesco.org</A>) that is essentially
a firewall on a floppy, with support for a DMZ.  I uses (I believe) masq and
IPChains.  Runs a mimumum of services, etc.  You most likely already knew
about it, but I thought I'd pass this along (since the guy lives by your mom
and all).
Have a good 'un.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
-Ray
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P>
I'd heard of FreeSCO and read a bit of their material over a year
ago.  I have to say that (reviewing their new site now) they seem
of have come a long way.  I'm also familiar with LRP (Linux Router
Project) and it's derivative, Coyote --- which are listed on the
the distributions pages at Linux Weekly News (<A HREF="http://www.lwn.net"
	>http://www.lwn.net</A>)
</P>
<P>
I hadn't realized that FreeSCO was specified designed for three
legged firewalls.
</P>
</blockquote>
<p>-- Jim Dennis</p>

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<P> <A NAME="tips/12"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">LILO problems</FONT></H3>
Tue, 06 Feb 2001 10:30:25 +0000
<BR>Shane Kennedy<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (skenn from indigo.ie)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
This may well be irrelevant, but I spend a lot of time swapping drives
around on embedded systems, and the usual cause for the "LI" crash is
that I haven't changed the system bios to match the drive currently
connected.
</P>
<P>
Keep up the good work
</P>
<P>
Shane Kennedy
</P>

<!-- sig -->


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<P> <A NAME="tips/13"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Wanted Firewall Access, a script</FONT></H3>
Wed, 07 Feb 2001 19:00:18 -0600
<BR>Brad Felmey<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (bradf from i-vic.net)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
<A HREF="../issue62/lg_mail62.html#wanted/1"
	>http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue62/lg_mail62.html#wanted/1</A>
</P>
<P>
You need to be root for all of this.
</P>
<P>
Firstly, get a copy of ipmasqadm if it isn't already on the machine.
Not sure?
</P>

<blockquote><pre>rpm -qa | grep ipmasqadm
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
It's either there or it isn't. If not, RPMs are available for those
who don't do source. <A HREF="http://rpmfind.net"
	>http://rpmfind.net</A> is your friend.
</P>
<P>
Now then, we need to make a script that runs on bootup. I generally
put all my firewall rules in a file <TT>/etc/rc.d/rc.firewall.</TT> First, a
bit of security:
</P>

<blockquote><pre>chown root:root /etc/rc.d/rc.firewall
chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/rc.firewall
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
My machine doesn't need this next part, but in case yours doesn't run
it automatically, open up <TT>/etc/rc.d/rc.local</TT> with the text editor of
your choice, and put at the bottom:
</P>

<blockquote><pre>/etc/rc.d/rc.firewall
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
Now, on to the script itself. This only covers the portforwarding
stuff, since it appears you have NAT working just fine otherwise.
</P>
<blockquote>See attached <a href="misc/tips/portforward.sh.txt">misc/tips/portforward.sh.txt</a></blockquote>
<P>
Hope this helps, and hope I didn't misunderstand or misread the
question. Good luck.
--
Brad Felmey
</P>

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<P> <A NAME="tips/14"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">renaming ethernet devices - Feb 00 issue</FONT></H3>
Thu, 8 Feb 2001 22:47:10 -0800
<BR>Greg Nash<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (greg.n from cybereps.com)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
I had the same problem with 2 ne2000 compatible cards in the same machine -
my solution (I think under RH5.2 at the time - don't know if it's still
relevant) was to add the following to my conf.modules
</P>

<blockquote><pre>alias eth0 ne
alias eth1 ne
options eth0 -o io=yxyyy irq=zz
options eth1 -o io=yxyyy irq=zz
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
the -o was the part that took some researching
</P>
<P>
Greg Nash
</P>

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<P> <HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center"> <P>
<br>Sat, 10 Feb 2001 00:00:41 +0100
<BR>Eduardo Perez<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (eduperez from retemail.es)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
I was reading this article of your column, when an idea hit me: what
about the mac address?
</P>
<P>
You can read the mac address from each card to identify them, and use
that information to configure them properly (I have not tried this, as I
do not have any ethernet card around here).
</P>
<P>
I hope this helps.
</P>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 15 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="tips/16"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">NTPDATE binaries for solaris 6</FONT></H3>
Thu, 22 Feb 2001 09:41:06 -0800 (PST)
<BR>Heather<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (The Answer Gang)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P><STRONG>
Hi,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I have a question of where can I get the solaris version of this binary.
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P>
This is the Linux Gazette.  Unless Solaris has added Linux binary compatibility
(and it might have, we dunno) we probably aren't the right place to be asking
this.
</P>
<P>
We do have Linux for Sparc if you think it would help... including boxed sets
from a couple of vendors.
</P>
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
Your cooperation will be greatly appreciated.
<br>Art.S
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P><DL><DT>
I think there's an archive of toys for Sun at:
<DD><A HREF="http://www.sunfreeware.com"
	>http://www.sunfreeware.com</A>
</DL></P>
<P>
...but I don't know any more about it than that.  Good luck.
</P>
</blockquote>
<P>-- Heather Stern </P>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 16 -->
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<P> <A NAME="tips/17"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Trying to build a crash course...</FONT></H3>
Tue, 13 Feb 2001 08:06:45 +0000
<BR>Kevin Matthews <a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (kevin.matthews from panasonic.co.uk)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
Hi Matt &amp; TAG
</P>
<P>
If you purchased the Mandrake as a packaged distro, then you should have their
included books, which are a good kick off.
If not look at:
</P>
<P><BLOCKQuote>
<A HREF="http://63.209.80.231/en/72doc.php3"
	>http://63.209.80.231/en/72doc.php3</A>
</BLOCKQuote></P>
<P>
However there are 4 titles I have found very good for solving problems and
overcoming the obstacles (sp?) of the adventure that is Linux:
</P>
<dl>
<dt>Linux for Windows NT/2000 Administrators: the Secret Decoder Ring
<dd>Sybex International
<br>ISBN: 0782127304
</dl>
<dl>
<dt>Running Linux
<dd>O'Reilly UK
<br>ISBN: 156592469X
</dl>
<dl>
<dt>Linux in a Nutshell
<dd>O'Reilly UK
<br>ISBN: 0596000251
</dl>
<dl>
<dt>RHCE Linux Exam Cram
<dd>Certification Insider Press
<br>ISBN: 1576108287
</dl>
<P>
The first is a good all round tour for windows savvy people. the second two
are virtually the standard refernce works ( I tried several other
introductory titles before 'Running Linux' but they were not as good ) and
the last is a good reference to test your progress and point out areas to
investigate.
</P>
<P>
Regards
</P>
<P>
Kevin Matthews
</P>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 17 -->
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<P> <A NAME="tips/18"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">SGID Directories</FONT></H3>
Sat, 10 Feb 2001 04:43:02 -0800
<BR>Jim Dennis <a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com">(The Answer Gang)</a>

<!-- ::
SGID Directories
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:: -->
<P><STRONG>
Jim,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Sorry to bother but one of your postings brought a question to my mind...
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
"Any directory that is SGID will automatically set the group ownership of
any files created in that directory to match that of the directory. This
means that your webauthors can just create or copy files into the directory
and not worry about using the chgrp (or chown) commands. "
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Does that further affect its subdirectories?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Regards,
<br>Terry Lee
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P>
Yes.  Creating an SGID directory under Linux will normally
make that group association of the directory become the default
group assigment on new files that are created thereunder  (if
the user making creating the files or making those directories
is a member of the associated group).  In addition subdirectories
below that point will also "inherit" the group association <EM>and</EM>
the SGID setting.
</P>
<P>
BTW, although it would be silly to create SGID directories
that were world writable it does work.  Users who are not
members of the associated group can create files and directories
but they will be associated with their primary group (as normal) and
their subdirectories will not "inherit" the SGID setting).
</P>
<P>
It's really much easier to see by experimentation than to
convey by explanation.
</P>
<P>
The main purpose for this behaviour is to allow users to create
shared project directories.  In conjunction with the umask command/setting
it's possible for users  ensure that the other members of their team
will be able to write to selected files and directories by default.
</P>
</blockquote>
<p>-- Jim Dennis</p>

<!-- sig -->


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<P> <A NAME="tips/19"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">smtp</FONT></H3>
Mon, 5 Feb 2001 15:45:21 -0800
<BR>Don Marti <a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com">(The Answer Gang)</a>

<!-- sig -->
<P><STRONG>
Don Harvey wrote:
<br>
I am trying to setup a Linux IPChains firewall for an NT network.  I can
get everything working except SMTP mail from the Internet.  It stops at
the Linux box and is not forwarded to the Exchange Server.  What should
I use?
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P>
Run an SMTP bastion host on your "DMZ" network to handle all mail
passing in and out. Don't expose your internal "full-featured" mail
server to the outside. If you have one box filling both the roles of
firewall and bastion host, this will work too.
</P>
<P><DL><DT>
Mick Bauer's explains in LJ:
<DD><A HREF="http://noframes.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/issue78/4241.html"
	>http://noframes.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/issue78/4241.html</A>
</DL></P>
</blockquote>
<P>
--
Don Marti 
</P>

<!-- sig -->


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<P> <A NAME="tips/20"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Mandrake Linux and Cable modems - LG Feb 2001</FONT></H3>
Tue, 13 Feb 2001 07:52:38 +0000
<BR>kevin.matthews<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (kevin.matthews from panasonic.co.uk)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
Hi Ian &amp; TAG ,
</P>
<P>
Mandrake 7.2 has a utility to set up Internet sharing accessable via
the DrakConf control panel. This would seem to be the easiest way to link
the PCs to the net.
</P>
<P>
I have yet to use this myself as I am still investigating the other things
included with the 7.2 distribution; however I think you will find the new
DrakConf much better than the previous version, and easier to use.
</P>
<P><DL><DT>
The (very brief)  Mandrake Documentation Page ref:
<DD><A HREF="http://63.209.80.231/en/doc/72/en/user.html/drakgw.html"
	>http://63.209.80.231/en/doc/72/en/user.html/drakgw.html</A>
</DL></P>
<P>
I couldn't find any more detailed info.
</P>
<P>
Hope this helps
</P>
<P>
Kevin Matthews
</P>

<!-- sig -->


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<P> <A NAME="tips/21"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Memory mystery? lots of tips</FONT></H3>
Fri, 16 Feb 2001 15:54:42 -0400
<BR>Alberto Ortiz<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (tarlong from hotmail.com)</a>

<!-- sig -->

<P>
Something like this happened to me.  I solve it by downloading a newer
kernel and changing the lilo.conf like you did.  Im also told that you
may fix this by recompiling your kernel.  This happened to me with Red
Hat 6.2 (which, by that way, has kernel 2.2.14) so, i dont think it is
an isolated problem.  Good luck, hope this could help you out.
</P>
<P><DL><DT>
alberto ortiz
<DD><A HREF="mailto:tarlong@hotmail.com"
	>tarlong@hotmail.com</A>
</DL></P>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 21 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P><HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center"> <P>
<br>Sat, 17 Feb 2001 05:40:07 -0500
<BR>Sean<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (snmjohnson from iclub.org)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
Hello,
</P>
<P>
Are you remembering to run lilo after editing lilo.conf? While this may
seem like a silly question, I've done this very thing more times than I
like to admit.
</P>
<P>
Also, you might want to consider upgrading your kernel to either 2.2.18
or 2.4.1.
</P>
<P>
Sean
</P>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 22 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P><HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center"> <P>
<br>Thu, 8 Feb 2001 17:34:40 +1300
<BR>Glenn<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (genright from paradise.net.nz)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
I could be wrong as linux newbie myself but,
</P>
<P>
In my bios (Award) there is a setting for PNP OS under the PNP/PCI page.
I set this to No and had no problems with installing either windoze or
linux. I beleive it forces the OS to detect the system without relying
on the BIOS settings.
</P>
<P>
Good luck 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</P>
<blockquote>
<P>
This should not make any difference to memory detection - since IRQ and DMA
are not involved in that process - but overall, this is a good tip that
bears repeating. I've had problems with several machines, one with my own
AMS TravelPro 150 laptop (Linux would not detect the ESS1688 sound card)
until "Plug-and-Play-aware OS" was set to "No". In all the above cases,
Windows, even though it was set up with the "PNP OS:On", had  no problems
with any of the installed hardware.
</P>
</blockquote>
<p>-- Ben Okopnik</p>

<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center"> <P>
<br>Thu, 08 Feb 2001 17:39:21 +0100
<BR>Roman Delaveaux<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (Delaveaux from heagmedianet.de)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
Hello Answer Gang,
</P>
<P>
probably I have the solution for Jan Jakubik with the memory problem.
I was wondering when my linux-box detects only 12 MB of RAM in an
384MB-RAM-machine. I checked my BIOS-settings and disabled
"Memory hole at 16MB" . Now everything is fine.
</P>
<P>
Mit freundlichen Gr&amp;uuml;&amp;Beta;en
<br>Roman Delaveaux
</P>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 25 -->
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<P> <A NAME="tips/26"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">distro version upgrade? (slackware)</FONT></H3>
Mon, 26 Feb 2001 18:37:09 -0800 (PST)
<BR>Heather Stern <a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com">(The Answer Gang)</a>

<!-- sig -->

<P><STRONG>
Dan Blazek wrote:
<br>Hi,
<br>I think I'm running <A HREF="http://www.slackware.org/">Slackware</A> 2.2 (kernel is 2.0.27 for sure
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
anyway).  Is there some kind of cluster or patch bundle I can download to
upgrade my box.  Like a single package I can install to at least jump up to
slackware 3?  And if there is.. can you please tell me where to find it, and
if there is there a special way to install it?  Or am I going to be stuck
installing a new image?
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P>
I thought there wasn't one, but rarely say so without looking.  And what
do you know, I found:
</P>
<DL><DT>
slackUp - The Slackware Auto-Upgrade Utility
<DD><A HREF="http://xfactor.itec.yorku.ca/~xconsole/download.html"
	>http://xfactor.itec.yorku.ca/~xconsole/download.html</A>
</DL>
<P>
You should read its readme yourself, to check that it can handle your
version.  If it can't. get involved with the authors ... they haven't
updated it in almost a year (or at least the webpage) and you may spark
an entirely new round of development for the project.
</P>
</blockquote>
<p>-- Heather</p>
<P><STRONG>
Thanks,
Dan.
</STRONG></P>

<!-- end 26 -->
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<P> <A NAME="tips/27"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">script on linuxgazette.com</FONT></H3>
Sun, 4 Feb 2001 23:42:11 -0600
<BR>Chad Whitten<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (cwhitten from intop.net)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
Chad Whitten wrote:
</P>
<P>
trying to get the script you put on linuxgazette.com to work on my
linksys dsl/cable router
</P>

<blockquote><pre>lynx -auth=\ :admin http://10.1.1.10/Status.htm -dump
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
when i do this, it doesnt connect
i have a username/password for the linksys and i tried putting in
</P>

<blockquote><pre>lynx -auth=admin:password http://...etc
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
per the man page for lynx but still get same error message:
</P>

<blockquote><pre>Sending HTTP request.
HTTP request sent; waiting for response.
Alert!: Access without authorization denied -- retrying
Retrying with access authorization information.
Looking up 10.1.1.10.
Making HTTP connection to 10.1.1.10.
Sending HTTP request.
HTTP request sent; waiting for response.
Alert!: Can't retry with authorization!  Contact the server's WebMaster.
Can't Access `http://10.1.1.10/Status.htm'
Alert!: Unable to access document.

lynx: Can't access startfile
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
after some playing around, i got it with
</P>

<blockquote><pre>lynx -auth=\ 'admin\:password' http://10.1.1.10/Status.htm -dump
</pre></blockquote>

<p><em>Yep, those single quotes are really handy for preventing the shell
	from running off with your colons, alright. -- Heather</em></p>

<!-- end 27 -->
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<P> <A NAME="tips/28"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Makes Windows Explorer Choke - fix!</FONT></H3>
Sun, 4 Feb 2001 04:49:07 -0000
<BR>Man in a BOX @ Crosswinds<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (miab from crosswinds.net)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P>
Had this problem myself when I partitioned my drive for Linux (fips).  It's
caused because doze uses its own timings for each drive and is stored in the
IDE controler driver in your system <TT>/</TT> control panel - it assumes that the
physical drive will never be paritioned so it never checks to see if the
logical size has changed.
</P>
<P>
Just remove this from Control Panel prior to a Linux installation /
re-partitioning - next time windows loads it will re-discover your IDE
controller and install the relevant drivers - no more problem.
</P>
<P>
Hope this helps
</P>
<P>
Simon
</P>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 28 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="tips/29"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">FIPS is getting old, try Parted</FONT></H3>
Sat, 03 Feb 2001 00:33:34 -0800
<BR>Hugh Daniel<a href="mailto:tag@ssc.com"> (hugh from xisp.net)</a>


<!-- sig -->

<P><STRONG>
Well after several serious skirmishes MS-stupidity lost today!  It
turns out that the new FSF/GNU parted (use freshmeat.net...) does a
better quicker job of shrinking both file system (FAT32 in my case)
and partition the FIPS, and all the MS-shit tools!
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Note though that this is Mondays release of parted, but it works and
quite cleanly.  It's not a real end user tool, but it got the job
done.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Yea.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
So now I have RedHat-7.0 installing on my new laptop, it should be
a very cool toy.  Thanks for the support of just being there.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Jim, you might want to point out in Answer Guy that FIPS is dated,
that most folks don't know what they are talking about and that parted
soves the problem quite nicely.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Later.
<br>||ugh
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote>
<P>
Okay.  I've copied TAG on this reply.  I haven't played with
parted.  However, I haven't been running Linux on mixed
system recently either.  All of my recent system have been
pure Linux (or non-PC's).
</P>
<P>
I also haven't noticed any recent questions for which "FIPS"
would have been an answer.  So any old TAG issues that referred
to FIPS are probably also quite dated.
</P>
</blockquote>
<p>-- Jim Dennis</p>

<!-- end 29 -->

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%"> <!-- ************************************* -->
<SPACER TYPE="vertical" SIZE="30">

<P> <A HREF="http://www.linuxtoday.com/helpdex">Linux Today</A> is no
longer carrying HelpDex due to on-line publishing budget cuts.  I r-e-a-l-l-y 
thank Kevin and Paul from Linux Today for running me for so long and
giving me the chance to get 250+ strips up there.

<P> What does that mean for Carol and Tux? I have no idea.
There's a little stockpile I have at home so I'll run a few
days past on <A HREF="http://www.linuxtoday.com/helpdex">Linux Today</A> then probably switch back to my homepage
(<A HREF="http://mrbanana.hypermart.net/Linux.htm">mrbanana</A>), though (to be
completely honest) without funding I'm not sure how long I'll keep the energy
for.

<P> I'll miss doing it every day, it's a LOT of fun.

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[Your Editor told Shane we'd like to continue publishing
HelpDex if he is able to continue it.  I also pointed out that we
need only 4-6 panels a month to make a "complete" article, and we can
even run with 1 or 2 if that's all he can manage.  -Mike.]
	</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

<P> I guess ideally I'd like to continue it exactly as it is
now - I'm used to the format, the humour seems to have
stabilised and people know where it is and what's going on.

<P> In terms of doing impromptu stuff, I'm more than happy to
do that, for both you and LT as both of you have been a
HUGE help in getting HelpDex seen. And hopefully HelpDex
has helped your publications. Just let me know if you ever
need anything. Maybe this is a good time to pull Maximux
out of the cupboard again, too!

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[Funny, I was just thinking that.  More 
<A HREF="../issue56/collinge.html">Maximux</A>!!  

<P> Readers, send Shane your ideas for future HelpDex and Maximux cartoons.
If he uses them, you'll see your name in print.

-Mike.]
	</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>





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

Copyright &copy; 2001, Shane Collinge.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 64 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, March 2001</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">ssh suite: Sftp, scp and ssh-agent</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:matt@martine2.difi.unipi.it">Matteo Dell'Omodarme</a></H4>
</center>
<P> <HR> <P>  

<!-- END header -->




<P> The aim of this article is to provide an introduction to some useful
programs in the SSH suite, i.e. sftp, scp, ssh-agent and ssh-add.
In the following we suppose that sshd2 daemon is well configured and
running. <p>



<h1 align=center>Sftp and scp overview</h1>

Let's focus our attention on sftp and scp.<br>
The first one (Secure
File Transfer) is a ftp-like client that can 
be used in file transfer over the network.<br>
It does not use the FTP daemon (ftpd or wu-ftpd) for connections,
allowing a significant improvement in the system security. In fact,
monitoring some logs file of our systems, we noted that
about 80% of attacks in last month was against ftpd daemon. The use of
sftp prevents all these tries since it permits to stop the
potentially dangerous wu-ftpd.<p>
The second (Secure Copy) is used to copy files over the network
securely. It is a replacement for rcp insecure command.<p>

Sftp and scp do not
require any dedicated daemon since the two programs connect
to sshd servers.   
In order to use sftp and scp you have to insert the following
line in the configuration file <em>/etc/ssh2/sshd2_config</em>:

<pre> 
subsystem-sftp                  sftp-server
</pre>

after this modification you must restart sshd.<br>  
So you could use sftp and scp only to
connect to hosts where sshd is running.

<h3 align=center>Sftp</h3>

Sftp uses ssh2 in data connections, 
so the file transport is as secure as possible.<br>
There are two main advantages in using sftp instead of ftp:

<ol type=1>
<li> Password are never transferred in clear text, preventing any
sniffer attack.
<li> Data are encrypted during the transfer, making difficult to spy or modify
the connection.
</ol>

The use of sftp2 is really simple. Let's suppose that  
you would connect via sftp to your account <em>myname</em> on
<em>host1</em>. In order to do that use the command:

<pre>
sftp myname@host1
</pre>

some options could be specified from the command line (see the sftp
manual page for a complete report).<p>

When the sftp2 is ready to accept commands, 
it will display a prompt <b>sftp&gt;</b>.  
In the sftp manual page there are a complete list of the commands
which the user can use; among them there are:

<ul>
<li> quit:<br>
   Quits from the application.
<li>  cd directory:<br>
   Changes the current remote working directory.
<li>lcd directory:<br>
   Changes the current local working directory.
<li> ls [ -R ] [ -l ] [ file ... ]:<br>
              Lists the names of the files on the remote server.
              For directories, the contents of the directory are
              listed. When the -R option is specified, the directory 
trees are listed recursively.  (By default,
              the subdirectories of the argument directories are
              not visited). When the -l option is specified, 
permissions, owners, sizes and modification times are
also shown.  When no arguments are given, it is
              assumed that the contents of .  are being listed.
              Currently the options -R and -l are mutually incompatible.
<li>lls [ -R ] [ -l ] [ file ... ]:<br>
              Same as ls, but operates on the local files.
<li>get [ file ... ]:<br>
              Transfers the specified files from the remote end
              to the local end. Directories are recursively
              copied with their contents.
<li>put [ file ... ]:<br>
              Transfers the specified files from the local end to
              the remote end. Directories are recursively copied
              with their contents.
<li>mkdir dir (rmdir dir):<br>
              Tries to create (destroy) the directory specified in dir.
</ul>

sftp2 supports glob patterns (wildcards) given to commands
       ls, lls, get, and put. The format is described in the man
       page sshregex.<p>


Since sftp use encryption there is drawback: the connection is slower
(about a factor of 2-3 to my experience), but this point is of
marginal interest considering the great security benefits. <br>
In a test conduced on our local network a Network Sniffer was able to
catch a mean of 4 password by hour, from ftp connections. The
introduction of sftp as standard protocol for transfer file across the
network could eliminate this security problem.

<h3 align=center>Scp</h3>

Scp2 (Secure  Copy) is used to  copy files over  the network securely.
It uses ssh2  for data transfer: it uses  the same authentication and
provides the same security as ssh2.<br>

It is probably the simplest way to copy a file into a remote machine.
Let's suppose you want to copy the file <em>filename</em> contained in the
directory <em>local_dir</em> to your account <em>myname</em> on the
directory <em>remote_dir</em> on host <em>host1</em>. Using scp you
could enter from the command line:

<pre>
scp local_dir/filename myname@host1:remote_dir
</pre>

In such a way the file <em>filename</em> is copied with the same name.
Wildcards can be used (read  more  about those from sshregex man
page).
The command:

<pre>
scp local_dir/* myname@host1:remote_dir
</pre>
 
copies all files from directory <em>local_dir</em> into the directory
<em>remote_dir</em> of <em>host1</em>. <br>
The command:

<pre>
scp myname@host1:remote_dir/filename .
</pre>
 
copies the file <em>filename</em> from <em>remote_dir</em> on
<em>host1</em> to the local directory.<br>
Scp supports many options and allows copies between two remote
systems as in the following example:

<pre>
scp myname@host1:remote_dir/filename  myname@host2:another_dir
</pre>

See its manual page for a complete presentation.<p> 

Obviously, using scp, you must know the exact directory tree of the
remote machine, so in practice sftp is often preferred. 

<h1 align=center>ssh key management</h1>

SSH suite contains two programs useful to manage authentications
keys, allowing the user to connect to a remote system without
specifying a password or even a passphrase. These programs are
ssh-agent and ssh-add.

<h3 align=center>ssh-agent</h3>

>From the manual page of ssh-agent we can read:
"ssh-agent2  is  a  program  to hold authentication private
       keys.  The idea is  that  ssh-agent2  is  started  in  the
       beginning  of  an  X-session  or  a login session, and all
       other windows or programs are started as children  of  the
       ssh-agent2  program  (the  command normally starts X or is
       the user shell).  The programs  started  under  the  agent
       inherit  a connection to the agent, and the agent is 
automatically used for public key authentication when  logging
       to other machines using ssh".<p>

There are two way to use ssh-agent depending on that you are running
xdm or not.<br>
In the first case you should edit <em>.xsession</em> file, placed in the $HOME
directory. There are two possible procedures:<br> 

Copy <em>.xsession</em> to <em>.xsession-stuff</em> and modify 
<em>.xession</em> in such a way it contains only the line: 

<pre> 
exec ssh-agent ./.xsession-stuff
</pre>

Alternatively you could edit <em>.xsession</em> file and search for each
line containing the expression "exec <em>program</em>". Modify
these lines to the form "exec ssh-agent <em>program</em>".<p>

Log out from your X-session and restart it.
ssh-agent will start the
X-session as its own children and wait for ssh key to insert in
its database.<p>

If xdm is not running the procedure to use ssh-agent is simpler
because you can start your X session using the command:

<pre>
ssh-agent startx
</pre>

In such a way you have ssh-agent properly running.

<h3 align=center>ssh-add</h3>

Once ssh-agent is correctly in place you could add identities in its
database using the command ssh-add.
You could add identities only from processes which are children of a ssh-agent
       ancestor otherwise the following error message is displayed:

<pre> 
Failed to connect to authentication agent - agent not running?
</pre>

The use of ssh-add is simple: from the command line issue the command:

<pre>
ssh-add
</pre>

ssh-add scans the file $HOME/.ssh2/identification
which contains  names  of the private keys that are to be
used  in  authentication. If this file doesn't exist, the standard name
for the private key is assumed (i.e. $HOME/.ssh2/id_dsa_1024_a).<br>
If any public key file requires a passphrase, ssh-add  asks
for  the  passphrase  from  the user as in the following example:

<pre>
Adding identity: /home/matt/.ssh2/id_dsa_1024_a.pub
Need passphrase for /home/matt/.ssh2/id_dsa_1024_a (..)
Enter passphrase:
</pre>


You could obtain a list  of all  identities  currently  represented by the
agent using the command <em>ssh-add -l</em>: 

<pre>
Listing identities.
The authorization agent has one key:
id_dsa_1024_a: 1024-bit dsa, (...)
</pre>

<h1 align=center>Conclusions and useful links</h1>

Many users of telnet, rlogin, ftp might not
realize that their password is transmitted across the net unencrypted, but it is. 
The use of some secure protocols could allow a secure transmission
over an insecure network. <br>
SSH, encrypting all traffic, effectively
eliminates eavesdropping, connection hijacking, and other network attacks.<p>

These articles are only an introduction to the SSH
suite; more about this topic could be found in the manual pages of ssh,
sshd and sftp. <p> 

You could get SSH suite from:<br>
<A
HREF="http://www.ssh.com/products/ssh/">www.ssh.com/products/ssh/</a>,
SSH master site or
from 
<a href="http://www.ssh.com/products/ssh/download.html">a mirror
site</a>.<br>
 
Here you could also find some very interesting information about SSH 
technology and cryptography in general in the <a
href="http://www.ssh.com/tech/">Tech corner</a>.<p>

Otherwise you could check 
<a href="http://www.openssh.com/">www.openssh.com</a> where you could
download openssh implementation of SSH protocol. The portable version
is at <a
href="http://www.openssh.com/portable.html">www.openssh.com/portable.html</a>.<br>
You could also read the openssh FAQ: <a
href="http://www.openssh.com/faq.html">www.openssh.com/faq.html</a>.


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

Copyright &copy; 2001, Matteo Dell'Omodarme.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 63 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, Mid-February (EXTRA) 2001</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">Kaptain - A Dialog Creator</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:pevans@catholic.org">Paul Evans</a></H4>
</center>
<P> <HR> <P>  

<!-- END header -->




<p>
<i>``What Linux really needs ...''</i> is the beginning of an oft written statement which nearly as often ends with
<i>``graphical front-ends for legacy console apps.'' </i> To quote a certain magazine
editor: <i>``Of course, what Linux needs  are not just dialogs, but dialogs that
optionally show you the command-line options they generate, so you can  get used
to which options do what.''</i> I add that it would also be nice if the dialogs
were easy to write, so more people would bother to create them. 
</p>


<h2>What Kaptain can do for you</h2>

<p>
<a href="http://kaptain.sourceforge.net" name="Kaptain">Kaptain</a>
has the ability to display mixed  widget types in a modern looking dialog which
is created from a text file. The program can take care of most of the layout and
widget types for you. You can even write tabbed and child dialogs. And, importantly,
it can echo it's output to the command line for learning purposes (or the sheer delight of experimenting :-) ).
It also has tooltips and WhatsThis to aid in this regard. You could even use it as part of a pipe and have it written on the fly!
</p>

<p>
Linux is chock-full of powerful command line goodies like <b>enscript</b> and <b>mpage</b>, but, even if 
you were a member of their frequent-flyer program, you'd never be able to remember all the 
switches and options included with them. <b>Kaptain</b> is perfect for this sort of thing: lots of spinners, 
check-boxes and combos etc. Then there are those file conversion chores. I have
constructed many, er, <i>interesting</i> looking pipelines to convert image, sound and text formats. The 
latter do surrender to a little bash function - as long as you don't need to change any options for any of the commands.
By the time you write enough shell script to handle all the options... you need to write a man page for your shell script.
</p>

<a href="misc/evans/enscript1.gif"><img src="misc/evans/enscript1_thumbnail.jpg" width="250" height="248" vspace="10" hspace="10" alt="pic of a tabbed dialog for enscript" align="right"></a>
<br>

<p>
I wouldn't be writing this if <a
href="http://kaptain.sourceforge.net" name="kaptain">Kaptain</a>
couldn't do all of that, but I'd be lying if I said that it looked easy to <i>me</i>
right away. I'd like to re-stress the "me" in the preceding sentence: I'd never
written in anything object oriented before. If you've done any at all, I'm
sure <b>Kaptain</b> will be a cake-walk for you. And, if you haven't, don't
fret.  I'm living proof that you'll be writing scripts for <b>Kaptain</b>
without stressing yourself overmuch.
</p>


<p>
If you're already handy with the OO approach, I suggest you just download the
thing and dive in - you'll love it. In fact, it isn't OO in the usual meaning. The author <i>``got the idea from Formal Language Theory (Maths), 
where grammars generating text are mathematical objects. So the words terminal, nonterminal are well known in FLT, but nowhere else. 
For those who have learnt such things, it's good to see something they are familiar with, for others these are just some new words.
BTW, YACC also uses Context-Free Grammars.</i>''
</p>

<p>
The image is a thumbnail of the <b>enscript</b> dialog. You can click on it for a larger view.
</p>

<p>
Even if you have no intention of writing anything, there are many example
scripts in the <b>Kaptain</b> 400k source tarball to make it worth the download:
<ul>
  <li>arping</li>
  <li>crypt</li>
  <li>curl</li>
  <li>enscript</li>
  <li>find</li>
  <li>finger</li>
  <li>grep</li>
  <li>indent</li>
  <li>ls</li>
  <li>nslookup</li>
  <li>open</li>
  <li>ping</li>
  <li>procmail</li>
  <li>tar</li>
  <li>weblint</li>
  <li>whois</li>
  <li>zangband</li>
</ul>
After compile, the binary is about 100k.
</p>

<p>
Now, as alluded to earlier, I had never done any scripting which involved '-&gt',
objects or inheritance at all. Sure, I'd copied and pasted Java like
many others have, but I didn't really <i>get</i> it. Any changes were
nearly pure trial and error. Anything that actually worked after I messed with it was pure accident.
</p>

<p>
I think I just wasn't properly pre-disposed to learning it. After all, the only
example of object oriented programming that I (or most other people) are
familiar seeing as code, is Java. We're aware of Java, because it turns our
normally speedy browsers into 3-toed sloths on vallium. I simply could not understand
what all the hype was about since I always dreaded seeing 'loading java' or
similar in Netscape. Apparently, <b>it doesn't have to be that way</b>. It's
really a wonderful way to write once you get into it. I'd known for years about
it being done even in perl, but I never got past my experience watching Java
ruin an evening's browsing. I was recently vindicated in my attitude towards
Java in the January 2001 issue of "Software Development". On page 26 the author
states: ``<i>I'm primarily a Java hacker ... My Plan A for dealing with a
memory-hungry application ... is to wave my hand and snort 'Bah! That is why we
have virtual memory.' The 20-GB hard disk on this system seems positively
claustrophobic to me.</i>'' I knew it! To be fair, this was in the introduction to an article on
embedded, so I hope it was meant as humour. I hope. 
</p>



<h2>Let's create a dialog</h2>

<p>
I can't think of any reason not to use my own first dialog as a starting point,
so we're going to make a simple dialog to hear phone messages from
vgetty.
</p>



<h3>What we need to do</h3>

<p>
Well, we want to display and play voice messages from a graphical user interface.
The messages live in a directory named /var/spool/voice/incoming. We want to
display the messages in a list, pick one and play it. Sounds simple - and
<b>Kaptain</b> keeps it that way. 
</p>



<h3>The script</h3>

<p>
I'm going to describe making a script executable here, because I dimly recall being
 mystified when I first started with Linux by what I took to be weird "comments" on the top of some
 scripts and I hope it may help others. Just skip down to <A href="#goodstuff">The good stuff</A> in order to avoid it.
</p>

<p>
First, lets make a file called 'playmessage'. So, we open a shell and type
"touch playmessage" or open our favourite editor and 'save as'. Whichever, at
some point, you need to be editing a file called 'playmessage' or similar. A
nice place to put this sort of thing is in "/home/yourname/bin", because it's
likely allready a part of your path and you have permissions for it all the
time. If the directory doesn't exist just create it with mkdir.
</p>

<p>
The first line of our script will be a 'shebang' line. Any file under linux is
'executable', i.e. a program, if it has its <i>x</i> bit set. Even if it's not
really a program, but only a script, the first line can tell the operating
system how to handle it as if it were a real program. The upshot is that you can
type the filename and it will be executed.
</p>

<p>
Next we need to know just where <b>kaptain</b> was installed. Pop up an xterm
or drop into console and type "which kaptain" and then enter.
Mine happens to say "/home/paul/bin/kaptain", but yours is more likely to say
"/usr/bin/kaptain" or "/usr/local/bin/kaptain". Now that we know where kaptain
is installed, we can write our first line:<br>
<pre>
#!/usr/bin/kaptain
</pre><br>
and save the file.
</p>

<p>
We're ready to write our script. The last thing we need to do, before we launch
right in, is to set the 'executable' bit on our new "program". Go back into your
shell and make sure you're in the directory which contains 'playmessage'. Now
type "chmod +x playmessage". This will set all the executable bits to on. Now a directory listing with 'ls'
should show 'playmessage' in green with an asterisk beside it indicating
that it's executable.
</p>



<h3><A name="goodstuff">The good stuff</A></h3>

<p>
There are only ten lines in this dialog and two of them are just for show. The only things they do 
are to show a title and an icon. Really, we could do without the "Dismiss" button as well. I want to impress
on you just how few lines you need in order to get a functional dialog. A 'copy and paste' plain text version
is <A HREF="misc/evans/playmessage.kaptain.txt" NAME="link to plaintext">here.</A>
</p>

<PRE>
#!/home/paul/bin/kaptain

start "Play Message" -&gt; descr msglist;

descr :horizontal -&gt; title pic;
title -&gt; @text ("Phone Message player.");
pic -&gt; @icon("/usr/share/icons/large/kvoice.xpm");

msglist :framed :horizontal -&gt; msg buttons;
msg -&gt; @list(`ls /var/spool/voice/incoming`);
buttons -&gt; play close;
play -&gt; @action(play_rmd)="Play";
close -&gt; @close="Dismiss";

play_rmd -&gt; "rmdtopvf /var/spool/voice/incoming/"msg" | pvftowav | play -t wav - ";
</PRE>

<SPACER TYPE="vertical" SIZE="20">

<img src="misc/evans/playmessage.gif" width="543" height="282" vspace="10" hspace="10" alt="snapshot of the playmessage dialog">

<p>Here's our first line:</p>

<pre>start "Play Message" -&gt descr msglist;</pre>

<p>
Note the semi-colon at the end of the line. This is mandatory, just like perl. In fact Kaptain is quite "perlish"
after a fashion. The main container is actually named 'start', this is also built into Kaptain's grammar and you must
use this word for your first rule. The quoted string "Play Message" is optional and is used only for the dialog's window title.
</p>

<p>
On the right, that is, after the "-&amp;gt", you can see the words "descr" and "msglist". In Kaptain grammar these are known as 'nonterminals' and
they refer to some area of the dialog. They may be named anything you like as long as they start with a letter. You can also specify as
many areas as you like.
</p>

<p>
So far, we've defined a dialog with two areas named "descr" and "msglist". If you try to run this without adding anything more it will fail. Why? Because, 
the areas named don't resolve to anything - we haven't defined them yet. These next three lines define the "descr" area of the dialog:
</p>

<pre>
descr :horizontal -&gt title pic;
title -&gt @text ("Phone Message player.");
pic -&gt @icon("/usr/share/icons/large/kvoice.xpm");
</pre>

<p>
The first line of "descr" is just about the same as the very first line of our script and it does pretty much the same thing. It defines two 
areas of the dialog. The only difference is the ':horizontal' option. This forces Kaptain to lay them out side by side instead of vertically. Of
course now these <i>new</i> areas need to be terminated (or point to yet more areas) and they do in the next two lines following them.
"title" now points to a text widget and "pic" points to an icon. Kaptain grammar calls these <i>"specials"</i>. There's a list of all the currently
available specials <a href="misc/evans/specials.html">here.</a> These include spinners, combos, file dialogs etc.
</p>

<p>
These last lines complete the whole dialog by terminating the "msglist" area of the dialog:
</p>

<pre>
msglist :framed :horizontal -&gt msg buttons;
msg -&gt @list(`ls /var/spool/voice/incoming`);

buttons -&gt play close;
play -&gt @action(play_rmd)="Play";
close -&gt @close="Dismiss";

play_rmd -&gt "rmdtopvf /var/spool/voice/incoming/"msg" | pvftowav | play -t wav - ";
</pre>

<p>
Again, we see a familiar line. "msglist" has just added two child areas to itself. Now that you know what the ":horizontal" option does, I
think you can guess at the ":framed" option. 
</p>

<p>
The next line - the one for "msg" - is interesting. It's both simple and powerful. I'm sure you've figured out that "@list" is responsible for
the list box shown in the dialog, but look where it gets it's contents from: a line of shell script! Anything in back-quotes (n.b. It's the key to the left
of the "1" on your keyboard, the regular single quote won't work.) will be executed and it's standard out will be fed into the "special". You can stuff
anything in there, "perl -e" - whatever, even multi-line.
</p>

<p>The only area left now is the one for the buttons. This area spins off two more children, one for each button we want. The play button shows
another way to execute some shell commands, this time a pipeline for converting and playing raw modem files. That's it. Again, to see the script as 
plain text you may click <A HREF="./misc/evans/playmessage.kaptain.txt" NAME="link to plaintext">here.</A> It's nice to see it all together now that you know how it works.
Simple as it is, you could tinker a bit if you like: feed the list your music directory and change the play command to your mp3 player for example. Process
text files, convert images; it can be the basis for a lot of things.
</p>

<p>
Anything this easy becomes nearly addictive and I was sorely tempted to start "embroidering" the script. Since I only have one way of dealing with
temptation (I yield to it) a pic of the over-grown results is <a href="misc/evans/voxpak.gif">here</a> and the script is <a href="misc/evans/voxpak.kaptain.txt">here.</a> This exercise
was useful for two reasons: a) I got something to replace my now kde2-broken <b>kvoice</b> and b) I learned the limitations of <b>Kaptain</b>. You can't
refresh lists or change anything after it's up (of course widget settings <i>do</i> change things). Commands are evaluated only at run-time. This is as it should be 
for a dialog program and I really was pushing the envelope with my little kvoice experiment. So let's do what I originally set out to show.
</p>

<h3>A dialog for <b>mpage</b></h3>

<img src="misc/evans/mpage.gif" width="289" height="302" vspace="10" hspace="10" alt="snapshot of mpage dialog" align="right">

<p>
If you've seen the command line options for <b>mpage</b> you're probably afraid right now. Very afraid. But fear not. We're only going to use a small subset of mpage's options.
And, because we've taken a good look at the basics, I'm not going to go through it line by line. I'm including this here to show off the @echo special more than anything.
</p>


<p>
For those who aren't familiar with <b>mpage</b>, it's a command line program for printing multiple pages on a single page. You can print 2, 4 or 8 up, but you'd better
have exceptional eyesight and a good printer for 8:1! The other noteworthy thing about <b>mpage</b> is that it has about 50 options you can feed it - in fact, the sheer number of
options is listed under 'BUGS' in the man page :-) I'm sure I'll embroider this script over time too, but for now let's just choose between how many pages and the margin controls.
</p>

<p>
Here's the script:
</p>

<pre>
#!/home/paul/bin/kaptain -V

start :framed "mpage Mini-Dialog" -&gt file numpages margins buttons;

file "File to print" -&gt @infile("*.txt");

numpages :horizontal "Number of pages on each page" -&gt p1 | ! p2 | p4 | p8;
  p1 "1 pg" -&gt "1";
  p2 "2 pgs" -&gt "2";
  p4 "4 pgs" -&gt "4";
  p8 "8 pgs" -&gt "8";

margins :horizontal "Margins" -&gt left right top bottom;
  left "Left" -&gt @integer(10,100)=40;
  right "Right" -&gt @integer(10,100)=50;
  top "Top" -&gt @integer(10,100)=20;
  bottom "Bottom" -&gt @integer(10,100)=30;

buttons :horizontal -&gt echo print dismiss;
  echo -&gt @echo(cmd)="Echo";
  print -&gt @action(cmd)="Print";
  dismiss -&gt @close()="Dismiss";

cmd -&gt "mpage -P -"numpages" -m" left "l" bottom "b" top "t" right" r "file;
</pre>

<p>Plain text is <A HREF="./misc/evans/mpage.kaptain.txt" NAME="link to plaintext">here.</A></p>

<p>
When run from an xterm, you can make changes and click the "Echo" button over and over to see how the changes effect the command line
 without wasting any paper at all. To save more paper just take out the "-P" and everything will go to standard out even if you press print.
To really enjoy playing with it change the cmd line to:
</p>

<pre>cmd -&gt "mpage -" numpages " -m" left "l" bottom "b" top "t" right "r " file" >test.ps";</pre>

<p>
then you can just view the output page with a viewer. Or you could add ";viewername test.ps" to the end and save a step - you get the idea.
</p>

<p>
There is another article about <b>Kaptain</b> by <a href="mailto:renai@start.com.au">hawkeye</a> at 
<A HREF="http://www.linuxtoday.com.au/r/article/jsp/sid/131347">Linux Today Australia.</A>
</p>

<p>
I haven't done a thorough job of describing everything <b>Kaptain</b> can do; there's heaps more I haven't shown or even mentioned. 
<b>Kaptain</b> comes with pretty good docs and plenty of examples though. The author of <b>Kaptain</b> is <b>Terk Zsolt</b>. 
He's doing a great job with <b>Kaptain</b> - which is still only at 0.51. If it gains wider use it can be of great value in teaching console 
apps and it can save all of us some mind-numbing tedium. Plus, it's the most painless way to experiment with output I've ever
found. Don't wait for someone to write one for you - give it a shot yourself. Really. Mr. Terk will be pleased to post them on his 
<a href="http://kaptain.sourceforge.net">website.</a>
</p>

<p>
There are other dialog programs for X out there: <b>gdialog</b> which is probably on your system already, <b>Xdialog</b> which has some nice date/time dialogs etc.
is down-loadable from <a href="http://xdialog.free.fr/">here.</a> 
If one dialog app doesn't have exactly what you want there are always options. I'm sure there are others I just haven't tried yet. Mix and match them within the same script.




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

Copyright &copy; 2001, Paul Evans.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 64 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, March 2001</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">Mean Thoughts on the Linux Router Project</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:mf@agate.net">Mark Fevola</a></H4>
</center>
<P> <HR> <P>  

<!-- END header -->




<p>
Thinking about using a Linux box as a router?  This article compares some older one-disk routers to the Linux Router Project (LRP).
<p>
A few years ago there was a company called MorningStar Technologies (not to be confused with the financial firm ;) which was later bought out by Ascend.  And if I'm not mistaken --someone please correct me-- Ascend was bought by Livingston, and Livingston was purchased by Lucent, ad nauseum.  Or was it CompaqDigitalMicrocom 3ComMegahertz who bought it?  Nevermind.
<p>
The company MorningStar made routers.  Two models were the MorningStar Express FR and the MorningStar Express Plus.  MorningStar routers were cheap, too.  One of their many competitors, Cisco Systems, charged $2500. for the same functionality in a router they charged $1450. for.
<p>
The MSE FR was a heavy metal box about the size of a laptop and just as rack mountable.  The Plus was a different animal altogether.  The MorningStar Express Plus was actually a 386SX PC with 4MB RAM (yep that's right), a 1.44MB floppy, and a RISCom card ( == a V.35 serial port a.k.a. 'T1 port', see <A HREF=" http://www.sdlcomm.com/"> http://www.sdlcomm.com/</A>).
<p>
Like Ciscos, the MSE series of routers had their own command set, binaries, etc., the difference being the platform(s).  The MSE software you could take one 1.44 disk and stick it into <i>any</i> PC with the right hardware (IRQ settings, port addresses must match as well) and voila, Instant Router.
<p>
Once I had an MSE that <i>died with extreme prejudice</i> from a NYNEX power spike.  We had no spare routers and the customer was down.  In 1995 the quickest we could get another router was overnight, for a big phat charge that I would have to eat, and overnight was WAY TOO LONG for the customer to be down.  I needed a router, fast.  So I made one.   I used a 386DX (the motherboard came from a local BBS in a modem trade or something) with 4MB RAM, a RISCom card lifted from an MSE, and a licensed copy of BSDi 2.0.  It supported a 56K leased line from Bangor, ME to Ellsworth, ME for about a year and a half.  I think it's hostname was Sloth or Gluttony but I'm not sure.  Anyway this is an example of what the Linux Router Project (LRP) mutated from.
<p>
And let's not forget another excellent weird router that I call 'The F-Box.'  'F' stands for Frankenstein, built out of spare parts.  It's a router that runs on one 1.44 disk under DOS.  The software is called IPRoute (see <A HREF="http://www.mischler.com/iproute/">http://www.mischler.com/iproute/</A>) by David F. Mischler.  Grab a packet driver for your favorite NIC from <A  HREF="http://www.crynwr.com/">http://www.crynwr.com/</A> and you're in business.  If you need throttling (traffic-shaping, bandwidth-limiting controls) you do it in the hardware: Use a 286 to throttle an Ethernet connection to 56K. The 286 just can't keep up. Use a 386SX for ISDN speeds, etc.  Do your own empirical studies in situ.
<p>
The point is that from Day One, you could stick a V.35 port in a Unix box and &lt;Presto!&gt; turn that box into a router.  Or two Ethernet cards and call it a bridge.  Of course the kernel would need to support your hardware --in the early days there was no kernel support for RISCom cards.  The pros and cons of an industry standard Cisco versus a sticky tape Linux box depend on the situation.  Think about:   Overhead, security, cost, command set, filtering rules, bus noise, traffic-shaping, complexity, cost-benefit, etc., etc., etc.  Just weigh the specifics of 'which tool for the job.'  Indeed, do your own research.
<p>
I have not done a lot of work/research with LRP incarnation at <A  HREF="http://www.linuxrouter.org/">linuxrouter.org</A> as such but I am familiar with the "Materhorn Project [sic]" --I don't know why they spelled it that way.  It's a brilliant Linux-oid implementation, taking up one disk (much like an MSE router) but running Linux command sets (like a BSDi box).  The FAQ is <A  HREF="http://www.dreamwvr.com/lrp2-info/lrp2-faq.html"> here</A>.  However it does not run standard Linux commands 'ifconfig' and 'route', rather it runs a command called 'ip', which necessitates the learning of a new command set anyway.  With this in mind I wonder why the 'L' stands for 'Linux.'
<p>
Considering the practical, I don't see much difference between the MSE and Materhorn.  For small networks you can RIP, NAT (Masqeuerade) or DHCP.  But for larger networks it does not support gateD, and cannot route between Autonomous Systems (ASs).  Source is available for gateD so I assume it just hasn't been assimilated by the LRP Borg yet.  Give them time.  However, unlike the MSE, Materhorn recognizes the loopback interface --probably because the last time I can remember MSE software being updated was 1995.  And lastly, another difference is TFTP.  The MSE has it, Materhorn does not have it.
<p>
Besides the LRP there's a multitude of other devices, appliances, systems and software available to complete the same job.  Simple gains in popularity and 'press coverage,' much like Napster versus Gnutella, Hotline, Scour, etc. have shown the spotlight on Linux for developers as well as consumers.  You've heard of Napster, have you ever heard of Gnutella?  Similarly, you've heard of Linux and the LRP.  There are <i>lots</i> of other products out there.  The DOS-based routers, for example, have a single thread of execution, and by design are <i>much</i> more secure and stable than <i>any</i> Unix/Linux/Freenix based product.  Ever have a Single-Function-DOS box crash?
<p>
How much of a NIST freak are you?  I standardized my Alpha- and Intel-based servers to run the same version of Linux; every machine in the shop has an SMC NIC; all the PCs run the same version of Win 98 <cough>; and all the routers are Cisco.  There's something to be said for standardization.  When Jackie in sales calls the help desk complaining that the network is down, we don't have to ask her what OS she's running, nor do we have to walk her through determining what NIC she's got.  We have one CD and one set of drivers to be used on every machine.
<p>
The servers very well should run Linux.  But do we want to standardize <i>every machine in the shop</i> to run Linux?  Each genre of task should be standardized --so if you're going to have one Linksys hub, you might as well have all your hubs Linksys.  If you have one Cisco router, ditto.  Linux on the diskless PC routers, ditto.  Or if you can't afford a Cisco, your trade-off is money vs. time:  The time it takes you to learn the LRP command sets.  Besides, you already have Linux on the servers!
<p>
There might be applications and situations for the LRP, I cannot see any.  Not even embedded systems.  Microsoft wants your refrigerator to run Windows CE; well, Linux developers are doing it too.  That's good in a certain way, though it's bad in and of itself.  To me, the LRP is a host of developers having wasting time.  I hope at least they're having fun.





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

Copyright &copy; 2001, Mark Fevola.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 64 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, March 2001</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">The GNU GRUB Boot Loader</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:jskohli@fig.org">Jaswinder Singh Kohli</a></H4>
</center>
<P> <HR> <P>  

<!-- END header -->




<H2>What is a boot loader?</H2>

<P> A boot loader is a program that resides in the starting sectors of
a disk, e.g., the MBR (Master Boot Record) of the hard disk.
After testing the system during bootup, the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System)
tranfers control to the MBR if the system is set to be booted from
there. Then the program residing in MBR gets executed. This program is
called the boot loader. Its duty is to transfer control to the operating system, which will then proceed with the boot process.

<P> There are a lot of boot loader programs available, including GNU GRUB
(Grand Unified Boot Loader), Bootmanager, LILO (LInux LOader), NTLDR (boot
loader for Windows NT systems), etc.  I've chosen to discuss GNU GRUB and how
to use it.

<H2>What is GRUB?</H2>

<P> GRUB is a very powerful boot loader that can load a variety of operating
systems such as Windows, DOS, Linux, GNU Hurd, *BSD, etc.

<P> Currently LILO is the most popular boot loader, used by almost
everyone with multiboot systems. But if you use LILO, you have to remember to
rerun LILO every time you change your configuration or install a new kernel.
Also, LILO has less flexibility than GRUB.

<P> GRUB is another name for flexibility. Its latest
release, 0.5.96.1, supports ext2 (a file system Linux uses), FAT16 and FAT32
(used by Win9x and ME), FFS (Fast File System used by *BSD UNIX), ReiserFS (a
new journalling file system developed for Linux and integrated into Linux
Kernel 2.4.1), and minix (an old file system developed for the MINIX OS, also
used by earlier Linux). With GRUB, you can "see" into these file systems
without even booting an operating system. For example, if you want to see the
date and time stored in a text file and don't have time for the whole operating
system to boot, you can use GRUB's shell (prompt "grup&gt;) and type: 
<PRE>
grub&gt; cat (partition number)/home/god/filename.txt.  
</PRE>
You'll have all your file system contents, including dates and times.


<P> The best use of GRUB is that you can load any kernel on any partition right
out of the box. For example, if you forget adding the newly compiled kernel to
the list, you would normally need to boot, add it to the list and then reboot
to use it. But with GRUB, you can simply use the shell and load the desired
kernel image.

<P> I'll now explain the three primary steps to using GRUB: compilation,
installation and configuration.


<H2>STEP 1: Compiling and Installing GRUB</H2>

<P> Download the source of GRUB from 
<A HREF="ftp://alpha.gnu.org/pub/gnu/grub">ftp://alpha.gnu.org/pub/gnu/grub</A>.

<P> Extract the compressed archive as "tar -xvzf filename.tar.gz"/
For me the filename was grub-0.5.96.1.tar.gz, so I did 
<PRE>
# tar -xvzf grub-0.5.96.1.tar.gz
</PRE>
This command extracted a lot of files and directories to a directory called
grub-0.5.96.1

Now do the following:
<PRE>
[root@heaven ~/grub-0.5.96.1 ]# ./configure
</PRE>

<P> If you want to customize GRUB to include particular filesystem and 
network-card support, or to remove support of network cards you don't need,
run:

<PRE>
[root@heaven ~/grub-0.5.96.1 ]# ./configure --help
</PRE>

<P> This command will show you all the options. Now use the --enable and
--disable prefixes to add or remove support for certain cards.

<P> (NOTE: GRUB supports network booting.)

<P> To start the compilation process, type:
<PRE>
[root@heaven ~/grub-0.5.96.1 ]# make
</PRE>

<P> To install all the files in their proper places, type:
<PRE>
[root@heaven ~/grub-0.5.96.1 ]# make install
</PRE>

<P> Now you are ready to really install grub GRUB.

<P> It's a good idea to keep all of GRUB's boot-related files in a directory
such
as /boot/grub . To do this, follow this simple procedure:

<P> 1. By default all the files of GRUB are either installed in 
   /usr/share/grub/i386-pc or /usr/local/share/grub/i386-pc
   depending upon how your shell variables are set.
<P> 2. Make a new directory called /boot/grub.  Then copy the following files
to this directory:

<PRE>
stage1
stage2
*_stage1_5
</PRE>

<P> I will explain these files later. Also copy the GRUB program (which may be
in /usr/sbin or /usr/local/sbin) to the /boot/grub directory.

<P> Before installing GRUB, you need to know how GRUB understands your hard
drive and partition information. First of all, counting starts from 0, not from
1.  In Linux, your first hard drive attached to the primary master controller
is called "hda". In GRUB it becomes "hd0". Likewise, your first floppy drive in
GRUB is "fd0". So the first, second and third partitions on the first hard disk
(hda1, hda2 and hda3), become "hd0,0", "hd0,1" and "hd0,2" in GRUB.  NOTE: the
comma is an integral part of GRUB partition nomenclature.

<P> To integrate the two fields (disk drive number and partition number) around
the comma into one, use parentheses. For example: (hd0,0) (hd0,1)
(hd0,2) and so on. (hd0,0) is first partition on first hard disk. Similarly,
(hd1,5) is the sixth partition on second hard disk and (hd2,0) is first
partition on third hard disk.

<H2>Step 2: Installing GRUB</H2>

<P> Installing GRUB can be broken into three separate parts:

<OL>
	<LI> Installation of "stage1" in MBR.
	<LI> Setting up the address or location, "stage2".
	<LI> Setting up a boot menu or set of options to choose which 
   operating oystem to boot.
   </OL>

<P> Start installing GRUB by issuing the following command:

<PRE>
[root@heaven /boot/grub ]# ./grub
</PRE>

<P> This command probes devices to guess BIOS drives and produces an output
message. This may take a long time.

<PRE>
end_request: I/O error, dev 02:00 (floppy), sector 0

    GRUB  version 0.5.96.1  (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)
</PRE>

<P> NOTE: Although it may seem surprising, GRUB does have minimal Bash-like
line editing is supported.  For the first word, TAB lists possible command
completions. Anywhere else TAB lists the possible completions of a
device/filename.  You may be surprised to see this feature.

Something like this then appears:
<PRE>
grub&gt; 
</PRE>

<P> Now, I assume that you have
installed your Linux distro in the first extended partition in the first disk
or /dev/hda5.  Remember the GRUB naming convention and rename the above to
(hd0,4).

Type the following command:
<PRE>
grub&gt; install (hd0,4)/boot/grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0,4)/boot/grub/stage2 p (hd0,4)/boot/grub/menu.conf
</PRE>

Now let's examine this command in detail:

<DL>
	<DT> <STRONG>install</STRONG>
	<DD>  a built-in command that tells GRUB to install
(hd0,4)/boot/grub/grub/stage1 to (hd0), the Master Boot Record.

	<DT> <STRONG>(hd0,4)/boot/grub/stage2</STRONG> 
	<DD> tells grub where the stage2 image is located.

	<DT> <STRONG>	p with the the following options: 
(hd0,4)/boot/grub/menu.conf</STRONG> 
	<DD> sets the configuration file for displaying nice menus.
I will later discuss the structure of the configuration file.
</DL>

<P> We can also summarize that command as follows:

<OL>
	<LI> install
	<LI> source_of_stage1
	<LI> where_to_install
	<LI> source_of_stage2
	<LI> p source_of_configuration_file
</OL>

<P> You have now completed the basic hard drive installation.

<P> Installation on the floppy:
<P> To install GRUB on a floppy you need to know the 'dd' command and how it
works. For a GRUB bootable floppy you need to put the stage1 and stage2 files
on the starting sectors of floppy.

<H3>Installing stage1 on a floppy</H3> 

<P> Insert a formatted floppy disk and type:

<PRE>
[root@heaven /boot/grub ]# dd if=stage1 of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 count=1
</PRE>

<P> Again, lets examine the command in detail:

<DL>
<DT><STRONG>if=input file</STRONG>
<DD>i.e., stage1 
<DT><STRONG>of=output file</STRONG>
<DD> i.e., floppy drive (this may be different on your computer)
<DT><STRONG>bs=bytes to read and write</STRONG> 
<DD>Here it is 512 bytes.
<DT><STRONG>count=how many times to perform this operation</STRONG>
<DD>Each iteration copies the next "bs" number of blocks to the destination,
consecuitively.
</DL>
		       	
<H3> Installing stage2 on a floppy</H3>

<PRE>
[root@heaven /boot/grub ]# dd if=stage2 of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 seek=1
</PRE>

<P> Everything here is same as stage1 except for a new item called seek. Seek
skips 1 "bs" value. For example, in the above command bs is 512, so seek=1
will skip the first 512 bytes of space on the floppy disk and continue at the
513rd byte. This will preserve the first operation by not overwriting the
first 512 bytes written on stage1.

<P> You have now completed the basic floppy drive installation.


<H2>STEP 3: Configuring GRUB</H2>

<P> In this section we will see how to boot into various operating systems and
build the menu.conf file. 

<P> Let's start with boot procedures supported by GRUB. Booting can be
done in two ways: 

<UL>
<LI> A. Booting natively by calling the kernel. 
<LI> B. Chain loading or giving control to another boot loader.
</UL>

<P> Boot procedure using method A:
<OL>
<LI> Set the root device or tell GRUB your root file system.
<LI> Tell GRUB where your kernel image is and pass the parameters 
   to the kernel.
<LI> Reboot and try it.
</OL>

<P> To boot Linux, I have my kernel in /boot/ as bzImage and my root file
system as /dev/hda5, or (hd0,4) in GRUB. So my booting procedure is as follows:

<OL>
<LI> root (hd0,4)    &nbsp;&nbsp;<EM>[This sets the root partition]</EM>
<LI> kernel /boot/bzImage root=/dev/hda5    &nbsp;&nbsp;<EM>[This sets the kernel]</EM>
<LI> boot  &nbsp;&nbsp;<EM>[This starts booting into Linux]</EM>
</OL>

<P> Boot procedure using method B (this method assumes that you have another
boot manager such as LILO or NTLDR installed in the partition):

<OL>
<LI> Set the root partition but do not mount it. 
<LI> Make that partition active
<LI> Set the first sector of the device to which the control has to be 
   transfered with command chain loader.
<LI> Reboot and try it.
</OL>

<P> Let's try another example with Windows installed in /dev/hda1 or (hd0,0).
The procedure for booting with Windows is as follows:

<OL>
<LI> rootnoverify (hd0,0)
<LI> makeactive
<LI> chainloader +1 &nbsp;&nbsp;<EM>[+1 sets the first sector of the current root partition]</EM>
<LI> boot  &nbsp;&nbsp;<EM>[transfers the control and quits GRUB]</EM>
</OL>
 
<P> The menu.conf file: this is used for booting multiple operating systems and
menu building. Building the menu.conf file is not difficult. It uses plain
English, as you will see in this section.

<P> All the menu entries start with "title TITLENAME" without commas. You can
set your TITLENAME to whatever you want.

<P> To make the menu for booting Linux:

<OL>
<LI> Set the title.
<LI> Set the root partition .
<LI> Set the kernel with right kind of parameters.
<LI> Boot
</OL>
   
<P> To make a working menu:

<PRE>
title Debian GNU/Linux 2.2 kernel 2.4.1
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/bzImage.2.4.1
boot
#----
</PRE>

<P> (Hash (#) in front of a line is a comment.)
 
<P> To make a menu for Windows or DOS:

<PRE>
title Windoze 
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
boot
#----
</PRE>

<P> What if you want to have two verisons of Windows installed--say
one for yourself and the other for your family--but the second one won't install
because it says Windows is already installed?

<P> There is an easy way install two versions by hiding one partition during
boot and then using the other. You can even password-protect your option so
that no one loads your partition by mistake. Here's how to create two
installations of Windows, hda1 and hda2 or (hd0,0) and (hd0,1), using the
commands lock, password, hide and unhide.

<P> For Windows "My Entry":

<PRE>
title My Entry
lock
unhide (hd0,0)
hide (hd0,1)
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
boot
#----
</PRE>

<P> To use the lock command effectively you need to specify the password
command near the start of the configuration file.  The syntax of password
command is as follows: password secret ("secret" is the password). At any time
you can enter the password by pressing p.

<P> For Windows "Family Entry"

<PRE>
title Family Entry
unhide (hd0,1)
hide (hd0,0)
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
makeactive
chainloader +1
boot
----
</PRE>

<P> Anyone will be able to boot this entry as a password is not required.

<P> Here's another interesting trick in the using password command. To hide the
entries in the default menu listing or configuration file, you can load a
personal listing by using the following command: 

<PRE>
password secret
</PRE>

<P> /boot/grub/secret-list.conf In this command, "secret" is the password and
/boot/grub/secret-list.conf is the password file. Before doing this you should
set the root directive or give the full path. For example: 

<PRE>
password secret (hd0,4)/boot/grub/secret-list.conf
</PRE>

<P> One more important command is the "map" command, which you can use when you
have two hard disks and an operating system such as Windows which doesn't like
to be booted from the second hard disk. For example, you can map hd0 as hd1 and
hd1 as hd0. In other words, you can virtually swap the two hard disks and load
the desired operating system.  The commands are as follows:

<PRE>
grub&gt; map (hd0) (hd1)
grub&gt; map (hd1) (hd0)
</PRE>

<P> For Booting FreeBSD:

<PRE>
title FreeBSD 4.0
root (hd0,4,a)
kernel /boot/loader
boot
#---- 
</PRE>

<P> Here we are calling FreeBSD's loader. You see that the root (hd0,4,a)
has three arguments as FreeBSD does virtual slicing of a single partition. We
call the root partition "a". If FreeBSD occupies a complete second disk on your
system, this would be root (hd0,a). So instead of calling the kernel we are
calling the FreeBSD loader, which is better to talk to than the kernel.

<P> <EM>(NOTE: I recommend that before trying OpenBSD and GNU/Hurd, you keep working on doing chain loading.)</EM>

<P> You have now completed basic GRUB compiling, installing and configuring. The
more you get to know GRUB, the more you will find GRUB to be an easy and
powerful way to control booting.

<P> Miscellaneous GRUB commands:

<DL>
<DT><STRONG>default xx</STRONG>    
<DD>where xx is the default entry to boot.
<DT><STRONG>timeout yy</STRONG>    
<DD>where yy is the time (in seconds) after which the default entry will boot.
<DT><STRONG>fallback zz</STRONG>   
<DD>where zz is the entry which will boot if, after the timeout, the first
entry fails to boot.
<DT><STRONG>color</STRONG>         
<DD>This is used for colorising the menu. Its syntax is: color normal
current_selection. Both the fields can have two values as foreground/background
For example: 

<PRE>
color green/black or light-gray/blue
</PRE>

 You can also use
corresponding numbers.  
</DL>

<P> REMEMBER: all values start from 0, so 0 is the first entry.

<P> In my next article, I plan to test Fire GNU/Hurd and OpenBSD and maybe some
networking bootup. You'll have to wait for at least three or more months as I
will be taking my exams in between. Keep watching.

<P> Any comments or mistakes can be forwarded to me at 
<A HREF="jskohli@fig.org">jskohli@fig.org</A>.






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

Copyright &copy; 2001, Jaswinder Singh Kohli.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 64 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, March 2001</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">Displaying CVS Version Control Numbers in Webpages</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:info@gnujobs.com">Mark Nielsen</a></H4>
</center>
<P> <HR> <P>  

<!-- END header -->




<ol>
<li>
<a href="#Introduction">Introduction</a></li>
<li><a href="#perl">Perl script displaying version number</a></li>
<li><a href="#security">Security</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#Conclusion">Conclusion</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#REF">References</a></li>
</ol>


<h3>
<a NAME="Introduction"></a>Introduction</h3>
For a few years, I have been writing articles. A silly person named 
Phil Hunter from <a href="http://www.colug.net">Central Ohio Linux 
User Group</a> suggested to me several times to put version control
on the articles. Of course, that is just one more thing to do in a long
list of things to do. As usual, when certain things come together, then
I pick up on old ideas and make them happen. The conditions were the 
following:
<ol>
<li> After working at Cisco in the EMAN and INFOSEC groups, I learned how to
  use CVS in some detail. I printed out the CVS manual 
<a href="http://genericbooks.com/Literature/Documents/pdf/Books/cvs_book.pdf">
available at genericbooks.com</a>. Now I use CVS for everything I do.  </li>
<li>After using SSI, PHP, Mason, ASP, EmbPerl, ePerl, and other Perl 
server side include modules for Apache for quite a few years, 
it became trivial to create a Perl script to open of a CVS file, read it
contents, and print out the results. 
</li>
<li> I have a lot of documents, and it is time I keep version control. </li>
</ol>

<h3>
<a NAME="perl"></a>Perl script displaying version number</h3>

In order to make it easy so that every document can use the same
command, I use this server side include command that comes with
Apache. PHP, Perl ASP, Mason, and other server side scripting 
languages also have similar commands. 
<pre>
&lt;!--#include virtual="/ssi/cvs_version.pl"  --&gt;
</pre> 
<p>
I also have it configured so that all webpage can use server side includes
commands by putting this into my apache httpd.conf file.
<pre>

&lt;Directory "/usr/local/apache_gnujobs/htdocs"&gt;

    Options All Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews ExecCGI Includes 

    AllowOverride All

    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
&lt;/Directory&gt;

AddType text/html .shtml
AddHandler server-parsed .shtml .html .htm .shtm
</pre>
<p>
Here is a 
<a href="misc/nielsen/cvs_version.pl.txt">
text version of the perl script</a>, or you can also 
copy and paste it from this document below. 

<pre>
#!/usr/bin/perl

print "Content-type: text/html\n\n\n\n";

  ### Get the name of the file being requested.
my $Temp = $ENV{'REQUEST_URI'};
my $Cvs = $Temp;

  ### Split the url by "/".
my (@Junk) = split(/\//, $Cvs);

  ### Get the end of the url, which is the filename.
my $File = pop @Junk;
$Cvs =~ s/[^\/]+$//g;

  ### Attach the document root directory so we get the complete path to the
  ### file on our computer server. Also, attach the CVS/Entries name so that
  ### we get the CVS information.
$Cvs = $ENV{'DOCUMENT_ROOT'} . $Cvs . "CVS/Entries"; 

  ### Open the file, and if we find a match, record it to $Match
my $Match = "";
open(FILE,$Cvs);
while (my $Line = &lt;FILE&gt;) 
  {
  if ($Line =~ /$File/) {$Match = $Line; chomp $Line}
  }
close FILE;

   ### If match is not found, print not found, otherwise get the information.
if ($Match eq "") {print "No CVS information found. '$File'\n";}
else 
  {
     ### Get the information we want and print it out.
  my ($Junk,$File,$Version,$Date,@Junk) = split(/\//, $Match);
  print "Version &lt;b&gt;$Version&lt;/b&gt; : Date Last Changed &lt;b&gt;$Date&lt;/b&gt;\n";
  }

</pre>


<h3>
<a NAME="security"></a>
Security</h3>
There is a potential problem with security when you use my perl script above. 
Anybody can read your files located in the CVS directories. I don't know
if this is a big concern to most people, and it really isn't a concern to me,
but just in case, I blocked reading of the files in any CVS directory by
using these commands in my httpd.conf file for my Apache webserver. This is
a simple way of doing it. I am not going to have
any files or directories that end their names with the words 
"Root", "CVS", "Repository", or "Entries", so to me it works fine. 

<pre>
&lt;Files ~ "CVS$"&gt;
    Order allow,deny
    Deny from all
&lt;/Files&gt;
&lt;Files ~ "Root$"&gt;
    Order allow,deny
    Deny from all
&lt;/Files&gt;
&lt;Files ~ "Repository$"&gt;
    Order allow,deny
    Deny from all
&lt;/Files&gt;
&lt;Files ~ "Entries$"&gt;
    Order allow,deny
    Deny from all
&lt;/Files&gt;
</pre>

<h3>
<a NAME="Conclusion"></a>Conclusion</h3>
Using CVS to manage version control of documents, programs, and scripts is
great. Using CVS and my perl script to display the version number of the
document is a satisfactory way of keeping version control of your documents. 
I have no need to make it more advanced, so it works for me. 
<p>
Some silly things to do:
<ol>
<li> Check to see if CVS directory and files exist before opening up to
read them. Doesn't matter since I assume the person putting in the
server side include command should know what they are doing and it wouldn't
really do anything bad anyways. </li>
<li>Use a better regular expression match which will make the webserver
reject "/CVS/" anywhere in the requested url from the client browser.
This would be better than rejecting only specific files. This doesn't
matter to me.</li>
<li>This doesn't work with Alias in the httpd.conf file. At least, I don't
think it does. </li>
<li> Check to see if the date of the file matches the date in CVS. 
This lets you know if your document is out of sync with the CVS
respository. This isn't important to me. 
</li>
</ol>
<p>

<h3>
<a NAME="REF"></a>References</h3>

<ol>
<li>
If this article
changes, it will be available here
<a href="http://www.gnujobs.com/Articles/16/CVS_SSI.html">
http://www.gnujobs.com/Articles/15/CVS_SSI.html.</a></li>
<li><a href ="../issue57/nielsen.html">
CVS: Concurrent Versions System</a> by Mark Nielsen </a>

</ol>


<p>
<i> Mark works as an independent consultant donating time to causes like
GNUJobs.com, writing articles, writing free software, and working 
as a volunteer at <a href="http://www.eastmont.net">eastmont.net</a>.</i>
<p>
<i>Copyright &copy; 1/2001 Mark Nielsen</i>
<br>Article 

Version <b>1.3</b> : Date Last Changed <b>Sun Feb 25 21:13:16 2001</b>







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

Copyright &copy; 2001, Mark Nielsen.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 64 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, March 2001</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">Learning Perl, part 2</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:ben-fuzzybear@yahoo.com">Ben Okopnik</a></H4>
</center>
<P> <HR> <P>  

<!-- END header -->




<BLOCKQUOTE>
<tt>"I realized at that point that there was a huge ecological niche
between the C language and Unix shells. C was good for manipulating complex
things&nbsp; - you can call it 'manipulexity.' And the shells were good
at whipping up things - what I call 'whipupitude.' But there was this big
blank area where neither C nor shell were good, and that's where I aimed
Perl."</tt>
<br><tt>&nbsp;-- Larry Wall, author of Perl</tt>
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<p><b>Overview</b>
<p>In the first part, we talked about some basics and general issues in
Perl - writing a script, hash-bangs, style - as well as a number of specifics,
such as scalars, arrays, hashes, operators, and quoting methods. This month,
we'll take a look at the intrinsic Perl tools that make it so easy to use
from the command line, as well as their equivalents in scripts. We'll also
go a little deeper into quoting methods, and get a bit of a start on regexes
(regular expressions, or REs) - one of the most powerful tools in Perl,
and one that deserves an entire book all its own. <a href="#1">[1]</a>
<br>&nbsp;
<br>&nbsp;
<p><b>Quote Mechanisms</b>
<p>Most of you will be familiar with the standard quoting mechanisms in
Unix: the single and the double quote, which I'd already mentioned in my
previous article, have much the same functionality in Perl as they do in
the shell. Sometimes, though, escaping all the in-line metacharacters can
be a bit painful. Imagine trying to print a string like this:
<p><tt>``/// Don't say "shan't," "can't," or "won't." ///''</tt>
<p>Good grief! What can we do with a mess like that?
<p>Well, we could put in a whole bunch of escapes ("\"), but that would
be a pain - as well as a case of the LTS ("Leaning Toothpick Syndrome"):
<p><tt>print '\`\`\/\/\/ Don\'t...</tt>
<p>&lt;shudder&gt; Obviously not a good answer. For times like these, Perl
provides alternate quoting mechanisms:
<p><tt>q//&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; # Single quotes</tt>
<br><tt>qq//&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; # Double quotes</tt>
<br><tt>qx//&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; # Back quotes, for shell
execution</tt>
<br><tt>qw//&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; # Word list - useful for
populating arrays</tt>
<p>Note also that the delimiter does not have to be '/', but can be any
character. Now our job becomes a bit easier:
<p><tt>print q-``/// Don't say "shan't," "can't," or "won't." ///''-;</tt>
<p>Simple, eh? By the way, this is something you would use only inside
a script; the shell interpretation mechanism would make a horrendous mess
of this if you tried it from the command line, especially things like back
quotes and slashes.
<br>&nbsp;
<br>&nbsp;
<p><b>Perl Invocation</b>
<p>"Hear my plea, O Perl of Great Wisdom!" Oh, never mind; I think that
was standard in Perl3, and is now deprecated... :)
<p>The most commonly-used switch in invoking Perl, if you're running it
from the command line, is '-e'; this one tells Perl to execute whatever
comes immediately after it. In fact, '-e' must be the last switch used
on the command line because <i>everything</i> after it is considered to
be part of the script!
<p><tt>perl -we 'print "The Gods send thread for the Web begun.\n"'</tt>
<p>"-w" is the "warn" switch that I mentioned the last time. It tells you
about all the non-fatal errors in your code, including variables that you
set but didn't use (invaluable for finding mistyped variable names) as
well as many, many other things. You should always - yes, <b>always</b>
- use "-w", whether on the command line or in a script.
<p>"-n" is the "non-printing loop" switch, which causes Perl to iterate
over the input, one line at a time - somewhat like "awk". If you want to
print a given line, you'll need to specify a condition for it:
<p><tt>perl -wne 'print if /holiday/' schedule.txt</tt>
<p>Perl will loop through "schedule.txt" and print any line that contains
the word "holiday", so you can get depressed about how little time off
you actually have.
<p>"-p" is the invocation for a "printing loop", which acts just like "-n"
except that it prints every line that it loops over. This is very useful
for "sed"-like operations, like modifying a file and writing it back out
(we'll discuss 's///', the substitution operator, in just a bit):
<p><tt>perl -wpe 's/holiday/Party time!/' schedule.txt</tt>
<p>This will perform the substitution on the first occurrence of the word
'holiday' in any given line (see "perldoc perlre" for discussion of modifiers
used with 's///', such as 'g'lobal.)
<p>The "-i" switch works well in combination with either of the above,
depending on the desired action; it allows you to perform an "in-place"
edit, i.e. make the changes in the specified file (optionally performing
a backup beforehand) rather than printing them out to the screen. Note
that we can't just tack an "i" onto the "wpe" string: it takes an optional
argument - the extension to be appended to the backup copy - and the text
that follows it is what specifies that extension.
<p><tt>perl -i~ -wpe 's/holiday/Party time!/' schedule.txt</tt>
<p>The above line will produce a "schedule.txt" with the modified text
in it, and a "schedule.txt~" that is the original file. "-i" without any
extension overwrites the original file; this is far more convenient than
producing a modified file and renaming it back to the original, but be
<b>sure</b> that your code is correct, or you'll wipe out your original
data!
<br>&nbsp;
<br>&nbsp;
<p><b>RegExes, or "Has The Cat Been Walking On My Keyboard Again?"</b>
<p>One of the most powerful tools available in Perl, the regular expression
is the way to match almost any imaginable character arrangement. Here (necessarily)
I'll cover only the very basics; if you find that you need more information,
dig into the "perlre" manpage that comes with Perl. That should keep you
busy for a while. :)
<p>REs are used for pattern matching, most commonly with the "m//" (matching)
and "s///" substitution) operators. Note that the delimiters in these,
just like in the quoting mechanisms, are not restricted to '/'; in fact,
the leading 'm' in the matching operator is required <i>only</i> if a non-default
delimiter is used. Otherwise, just the "//" is sufficient.
<p>Here are some of the metacharacters used with REs. Note that there are
many more; these are just enough to get us started:
<p><tt>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Matches any character
except the newline</tt>
<br><tt>^&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Match the beginning
of the line</tt>
<br><tt>$&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Match the end of the
line</tt>
<br><tt>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Alternation (match
"left|right|up|down|sideways")</tt>
<br><tt>*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Match 0 or more times</tt>
<br><tt>+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Match 1 or more times</tt>
<br><tt>?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Match 0 or 1 times</tt>
<br><tt>{n}&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Match exactly n times</tt>
<br><tt>{n,}&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Match at least n times</tt>
<br><tt>{n,m}&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Match at least n but not more than m times</tt>
<br>&nbsp;
<p>As an example, let's say that we have a file with a list of names:
<p><tt>Anne Bonney</tt>
<br><tt>Bartholomew Roberts</tt>
<br><tt>Charles Bellamy</tt>
<br><tt>Diego Grillo</tt>
<br><tt>Edward Teach</tt>
<br><tt>Francois Gautier</tt>
<br><tt>George Watling</tt>
<br><tt>Henry Every</tt>
<br><tt>Israel Hands</tt>
<br><tt>John Derdrake</tt>
<br><tt>KuoHsing Yeh</tt>
<br><tt>...</tt>
<p>and we want to replace the first name with 'Captain'. Obviously, we
would go through the file with a printing loop and do a substution if it
matched our criteria:<tt></tt>
<p><tt>s/^.+ /Captain /;</tt>
<p>The caret ('^') matches at the beginning of the line, the ".+" says
"any character, repeated 1 or more times", and the space matches a space.
Once we find what we're looking for, we're going to replace it with 'Captain'
followed by a space - since the string that we're replacing contains one,
we'll need to put it back.
<p>Let's say that we also knew that somewhere in the file, there are a
couple of names that contain apostrophes (<tt>Francois L'Ollonais</tt>),
and we wanted to skip them - or anything else that contained 'non-letter'
characters. Let's expand the regex a bit:
<p><tt>s/^[A-Z][a-z]* /Captain /;</tt>
<p>We've used the "character class" specifiers, "[]", to first match one
character between 'A' and 'Z' - note that only <b>one</b> character is
matched by this mechanism, a very important distinction! - followed by
a one-character match of 'a' through 'z' and an asterisk, which, again,
says "zero or more of the preceding&nbsp; character".
<p>Oops, wait! How about "<tt>KuoHsing</tt>"? The match would fail on the
'H', since upper-case characters were not included in the specified range.
OK, we'll modify the regex:
<p><tt>s/^\w* /Captain /;</tt>
<p>The '\w' is a "word character" - once again, it matches only one character
- that includes 'A-Z', 'a-z', and '_'. It is preferable to [A-Za-z_] because
it uses the value of $LOCALE (a system value) to determine what characters
should or should not be part of words - and this is important in languages
other than English. As well, '\w' is easier to type than '[A-Za-z_]'.
<p>Let's try something a bit different:&nbsp;What if we still wanted to
match all the first names, but now, rather than replacing them, we wanted
to swap them around with the last names, separate the two with a comma,
and precede the last name with the word 'Captain'? With regexes at our
command, it's not a problem:
<p><tt>s/^(\w*) (\w*)$/Captain $2, $1/;</tt>
<p>Note the parentheses and the "$1"&nbsp;and "$2"&nbsp;variables:&nbsp;the
parentheses "capture"&nbsp;the enclosed part of the regex, which we can
then refer to via the variables (the first captured piece is $1, the second
is $2, and so on.) So, here is the above regex in English:
<p><i>Starting from the beginning of the line, (begin capture into $1)
match any "word character" repeated zero or more times (end capture) and
followed by a space, (begin capture into $2) followed by any "word character"
repeated zero or more times (end capture) until the end of the line. Return
the word 'Captain' followed by a space, which is followed by the value
of $2, a comma, a space, and the value of $1.</i>
<p>I'd say that regexes are a <b>very</b> compact way to say all of the
above. At times like these, it becomes pretty obvious that Larry Wall is
a professional linguist. :)
<p>These are just simple examples of what goes into building a regex. I
must admit to cheating a bit: name-parsing is probably one of the biggest
challenges out there, and I could have spun these example out as long as
I wanted. Considering that the possibilities include "John deJongh", "Jan
M.
<br>van de Geijn", "Kathleen O'Hara-Mears", "Siu Tim Au Yeung", "Nang-Soa-Anee
Bongoj Niratpattanasai", and "Mj&ouml;lby J. de W&aelig;rn" (remember to
use those LOCALE-aware matches, right?), the field is pretty broad and
very odd in spots. (Miss Niratpattanasai, after looking at something like
"John Smith". would probably agree. :)
<br>&nbsp;
<p>Here's an important factor to be aware of in the regex mechanism: by
default, it does "greedy matching". In other words, given a phrase like
<p><b><tt>Acciones son amores, no besos ni apachurrones</tt></b>
<p>and a regex like
<p><tt>/A.*es/</tt>
<p>it would match the following:
<p><b><tt>Acciones son amores, no besos ni apachurrones</tt></b>
<br><b><tt>|___________________________________________|</tt></b><tt></tt>
<p>Hmmm. Everything from the first 'A' (followed by zero or more of any
character) to the <i>last</i> 'es'. How can we match just the first instance,
then? To counteract the greed, Perl provides a "generosity" modifier to
quantifiers such as '*', '+', and '?':
<p><tt>/A.*?es/</tt>
<p><b><tt>Acciones son amores, no besos ni apachurrones</tt></b>
<br><b><tt>|______|</tt></b>
<p>There. Much better. For future reference, remember: if you're breaking
up a string by matching its pieces with a series of regexes, and the last
"chunks" are coming up empty, you've probably got a "greed" problem.
<br>&nbsp;
<br>&nbsp;
<p><b>The Default Buffer/Variable</b>
<p>Some of you, especially those who have done some programming in the
past, have probably been curious about some of the code constructs above,
like
<p><tt>print if /holiday/;</tt>
<p>"Print <b>what</b> if <b>what?</b> Where is the variable that we're
checking for the match? Shouldn't it be something like '<tt>if $x == /holiday/</tt>',
the way it is in the shell?"
<p>I'm glad you asked that question. :)
<p>Perl uses an interesting concept, found in a few other languages, of
the <i>default buffer</i> - also referred to as the <i>default variable</i>
and the <i>default pattern space</i>. Not surprisingly, it's used in the
looping constructs - when we use the "-n/-p" syntax in the Perl invocation,
it is the variable used to hold the current line - as well as in substitution
and matching, and a number of other places. The '$_' variable is the default
for all of the above; when a variable is not specified in a place where
you'd expect one, '$_' is usually the "culprit." In fact, '$_' is rather
difficult to explain - it turns up in so many places that coming up with
an algorithm is seemingly impossible - but it is wonderfully easy and intuitive
to <i>use</i>, once you get the idea.
<p>Consider the following:
<p><tt>perl -wne 'if ( $_ =~ /Henry/ ) { print $_; } pirates</tt>
<p>If a line in the "pirates" file, above, matches "Henry", it will be
printed. Fine; but now, let's play some amateur "Perl Golf" - that's a
contest among Perl hackers to see how many (key)strokes can be taken off
a piece of code and still leave it functional.
<p>Since we already know that Perl reads each line into '$_', we'll just
get rid of all the explicit declarations of it:
<p><tt>perl -wne 'if ( /Henry/ ) { print; } pirates</tt>
<p>Perl "knows" that we're matching against the default variable, and it
"knows" that the "print" statement applies to the same thing. Now, we apply
a little Perl idiom:
<p><tt>perl -wne 'print if /Henry/' pirates</tt>
<p>Isn't that nice? Perl actually allows you to write out your code with
the condition following the action; kinda the way you'd say things in English.
Oh, and we've snipped off the semicolon on the end because we don't need
it: it's a statement <i>separator</i>, and there's no statement following
<br>"/Henry/".
<p>&lt;grin&gt; For those of you playing along at home, try
<p><tt>perl -ne'/Henry/&amp;&amp;print' pirates</tt>
<p>It shouldn't be <b>that</b> hard to figure out; the '&amp;&amp;' operator
in Perl works the same way as it does in the shell. Perl Golf is fun to
play, but be careful:&nbsp;it's easy to write code that will work but will
require lots of head-scratching to understand. Don't Do That. I may have
to maintain your code tomorrow... just like you may have to maintain mine.
<br>&nbsp;
<p>In the first example, note the "binding operator", '=~', which checks
for a match in the supplied variable. This is what you would use if you
were matching against a variable other than "$_". There is also a "negative
match" operator, '!~', which returns true if the match fails (the inverse
of '=~'.)
<p>Note also that the available modifiers for simple statements, like that
above, include not only the "if", but also "unless", "while", "until",
and "for". All of these, and more, are coming up in Part 3...
<br>&nbsp;
<br>&nbsp;
<p><b>Ben Okopnik</b>
<br><tt>perl -we '$perl=0;JsP $perl "perl"; $perl-&gt;perl(0)'\</tt>
<br><tt>&nbsp;2&gt;&amp;1|perl -ne '{print ((split//)[19,29,20,4,5,1,2,</tt>
<br><tt>15,13,14,12,52,5,21,12,52,8,5,14,1,6,37,12,52,75])}'</tt>
<br>
<hr WIDTH="100%">
<br><a NAME="1"></a>[1]. And in fact, has one - "Mastering Regular Expressions"
by Jeffrey E. Friedl is considered to be a reference on the subject. It
includes some wonderful examples, and literally teaches the reader to "think
in regex".
<br>&nbsp;
<p><tt>References:</tt><tt></tt>
<p><tt>Relevant Perl man pages (available on any pro-Perl-y configured
system):</tt><tt></tt>
<p><tt>perl&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; - overview&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
perlfaq&nbsp;&nbsp; - Perl FAQ</tt>
<br><tt>perltoc&nbsp;&nbsp; - doc TOC&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
perldata&nbsp; - data structures</tt>
<br><tt>perlsyn&nbsp;&nbsp; - syntax&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
perlop&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; - operators/precedence</tt>
<br><tt>perlrun&nbsp;&nbsp; - execution&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
perlfunc&nbsp; - builtin functions</tt>
<br><tt>perltrap&nbsp; - traps for the unwary&nbsp; perlstyle - style guide</tt><tt></tt>
<p><tt>"perldoc", "perldoc -q" and "perldoc -f"</tt>




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<H5 ALIGN=center>

Copyright &copy; 2001, Ben Okopnik.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 64 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, March 2001</H5>
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<H4 ALIGN="center">
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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<P> <HR> <P> 
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<center>
<H1><font color="maroon">Setting Up an International Keyboard with Xmodmap</font></H1>
<H4>By <a href="mailto:xvudpapc@savba.sk">Juraj Sipos</a></H4>
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<P> <HR> <P>  

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<h2>
<b>1. Introduction</b></h2>
This is a revision of my experimental howto published in Linux Gazette,
which you may find <a href="../issue53/sipos.html">here</a>. I revised
it because there is not the KIKBD utility in KDE 2.0 anymore and XFree86
4.x handles standard ISO8859-2 keycode definitions better than older versions.
This information is fully concerned with the Xmodmap solution only, not
the XKB one.
<blockquote><i>[Note: This article covers XFree86 version <b>4.x</b>, which
may not be in your distribution yet. -Ed.]</i></blockquote>

<h2>
1.2 Quick start</h2>
Make your own .Xmodmap file according to information in this file.
<p>Write the following to your .bash_profile in home directory:
<pre>export LANG=language&nbsp;
export LC_ALL=language</pre>
where "language" is the language you want to use. The languages can be
found in the file locale.alias in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/locale. Run the "exit"
command on the console and log in again for bash to read the statement
from ~/.bash_profile.
<p>Install fonts (best are ISO8859-2 Type1 fonts for Czech or Slovak),
put them in path to your XF86Config. Start X Server.
<p>Please note that under certain circumstances the KDE 2.0 text editor
doesn't display ISO8859-2 fonts even if you have them in path. The "Latin2"
statement in this editor's menu seems not to work. Install another simple
text editor where you can <b>CHOOSE fonts</b> (the old kedit from older
KDE will do). Open a dialog window from menu, select font and choose ISO8859-2
encoding.
<p>Run the command "xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap" from an X terminal window to force
the system to read the Xmodmap file.
<p>Switch the keyboard and enjoy.
<p>The other, XKB solution, which is not covered in this file but mentioned
since it pertains to internationalization too, is another way of configuring
international keyboard, and both the <b>XKB</b> and <b>XMODMAP</b> solutions
are independent of one another. You may alternatively edit the /etc/X11/XF86Config
file as explained in the Danish-HOWTO, or issue this command in an X terminal
window for the Slovak keyboard:
<pre>setxkbmap -model pc102 -symbols 'czsk(us_sk_qwertz)' setxkbmap cs -option grp:shift_toggle</pre>
The "grp:shift_toggle" gives you an option to switch between keyboards
You may also try to write
<pre>Option "XkbOptions"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "grp:ctrl_shift_toggle"</pre>
to your XF86Config file, which will change keyboards by pressing Ctrl and
Shift at the same time.
<p>To see a variety of languages, look in the file symbols.dir in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb
directory. Note that some symbols are only in sources and not in binaries.
<p>As you see, this looks quite complicated too and it gets even more difficult
when you realize that many national keymaps are not included in the standard
XFree86 binary distribution, although they are included in its sources.
The kikbd utility for handling international keyboard layouts was removed
from KDE 2.0 and documentation is quite insufficient. A simple way would
be to start KDE, change the international keyboard settings and immediately
write in the language you chose (this will work for German and other languages,
but in Eastern European keyboards some letters will not function).
<p>Moreover, the KDE 2.0 command "kcmshell Personalization/kcmlayout" will
not show you a Croatian or Macedonian keyboard. And although it shows a
Czechoslovakian keyboard, Czechoslovakia does not exist as a country anymore
and users may be confused with how to define the Czech or Slovak language
separately.
<p>Some X Windows managers override .Xmodmap setting. If .Xmodmap doesn't
work, a good way is to force the system to read it from your root (home)
directory. You will do this by issuing the following command from an X
terminal window:
<p>xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap
<p>After I installed the Slovak keyboard in KDE with Xmodmap file that
used the standard definitions for ISO8859-2 letters (lcaron, scaron, etc.),
I couldn't write in Slovak or Czech, but this is already explained in my
howto published in Linux Gazette. That experimental solution is not necessary
for the newer versions of XFree86.
<br>&nbsp;
<br>&nbsp;
<h2>
<b>2. Setting up international keyboard in X Windows with Xmodmap</b></h2>
It basically works like this:
<p><b>1. Standard solution uses the standard names for letters (scaron
for s with a caron above it, uacute for &uacute; - a slash above it).</b>
<p><b>2. Experimental solution, where some keycode names from ISO8859-1
character set table will give you scaron, for example.</b>
<p>Put the following in you Bash_profile:
<pre>export LC_ALL=language&nbsp;
export LANG=language</pre>
OR
<pre>export LC_CTYPE=SK_SK&nbsp;
export LC_ALL=SK_SK&nbsp;
OR for csh shell&nbsp;
setenv LC_ALL=language&nbsp;
setenv LANG=language</pre>
and have the standard Xmodmap file in your home directory. If you ask me
where you may obtain such "standard" Xmodmap files, go to GNOME ../share
directory. The file /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/locale/locale.alias contains the
aliases for languages, so look there in order to find out what is ca_ES
or br_FR, or to find out the exact syntax for your language (you cannot
write "croatia" but you must write "croatian", not "Croatian"; this is
very important, as Unix is case sensitive).
<p>Now you must install the pertinent language fonts and put its path statement
in XF86Config file. If you want to internationalize your keyboard, use
the standard Xmodmap definitions first and use right alt to switch between
keyboards (if you use GNOME Xmodmap files). If it does not work, do the
following:
<p>If you use KDE or GNOME and .Xmodmap does not work, force the system
to read it as mentioned above by issuing the command "xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap".
Alternatively, you can have 60 .Xmodmap files like .Xmo1, .Xmo2, .Xmo3,
.Xmo4, etc., and you may force the system to read them (xmodmap&nbsp; /.Xmo1).
The dot means it is a hidden file and it is not necessary. You may also
have xmo1, xmo2, or xmo3 Xmodmap files.
<p>You may write in a national keyboard only with applications that <b>have
access</b> to your ISO8859-2 fonts (or other fonts), but this may not work
with StarOffice or with other applications that have their own built-in
fonts. StarOffice has its own fonts directory - for afm fonts in StarOffice/share/xp3/fontmetrics/afm,
and for ps fonts in StarOffice/share/xp3/pssoftfonts, so you must add the
ISO8859-2 fonts to these directories (to tell StarOffice to use these fonts
too) and edit fonts.dir file and add the symlinked fonts there. <a href="misc/sipos/so52.sh.txt">Here
is a script that will do it for you.</a> Name it "so52", make it executable
(chmod +x so52), copy it to the StarOffice/share/xp3 directory and execute
it there.
<p>StarOffice 5.2 fully recognizes Word97 documents even written in other
languages, but for the older versions or other editors, you may use a converter
from iso8859-2 to win1250 encoding.
<p>StarOffice 5.2 can be thus used by professional translators who may
translate in any languages and give outputs in MS Word97 or rtf format.
<h2>
Character sets</h2>
The purpose of the following info is to help you build any .Xmodmap keyboard
layout with iso8859-2 or other fonts. The ISO-8859-2 Character Table is
included here for you to know which names are used. Much of this information
is useful to build a keyboard with ISO-8859-1 characters only, or a combination
of Eastern European characters and Western characters. If you're going
to use other languages than the Central European or Western European ones,
find a pertinent table for your ISO*** character set on Internet. There
is gdkkeysyms.h file in (RedHat) /usr/include/gdk/gdkkeysyms.h which contains
all the special names we're using here (it also contains names of Greek
characters).
<h2>
<b>Xmodmap with standard ISO8859-2 definitions</b></h2>
The example of a standard .Xmodmap file from keycode 0x31 to 0x33. This
file will make X Server correctly display lcaron, scaron, etc., if you
use a newer version of XFree86 and have a LC_LANG=language and LC_ALL=language
statements in your bash_profile. Just copy the following text from keycode
0x31 to 0x33 to my Xmodmap file published some time ago in Linux Gazette
(delete the experimental definitions from keycode 0x31 to 0x33). <a href="misc/sipos/iso8859-2.xmodmap.txt">[Text
version of this listing.]</a>
<pre>keycode 0x31 = grave asciitilde semicolon dead_diaeresis
keycode 0x0A = 1 exclam plus 1&nbsp;
keycode 0x0B = 2 at lcaron 2&nbsp;
keycode 0x0C = 3 numbersign scaron 3&nbsp;
keycode 0x0D = 4 dollar ccaron 4&nbsp;
keycode 0x0E = 5 percent tcaron 5&nbsp;
keycode 0x0F = 6 asciicircum scaron 6&nbsp;
keycode 0x10 = 7 ampersand yacute 7&nbsp;
keycode 0x11 = 8 asterisk aacute 8&nbsp;
keycode 0x12 = 9 parenleft iacute 9&nbsp;
keycode 0x13 = 0 parenright eacute 0&nbsp;
keycode 0x14 = minus underscore equal percent&nbsp;
keycode 0x15 = equal plus dead_acute dead_caron&nbsp;
keycode 0x33 = backslash bar ograve parenright</pre>
&nbsp;
<h2>
This is the table you can use for building your Central European keyboard
with standard Xmodmap solution.</h2>

<p><br>A caron is a reverse ^ above letter.
<p>Acute is a small dash like / above the letter (&uacute;, which is uacute).
<p>Diaeresis is two dots .. above the letter.
<p>Dot is a dot above the letter (zdot).
<p>The following table will explain it even better:
<p><img SRC="misc/sipos/iso8859-2.jpg" height=130 width=419>
<br>&nbsp;
<br>&nbsp;
<p><b>If you want to build an ISO8859-1 Xmodmap file for a German or Danish
keyboard</b>, <b>you must have another map to know how these symbols are
named unless you are familirar with them.</b>
<p><b>The following Xmodmap entities on the right must be included in your
Xmodmap file to have the East European keyboard layout.</b>
<br>&nbsp;
<br>&nbsp;
<br>&nbsp;
<table BORDER >
<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT COLSPAN="2" BGCOLOR="#FFFFCC"><b>Central European characters</b></td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383" BGCOLOR="#FFFFCC"><b>Character Name</b></td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99" BGCOLOR="#FFFFCC"><b>Xmodmap and SGML entities</b></td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">NON-BREAKING SPACE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">nbsp</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">CURRENCY SIGN</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">curren</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">BROKEN BAR</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">brvbar</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">SECTION SIGN</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">sect</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">DIAERESIS</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">uml</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">COPYRIGHT SIGN</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">copy</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LEFT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">laquo</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">NOT SIGN</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">not</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">SOFT HYPHEN</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">shy</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">REGISTERED SIGN</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">reg</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">DEGREE SIGN</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">deg</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">PLUS-MINUS SIGN</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">plusmn</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">ACUTE ACCENT</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">acute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">MICRO SIGN</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">micro</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">PILCROW SIGN</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">para</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">MIDDLE DOT</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">middot</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">CEDILLA</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">cedil</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">RIGHT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">raquo</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Aacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH CIRCUMFLEX</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Acirc</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Auml</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Ccedil</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Eacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH DIAERESIS</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Euml</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Iacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I WITH CIRCUMFLEX</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Icirc</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Oacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH CIRCUMFLEX</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Ocirc</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH DIAERESIS</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Ouml</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">MULTIPLICATION SIGN</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">times</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Uacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Uuml</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Y WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Yacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER SHARP S</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">szlig</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">aacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH CIRCUMFLEX</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">acirc</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">auml</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">ccedil</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">eacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH DIAERESIS</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">euml</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">iacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH CIRCUMFLEX</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">icirc</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">oacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH CIRCUMFLEX</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">ocirc</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH DIAERESIS</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">ouml</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">DIVISION SIGN</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">divide</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">uacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">uuml</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER Y WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">yacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH BREVE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Abreve</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH BREVE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">abreve</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH OGONEK</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Aogon</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH OGONEK</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">aogon</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Cacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER C WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">cacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C WITH CARON</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Ccaron</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER C WITH CARON</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">ccaron</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D WITH CARON</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Dcaron</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER D WITH CARON</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">dcaron</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D WITH STROKE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Dstrok</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER D WITH STROKE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">dstrok</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH OGONEK</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Eogon</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH OGONEK</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">eogon</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH CARON</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Ecaron</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH CARON</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">ecaron</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER L WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Lacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER L WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">lacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER L WITH CARON</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Lcaron</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER L WITH CARON</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">lcaron</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER L WITH STROKE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Lstrok</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER L WITH STROKE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">lstrok</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Nacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">nacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N WITH CARON</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Ncaron</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH CARON</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">ncaron</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH DOUBLE ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Odblac</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH DOUBLE ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">odblac</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER R WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Racute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER R WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">racute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER R WITH CARON</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Rcaron</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER R WITH CARON</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">rcaron</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER S WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Sacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER S WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">sacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER S WITH CEDILLA</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Scedil</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER S WITH CEDILLA</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">scedil</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER S WITH CARON</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Scaron</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER S WITH CARON</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">scaron</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER T WITH CEDILLA</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Tcedil</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER T WITH CEDILLA</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">tcedil</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER T WITH CARON</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Tcaron</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER T WITH CARON</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">tcaron</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH RING ABOVE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Uring</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH RING ABOVE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">uring</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH DOUBLE ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Udblac</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH DOUBLE ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">udblac</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Zacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER Z WITH ACUTE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">zacute</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z WITH DOT ABOVE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Zdot</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER Z WITH DOT ABOVE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">zdot</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z WITH CARON</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">Zcaron</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">LATIN SMALL LETTER Z WITH CARON</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">zcaron</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">CARON</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">caron</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">BREVE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">breve</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">DOT ABOVE</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">dot</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">OGONEK</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">ogon</td>
</tr>

<tr VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="383">DOUBLE ACUTE ACCENT</td>

<td ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH="99">dblac</td>
</tr>
</table>

<br>&nbsp;
<h2>
3. How this Xmodmap solution works on various systems</h2>
In GNOME this is not important, but to correclty use ISO8859-2 fonts with
KDE 2.x native applications you should&nbsp; change the i18n file (/etc/sysconfig/i18n)
as follows:
<p><b>RedHat:</b>
<br>LANG="sk_SK"
<p>where "sk_SK" is your langauge.
<p><b>Mandrake:</b>
<br>&nbsp;SYSFONT=lat0-sun16
<br>&nbsp;LC_MONETARY=en_US
<br>&nbsp;LC_CTYPE=cs_CZ
<br>&nbsp;LC_NUMERIC=en_US
<br>&nbsp;LC_MESSAGES=en_US
<br>&nbsp;LANGUAGE=cs_CZ:cs
<br>&nbsp;LC_TIME=en_US
<br>&nbsp;RPM_INSTALL_LANG=en
<br>&nbsp;LC_COLLATE=en_US
<br>&nbsp;SYSFONTACM=iso15
<br>&nbsp;LANG=sk
<p><b>Or in FreeBSD 4.2</b> you edit /etc/profile in the following way:
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp; LANG=cs_CZ.ISO_8859-2; export LANG&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
# to write in Czech
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp; LC_MESSAGES=en_US.ISO_8859-1; export LC_MESSAGES&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
# to have English messages
<p>In the case of Mandrake or FreeBSD we will be using the map "cs" from
the
<br>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb/symbols/ directory. You can always use the xmodmap
<br>solution with this, but an alternative way is to edit your map file
<br>accordingly where you replace definitions with your own. KDE 2.x also
<br>requires to choose from menu Personalization > Country and Language
>
<br>iso8859-2 charset (or other charset). Only then it correctly displays
<br>ISO8859-2 fonts in its native applications. Here GNOME appears more
user-friendly.
<p><i>The following pertains to situation where the i18n file was not changed.</i>
<h2>
3.1 SuSe 7.0 with XFree86 3.3.6 and KDE 2.0</h2>
You may use the Xmodmap file with standard ISO8859-2 keycode definitions
(not "threequarters" but "scaron", etc.). Unfortunately, although you may
immediately start writing with ISO8859-2 keycodes, the dead keys are not
working properly and export LANG=language does not work here in order to
make these dead keys work.
<p>After copying the Compose file from /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/locale/iso8859-2/
to the /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/locale/iso8859-1/, you may start elegantly working
with dead keys. This was also tested on StarOffice 5.2. The FontPath must
be in /etc/XF86Config, not in /etc/X11/Xf86Config. If you put the FontPath
for ISO8859-2 fonts to the /etc/X11/Xf86Config file, StarOffice may not
see these fonts properly. While working with StarOffice, you must NOT use
the fonts from the StarOffice itself, but the ones from ../ISO8859-2 directory
(they will automatically appear in the font menu after executing the above
script).
<p>The following is the FontPath section for ISO8859-2 fonts from my SuSE
7.0 /etc/XF86Config file:
<p>FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/ISO8859-2/Type1"
<p>FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/ISO8859-2/Type1/afm"
<p>FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/ISO8859-2/Type1/pfm"
<h2>
3.2 SuSE 7.0 with XFree86 version 3.3.6 and KDE 1.x</h2>
Same as with KDE 2.0.
<h2>
3.3 Mandrake Linux 7.2 with XFree86 version 4.x</h2>
Here only the LANG=language and LC_ALL=langauge statements in your bash_profile
are sufficient (but not for KDE 2.x native applications). Apply the standard
.Xmodmap keycodes (scaron, lcaron, not "threequarters" or "mu", etc.) and
issue the command: "xmodmap&nbsp; /.Xmodmap" and you may work by switching
the keyboards by the Scroll Lock (if you use my Xmodmap file; if you use
other Xmodmap file, try right Alt or whatever that is defined in that Xmodmap
file).
<p>The FontPath statement in /etc/X11/XF86Config and /etc/X11/XF86Config
does not have to be changed:
<p>FontPath "unix/:1"
<p>The XFree86 reads your new ISO8859-2 fonts automatically in /usr/share/fonts
directory (same as in RedHat). Surprisingly, you do not have to copy the
../ISO8859-2/Compose file to ../ISO8859-1 directory and dead keys work
nice. To use ISO8859-2 fonts with KDE 2.0 native applications, see the
above i18n file for Mandrake 7.2.
<h2>
3.4 RedHat 6.0, 6.1 and 6.2 (XFree86 older version)</h2>
Here the "experimental" .Xmodmap solution works ("mu" instead of "lcaron",
etc.) and you must copy the Compose file from ../IS08859-2 to ISO8859-1
directory in order for dead keys to work. There is only one XF86Config
file in /etc/X11 and its FontPath is the same as in SuSE 7.0 above.
<h2>
3.5 FreeBSD 3.1 and 3.2</h2>
Same as in RedHat 6.0, 6.1, 6.2
<h2>
3.6 FreeBSD 4.x</h2>
Same as FreeBSD 3.1 and 3.2. But FreeBSD 4.x handles better the LANG=language
statemets with XKB. Here this depends also on XFree86. Because the FreeBSD
guys are too conservative about the newer software, they ship FreeBSD with
older versions of XFree86. In FreeBSD 4.1 the experimental .Xmodmap solution
works and you have to copy the ../ISO8859-2/Compose file to ../ISO8859-1
directory to make the dead keys work. If you download the newer XFree86
version, apply the "standard" Xmodmap soilution. For FreeBSD 4.2, see the
above /etc/profile file and modify it appropriately for you needs.
<h2>
4. Some national Xmodmap files</h2>

<ul>
<li>
<a href="misc/sipos/french.xmodmap.txt">French</a></li>

<li>
<a href="misc/sipos/croatian.xmodmap.txt">Croatian</a></li>

<li>
<a href="misc/sipos/czech.xmodmap.txt">Czech</a></li>




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

Copyright &copy; 2001, Juraj Sipos.<BR>
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 64 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, March 2001</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->


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

<P> <hr> <P> 

<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>
</ul>

<a name="authors"></a>
<P> <HR> <P> 
<!--======================================================================-->

<center><H3><font color="maroon">About This Month's Authors</font></H3></center>

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

<!-- BEGIN bio -->
<P> 
<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">Matteo Dell'Omodarme</H4>
I'm a student at the University of Pisa and a Linux user since 1994.
Now I'm working on the administrations of Linux boxes at the Astronomy section
of the Department of Physics, with special experience about security.  My
primary email address is 
<A HREF="mailto:matt@martine2.difi.unipi.it">matt@martine2.difi.unipi.it</A>.

<P> 
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Mark Fevola</H4>
Mark Fevola earned a BA in Technical Writing and a minor in Computer
Science, Magna Cum Laude from the University of Maine.  In 1994 he brought
the commercial Internet to the State of Maine by founding the oldest Maine
ISP.  He spells grey with an 'e', never wears watches, hates  mushrooms,
reads books, and collects minerals.

<p> 
<h4><img align=bottom alt="" src="../gx/note.gif">Mark Nielsen</h4>
Mark works at ZING 
(<A HREF="http://www.genericbooks.com">www.genericbooks.com</A>) and 
<A HREF="http://GNUJobs.com">GNUJobs.com</A>. Previously,
Mark founded <A HREF="http://www.gnujobs.com">The Computer Underground</A>.
Mark works on non-profit and volunteer projects which promote free literature
and software. To make a living, he recruits people for GNU related jobs and
also provides solutions for web/database problems using Linux, FreeBSD, Apache,
Zope, Perl, Python, and PostgreSQL.

<P> 
<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Ben Okopnik</H4>
A cyberjack-of-all-trades, Ben wanders the world in his 38' sailboat, building
networks and hacking on hardware and software whenever he runs out of cruising
money. He's been playing and working with computers since the Elder Days
(anybody remember the Elf II?), and isn't about to stop any time soon.



<P> 
<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.


<!-- END bio -->

<a name="notlinux"></a>
<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--====================================================================-->

<center><H3><font color="maroon">Not Linux</font></H3></center>

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

<!-- *** BEGIN Not Linux *** -->

<H3> News flash!  Next version of Windows just announced</H3>

<CENTER>

<IMG ALT="[Windows CEMENT logo: CE + Me + NT]" SRC="misc/backpage/mscement2.png" 
	WIDTH="400" HEIGHT="294" VSPACE="20">
<BR CLEAR="all">

</CENTER>

<P> I wouldn't trust it any farther than I can throw it.

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%"> <!-- ************************************** -->

<H3>Spams I have known</H3>

<H4> Some of the funnier spams found in the <EM>Gazette</EM> mailbox.</H4>

<P> I have got your e-mail from the Web site and I am very interested in working
for your company. I have a BS in Electrical Engineering and computer science
and worked on my Master degree in Telecommunication engineering (not finished
due to the lucrative market!).

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[Oh really?  And which e-mail are you referring to?  </EM>LG<EM> has 
certainly not been soliciting for engineers. -Mike.]
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

<HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center"> <!-- ************************************** -->


<P> Hello Again answerguy!  If this message has reached you in error,
please use the removal link at the end of this e-mail.  However,
I will do my part by keeping you informed...

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[Thanks for keeping us informed.  NOT!  -Mike.]
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>


<HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center"> <!-- ************************************** -->

<P> Imagine how wealthy you would be now if you owned a chunk of a company like
Yahoo or Hotmail. You would be loaded.  However, if someone had contacted you a
few years ago and offered you the opportunity to own a slice of one of these
companies, what would you have done?  I will tell you. You would have ignored
the chance because you would have considered it a get-rich-quick scheme and
relegated the proposal to the trashcan.

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[Darn right.  -Mike.]
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

<P> Well, in January a brand new online community <EM>(name)</EM> is being
launched and it is generally felt, by people who know about these things, that
it is going to be as big, if not bigger, than the companies I have mentioned.

<P> I am offering you a chance to be part of this Company for FREE!  True,
there is an opportunity to invest $25, if you want to increase your earning
power, but that choice is purely optional.

<P> You can condemn this message to the waste bin, but if you decide to do
this, remember: in a few years time when [the company] is really big--you
had the opportunity to be on board for no cost and you just couldn't be
bothered.

<HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center"> <!-- ************************************** -->

<P> This is not Spam:  This message is sent in compliance of the new 
email Bill HR 1910. Under Bill HR 1910 passed by the 106th US 
Congress on May 24, 1999, this message cannot be considered SPAM 
as long as we include the way to be removed. 

<HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center"> <!-- ************************************** -->

<P> Having purchased a CD or CD package from DWE in the past, you are 
elegible for this special one time deal.

<PRE>
MS Windows 98 SE - $20.00
MS Windows 2000 Pro - $20.00
MS Office 2000 Premium - $20.00
MS Windows ME - $20.00
</PRE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[Since when has </EM>LG<EM> ever bought a CD?  -Mike.]
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

<HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center"> <!-- ************************************** -->

<P> We are responding to your request for FREE analysis of your site.
We feel there is very substantial potential to promote your site on the
Internet.  We have proprietary software and assortment of other Internet tools
designed to make your site popular and bring traffic that is interested in your
product area.  This can put dollars in your pocket.

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[Oh dear, </EM>LG<EM> doesn't have enough readers!  Never mind the 
mirrors in 50 countries we've attracted without an Internet consultant.
  -Mike.]
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>


<HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center"> <!-- ************************************** -->

<P> International Aviation CD Database

<P> - 650,000 Aircraft Owners and Operators in 105 countries worldwide -
includes telephone #'s and address corrections.

<P> - 54,000 Aviation Companies - Includes contacts, email addresses, website,
phone, fax, much more.

<P> - 600,000 Pilots - Updated pilot list with phone #'s and address
corrections.

<P> ALL ON ONE $259 CD-ROM.

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[Hmm, I guess this might be useful for something.  -Mike.]
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>


<HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center"> <!-- ************************************** -->

<P> This IPO company is reserving a portion of the shares offered for sale to
individual investors and will not sell these shares to institutional investors.
Shares will be sold on a first come first serve basis; you will not be bumped
for a large investor!  It is anticipated that the offering will close within
the next 30 days.  Any Subscription Agreement received after the deadline will
be promptly returned.  You need not purchase through a stockbroker and there
are no commissions to be paid.  Only a few investors have been chosen to invest
in the IPO of a revolutionary company that may change the way real estate is
sold.

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[So buying shares is now a "privilege"?  -Mike.]
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>


<HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center"> <!-- ************************************** -->

<P> Hello answerguy,
Get Your Free Vacation Now. Go to the URL below an enter your email address and you are finished. 
THAT's IT. Enjoy you Free Vacation.

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[Why does <STRONG>Jim</STRONG> get all the free vacation offers?
-Mike.]
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

<HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center"> <!-- ************************************** -->

<H4>And the award for most ironic spam goes to...</H4>

<P> Are you still using an old operating system? Why not upgrade to a newer and
more reliable version? You'll enjoy greater features and more stability. 

<PRE>
Microsoft DOS 6.22				$15
Microsoft Windows 3.11				$15
Microsoft Windows 95				$15
Microsoft Windows 98 SE 			$20
Microsoft Windows Millenium 			$20
Microsoft Windows 2000 Pro 			$20
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server			$50
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server (25CAL)	$65
</PRE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[Oh, so DOS 6.22 is a "new" Operating System?  I wonder what kind of
"old" Operating System they expect somebody in 2001 to replace with DOS 6.22.
-Mike.]
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>






<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%"> <!-- ************************************** -->

<P> Happy Linuxing!

<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>
<BR CLEAR="all">

<!-- *** END Not Linux *** -->

<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<H5 ALIGN=center>
Copyright &copy; 2001, 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 64 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, March 2001</H5>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->


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