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<H2>November 2002, Issue 84 &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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<UL>
<LI> <A HREF="lg_mail.html">The MailBag</A>
<LI> <A HREF="lg_tips.html">More 2-Cent Tips</A>
<LI> <A HREF="lg_answer.html">The Answer Gang</A>
<LI> <A HREF="lg_bytes.html">News Bytes</A>, <EM>by Michael Conry</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="arndt.html">Office Linux -- Feedback</A>, <EM>by Matthias Arndt</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="bradley.html">Adding Plugin Capabilities To Your Code</A>, <EM>by Tom Bradley</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="ecol.html">Ecol</A>, <EM>by Javier Malonda</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="dashti.html">Making Your Own Toy Boot Floppy</A>, <EM>by Muhammad Torabi Dashti</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="hawk.html">How main() is executed on Linux</A>, <EM>by Hyouck "Hawk" Kim</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="okopnik.html">Perl One-Liner of the Month: The Adventure of the Misnamed Files</A>, <EM>by Ben Okopnik</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="orr.html">The Foolish Things We Do With Our Computers</A>, <EM>by Mike ("Iron") Orr</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="ortiz.html">Programming Bits: Meeting C# and Mono</A>, <EM>by Ariel Ortiz Ramirez</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="qubism.html">Qubism</A>, <EM>by Jon "Sir Flakey" Harsem</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="tougher.html">Debian APT Part 1: Basic Commands</A>, <EM>by Rob Tougher</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="vinayak.html">Using the Logical Volume Manager</A>, <EM>by Vinayak Hegde</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="lg_backpage.html">The Back Page</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
</BLOCKQUOTE>

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<H5>Copyright &copy; 1996-2002 Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc.</H5>
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<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
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	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A>
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD>


<center>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">The Mailbag</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG><BR>
<!-- BEGIN wanted -->

<STRONG>From <A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">The Readers of <i>Linux Gazette</I></A></STRONG></BIG>
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->
<HR>
<center>
<BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">HELP WANTED : Article Ideas</FONT></STRONG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>Submit comments about articles, or articles themselves (after reading <a href="../faq/author.html">our guidelines</a>) to <A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">The Editors of <i>Linux Gazette</I></A>, and technical answers and tips about Linux to <A HREF="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com">The Answer Gang</A>. 
</STRONG>
</center><HR>
<UL>
<!-- index_text begins -->
<li><A HREF="#wanted/1"
	><strong>Linux Voice Mail</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted/2"
	><strong>mgp (magicpoint) and mplayer</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted/3"
	><strong>Net2Phone and Linux</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted/4"
	><strong>X Display's own mind after installing Japanese language support and programmes</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted/5"
	><strong>info about xkbcomp</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted/6"
	><strong>problem installing on linux on ultra2sparc reg</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted/7"
	><strong>Question about compiling against different C library</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted/8"
	><strong>More about CAD</strong></a>
<!-- index_text ends -->
</UL>
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="wanted/1"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Linux Voice Mail</FONT></H3>
Thu, 26 Sep 2002 19:27:13 -0700
<BR>Christine Jamison (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=linux-questions-only@ssc.com&cc=technobabe@mail.nwmagic.net&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%20help%20wanted%20%231%20linux%20voice%20mail">technobabe from mail.nwmagic.net</a>)


<P><STRONG>
Dear Answerguy:
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><BLOCKQuote>
I am looking to make a Linux Voice-mail system, and using Google, I found
the following:
</BLOCKQuote></STRONG></P>

<TABLE WIDTH="95%" BORDER="1" BGCOLOR="#FFFFCC"><TR><TD>
<p align="center">...............</p>
<P><FONT COLOR="#006633"><EM>
From THerbic on Sat, 06 Feb 1999
</EM></FONT></P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#006633"><EM>
integrated e-mail, messaging, voice mail, faxing capabilities
</EM></FONT></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
Yep. Linux has integrated mail, messaging, voice mail and faxing
capabilities. They all work and you
integrate them with shell, Perl, TCL/Tk and/or CGI scripts.
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P><p align="center">...............</p>
</TD></TR></TABLE>
<P><STRONG>
Claiming to be a response from:
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#006633"><EM><BLOCKQuote>
By James T. Dennis, <A HREF="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com"
	>linux-questions-only@ssc.com</A>
Starshine Technical Services, <A HREF="http://www.starshine.org"
	>http://www.starshine.org</A>
</BLOCKQuote></EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
So, can you tell me what hardware and software I need to make a Linux-based
voice mail system (preferrably with 2 or 3 ports)?  Thanks in advance for
any help.
</STRONG></P>

<p><strong>Sincerely,
<br>Christine Jamison
</strong></p>
<P>
I think you want to start by looking at GNU Bayonne...
Cheers -- jra
</P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">I think that someone describing how they are really using such a setup
would be a lot of fun.  Prospective authors, please see our
Author Guidelines.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">Although "Linux has integrated..." is expressing
at too broad a scale.  If someone knows of a specific distro which has
set these up together as an integrated answer, please tell us so we
can mention it for News Bytes.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>

<!-- end 1 -->
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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">mgp (magicpoint) and mplayer</FONT></H3>
Tue, 8 Oct 2002 16:20:28 +0200
<BR>Robos (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=&cc=robos@muon.de&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%20help%20wanted%20%232%20magicpoint">robos from muon.de</a>)


<P><STRONG>
Hi Folks
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Ben recently said (in the powerpoint thread) that he uses mgp and since I
wanted to fiddle with it a little too I thought I ask here:
Is it possible to <EM>embed</EM> the mplayer window in mgp? Has anyone done this? I
managed to get mplayer to play with the %system call but I had to disable
mgp to take over the screen (thus become windowed) and mplayer will run in
its own window too.
</STRONG></P>

<blockquote><font color="#1F1F1F">Not that I'm an expert on "mgp", but I believe that's the only way you
can have it: "mplayer" does not take a "-geometry" option, and that's
what the "%xsystem" tag (which embeds an X app) requires. For an example
of this, take a look at "sample.mgp" in your "docs/mgp/examples"
directory.
 -- Ben</font></blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
If no one has, mplayer might get embedded when I know the
win id of mgp via -wid id. xwininfo spits it out but I wanted to do
something like this.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
in bla.mgp:
</STRONG></P>

<pre><strong>&gt; %system "mplayer vid.mpg -vo x11 -wid `some bash script or command to get the win id`
</strong></pre>
<P><STRONG>
But for xwininfo I have to click into the window or provide it with the win
id 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/unsmily.gif" ALT=":(" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Does anybody have a idea?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
TIA
Robos
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Hi, Robos 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</P>
<P>
Which Window Manager are you using? If you are using
FVWM2, then it is possible to give the window a
default ID anyway.
</P>
<P>
-- Thomas Adam
</P>

<blockquote><font color="#1F1F1F">I still don't think you'll be able to do it (please let me know if you
do manage it, though!), but we've talked about how to do this already (I
think it was Thomas who asked about it): you can specify a name for your
"mgp" window when you launch it, then feed that name to "xwininfo" with
a "-name" parameter.
 -- Ben</font></blockquote>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">There you have it, folks.  Looks like Robos stumped the Answer Gang.
Fellow readers, if you are <EM>Making Magicpoint A Little More Fun</EM> 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle"> we'd
like to hear from you and publish some really cool tricks.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>

<!-- end 2 -->
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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">Net2Phone and Linux</FONT></H3>
Wed, 16 Oct 2002 19:49:52 +0000
<BR>root (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=root@ns1.cbm-arow.org&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%20help%20wanted%20%233%20west%20africa">root from ns1.cbm-arow.org</a>)

<P><STRONG>
Hi,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
We just had a "Linux" technician come out to our office and install RedHat as
our Internet Proxy and Mail Server and he has now left...however, I am left
holding the bag to figure it all out and how to fix various things.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
One item is the figure out how to make the Net2phone program work..  Except
for the Linux Server, everyone uses Windows.  Since we are in Africa, this
program is very important for the staff to call home.  I have no idea what to
put in the TCP or UDP port sections.  Is there a standard port or do I have
to configure something on the Linux server (a machine totally dedicated to
Linux) or what?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Also, with our previous Mdaemon email service where we used Windows 2000, we
were able to keep a copy of all emails going in/out in an archive area so
that we could refer back to them should someone lose their mail or couldn't
find an email sent to them/from them.  I don't know how to configure the
RedHat to place outgoing/incoming mails onto another computer as an archive.
Can you help with this as well?
</STRONG></P>
<P>
I assume the tech installed sendmail as your mail server.  While it is a
very good mail server, it doesn't do copies as you'd like.  (Things
might have changed in the years since I tried it, but I'm too tired to
investigate it right now.)  If you uninstall sendmail and install
postfix, it can easily be done.  Postfix has a configuration option
called "always_bcc" which will copy all incoming and outgoing email to
another account. However, without knowing the setup you have (did the
tech set up aliases?  Any special options like masquerading?), it might
not be as simple as un/installing some RPMs.  -- Faber
</P>
<P><STRONG>
I'm here in West Africa where I have little or no help and no reference
books.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Since you say "the Internet works", you've got a plethora of reference
materials!  All you need actually. Check out The Linux Documentation
Project at <A HREF="http://www.tldp.org"
	>http://www.tldp.org</A>.  There are HOWTOs on setting up
mailservers and much more.
</P>
<P>
Another great resource is Google (www.google.com). Searching for
"Net2phone linux" at google brought up several links that might help
you.  -- Faber
</P>
<P><STRONG>
Only a little common sense and alot of prayer.  I would appreciate
ANY help anyone could give me concerning these two items.  I may have been
vague with my requests but since I'm new at this, I'm not very clear about
anything other than the Internet works and the mail does go out and come in.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
THANKS A MILLION FOR ANY RESPONSE
</STRONG></P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Hmm, I know we have <EM>LG</EM> mirror sites in South Africa;  it's only on the
same continent, but it should hopefully be close enough to speed up
searching our back issues.  Still, I don't think I've seen Net2Phone go by.
The LinuxDoc mirror to remember is Zambia's?  <A HREF="http://www.linux.org.za/LDP"
	>http://www.linux.org.za/LDP</A>
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">I think this is only the voice/video conferencing portion of a bigger
question above, but it sounds like that'd be a popular topic for an
article here.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>

<!-- end 3 -->
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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">X Display's own mind after installing Japanese language support and programmes</FONT></H3>
Wed, 16 Oct 2002 22:20:34 +0200
<BR>Wilf (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=wbr@free.fr&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%20help%20wanted%20%234%20i18n%20on%20steroids">wbr from free.fr</a>)

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Summary: after some struggles and some success with setting up Japanese
on his European setup of Linux, Wilf also hopes to set up some other
languages too.  Most of our Gang hang out in one language only, so I'm
invited any reader with a more worldly penguin on their desk to help
out.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">If you want to submit in article style, please see our Author
Guidelines.  Otherwise, please make sure to copy The Answer Gang
(<A HREF="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com"
	>linux-questions-only@ssc.com</A>) as well as Wilf when you reply.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<P>
Hya folks!
</P>
<P>
I am struggling to install Japanese support on my Linux box based on Mandrake
8.1 (western Europe edition). Despite following instructions on how to do
this I am quite at a loss what's going on. (Is that another point I have in
common with 90% of all Linuxians using/understanding 10% of Linux' capacity?)
</P>
<P>
Reminder: I'd like to have the facility to enter and read Japanese text in a
wordprocessor and email programme and to look up a dictionary, but run a
Linux box based on a western European interface and latin1/latin15 input.
JWPce (a Freeware for Windows and, DO believe it, stable) would be an
excellent comparsion.
</P>
<P>
So far, I have used two different methods:
</P>

<blockQuote><ol>
<LI>
I added Japanese language support and programmes to my -then- quite well
running linux box, undertook necessary changes in following instructions
found at quite a few places too many to remember, and experimenting myself
with different configurations and setups. Now, using a user account to work
with the linux box I start up the x-display (KDE) : in a quite random fashion
the icons and panel show up and I can get on working, or it may show only the
icons on the desktop and no panel at all, or, at the worst, just show a blank
screen. Only several "logouts" or even "reboots" may grant me with an
eventual display of a correctly fonctionning environment. This problem does
not all turn up when I log in as root. I de-installed all programmes and
replaced changed config files with the original ones I saved as backups.
However, even having carefully "cleaned" up the problem persisted. Having
been (and I still am) at a loss I decided to


<LI>
I reinstalled the whole system with Japanese language support and programmes
which -at the beginning- worked out fine ... just fine for two sessions when
the X-Display seemed to have changed its mind. Now, despite much praying on
my knees, it may start up correctly and show the working environment, or it
may show icons on the desktop only but no panel at all, or it may just show a
blank screen. Here, too, root encounters no problem whatsoever.
</ol></blockQuote>
<P>
The actual problem is not the permission to use this or that programme,
but that the x-Display only displays when it is (and I take it for being just
that) in the mood to do so.
</P>
<P>
Strangley, the Japanese fonts I installed show up in a browser, Emacs or wih
a fontviewer, but so far I have not yet had the opportunity on how to using
them in applications like Kmail or a wordprocessor.
</P>
<P>
For now, I re-installed the whole system without Japanese support and
programmes, and all runs as smoothly as before.
</P>
<P>
I would greatly appreciate it if you and/or a reader could help me out here.
I wonder if the problem is due to programmes which supply Japanese support
(FreeWnn, Kinput2 and the likes) and upset the X-display or if I am missing
out something very badly but am too blind to see... Would you know if
Japanese have the same problem the other way round? If they install the
Japanese version of a Linux Distribution and install let's say European
language support and programmes, does the x-display play up, too?
</P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">. . . a day passes . . .
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<P>
Hya folks!
</P>
<P>
Refering to my recent email concerning the installation of Japanese language
support and programmes, I hasten to inform you that I solved the mistery (or
missery?) after some clicks only. Why make it easy when it you can make it
yourself difficult...
</P>
<P>
In fact, when installing a distribution (reminder: I use Mandrake 8.1,
western Europe edition) you need to select your language, the Japanese
language and some programmes needed to enter Japanese text in a
wordprocessor, email programme etc. Once the distribution installed, ROOT
needs to execute "<TT>/usr/sbin/localedrake</TT>" and choose Japanese instead of the
original language.
</P>
<P>
A user can configure his environment in two different ways:
</P>
<P><BLOCKQuote>
Grand A
</BLOCKQuote></P>
<P>
Personal Country, Language and Keymap are set of the user's choice. This
does not alter the the display of the interface or menus : they continue to
be displayed in the corresponding language.
To enter Japanese text in say Kword, hit the keys SHIFT and SPACE and then
enter the text in r-o-m-a-j-i. Nevertheless, how to get out of this mode I
would not know... One more thingy : having set the iso8859-15 keymap, the
user will not be able to type in the EURO currency symbol - although the
personal configuration panel for Country and Language show that symbol. Luck
Japane$e, Briish and American$!!! Another thingy : mc displays illegible
caracters when it comes to OK, CANCEL or displaying names of directories.
Other thingies remain to be discovered yet.
Hint : only ROOT can help here. ROOT needs to reset the language to the
original language via "<TT>/usr/sbin/localdrake</TT>" and Europeans can join the
"international-currency-display-users'-club", meaning all's back to normal,
meaning as normal as normal can normally be.
</P>
<P>
Grand B.
</P>
<P>
To display a Japanese interface and menus the user needs to select his
country (not Japan - unless you have a Japanese keyboard or you do not mind
searching for the right keys and combination, that is). As to language and
keymap the user needs to select Japanese in the first case, and a keymap
compatible with Japanese input (say keymap "jisx0208.1983-0" or "iso10646-1")
in the latter case. Sure, the user may as well go for a real Japanese
distribution, but you KNOW what they are saying:  "Do it at your own risk!"
Personally, I don't, and, mind you, I don't even know where to click when it
reads "Quit" on a Japanese screen.
</P>
<P>
It is interesting to note the different effects this has on <A HREF="http://www.gnome.org/">GNOME</A> and <A HREF="http://www.kde.org/">KDE</A>.
</P>
<P>
I have come across suggestions like adding someTHINGs to SOME files like
"XMODIFIERS="@im=kinput2" LANGUAGE=xx_yy LC_TYPE=ja_JP" (where xx_yy stands
for the abbreviation of your country) or something like "LANG=ja8JP.eucJP" or
"LANG_ja.JP.UTF-8" ... but hey! Hey, wait a minute! I am just a simple minded
user (Yours respectfully, of course) and not a fullblown Linux administrator
with years of experience. But then again, I could become one as <A HREF="mailto:LinuxG@zette"
	>LinuxG@zette</A>
has helped me in the past. So, I remember a Perl script "Uncle Ben" sent me
to rename quite a view files... but I'm straying and Ben might have some
trouble steering off the course of an oil tanker.
</P>
<P>
Now that I have overcome this -how shall I put it-  "Japanese problem", I am
interested in learning how to install, configure, handle and use Indian
input. Any readers up here willing to help me, please?
</P>
<P>
It is my hope that some readers could find some assistance.
</P>
<P>
Thanking you in advance (not only in case you put in a higher gear to get me
some help), I remain
</P>
<P>
Your linuxely, Wilf.
</P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">. . . Robos gives his best shot, though it's not much . . .
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<P>
The only things I can contribute are: look at <TT>/etc/locale.gen</TT>, see what
LC_ALL, LC_LANG and LC_LANGUAGE are set to (echo $LC_LANG) and change them
so something else via (for instance in ~/.bashrc)
</P>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>export LC_ALL=en_GB
</font></code></blockquote>
<P>
and then
</P>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>source ~/.bashrc
</font></code></blockquote>
<P>
I managed to change something with this but I'm not sure if this is the
right way.  Maybe this helps? -- Robos
</P>

<!-- end 4 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="wanted/5"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">info about xkbcomp</FONT></H3>
25 Oct 2002 07:33:20 +0100
<BR>mike (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=mike@redtux.demon.co.uk&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%20help%20wanted%20%235%20xkbcomp">mike from redtux.demon.co.uk</a>)


<P>
Does anyone know a good source of info about xkbcomp - all I can find
are very basic man pages (several saying we are depreciated)
</P>
<P>
Any pointers appreciated
</P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">The only reference I see regularly is a note when X starts up saying not
to worry about XKB errors if there are any.  Or something like that.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">Readers?
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>

<!-- end 5 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="wanted/6"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">problem installing on linux on ultra2sparc reg</FONT></H3>
Tue, 22 Oct 2002 08:30:27 +0530
<BR>Dr. Nagesh R. Iyer (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=nri@sercm.csir.res.in&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%20help%20wanted%20%236%20SuSE%20ultraspace">nri from sercm.csir.res.in</a>)

<P>
i downloaded all iso files (from the suse site) and
burnt the CDs at 2x speed. the Cds have been checked
and tested on different machines and verifies/satisfied
that there all files are generated and intact.
i am trying to install suse linux sparc on an ultra 2 machine and
</P>
<P>
i seem to have problems that is least expected.
following are the details.
</P>
<P>
The hardware details of the machine:
</P>

<blockquote><pre>Sun Ultra II  CPU speed 296 MHz
128 MB RAM
Open Boot Ver 3.7
Two SCSI hard disks:
     Internal 17 GB
     External 4 GB
We are trying to install Suse Linux Ver 7.3
The O/S is being installed in the external 4 GB HD
</pre></blockquote>

<h4 align="center"><br>Problem observed
</h4>
<P>
The system hangs at stage 6 during installation with CD 1
While installing through GUI, the system hangs without
any message.
</P>
<P>
While installing through command mode (after using fdisk), the error
message is
'Cannot create <TT>/dev/...</TT>    '
</P>
<P>
thanks once again,
<BR>Dr. Nagesh R. Iyer
</P>

<!-- end 6 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="wanted/7"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Question about compiling against different C library</FONT></H3>
26 Oct 2002 02:22:25 +0100
<BR>mike (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=mike@redtux.demon.co.uk&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%20help%20wanted%20%237%20older%20glibc2%20compiling">mike from redtux.demon.co.uk</a>)

<P>
I have a RH based system with gcc3.2 glibc-2.2.92
</P>
<P>
I want to compile some programs (old gnome2 etc) against glibc-2.2.5 -
is this feasible?
</P>
<P>
The basic reason is to distribute RH7.3 rpms (ATM mozilla and galeon)
</P>

<!-- end 7 -->
<!--              . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .              -->
<HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center">
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">More about CAD</FONT></H3>
Tue, 29 Oct 2002 01:13:54 -0800
<BR>Heather Stern (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=linux-questions-only@ssc.com,&cc=star@starshine.org &subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%20help%20wanted%20%238%20CAD">star from starshine.org </a>)


<P>
In a previous issue someone mentioned they were running AutoCAD on
Linux.  That is, they were running it most happily inside VMware, if I recall
correctly:
<A HREF="../issue83/lg_tips.html#tips/9"
	>http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue83/lg_tips.html#tips/9</A>
</P>
<P>
One reader, Frank Smierciak wrote in:
</P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#006633"><EM><BLOCKQuote>
We currently have a dozen engineers running Autocad on Windows (various
levels).  You mentioned you are running Autocad on Linux.  I didn't know
Autocad had a Linux version.  I don't mean to be a total newbie here but
what version of Autocad are you running and have you ever tried LinuxCAD
which claims to be 100% Autocad compatible.
</BLOCKQuote></EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P>
...and I innocently thought to myself, "Gee, okay, that sounds neat,
I'll mention it."  Both these authors are obviously experienced engineers.
I went looking for myself, to see what else I could find, to mention next
to it.
</P>
<P>
But I didn't find it in <A HREF="http://www.freshmeat.net/">Freshmeat</A> (though there are 53 listings in their
electronic design subcategory alone).  The product's commercial
(<A HREF="http://www.linuxcad.com"
	>http://www.linuxcad.com</A>).  As is AutoCAD, of course.  There are drawing
ryam3d.orgograms mentioning CAD as one among many 2-D uses they can offer. (Is
it still CAD if you are only drafting in two dimensions? well, it's a
computer, and you're designing, so I guess so.)  I found one that
designs LEGO layouts 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</P>
<P>
The question then comes up, what do you want to use CAD <EM>for</EM> ...
</P>
<P>
I asked my friend 'Dillo, an experienced 3-D artist (among other things),
what he uses.  He made special note to warn me that the difference between
modelling software and CAD is that CAD will enforce real-world measurements.
E.g.  the intaglio on this pot is exactly 0.125 cm deep.  For what he
usually does, he's not sending things to a lathe, and just modelling is fine;
he uses Ayam, a free front end for Renderman:
<A HREF="http://www.ayam3d.org"
	>http://www.ayam3d.org</A>
</P>
<P>
I have big dreams of replicating little starship cutaway views, re-plotting
my garden or living room layout, abusing my SMP motherboard with lighting
calculations, stuff like that.  "Dreaming" is the key word here.  I found
myself in the deep side of the CAD swimming pool with no water wings, and
drowning -- things are pretty polarized, either no documentation or it
assumes that you're already experienced as an engineer.  I have a great
sense of geometry, and I'm a good hand with the GIMP, but this just isn't
my field.  So far I'd be safer staying in the GIMP.
</P>
<P>
We need someone with some real examples to measure these things
up against, to bring this all to life with some fun, and give us
something that engineering newbies like me can enjoy and work our way
through too.  Having a bit of a bake-off about the different kinds of CAD
and modelling available would be a plus.
</P>
<P>
Interested?  See our <A HREF="../faq/author.html">author submission guidelines</A>   
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</P>

<!-- end 8 -->
<HR>
<center>
<BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">GENERAL MAIL</FONT></STRONG></BIG>
<BR>
</center><HR>
<UL>
<!-- index_text begins -->
<li><A HREF="#mailbag/1"
	><strong>Mizpelling and Rekoining</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#mailbag/2"
	><strong>sendmail and courier imap server</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#mailbag/3"
	><strong>etymology of "daemon"</strong></a>
<!-- index_text ends -->
</UL>
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="mailbag/1"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Mizpelling and Rekoining</FONT></H3>
Sat, 26 Oct 2002 12:16:19 +0200
<BR>Wilbor (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%20mailbag%20%231%20rekoining">wbr from free.fr</a>)


<P>
Gooooood Morning LG!
</P>
<P>
There I have it (thanks Rick!) : what with my eternally installing Linux
instead of putting poorly configurated files and setups right ...
</P>
<P>
Thank you so much for having sent some helpful mails concerning the (hum,
"my" ) x-display's mood and configurating foreign languages support.
</P>
<P>
Mizspelling (yes, MiS) : all that fumbling on the keyboard trying to get
foreign languages support on my linux box has given me some bad habits, I
reckon.
</P>
<P>
Rekoining : as to rekoining (with a C, please) a phrase, in fact, it should
not be known as "nobody's perfect" but "nothing's perfect". So, raising on
one of the back benches I bow me head and admit not having payed much
attention whilst setting up the email prog, particularly the e-address.
</P>
<P>
Felicitation -excuse me/veuillez m'excusez/'tschuligung- congratulation for
your restyled web pages! You may now rightly raise and shine and ask around
"now, who's the best?" unless, well, unless you do even better!
</P>
<P>
Yours linuxely, Wilf
</P>

<!-- sig -->


<!-- end 1 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="mailbag/2"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">sendmail and courier imap server</FONT></H3>
Thu, 26 Sep 2002 13:10:52 -0700
<BR>Heather Stern (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%20mailbag%20%232">star from starshine.org </a>)
<BR>Question by Eddy Buhler (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%20mailbag%20%232%20imap%20and%20fetchmail">ebuhler@gm-squared.de</a>)



<blockquote><font color="#000066">part kudos, part juicy answers, yet a question still.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000099"><EM>
Hi,
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000099"><EM>
Google had me stumble over your request in the Linux Gazette. Since I
have the same problem (have to use sendmail for a specific reason, but
still want to use courier imap), I'm interested in whether you found a
solution yet?
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000099"><EM>
Regards,
<BR>Eddy Buhler
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Oh, that.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">I've had no problem using sendmail with courier-imap;  in fact it's
nearly ideal, since Courier's own MTA is too young for prime time
whilst IMAP is a path to the future.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">The client who enjoyed these goodies was also handling enough
traffic to warrant some serious tweaking, or to switch to Postfix,
which he did.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">The key in honoring IMAP well was not in the MTA, but in the local
delivery agent -- procmail can easily deliver to maildirs, you just
have to tell it to do so, and tell the MTAs to use procmail instead of
the builtin local mailers.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">Hope that helps!
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#006633"><EM>
This is the first time I am faced with the task to set up a mailing
system...would you mind supplying a few directions as to how to tell
sendmail to use procmail as delivery agent, and roughly what to do to
make procmail deliver in the maildir format and, say, into "~/mail"?
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P>
...
</P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#006633"><EM>
I got the thing working, thanks.
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Glad to hear it!
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
Yes, rather annoying to find out that things worked in the first place and I
spent 3 days hunting shadows. Turned out sendmail was already configured to
use procmail in my distro (<A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A> 7.2 on a remote server), and all that was
basically missing were
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
a. <TT>/etc/procmailrc</TT> with the source and target directories
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
b. courier-imap, though that had me turning in circles again until I found
the pw2userdb and makeuserdb commands in <TT>/usr/lib/courier-imap/share</TT> after
building and starting the daemon.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Sheesh. Now I just need to figure out what auth module courier is using and
see how to use PAM if it's not using that yet. I guess I should also try
compile a Step-by-step guide for other Linux mail Newbies like me...
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Excellent!  We'd love to see it.   It'd make a good Article for the
<EM>Gazette</EM> if it's long enough, or an Answer Gang posting if enough of us
are all chattering during the notes.
</P>
<P>
If you're inclined to do it article style, our article guidelines are
pretty simple, see <A HREF="../faq/author.html"
	>http://www.linuxgazette.com/faq/author.html</A>.
</P>
<P><STRONG>
the least I can expect is that ppl rip it apart in the air and point out the
millions of errors I made and the myriads of places where I could have done
something better, which means I get to learn more, and gather a few more
e-mails belonging to intelligent and helpful individuals I can contact in
the future when I again have mail problems (e.g. in case I really have to
change my sendmail config, or go deeper into fetchmail or promail
or...whatever).
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Good attitude, I like that.
</P>
<P>
You can always post questions to the Gang at
<A HREF="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com"
	>linux-questions-only@ssc.com</A>;  if you're inclined to help others too,
and not afraid of dealing with the extra burst of mail, you can join the
mailing list.   Don't worry, we're all good at something and not so
great at other things ... even the really experienced souls among us.
</P>
<P><STRONG>
Oh, that reminds me. I want to offer a web interface for users to access my
imap server. That alone should be perfectly doable since there are a couple
imap webmail interfaces out there. But I want them to be able to add pop3
servers to their fetchmail list.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Which suggests that you'll either want a privileged CGI )to let them get
at their fetchmailrc) or some cronjob help (to let them work in
unprivileged CGI space, then have something sanity check and apply the
change to the real fetchmailrc).
</P>
<P><STRONG>
Internally, I want to run a single fetchmail daemon (probably I'll just
create a dedicated fetchmail user (e.g. "getmail") and let the scripts add
the account/user mappings to that user's .fetchmailrc so I don't have one
fetchmail demon running per mail user, which could be a bad idea if there
were 50 users all polling 5 POP3 accounts every minute, I don't really know
about the load though).
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Hard to say ...
</P>
<P><STRONG>
My main question is if I can tell fetchmail to not only run as a daemon, but
to configure each and every individual POP account to be polled at their own
intervals, like this:
</STRONG></P>

<code><strong><font color="#000033"><br>&gt; poll account1 for user toby every 5 minutes
<br>&gt; poll account2 for user sam every 60 minutes
<br>&gt; poll account3 for user anne every 10 minutes
</font></strong></code>
<P><STRONG>
I've read about the "set daemon" command in .fetchmailrc, but that only
determines the interval the daemon wakes up at to do its job. A very ugly
solution that I basically discarded before I tried it would be to create one
fetchmail user for every account used, and set a daemon for that. But that
would not only see the server run one daemon per user, but even one daemon
per POP3 account. There must be a nicer way.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Do you know one? 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</STRONG></P>
<P>
I don't - maybe one of our readers can chime in.
</P>
<P><STRONG>
Regards,
<BR>Eddy Buhler
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Our pleasure.
</P>

<!-- end 2 -->
<!--              . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .              -->
<HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center">
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">etymology of "daemon"</FONT></H3>
Tue, 22 Oct 2002 15:07:34 -0400
<BR>Bob Krovetz (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%20mailbag%20%233%20etymology">krovetz from research.nj.nec.com</a>)


<P>
In issue 83 of the Linux Gazette, you give some possible origins
for the word "daemon":
<A HREF="../issue83/tag/1.html"
	>http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue83/tag/1.html</A>
</P>
<P>
The term "daemon" comes from the demons in Oliver
Selfridge's paper 'Pandemonium', MIT 1958, which was named
after the capital of Hell in  Milton's 'Paradise Lost'.
Selfridge likened neural cells firing in response to
input patterns to the chaos of millions of demons
shrieking in Pandemonium."   He proposed program elements,
called "demons" that would model the activity of the
neural cells and respond whenever a particular pattern
appears in the input.  The term later grew from its use
in Artificial Intelligence to being used in the context
of operating systems.  The concept of "interrupts" was
considered akin to a demon "shrieking" in response to
the input pattern.
</P>
<P>
Bob
</P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">That "Day Monitor" was clearly a misguided guess by the querent.
The rest were references from the Gang's scattered array of knowledge.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">In the context of the Berkeley students who worked on BSD, Evi's
comments are considered canonical.  I add the link here so readers
may see the more complete quote:
	<A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/copyright/daemon.html"
	>http://www.freebsd.org/copyright/daemon.html</A>
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">Many times similar ideas sprout in different places, only to discover
each other later.  (The Calculus, for instance, was independently
developed and the main thing left mismatching were the symbols used.)
In this case, it looks like me got concurrent homonymic results, from different
origins.  Evi clearly states that a system can easily have both...
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>

<!-- end 3 -->
<HR>
<center>
<BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">GAZETTE MATTERS</FONT></STRONG></BIG>
<BR>
</center><HR>
<UL>
<!-- index_text begins -->
<li><A HREF="#gaz/1"
	><strong>Ettiquette among the Answer Gang</strong></a>
<!-- index_text ends -->
</UL>
<!--              . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .              -->
<HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center">
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Ettiquette among the Answer Gang</FONT></H3>
Mon, 14 Oct 2002 17:49:32 -0700
<BR>Heather Stern (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%20gazette%20matters%20%231%20no%20scaring%20borg%20kids">star from starshine.org </a>)


<P>
I'd like to kindly request that if you are not going to answer someone,
do not take the extra time nor waste the extra bits to blow them off.
</P>
<P>
We do not promise to give all requesters an answer, and I know that
a lot more off-topic questions are arriving since we re-opened the
floodgates labelled "tag" and "answerguy".
</P>
<P>
We also didn't promise that we're suits, keeping our thoughts squeaky
clean and so on... but I note that there is some line between
advocacy,  curmudgeonly 'tude, and just plain being rude.  I do not
believe we're meeting the prime directive -- Making Linux A Little
More Fun! -- if we make the borg kids run away in tears.  Let 'em meet
silence until they're ready to ask real Linux questions.
</P>
<P>
In other words if y'all sharpen the razor wit too far I'm gonna have
to install a first aid kit in the TAG beer lounge.
</P>
<P>
<EM>However</EM> if you answer in the off-the-cuff spirit of the original
Answer Guy, Jim Dennis (hi hon!) ... by answering a patently
mswin/solaris/weird-OS question with the Linux version of the answer,
then I'll cheerfully make sure that your favorite brewski is present
in the TAG Fridge.  In this way Jim often actually answered them,
while hinting strongly that Linux makes it, whatever "it" is, a bit
less painful.  Pass the pretzels, please.
</P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">I'm pleased to say that in addition to some backroom silliness about
coffee, ginger beer, and the exact methods we use to refill the pretzel
jar, we've also been seeing a bit more helpfulness from the Gang in
regards to cross-platform issues.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">Issues where Linux is not involved at all are still for somebody else
to deal with, though.  Please mention which variety of Linux you're
having trouble with when writing to us.  Thanks.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>

<!-- end 1 -->
<P> <hr> </p>
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
<h5>This page edited and maintained by the Editors of <I>Linux Gazette</I><br>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>
<br>Copyright &copy; 2002
<br>Copying license <A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A>
<BR>Published in Issue 84 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, November 2002</H5>
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>



<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A>
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD>


<center>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">More 2&cent; Tips!</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG><BR>
<!-- BEGIN tips -->

<STRONG>By <A HREF="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com">The Readers of <i>Linux Gazette</I></A></STRONG></BIG>
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->
<center><STRONG>See also: The Answer Gang's 
<a href="../tag/kb.html">Knowledge Base</a>
and the <i>LG</i> 
<a href="http://www.linuxgazette.com/search.html">Search Engine</a></STRONG>
</center><HR>
<UL>
<!-- index_text begins -->
<li><A HREF="#tips/1"
	><strong>Hiding your email on websites from spammers</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/2"
	><strong>Help on LILO</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/3"
	><strong>bad clusters</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/4"
	></a>CDRW --or--
<br><A HREF="#tips/4"
	><strong>CDRW plugging-it-in mini-howto</strong></a>

<li><A HREF="#tips/5"
	><strong>1   ut2003a.tgz: The archive is corrupt</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/6"
	><strong>How to delete LINUX?</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/7"
	><strong>How to write C program?</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/8"
	><strong>cd-writer device driver</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/9"
	></a>duplex printing not exactly right --or--
<br><A HREF="#tips/9"
	><strong>Cheap duplex fix</strong></a>
<br>seeking to do a better one...
<li><A HREF="#tips/10"
	><strong>odd use for eject</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/11"
	><strong>emacs</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/12"
	><strong>how many roots?</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/13"
	><strong>[LG 82] help wanted #3 Postfix hates Outlook</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/14"
	><strong>Fun With Ioctls</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/15"
	><strong>lkml</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/16"
	></a>The Weekend Mechanic --or--
<br><A HREF="#tips/16"
	><strong>When the Weekend Mechanic loses his tools</strong></a>
<br>he finds them pretty quickly.
<li><A HREF="#tips/17"
	><strong>ATI Rage M4</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/18"
	><strong>Cannot Login as root at all</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/19"
	></a>LJ Page Customer Service: satheish --or--
<br><A HREF="#tips/19"
	><strong>I would have called, but...</strong></a>

<li><A HREF="#tips/20"
	><strong>Getting rid of offensive content on your hard disk dreged up by your web browser</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/21"
	></a>Hoping you have the solution to a problem... --or--
<br><A HREF="#tips/21"
	><strong>At a loss for words</strong></a>

<li><A HREF="#tips/22"
	><strong>need your help</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/23"
	><strong>2 tips for the TAG</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/24"
	><strong>Troubleshooting GRUB</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#tips/25"
	><strong>please clear my doubts</strong></a>
<li><I>Linux Journal's</I> Weekly News Notes 
	<a href="#tips/lj">Tech Tips</a>
	<ul>
	</ul>
<!-- 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">Hiding your email on websites from spammers</FONT></H3>
Sat, 28 Sep 2002 22:02:01 -0700
<BR>Benjamin A. Okopnik (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=linux-questions-only@ssc.com&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%231">the <em>LG</em> Answer Gang</a>)


<P>
Here's a way to "munge" your email address on your Web page so that
spammer's bots can't grab it:
</P>

<blockquote><pre>perl -we'map{printf"&amp;#%s;",ord}split//,pop' user@host.com
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
Use your address, and stick the output into your HTML where you'd
normally use your address. It will display correctly, but all that the
bots will see will be something like
</P>
<P>
&amp;#117;&amp;#115;&amp;#101;&amp;#114;&amp;#64;&amp;#104;&amp;#111;&amp;#115;&amp;#116;&amp;#46;&amp;#99;&amp;#111;&amp;#109;
</P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Of course, if bots get smart enough to undo this, it won't help...  a
friend of mine also uses tricks to confuse them as to where the @ sign
has gotten to... SGML comments within their domain name, stuff like
that.  Yet another shows their address and phone number within a PNG
of their business card (although, admittedly, this is not lynx-clean).
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">A combination of such tricks, combined with a couple of
"sentinel" addresses which look legit but are only for spambots to
find, should aid you greatly in both reducing the total spam, and in
having bait to feed to Razor to reduce the overall spam even further.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>

<!-- end 1 -->
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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">Help on LILO</FONT></H3>
Tue, 08 Oct 2002 02:36:22 -0700
<BR>Tres Melton (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=linux-questions-only@ssc.com&cc=class5@pacbell.net&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%232">class5 from pacbell.net</a>)



<!-- sig -->


<!-- sig -->

<P>
I can usually resolve LILO issue myself but I read your help solutions
out of curiosity.  The one thing that I noticed that you missed
(hopefully -- I only skimmed your replies) is the fact that LILO is
printed one character at a time.  Each character means the following...
</P>
<P>
Characters
</P>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br>Description
</font></em></blockquote>
<P>
none
</P>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br>	LILO has not yet started. Either it was not installed or
<br> 	the partition is not active
</font></em></blockquote>
<P>
L errorcode
</P>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br>	The first stage boot loader has been loaded and started.
<br>	However, the second stage boot loader cannot be loaded.
<br> 	The errorcode typically indicates a media problem, such
<br>	as a hard disk error or incorrect hard disk geometry.
</font></em></blockquote>
<P>
LI
</P>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br>	The second stage boot loader was loaded, but could not
<br>	be executed. Either a geometry msimatch or by moving
<br> 	/boot/boot.b and not running the map installer.
</font></em></blockquote>

<blockquote><font color="#001F3F">Or the "lba32" option was specified and the BIOS or drive cannot handle it.
Solution: switch to "linear".
 -- Mike</font></blockquote>
<P>
LIL
</P>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br>	Second stage boot loader started, but could not load the
<br>	descriptor table from the map file. Typically a media
<br>	failure or by a geometry mismatch.
</font></em></blockquote>
<P>
LIL?
</P>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br>	Second stage boot loader loaded at an incorrect address.
<br>	Typically a geometry mismatch or by moving /boot/boot.b
<br>	without running the map installer.
</font></em></blockquote>
<P>
LIL-
</P>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br>	Descriptor table is corrupt. Either a geometry mismatch
<br> 	or by moving /boot/boot.b without running the map
<br>	installer.
</font></em></blockquote>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">That is, you made it into 32 bit or other paged memory processing,
beyond what old DOS hacks call "real mode" -- but the page descriptors
don't look good, and LILO refuses to jump to hyperspace with such
ugly coordinates.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<P>
LILO
</P>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br>	Everything successfully loaded and executed.
</font></em></blockquote>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Statistics: 3 out of 6 troubles mention the map installer.  Just run
/sbin/lilo again and see if it helps.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">4 out of 6 mention geometry.  linear, lba32, and compact are all options
which relate to geometry; if you're using one, try changing this and
running /sbin/lilo.   But you just might have to tweak CMOS instead.
For instance, LBA32 often needs to be turned on in CMOS before the lilo
option can do anything.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">2 mention media problems.  Sorry.  If you're lucky the mangled piece
of disk is not track 0, and you can just copy fresh lilo bits out of
their package, to new disk locations that aren't bad.  For goodness'
sake run fsck -c to get the bad spots marked useless before going much
further.  And make sure your partition table is good.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">And #1 on the "whap yourself on the forehead" list: If you get no
LILO response at all, make sure that /etc/lilo.conf says boot=/dev/hda
(or sda if you're on SCSI and not a numbered partition like /dev/hda1.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<P>
Courtesy of Linux Tutorial
</P>

<blockquote><a href="http://www.linux-tutorial.info/cgi-bin/display.pl?68&0&0&0&3"
>http://www.linux-tutorial.info/cgi-bin/display.pl?68&amp;0&amp;0&amp;0&amp;3</a></blockquote>
<P>
Regards
<BR>Tres
</P>

<!-- end 2 -->
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<P> <A NAME="tips/3"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">bad clusters</FONT></H3>
Mon, 30 Sep 2002 16:28:55 -0700
<BR>Dan Wilder (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=aneta@cox.net&cc=dan@ssc.com&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%233">dan from ssc.com</a>)
<BR>Question by aneta (aneta from cox.net)


<P><STRONG>
where do bad clusters come from?
</STRONG></P>
<P>
The Great Bad Cluster Cabbage Patch in the Sky.
</P>
<P>
Seriously, bad clusters represent errors in a file system.  They may be
soft errors, for example where power failed or the OS crashed during a
write to disk.  It could be where there are some bad bits on RAM that
was used to hold data on the way to the filesystem.   It may be that the
computer has problems with its power circuitry, either in the power
supply or in the power distribution circuits, filters, regulators and so
on on the motherboard.  Or the underlying problem may be failed sectors
on the disk.
</P>
<P><STRONG>
also my friend has an HP pavilion with
windows 98, she has 3 bad clusters and her computer is running anciently
slow. i'm running a windows 95 format disk to reformat her computer and
so far it has been running for 3 days just trying to recover the
allocation units, why is it running slow, and will re-formatting take
care of some of the problems since she does have bad clusters?
</STRONG></P>
<P>
In either the Linux case, which is what this mailing list is about, or
other operating systems, it's time to enlist the services of somebody
with serious diagnostic tools and skills.  Simply reformatting the
disk is very unlikely to cure the underlying problem, unless it was
merely due to a power glitch.  It probably wasn't a good idea to begin
the reformat prior to consulting an expert, as you may have erased some
of the information that would lead to a correct diagnosis.
</P>
<P>
Or, it might just be time to replace the computer.
</P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">I wouldn't rush to that as the first thing; it may only be the hard disk
that's bad, not the whole machine.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">If a bad controller on the motherboard is doing it, well yes, then it's
probably easier to just replace the box.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>

<!-- end 3 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="tips/4"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">CDRW plugging-it-in mini-howto</FONT></H3>
Tue, 24 Sep 2002 15:13:26 -0700
<BR>Jim Dennis, Karl-Heinz Herrmann, Dan Wilder, Mike 'Iron' Orr (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=rlewis97@sheltonbbs.com&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%234">the <em>LG</em> Answer Gang</a>)
<BR>Question by Dale &amp; Shelby (rlewis97 from sheltonbbs.com)


<!-- ::
CDRW plugging-it-in mini-howto
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:: -->
<P><STRONG>
I know nearly nothing about drives.  I purchased a cd-rd drive and can't
get it to work.  I have installed the drive, but it won't work.  The
switch on the back of the drive is set in the middle.  There is no
writing on the switches, so I assumed the switch was set on the slave
from the factory.  From what I have read it seems like it has something
to do with my ide.  But I have no idea how to set that.  The drive does
not show up in my hardware properties.  Do you think you can help?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanks in advance
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[JimD] 
.... That's an MS Windows dialog box. Right?
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If so you should call Microsoft and see if they offer support for
their products.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Strictly speaking, it's the CD bay manufacturer to call, not the MSwin
guys.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[K.-H.] 
Start earlier -- bo into bios setup and do a "drive detect" if available.
Does it show up there? Also All IDE CD drives I had gave some boot message
during the BIOS search for IDE devices. This is before the box with the
summary comes but after the memory countup.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If it's not there the hardware is not detected and something is quite wrong
on hardware level.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Dan] 
Try the HOWTOs...
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
You'll probably have to rebuild your kernel or load a module
to support these.  If you need help with that, check back here
after you've taken a look at the HOWTO.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[JimD] 
The best resource for this topic right now is probably:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><DL><DT>
Winfried Trmper's CD-Writing HOWTO
<DD><A HREF="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/CD-Writing-HOWTO.html"
	>http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/CD-Writing-HOWTO.html</A>
</DL></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
... though there are a couple of comments at:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><DL><DT>
The Answer Gang 65: cd-writing mini-howto
<DD><A HREF="../issue65/tag/17.html"
	>http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue65/tag/17.html</A>
</DL></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
In general IDE CDR/CDRW drives under Linux are accessed through
the SCSI emulation layer.  Thus you normally have to build the
ide-scsi module (either into your kernel, statically, or as a
loadable ".o" file).  Normally you'd also have to pass the kernel
a command line hint like hdc=ide-scsi which will force the system
to direct all traffic to that IDE device through the SCSI emulation
subsystem.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The oddity of this is that it affect normal access to CDs via
that device, too.  Thus to mount a normal CD in that drive you'd use
the <TT>/dev/scd0</TT> (or other <TT>/dev/scd*</TT>) device node.  Writing to CDR and
CDRW media would generally go through the <TT>/dev/sg0</TT> (or similar)
devices -- sg is "generic scsi device" (printers, scanners, etc).
(Actually the cdrecord command uses a three part bus, ID, LUN address
for this).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Iron] 
If it's a new drive, I would return it and say the inadequate labeling is
preventing you from using the drive.  Maybe that will goad the manufacturer
into doing what practically all other manufacturers have done: put labels
with diagrams on the drive.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
An IDE drive normally has a jumper (not a switch) with three positions:
"master", "slave" and "cable select".  Some also have a position for "single".
IDE cables have three plugs so they can fit two drives on one controller.  If
this is the only drive on the cable, it must be "single" (if such a position
exists) or "master" (if it doesn't).  If there is another drive on the cable
too, one must be "master" and the other "slave".  "Cable select" was one of
those nifty new ideas that never caught on, so don't bother with it.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If an IDE plug fits it, it's probably an IDE drive.  I've never seen one with
a switch instead of jumpers, but it's possible.  Is it an external drive?
Those would be more likely to have switches.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If the switch is unlabeled you'll have no choice but to try all three positions
and see which one works.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The IDE cable should be connected with the red stripe facing toward the power
cable.  On the motherboard, the red stripe should go toward the pin marked "1".
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The power cable is connected, right?
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
It's possible it's not an IDE drive at all but a SCSI drive.  The plug would
be a different shape and the switch would have numbers (0-8 or 0-16).
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 4 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="tips/5"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">1   ut2003a.tgz: The archive is corrupt</FONT></H3>
Wed, 02 Oct 2002 20:52:02 -0700
<BR>Dan Wilder, Rick Moen (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=jmed@shaw.ca&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%235">the <em>LG</em> Answer Gang</a>)
<BR>Question by Justin Medeiros (jmed from shaw.ca)

<P><STRONG>
hey i have downloaded a .tar file and it says its corrupted, and i
changed it to .tgz and it's still corrupt, any ideas?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
thanks.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Dan] 
Believe tar.  The file is corrupted.  Throw it away.  Download it again.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
You didn't say how you downloaded it.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Rick Moen proceeds to answer the question he should have asked ... "how
do I keep it from arriving corrupted?"
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
If you were using the ftp protocol, make sure you were using binary
transfer mode, not ascii mode.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 5 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="tips/6"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">How to delete LINUX?</FONT></H3>
Fri, 18 Oct 2002 01:43:28 -0400
<BR>Daniel Washko (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=zhous@wicc.weizmann.ac.il&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%236">the <em>LG</em> Answer Gang</a>)
<BR>Question by Suijian Zhou (zhous from wicc.weizmann.ac.il)



<blockquote><font color="#000066">This is the best framed question of this type I've seen in years, and
Daniel had a fast, neat answer ready to hand.  So I'm publishing it
even though it's an FAQ.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">As long as later editions of Windows continue to have a tool
to replace the MBR cleanly, this note will continue to be useful.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
Dear Friend,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I have a computer with two operating
systems: Win98+Linux. Now I want to delete
the whole Linux system to free its space into Win98.
The selection of boot for a certain operating
system is by LILO at start. Can you tell me
1) How to delete the Linux?
2) After delete Linux, that means delete LILO
too, so can I still boot the computer into Win98?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Many thanks
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Use a win98 startup disk or the win98 cd to boot.  Run fdisk, delete the
linux partitions using the non-dos partition optoins.  Then exit, run
fdisk <TT>/mbr.</TT>  Reboot with the disk or disc, run fdisk again and create a
new dos partition.  Reboot, format the parition.  Why you would want to do
this is beyond me.  You should be deleting the win98 partition to free up
some disk space for the linux partition.
</P>

<!-- end 6 -->
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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">How to write C program?</FONT></H3>
19 Oct 2002 20:45:15 +0530
<BR>Ashwin M, Rick Moen (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=maud007@163.net&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%237">the <em>LG</em> Answer Gang</a>)
<BR>Question by maud (maud007 from 163.net)


<P><STRONG>
Hello,I am a university student from China.
Now I write C program with vi,and compile with gcc,but I find write program like this is unefficient.There are very good tools for Windows,
like Visuanl C++, Tubro C/C++ etc.
So I want to ask what tools we can use in Linux and the step to write a program.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
If you find vim and command line gcc too rudimentary for your taste, a
lot of visual-like and IDE tools for Linux are available. Some of the
popular ones are -
</P>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br>KDevelop  (KDE/Qt based)
<br>Glade     (Gtk based)
</font></em></blockquote>
<P>
If you cannot find them, then maybe you have not installed them from the
CDs. Please do so and give them a try. They ship with all popular Linux
distros (distributions).
</P>
<P>
...  ashwin
</P>
<P>
In case it will help, I maintain a list of all known Linux IDEs <TT>/</TT> GUI
Builders <TT>/</TT> RAD tools, at <A HREF="http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/faq/#idedev"
	>http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/faq/#idedev</A> .
The list has passed 100 entries.
</P>
<P>
... Rick Moen
</P>

<!-- end 7 -->
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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">cd-writer device driver</FONT></H3>
Sat, 05 Oct 2002 10:09:54 -0500
<BR>Karl-Heinz Herrmann, Pradeep (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=sarath@scientist.com&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%238">the <em>LG</em> Answer Gang</a>)
<BR>Question by Sarath Ananthapadmanabhan (sarath from scientist.com)

<P><STRONG>
hello answerguy,
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Hi Sarath,
</P>
<P>
It's gang now, not guy: see <A HREF="../faq/index.html"
	>http://www.linuxgazette.com/faq/index.html</A>
or www.linuxgazette.com/authors
</P>
<P><STRONG>
I am a final year software engineering student and I want some
driver writing information. I would like to know how to obtain enough
information about my cd-writer to write a driver for it. This is important
for my final sem project and I can't seem to find anything on the web.Even
a few helpful links would do.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
You already asked this on the cdwrite mailing list and you got one answer
pointing you to the SCSI MMC-3 specifications, so why not try to locate it?
The cdwrite mailing list certainly has the more knowledgeable people on this
particular issue. So they do expect you to know at least to some degree what
you are talking about if you venture to write a cd-writer driver from scratch
and they think a pointer like they gave should be sufficient. If you have
particular questions/problems on implementation that will be a good place to
ask again.
</P>
<P><STRONG>
I read that u are an LG fan.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
I am certainly not an LG fan (neither the cdrom manufacturer nor the Indian(?)
electronics manufacturer (TV's and stuff) if they are not the same.
</P>
<P>
I certainly <EM>am</EM> a fan of Linux Gazette so....
</P>
<P><STRONG>
The device I'm talking about is an LG GCE-8160B (16x max).Hope you can
help me with it.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
So -- that might be an IDE drive or might not be an IDE drive. I guess it is.
</P>
<P>
in any case: The protocol used to access these devices --- and all newer
CD-writers are ATAPI/SCSI MMC-3 compliant --- is the MMC-3 specification.
Actually ATAPI for CDROM drives is nothing but SCSI over IDE, so the devices
understand scsi commands which are sent over the IDE hardware connection. In
Linux (to be a little bit ontopic for a LINUX-questions-only) there is a
ide-scsi driver which is taking care of the scsi over ide commands part, so
you don't have to worry about that when writing the driver. (NT BTW does the
same, burners and  Co are treated as SCSI devices).
</P>
<P>
SO:
</P>

<blockQuote><ol>
<LI>try to get hold of this specifications

   like typing "mmc-3 specification" in www.google.com... but this is not the
   first hit there and will require some digging. It is well possible that you
   have to buy that in printed book form from somewhere.
   I get lots of *.msdn.* hits, maybe you find something generic there too.

   you <EM>are</EM> trying low level hardware programming so getting used to that
   kind of bit poking manuals will be unavoidable I guess


<LI>get cdrecord and/or cdrdao and have a look at <EM>their</EM> code, especially
   the library libscg might be interesting since it's handling all the low
   level data transfers


<LI>be aware that this is a major project, i.e. to write a successful driver
   for at least most of the CD-R's features
</ol></blockQuote>
<P>
If you need info on how to write a device driver for Linux there is a HowTo
out there..... hmm. (some poking about in the web-shelves ensues)
</P>
<P><DL><DT>
What I could find are the SCSI-programming howto's:
<DD><A HREF="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/programming.html#PROGINTERFACE"
	>http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/programming.html#PROGINTERFACE</A>
</DL></P>
<P>
Look for SCSI one page down.
</P>
<P>
(it doesn't evade view for long, though.)
There is a Linux kernel module programming guide:
</P>
<P><BLOCKQuote>
<A HREF="http://www.tldp.org/LDP/lkmpg/mpg.html"
	>http://www.tldp.org/LDP/lkmpg/mpg.html</A>
</BLOCKQuote></P>
<P>
K.-H.
</P>
<P>
It's quite old and the interface is a bit changed in 2.4(from 2.2). The
best reference for driver writers is Alessandro Rubini's book
</P>
<P><DL><DT>
Linux Device Drivers
<DD><A HREF="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxdrive2"
	>http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxdrive2</A>
</DL></P>
<P>
This is a must if you are planning to do any serious kernel module
hacking. It's quite affordable too. I guess it costs around 170/- in
india.
</P>
<P>
--pradeep
</P>

<!-- end 8 -->
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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">Cheap duplex fix</FONT></H3>
Tue, 08 Oct 2002 12:22:32 -0400
<BR>Allan Peda (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=&cc=pedaa@rockefeller.edu&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%239">pedaa from rockefeller.edu</a>)
<BR>and an alternive answer to same problem, by Ben Okopnik 

<!-- ::
Cheap duplex fix
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
seeking to do a better one...
:: -->
<P>
Hi:
</P>
<P><BLOCKQuote>
I wanted to share a trivial printing fix, and ask a question.
We recently upgraded here to a duplex printer,  which worked terrific,
except that when duplex printing from my Redhat 7.3 box every second
page was offset an extra centimter to the right.  It didn't matter which
application I used either.
</BLOCKQuote></P>
<P>
I tried a few different drivers, but they all had this problem. Rather than
approach this trial and error I decided to intercept the input
Postscript and
fix the margins.  Admittedly this is not finding the  cause of this
problem,
but it works.
</P>
<P>
I edited the <TT>/etc/printacap</TT> file (after backing it up) to point to a
different
magic filter wrapper for the duplex printer, and copied the original
wrapper to a new "improved" one.
</P>
<P>
I called this mf_wrapper_duplex, the diff output from the original
mf_wrapper and mf_wrapper_duplex follows:
</P>

<blockquote><pre>diff  /usr/share/printconf/util/mf_wrapper
/usr/share/printconf/util/mf_wrapper_duplex
45c45
&lt; /usr/bin/magicfilter-t "$TMP_FILE" $DEBUGSTRING &lt; /dev/stdin
---
 &gt; pstops -b 2:0\(0,0\),1\(-1cm,0\) &lt; /dev/stdin |
/usr/bin/magicfilter-t "$TMP_FILE" $DEBUGSTRING
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
I use pstops to adjust margins on the postscript data stream, using the
'-b'
option to strip binding information, and push the margins over 1 centimeter
to the left via the 2:0(0,0),1(-1cm,0) rule,  - see the pstops manual.
I then restarted lpd.
</P>
<P>
Of course this is not a perfect, or even a really correct solution, for
one the printconf utility will
overwrite this, so it should be put in <TT>/etc/printconf.local</TT> but I was
getting really
annoyed at the margin drift on the even number pages.  Also, I believe
the data stream into
magicfilter might not be postscript, so it would break on this as well.
</P>
<P>
I think this should really be done in magicfilter - does anyone know how
to hack this nicely?
</P>
<P>
Thanks
<BR>Allan
</P>
<HR width="10%" align="center"><P>
For quite a while now, I've had a printing problem - plain text always
came out shifted about an inch to the left, and some characters "fell
off" the page. Until recently, I didn't bother fixing it - instead, I'd
bring up the text in "vim", issue an ":ha" (hardcopy) command, and
presto!... of course, this required setting up "vim" to print (see my
"Fancy Printing in Vim" tip in LG#79.)
</P>
<P>
However, I <EM>really</EM> dislike it when things don't work the way they
should, and I got around to this recently. Since I use "magicfilter" to
process all of my print stuff, I simply edited
"<TT>/etc/magicfilter/StylusColor-II@720dpi-filter</TT>" (which is what I use for
my Epson Stylus), and changed the last entry, like so:
</P>
<p align="center">See attached <tt><a href="misc/tips/leftshift.sed.txt">leftshift.sed.txt</a></tt></p>
<P>
Note that I also add a formfeed (FF or ^L) at the end of the file. This
character is <EM>not</EM> a '^' followed by an 'L' - that won't work! Instead,
use a Real Editor ('vi', or something else that lets you enter raw
characters). In "vi", as an example, press &lt;Ctrl-V&gt; ("raw character
entry") followed by &lt;Ctrl-L&gt; ("formfeed"). Also, you may need more or
fewer spaces than I did; simply adjust that string of spaces in the
beginning of the "sed" expression.
</P>

<!-- 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">odd use for eject</FONT></H3>
Thu, 24 Oct 2002 15:33:02 -0700
<BR>Jim Dennis (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=jimd@starshine.org&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2310">the <em>LG</em> Answer Guy</a>)



<!-- sig -->

<P>
Eject is of course, the command to spit out the CD that's inside
your system, rather like the Macintosh does.
</P>
<P>
If you're a system admin at a large rack of pretty much the same
machines, you can double-check which one your KVM switch is pointed to
right now... by making it 'eject' and spit out its CD tray.
</P>
<P>
Then it'll be obvious!
</P>
<P>
If you have <EM>ever</EM> rebooted the wrong machine in your server rack or
colo facility, you definitely can use this trick to keep <EM>that</EM> from
happening again  
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</P>
<P>
Also handy if you have a habit of ssh'ing into any of several
workstations in your development offices.  You can probably even
hear the whirring of the drive tray.  But don't do it if
you know the boss keeps their coffee in front of the CD bay...
</P>

<!-- 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">emacs</FONT></H3>
Fri, 25 Oct 2002 09:36:09 -0700
<BR>Mike Orr (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2311"><em>Linux Gazette</em> Editor</a>)
<BR>Question by Ben Okopnik 

<P><STRONG>
I'd imagine there's someone here who's fairly knowledgeable in Emacs...
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Fairly knowledgeable, no.  Slightly knowledgeable, yes.
</P>
<P><STRONG>
So, I pull down the "Tools" menu, and choose "Read mail". OK,
everything's fine. I exit Emacs, not saving anything... and shortly
thereafter note, with an ice-water-down-the-back shock, that my
"<TT>/var/mail/ben</TT>" is GONE. Zeroed. Empty. WHAT THE FSCK???
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Fortunately, after some seriously POed muttering and high-speed
maneuvers with "find", I thought: "what if Emacs did something weird
with it? It shouldn't have just <EM>deleted</EM> the thing!" So, I open up
Emacs again, "Tools/Read Mail"... and there it is! Big sigh of relief,
and about a dozen blind avenues later I figure out that it stuffed my
mail into a file called "~/RMAIL" and munged the format.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Typical emacs arrogance.  It assumes that its way of handling mail is the
best and that other mail utilities are stupid not to conform.  I had the same
problem when I tried emacs mail in 1990.  And I stopped using emacs mail for
precisely that reason: it didn't handle mail in a way that was compatible with
other mail utilities.
</P>
<P><STRONG>
So, my question to you guys and gals is, is Emacs ALWAYS this bloody
rude? That is horribly intrusive behavior, as I see it: I never
explicitly asked it to change, delete, move, mung, or do anything of the
sort to my mail. I could see where a new user would be totally lost. If
I did something stupid, OK - I'll just be extra-extra cautious of the
beast. If, however, that's Emacs default behavior, I'm deleting it off
my system with extreme prejudice and it shall never darken my STDOUT as
long as I live.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Ben: Emacs is so rude!
</P>
<P>
Emacs: Why didn't you read the FM?
</P>
<P>
Ben: Why didn't you give me a warning the first time I ran it, O Editor
That Calls Itself "Self-Documenting"?  You're the one that's using an
esoteric, incompatible format.
</P>
<P>
Emacs: It was probably the standard format in the environment where emacs
mail was written, and then remain unchanged three decades later.
</P>
<P>
Ben: I'll show you who's boss!!!  I'm going to uninstall you with extreme
prejudice!!
</P>
<P>
Emacs: Bigot!
</P>
<P>
Ben: Bloated piece of crap!  You've got more features than Internet Explorer,
nyaa, nyaa, nyaa!
</P>
<P>
Emacs (Eliza mode): Is the fact that I'm a bloated piece of crap the reason
we're having this conversation?
</P>
<P><STRONG>
&lt;*Splort*&gt; &lt;FOTCL&gt;
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Mike, that's one Diet Coke with lemon you owe me. I does <EM>not</EM> belong on
my keyboard, and spraying it out through the nose <EM>hurts</EM>.
</STRONG></P>

<!-- end 11 -->
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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">how many roots?</FONT></H3>
01 Oct 2002 04:07:06 +0100
<BR>mike, Sayamindu Dasgupta, Heather Stern (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=Galopwitch@aol.com&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2312">the <em>LG</em> Answer Gang</a>)
<BR>Question by Maria Diaz (Galopwitch from aol.com)


<P><STRONG>
I have a two part question.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
How many root directories can you have in Linux?
</STRONG></P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">How deep do you want to chroot?
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>

<blockquote><font color="#1F1F1F">OOOH! Nominated for Answer of the Year.
 -- Ben</font></blockquote>
<P>
[mike]
File systems work a bit differently in linux. There is only ever one
root directoery wich is /
</P>
<P>
All partions or drives are mounted on subdirectories from this root
</P>
<P>
drives and partions are numbered like so
</P>

<blockquote><pre>/dev/hda		first Hard disk
/dev/hdb		second hard disk
/dev/hda1		first partition on first hard disk
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
[SGD]
Basically - it is not possible to have more than one root directory in
the box
</P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">The real answer is "one at a time"
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">The guys here are correctly describing a normal directory setup.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">However, an application can be working from a deeper directory than the real
one;  that's called a "changed root environment" or chroot and is
actually done all the time by things like Apache and postfix and qmail.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
I you have more than one disk drive, what steps do you have to perform in
order to make them available for use.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
[SGD]
what you can do is mount your other harddisk under a subdirectory
for example, if you have <TT>/dev/hdb</TT> as your secondary harddisk, and you
want to use the first partition of that harddisk under linux, just issue
the command
</P>

<blockquote><pre>mount -t &lt;filesystem&gt; /dev/hdb1 &lt;mountpoint&gt;
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
here &lt;filesystem&gt; may be vfat (if it's fat32) or ext2, or ext3
&lt;mountpoint&gt; may be any empty directory in your box - usually
/mnt/disk2/
or something like that.
</P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Yup, this is so. You can have lots of partitions, mounted anywhere you
want, including on top of each other, though I don't recommend covering
up any files as they will look like lost space.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">To help make this more readable I made mike and Sayamindu's code
describe the same system.  I use /mnt/c when referring to a C:\ drive,
I think it's nice and memorable.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<P>
[mike]
To eg add a second hard disk you could eg do this
</P>

<blockquote><pre>mkdir /mnt/c
mount /dev/hdb1 /mnt/c
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
(assuming second drive has been partitioned and formatted)
</P>
<P>
to make this permanent edit the file <TT>/etc/fstab</TT> to add an entry like
this
</P>

<blockquote><pre>/dev/hdb1               /mnt/c                  vfat    defaults     0 0
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
and save the file (please note the above file system is fomatted for w32
- adjust to taste)
</P>
<P><STRONG>
Your response would be greatly appreciated
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanking you in advance
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Maria Diaz
</STRONG></P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">You're very welcome!
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>

<!-- end 12 -->
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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">[LG 82] help wanted #3 Postfix hates Outlook</FONT></H3>
Thu, 26 Sep 2002 23:48:34 +0000
<BR>Edward (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=itored@hotmail.com&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2313">itored from hotmail.com</a>)



<!-- sig -->


<!-- sig -->

<P>
Shahid,
</P>
<P>
Postfix is an SMTP server and Outlook will send mail out through it but not
get mail from it.  The problem seems to be there is no POP3 server running.
Have a look here:
<A HREF="http://www.postfix.org/addon.html#pop"
	>http://www.postfix.org/addon.html#pop</A>
</P>
<P>
for info on obtaining and setting up a POP server.
</P>
<P>
Edward
</P>

<!-- end 13 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="tips/14"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Fun With Ioctls</FONT></H3>
Mon, 28 Oct 2002 00:23:56 -0600
<BR>Chris Gianakopoulos (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=cgianakop@1stconnect.com&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2314">cgianakop from 1stconnect.com</a>)



<!-- sig -->

<P>
Hello Gang,
</P>
<P>
A while ago, Shreedar V. K. from India asked for a program that would list
the IP addresses for all of his interfaces.  Back then, I joyfully
referred him to one of those Stevens TCP/IP books.  We got quite a thread
from that response.  I like that.
</P>
<P>
I got bored today, so I cranked out a simple program that prints the
interface names with their associated primary IP address.  I intentionally
omitted the display of alias to keep the program simple.  It's really a
quick hack.
</P>
<P>
The purpose is to illustrate why the simple solutions, provided by Ben O.,
really make sense.  Still though, I never turn down a challenge.
Everyone can use and hack it at will.  Just compile the program and
run it.  It takes no command line arguments.  Example output, as well
as the program listing, are displayed below.
</P>
<P>
Good night,
Chris G.
</P>
<p align="center">See attached <tt><a href="misc/tips/interfaces.c.txt">interfaces.c.txt</a></tt></p>

<blockquote><font color="#001F3F">Hey, pretty nifty!  I saved it in interfaces.c and here's what using
it looks like
 -- Mike</font></blockquote>

<blockquote><pre>% gcc -o interfaces interfaces.c
% chmod +x interfaces
% interfaces
lo: 127.0.0.1
eth0: 216.39.[censored]
eth1: 10.0.0.1
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
Thanks Mike!  The program kinda shows how much work goes into our beloved
network programs such as ifconfig.
</P>
<P>
Later...
Chris G.
</P>

<!-- end 14 -->
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<P> <A NAME="tips/15"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">lkml</FONT></H3>
Thu, 24 Oct 2002 11:05:55 +0530 (IST)
<BR>Karl-Heinz Herrmann (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=webgineering@xtra.co.nz&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2315">the <em>LG</em> Answer Gang</a>)
<BR>Question by Brad Herring (webgineering from xtra.co.nz)

<P><STRONG>
Hi there,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I'm doing a report for Uni, I was wondering how many subscribers are
there to the Linux Kernel Mailing List? Is there a more popular list?
Estimates are fine.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Hi,
</P>
<P>
I have no idea, so the traffic on that list seems rather high (~1000
posts/day).
</P>
<P>
You might want to subscribe and send administrative commands like
"help" "info" and if available "who" which would give you a list of all
subscribed members. These commands depend on the exact mailing-list managing
program but most have these options.
</P>
<P>
K.-H.
</P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Many people subscribe to digests so they can get their mailing list
stuff a little less often, all in one chunk.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">But there is a brave soul who actually <EM>summarizes</EM> the Linux Kernel
Mailing List, and publishes the results on a website he calls
Kernel Traffic:
	<A HREF="http://kt.zork.net/kernel-traffic/latest.html"
	>http://kt.zork.net/kernel-traffic/latest.html</A>
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">The Linux Weekly News notes about what's going on in the kernel are
available to LWN subscribers 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">But you can see some of the latest patches some of these guys have
whipped up at <A HREF="http://lwn.net/KernelPatches"
	>http://lwn.net/KernelPatches</A>/ ... and they warn that
these things might drink all your beer.  From what I know of development
parties, perhaps they are speaking from experience? 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<P>
WHIZBANG Patch
</P>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br>	Adds /proc entry for refrigerator chilliness support.
<br>	Highly experimental, the beer keeps disappearing.  Hope
<br>	to fix in next rev.  Suspect memory leak in purchaser
<br>	algorithms.
<br>
<br>	workaround: we recommend Jolt Cola; or home zymurgy kits
<br>	stored in a seperate directory.
</font></em></blockquote>

<!-- end 15 -->
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<P> <A NAME="tips/16"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">When the Weekend Mechanic loses his tools</FONT></H3>
Wed, 2 Oct 2002 08:58:42 +0100 (BST)
<BR>Thomas Adam (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=thomas_adam16@yahoo.com&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2316">The <em>LG</em> Weekend Mechanic</a>)



<!-- sig -->

<!-- ::
When the Weekend Mechanic loses his tools
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
he finds them pretty quickly.
:: -->
<P>
How many of you have been guilty of using mc (midnight
commander), hitting the key sequence "&lt;ALT&gt;&lt;SHIFT&gt;&lt;?&gt;" before,
and then filling out that nice dialog box to find the file that
you require?? Don't lie, we've all done it (Hi Ben 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle"> ).
</P>

<blockquote><font color="#1F1F1F">&lt;blink, blink&gt; Thanks for the vote of confidence,
Thomas... but I didn't
even know about that feature until you mentioned it.
&lt;grin&gt; So, _now_
I'll be guilty of it - maybe. I'm pretty used to
"find" by now, and
would miss things like "-exec" too much to use some
constraining box.
 -- Ben</font></blockquote>
<P>
<EM>I</EM> actually wrote that? 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle"> he he.....
</P>
<P>
Oh no, Ben. I simply meant that as you keep promoting
the use of "mc" for things like: rpm viewing, tar/gz
viewing, etc, it was logical (?) to assume that you'd
have used the "find" feature occasionally? 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</P>

<blockquote><font color="#1F1F1F">&lt;grin&gt; It's one of the things I like about it; after all this time of
using it (and using Norton Commander, which is was modeled after, for
some 15-20 years before then), I _still_ discover cool new features
occasionally. I wrote Miguel a nice letter back when; he deserves lots
of kudos for this one.
 -- Ben</font></blockquote>

<!-- 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">ATI Rage M4</FONT></H3>
Thu, 26 Sep 2002 12:59:34 -0500
<BR> Ben Okopnik (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=MarkG7@netscape.net&cc=&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2317"><em>LG</em> Answer Gang</a>)
<BR>Question by Mark Gorat (MarkG7 from netscape.net)


<P><STRONG>
I would like some help configuring my Dell Latitude C800 display (ATI
Rage M4 16MB).  No matter what magic I try to accomplish with
Xconfigurator or hand editing of the <TT>/etc/X11/X86Config-4</TT> files, I can't
convince my XWindows display to set-up in anything but 1600x1200.  This
is very hard on my varilux bespectacled eyes.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Robos] 
Just as a short answer (no time right now):
down in xf86config-4:
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockquote><pre> SubSection "Display"
   Depth           16
   Modes           "1024x768"
 EndSubSection
 SubSection "Display"
   Depth  24
   Modes           "1024x768"
 Exchange the numbers (swap em) to something like this
 Modes "1024x768" "1600x1200"
</pre></blockquote>

<blockquote><font color="#1F1F1F">Robos is right on the dot. From my own "/etc/X11/XF86Config-4":
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#1F1F1F">Modes		"1600x1200" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#1F1F1F">Works fine on this Dell Inspiron.
 -- Ben</font></blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
Some posts elsewhere have
said to use &lt;Ctrl&gt;&lt;Alt&gt;&lt;-&gt; or &lt;Ctrl&gt;&lt;Alt&gt;&lt;+&gt;, but this seems to have no
effect.  Any help would be extremely appreciated.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanks
<BR>Mark Gorat
</STRONG></P>

<blockquote><font color="#1F1F1F">Something I just realized: if you're hitting &lt;Ctrl&gt;&lt;Alt&gt;&lt;-&gt; or
&lt;Ctrl&gt;&lt;Alt&gt;&lt;+&gt; using the "_/-" or "+/=" keys, that definitely will not
work - you need to use the <EM>keypad</EM> plus or minus. On most laptops -
certainly on a Dell - that works out to &lt;Alt&gt;&lt;Ctrl&gt;&lt;Fn&gt; with the "blue"
plus or minus (the ":/;/+" and "p/-" keys.)
 -- Ben</font></blockquote>

<!-- 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">Cannot Login as root at all</FONT></H3>
Tue, 24 Sep 2002 01:15:36 -0700
<BR>Heather Stern (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=linux-questions-only@ssc.com,&cc=star@starshine.org &subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2318">star from starshine.org </a>)



<!-- sig -->


<!-- sig -->

<P><STRONG>
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
(sigh.  The MIME has been put in a box on the sidewalk.  Maybe that will
help him communicate.)
</P>
<P><STRONG>
Hi...
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I had installed RedHAt 7.0 It was working perfectly fine. One fine day I 
cannot login at all.. After booting it says login... and when I type my 
root user it doesnot ask for password.. but just comes back to the login 
again... But I can access it from Webmin from a remote computer.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Please help me.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanx
Danny
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Check your securetty file, or PAM.  Either of them could suggest to the
system that root cannot be trusted to login from where you are at.
</P>
<P>
If it were a regular user, but root could login, I'd suggest checking
if the nologin file is present.
</P>
<P>
You could also be on a system that cannot handle passwords longer than
8 characters, but be trying to work with a longer password, or be using
something that is not shadow-aware while your password is stored in the
shadow file.  This used to cause trouble when Gnome was much younger.
</P>

<!-- end 18 -->
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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">I would have called, but...</FONT></H3>
Wed,  9 Oct 2002 07:30:05 -0700 (PDT)
<BR>Jay R. Ashworth, Heather Stern (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=hotshotis@yahoo.com&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2319">the <em>LG</em> Answer Gang</a>)
<BR>Question by satheish (hotshotis from yahoo.com)


<!-- ::
I would have called, but...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:: -->

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Imagine our sysadmin's surprise when a help question came in through the
customer service webform for <EM>Linux Journal</EM> ... (empty fields snipped)
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>

<blockquote><pre>Subscriber:                          hotshot
  Comments:

 do we have pc2phone dialer software for linux ?

      Name: satheish
   Country: India
     Email: hotshoti<!-- -->s@y<!-- -->ahoo.com

Form: CustomerService    Version: 1    Request ID: 6584
</pre></blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Heather] 
Hotshot, your question has been forwarded to the Linux Gazette Answer
Gang.  <EM>Linux Gazette</EM> is a web-based magazine hosted by the same
publisher as <EM>Linux Journal</EM>.  I greet you as the editor in charge of
the monthly column.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I took a brief look at the internet search engines to see what you
appeared to be talking about.  There's apparently a company offering
software which turns your computer into a phone, provided that it's
plugged into a phone line and you have a full service sound card.
It also looks like "2.9 cents a minute" comes up a lot.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
There are a lot of internet-phone applications - voice conferencing
is especially popular.  If you type "phone" as a keyword into the
application search engine at <A HREF="http://www.freshmeat.net/">Freshmeat</A> (<A HREF="http://freshmeat.net"
	>http://freshmeat.net</A>) you'll
have about 250 projects to check on.  You may want to start at the
category : Communications :: Internet Phone.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
As for the 2.9 cents a minute that just depends how they implemented it.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockQuote><ul>
<LI>Maybe you just need the right long-distance provider - theirs -
   in which case, you might want to find out who that is and sign up
   with them so you gain even when you use a handset.

<LI>Maybe their software implements some magic protocol, in which case,
   your question is perfect, except that you don't know what their
   protocol is called.

<LI>If it's called H.323 lots of folks use it for voice conferencing
   applications, and yes, we have OpenH.323 programs coming out of our
   ears.
</ul></blockQuote>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
My suggestion would be to contact the folks who make the "ordinary"
PC2Phone software and ask them the same question - is it available for
Linux, and if not, what is the protocol used.  If the protocol is an
open standard, note it down, and ask them what settings you'll need to
set your Linux software to, in order to enjoy their service.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Good luck in your quest.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[jra] 
I believe you mean "client software for a voice over Internet phone
service called "pc2phone"...  which appears to actually be net2phone...
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
and I'd recommend persuing the results of
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockquote><a href="http://www.google.com/linux?hl=en&amp;lr=&amp;ie=ISO-8859-1&amp;q=net2phone"
>http://www.google.com/linux?hl=en&amp;lr=&amp;ie=ISO-8859-1&amp;q=net2phone</a></blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
there appears to be some useful answers in there.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Please see also
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<A HREF="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html"
	>http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html</A>
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 19 -->
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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">Getting rid of offensive content on your hard disk dreged up by your web browser</FONT></H3>
Wed, 9 Oct 2002 11:02:15 -0700
<BR>Mike Orr (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=gazette@ssc.com&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2320"><em>Linux Gazette</em> Editor</a>)



<!-- sig -->

<P>
[Forwarding to LQO as a 2-cent tip.  Anyone want to write such a script or write
an article about it?]
</P>
<P>
The original message was a spam promoting commercial software that would scrub
your (Windows) system of "offensive content" (pornography, drug references,
terrorism references) you may have accidentally dreged up while websurfing.
</P>
<P>
Part of the scare tactics it mentioned is a claim that you can get convicted
for child pornography merely for visiting a site once that has child porn pics
on the home page, even if you didn't know the nature of the site beforehand, or
3rd-party Javascript sent you there without your approval, or you never saw
the pictures in the visible portion of the window.  This =&gt; cached porn pics on
your HD =&gt; discoverable evidence of a crime =&gt; why you need this commercial
program.
</P>
<P><STRONG>
[tag-admin] 
Speak right up, what's the best way to delete offensive content that may have
been automatically saved on your hard disk while you were websurfing?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Can you say, "Open the preferences/settings dialog and press the 'Empty Disk
Cache' button?"  I knew you could.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Don Marti] 
What about history and cookies?
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
A script to clean all traces of web activity from your .mozilla
directory (except cookies from sites you like) would be an interesting
exercise.  All of these files seems to have some potentially
"incriminating" info in them:
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>history.dat
<br>downloads.rdf
<br>localstore.rdf
</font></code></blockquote>

<blockquote><font color="#1F1F1F">This should work just fine. However, there's other semi-personal info
scattered throughout, e.g., info about filenames to which you've printed
content in "prefs.js", etc.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#1F1F1F">&lt;shrug&gt; You <EM>could</EM> just whack the whole "~/.mozilla" directory if
you're really concerned.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#1F1F1F">Wind*ws people need expensive software to do this... amazing.
 -- Ben</font></blockquote>
<p align="center">See attached <tt><a href="misc/tips/scrub-mozilla.sh.txt">scrub-mozilla.sh.txt</a></tt></p>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">The canonical way to deal with this in email gardens is to wipe out the
guest user home on logout ... completely ...
and re-establish it via popping open the tarball of its homedir again.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">This, together with having the system be one-user and wiping the /tmp
directory, should be sufficient to most purposes.  It also keeps
nameless guests from using your e-garden as a storage bin.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>

<!-- end 20 -->
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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">At a loss for words</FONT></H3>
Tue, 15 Oct 2002 18:40:02 -0400
<BR>Ashwin N, Thomas Adams, Frank Rodolf, Jay R. Ashworth (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=profitrocket@nmax.net&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2321">the <em>LG</em> Answer Gang</a>)
<BR>Question by Lon Diffenderfer (profitrocket from nmax.net)


<!-- ::
At a loss for words
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:: -->
<P><STRONG>
Hi,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
My name is Lon Diffenderfer. I am looking for a way to convert some very
important files created by my father in SCO Lyrix into a .txt file. Is this
a simple procedure or will I need a the help of a professional? Is there a
file conversion program that I can purchase or download that would be able
to handle this job? I thank you in advance for your time and assistance.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Best Regards,
<BR>Lon Diffenderfer
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Ashwin] 
Now can you please elaborate on what kind of files these are?
Knowing the file format will be essential ...
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Thomas] 
Ashwin, I agree with you that the filetype is
important. Indeed, Lon could acheive this by issuing
the command:
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>file /path/to/file
</font></code></blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
and then reporting it back to us. This would, as
Ashwin has said, help us in determining which
program(s) to use.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[jra] 
Lyrix was a third-party word processor which ran under Xenix.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
SCO bought it (or it's resale rights), and I haven't seen it in years.
I strongly suspect that you're going to have to hunt up copies of both
Xenix and Lyrix to open those files...
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Frank] 
... Lyrix was once known as Unixplex, I seem to remember.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
While I don't know exactly anymore, I seem to remember that it was
always one line of text, followed by a line of formatting code below it,
each line ending with a &lt;CR&gt;, a new paragraph is signaled by an empty
line.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Rick] 
be aware that at least two other software efforts have borne
the name Lyrix: a computer-telephony product from Lyrix Systems, Inc.,
and early versions of the excellent TeX-based graphical document
processor subsequently renamed "LyX".)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Thomas Adams] 
But in most cases, I would recommend the use of the
program: "strings", which trys to report back useful
"character literal" information. You could try issuing
the command:
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>strings file | less
</font></code></blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
where "file" is the file that you are trying to view.
(I've piped it through to "less" for convenience,
although:
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>strings file &gt;&amp; ~/some_file
</font></code></blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
is perhaps better if you want to store the
information)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
N.B. Strings does work on ELF files, but the result is
somewhat unpredictable.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Frank Rodolf] 
Lon, if all you need is the text portion, you should do quite nicely
with the strings command, as Thomas writes above.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I heard rumors that there has been some conversion utility (lyrix2wrd,
or something like that), but when a friend of mine needed that a while
ago, I was unable to find it.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<HR width="10%" align="center"><P><STRONG>
To all who replied, "THANK YOU!"
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Thomas] 
You're welcome!!!
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I'm glad that people such as Jay, and myself, were of
some use. Makes a change actually!!
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
He he....
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG>
With the information you provided, I was able to find a local professional
who had administered Xenix systems in years past and was able to use
"strings" to recover the data. I still do not understand exactly what he
did, but I am elated and very grateful to your group for your assistance. If
this is the kind of help I can get for Linux, maybe it's time to learn it
and switch.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[jra] 
Probably.  
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Outstanding; glad to ehar you got your data back.  Now you understand
why Unix people (and especially Linux people) are fond of textual
configuration and data files whenever possible...
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
What he <EM>did</EM> was to use the Unix strings(1) program, which sifts
through a [random] file looking for strings of characters that appear
to be ASCII text, extracting them from the surrounding (binary) data,
and printing them on it's output.  Once you do that, it's usually just
a cleanup pass.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<!-- end 21 -->
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<P> <A NAME="tips/22"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">need your help</FONT></H3>
Sun, 29 Sep 2002 15:55:30 -0700
<BR>Rick Moen (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=linux-questions-only@ssc.com, PETERCHARLEMAN@aol.com&cc=rick@linuxmafia.com&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2322">the <em>LG</em> Answer Gang</a>)



<!-- sig -->


<!-- sig -->

<P><STRONG>
question
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
You are the Linux system admin of your company, and an employee has
forgotten his password and cannot login.  How would you reset this
employee's password?
</STRONG></P>
<P>
su -
passwd mrforgetful
</P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">question
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">you are sending mail to an "answer gang" list with potentially a big
number of people reading it... using ordinary email clients.  How do
you send them plaintext only to not waste lots of bits?
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">	<A HREF="http://expita.com/nomime.html"
	>http://expita.com/nomime.html</A>
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">question 2
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">does HR give him a grilling first for losing this important piece of
company data (his password) ?  
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>

<!-- end 22 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="tips/23"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">2 tips for the TAG</FONT></H3>
Thu, 10 Oct 2002 11:35:29 -0400
<BR>Don Radick (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=anonymous&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2323">anonymous</a>)



<!-- sig -->


<!-- sig -->

<P>
Folks,
</P>
<P>
you are SO GREAT,  I've gotta drop you 2 tips .
</P>
<P>
System:
</P>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>                ABIT KT7A mb
<br>                AMD Tbird 1.3 Ghz
<br>                Nvidia Geoforce II GTS
<br>                Redhat 8.0
</font></code></blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
1
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Symptom:  System reboots automatically when trying to load Nvidia drivers v 3123
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Solution: Turn on "Plug and Play OS = YES"  in BIOS setup.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Side Effect:  I had been getting this error message:
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><BLOCKQuote>
"usb-uhci: Host controlled halted, trying to restart"  (USB mouse)
That message is now gone, with the new BIOS setting.
</BLOCKQuote></STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Ben] 
That could be very annoying... Turning P&amp;P <EM>off</EM> is what allowed my old
laptop to "see" the audio subsystem; I'd hate to be faced with a choice
of "pick only one". Just as a point to consider, I'm using NVidia's
drivers (v.2802) on my Dell Inspiron 8200 (NVidia GeForce2GO), and it
seems stable - certainly no rebooting.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG>
2.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Symptom: RH 8.0 default firewall killed my SAMBA shares on local net.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Solution:  open up these FW rules  (I suggest using WEBMIN for FW tuning, much better than "lokkit")
</STRONG></P>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>        ACCEPT  incoming protocol UDP destination port range 137:139
<br>        ACCEPT  incoming protocol TCP destination port 139
</font></code></blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
Use arrows on right had side to move these ACCEPT rules above the DENY rules.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
HTH,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Don Radick
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
you can print my name, but not my email address.  THANKS!
</STRONG></P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">No problem!  Thanks for the tips.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>

<!-- end 23 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="tips/24"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Troubleshooting GRUB</FONT></H3>
Sun, 11 Aug 2002 16:11:22 -0700
<BR>Jim Dennis (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=jimd@starshine.org&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2324">the <em>LG</em> Answer Guy</a>)



<!-- sig -->


<!-- sig -->

<P>
Remember: GRUB numbers partitions from ZERO while linux counts from ONE
So:
</P>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br> 	root (hd0,0)
<br>	kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda1
</font></code></blockquote>
<P>
... and:
</P>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br> 	root (hd0,5)
<br>	kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda6
</font></code></blockquote>
<P>
... note how GRUB's (hd0,0) is Linux' <TT>/dev/hda1</TT> and GRUB's
(hd0,5) is Linux' <TT>/dev/hda6</TT>
</P>

<!-- end 24 -->
<!--              . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .              -->
<HR WIDTH="40%" ALIGN="center">
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/lil2cent.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">please clear my doubts</FONT></H3>
Tue, 8 Oct 2002 01:38:42 +0530
<BR>Sayan Chakrabortii, Heather Stern (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=ckmuthukumar@yahoo.co.in&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2084%5D%202c%20Tips%20%2325">the <em>LG</em> Answer Gang</a>)
<BR>Question by muthukumar kalimani (ckmuthukumar from yahoo.co.in)


<P><STRONG>
hai ,     i am muthukumar.
</STRONG></P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Hi, I'm Heather, one of the folks here at The Answer Gang.  And this
over here is Sayan.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">I hope you don't mind that I split your message into paragraphs.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Sayan] 
Hi
I will try to answer your questions one by one.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG>
i did my B.E at vellore engg college.i have 2 PCs.
(i) celeron 266Mhz with  92 mb ram (windows 9
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT="8)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">  &amp;
(ii) celeron 1Ghz with 128mb ram (windows 98 &amp; xp ).
</STRONG></P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Either of these machines should run Linux just fine, although the Gnome
or K desktop environments would probably feel as comparably slow as
Windows on them.  With a lighter window manager and some careful setup
it could feel faster.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
i want to load redhat 7.1 in any one of my pc . i have few doubts in this
matter
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
1. is it possible load linux as 3rd os on my system( ii ) ?
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Sayan] 
Well, of course it is. Provided you have the required amount of space left
on your hard disk to install the packages that you need. You see while
installing multiple operating systems you have to follow the rule "stupidest
os first". So up till now you have not gone wrong. So go ahead and install
Linux.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Yes.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">The usual way is to clear some space for it (Partition Magic, parted,
or FIPS are most commonly used) and then install Linux in the empty
space.  For Redhat to be the installed flavor you'd need to do this.
With some other flavors of Linux (Slackware's "bigslack" for example)
you would need to set aside some space, but you wouldn't need to adjust
the partition types first.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">If LILO replaces your master boot record, and your kernel is on the same
disk, LILO should have no problem selecting among all three operating
systems.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">If you use LOADLIN.EXE from inside either of your Windows environments,
and make a copy of the Linux kernel visible in your drive, you could add
an entry to your mswin boot menu for Linux.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
2. after installation how the dos partition drives can be mounted as the
system starts.
</STRONG></P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">In the file /etc/fstab add an entry for the mountpoint which you'd like
to use, and tell it that the filesystem type is vfat instead of ext2.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">I like to use /mnt/c, myself, and set aside /mnt/a for using DOS
floppies ... that is, if I don't simply use mtools commands.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">THe LSB tells us that /mnt is expected to be used for temporary mounts,
though, so you might prefer /home/c-drive or something like that.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Sayan] 
This issue was earlier discussed in this magazine in issue 34. You can read
through it at:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQuote>
<A HREF="../issue34/lg_tips34.html#young"
	>http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue34/lg_tips34.html#young</A>
</BLOCKQuote></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Still I quote it as it is
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<TABLE WIDTH="95%" BORDER="1" BGCOLOR="#FFFFCC"><TR><TD>
<p align="center">...............</p>

<h4 align="center"><br>Mounting DOS Partitions in Linux
</h4>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br>Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1998 17:08:23 -0400
<br>From: Ed Young, youngej@magpage.com
</font></em></blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Secure Mounting for DOS Partitions:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQuote>
In order to open up permissions on your DOS partitions in a secure way, do
the following:
</BLOCKQuote></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Note: in the samples below, the dos usrid (63) and grpid(63) were selected
so they wouldn't duplicate any other usrid or grpid in <TT>/etc/passwd</TT> or
/etc/group.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Also, this solution works with <A HREF="http://www.redhat.com/">Red Hat</A> 5.1, you may have to adjust it
slightly if you are using a different distribution.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockQuote><ol>
<LI>Make a dos user who can't log in by adding the following line to
/etc/passwd: dos:*:63:63:MSDOS Accessor:/dos:


<LI>Make a dos group and add users to the dos group. In the following
example, root and ejy are in the dos group. To do this, add a line like the
following to /etc/group: dos::63:root,ejy


<LI>Add the following line (changed to suit your system) to

   /etc/fstab:
     /dev/hda1  /C      vfat    uid=63,gid=63,umask=007 0 0
</ol></blockQuote>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Of course, you have to locate your DOS partitions in the first place. This
is done by issuing the following commands as 'root':
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockquote><pre>     /sbin/fdisk -l
     df
     cat /etc/fstab
</pre></blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The `fdisk -l` command lists all available devices. `df` shows which devices
are mounted and how much is on them. And <TT>/etc/fstab</TT> lists all mountable
devices. The devices remaining are extended partitions, a kind of a
partition envelope, which you don't want to mount. And the partition's
allocated to other operating systems which you may want to mount.
4) Create a mount point for your DOS disk by issuing the following commands
as root: mkdir <TT>/C</TT> chown dos:dos <TT>/C</TT>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
With this setup, the C: drive is mounted at boot time to <TT>/C.</TT> Only root and
ejy can read and write to it. Note that vfat in <TT>/etc/fstab</TT> works for vfat16
(and vfat32 natively for Linux 2.0.34 and above).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Enjoy...
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<p align="center">...............</p>
</TD></TR></TABLE><BLOCKQUOTE>
So you see you can always access your dos files SECURELY from Linux.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><font color="#000066">You may already have such a user, for dosemu or wine
for example.
</font></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><font color="#000066">
You can reuse one of that sort, as long as you're sure you are assigning
a similar privilege.  Also, you want to avoid making a userid that will 
classh with something else;  if all else fails pick something above 65000.
-- Heather
</font></BLOCKQUOTE>


<P><STRONG>
3. i am bit more confused while installing linux  so please kindly send
me the procedure how to install linux on the system in step by step method.
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Sayan] 
Big question, demands big answer. Maybe some other more experienced person
in the List will be able to give better answer. But I hope you will have no
probs trying to installl Redhat. But why do you want 7.1 when 8 has become
available. Try to get a copy of the latest distro from your local LUG (Linux
Users Group). They are always very helpful. If you can send us your
location, somebody can give you the contacts of your nearest LUG. And, these
new distros are soooo easy to install, you just cant go wrong.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">The commercial package of Red Hat comes with a fine set of manuals.  In
addition you could get the current version; they've gotten up to 7.3
now.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">But if you're going to buy it you might also compare with Mandrake or
SuSE and get whichever looked best to you.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
what are the features available in linux.
</STRONG></P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Most things that you would expect, many that you wouldn't, and for
almost any package, source code if you need it, or some particular
programmers to go ask for more features.
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
important things in linux. do's and donot's.one more thing
</STRONG></P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Mmm, donuts.  Important things to do:
</font></blockquote>

<blockQuote><ol>
<LI>Have fun.  The computer is supposed to be your tool, not your boss.

<LI>Be willing to read README files, and HOWTO documents.  Linux is all
   about becoming more self reliant.  Search engines are expecially
   handy.

<LI>Once you've learned, help others with stuff that you understand.  It
   improves the community.

<LI>The perl motto "There's More Than One Way To Do It" also applies to
   most activities in Linux.  If there isn't, probably some college
   student somewhere is working on another way, but hasn't gotten around
   to releasing their code yet.

<LI>(NOT SPECIFIC TO LINUX) make backups!  Whenever things are looking
   good, make a good copy of how it is;  that way you always have
   something good to come back to if later things go haywire.  I
   recommend a good backup of your present windows setups before you go
   ahead with your Linux setup, for example.
</ol></blockQuote>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Important Don'ts: </font></blockquote>

<blockQuote><ol>
<LI>Don't despair.  We agree that not everyone's advances in self reliance
   will include becoming a programmer type.  There are web sites dedicated
   to Linux newbies, and to specific topics as well.  There are also IRC
   channels to talk to people across the internet live about this, and
   mailing lists, and newsgroups.

<LI>Don't send HTML attachments to mailing lists;  some people get grumpy
   about it.  (Don't worry, I snipped it.)
</ol></blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
i have worked in linux in my college on a system with windows nt
i want to how to connect the two os.thank u,muthu
</STRONG></P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Samba is the usual way.  It lets Linux look like yet another Windows
box with active shares, as far as its Microsoft-y neighbors are
concerned.  See <A HREF="http://www.samba.org"
	>http://www.samba.org</A> for details.
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">Good luck!
 -- Heather</font></blockquote>

<!-- end 25 -->
<P> <hr> </p>
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
<h5>This page edited and maintained by the Editors of <I>Linux Gazette</I><br>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>
<br>Copyright &copy; 2002
<br>Copying license <A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A>
<BR>Published in Issue 84 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, November 2002</H5>
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<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>Floppy Disk Repair Utiliti</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/2"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>read the manual!</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/3"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>Need help with ftp</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag/4"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>Video Question</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 -->
<blockQuote>
Hello everyone, and welcome again to the world of The Answer Gang.
We've had a very active month (657 non-spam, non-administrivia
messages) and I'll have to make extra certain to keep the TAG back
room well stocked with pumpkin pie.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Of course, given the usual hours that coders and sysadmins work,
pumpkins are probably not too hard to come by.  Oops, wrong kind.
We meant the kind we just scooped bits out of for a glowing Halloween.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
This time I dressed in the same costume as my hubby -- a computer geek.
I was hacking on this 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">  But I don't mind.  It's fun.  If a whole lot
of people say their Thanksgiving this year for the fact the Linux folk
are for the most part, helpful souls, then I did my job right.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Anyways, we've got some notes about dealing with those annoying
floppies, and some real notes about linux - X, some ftp stuff.  I hope
you like it.  And the Two Cent Tips are worth more than their average
share this month.  Enjoy!
</blockQuote>
<!-- end hgreeting -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<A NAME="tag/1"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 1 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Floppy Disk Repair Utiliti</H3>


<p><strong>From Dilip Boda 
</strong></p> 


<p align="right"><strong>Answered By  Jim Dennis, Rick Moen, Mike Orr, Jay R. Ashworth, Karl-Heinz Herrmann,
 John Karns
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
I am have much many 0 track bad Floopy disks.  How can i repair it?
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD] 
In general I've noticed that floppy media and drives have dropped so
drastically in quality that they can no longer be relied upon.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike] 
<EM>Dropped</EM> in quality?  <EM>No longer</EM> be relied on?  When have floppies
<EM>ever</EM> excelled in reliability?
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD] 
[Rant mode="on"]
Read my virtual lips!  Markedly DROPPED in quality.  The number of
drives and media failures I've encountered in the last two years has
exceeded the absolute number of failures that I experienced in my
first 10 years of regular computer use (despite that fact that I use
them far less often then I used to).
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Maybe it's just me, but every indication I've see suggests that
this is a real shift.  When we were spending $100 (US) on a drive and
anywhere from a dollar to 50 cents each for the media --- we could
usually expect to get only 1 initial failure from a box of ten (or
less) and I'd usually see the drives last for three or four years of
moderate use (several floppies and a few dozen file writes per day)
with very few failures.  Now we spend less than $20 on a floppy drive
and flip a coin to see if it'll work with any given diskette.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Yes, it is possible to sacrifice quality to the point where there is
no value in the commodity.  I think we've now seen it with floppies.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Sadly CDR, CDRW, and DVDR related technologies are a poor substitute.
I have a nice Magneto Optical (MO) drive that needs no special software
or drivers!  It just looks like a removable SCSI hard drive to any
OS can handle such a thing.  There's none of this fuss about mkisofs,
just pop in the media and copy files thereto/therefrom.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
The computer industry as done us a great disservice by having each
company come up with it's own high capacity removable media standards
(ZIP this, Jaz that, etc.  This leaves no clear choice for the consumer
to have high capacity, removable media with sufficient ubiquity that
they know they can get media at any local office supply joint and that
they can hand their media to almost any associate with a reasonable
expection that it's useful to them.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
[Scream!  Type="blood curdling"] ARGH!  [/Scream!]
[Rant mode="off"]
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Rick] 
In my experience, if the software consistently tells you that a floppy
disk's track zero is bad, it usually means there really is a physical
surface defect.  Actual surface defects on a floppy cannot be repaired.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
However, before you give up entirely on that floppy, try, while logged
in as the root user[1], "fdformat <TT>/dev/fd0</TT>".  <TT>/usr/sbin/fdformat</TT> performs
a low-level format of the floppy, and sometimes will fix problems that
originate in logical disk organisation (formatting), as opposed to
surface defects.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Jay] 
mtools access the raw disk directly; the low-level file format of FAT
volumes is wired into a library mtools uses.  So maybe mtools could
reach the diskettes.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Rick's right, though, mformat is more equivalent to mkfs than to a
low-level format.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
It's worth remembering here, too, that <EM>maybe</EM> the problem is the
drive.  Floppy drives do go bad sometimes, and one possible symptom of
a head-carriage misalignment could be Track 0 bad.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD] 
More likely the drive head is simply being scraped clean and the
fabric inside the floppy shell may actually be cleaning the media
surface.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [K.-H.] 
Also a bad drive might actually damage floppies, so every floppy inserted
might be really bad afterwards. A second floppy drive in another computer
comes in handy in these cases....
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [John] 
In situations where the drive isn't used a lot, particularly in larger
urban or industrial environments where there is the presence of carbon in
the air, the carbon will collect on plastic parts such as the head cover,
and subsequently smear on the floppy.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
In any event, for those so inclined, before tossing out the drive it may
be worth attempting to clean the heads with isopropyl alcohol, and some
kind of cotton swab, like a que tip, although I remember head cleaning
kits for audio gear in years past including cotton tipped utensils on
which the cotton was packed a bit more densely than a que tip - which
might avoid leaving unwanted shreds of loose cotton behind.  Or perhaps a
camera lense cleaning tissue.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD] 
They used to sell head cleaning kits.  I haven't seen floppy head
cleaning kits for a few years, but they still might be available
somewhere.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Smoking (as in cigarettes) and humidity (oxidation) used to be
pretty common causes of occasional floppy drive failure.  It may be
that a large factor of the failure rate that I'm seeing recently is
more due to the extremely low duty cycles on them.  I'm only using
floppies to install (often Kickstart) or repair (Tom's root/boot)
systems these days.  Even then I use CD (for most interactive
installation) and CDR (once enough of a given Kickstart configuration
is finalized).
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Honestly I'd try using floppy cleaning kits to alleviate the problems
(and have some sense of the success rate for it) if I had floppy
cleaning kits available to me in the cases where I'm encountering the
problem.  Naturally this is usually happening to me in a server room
or co-location cage at some random client's site.  I should probably
just find a buy a couple of cleaning kits and keep them permanently in
the van (along with an extra floppy and an extra floppy/CD combo
drive).
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Usually out of a rack of a dozen machine I can get one of them working
and use it to bring up the others.  I'm getting increasing convinced
that floppies are a lost cause and that I should bring in my laptop
with full DHCP server, PXEboot and tftp deamon, etc --- that I should
set it up for PXE installations.
</blockQuote>

<!-- end 1 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<A NAME="tag/2"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 2 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>read the manual!</H3>


<p><strong>From Benjamin A. Okopnik, John Karns, Ashwin N 
</strong></p> 

<blockquote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather] A merry little thread wherein we got almost no data to work with,
got us giving such incredibly generic answers that this is the good
part.
</blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
If i know the syntax of the command then i will be able
to use it in my c program through popen or system call.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
{{{
All of this information is available via the "man" program. The
Unix/Linux information infrastructure is tremendously powerful (although
admittedly rather non-intuitive for a new user.) I suggest that you make
it your friend.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
For more information on using it, see "man", "apropos", "whatis",
"whereis", and (if your tastes run to torturing small defenseless
animals and pushing old ladies under passing automobiles) "info".
{{{{
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [John] 
As a person who generally avoids emacs ( xemacs is a step in right
direction, but hey, I'm already familiar with vim ) I've found the
lynx-like utility "pinfo" to be a painless way to view info files.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
{{{
Also,
make sure to check out the documentation that literally every installed
program places in "<TT>/usr/doc/&lt;program_name&gt;</TT>" or
"<TT>/usr/share/&lt;program_name&gt;</TT>" on your system; this is an additional
treasure trove of information.
{{{{
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ashwin] 
For users of <A HREF="http://www.kde.org/">KDE</A>/<A HREF="http://www.gnome.org/">GNOME</A> here are a couple of painless (and also colorful)
ways of viewing their manuals or info.
</blockQuote>

<h4 align="center"><br>KDE
</h4>
<blockQuote>
KDE users can use konqueror for viewing their docs.
Just type
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>man:/fortune
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
in the addressbar to view the manpage of "fortune".
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Incase you need to access a particular section of a manpage,
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>man:/ip(7)
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
should do it.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
To view info,
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>info:/gcc
</font></code></blockquote>

<h4 align="center"><br>GNOME
</h4>
<blockQuote>
For GNOME users there is gnome-help-browser.
Just type
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>man:fortune
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
or
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>man:ip(7)
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
in it's addressbar to get your manpages.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
And to view info files,
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>info:gcc
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
The advantage with viewing man pages like this is that you can switch to
a particular manpage you see listed there by just clicking on it.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Similarly, info painlessly transforms into just simple HTML-like
browseable docs.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben] 
The Linux documentation subsystem is large, accessible and very
helpful... <EM>if</EM> you know what you're doing. If you don't, Linux looks
like a difficult puzzle - "a maze of twisty passages, all alike". If
you're looking for information on a program, here is a quick way to the
treasure hoard:
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># I need to know about everything that deals with TIFF files.
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ apropos TIFF
</font></em></blockquote>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># Whoa, man! That was too much stuff! I just want _programs!_
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ apropos TIFF | grep '(1'
</font></em></blockquote>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># OK, I know which one I want ("ras2tiff"); how do I tell where it is?
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ whereis ras2tiff
</font></em></blockquote>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># I know the name of a program ("foo"), but not what it does. What now?
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ whatis foo
</font></em></blockquote>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># Naw, I want a _complete_ explanation, syntax, descriptions, etc.
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ man foo
</font></em></blockquote>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># But I *HATE* man pages! I want more structure, indexes, etc...
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ info foo
</font></em></blockquote>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># Command-line stuff, YUCK. Can I have a pretty GUI?
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ tkman foo
</font></em></blockquote>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># I meant for "info"!
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ tkinfo foo
</font></em></blockquote>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># "man" tells me that the program ("blarg") is undocumented. Help!
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ blarg -?
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ blarg -h
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ blarg --help
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ ls /usr/doc/blarg*
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ ls /usr/share/doc/blarg*
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ ls /usr/lib/blarg*
</font></em></blockquote>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br># What I *really* want is a Wind*ws help file, with pretty pictures and
<br># instructions for pressing the "any" key! And I want it to say "Your
<br># mouse is unplugged - click 'OK' to continue". And, and, I want a big
<br># juicy burger with onions and lots of cheese and just a little
<br># ketchup...
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ export YOU_ARE_REALLY_GETTING_ON_MY_NERVES=1
<br>ben@Fenrir:~$ su -c 'slay -9 annoying_user'
<br>Password:
</font></em></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
Note: several of the programs mentioned above are not installed by
default on most distros. Download, install, and be joyful.
</blockQuote>

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


<p><strong>From Carolyn 
</strong></p> 

<p align="right"><strong>Answered By  Dan Wilder, Ben Okopnik, Rick Moen
</strong></p>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000066">This originally arrived with an automated confidentiality note.  She
later responded into the thread, so I assume she knows this is a
webzine, but I have kept her anonymous other than by first name.
</font></em></blockquote>
<blockquote><em><font color="#000066">I remind people that since the only pay we get is in sharing the
information, to please specify that readers of the worldwide
<EM>Linux Gazette</EM> are the intended audience, which usually satisfies
such attachments.
 -- Heather</font></em></blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
I am an AIX administrator who has been made responsible for several
preconfigured Linux servers.  I know little or nothing about Linux.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Situation:  I need to be able to ftp a virus .dat file nightly to the Linux
machines.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Info:  All are running Linux v7 and using xinetd.  FTP does not appear to be
installed on the systems.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Questions:
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><BLOCKQuote>
What is wu-ftp?  I see it referenced in many docs on the ftp subject.
</BLOCKQuote></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Which daemon should I be using ftpd or wu-ftpd &amp; why?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Where can I find the downloads for the appropriate daemon?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Once installed, how do I configure a service file for the xinetd daemon?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanks in advance for any help you can give...
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Dan] 
What Linux distribution are you running?  For example, is it
<A HREF="http://www.redhat.com/">Red Hat</A>, <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</A>, <A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A>,
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
How can I tell that??
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Dan] 
If the systems have monitors attached, take a look at the login screen
or prompt.  There'll be some clue there, if it hasn't been removed by a
previous sysadmin.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
If not, and if you can ssh or telnet in, look at the welcome message.
If it doesn't ring any bells, post it.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [JimD] 
In most cases you can run the following command to find out
your Linux distribution name and version with the following command:
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br> 	echo /etc/*_ver* /etc/*-rel*; cat /etc/*_ver* /etc/*-rel*
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
... Red Hat derivatives and other RPM bases systems usually have a
file named something-release (RedHat-release, SuSE-release, etc)
in <TT>/etc.</TT>  Debian based systems have a file named <TT>/etc/debian_version</TT>
(Progeny, <A HREF="http://www.libranet.com/">LibraNet</A>, etc might namem it <TT>/etc/progeny_version</TT>, etc).
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
As for your original question, regarding automatically moving files
to these systems.  I prefer scp (a part of the OpenSSH package
at: <A HREF="http://www.openssh.org"
	>http://www.openssh.org</A> ).   rsync (by the author Samba at:
<A HREF="http://www.samba.org/rsync"
	>http://www.samba.org/rsync</A> ) can also transparently use an ssh
tunnel.  rsync also has the distinct advantage in that it can
efficiently determine which files, and portions of files, to transfer
(for minimal bandwidth utilization).
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
The advantage of using ssh (in both cases) is that you can configure
these systems for reasonably secure client server access using the
public keys that ssh supports.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Dan] 
I ask because there may be ftp packages installed or available,
and your least-hassle option is to use a pre-built package.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
How and where you get that will depend on which distribution
you're running.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
If you're comfortable building from source, that's an option too.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
My own favorite du jour is pureftpd:
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><BLOCKQuote>
<A HREF="http://www.pureftpd.org"
	>http://www.pureftpd.org</A>
</BLOCKQuote></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
pre-built binaries are available there for SuSE, Mandrake,
Polish, Stampede, <A HREF="http://www.slackware.org/">Slackware</A>, Multilinux, Sorcerer, Gentoo,
and there are links for binaries for several other
UNIX-y OSs.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben] 
Me, I'm a real "oftpd" fan, at least for "read-only" access. It's nicely
secure (lots of code reviews), tiny (easily fits on a floppy - including
source, docs, etc.), and builds on pretty much every Unix out there.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Rick] 
It's amusing to see everyone listing my personal favourite choices.  In
case it helps, I maintain a list of all known ftp daemons for *ix, at
<A HREF="http://linuxmafia.com/pub/linux/security/ftp-daemons"
	>http://linuxmafia.com/pub/linux/security/ftp-daemons</A>
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I think one could make a case for any of these:
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br>aftpd (Ranum's version), but only on *BSD
<br>Libra FTP Server
<br>oftpd
<br>Pure-FTPd
<br>vs-ftpd
</font></em></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
Also worth looking into:
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000033"><br>bftpd
<br>ginseng-ftpd
<br>hftpd
<br>lukemftpd (portable edition)
<br>Twoftpd &amp; twoftpd-anon
</font></em></blockquote>
<blockQuote><DL><DT>
Also possibly of interest:
<DD><A HREF="http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/linux-info/ftp-justification"
	>http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/linux-info/ftp-justification</A>
</DL></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben] 
&lt;laugh&gt; Now that you've reminded me, that's where I got the original
idea to use "oftpd".
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather] My current personal favorite is muddleftpd.  Nice app, very
configurable, tunable for virtual hosting and other odd things.
It's sendfile optimized (on BSD too!) and can throttle.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>I don't recall when I discovered it, but it rocks.  Sadly google
would imply that its home is ancient.  That's its <EM>original</EM> author.
The current maintainers are here:
	<A HREF="http://www.nongnu.org/muddleftpd"
	>http://www.nongnu.org/muddleftpd</A>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>This presumes, of course, that sftp or plain scp isn't able to do
what I need.
</blockquote>

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


<p><strong>From Steve Burrow 
</strong></p> 


<p align="right"><strong>Answered By  Sayamindu Dasgupta, Mike Orr, Faber Fedor, Ben Okopnik, Daniel Washko
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG>
I think I have a relatively easy or basic question:
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><BLOCKQuote>
I installed RedHat 6.0 on a small machine (PIII/500/64RAM) designed
specifically to be a web server.  I replaced the small 10 gig hard drive
with a blank 30 gig, created 6 partitions, and completed the install.
</BLOCKQuote></STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Sayamindu] 
Why did u install RH 6.0??
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
It's way too old and outdated
And for a web server, why do you need X ??
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
Well, I guess it came down to convenience.  I have a disk of <A HREF="http://www.redhat.com/">Red Hat</A> 6.0 and
being a newbie, I didn't think 6.0 was so far behind the times.  (Not so
convenient now, I guess!)  I guess I would like to run X because it is a
graphical tool I can use to administrate the box...at this point I need all
the help I can get!
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
The installation went pretty easy except for the video configuration part.
I first tried to use the probe utility...it could not determine what card I
am using.  Actually, the video card is wired to the motherboard so I don't
know the specifications so I chose the last option "card not listed".
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Sayamindu] 
It would have been better if you had stated your motherboard model.. but
still... here goes -
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
Yeah, sorry bout that.  After cracking the box, this is what I see:
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><BLOCKQuote>
MB = sahara - 1000  with integrated video/network
</BLOCKQuote></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Video looks like a SIS 5595 chipset, although there is another chip on-board
(with heat rails) that is green in color and reads SIS 620.  Not sure if
that is the video controller or not.....
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Network = 3Com chip that reads Parallel Tasking II ...have not gotten the
network to work yet!
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
You will need to upgrade your X packages (<A HREF="http://xfree.org/#currentrel"
	>http://xfree.org/#currentrel</A>)
A better option would be to upgrade your distro - that would save a lot
of hassles - with your config, I would recommend <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</A> 3.0 - that
should work fine
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
Next it asks for the monitor I plan to use with the system.  It did not have
my exact monitor so I manually entered in the specifications of my monitor.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
With all that said, I  have no problem starting up the machine and the video
is fine for login and command prompt screen, but when I try to enter startx,
it opens a session just fine but the screen is magnified so I can only see
the top left-hand quarter of the screen.  I can see the background and a
couple default RH icons but I have no idea how to change the resolution to
fit the entire screen.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Any suggestions????
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanks!
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Faber] 
Open your <TT>/etc/X11/XF86Config</TT> file using your favorite text editor.
Scroll down to the bottom and in the (one or more) "Screen" section(s),
you will see a line something like "Virtual 1200 1200" or some other
numbers.  Comment out those lines and restart X.  That should fix it.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
As mentioned, Red Hat 6.0 <EM>is</EM>  bit old, and it's a .0 release of Red
Hat which means it should be avoided like the plague, IMNSHO.  I suggest
you upgrade to a lter distro (Red Hat 7.3 (NOT 8.0!), Debian, Suse,
Mandrake, etc.)
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Daniel] 
less <TT>/proc/pci</TT>
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
look for your vga controller, it may list the make and model, that's
enough to get you going at the very least.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Ideally, you should consult your mb manual, or the mb manufacturer's
website to find out the full specs of your mb.  For your video chipset,
you may want to know how much memory should be allocated.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I echo the sentiment that why would you need X for a webserver?  It's just
wasting space and leaves a security hole open.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Faber] 
You're the second person to say that and while I'm a CLB (Command Line
Bigot) I'm going to chime in here with "I disagree!".
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
The gentleman in question said he was running "startx".  That tells me
he's is running X only when he needs to.  Since he is, I assume, as a
relative newbie to Linux, it is perfectly okay for him to run a GUI to
configure his system and get around in it in general.  Since it is a
(web) server, it would be wasteful for him to run a GUI <EM>all of the time</EM> .
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I suggest to all of my non-CLB clients that they run X whenever they
need to do some work and then exit X when they are done.  For those who
are CLB, I suggest running X so they can have multiple command lines!

<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle"> (Yes, I know about "screen" but I like <A HREF="http://www.kde.org/">KDE</A>'s Konsole.)
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Daniel] 
Finally, Faber, I did not see <A HREF="http://www.slackware.org/">Slackware</A> in that list!
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Faber] 
Mea Culpa!  I'll bring the donuts to the next LUG meeting in penance! 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Iron]
</blockQuote>

<blockQuote><ol>
<LI>Be glad you got a graphical screen at all since you're using an
   unknown video chip with who knows what proprietary extensions in it.


<LI>If you drag the mouse down past the bottom and right edges of the
   screen, the display will probably scroll.  That's a standard X
   feature and means that your virtual screen is larger than your physical
   screen.  There are settings in /etc/X11/XF86Config (which may be in a
   slightly different location in your distribution) to control this, see
   "apropos XF86Config".
</ol></blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
I dragged the mouse...no scroll.  Tried "apropos XF86Config" and it returned
3 lines:
</STRONG></P>

<pre><strong>XF86Config (5x) - Configuration file for Xfree86
Reconfig (1x)     - Convert old Xconfig to new XF86Config
xf86Config (1x)  -  generate as XF86Config file
</strong></pre>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Iron]
</blockQuote>

<blockQuote><ol>
<LI>Look in your motherboard manual or on the motherboard to see what 
   brand/version it is, then look on the manufacturer's web site to see which
   video
   chip that model uses.  Then do a Google search for "Linux hardware" and
   you'll find several sites with brand-specific information about what Linux
   needs on different kinds of hardware.


<LI>Since X doesn't know what kind of video chip you have, it's falling back to
   the lowest common denominator, probably 640x480 or even 320xSomething at 16
   colors.  Since I can't see your screen I don't know how big is "magnified",
   but I have had X start up 320 pixels wide sometimes when I changed video
   cards without reconfiguring the software.


<LI>X comes with a standard SVGA driver that all video cards less than fifteen
   years old should support.  You can tweak XF86Config by hand or use whatever
   graphical setup utility your distribution provides, or even the xvidtune
   program.  You should be able to get at least 1024x768, although the possible
   color depth (number of simultaneous colors) depends on how much video memory
   you have.


<LI>Run "X -probeonly &gt;| ~/.xsession-errors".  That will give you a verbose
   listing of what X tried to do and what it found.  It may be trying higher
   video modes and deleting them because your video chip won't support them.
   It may also be logging the information under /var/log/ somewhere.  The "X"
   command is X-server, the program that controls the graphics mode.  The actual
   filename may be different on your system.
</ol></blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
Ran this line and from what I can tell, I think you are right...it is
reverting back to the least common denominator, here is a summary:
</STRONG></P>

<pre><strong>SVGA: chipset: generic
SVGA: videoram: 64k
SVGA: clocks: 25.18
SVGA: Using 8 bpp, Depth 8, Color Weight 666
SVGA: Builtin Mode: 320x200
SVGA: Virtual Resolution set to 320x204
</strong></pre>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike]
</blockQuote>

<blockQuote><ol>
<LI>X comes with lots of documentation under /usr/share/doc or /usr/doc.  They
   may be in separate documentation packages.  You probably have XFree86 3.x.
   My Debian system has XFree86 4.1.0 so the filenames are different, but my
   directories are:
   /usr/share/doc/xserver-xfree86
   /usr/share/doc/xfree86-common
   /usr/share/doc/xserver-common
   XFree86 4.x has only one X-server, XFree86 3.x has several X-servers, each
   covering a family of video chips.  The SVGA server is the
   lowest-common-denominator
   one I was talking about, as well as being the correct server for certain
   chips (CT, Matrox, etc).  The S3 server is for S3 chips (e.g.,
   Diamond Stealth),
   and so forth.  The chip-specific servers take advantage of each chips
   acceleration-optimization code for snappier performance.
</ol></blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
What makes sense from here?  Upgrading or trying to resolve these issues
before and upgrade?   Keep in mind my network isn't working either so I will
have to load all utilities/packages/or drivers via CD....this was my motive
to get X to work first so as to tweak the network settings graphically!
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanks again for everyone's help, much appreciated!!!!
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike] 
Thanks for writing back.  You don't know how many people just take the
advice and run.
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><em><font color="#000066">Yeah, the threads aren't nearly as juicy without debugging reports and
the eventual dancing in glee...
 -- Heather</font></em></blockquote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
Video looks like a SIS 5595 chipset, although there is another chip on-board
(with heat rails) that is green in color and reads SIS 620.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote><DL><DT>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike] 
<DD><A HREF="http://www.xfree86.org/4.2.1/SiS.html"
	>http://www.xfree86.org/4.2.1/SiS.html</A>
</DL></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
[For XFree86 4.2.0:]
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
"Information for SiS users ... This driver was primarily written for
the SiS6326 and SiS530 by Alan Hourihane. It also works on 5597/5598
chips, and probably on older SiS862X5 family...  The following options
are of particular interest for the SiS driver. Each of them must be
specified in the Device section of the XF86Config file for this card..."
(The file is called README.SiS in the distribution.)
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
My Debian computer has a slightly older version, XFree86 4.1.0, and there's an
interesting file <TT>/usr/share/doc/xserver-xfree86/Status.gz</TT> :
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>	"This document contains one section per vendor (organised
<br>	alphabetically) for each chipset family that is supported in XFree86
<br>	3.3.6 or XFree86 4.1.0.
<br>...
<br>	Unless otherwise stated, hardware is classified as "supported" if
<br>        its driver provides basic 2D support.  Support for additional features
<br>        may or may not be present....
<br>...
<br>
<br>	In XFree86 3.3.6, several X servers are available; much hardware
<br>        uses the XF86_SVGA server, which has a set of driver modules that
<br>        are built into it at compile time.  In other cases, X servers for
<br>        specific chips (or families of chips) are provided (such as XF86_AGX,
<br>        XF86_Mach64, etc.).
<br>
<br>	In XFree86 4.1.0, there is only one X server,
<br>        called "XFree86", which can load driver modules at runtime...
<br>...
<br>	30.  Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS)
<br>	[Xfree86 version] 3.3.6: Support (accelerated) for the SiS 86C201,
<br>	86C202, 86C205, 86C215, 86C225, 5597, 5598, 6326, 530, 620, 300, 630
<br>	and 540 is provided by the XF86_SVGA server with the sis driver.
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
[Note that 620 is mentioned but 5595 is not.]
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>	[XFree86 version] 4.1.0: 530, 620, 6326 is provided by the "sis"
<br>	driver.  The 630, 300, and 540 are also supported, but this code is new
<br>	and there are some problems with it in this version.
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
[Again 620 is mentioned but 5595 is not.]
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>	Summary: Support for the 86C201, 86C202, 86C205, 86C215, 86C225,
<br>        5597 and 5598 is currently only available in 3.3.6.
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
So there are tradeoffs between the different versions of X and which SiS chips
they support.  I normally say go with the latest, but I know I couldn't upgrade
to version 4 while I still had my old video card (I think it was the Diamond
Stealth, which I replaced with a Matrox Millenium G400 that I got used with a
guarantee for $50.)
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<EM>If</EM> you really care about X, you'll have to decide which version to try and
install the latest copy of that.  If there's no data on the system you need, it
may be easier to just blow it all away and install a newer version of Linux from
scratch.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
But if you really only care about networking, why waste a couple days
configuring X?
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
Network = 3Com chip that reads Parallel Tasking II ...have not gotten the
network to work yet!
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike] 
The 3C905 (PCI) and 3C509 (ISA) cards work beautifully on Linux, so hopefully
your integrated chip is 3C905 compatible.  What does <TT>/proc/pci</TT> say about it?
All the newer 3Com network cards seem to use the 3c59x kernel driver, regardless
of whether the "5" is before the "9" on the card.  So make sure that driver is
compiled into your kernel or available as a module, and see if it autodetects
your NIC chip.  If I remember right, "Parallel Tasking" is a marketroid slogan
3Com has been using for years.
</blockQuote>
<HR width="10%" align="left"><P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
Mike,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Well, I appreciate you responding as much as you enjoy the challenge of my
questions!!!
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I agree, I noticed that SIS 5595 was not listed in the driver support
pages...I guess the video is supported through the 620 chip.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben] 
Whoops - that was too quick of a judgement call. The following is an
excerpt from the "HP hardware supported by Linux" page (just the first
relevant thing I grabbed off Google!), snipped for brevity:
</blockQuote>

<TABLE WIDTH="95%" BORDER="1" BGCOLOR="#FFFFCC"><TR><TD>
<p align="center">...............</p>
<blockQuote><BLOCKQuote>
The following tables indicate the state of Linux support by these platforms :
</BLOCKQuote></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Table 3-1. Brio and Linux
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><pre>+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Machine    | Graphic | Linux  | Network | Linux  | SCSI  | Linux   | Sound | Linux   | Tested |
|            | Card    | support| Card    | support| Card  | support | Card  | support |        |
|------------+---------+--------+---------+--------+-------+---------+-------+---------+--------|
| Brio BA    | Sis 5595|  Yes   | None    | N/A    | None  | N/A     | Cirrus| Yes     | No     |
| (D7581A,   | AGP     | 3.3.6  |         |        |       |         | Logic | driver  |        |
| D7584A,    |         |  in    |         |        |       |         | CS    | Alsa    |        |
| D7585A,    |         | Frame  |         |        |       |         | 4614  |         |        |
| D7587A,    |         | Buffer |         |        |       |         |       |         |        |
| D7586A,    |         | mode   |         |        |       |         |       |         |        |
| D7591A,    |         | (FBDEV)|         |        |       |         |       |         |        |
+------------+---------+--------+---------+--------+-------+---------+-------+---------+--------+

</pre></blockquote>
<p align="center">...............</p>
</TD></TR></TABLE><blockQuote>
So, there is indeed some support for the SiS5595, starting back in 3.3.6
days. Not that SiS under Linux is anything I'd wish on people.
"Minimal", "basic", and "hardly works" are the terms that come to
mind... and the ones I'd had to configure were somewhat later models
than the 5595.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
After reading your response, I guess I have no good reason to spend a couple
days trying to configure the network support or X for that matter.  I  read
a few articles eluding that X is a easy visual tool to help configure the
machine.  Do you have any recommendations on something better?
</STRONG></P>

<blockquote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Heather] It would be more accurate to say X is the visual environment, and many
nice tools are available that use the X windowing GUI.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>Some not so nice too.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>Look for nice tools which say they need "curses".  That's a console
interface with nice colors, so many menuing sysadmin tools use it.
</blockquote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben] 
X, if you're willing to live with the generic SVGA server, should work
OK. Networking, eh... Linux - pretty much all Unixen, actually - kinda
implicitly assume that you're connected. You <em> _can</em> run without it,
but... Besides, networking isn't that hard to configure. Have you read
the Net-HOWTO yet? If not, then you definitely should.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike] 
X is "easy" in that it provides the GUI environment most front-end tools
depend on.  However, X can be "difficult" to set up if your distribution
doesn't autodetect your video chip properly and set an appropriate initial
configuration.  Then you have to edit <TT>/etc/X11/XF86Config</TT> manually or run one
of the configuration front-ends that comes with X or with your distribution.
Video chips (and network chips) that are integrated into the motherboard are
especially prone to this problem because they are released suddenly by the
manufacturer, often using undocumented or proprietary protocols, and it takes
time for a Linux driver to be written, especially if the manufacturer is
uncooperative.  My normal strategy in this case is to buy a known-compatible
video card I know the configuration for.  I also don't buy motherboards with
integrated components unless (1) I know Linux works with those components and
which drivers are needed, or (2) the total cost of the motherboard is cheap
enough that I can just disable the integrated component and use my own PCI
card.  If you choose to go that route, the BIOS setup screen probably has
options to disable each integrated component individually.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
Can I assume a newer version of RedHat (7.2) would ship with more recent
driver sets to support the equipment we are discussing?  I guess that would
save me some time.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben] 
Latest is good, yes.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike] 
The current version of Red Hat is 8.0.  There is probably a hardware
compatibility
list somewhere on www.redhat.com.  I use Debian, so I can't comment on Red Hat
specifically.  However, since X and the kernel are third-party components, you
can see which version RH is using and look up the documentation on their own
sites. We've already done that for X.  For your network-chip problem, the
appropriate places would be the Hardware HOWTO and Ethernet HOWTO at
www.tldp.org, and in the Linux kernel source (since it is a kernel driver).
See if there's a file Documentation/networking/ .  Also see the comments in
the driver sources themselves, drivers/net .
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
Actually, the unit I bought shipped with two (2) network cards in it.  (This
is the unit:
<A HREF="http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/detail.jsp?tab=features&amp;sku=3C19504-US&amp;pathtype=support"
	>http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/detail.jsp?tab=features&amp;sku=3C19504-US&amp;pathtype=support</A>
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
One is wired to the board and the other is a 3com PCI
3C905.  This is what <TT>/proc/pci</TT> says about the network controller:
</STRONG></P>

<pre><strong>Bus 0, device  8, function0:
Ethernet Controller: 3com Unknown device (rev 116).
Vendor id-10b7. Device id=9200
Medimum devsel. IRQ 11. Master Capable. Latency=64. Min Gnt=10.Max Lat=10.
</strong></pre>
<P><STRONG>
Hope that helps, it was the only one out of the 7 device descriptions that
mentioned a network controller.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Ben] 
One of the various 3c* modules <em> _should</em> load. Here's something I do (as
root) when I have no clue of what module to load for the NIC and just
want to know if <em> _one</em> of them will do:
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><pre># The MASSIVELY brute-force approach!!!
cd /lib/modules/&lt;kernelversion&gt;/kernel/drivers/net
for n in *.o; do insmod $n; done
</pre></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
This will try to load <EM>every</EM> <EM>single</EM> module in the "net" category...
yuck. However, if one of them succeeds, you'll know it: "ifconfig -a"
will show an "eth0" interface. I then do the following cute trick:
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><pre>ifconfig eth0 10.0.0.1		# Actual IP doesn't matter
for n in `lsmod|awk '/unused/{print $1}'`; do rmmod $n; done
</pre></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
Since "eth0" is now in use, the module won't unload... and now you'll
know (via "lsmod") which one it is.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike] 
For comparision, my 3C905B PCI card shows up as:
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><pre>  Bus  0, device  14, function  0:
    Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905B 100BaseTX [Cyclone] (rev 48).
      IRQ 10.
      Master Capable.  Latency=32.  Min Gnt=10.Max Lat=10.
      I/O at 0xa000 [0xa07f].
      Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xf9000000 [0xf900007f].
</pre></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
The most important question is, does the 3c59x driver recognize it?
My boot messages say:
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><pre>3c59x: Donald Becker and others. www.scyld.com/network/vortex.html
00:0e.0: 3Com PCI 3c905B Cyclone 100baseTx at 0xa000. Vers LK1.1.16
</pre></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
Run "dmesg | less" to see your boot messages again.  If it's compiled as a
module, use "modprobe 3x59x" and "modprobe -r 3c59x" to activate and
deactivate it.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
I guess my next step is to get a hold of RedHat 7.2..unless you have some
suggestions on my current setup!
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Mike] 
You can compile a recent kernel without upgrading, which will get you the
latest Linux drivers to try.  Or you can contact 3Com and find out exactly
how those cards/chips are different from a standard 3C509B and whether they
have any success/failure stories about using them with Linux.  You may also
want to find out why the product was discontinued and how it differs from
their current models.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Or you can disable the integrated network chip, yank out the almost-compatible
card and put in a real 3C905B card (or an Intel EtherExpress Pro 100 for that
matter, using Linux's "eepro100" driver, which I also have in my computer).
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
Thanks again for your help and I will let you know how the upgrade goes!!!
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
-Steve
</STRONG></P>

<!-- end 4 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->

<P> <hr> </p>
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
<h5>
<br>Copyright &copy; 2002
<br>Copying license <A HREF="">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A>
<BR>Published in Issue 84 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, November 2002</H5>
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">News Bytes</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/conry.html">Michael Conry</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->







</p><center>
<table cellpadding="7"><tbody><tr><td>
<img src="../gx/bytes.gif" border="1" alt="News Bytes">
</td><td>
<h3>Contents:</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="#leg">Legislation and More Legislation</a>
</li><li><a href="#links">Linux Links</a>
</li><li><a href="#conferences">Conferences and Events</a>
</li><li><a href="#general">News in General</a>
</li><li><a href="#distro">Distro News</a>
</li><li><a href="#commercial">Software and Product News</a>
</li></ul>
</td></tr></tbody></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. Submit items to
<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</a>


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

</p><h3><img alt=" " src="../gx/bolt.gif">
<font color="green">
November 2002 <i>Linux Journal</i>
</font>
</h3>

<img alt="[issue 103 cover image]" src="misc/bytes/lj-cover103.png" width="200" height="268" align="left" hspace="20">

The November issue of <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/"><i>Linux
Journal</i></a> is on newsstands now.
This issue focuses on internationalization and energing markets.  Click 
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/modules.php?op=modload&amp;name=NS-lj-issues/issue103&amp;file=index">here</a>
to view the table of contents, or 
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/subscribe/">here</a> 
to subscribe.

<p>
<font color="green">All articles older than three months are available for
public reading at 
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/magazine.php">http://www.linuxjournal.com/magazine.php</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="leg"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">Legislation and More Legislation</font></H3></center>

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Cryptography in South Africa
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
Debian Weekly News
<a href="http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2002/39/">
has reported</a>
on developments regarding Cryptography in South Africa.
<a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal-0210/msg00013.html">
There have been efforts</a>
by the
South African government to regulate the distribution of "cryptography
products". 
<a href="http://co.za/ect/a25-02.pdf">
The law</a> (pdf)
will require providers of "cryptography
products" to register their details with, and pay a fee to, the
government.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Eldred V. Ashcroft
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
Slashdot
<a href="http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/10/09/1640249&mode=thread&tid=123">
reported</a> in mid October on the 
oral arguments in the Eldred vs Ashcroft Supreme Court case challenging the
most recent extension of copyright terms.  Linux Weekly News
<a href="http://lwn.net/Articles/12348/">
has links</a>
to pictures from the day.  As 
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/27475.html">
reported</a> by The Register, this will definitely be an uphill struggle.
A decision is not expected till spring, but you can inform yourself of the
issues (from the point of view of
<a href="http://eldred.cc/aboutus/">Eldred and his co-plaintiffs</a>) at 
<a href="http://eldred.cc/">
their website</a>.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">DMCA
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
It was 
<a href="http://www.planetpdf.com/mainpage.asp?webpageid=2400">
reported</a> last month that Dmitry Sklyarov and his boss, ElcomSoft's CEO
Alexander Katalov, are 
<a href="http://salon.com/tech/feature/2002/10/17/sklyarov/index.html">
having difficulty</a> obtaining visas to return to the U.S. to testify in
their own trial.  
<a href="http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Elcomsoft/">
The case</a>
results from alleged violations of the
anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA.  ElcomSoft produced a product
which facilitated readers' access to Adobe eBooks.  The result of this is
that the trial has been 
<a href="http://boston.internet.com/news/article.php/1484821">
further postponed</a>
<P>
In further DMCA madness, RedHat have made a security patch available in
full only to those who certify that they are outside of the US Jurisdiction
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/27636.html">
for fear of DMCA violations</a>.  Alan Cox followed a similar line before,
censoring changelogs for US consumption.
<P>
Hopefully moves such as 
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/27426.html">
Rick Boucher's DMCRA</a> will 
<a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1023-960731.html">
alleviate</a>
some of the most crippling aspects of the DMCA. The 
<a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1023-961783.html">
recently reported</a> public consultation on these issues is also welcome,
though it looks to have very limited terms of reference.





<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Fritz's Hit List
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
Professor Edward Felton has started 
<a href="http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/archives/cat_fritzs_hit_list.html">
posting a device a day</a>
on his list of devices that would be banned under Senator Disney's CBDTPA
bill.  Among the devices in the past few days are 
<a href="http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/archives/000182.html">cockpit
voice recorders</a> and the
<a href="http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/archives/000124.html">
TinkleToonz Musical Potty</a>, talking dog collars, talking pill bottles,
traffic speed cameras (maybe not a loss to some people), digital sewing machines,
and more.

<a name="links"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">Linux Links</font></H3></center>
<P>
<H3><IMG ALT=" " SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green"><IMG ALT="Linux Focus"
SRC="http://www.linuxfocus.org/common/images/lflogo_sbutton.gif"
WIDTH="143" HEIGHT="45">
</FONT>
</H3>
The E-zine
<A HREF="http://www.linuxfocus.org/">LinuxFocus</A>:
has in the November/December issue the following articles:
<br>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://linuxfocus.org/English/November2002/article251.shtml">A
Microcontroller based DC power supply</a><br></li>
<li>
<a href="http://linuxfocus.org/English/November2002/article262.shtml">Mozilla
dissected</a><br></li>
<li>
<a href="http://linuxfocus.org/English/November2002/article263.shtml">Root-kits
and integrity</a><br></li>
<li>
<a href="http://linuxfocus.org/English/November2002/article264.shtml">Fail
Safe Port Allocation for Linux Device Drivers</a><br></li>
<li>
<a href="http://linuxfocus.org/English/November2002/article265.shtml">Gorm
and ProjectCenter, the GNUstep RAD tools</a><br></li>
<li>
<a href="http://linuxfocus.org/English/November2002/article266.shtml">Developing
Applications for Gnome with Python (Part 3)</a><br></li>
<li>
<a href="http://linuxfocus.org/English/November2002/article267.shtml">(X)dialog:
Talking shells</a><br></li>
<li>
<a href="http://linuxfocus.org/English/November2002/article268.shtml">Using
PGPLOT for interactive graphics under Linux</a><br></li>
<li>
<a href="http://linuxfocus.org/English/November2002/article270.shtml">Installing a
LAMP System</a><br></li>
<li>
<a href="http://linuxfocus.org/English/November2002/article272.shtml">Concurrent
programming - Principles and introduction to processes</a><br></li>
</ul>


<P>
Some links from the <a href="http://www.oreilly.com/">O'Reilly</a> websites:
<ul>
<li>
    Michael Lucas tackles 
    the problem of 
    <a href="http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2002/09/26/Big_Scary_Daemons.html">
    unmounting a busy filesystem</a> 
    and determining who the culprits are 
    who are holding his files open.
</li>
<li>
    Securing Linux: 
    <a href="http://linux.oreillynet.com/pub/a/linux/2002/10/03/securinglinux.html">
    Why It's Worthwhile and Achievable</a>.
</li>
<li>
    <a href="http://linux.oreillynet.com/pub/a/linux/2002/10/10/intro_gentoo.html">
    A Look at Gentoo</a> from the inside by Daniel Robbins.  Also, Gentoo's
    move to provide a gaming platform.
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2002/10/11/platform.html">
Why Human Rights Requires Free Software</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2002/10/21/community.html">
Building Online Communities</a>
</li>
</ul>
<P>
Some links from <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk">The Register</a>:
<ul>
<li>
    <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/27589.html">
    Web sites blackout</a> over Spanish monitoring law
</li>
<li>
    Mandrake Linux 9.0 distro for Xbox 
    <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/27487.html">
    now available</a>
</li>
<li>
    UK computer seller <a href="http://www.evesham.com/">Evesham</a> starts
    to <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/27489.html"> bundle
    Lindows with low cost PCs</a>
</li>
<li>
    <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/27788.html">
    Howto get pretty fonts in GNU/Linux</a>.
</li>
</ul>
<P>
A few links found via <a href="http://www.linuxtoday.com">LinuxToday</a>:
<ul>
<li>
Linux and Main
<a href="http://www.linuxandmain.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=245">
have a guide</a> to compiling your own XFree86 from cvs.
</li>
<li>
Advogato.org have
<a href="http://www.advogato.org/article/553.html">
a story</a> on efforts to introduce Win32 users to the benefits of free
software using CD-Roms of free tools for Windows.
</li>
<li>
    <a href="http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/security/library/s-netip/?t=gr,lnxw02=LinuxFirewall">
    Developerworks article</a>  on configuring firewalls for GNU/Linux with
    the 2.4.x kernel.
</li>
</ul>
<P>
Two game tips from Don Marti's Aspiring to Crudeness newsletter:
<a href="http://www.ufoot.org/liquidwar/">
Liquid War</a>
and
<a href="http://www.lanipage.de/jens/">
Crimson Fields</a>.
<P>
MindGuard offers 
<a href="http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=02/09/30/1747251&mode=thread&tid=16">
thought protection for Linux</a>, essential in these paranoid times.
<P>
<a href="http://www.troubleshooters.com/lpm/200210/200210.htm">
LyX Quickstart</a>.
How to get the most out of LyX, a GUI front-end for LaTeX,
or in other words, a word processor that's "smarter than your average bear".
<P>
<a href="http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT7225637142.html">
An article</a> at Linux Devices
examining the catastrophes that Digital Rights Management can create.
<P>
Some links from <a href="http://slashdot.org/">Slashdot</a>:
<ul>
<li>
    <a href="http://developers.slashdot.org/developers/02/09/30/1233220.shtml?tid=106">
    Report</a>
    on
    <a href="http://m-arriaga.net/software/libtrash/">
    libtrash</a>, an undelete feature for Linux.
</li>
<li>
    <a href="http://www.sans.org/top20/">
    SANS and the FBI team up</a>
    to list their top 20 Windows security
    vulnerabilities, and their top 20 list of Unix security vulnerabilities.
</li>
<li>
    Linus, in a BBC interview, 
    <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2300267.stm">
    says he's still not cool</a>,  though the report
    does note however that "his followers would dispute it".
</li>
<li>
    <a href="http://slashdot.org/articles/02/10/16/1651231.shtml?tid=163">
    Use Linux to reduce your power bill</a>.
</li>
<li>
    <a href="http://www.lib.uaa.alaska.edu/linux-kernel/archive/2002-Week-40/0842.html">
    New kernel configuration system, written in C</a>.
</li>
<li>
    Lawrence Lessig's blog about 
    <a href="http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/lessig/blog/archives/2002_10.shtml#000531">
    a day spent in front of the US Supreme Court</a>
    arguing for an invalidation of congress' power to extend
    copyrights.
</li>
</ul>
<P>
<a href="http://www.research.avayalabs.com/techreport/ALR-2002-003-paper.pdf">
Research paper by Avaya Labs</a> (pdf)
studying the open-source development
process, in particular Apache and Mozilla.  Explores the difference
between the development of software that was always free vs that with
a proprietary history.
<P>
Jonathan Corbet at <a href="http://www.lwn.net/">Linux Weekly News</a>
keeps a cool head and talks about the actual impact
<a href="http://lwn.net/Articles/12120/">
BitKeeper is having on Linux kernel development</a>.
Also 
<a href="http://www.linuxandmain.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=253">
discussed</a> on Linux and Main, with quotes from RMS.
<P>
Some links from
</em><a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/">Linux Journal</a></em>:
<ul>
<li>
    <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6158">
    Useful Unix command-line tools</a>
    -or- What goodies are on you Linux system that
    you don't know about?
</li>
<li>
    Windowsrefund.net "
    <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6363&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0">
    a new web site to help organize the battle to make OEMs
    accountable for the EULA and responsive to the consumer...</a>"
</li>
<li>
    <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6361">
    Enhancing security</a> through better configuration of your Linux
    system.
</li>
<li>
    <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6405&mode=thread&order=0">
    A look</a>
    at how kernel preemption affects worst-case latencies.
</li>
</ul>
<a name="conferences"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">Upcoming conferences and events</font></H3></center>

<P> Listings courtesy <EM>Linux Journal</EM>.  See <EM>LJ</EM>'s
<A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/events.php">Events</A> page for the
latest goings-on.

<!-- *** 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> Southern California Linux Expo</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>November 2, 2002<BR>Los Angeles, CA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.socallinuxexpo.com" target="_blank">
        http://www.socallinuxexpo.com</A><BR>

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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>USENIX 16th Systems Administration Conference (LISA)</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>November 3-8, 2002<BR>Philadelphia, PA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.usenix.org" target="_blank">
        http://www.usenix.org/</A><BR>


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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Kiblix IT Linux Festival</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>November 7-9, 2002<BR>Maribor, Slovenia<BR>
        <a href="http://www.kiblix.org/" target="_blank">
        http://www.kiblix.org/</A><BR>

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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Regina Open Source Expo</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>November 8-9, 2002<BR>Regina, SK, Canada<BR>
        <a href="http://www.losurs.org/activities/expo2002/" target="_blank">
        http://www.losurs.org/activities/expo2002/</A><BR>


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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>SuperComputing 2002</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>November 16-22, 2002<BR>Baltimore, MD<BR>
        <a href="http://www.sc2002.org/" target="_blank">
        http://www.sc2002.org/</A><BR>

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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>COMDEX</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>November 18-22, 2002<BR>Las Vegas, NV<BR>
        <a href="http://www.comdex.com/fall/" target="_blank">
        http://www.comdex.com/fall/</A><BR>

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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>SD East</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>November 18-22, 2002<BR>Boston, MA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.sdexpo.com/" target="_blank">
        http://www.sdexpo.com/</A><BR>

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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Linux-Bangalore/2002
        </b><BR>
        <td valign=top>December 3-5, 2002<BR>Bangalore, Inda<BR>
        <a href="http://linux-bangalore.org/2002/" target="_blank">
        http://linux-bangalore.org/2002/</A><BR>


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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>USENIX 5th Symposium on Operating Systems Design
        and Implementation (OSDI)</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>December 9-11, 2002<BR>Boston, MA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.usenix.org" target="_blank">
        http://www.usenix.org/</A><BR>

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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Consumer Electronics Show</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>January 9-12, 2003<BR>Las Vegas, NV<BR>
        <a href="http://www.cesweb.org/" target="_blank">
        http://www.cesweb.org/</A><BR>

<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>January 21-24, 2003<BR>New York, NY<BR>
        <a href="http://www.linuxworldexpo.com/" target="_blank">
        http://www.linuxworldexpo.com/</A><BR>

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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>O'Reilly Bioinformatics Technology Conference</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>February 3-6, 2003<BR>San Diego, CA<BR>
        <a href="http://conferences.oreilly.com/" target="_blank">
        http://conferences.oreilly.com/</A><BR>

<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 4-8, 2003<BR>San Jose, CA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.gdconf.com/" target="_blank">
        http://www.gdconf.com/</A><BR>

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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>SXSW</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>March 7-11, 2003<BR>Austin, TX<BR>
        <a href="http://www.sxsw.com/interactive" target="_blank">
        http://www.sxsw.com/interactive</A><BR>

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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>COMDEX Canada</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>March 11-13, 2003<BR>Vancouver, BC<BR>
        <a href="http://www.comdex.com/vancouver/" target="_blank">
        http://www.comdex.com/vancouver/</A><BR>

<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 12-19, 2003<BR>Hannover, Germany<BR>
        <a href="http://www.cebit.de/" target="_blank">
        http://www.cebit.de/</A><BR>

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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>4th USENIX Symposium on Internet Technologies and Systems</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>March 26-28, 2003<BR>Seattle, WA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.usenix.org/events/" target="_blank">
        http://www.usenix.org/events/</A><BR>

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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>AIIM</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>April 7-9, 2003<BR>New York, NY<BR>
        <a href="http://www.advanstar.com/" target="_blank">
        http://www.advanstar.com/</A><BR>

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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>SD West</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>April 8-10, 2003<BR>Santa Clara, CA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.sdexpo.com/" target="_blank">
        http://www.sdexpo.com/</A><BR>

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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>COMDEX Chicago</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>April 15-17, 2003<BR>Chicago, IL<BR>
        <a href="http://www.comdex.com/chicago/" target="_blank">
        http://www.comdex.com/chicago/</A><BR>

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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Real World Linux Conference and Expo</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>April 29-30, 2003<BR>Toronto, Ontario<BR>
        <a href="http://www.realworldlinux.com/" target="_blank">
        http://www.realworldlinux.com</A><BR>


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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>USENIX First International Conference on Mobile Systems, 
	Applications, and Services (MobiSys)</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>May 5-8, 2003<BR>San Francisco, CA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.usenix.org/events/" target="_blank">
        http://www.usenix.org/events/</A><BR>

<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 9-14, 2003<BR>San Antonio, TX<BR>
        <a href="http://www.usenix.org/events/" target="_blank">
        http://www.usenix.org/events/</A><BR>

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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>CeBIT America</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>June 18-20, 2003<BR>New York, NY<BR>
        <a href=http://www.cebit-america.com/"" target="_blank">
        http://www.cebit-america.com/</A><BR>

<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 7-11, 2003<BR>Location: TBD<BR>
        <a href="http://conferences.oreilly.com/" target="_blank">
        http://conferences.oreilly.com/</A><BR>

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

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>12th USENIX Security Symposium</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>August 4-8, 2003<BR>Washington, DC<BR>
        <a href="http://www.usenix.org/events/" target="_blank">
        http://www.usenix.org/events/</A><BR>

<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 5-7, 2003<BR>San Francisco, CA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.linuxworldexpo.com" target="_blank">
        http://www.linuxworldexpo.com</A><BR>

<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 *** -->


<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">Linux and the UK Police
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
Police in West Yorkshire, England, are reported by ZDNet to be
<a href="http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2123999,00.html">
testing a fleet of Linux workstations</a>
secured by smart cards.  If the test is successful, the force expects to roll
it out on 3500 desktops and save UK L1 million a year.  And if *that* is
successful, other police units in England may join in, for an potential total
of 60,000 Linux workstations.
This was
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/27692.html">
also reported</a> by The Register.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Linux in India
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
It has been reported that
<a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articleshow?artid=24598339">
India is planning to promote Linux</a>
country-wide over "proprietary" operating systems.
However, as <em>Linux Journal</em>
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6389">
has reported</a>,
India's move may not have been all it appeared.  Fred Norhona surveys
Linux users groups in India and says many of them are sceptical that the
announcement was timed so closely to Bill Gates' upcoming visit to India in
November.  But, the article notes, many people in India are turning to
Linux anyway, no matter how sincere the government is or isn't.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Linux Programmer Training Offered For No Fees
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P> Since Jan 2002 
<a href="http://www.icanprogram.com">
iCanProgram.com</a>
has been offering its online Linux programmer training courses without fees
in return for a voluntary donation to Cancer research in memory of one of
the founders.
<P> So far in 2002 over 1300 students worldwide have availed themselves of this
service. For more info and online registration forms you can visit the website at:
<a href="http://www.icanprogram.com">
http://www.icanprogram.com</a>.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">SIMPL Open Source Project Needs Developers
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P>
<a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/simpl/">
The SIMPL open source project</a>
aims to bring the simplicity of
Send/Receive/Reply messaging first pioneered by OS's such as QNX to the
Linux platform.
The project is now 4 years old and has produced a stable and usable
system which has been successfully deployed in several commercial ventures.
This project needs developers to extend the network transparency to include
a "plug-in" capability.    We want to expand beyond the current support for
TCP/IP to UDP, SSL, RS232 and other protocols.
<P> If you are interested in helping out you can visit the project site at:
<a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/simpl/">
https://sourceforge.net/projects/simpl/</a>


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Openchallenge
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
<a href="http://www.openchallenge.org/">
Openchallenge.org</a>
calls programmers to publish their "spare-time code" for
everybody's pleasure and challenges organisations to seek an answer to their
information technology related problems by using open source
methods. Openchallenge aims to be a catalyst for materialising creativity and for
channelling open source potential into tackling real world problems and
doing public good. By delivering quarterly awards to two selected
contributors we wish to encourage individuals into materialising and
publishing the results of their creativity under open source license and
principles.
<P> For more information, consult the Openchallenge website at
<a href="http://www.openchallenge.org/">
http://www.openchallenge.org/</a>.


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">GLUE, Calling ALL LUG'S
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P>
<a href="http://www.ssc.com:8080/glue">
GLUE, Groups of Linux Users Everywhere</a>
now offers free membership
listings to user groups.  Benefits include a 20% discount to
Linux Journal, 20% off all BRU[tm] Product Purchases from TOLIS, archive
cds of Linux Journal (1994-2000), T-shirts, bumper stickers, etc.
A Group-of-the-Month wins free T-shirts for everyone in their group (up
to 50) simply by providing a group photo by the end of each month.  We
offer advice regarding establishing a group, considerations for meeting
places, trade show attendance, etc.  Visit
<a href="http://www.ssc.com:8080/glue">
http://www.ssc.com:8080/glue</a>
for more details, or email glue@ssc.com.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Sitescooper
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
<a href="http://www.sitescooper.org">
Sitescooper</a>
automatically retrieves the stories from several news websites, trims off
extraneous HTML, and converts them into formats you can read on your Palm
computing device for later reading on-the-move. It maintains a cache, and
will avoid stories you've already read. It can handle 1-page sites, 1-page
with diffing, 2-level and 3-level sites, and it's very easy to add a new
site to its list.
Even if you don't have a Palm handheld, it's reportedly still quite useful
for simple website-to-text conversion, and off-line HTML reading.
The Linux Gazette, and some other very useful
Linux news sites are always available in the pre-generated area.

<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">Debian
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
Debian Weekly News
<a href="http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2002/41/">
reported</a>
that Josselin Mouette 
<a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce-0210/msg00009.html">
has announced</a>
a
<a href="http://www.debian.org/devel/todo/">
public todo list</a>
for Debian tasks. This page tries to keep track
of which tasks and groups in the project need help.
<P>
<hr width="20%" noshade>
<P> 
In a recent review of Debian several criticisms were made of the ease of
installation and the quality of the desktop.  Well, free software being
what it is, this got people interested in doing something about it. 
Debian Weekly News
<a href="http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2002/42/">
has linked</a> to 
a very verbose 
<a href="http://www.industryweek.com/CurrentArticles/Asp/articles.asp?ArticleId=1344">
installation walkthrough</a>, and also highlighted
the availability of new 
<a href="http://archive.progeny.com/progeny/pgi/">
Progeny Graphical Installer Images</a>.
Additionally, 
<a href="http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-desktop/">
a Debian Desktop Subproject</a> has been
<a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce-0210/msg00016.html">
initiated</a>.
This development has also been 
<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,645250,00.asp">
noted by ExtremeTech</a>.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Libranet
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
A <em>Linux Journal</em>
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com//article.php?sid=6358">
review of Libranet</a>, a Debian-based distribution.
LinuxOrbit has
<a href="http://www.linuxorbit.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=18">
reviewed the distribution</a> also.

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

<P> After a very long wait, LFS-4.0 has finally been released. You can
download the files from the main LFS site -
<a href="http://www.linuxfromscratch.org">
www.linuxfromscratch.org</a>, and also from mirrors.


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Red Hat
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
OS News
have
<a href="http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=1901">
an interview</a>
with two guys from Red Hat, mostly about graphical interfaces.
OS News have also
<a href="http://osnews.com/story.php?news_id=1842">
recently reviewed</a>
Red hat 8.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Slackware
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
Patrick Volkerding of Slackware is 
<a href="http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/10/04/1033538761935.html">
interviewed by the Australian newspaper, The Age</a>.
The paper notes that Volkerding was somewhat
intimidated by the bigger booths of the other Linux distributions
at tradeshows during the dot-com boom, but notes that now they're
gone but Slackware is still here, and it's still running a profit.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">SuSE
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
The Register
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/27759.html">
reviewed</a> 
SuSE 8.1, and believe it  illustrates MS' fear -- its ease of use is close
to Windows XP, and the reviewer predicts it will surpass XP in the next
version.  Nonetheless, there were a few significant bugs that a seasoned
Linux user can work around but will cause problems for newbies.
<P>
<hr width="20%" noshade>
<P>
SuSE Linux, have announced the launch of
<a href="http://www.suse.de/en/openexchange">
SuSE Linux Openexchange Server</a>
to be available on November 4th. The Openexchange Server combines the 
SuSE Linux Enterprise Server operating system, an e-mail 
server, and extensive groupware functionalities; the result is an 
all-in-one communication and groupware solution for 
companies of all sizes.
<P>
<hr width="20%" noshade>
<P>
SuSE has also
announced a global technology partnership. SuSE is the 
first Linux enterprise operating system to enable SAP clients 
worldwide to run SAP's leading e-business applications on Linux 
and the first Linux provider to become "SAP Global Technology 
Partner".
More information on SuSE Linux Enterprise Server on mySAP.com 
systems can be found at 
<a href="http://www.suse.de/en/business/certifications/certified_software/">
http://www.suse.de/en/business/certifications/certified_software/</a>



<a name="commercial"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">Software and Product News</font></H3></center>



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


<P> The SixTRAK IPm Open DCS controller is the 
<a href="http://www.sixnetio.com/html_files/press_releases/press.htm">
latest edition</a>
to SIXNET's line of open LINUX based industrial control products.  SixTRAK
IPm's communications (5 Ethernet and 3 serial ports) and programming
capabilities make it an ideal solution for process control, Supervisory
Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), or Distributed Control System (DCS)
applications.
SIXNET IPm products are modular and scalable LINUX based automation
solutions that combine installation-ready industrial hardware with a wealth
of software solutions that are ready to use right out of the box.



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

<P>
<a href="http://www.TeamASA.com">
Team ASA Inc.</a>,
a manufacturer of 
products for the Networking and Storage industries, has announced 
the newest member in the NPWR Single Board Networking Computer (SBNC) 
family, the NPWR-FC.
The NPWR-FC is the first SBNC implemented with the Intel XScale 80321 
CPU, Dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, Dual Fibre Channel ports, and four 
Serial ATA (SATA) ports on a single card.
<P> Every NPWR-FC includes either a Linux or a NetBSD CDROM.  The NPWR 
CDROM also includes all tools, documentation and sources needed to 
make any NPWR-based product an immediate success. NPWR-FC is 
factory-configured with a Flash ROM disk running Linux or the NetBSD 
O.S. to ensure expedited product development.


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Spectra Linux Bundles McObject's eXtremeDB
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
McObject and Probatus Technologies 
<a href="http://www.mcobject.com/press21.htm">
have announced</a>
a bundling partnership
that pairs an innovative in-memory database system (IMDS) with a
comprehensive, professional-grade Linux development and operating
environment.
In addition to certifying McObject's eXtremeDB as compatible with its
Spectra Linux 1.2 distribution, Probatus now includes eXtremeDB with
every copy. The arrangement offers Linux developers and systems
integrators worldwide a data management solution that overcomes the
performance and footprint constraints of disk-based database systems.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Patchlink Update 4.0
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
<a href="http://www.patchlink.com">
PatchLink</a>
Update 4.0 claims to have taken a difficult to deal with factor out
of patch management by automating its vulnerability assessment and
deployment software for all major network operating systems including
Linux, UNIX, Microsoft and Novell.  PatchLink Update addresses the need
for a comprehensive patch management system by giving those responsible
for their organization's computer systems the ability to instantly
detect day-to-day, software-related security breaches, and a fast and
efficient method for immediately correcting them across all platforms
and enterprise boundaries. 

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">VariCAD 8.2.0.4 Update Released
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
<a href="http://www.varicad.com">
VariCAD</a>
has launched a new update of its 3D/2D mechanical CAD package for Windows 
98/NT/2000/XP and Linux (RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake). The latest VariCAD 8.2.0.4 
includes tools for 3D modelling, 2D drafting, libraries of mechanical 
components (ANSI, DIN), calculations, BOM's, and many others. The software is 
available "fully-loaded" for only $399 per license worldwide. Free evaluation 
copies can be downloaded from
<a href="http://www.varicad.com">
http://www.varicad.com</a>.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">New SSI M-Module supports Linux
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
A new Synchronous Serial Interface (SSI)
M-Module mezzanine card from 
<a href="http://www.men.de/">
MEN Micro, Inc.</a>,
simplifies the monitoring
and controlling of shafts and other moving parts in machine tools,
automation systems, test and measurement equipment and other industrial
systems.  The new M-Module from MEN, which is designated the M47, has four,
32-bit, RS422, SSI channels, each capable of Gray and binary decoding.  In
addition, all four channels are optically isolated from each other.
Driver software for the M47 is available for the Windows, Linux,
VxWorks, QNX, RTX and OS-9 operating environments.
<P>
A digital photo of the product featured below is
available for download at
<a href="http://www.men.de/products/press">
http://www.men.de/products/press</a>



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

<P> Applications for Beta Testers for 
<a href="http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/info.php?id=8">
Majesty Gold</a> are now open. If you wish to join the beta, please go to
<a href="http://betas.linuxgamepublishing.com">http://betas.linuxgamepublishing.com</a>
and sign up.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Virtutech Releases Version 1.4 of Simics
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
The Simics
simulation platform allows you to build your own virtual computer system
for hardware or software design.
In terms of performance, on a 2 GHz Pentium 4 workstation running Red Hat
Linux 7.2, for example, it is claimed that Simics delivers the following:
Linux will boot in two minutes on a simulated 4-processor Itanium system.
Red Hat Linux 6.0 boots in 5 minutes on a simulated Hammer system;
Virtutech Simics is now available from 
<a href="http://www.virtutech.com/">
http://www.virtutech.com/</a>
at $1500 for a single license.


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











<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2002, Michael Conry.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 84 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, November 2002
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">Office Linux -- Feedback</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/arndt.html">Matthias Arndt</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->













<h3>Introduction</h3>

<p>
The following article is intended as a followup to the article 
<a href="../issue81/arndt.html">Office Linux: Ideas for a Desktop Distribution</a> in issue 81 of the Linux Gazette. If you wonder what this all is about, then I suggest reading that article.

<p>
I recieved a lot of feedback concerning that article. It was almost exclusively positive, although sometimes pointing into various
directions. I want to let most of the mail speak for itself. At the end I will make just a few more statements concerning the idea.

<h3>Whole lotta mail...</h3>

<p>
Some of my contacts preferred to stay anonymous so I decided to keep all my contacts anonymous. I stripped signatures, real names and email addresses out.

<PRE>
  From: Linux Gazette Editor (Iron)
  To  : Matthias Arndt 
  Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2002 12:36:56 -0700
</PRE>
<H4>Re: new article: Office Linux - ideas for a desktop distribution</H4>

<PRE>
On Tue, Jul 23, 2002 at 07:05:49PM +0200, Matthias Arndt wrote:
&gt; I attached a new article for the Linux Gazette.
&gt; I hope it fits.

Formatted for August, preview attached.

My opinions on Office Linux:
** It can be done based on an existing distribution and packaging system.
   That would cut out most of the work, and sysadmins could get packages
   from the upstream distribution if they need a program not included in
   Office Linux.

** You'd need to tighten up the profile of the target user.  What does a
"secretary" run?  Office, web, e-mail and text editing.

** "Secretaries" do not need a development environment -- they wouldn't know
what to do with it.

** Lots of offices will not be able to use a product like the above because
they need one or two applications not in the base set.  For instance, maybe
a certain office needs the Gimp, etc.  These people could get the packages
from an upstream distribution, but wouldn't it be just as easy for them to
install the upstream distribution itself?  

** Some distros (especially the "compile it yourself" ones like Rock Linux and
a couple recent ones whose names escape me but are in the LWN distributions
list {<A HREF="http://lwn.net/">lwn.net</A>}) have scripts to allow you to
make custom CD-ROMs containing only a subset of the distribution, precompiled
for quick installation on a number of systems.  This might be a better way to
build Office Linux.

-- 
Mike Orr, Editor, Linux Gazette    SSC: publishers of Linux Journal
</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: Matthias Arndt 
  To  : Linux Gazette
  Date: Wed, 07 Aug 2002 16:18:51 +0200
</PRE>
<h4>Re: new article: Office Linux - ideas for a desktop distribution</H4>

<PRE>

Hi!

article published fine! Thanks again!

Linux Gazette wrote:
| My opinions on Office Linux:
| ** It can be done based on an existing distribution and packaging system.
|    That would cut out most of the work, and sysadmins could get packages
|    from the upstream distribution if they need a program not included in
|    Office Linux.

Office Linux should be bootstrapped from an existing distribution. Just
to make it easy to create.
The Gimp was actually planned to be included. I do not wanted to leave
all applications out but to distribute only a working subset and of
course one programm per task.

| ** You'd need to tighten up the profile of the target user.  What does a
| "secretary" run?  Office, web, e-mail and text editing.

Office Linux in the current draft state contains everything needed to
achieve this.

| ** "Secretaries" do not need a development environment -- they wouldn't know
| what to do with it.

Development packages should be optional for the sysadmin to compile some
software. It is not meant to be installed by default.

| ** Lots of offices will not be able to use a product like the above because
| they need one or two applications not in the base set.  For instance, maybe
| a certain office needs the Gimp, etc.  These people could get the packages
| from an upstream distribution, but wouldn't it be just as easy for them to
| install the upstream distribution itself?

Office Linux is meant to make the installation easy and do everything in
one go. Compatibility with another distribution will be included because
the project would be bootstrapped from an existing distribution.

The main arguments against a mainstream distribution are still:
* too many packages installed by default
* not enough tutorial documentation (even the Mandrake documentation is
insufficient for Office Linux)
* installation process too long - Office Linux is intended for "stick CD
in and go"

| ** Some distros (especially the "compile it yourself" ones like Rock Linux and
| a couple recent ones whose names escape me but are in the LWN distributions
| list {lwn.net}) have scripts to allow you to make custom CD-ROMs containing
| only a subset of the distribution, precompiled for quick installation on a
| number of systems.  This might be a better way to build Office Linux.

I leave it up to a development team to build the actual Office Linux.
It is a draft, the article was "thinking out loud" in some respect.

I recieved some mail regarding the article so I plan to write a little
followup containing my correspondence. Due to time problems it will not
be ready for the September issue.

regards and thanks for publishing,
Matthias
</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  To  : Matthias Arndt
  From: +++++ +++++++++ 
  Date: 01 Aug 2002 14:18:55 +0200
</PRE>
<H4>Regarding "Office Linux: Ideas for a Desktop Distribution"</H4>
<PRE>
Hi Matthias

I just read your article in the August 2002 issue of Linux Gazette, and
all in all, I can say that the idea is very good. The main problem why
we aren't switching to Linux yet in our company is that it would be a
pain to administer the boxes after the installation. The current distros
are very generic since they target general audience - they put in
multiple office suites, browsers etc. so that everyone is satisfied.

On the other side, I am not for Yet Another Linux Distro either. We
already have enough distributions, and in each distro some thing is done
differently than the others.

IMHO, the situation can be solved by modifying the existing code base,
either by the company/organization that releases the particular distro,
or by user-side tweaking. In the first case, I imagine that it wouldn't
be too hard for Redhat or SuSE to strip the current distro to one CD and
implement the ideas you give in your article. But that depends on the
demand of the market.

We already have things like kickstart in Red Hat 7.x distros. You just
need to customize the install process once (select the necessary
packages, layout of partitions and so on), and than make a CD with the
kickstart.cfg file and only the rpm's you're installing. The necessary
post-install configurations can be done by an application which would be
automatically run during the first boot, or so.

All in all, it wouldn't be very hard to make an amateur distro based on
your propositions. I am amazed that this hasn't been done yet.

BTW, I am against putting KDE as the default desktop manager. I was
using it for about one year at work, and that is enough to learn all its
bugs, crashes and instabilites. I am dissapointed at what KDE has became
- a bloated product full of bugs. Developers seem to be more interested
in adding new features, than fixing the old ones. KDE has a long way to
go to achieve the stability of even Windows XP. Mind you, I am not
advocating another desktop/window manager since that will make me biased
- but KDE would be a disaster for first-time users of Linux.

Best regards,
+++++ +++++++++

P.S. I would be very interested in reading a follow-up article in the
next Linux Gazette based on all the replies you got in the meantime.
</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: Matthias Arndt 
  To  : +++++ +++++++++ 
  Date: Wed, 07 Aug 2002 16:05:28 +0200
</PRE>
<H4>Re: Regarding "Office Linux: Ideas for a Desktop Distribution"</H4>
<PRE>
Hi,

+++++ +++++++++ wrote:
| Hi Matthias
|
| I just read your article in the August 2002 issue of Linux Gazette, and
| all in all, I can say that the idea is very good. The main problem why
| we aren't switching to Linux yet in our company is that it would be a
| pain to administer the boxes after the installation. The current distros
| are very generic since they target general audience - they put in
| multiple office suites, browsers etc. so that everyone is satisfied.

That is the point where Office Linux drops in. It is meant to fill this gap.


| On the other side, I am not for Yet Another Linux Distro either. We
| already have enough distributions, and in each distro some thing is done
| differently than the others.

Freedom of choice - that's why I personally would not opt against
another distribution. I'm in general dissatisfied with most of the
existing distributions but I currently do not have the time to create my
own distribution. And thats's why I'm not planning to work on Office Linux.

| IMHO, the situation can be solved by modifying the existing code base,
| either by the company/organization that releases the particular distro,
| or by user-side tweaking. In the first case, I imagine that it wouldn't
| be too hard for Redhat or SuSE to strip the current distro to one CD and
| implement the ideas you give in your article. But that depends on the
| demand of the market.

I guess the big ones will not do something like that. Almost all of
their work would not be used in Office Linux such as tons of
documentation, packaging etc.
Using an existing code base is, of course, the planned way to go with
Office Linux.

| All in all, it wouldn't be very hard to make an amateur distro based on
| your propositions. I am amazed that this hasn't been done yet.

It's a matter of time and work. It is entirely possible.
Gimme time and motivate me and I'll do it. But I do not have the time to
do it.

| BTW, I am against putting KDE as the default desktop manager. I was
| using it for about one year at work, and that is enough to learn all its
| bugs, crashes and instabilites. I am dissapointed at what KDE has became
| - a bloated product full of bugs. Developers seem to be more interested
| in adding new features, than fixing the old ones. KDE has a long way to
| go to achieve the stability of even Windows XP. Mind you, I am not
| advocating another desktop/window manager since that will make me biased
| - but KDE would be a disaster for first-time users of Linux.

Personally I really hate KDE and I avoid to use it wherever possible.
I leave it up to the final project team which desktop to use.
Someone else suggested using qvwm which is much like M$ Windows.


| P.S. I would be very interested in reading a follow-up article in the
| next Linux Gazette based on all the replies you got in the meantime.

Yep as I recieved some more mail regarding that article I'm planning to
publish my correspondence in November.

cheers and thanks for your comment,
Matthias
</PRE>

<HR>

<PRE>
  From: +++ 
  To  : Matthias Arndt
  Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2002 01:00:51 -0600
</PRE>
<H4>Your article in Linux Gazette #81 about Office Linux</H4>
<PRE>
Hi there,

I just read your article, and think you have an excellent point.

Is this something that you intend to pursue, or are you just "thinking 
out loud?"  If this is something that you are looking at working on, I
would love to test this out. 

I started using Linux in 92.  I had no idea what it was, but it helped 
me pass a system admin class.  I then stopped using it until recently.  
I came across your article while looking for details on how to best 
create my own distribution. 

I installed Red Hat 7.3 tonight, and it's just too darn big, with too 
darn much stuff included. 

So, again, if you are going to work on it, and would like another set of 
eyes to help out, please let me know.  If you're not, but can direct me 
towards a group that is, I'd appreciate that as well.

Best regards,

+++

</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: Matthias Arndt 
  To  : +++ 
  Date: Wed, 07 Aug 2002 15:55:52 +0200
</PRE>
<H4>Re: Your article in Linux Gazette #81 about Office Linux</H4>
<PRE>
Hello,

+++ wrote:
| Hi there,
|
| I just read your article, and think you have an excellent point.
|
| Is this something that you intend to pursue, or are you just "thinking
| out loud?"  If this is something that you are looking at working on, I
| would love to test this out.

Actually I'm currently just "thinking out loud". I do not have the time
to start such a project.

| So, again, if you are going to work on it, and would like another set of
| eyes to help out, please let me know.  If you're not, but can direct me
| towards a group that is, I'd appreciate that as well.

As stated above I do not plan to work on it and I don't know about
others that work on it.
But I got some more mails regarding the article and some other guy
wanted to help too. So I can only tell you the same:
Start the project and make it happen :)

regards and thanks for your comment,
Matthias

PS: I'm planning to publish all the correspondence concerning the
article. So could you please tell me if you want want not to publish
your mail.

</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: +++++++ +++++ 
  To  : Matthias Arndt
  Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2002 18:25:42 -0700 (PDT)
</PRE>
<H4>Office Linux: Ideas for a Desktop Distribution</H4>
<PRE>
Matthias,

Great idea! Please consider using Netscape because it
includes email which can connect to AOL mail (a very
big group).

Please let me know if I can help.

Thanks,

+++++++ + +++++
</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: Matthias Arndt 
  To  : +++++++ +++++ 
  Date: Wed, 07 Aug 2002 15:50:16 +0200
</PRE>
<H4>Re: Office Linux: Ideas for a Desktop Distribution</H4>
<PRE>
Hi,

+++++++ +++++ wrote:
| Matthias,
|
| Great idea! Please consider using Netscape because it
| includes email which can connect to AOL mail (a very
| big group).

The final choice of software is up to the group that actually works on
the project.

| Please let me know if I can help.

Yes, start the project :)

cheers and thanks for your comment,
Matthias

PS: I'm planning to publish all the mail concerning the article.
Tell me please if you want me not to publish your mail
</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: +++++++ +++++
  To  : Matthias Arndt 
  Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2002 17:48:28 -0700 (PDT)
</PRE>
<H4>Re: Office Linux: Ideas for a Desktop Distribution</H4>
<PRE>
Matthias,

I am available to help. Just let me know where are we
with this. Do we have a starting point.

I work for AOL Time Warner have experience in Project
management/ Documentation / Testing/ QA / Software
Engineering. Have a BS/MBA.

Thanks,

+++++++

PS. Please do not publish my name/email.
</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: Matthias Arndt
  To  : +++++++ +++++ 
  Date: Thu, 08 Aug 2002 10:40:25 +0200
</PRE>
<H4>Re: Office Linux: Ideas for a Desktop Distribution</H4>
<PRE>
Hi,

+++++++ +++++ wrote:
| I am available to help. Just let me know where are we
| with this. Do we have a starting point.

I'm sorry, There is no starting point yet. The article was some sort of
"thinking out loud", a draft.
A project with dedicated goals has to be created. If you want to, go
ahead. A little webpage with manifesto and a mailing list should be
enough for the moment. I'm short of time so I'm currently not able to
launch it myself.
But tell me if you do because I got mails from other people who were
interested in participating as well.

| PS. Please do not publish my name/email.

Ok.

cheers,
Matthias
</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: +++++ ++++ 
  To  : Matthias Arndt
  Date: Wed, 07 Aug 2002 09:10:44 +0200
</PRE>
<H4>Re: Office Linux: Ideas for a Desktop Distribution</H4>
<PRE>
Hi!

Hast du dir mal die Knoppix-CD angeguckt?
Du kannst ja mal mit Klaus Knopper ueber deine Ideen reden.
Er ist definitiv der Mann mit dem noetigen Know-How.

Tschuess

+++++ 
</PRE>
<P>
This translates to:
<PRE>
Hi,

did you take a look at the Knoppix CD?
You could talk to Klaus Knopper concerning your ideas.
In any case he is the man with the required know-how.

cu,
+++++
</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: ++++++ + +++++++ 
  To  : Matthias Arndt
  Date: Sun, 01 Sep 2002 14:22:20 -0400
</PRE>
<H4>Office Linux: Ideas for a Desktop Distribution</H4>
<PRE>
	This is a very good idea.  It's something I've been kicking around in 
my head but never actually got collected into an idea.  If you start 
this as an actual project please let me know.  I would like to help in 
any way I can.

Thanks,
+++
</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: ++++++ +++++++
  To  : Matthias Arndt
  Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2002 15:55:44 +0200
</PRE>
<H4>Office Linux</H4>
<PRE>
Matthias,

I have read your article on Office Linux. I like because it shows that I 
am not the only one with this idea (although I haven't published anything 
on it).

The main idea I had about this thing was to start from Debian, because 
with the apt system it is possible to create one's own assembly of program 
files. This could give a firm advantage because no new packages need to be 
created, only a distribution based upon existing packages and new tasks.

Some remarks :

No servers :
I think that we probably need to run some line printer daemon. Be also 
prepared to deploy this software in small companies where only one person 
does all the paperwork. In this case, I think that also the optional 
installation of fax server software should be possible. Besides, your 
requirement of easy remote administration contradicts the requirement of 
no servers.

Desktop environment
I have started testing qvwm, which gives more Win95 looks and is much 
lighter than KDE. What is needed is a proper interface to add menu entries 
and desktop icons. The desktop environment should also contain a good file 
manager with DND capabilities. I am still searching for a good one. I do 
not like MS, but their Explorer is still very good.

Office productivity
I think it is better to run a lightweight desktop environment with 
OpenOffice.org, than KDE with OpenOffice.org. For most tasks, 
OpenOffice.org can be run on a WS starting from 200 Mhz with 64 Mb of 
memory. See servers : Office productivity is enhanced by means of an 
integrated fax suite.

Internet
Provide possibilities to choose between modem and network card access 
(ADSL/Cable). A wizard for diald for modem users is indispensable. Network 
card access needs DHCP, kernel routing tables should reject anything that 
is coming in which does not have its source on the machine itself.

Widget sets
Office Linux should also be able to offer third parties a nice and 
flexible widget set to create add-ons and configuration tools. If KDE is 
chosen, then this is no problem of course. If the choice goes to qvwm, 
then I suggest to try to use GTK based tools.

Maybe I come back again on this topic, but for the moment I am busy 
programming something to ease the interfacing of CGI scripts with a 
permanent connection to postgreSQL, and I have to prepare a course of 9 
times 4 hrs on Linux as a network OS.

Regards,

++++++ +++++++

</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: Matthias Arndt 
  To  : ++++++ +++++++ 
  Date: Wed, 07 Aug 2002 15:47:41 +0200
</PRE>
<H4>Re: Office Linux</H4>
<PRE>
Hi,

++++++ +++++++ wrote:
| I have read your article on Office Linux. I like because it shows that I
| am not the only one with this idea (although I haven't published
| anything on it).

That's nice to hear :)

| The main idea I had about this thing was to start from Debian, because
| with the apt system it is possible to create one's own assembly of
| program files. This could give a firm advantage because no new packages
| need to be created, only a distribution based upon existing packages and
| new tasks.

Actually I really thought about using an existing distribution.
But Debian has the problem that in most cases a current snapshot has
dependency problems with stable ones being hopeless out of date.
That's why I would prefer building a basic distribution from scratch.
But a stable and current snapshot of Debian could also be used as a
base. To make it easy to administrate, I would not include apt or any
other software of this sort into the final distribution. It makes the
thing to complicated except for net install.
Using Debian is nice idea anyway so I'd probably leave this topic for a
group that actually wants to launch this project.


|
| Some remarks :
|
| No servers :
| I think that we probably need to run some line printer daemon. Be also
| prepared to deploy this software in small companies where only one
| person does all the paperwork. In this case, I think that also the
| optional installation of fax server software should be possible.
| Besides, your requirement of easy remote administration contradicts the
| requirement of no servers.

Ofcourse some sort of lpd has to be included. But I wanted to leave out:
Apache, ftpd, SQL, bind and all those other services that are installed
by default in almost all current distributions.
Fax is a nice idea too but it should be integrated into the printing system.

| Desktop environment
| I have started testing qvwm, which gives more Win95 looks and is much
| lighter than KDE. What is needed is a proper interface to add menu
| entries and desktop icons. The desktop environment should also contain a
| good file manager with DND capabilities. I am still searching for a good
| one. I do not like MS, but their Explorer is still very good.

qvwm looks very nice. Actually I personally would never use a desktop
that resembles M$ Windows so close but it woudl be a very nice
lightweight alternative to KDE.

| Office productivity
| I think it is better to run a lightweight desktop environment with
| OpenOffice.org, than KDE with OpenOffice.org. For most tasks,
| OpenOffice.org can be run on a WS starting from 200 Mhz with 64 Mb of
| memory. See servers : Office productivity is enhanced by means of an
| integrated fax suite.

I won't count on that. OpenOffice is slow on my Athlon 600 without KDE
running so I doubt it runs reasonably fast on a P200.

| Internet
| Provide possibilities to choose between modem and network card access
| (ADSL/Cable). A wizard for diald for modem users is indispensable.
| Network card access needs DHCP, kernel routing tables should reject
| anything that is coming in which does not have its source on the machine
| itself.

Office Linux is meant to integrate into an existing LAN. There is
absolutely no need for dialup networking in the distribution.
Firewalling should be done external. Office Linux is a pure workstation
distribution. All server services as firewalling, mail etc. should not
be handled by this distribution.
It could be an addon for home users but those are not the intended users
for the distribution.

| Widget sets
| Office Linux should also be able to offer third parties a nice and
| flexible widget set to create add-ons and configuration tools. If KDE is
| chosen, then this is no problem of course. If the choice goes to qvwm,
| then I suggest to try to use GTK based tools.

GTK is a must in any case.

thanks for your comments,
Matthias

PS: I'm planning to publish all the mail concerning the article in teh
future so tell me if you want me to leave your mail out.
</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>
<PRE>
  From: ++++++ +++++++ 
  To  : Matthias Arndt 
  Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2002 14:59:08 +0200
</PRE>
<H4>Re: Office Linux</H4>
<PRE>
Hello, Matthias,

Some extra remarks...

&gt;| The main idea I had about this thing was to start from Debian, because
&gt;| with the apt system it is possible to create one's own assembly of
&gt;| program files. This could give a firm advantage because no new packages
&gt;| need to be created, only a distribution based upon existing packages 
and
&gt;| new tasks.

&gt;Actually I really thought about using an existing distribution.
&gt;But Debian has the problem that in most cases a current snapshot has
&gt;dependency problems with stable ones being hopeless out of date.
&gt;That's why I would prefer building a basic distribution from scratch.
&gt;But a stable and current snapshot of Debian could also be used as a
&gt;base. To make it easy to administrate, I would not include apt or any
&gt;other software of this sort into the final distribution. It makes the
&gt;thing to complicated except for net install.
&gt;Using Debian is nice idea anyway so I'd probably leave this topic for a
&gt;group that actually wants to launch this project.

Since I almost work exclusively with Debian, I have the feeling that this is
the distribution which has probably all things in place to make an easy
distribution feasible. A graphical installer would be nice.

What seems the single most attractive feature for Windows users ? I think it is
the way the installation process works for new software (not the OS
installation process).

First, under the settings tab of the start button, you can choose to install or
remove additional software. If there is anything which Debian is good at, I
think it is this. By restricting the software to appear on the CD-ROM, and
maybe have a default simple choice, with the possibility of an extended choice,
under a graphical tool, people should be able to remove or install software
on/from their workstation with the same ease as under Windows.

Second, there is the autorun feature of software on CD-ROM's. I know that
Red Hat has this under KDE, but I haven't investigated this feature for
Debian (to do : auto mounting software).

Third, if someone installs new Windows software and things are missing, they
are prompted to insert their installation CD, Windows installs the necessary
base software, and the installation proceeds. If there is a distribution which
is able to mimic this behaviour, then it certainly is Debian. The way that the
Debian package management is conceived should make it easier for third-party
office packagers to say : package X depends on packages Y, Z,... for
installation, so that the installation system can invoke the above procedure.
If the installation has proceeded from an intranet, then the necessary
dependencies can even be automatically resolved, without bothering the user for
the installation CD.

Of course, some of these tasks need root access. The person who is responsible
for installation should at installation time be given the choice between the
following options :
  - Only root may install new software, strictly controlled environment
  - Some users may execute these tasks, but must know the right password
  - Some users may execute these tasks without password
  - Everybody may execute these tasks

As we all know, the biggest threats to a workstation are e-mails with dangerous
payloads which execute at open time and insecure web-sites which start
malicious scripts inside a browser. This means that the last two options are
inherently unsafe.

Javascript, Java and plug-ins can be easily sandboxed, so this threat is not so
large.

I do not know what the average user of PC's thinks if someone sends him such
mail, though. Personally, I think that running software from e-mail should be
prohibited.  Maybe the running of suid-root software should never be allowed
without an explicit password, however easy the password may be. In that case,
it should be made impossible to automate the automatic entering of a password
in the dialog.

I think that the above paragraphs above show clear that this is issue is not
entirely clear. This should be studied carefully, and I think that it should be
explained clearly and understandably to users why auto-execution and the
transmission of executable content is a danger to the system.

&gt;| Office productivity
&gt;| I think it is better to run a lightweight desktop environment with
&gt;| OpenOffice.org, than KDE with OpenOffice.org. For most tasks,
&gt;| OpenOffice.org can be run on a WS starting from 200 Mhz with 64 Mb of
&gt;| memory. See servers : Office productivity is enhanced by means of an
&gt;| integrated fax suite.

&gt;I won't count on that. OpenOffice is slow on my Athlon 600 without KDE
&gt;running so I doubt it runs reasonably fast on a P200.

Why does everyone say that OpenOffice.org is slow ? To startup, yes. But
I have used it under Debian 2.2 on my 233 Mhz PII laptop with only 32 Mb
of RAM to create a course on Linux and presentations (no graphics w/ 32
Mb though), and I have never found it lacking in speed, even though
AutoCorrect is constantly on for me. My father uses the Windows version
on his Pentium 100 Mhz machine w/ 48 Mb and I have never heard him
complain about the speed, and the same goes for my wife on my old Cyrix
6x86 at 133 Mhz and 64 Mb of memory.
Regards,

++++++ +++++++

</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: ++++ ++++
  To  : Matthias Arndt
  Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2002 15:56:39 -0500
</PRE>
<H4>Office Linux</H4>
<PRE>
Hello Matthias,
	With regard to your Office Linux idea, I think you've got the right
idea. I would probably recommend Open Office, although Star Office 6.0 is
just as good, and is reasonably compatible with all MS Office products. I
custom build/rebuild machines for low income users, and since they don't
have much money, I either install Windows 98SE or Red Hat 7.3 with
OpenOffice so that they can read Word docs or Excel spreadsheets. Mozilla
1.0.x is my preferred browser, and works very nicely with the Sun Java JRE
1.4.0.x. Mozilla has the ability to "masquerade" as IE 5.0 to Web sites that
want to see IE, which is useful. I have actually seen a small call center
that had 40 workstations running SuSE 7.3 w/KDE 3.0, OpenOffice 1.0.x,
Netscape 6.2.x, and Ximian Evolution and the people who worked there that
had previously worked on Windows workstations had a very short transition
time to being productive under KDE. The 2 servers for the call center were
running HylaFax, sendmail, and some custom apps. The cost of all the
software was about 1/10th what it would have been under an all MS Windows
environment, and was all legally and properly licensed.

++++ ++++
</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: ++++ ++++
  To  : Matthias Arndt 
  Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2002 08:12:25 -0500
</PRE>
<H4>RE: Office Linux</H4>
<PRE>
Please feel free to publish my reply, but the only favor I ask is that you
remove my email address, so the spamatrons can't get it and flood my email
inbox.

-----Original Message-----
From: Matthias Arndt 
Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2002 08:30
To: ++++ ++++
Subject: Re: Office Linux

Hi,

++++ ++++ wrote:
| Hello Matthias,
| 	With regard to your Office Linux idea, I think you've got the right
| idea. I would probably recommend Open Office, although Star Office 6.0 is

Openoffice because: it's entirely free, cheap and as powerful as
StarOffice 6.0. (SO6 is based on OpenOffice)

Thanks for the rest of your comment.
I'm planning to publish all the replies I got regarding the article.
Tell if you don't want me to publish your mail.

regards,
Matthias
</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: +++++++ ++++++++++
  To  : Matthias Arndt
  Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2002 12:26:15 +0200
</PRE>
<H4>Office Linux</H4>
<PRE>
Hallo Matthias
habe gerade deine Ausf&uuml;hrungen in der Linuxgazette gelesen. Du triffst den
Nagel auf den Kopf! Wenn aus deinen Ideen mal ein Projekt wird, dann
w&uuml;nsche ich schon jetzt alles Gute.

Bye +++
</PRE>
<p>
This translates to:
</p>
<PRE>
Hello Matthias,

I recently read your article in the Linux Gazette. You take the right approach.
If this project is ever going somewhere, I'll have best regards for it. 

Bye +++
</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: ++++++ +++++++++++++
  To  : Matthias Arndt 
  Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 09:44:00 -0500
</PRE>
<H4>Re: Office Linux</H4>
<PRE>
Matthias,

What you are asking for in the Linux Gazette article "Ideas for a Desktop 
Distribution" already exists. See <A HREF="http://www.lycoris.com/">www.lycoris.com</A> :-)

++++++
</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: +++ +++++++
  To  : Matthias Arndt
  Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2002 17:21:34 +1000
</PRE>
<H4>Office Linux</H4>
<PRE>
I have just read your article in Linux Gazette and have to say that 
attempts to govern Linux in this way is exactly what microdoze do with 
their system. Surely maintaining the "dumb user" paradigm, maintains the 
idea of a dumb user. Linux is an anarchistic system designed to promote 
innovation. You won't get this by governing the choices of users.
 Don't forget, microdoze created the idea of the dumb user. Before they 
came along, Office workers had IQs in the 120 to 130 range and got paid 
accordingly and advanced up the ladder.
Linux is a way out. Please don't microdoze it.
 Thanks for a very readable article
Kind Regards
+++ +++++++
</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: +++++++++ +++++
  To  : Matthias Arndt
  Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2002 15:29:21 -0300
</PRE>
<H4>Desktop Distribution</H4>
<PRE>
Dear Matthias,
I read the article you wrote for Linux Gazette about a Linux Desktop
Distribution and I think it's a great idea. Is there a mailing list where
you discuss the project? Even though I have very little time right now, I
would like to help. My name is +++++++++ and I'm from +++++++++. I'm
currently studying to be a Computer Analyst. Maybe me and some guys I study
with could help you.
Best regards,

+++++++++

</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: ++++++
  To  : Matthias Arndt
  Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2002 17:24:21 +0100
</PRE>
<H4>Nice thoughts</H4>
<PRE>
HI
Liked your comments on the Linux gazette
This is what I am about to try build myself for small business's
Cheers
+++++
+ + +++++

</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: +++++++ ++++++++++ 
  To  : Matthias Arndt
  Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2002 14:30:51 +1200
</PRE>
<H4>Office Linux: Ideas for a Desktop Distro</H4>
<PRE>
Hello there Matthias,

    After reading your article, well done by the way, It occurred to me that
you have just summed up a distro call Lycoris. You can check it out at
www.lycoris.com there is a dot org aswell with a very strong community of
helpers. This distro is based on caldera and is a single CD install with
Koffice, Mozilla and KDE2. You should take a look.

Cheers
+++++++
</PRE>
 
<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: ++++++ ++++++ 
  To  : Matthias Arndt 
  Date: 01 Sep 2002 14:03:23 -0500
</PRE>
<H4>office linux</H4>
<PRE>
What do you think of Lycoris?  It may not come with oofice (I don't
remember), but it has all the other attributes.  I have the original
version...have not tried the ver 2.  I use mandrake 8.2 and suse 8.0,
due to my needs, but recommend lycoris to newbies.
++++ ++++++
+++++++
</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE>

<PRE>
  From: ++++ ++++++++ 
  To  : Matthias Arndt
  Date: Tue, 3 Sep 2002 20:52:56 +0000
</PRE>
<H4>your article "Office Linux: Ideas for a Desktop Distribution"</H4>
<PRE>
Hi Matthias 

Really loved your article about how to make a better desktop distro. 
At work, I am the pilot Linux user (and the secretary you mentioned!) and yes, 
it is a big help to my boss that my computer is never ever down for any reason.

I started with Mandrake but have since moved to RedHat - a move in the right
direction, but still not the ideal desktop distro. We have to trim it down a
lot, and add some other things, to make it fit the correct role for a desktop
user machine. So far, it's been most workable and user-friendly using
OpenOffice, KDE, Sylpheed, Opera, LPRng to talk to the network printers, GFTP
for moving files to/from the server, and Ericomm's PowerTerm to talk with the
server-based apps. 

My workstation makes approx 5K documents per year .. I'm secretary to our VP of
sales/marketing plus assistant to about 1/4 of our managers ..  the linux
station handles our mailing list and also plays print server for some of the
reporting functions .. and it's also used for a lot of spreadsheet reporting
for our sales numbers. It handles all this quite well .. it has never crashed
or had any unplanned downtime .. and our IT dep't is considering moving the
rest of the office to Linux next.

Clearly, the need is there for the desktop distro - and it's safe to say that
it's only a matter of time before the software gets there.

:)
  ++++
  penguinista-at-large
</PRE>
 
 <HR NOSHADE>
<!-------------------->
<p>
So far for the mail.
</p>
 

<h3>Commenting the various ideas and thoughts</h3>

<ol>

<li>
<b>Thinkin' out loud</b>
<p>
As someone called it so, it is true. Office Linux is sharing my thoughts and
allowing others to comment on it.  The article is not meant to be a business
idea.  </li>

<li>
<b>Lycoris</b>
<p>
Several people told me that there already is something like Office Linux, in
the form of Lycoris.  Actually I don't think that Lycoris is what I'm thinking
of.  Lycoris is
<ul>
<li>not a real Linux in the sense of Linux security.
<li>too much like Microsoft OSes.
<li>not small.
<li>not trimmed for the intended purposes.
</ul>

<p>
My personal opinion is that Lycoris is the worst thing for the Linux community
ever. The same as Lindows. It is not a real Linux, it is an attempt to sell
Linux in M$ style without preserving the things, real friends and convinced
users of Linux do like most on their system.
<p>
<em>Office Linux should still be a Linux system in the well-known style
including security just with a trimmed package of included software.</em>
</li>

<li>
<b>Microsoftifying Linux</b>
<p>
As a few contacts told me, Office Linux would be a way of introducing M$
business practice into the Linux community.
<p>
Office Linux is not intended to do so. Office Linux should be a sub branch of
the whole Linux community.  It should be another distribution of the Linux
operating system including many opensource applications and tools.  Commercial
or not - Office Linux should stay a Linux, bootstraped from an existing
distribution of Linux, may it be Debian or Mandrake.  The GNU General Public
Licence should be the main primer of Office Linux as well.

<p>
As stated above, Office Linux is not meant to be a product in the style of
Lycoris, Lindows or other distributions that are too much like Microsoft OSes.
</li>

<li>
<b>Dumb Users</b>
<P>
This is almost the same as the above one.
<p>
I don't think users in general are dumb. But actually most of ordinary computer
users are dumb compared to geeks and professionals.
<p>
Professionals, Linux Geeks and sysadmins are not the intended target group for
Office Linux. That group still is the average computer users that wants to have
his work done, like my father, some secretary or an english teacher at school.
These people just do not a need a custom tweakable Linux system but a stable
and proven system. The computer is tool not heaven for them and a tool in any
cases is supposed to work and to be easy to use.
<p>
And pointing to that group, I still think that current distributions are
worthless. Office Linux is supposed to fill that gap.

<li>
<b>Is there a project already running?</b>
<p>
A few contacts asked if Office Linux is an on-going project. Well, actually,
these both articles are the start. I wanted to share my ideas and thoughts
about it. As it seems, there's a least a small need for such a project. If
anyone volunteers to start an Office Linux Project, I'll be very grateful.
Start it, go ahead, make it happen. I personally can't do much for it at the
moment.
<p>
I did one thing for it as it was a simple act. A mailing list concerning Office
Linux, the idea and the project is ready.

<p>
The address of the list is <b>officelinux@freelists.org</b>.

<ul>
<li>To subscribe:
<p>
Users can subscribe to the list by sending email to <b>officelinux-request@freelists.org</b> with 'subscribe' in the Subject field

<li>To unsubscribe:
<p>
Users can unsubscribe from the list by sending email to <b>officelinux-request@freelists.org</b> with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field

<li>To post:
<p>
Users can post to the list by subscribing to the list and then sending email to <b>officelinux@freelists.org</b>.
</ul>

<p>
Anyone who is interested in the idea of Office Linux should join and let's see.

</li>

</ol>

 















<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2002, Matthias Arndt.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 84 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, November 2002
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">Adding Plugin Capabilities To Your Code</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/bradley.html">Tom Bradley</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->



<H2>0. Introduction</H2>
The days of a program living as a single entity are all but gone. Today&#8217;s programs need to be more versatile and expandable. The simplest way to provide flexibility and expandability to your program is through the use of modules otherwise known as plugins. Web browsers and music players are two good examples of programs that allow plugins. Browsers use plugins to add support to web pages such as Java, Flash and QuickTime so that you can have a more enriched surfing experience. Music players such as XMMS use plugins to support different encodings as well as have visual plugins to watch your music dance on the screen. This article shows how to provide plugin support to your programs. Note: I use module and plugin interchangeably, for purposes of this article they are the same.<br>

<H2>1. How To Work With Plugins</H2>
There are only four functions needed to work with plugins. They are part of the dl (Dynamic Loader) library. I will give just a brief introduction to them here. You can view the info pages for each of these to get a more in-depth description.<br>

<DL>
<DT><STRONG>dlopen</STRONG>
<DD>This function is used to load a module into memory.
<DT><STRONG>dlclose</STRONG>
<DD>This function is used to unload the module from memory.
<DT><STRONG>dlsym</STRONG>
<DD>This function is used to look up and return the address of a function inside a module
<DT><STRONG>dlerror</STRONG>
<DD>This function returns an error message to you.
</DL>

<H2>2. A Simple Loader Program for Plugins</H2>
Here is the code for a simple loader program that takes the plugin name as a command line argument.<br>
<br>
<div align="center">main.c<br><A HREF="misc/bradley/main.c.txt">text version of this listing</A></div>
<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" border="1" width="60%"
 align="center">
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td valign="top" bgcolor="#cccccc">
<pre>
  #include &lt;unistd.h&gt;
  #include &lt;string.h&gt;
  #include &lt;errno.h&gt;
  #include &lt;dlfcn.h&gt;
      
  #define PATH_LENGTH 256
      
  int main(int argc, char * argv[])
  {
      char path[PATH_LENGTH], * msg = NULL;
      int (*my_entry)();
      void * module;
      
      /* build the pathname for the module */
      getcwd(path, PATH_LENGTH);
      strcat(path, "/");
      strcat(path, argv[1]);
      
      /* load the module, and resolve symbols now */
      module = dlopen(path, RTLD_NOW);
      if(!module) {
          msg = dlerror();
          if(msg != NULL) {
              dlclose(module);
              exit(1);
          }
      }
      
      /* retrieve address of entry point */
      my_entry = dlsym(module, "entry");
      msg = dlerror();
      if(msg != NULL) {
          perror(msg);
          dlclose(module);
          exit(1);
      }
      
      /* call module entry point */
      my_entry();
      
      /* close module */
      if(dlclose(module)) {
          perror("error");
          exit(1);
      }
      
      return 0;
  }                
</pre>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>
<br>
The code is pretty simple. After the loader loads the plugin it looks inside
the plugins symbol table using the dlsym command to get the address of the
function `entry.&#8217; <span style=""> </span>Once I have the address of
this function I can call the function, I assign it to the function pointer
that I created. Then the plugin is unloaded. The function pointer line may
need some explaining. <br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;int (*my_entry)() <br>
is used as a pointer to a function that takes no arguments and returns an
int. Which I can use to point to the function `entry&#8217; in the plugin.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;int entry()<br>

The following command is used to compile the loader program:<br>
</p>
<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" border="1" width="60%"
 align="center">
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td valign="top" bgcolor="#cccccc">
<pre>
$ gcc -o loader main.c &#8211;ldl
</pre>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>
<br>

<H2>3. Two Simple Plugins</H2>
Now that we have a loader we need some plugins for it to load. There is no defined prototype for a modules entry point; you may use whatever you like. In my examples I have the entry point return an int and take no arguments. You can set up your entry points to take whatever arguments they need and return whatever you want. It does not need to be called `entry' either. I simply use this to make it easier to understand the purpose of the function. In addition, you may have more than one entry point into a plugin. Below are two samples of a modules, each with the same entry point:<br>
<div align="center">module1.c<br><A HREF="misc/bradley/module1.c.txt">text version of this listing</A></div>
<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" border="1" width="60%"
 align="center">
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td valign="top" bgcolor="#cccccc">
<pre>
int entry()
{
    printf("I am module one!\n");
    return 0;
}
</pre>
               
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>
<br>
<div align="center">module2.c<br><A HREF="misc/bradley/module2.c.txt">text version of this listing</A></div>
<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" border="1" width="60%"
 align="center">
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td valign="top" bgcolor="#cccccc">
<pre>
int entry()
{
    printf("I am module two!\n");
    return 0;
}
</pre>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>
<br>
To compile the plugins:<br>
<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" border="1" width="60%"
 align="center">
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td valign="top" bgcolor="#cccccc">
<pre>
$ gcc -fPIC -c module1.c
$ gcc -shared -o module1.so module1.o
$ gcc -fPIC -c module2.c
$ gcc -shared -o module2.so module2.o
</pre>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

A couple of things are worth noting about the way these are compiled. First,
the `-fPIC' flag. PIC stands for "Position Independent Code", this tells
the compiler that this code should be set up to use a `relative' address
space. Meaning that the code can be placed anywhere in memory and the loader
takes care redefining the addresses at load time. The `-shared' flag tells
the compiler that this code should be compiled in a way that allows it to
linked by another executable. In other words the .so (shared object) will
act in a similar fashion as library does; however, your .so is not a library
and cannot be linked using the `-l' with gcc.<br>
<br>
<H2>4. Using the Loader</H2>
Here are the commands for using the two different plugins and there output:
<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" border="1" width="60%"
 align="center">
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td valign="top" bgcolor="#cccccc">
<pre>
$ ./loader module1.so
I am module one!

$ ./loader module2.so
I am module two!  
</pre>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>
<br>

<H2>5. Adding Bookkeeping Functions for Plugins</H2>
This section assumes you are using the gcc compiler do to the fact that the commands used are specific to gcc, other compilers may have similar features, you may check you documentation for compatibility. Gcc provides an `__attribute__' flag to be used with functions. This flag offers many useful features to functions; however, I will only discuss two of them here, see the info page on gcc for other descriptions of the other attributes. The two I wish to discuss are `constructor' and `destructor'. The ELF (Executable and Linkable Format) binary&nbsp; provides two sections .init and .fini which can contain code that is executed before and after a module is loaded (in a regular program these would be run before and after main() is executed.) Placing code in these sections can allow you to initialize variables or do other bookkeeping responsibilities your module may require. For example you could have the module read variables from the main program that it will need to get started or have the plugin set variables inside the main program such as the interface type of the plugin. The interface type of a plugin is the set of commands that the plugin in question provides. In my example it provided only one function 'entry'; yours may provide others. Below is a sample of using these attributes:<br><br>
<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" border="1" width="60%"
 align="center">
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td valign="top" bgcolor="#cccccc">
<pre>
__attribute__ ((constructor)) void init() 
{
  /* code here is executed after dlopen() has loaded the module */
}
      
      
__attribute__ ((destructor)) void fini() 
{
  /* code here is executed just before dlclose() unloads the module */
}    
</pre>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>
<br>
The names init() and fini() are not necessary, I use them to clarify where these functions to be placed for easier reading. There are several function names that you must avoid because gcc uses these names. Some of which are _init, _fini, _start and _end. To see a full listing of functions and variables that gcc creates you can run `nm&#8217; on the binary file. The `constructor' and `destructor' attributes are what tell the compiler where to place the code inside the binary file. Simply put, `constructor' tells the compiler that the corresponding function goes in the .init section of the and likewise the `destructor' attribute tells the compiler the place the corresponding function in the .fini section.<br>

<H2>6. Conclusion</H2>
With the use of the dl library it a simple task to provide plugin support to your program. Allowing for easy expandability and flexibility. Although this example only demonstrates grabbing one function from a plugin it is easy to grab multiple functions from a plugin and use them as if they were part of the original program.





<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2002, Tom Bradley.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 84 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, November 2002
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
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<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">Ecol</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/malonda.html">Javier Malonda</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->






Cartoons from es.comp.os.linux, the Spanish Linux newsgroup.  They are written
in Spanish and then translated to English.  Read the English cartoons at <A
HREF="http://comic.escomposlinux.org/">comic.escomposlinux.org</A>, or the
Spanish cartoons at <A
HREF="http://tira.escomposlinux.org/">tira.escomposlinux.org</A>.
(The text on this page is by the LG Editor (Iron).)

<P>
Your browser has shrunk the inline images to fit on the page.  Click on a cartoon
to see the full size, which may be better quality.

<P> 
<A HREF="misc/ecol/ecol-83-e.png"><IMG SRC="misc/ecol/ecol-83-e.png" WIDTH="600" HEIGHT="270"></A>
<P>
<A HREF="misc/ecol/ecol-83.png"><IMG SRC="misc/ecol/ecol-83.png" WIDTH="600" HEIGHT="240"></A>

<P>
It's interesting to see the differences between the English and Spanish
versions.  "Charlie Brown's
friend" is "the Rubik's Cube" (<A HREF="http://www.rubiks.com/">remember
those</A>?  Now you can play them on-line with this <A
HREF="http://www.schubart.net/rc/">Java applet</A>.) "We love you!!!" is
"We are the Spanish Delegation!"

<HR NOSHADE>
<A HREF="misc/ecol/ecol-84-e.png"><IMG SRC="misc/ecol/ecol-84-e.png" WIDTH="600" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<P>
<A HREF="misc/ecol/ecol-84.png"><IMG SRC="misc/ecol/ecol-84.png" WIDTH="600" HEIGHT="240"></A>

<P>
No creative rewording here, but one mistranslation.  "Before this cut" means "before
I got cut off".


<P> <SMALL>These cartoons are copyright Javier Malonda.  "This comic strip can
be copied, linked or distributed by any means.  No modifications are however
allowed.  If linked, a <A
HREF="mailto:jmr@escomposlinux.org">notification</A> would be sincerely
appreciated."
</SMALL>







<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2002, Javier Malonda.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 84 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, November 2002
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">Making Your Own Toy Boot Floppy</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/dashti.html">Muhammad Torabi Dashti</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->






<p>I was reading a fascinating article in LinuxGazette#77, 
<A HREF="../issue77/krishnakumar.html">Writing Your Own Toy OS-Part I</A>
 by Krishnakumar [1]; where I saw an strange thing, 
two last bytes of boot sector should be 0x55AA! And as the paper's talk 
back proves I wasn't the only one to play with this magic number. Any 
way, I rewrote Krishnakumar's boot sector with nasm [2] (I don't know as86) and 
removed 0x55AA insertion line from write.c. Guess what happened? My PC 
booted up! So why Krishnakumar wrote that piece? Or more generally who will 
read and decide boot sector? The answer was straight, BIOS does! And 
another interesting fact was that IBM had published its XT BIOS's source 
code in XT Technical Reference [3]. So lets have a look at it: (I've made 
some changes to it, so it's not complete and original)
<PRE>
;---INT 19H
BOOT_STRAP:
;SOME INITITIALIZATIONS
	MOV CX,3	;RETRY COUNT
H1:
	PUSH CX
	SUB DX,DX
	SUB AX,AX
	INT 13H	;INIT FLOPPY
	JC H2
	MOV AX,0201H
	SUB DX,DX
	MOV ES,DX
	;PREVIOUSLY BOOT_LOCN WAS DEFINED
	;ORG 7C00H
	;BOOT_LOCN LABEL FAR
	MOV BX, OFFSET BOOT_LOCN
	MOV CX,1
	INT 13H	;READ FLOPPY'S SECTOR 0
H2:
	POP CX
	JNC H4
	CMP AH,80H	;CHECK FOR TIMEOUT
	JZ H5
	LOOP H1
	JMP H5
H4:
	JMP BOOT_LOCN
H5:
	;TRY FIXED DISK
	SUB AX,AX
	SUB DX,DX
	INT 13H
	MOV CX,3
H6:
	PUSH CX
	MOV DX,0080H
	SUB AX,AX
	INT 13H
	JC H7
	MOV AX,0201H
	SUB BX,BX
	MOV ES,BX
	MOV BX,OFFSET BOOT_LOCN
	MOV DX,80H
	MOV CX,1
	INT 13H
H7:
	POP CX
	JC H8
	MOV AX, WORD PTR BOOT_LOCN+510D
	CMP AX,0AA55H	;MAGIC NUMBER!
	JZ H4
H8:
	LOOP H6
	INT 18H	;EVERY THING FAILED!
</PRE>
<p>OK! everything got clear. that 0x55AA is checked only if boot sector is 
loaded from fixed disk, so Krishnakumar used it to ensure compatibility. 
Also notice that any random bit string in sector 0 of a floppy is considered as boot 
sector and system runs it!<p>But I use a Windows 2000 besides my Linux and my floppies 
have always msdos (fat 12) file system so that both OSs can read them. Now 
setup a simple experiment: format a floppy using Windows (or any DOS based 
OS) and let the system boot up with your floppy. You'll see a message that 
indicates it's not a boot floppy and asks you to change it and press 
any key. This is the case when you format the floppy in Linux and put an 
msdos file system on it too (mkfs -V -t msdos /dev/fd0, could be the 
command or if you use KDE its floppy formatter utility can do the same). 
And things get more strange when you put an ext2 filesystem on the floppy (#mkfs -V -t ext2 /dev/fd0) . Your PC simply passes the floppy and control 
is transferred to fixed disk boot sector (e.g. LiLo). So what's the 
difference between these two formats and with our own boot floppy? I changed Krishnakumar's write.c and this <a href="misc/dashti/read.c.txt"> read.c </a> reads boot sector of a floppy and saves it in boot.sec file; also dumps it in a fairly formatted manner.
If you want you can use Linux's own tools to do the same thing: to write your
boot sector on the floppy (#dd if=boot.sec of=/dev/fd0 bs=1 count=512) and to
read floppy's boot sector (#dd if=boot.sec of=/dev/fd0 bs=1 count=512 skip=0).
<p>Have a look at ext2's boot sector. It's pure zero! but msdos's boot 
sector contains some commands. Lets disassemble it (I use ndisasm[2]):&nbsp;
<p>
1. insert an msdos-formatted floppy.
<p>2. run "./read"
<p>3. run "ndisasm boot.sec | more"&nbsp;
<p>
4. the first instruction is a jump to 0x3e but code is not aligned 
correctly.&nbsp;
<p>
5. run "ndisasm -s 0x3e boot.sec | more" to see aligned code.&nbsp;
<p>
OK, so in this case we have a tiny boot loader, it simply shows a message 
(the message is OS dependent, and you may change it with any binary editor 
such as KDE's. For example change boot.sec to display a funny message 
and then rewrite it using Krishnakumar's write.c on the floppy!) then waits 
for a key and invokes int 0x19 (BIOS's boot_starp procedure) again. In 
fact, MS DOS used to store some information (FAT) in the gap between jmp 
0x3e and 0x3e itself and this fashion is followed by its successors; that's 
why there is a jump there. You may find some information about MS DOS file 
system on the net or consult [4]. 
<p>Up to this point everything is logical, BIOS simply runs what ever it 
sees on the boot sector, it may be our toy "show A and halt" or an elegant 
boot sector such as msdos's. But when I disassembled ext2's boot sector, 
nothing was clear. it's full of zeros that means a lot of silly ADD 
instructions! why does the BIOS passes it simply and doesn't get stuck there? The answer 
is that the BIOS changed from XT to AT! and I could find an AT BIOS source 
on the net (unfortunately it doesn't have reference, but probably IBM AT Technical Reference includes
this boot_strap's code too.) 
<PRE>
;---INT  19H
BOOT_STRAP_1	PROC 	NEAR
;SOME INITIALIZATIONS
;CLEAR @BOOT_LOCN
	STI
	MOV	CX,4
H1:	PUSH	CX
	KTOV	AH,0
	INT	13H
	JC	H2
	MOV	AX,201H
	SUB	DX,DX
	MOV	ES,DX
	MOV	SX,OFFSET @BOOT_LOCN
	MOV	CX,1
	INT	13H
H2:	POP	CX
	JNC	H4
	CMP	AH,80H
	JZ	H5
	LOOP	H1
	JMP	SHORT H5
H4:	CMP	BYTE PTR @BOOT_LOCN,06H	;TEST#1
	JB	H10
	MOV	DI,OFFSET @BOOT_LOCN
	MOV	CX,8
	MOV	AX,WORD PTR @BOOT_LOCN
H4A:	ADD	DI,2
	CMP	AX,[DI]	;TEST#2
	LOOPZ	H4A
	JZ	H10
H4_A:	JMP	@BOOT_LOCN
H5:	
	;SOME INITIALIZATIONS AND PRE TESTS
	SUB	AX,AX
	SUB	DX,DX
	INT	13H
	MOV	CX,3
H6:
	PUSH	CX
	MOV	DX,0080H
	MOV	AX,0201H
	SUB	BX,BX
	MOV	ES,BX
	MOV	BX,OFFSET @BOOT_LOCN
	MOV	CX,1
	INT	13H
	POP	CX
	JC	H8
	CMP	WORD PTR @BOOT_LOCN+510D,0AA55H ; MAGIC NUMBER!
	JZ	H4_A
H8:	PUSH	CX
	MOV	DX,0080H
	SUB	AX,AX
	INT	13H
	POP	CX
	JC	H10A
	LOOP	H6
H9:	
	;SOME THING NOT OF OUR INTEREST
	INT	18H
H10A:	LOOP	H8
	JMP	H9
H10:	;PRINT A MESSAGE
H11:	jmp H11
BOOT_STRAP_1	ENDP
</PRE>
<p>Two new tests are added to floppy's boot sector:&nbsp;
<p>
1. It's first byte should be more than 0x6! it means that the first 
instruction can't be ADD (OpCode 0 to 5 are for different modes of ADD). 
Why? it's logical, because no wise programmer would add almost unknown 
values of the register at the start up. And if it is so (as the ext2 case) 
a message is shown and PC waits for a reset. puzzle got solved partially!
In my PC, control is simply passed to fixed disk's boot sector. Of course
it's better, these days almost every PC has a fixed disk. Perhaps that's a 
change in BIOS after early AT.&nbsp;
<p>
2. It's first 8 words can't be the same. why? I don't know. It seems to be 
just a decision. you may test it easily, add 16 NOPs (0x90) to 
Krishnakumar's boot 
sector, and then it won't boot your PC!<p>Now you may use these tools (read.c and
write.c) or Linux's own tools (e.g. lovely 'dd' command) for more investigation
in the structure of boot sectors. As an interesting experiment for anybody who has
Windows along with their Linux and uses LiLo as their boot loader (so it resides
on MBR): make a recursive boot menu! Needed steps are as:<p>1. use 'dd' or 'read.c'
to read MBR: #dd if=/dev/hda of=mbr.sec bs=1 count=512 skip=0<p>2. some how copy
mbr.sec to your Windows' boot partition (almost always c:\). you may use <a href="http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/index.htm">these</a>
elegant programs by John Newbigin when all your solutions fail.<p>3. edit
boot.ini and add such a line at its end: c:\mbr.sec = &quot;LiLo Again!&quot;<p>And
this is how boot process goes on...<h3>References:</h3>
[1]<a href="http://www.tldp.org/LDP/LG/issue77/krishnakumar.html">http://www.tldp.org/LDP/LG/issue77/krishnakumar.html</a>&nbsp;
<p>
[2]<a href="http://nasm.sourceforge.net/">http://nasm.sourceforge.net/</a>&nbsp;</p>
<p>
[3]IBM, "IBM Personal Computer XT Technical Reference", Vol.2,1981.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
[4]M.A.Mazidi, J.G.Mazidi, "The 80X86 IBM PC & Compatible Computers",Vol.2, 
Prentice Hall, 1995.</p>










<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2002, Muhammad Torabi Dashti.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 84 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, November 2002
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
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<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">How main() is executed on Linux</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/hawk.html">Hyouck "Hawk" Kim</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->



<h2>Starting</h2>
 
<p> The question is simple: how does linux execute my main()?  <br>
Through this document, I'll use the following simple C program to illustrate
how it works. It's called "simple.c"  </p>
<pre>main()<br>{<br>   return(0);<br>}<br></pre>
  
<h2>Build</h2>
 
<p> </p>
<pre>gcc -o simple simple.c<br></pre>
  
<h2>What's in the executable?</h2>
 
<p> To see what's in the executable, let's use a tool "objdump"  </p>
<pre>objdump -f simple<br><br>simple:     file format elf32-i386<br>architecture: i386, flags 0x00000112:<br>EXEC_P, HAS_SYMS, D_PAGED<br>start address 0x080482d0<br></pre>
  The output gives us some critical information about the executable.<br>
&nbsp;First of all, the file is "ELF32" format. Second of all, the start
address is "0x080482d0"  
<h2>What's ELF?</h2>
 
<p> ELF is acronym for Executable and Linking Format. It's one of several
object and executable file formats used on Unix systems. For our discussion,
the interesting thing about ELF is its header format. Every ELF executable
has ELF header, which is the following.  </p>
<pre>typedef struct<br>{<br>	unsigned char	e_ident[EI_NIDENT];	/* Magic number and other info */<br>	Elf32_Half	e_type;			/* Object file type */<br>	Elf32_Half	e_machine;		/* Architecture */<br>	Elf32_Word	e_version;		/* Object file version */<br>	Elf32_Addr	e_entry;		/* Entry point virtual address */<br>	Elf32_Off	e_phoff;		/* Program header table file offset */<br>	Elf32_Off	e_shoff;		/* Section header table file offset */<br>	Elf32_Word	e_flags;		/* Processor-specific flags */<br>	Elf32_Half	e_ehsize;		/* ELF header size in bytes */<br>	Elf32_Half	e_phentsize;		/* Program header table entry size */<br>	Elf32_Half	e_phnum;		/* Program header table entry count */<br>	Elf32_Half	e_shentsize;		/* Section header table entry size */<br>	Elf32_Half	e_shnum;		/* Section header table entry count */<br>	Elf32_Half	e_shstrndx;		/* Section header string table index */<br>} Elf32_Ehdr;<br></pre>
  In the above structure, there is "e_entry" field, which is starting address 
of an executable.  
<h2>What's at address "0x080482d0", that is, starting address?</h2>
 
<p> For this question, let's disassemble "simple". There are several tools
to disassemble an executable. I'll use objdump for this purpose.  </p>
<pre>objdump --disassemble simple<br></pre>
  The output is a little bit long so I'll not paste all the output from objdump.
Our intention is see what's at address 0x080482d0. Here is the output.  
<pre>080482d0 &lt;_start&gt;:<br> 80482d0:       31 ed                   xor    %ebp,%ebp<br> 80482d2:       5e                      pop    %esi<br> 80482d3:       89 e1                   mov    %esp,%ecx<br> 80482d5:       83 e4 f0                and    $0xfffffff0,%esp<br> 80482d8:       50                      push   %eax<br> 80482d9:       54                      push   %esp<br> 80482da:       52                      push   %edx<br> 80482db:       68 20 84 04 08          push   $0x8048420<br> 80482e0:       68 74 82 04 08          push   $0x8048274<br> 80482e5:       51                      push   %ecx<br> 80482e6:       56                      push   %esi<br> 80482e7:       68 d0 83 04 08          push   $0x80483d0<br> 80482ec:       e8 cb ff ff ff          call   80482bc &lt;_init+0x48&gt;<br> 80482f1:       f4                      hlt    <br> 80482f2:       89 f6                   mov    %esi,%esi<br></pre>
  Looks like some kind of starting routine called "_start" is at the starting 
address. What it does is clear a register, push some values into stack and
call a function.  According to this instruction, the stack frame should look
like this.  
<pre>Stack Top	-------------------<br>		0x80483d<br>		-------------------<br>		esi<br>		-------------------<br>		ecx<br>		-------------------<br>		0x8048274<br>		-------------------<br>		0x8048420<br>		-------------------<br>		edx<br>		-------------------<br>		esp<br>		-------------------<br>		eax<br>		-------------------<br></pre>
  
<p>Now, as you already wonder,we've got a few questions regarding this stack 
frame.<br>
<br>
</p>
<ol>
  <li>What are those hex values about?&nbsp;</li>
  <li>What's at address 80482bc, which is called by _start?&nbsp;</li>
  <li>Looks like the assembly instructions doesn't initialize any register
with possibly meaningful values. Then who initializes the registers?  <br>
  </li>
</ol>
<p>  </p>
<p>Let's answer these questions one by one.  </p>
<h2>Q1&gt;The hexa values.</h2>
 
<p> If you look at disassembled output from objdump carefully, you can answer 
this question easily.</p>
<p>  Here is answer.  <br>
</p>
<p>0x80483d0		:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; This is the address
of our main() function.</p>
<p>0x8048274		:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; _init function.<br>
</p>
<p>0x8048420		:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; _fini function  _init
and _fini is initialization/finalization function provided by GCC.<br>
</p>
<p> Right now, let's not care about these stuffs.  And basically, all those
hexa values are function pointers.  </p>
<h2>Q2&gt;What's at address 80482bc?</h2>
 
<p> Again, let's look for address 80482bc from the disassembly output.<br>
 If you look for it, the assembly is  </p>
<pre>80482bc:	ff 25 48 95 04 08    	jmp    *0x8049548<br></pre>
<br>
Here *0x8049548 is a pointer operation.<br>
&nbsp;It just jumps to an address stored at address 0x8049548.  
<h2><br>
</h2>
<h2>More about ELF and dymanic linking</h2>
 
<p> With ELF, we can build an executable linked dynamically with libraries.<br>
Here "linked dynamically" means the actual linking process happens at runtime.
Otherwise we'd have to build a huge executable containing all the libraries it
calls (a "statically-linked executable).
If you issue the command 
</p>
<pre>"ldd simple"<br><br>	  libc.so.6 =&gt; /lib/i686/libc.so.6 (0x42000000)<br>	  /lib/ld-linux.so.2 =&gt; /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x40000000)<br><br></pre>
  You can see all the libraries dynamically linked with simple.  And all
the dynamically linked data and functions have "dynamic relocation entry". 
 <br>
<br>
The concept is roughly like this. <br>
<ol>
  <li>We don't know actual address of a dynamic symbol at link time. We can
know the actual address of the symbol only at runtime.</li>
  <li>So for the dynamic symbol, we reserve a memory location for the actual 
  address. <br>
 The memory location will be filled with actual address of the   symbol
at runtime by loader.&nbsp;</li>
  <li>Our application sees the dynamic symbol indirectly with the momeory 
  location by using kind of pointer operation.  In our case, at address 80482bc,
there is just a simple jump instruction.<br>
 And the jump location is stored at address 0x8049548 by loader during runtime.<br>
 We can see all dynamic link entries with objdump command.  
    <pre>objdump -R simple<br><br>	simple:     file format elf32-i386<br><br>	DYNAMIC RELOCATION RECORDS<br>	OFFSET   TYPE              VALUE <br>	0804954c R_386_GLOB_DAT    __gmon_start__<br>	08049540 R_386_JUMP_SLOT   __register_frame_info<br>	08049544 R_386_JUMP_SLOT   __deregister_frame_info<br>	08049548 R_386_JUMP_SLOT   __libc_start_main<br></pre>
  Here address 0x8049548 is called "jump slot", which perfectly makes sense. 
And according to the table, actually we want to call __libc_start_main.<br>
  </li>
</ol>
   
<h2>What's __libc_start_main?</h2>
 
<p> Now the ball is on libc's hand. __libc_start_main is a function in libc.so.6. 
 If you look for __libc_start_main in glibc source code, the prototype looks
like this.  </p>
<pre>extern int BP_SYM (__libc_start_main) (int (*main) (int, char **, char **),<br>		int argc,<br>		char *__unbounded *__unbounded ubp_av,<br>		void (*init) (void),<br>		void (*fini) (void),<br>		void (*rtld_fini) (void),<br>		void *__unbounded stack_end)<br>__attribute__ ((noreturn));<br></pre>
  And all the assembly instructions do is set up argument stack and call
__libc_start_main. <br>
What this function does is setup/initialize some data structures/environments
and call our main().  <br>
Let's look at the stack frame with this function prototype.   <br>
<br>
Stack Top		&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;	-------------------<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; 0x80483d0						&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; main<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp; ------------------- 						<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; esi								&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; argc<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp; ------------------- 						<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ecx								&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; argv 						<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ------------------- 						<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 0x8048274						&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; _init<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp; ------------------- 						<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 0x8048420						&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; _fini<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp; ------------------- 						<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; edx								&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;
_rtlf_fini<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp; ------------------- 						<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; esp								&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;
stack_end<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp; ------------------- 						<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; eax								&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;
this is 0<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp; -------------------  <br>
<br>
According to this stack frame, esi, ecx, edx, esp, eax registers should be 
filled with appropriate values before __libc_start_main() is executed. And
clearly this registers are not set by the startup assembly instructions shown
before.  Then, who sets these registers? Now I guess the only thing left.
The kernel.  <br>
Now let's go back to our third question.  
<h2>Q3&gt;What does the kernel do?</h2>
 
<p> When we execute a program by entering a name on shell, this is what happens
on Linux.<br>
</p>
<ol>
  <li>The shell calls the kernel system call "execve" with argc/argv.&nbsp;</li>
  <li>The kernel system call handler gets control and start handling the
system call.   In kernel code, the handler is "sys_execve".      On x86, the
user-mode application passes all required   parameters to kernel with the
following registers.    		
<UL>
<LI> ebx : pointer to program name string 		
<LI> ecx : argv array pointer 		
<LI> edx : environment variable array pointer.
</UL> 
&nbsp;</li>
  <li>The generic execve kernel system call handler, which is do_execve, is called.
 What it does is set up a data structure and copy some data from user space 
  to kernel space and finally calls search_binary_handler().  Linux can support
more than one executable file format such as a.out and ELF at the same time.
For this functionality, there is a data structure "struct linux_binfmt",
which has a function pointer for each binary format loader.  And search_binary_handler()
just looks up an appropriate handler and calls it.  In our case, load_elf_binary()
is the handler.  To explain each detail of the function would be lengthy/boring
work. So I'll not do that. If you are interested in it, read a book about it. As a picture
tells a thousand words, a thousand lines of source code tells  ten thousand
words (sometimes).  Here is the bottom line of the function. It first sets
up kernel data structures for file operation to read the ELF executable image in. 
Then it sets up a kernel data structure: code size, data segment start,
stack segment start, etc. And it allocates user mode pages for this process and
copies the argv and environment variables to those allocated page addresses.
 Finally, argc, the argv pointer, and the envrioronment variable array pointer
are pushed to user mode stack by create_elf_tables(), and  start_thread() starts the
process execution rolling.  <br>
  </li>
</ol>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>When the _start assembly instruction gets control of execution, the stack
frame looks like this.  <br>
</p>
<p>Stack Top			&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; -------------<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; argc<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; -------------<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;argv pointer<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; -------------<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; env pointer<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; -------------  <br>
</p>
<p>And the assembly instructions gets all information from stack by  </p>
<pre>pop %esi 		&lt;--- get argc<br>move %esp, %ecx		&lt;--- get argv<br>			  actually the argv address is the same as the current<br>			  stack pointer.<br></pre>
  And now we are all set to start executing.  
<h2>What about the other registers?</h2>
 
<p>	 For esp, this is used for stack end in application program. After popping
all necessary information, the _start rountine simply adjusts the stack
pointer (esp) by turning off lower 4 bits from esp register.
This perfectly makes sense since actually, to our main program, that is the
end of stack.  For edx, which is used for rtld_fini, a kind of application 
destructor, the kernel just sets it to 0 with the following macro.  </p>
<pre>#define ELF_PLAT_INIT(_r)	do { \<br>	_r-&gt;ebx = 0; _r-&gt;ecx = 0; _r-&gt;edx = 0; \<br>	_r-&gt;esi = 0; _r-&gt;edi = 0; _r-&gt;ebp = 0; \<br>	_r-&gt;eax = 0; \<br>} while (0)<br></pre>
 The 0 means we don't use that functionality on x86 linux.  
<h2>About the assembly instructions</h2>
 
<p> Where are all those codes from? It's part of GCC code. You can usually
find all the object files for the code at <br>
/usr/lib/gcc-lib/i386-redhat-linux/XXX and <br>
/usr/lib where XXX is gcc version. <br>
File names are crtbegin.o,crtend.o, gcrt1.o. </p>
<p>  </p>
<h2>Summing up</h2>
 
<p> Here is what happens.&nbsp;</p>
<ol>
  <li>GCC build your program with crtbegin.o/crtend.o/gcrt1.o   And the other
default libraries are dynamically linked by default.   Starting address of
the executable is set to that of _start.</li>
  <li>Kernel loads the executable and setup text/data/bss/stack,   especially,
kernel allocate page(s) for arguments and environment   variables and pushes
all necessary information on stack.</li>
  <li>Control is pased to _start.   _start gets all information from stack
setup by kernel,   sets up argument stack for __libc_start_main, and calls
it.&nbsp;</li>
  <li>__libc_start_main initializes necessary stuffs, especially C library(such 
		as malloc) and thread environment and calls our main.&nbsp;</li>
  <li>our main is called with main(argv, argv)   Actually, here one interesting
point is the signature of main.   __libc_start_main thinks main's signature
as 	  main(int, char **, char **)  If you are curious, try the following
prgram.   
    <pre>main(int argc, char** argv, char** env)<br>{<br>    int i = 0;<br>    while(env[i] != 0)<br>    {<br>       printf("%s\n", env[i++]);<br>    }<br>    return(0);<br>}</pre>
  </li>
</ol>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
 
<p> On Linux, our C main() function is executed by the cooperative work of GCC, libc
and Linux's binary loader.   </p>

<h2>References</h2>
 
<p> objdump					&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "man objdump"&nbsp;</p>
<p>ELF header				&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; /usr/include/elf.h&nbsp;</p>
<p> __libc_start_main		&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;glibc
source 							<br>
&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; ./sysdeps/generic/libc-start.c&nbsp;</p>
<p>sys_execve				&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; linux kernel source code 							<br>
&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; arch/i386/kernel/process.c  <br>
</p>
<p>do_execve				&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;linux kernel source code 							<br>
&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; fs/exec.c  <br>
</p>
<p>struct linux_binfmt	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; linux kernel source code 
							<br>
&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; include/linux/binfmts.h  <br>
</p>
<p>load_elf_binary		&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
linux kernel source code<br>
&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; fs/binfmt_elf.c  <br>
</p>
<p>create_elf_tables		&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; linux
kernel source code 							<br>
&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; fs/binfmt_elf.c  <br>
</p>
<p>start_thread			&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; linux kernel source code 							<br>
&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; include/asm/processor.h </p>





<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
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<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2002, Hyouck "Hawk" Kim.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 84 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, November 2002
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
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<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
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<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">Perl One-Liner of the Month: The Adventure of the Misnamed Files</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/okopnik.html">Ben Okopnik</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->






<p><i>A REPORTER'S NOTE</i> </p>
<p><i>Recently, I became acquainted with a set of documents which journal
the adventures and experiences of none other than Woomert Foonly, the world-famous
but strangely reticent Hard-Nosed Computer Detective. To the best of my knowledge,
the information they contain is authentic. My anonymous correspondent - whom
I suspect to be Frink Ooblick, the great man's sidekick and confidant, although
my sworn promise forbids me to investigate - had emailed me a short note
which engaged my interest, then sent me an encrypted file which took several
nights of concerted hacking effort to decrypt (he seems to think that this
indicates a sense of humor on his part). This has become the pattern: once
in a while, I'll receive a file from a sender whose name matches a complex
regular expression (the procmail recipe for this has grown to several pages,
and now seems to be mutating on its own). I then have to drop whatever I'm
doing and begin hacking at high speed - the encryption method is, in some
manner which I've been unable to puzzle out, time-dependent, and becomes
much more difficult to break in a few short hours.</i> </p>
<p><i>In our early exchanges, I had been granted permission to publish this
material. My correspondent has stated that he chooses to keep his identity
private, and is satisfied to receive no credit for his work. I present it
here, though I can't claim authorship, in the hope of casting some light
on the work of that great detective whose exploits had until now been shrouded
in deepest mystery.</i> </p>
<p><b><i>Ben Okopnik</i></b> <br>
<i>On board S/V "Ulysses", October 10th, 2002</i> </p>
<p> </p>
<hr width="100%"> 
<p>The filesystem was quiet and dark; all the disk writes had been synched, 
the hard drive had spun down, and the CPU had shifted into low-power mode. 
Even the usually exuberant Frink seemed subdued on this occasion, and was 
quietly double-checking their remote-system passwords and permissions, a
necessary precaution before they could leave the comfort of their '/home' 
in the armored SSH transporter. </p>
<p>Woomert, however, felt calm and ready for action. This was where he preferred
to operate, in the twilight zone between power modes; in these conditions,
even the dreaded Heisenbugs <a href="#1">[1]</a> - though his current assignment
did not involve anything nearly that dangerous - would be somnolent, and
could often be trapped unaware. </p>
<p>His client, severely distraught and sobbing into a lace handkerchief, had
confessed that her file naming scheme had gone completely out of control -
wild strings had invaded her precious naming convention, formerly so full
of sense and intuitively obvious to even the casual user. The employee responsible
for this outrage had been severely LARTed <a href="#2">[2]</a>, but the police
detectives had simply shrugged in bafflement, and all other avenues pointed
to grim scenarios of manually renaming hundreds, if not thousands, of files.
True, the files contained the preferred names enclosed in the HTML <tt>'&lt;title&gt;'</tt>
tags - but the amount of work necessary to do it by hand was staggering.
Woomert was her last hope. </p>
<center> 
<p>&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp; 
*&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp; *</p>
</center>
  
<p>Moving quietly, Woomert approached the inode marked "<tt>/var/apache/htdocs</tt>". 
Finding it had taken a bit of top-down traversal, but his familiarity with 
the <tt>File::Find</tt> module <a href="#3">[3]</a> had made short work of
that; the client had sobbed out that the rogue file names matched the <tt>/^[A-Z][0-9]+\.html?$/</tt> 
pattern <a href="#4">[4]</a> - in other words, they all started with a capital
letter followed by one or more digits, and ended with a ".htm" or a ".html"
extension. Given that hint, it had taken only seconds to locate the rogues'
lair. </p>
<p>As he entered, the disgraceful state of affairs became immediately evident: 
<a href="misc/okopnik/ROTM_badboy.html">disreputable-looking</a> filenames hung around
on every corner, misbehaving and intimidating the passerby; others, dressed
in nothing more than transparent symlinks, leaned out of xterm windows and
lewdly propositioned the passing data. Something had to be done, and soon -
the newer filenames that came into the area were almost immediately
corrupted by the ubiquitous bad examples. </p>
<p>&nbsp;- "Sheesh, Woomert," whispered Frink, "this looks bad. What are you
going to do? There's <i>thousands</i> of them!" </p>
<p>&nbsp;- "Don't worry, kid." Woomert calmly ambled up to the command line
interface, his hat pulled down low against the headlight glare of the heavy
HTTP traffic. "I've just downloaded the latest version of Perl. They don't
stand a chance." Pulling on his typing gloves, he rapidly executed a one-line
command string. </p>
<pre><hr width="100%">perl -wlne'END{print$n}eof&amp;&amp;$n++;/&lt;title&gt;([^&lt;]+)/i&amp;&amp;$n--' *<br><hr
 width="100%"></pre>
 The results were astonishing: even as the monitor displayed a large '0', 
every one of the miscreants suddenly stopped whatever they were doing and 
whirled around to stare at the two of them. They could obviously sense the
sudden danger represented by these two strangers in trenchcoats; the largest
of them, an ugly character with "<tt>X6664934755666.htm</tt>" tattooed on
his chest immediately headed in their direction while reaching into his pocket.
His intentions were clearly not related to presenting Woomert and Frink with
flowers and the private DSA key to his domain. 
<p>&nbsp;- "Quick, Woomert," cried Frink, "do something! It looks like he's
going to throw a Nimda, or even a Code Red!" </p>
<p>Woomert glanced over at his nervous sidekick. </p>
<p>&nbsp;- "I told you, kid, <b>relax</b>. Number one, we've got Perl..." 
His lightning-fast fingers drummed out another virtuoso solo on the console: 
</p>
<pre><hr width="100%">perl -wlne'/title&gt;([^&lt;]+)/i&amp;&amp;rename<tt>$ARGV</tt>,"<tt>$1.html</tt>"' *<br><hr
 width="100%"></pre>
 &nbsp;- "...and number two," as the wild scene around them faded, only to
reform as a neat, clean neighborhood with neatly arranged files proudly wearing
names like <br>
'<tt>History 227, Lecture 35: Origins of the Roman Revolution.html</tt>', 
"we're running Linux. Viruses are pretty much someone else's problem." 
<center> 
<p>&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp; 
*&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp; *</p>
</center>
  
<p>Later that evening, after they had collected their well-earned fee from 
the grateful client and were relaxing with a fine high-altitude Lee Shan tea
that Woomert had brought back from his recent telnet to the Far East, Frink
finally ventured to ask the questions that had been on his mind ever since
that fateful showdown. </p>
<p>&nbsp;- "Woomert, I saw you fire off those command lines, but I couldn't 
follow what you were doing. I could see the regular expression, and even noticed
the implicit loop, but what was all the rest of it?" </p>
<p>&nbsp;- "Elementary, my dear Frink. If you'll recall the first line..." 
</p>
<pre><hr width="100%">perl -wlne'END{print<tt>$n</tt>}eof&amp;&amp;<tt>$n</tt>++;/&lt;title&gt;([^&lt;]+)/i&amp;&amp;<tt>$n</tt>--' *<br><hr
 width="100%"></pre>
 "...you'll see that I invoked Perl with the following command switches:" 
<pre>-w Enable warnings</pre>
  
<pre>-l Enable line-end processing</pre>
  
<pre>-n Implicit non-printing loop</pre>
  
<pre>-e Execute the following commands</pre>
 "By enabling warnings, I had told Perl to check my syntax, something that 
should be done every time you run a script. I then specified line-end processing, 
in effect adding a newline to each printed string. Then, I told it to loop 
through the contents of each file, and run the string in the single quotes 
as a script." 
<p>"As you had so astutely noted, I had indeed set up a loop. What you may
have missed, however, was that there were actually <i>two</i> concurrent loops:
I had specified a list of files via the shell filespec of '*', and Perl would
read them in, one at a time. It's also important to note that the syntax
of the regex <i>inside</i> the quotes which enclose the script looks similar
to but is very different from the regex <i>outside</i> - the former is parsed
by Perl, using its internal regex engine; the latter is handled by the shell,
which uses a far simpler system called 'globbing'." </p>
<p>&nbsp;- "Wonderful!" Frink was as excited as a young pup on his first hunt.
"And what did you do in the script itself?" </p>
<p>"First, I wanted to double-check that my regex actually matched what I
thought it should. The easiest way was to count the number of files - I incremented
'<tt>$n</tt>' every time the 'eof' (end-of-file) function returned 'true'
- and subtract the number of matches. If the total had been greater than
0, that would have indicated a mismatch somewhere. Fortunately..." </p>
<p>&nbsp;- "Yes, I remember - it printed a zero." </p>
<p>"Which meant that everything was correct. The <tt>'END{print$n}'</tt> statement
was executed at the end of the run - note that this is independent of its
position in the script, although most people put it at the end. I saved a
keystroke by putting it first - a statement that follows a block, as in the
case of that <tt>'eof&amp;&amp;$n++'</tt>, does not require a semicolon.
In Perl Golf <a href="#5">[5]</a>, every stroke matters!" </p>
<p>"Next, let us examine the regex that I'd used; that's the heart of this 
script." </p>
<p><tt>/&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; # Begin the regex</tt> 
<br>
<tt>title&gt;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; # Match this literal string</tt> <br>
<tt>([^&lt;]+)&nbsp;&nbsp; # Capture one or more characters not matching '&lt;'
in $1</tt> <br>
<tt>/i&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; # End regex, use the "ignore
case" modifier</tt> </p>
<p>The '/'s enclose the regex that we're trying to match; that's standard 
Perl syntax, which you seem to have recognized. See that '+', there? I'm taking
advantage of Perl's "greediness" in regex interpretation: '+' means 'one
or more of the preceding character or group', but with the implication of
'match as many as possible'. It will grab everything until a literal '&lt;'
(beginning of an HTML&nbsp;tag) or the end of the current line. So, every
time the pattern matched the line, I updated '<tt>$n</tt>' by using the logical
'and' coupled with the decrement operator." </p>
<p>"As an overview, here is an equivalent script that shows all of the above
in a more readable fashion:" </p>
<pre><hr width="100%">#!/usr/bin/perl -w</pre>
  
<pre>while ( &lt;&gt; ){ # Equivalent to "-n"</pre>
  
<pre>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <tt>$n</tt>++ if eof;<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <tt>$n</tt>-- if /&lt;title&gt;([^&lt;]+)/i;</pre>
  
<pre>}</pre>
  
<pre>print "<tt>$n</tt>\n" # The "\n" would have been added by "-l"<br><hr
 width="100%"></pre>
 "Obviously, this script would be invoked as <tt>'perl &lt;scriptname&gt;
*'</tt>, or simply <tt>'./scriptname *'</tt> if it had been made executable." 
<p>"As a final item of note, look at the 'active' statement in the script, 
the only one that makes any changes or creates any output. It is simply 'print'.
In fact, the whole line was a test - I wanted to make certain that everything
worked properly before committing actual changes to disk, something I believe
to be a wise policy. I could see, from the ugly looks of that crowd, that
I would not get two chances at the actual renaming; at least one of them
had an <tt>'rm -rf /'</tt>, and would not have hesitated to use it." </p>
<p>&nbsp;- "Heavens, Woomert!" Frink's shock was evident in his features. 
"You must be as brave as a lion, to face something like that." </p>
<p>The famous detective glanced at the shiny stainless-steel and Kevlar "<tt>chroot</tt>"
call that he had extracted from his pocket and smiled. </p>
<p>&nbsp;- "Well, I had a few tricks held in reserve, anyway. On to the actual
renaming, eh? If you remember the expression itself..." </p>
<pre><hr width="100%">perl -wlne'/title&gt;([^&lt;]+)/i&amp;&amp;rename<tt>$ARGV</tt>,"<tt>$1.html</tt>"' *<br><hr
 width="100%"></pre>
 "...you'll note that much of it resembles the first one; however, there are
a few novel features. First, I still used "-l" in the option set, but now
the reason was somewhat different: since the captured strings in '<tt>$1</tt>' 
were likely to contain a newline ('\n'), we needed a way to get rid of it.
Perl is very clever about removing leading and trailing whitespace and handling
odd characters when using 'rename', but <tt>'filename\n.html'</tt> would
cause problems.  Fortunately, '-n' also 'auto-chomps' the incoming lines -
meaning that it will remove the newline character as the line is read in." 
<p>"Next, <tt>'$ARGV'</tt> is a Perl variable containing the name of the file
that is currently being read. Since '<tt>$1</tt>' held the result of our
first capture within the regex (the contents within the first set of parentheses
are stored in '<tt>$1</tt>', the second in '<tt>$2</tt>', and so on), renaming
was an easy task. It would also let us regularize the extensions - 'html'
for all of them." </p>
<p>"If I were to spell out the above line in a more conservative - and perhaps
more readable - fashion, it would look like this: </p>
<pre><hr width="100%">#!/usr/bin/perl -w</pre>
  
<pre>while ( &lt;&gt; ){</pre>
  
<pre>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; chomp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; # Equivalent to "-l"<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; if ( /title&gt;([^&lt;]+)/i ){<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; rename <tt>$ARGV</tt>, "<tt>$1.html</tt>"<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; }</pre>
  
<pre>}<br><hr width="100%"></pre>
 &nbsp;- "Since they were bearing down on us, though..." 
<p>&nbsp;- "Precisely; those extra characters could have made the difference 
between life and death. I must say that I didn't expect them to react so fiercely
to a simple match-and-print, but they say that filesystems are getting smarter
and smarter - according to a Western guru <a href="#6">[6]</a> with whom
I once held converse, there were at least <i>five</i> journaling filesystems
available for Linux, and I've heard of many FS-related kernel patches since.
Fortunately, we were more than equal to the task." </p>
<p>"Now, if you'll be good enough to pass me that Rotterdam redfish paste 
and that San Francisco sourdough, I'll tell you of the next case that's coming
up. Pay attention, young Frink - this promises to be a good one..." <br>
&nbsp; <br>
&nbsp; </p>
<p> </p>
<hr width="100%"><a name="1"></a>[1] (From the Jargon File:) A bug that disappears
or alters its behavior when one attempts to probe or isolate it. 
<p><a name="2"></a>[2] (From the Jargon File:) Luser Attitude Readjustment 
Tool (properly applied upside the head of the appropriate clueless person.) 
</p>
<p><a name="3"></a>[3] See "perldoc File::Find". </p>
<p><a name="4"></a>[4] Matching patterns in Perl consist of so-called "regular 
expressions". For more information on REs, see "perldoc perlre". </p>
<p><a name="5"></a>[5] Perl Golf is a highly twisted form of Perl programming 
in which brevity is king, and readability is gleefully thrown out of the nearest
window. Woomert is an avid golfer who often produces unreadable (but effective)
gibberish in Perl; one-liners (lines of Perl less than 80 characters in length)
are often examples of Perl Golf. <b><i>NOTE</i></b>: This game is played
to impress other Perl hackers, and to produce short but effective command-line
tools. Using this in code that others are supposed to work with or code that
you write for pay is truly bad form, and can (<b>should!</b>) come back to
haunt you. </p>
<p><a name="6"></a>[6] Per Jim Dennis, 2001. There may be even more today... 
</p>










<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2002, Ben Okopnik.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 84 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, November 2002
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">The Foolish Things We Do With Our Computers</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/orr.html">Mike ("Iron") Orr</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->



<H2>Genericide</H2>

By <A HREF="mailto:adrian.watson@bg-group.com">Adrian Watson</A>

<P> I wondered if you'd like to include this in your series.
This is a true story of a not too techie mate of mine.  He had two Windows
machines that he had networked, and they had stopped working.  I went to see
if I could fix the problem for him.

<P> I checked and re-inserted the network cards but the machines still had
trouble talking to each other.  I used the 'Control Panel' to display a
list of the drivers present, thinking that perhaps they were using different
protocols.  My mate was keenly watching everything I did.  Then he asked
me what 'genericide' means?  

<P> Totally baffled, I followed his eyes to the screen.  He was looking at the Hard
Disk Driver: "Generic IDE".

<P> I told him it was when a drive crashes.

<P> P.S. I found out later why his network cards wouldn't talk to each other.
He'd run the cable across the floor and used to roll his office chair across
the cable to access whichever machine he needed at the time. The co-ax gave
up after a few weeks of that treatment.   

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

<H2>Peripheral abuse</H2>

By <A HREF="mailto:k.lattimer@nnc-consultancy.co.uk">Karl Lattimer</A>

<P> The stupidest thing I've ever done with a computer, I havn't done once,
but repeatedly.  If it weren't for these idiotic mishaps I would have an
AMD Athlon XP 2.2 by now, but alas my Duron will suffice....

<H3>Weakness 1: the keyboard</H3>

It started with my first keyboard about 3
years back now.  I had my drinking buddy over and we were down to our last
glass of wine after the beer, sherry, gin, vodka, etc, had all ran out.  In a
scooner, because we were short on real glasses.  I sat the glass near my poor
helpless keyboard while I continued to talk a slurred form of cod and
gesticulated rapidly, &lt;chingggggg!&gt; went the glass, and my keyboard started
sparking.   (It's true what they say, water don't do nothing, but coke, wine,
beer etc make sparks.)  The problem was, I had a college assignment in the next
day and, well, I was quite distraught.  

<P> My next keyboard was donated
by a friend, but with a PS2 connector instead of an AT.  so I
removed the cable from my dead keyboard and swapped it around (4 pins, 16
combinations, eight nails and some particle board), and voila! The keyboard was
complete and working!  It looked better without the plastic cover on it (an
old one with a black metal lump and an exposed circuit board), so I left it
as is. 

<P> The next incident happened about 2 years later.  Stupidly I was
sitting at my computer, on the back rest, not the seat, while talking on IRC
with one hand and untying my shoe laces with the other.  I wear Doc Martins,
10 hole.  While slipping the first boot off I tipped, and so did the chair.
My other boot left the chair, kicked my desk, and the keyboard flew about 8
feet from the computer, along with the coffee and the ash tray, and all three hit
the back wall. The keyboard was not destroyed, however.  It continued to work
for another week, then a cascade effect emanating from the Print Screen key
finally caused its death.  

<P> A fair few keyboards in between, I now use an M$
natural, and my RSI has since cleared up,  I'm looking after this keyboard
carefully after way too many accidents!!!

<P> <STRONG>Update 31-Oct-2002:</STRONG> Just as this article was going to
press, I spilled water on my natural keyboard and it survived!!!!  I havn't had
it apart yet because I'm scared of the mini Bill Gates that sits inside its
huge posterior.  I havn't had any real problems, apart from once when the lights
flickered and the up arrow seems to cease up every once in a while. Normally
while playing MOHAA or AVP2 as a LAN game!!!!	

<H3>Weakness 2: the floppy drive</H3>

In the summer of 1999, I had a grand
total of six floppy drives within four months, each costing between 5 and 10
pounds.  The reason they died was, in three instances I connected the drive the
wrong way round.  Because they were cheap drives, the light didn't come on and
stay on as you would expect.  No, instead the drive fizzled and smelled bad.
One drive died due to chocolate abuse.  (A friend of mine gets chocolate on
everything, and a disk was his victim.)  Another drive perished from beer
abuse, and the final drive I can't remember....

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
        [If you have a story about something foolish or ingenious you
        did to your computer, send it to
        <A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</A>.  -Iron.]
        </EM></BLOCKQUOTE>







<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2002, Mike ("Iron") Orr.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 84 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, November 2002
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">Programming Bits: Meeting C# and Mono</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/ortiz.html">Ariel Ortiz Ramirez</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->



<p>C# (pronounced C-sharp) is a new object-oriented programming language
designed to take advantage of Microsoft's .NET development framework.
It has many similarities with other popular object-oriented languages such as
C++ and Java, yet it offers some new goodies.</p>

<p>Linux offers the opportunity to develop C# applications thanks to a project
called Mono. Mono is an open source implementation of the .NET platform. In the
following sections, I will describe the main elements of the current
implementation of the Mono system.</p>

<h2>The Mono Project</h2>

<p>At this time, Mono implements two standards: the C# programming language
(Standard ECMA-334) and the Common Language Infrastructure (Standard ECMA-335).
Both of these specifications were developed by Microsoft and submitted to ECMA
(a vendor consortium formerly known as the European Computer Manufacturers
Association) on October 2000. They were formally approved on December 2001, and
they will probably become ISO standards (thanks to a &quot;fast-track&quot;
agreement that ISO has with ECMA) some time before the end of next year.</p>

<p>The Mono project is sponsored by Ximian, the same company that brought us the
GNOME graphical desktop environment. Mexican hacker and Ximian CTO Miguel de
Icaza currently leads the development of this project. In my opinion, the people
involved with the development of Mono have done a remarkable job in quite a
short amount of time. By the way, the word &quot;Mono&quot; means monkey in
Spanish. These guys at Ximian really like monkeys.</p>

<h2>Hello Mono World!</h2>

<p>Lets follow a simple programming example in order to understand how C# and the
different Mono components fit together. To see this in action, make sure you
have a working Mono installation (see the <a href="#resources"> resources</a> section for information on
downloading and installing Mono).&nbsp;</p>

<p>The following figure summarizes the process we will follow in order to
compile and run our C# program:</p>

<img border="0" src="misc/ortiz/using_mono.png" alt="Compiling and running C# programs." width="390" height="351">

<p> First, we will create a simple C# source
program (the classical &quot;Hello World!&quot; couldn't be missing). Type the
following program using your favorite text editor and save the file as <b>hello.cs</b>:</p>

<blockquote>
<pre>
class Hello {
    public static void Main() {
        System.Console.WriteLine(&quot;Hello Mono World!&quot;);
    }
}
</pre>
</blockquote>

<p>This program is composed of a class named <code>Hello</code> which contains
a method called <code>Main</code>. This method establishes the program entry
point, in the same way that the <code>main</code> function is the start of a
C/C++ program. In this example, the <code>Main</code> method prints to the
standard output the message &quot;Hello Mono World&quot;.</p> <p>We can now
compile the program using the Mono C# compiler, called <code>mcs</code>. At the
shell prompt type:</p>

<blockquote>
<pre>
mcs hello.cs
</pre>
</blockquote>

<p>We now should have a file called <b>hello.exe</b> in the current directory.
But don't get baffled about the .exe file name extension. It is not a Windows
executable file, at least not in the way we're used to. Contrary to what happens
when we compile a program written in languages like C or C++, the C# compiler
does not generate a machine-specific object file (for example a Linux ELF x86
object file), but instead generates a special binary file called an <b>assembly</b>,
which is made up of <b>metadata</b> and <b>intermediate language</b> (IL)
instructions. These two together represent a platform-agnostic translation of
the program source code. This means, of course, that when we actually run the
program contained in the assembly, its intermediate language code has to be translated
to the native code of the computer where the program is being run. This last
translation phase is carried out by a <b>virtual machine</b>, whose behavior is
defined by the <b>Common Language Infrastructure</b> (CLI) specification. The
CLI defines an object oriented runtime environment that supports a base class
library, dynamic class loading and linking, multiple thread execution,
just-in-time compilation, and automatic memory management. The
Microsoft implementation of the CLI specification is usually referred as the <b>Common
Language Runtime</b> (CLR). We say that the CLR is a superset of the CLI because
the CLR contains some extensions that are not part of the CLI.</p>

<p>To execute our assembly, we must invoke the program called <code>mono</code>,
which is the Mono virtual machine. Type at the shell prompt the following:</p>

<blockquote>
<pre>
mono hello.exe
</pre>
</blockquote>

<p>The output should be:</p>

<blockquote>
<pre>
Hello Mono World!
</pre>
</blockquote>

<h2>Behind the Scenes</h2>

<p>Lets see how to examine the contents of our assembly. The program <code>monodis</code>
(Mono disassembler) reads the binary information of an assembly and
produces a textual representation of its contents. Type at the shell prompt:</p>

<blockquote>
<pre>
monodis hello.exe
</pre>
</blockquote>

<p>The disassembler output should be something like the following:</p>

<blockquote>
<pre>
.assembly extern mscorlib
{
  .ver 0:0:0:0
}
.assembly 'hello'
{
  .hash algorithm 0x00008004
  .ver  0:0:0:0
}
  .class private auto ansi beforefieldinit Hello
        extends [mscorlib]System.Object
  {

    // method line 1
    .method public hidebysig  specialname  rtspecialname
           instance default void .ctor()  cil managed
    {
        // Method begins at RVA 0x20ec
        // Code size 7 (0x7)
        .maxstack 8
        IL_0000: ldarg.0
        IL_0001: call instance void valuetype [corlib]System.Object::.ctor()
        IL_0006: ret
    } // end of method instance default void .ctor()

    // method line 2
    .method public static
           default void Main()  cil managed
    {
        // Method begins at RVA 0x20f4
        .entrypoint
        // Code size 11 (0xb)
        .maxstack 8
        IL_0000: ldstr &quot;Hello Mono World!&quot;
        IL_0005: call void class [corlib]System.Console::WriteLine(string)
        IL_000a: ret
    } // end of method default void Main()

  } // end of type Hello
</pre>
</blockquote>

<p>The first part of this output corresponds to the metadata. It contains
information about the current version of the assembly, any optional security constraints,
locale information, and a list of all externally referenced assemblies that are
required for proper execution. The rest of the output represents the IL code. We
can spot two methods in this code: the default class constructor called <code>.ctor</code>,
provided automatically by the compiler, and our <code>Main</code> method. As
described before, when the virtual machine is asked to run this code, it uses a
just-in-time (JIT) compiler to translate the IL into the native machine code of the
hosting environment. The native code is not generated until it is actually
needed (thus the name just-in-time). For our example, the following is the native x86
machine code (in AT&amp;T assembly language syntax) that gets generated for the <code>Main</code>
method:</p>

<blockquote>
<pre>
push   %ebp
mov    %esp,%ebp
sub    $0x30,%esp
push   $0x80c9eb0
mov    0x805462c,%eax
push   %eax
cmpl   $0x0,(%eax)
mov    (%eax),%eax
call   *0x94(%eax)
add    $0x8,%esp
mov    0x805462c,%eax
push   %eax
cmpl   $0x0,(%eax)
mov    (%eax),%eax
call   *0xb4(%eax)
add    $0x4,%esp
leave
ret
</pre>
</blockquote>

<p>Mono also comes with an interpreter called <code>mint</code>. If you use this
program, the IL instructions are interpreted instead of being compiled to native
code by the JIT. Actually, our simple program might be a little bit faster when
run under <code>mint</code> because the JIT compiler will take some time to
compile the code of our program and store it some where in memory. Of course,
subsequent execution of the native code already in memory is definitely faster
than interpretation. Currently the Mono JIT compiler is only available for x86
machines. The Mono interpreter must be used in any non-x86 machine. To see the
interpreter running, type at the shell prompt:</p>

<blockquote>
<pre>
mint hello.exe
</pre>
</blockquote>

<p>If you're familiar with Java, you might be thinking that all this technology
sounds pretty much like the way that the Java platform works. And this is indeed
so. The CLI virtual machine is the key factor for platform independence. This
means that I can write and compile a program in Linux using Mono, and then run
it in a Windows computer with the .NET framework. There is no need to rewrite or
recompile the source code. But in contrast to the Java Virtual Machine, which is
tightly coupled to the Java programming language, the CLI specification not only
allows platform independence, it also allows language independence. Windows has
compilers that target the CLR from a number of languages. The most
important ones are part of Microsoft's Visual Studio .NET development
environment: Visual Basic .NET, JScript .NET, Managed C++ and C#. Other
languages supported, from third party vendors, include APL, COBOL, Eiffel,
Forth, Fortran, Haskell, Mercury, Mondrian, Oberon, Pascal, Perl, Python, RPG,
Scheme and SmallScript. The Mono project only has a C# compiler at this time, but we will probably
see in the near future other languages being supported.</p>

<p>Another important element of the CLI is the <b>Common Type System </b>(CTS).
The CTS fully describes all the data types supported by the virtual machine,
including how these data types interact with each other and how they are
represented as metadata inside the assemblies. It is important to note that not
all languages available for the CLI support all data types in the CTS. So there
is a <b>Common Language Specification</b> (CLS), that defines a subset of common
types that ensure that binary assemblies can be used across all languages that
target the CLI. This means that if we build a CLI class that only exposes CLS
compliant features, any CLI compatible language can use it. You could create a class in
Eiffel, subclass it in C# and instantiate it in a Visual Basic.NET program. Now
this is real language interoperability.</p>

<h2>Some Advantages</h2>

<p>Using a CLI compliant platform, such as Mono or the .NET framework, has some
important advantages:</p>

<ul>
  <li>Programs can be run without recompiling on any operating system and
    processor that supports the platform.</li>
  <li>There is complete multiple language integration.</li>
  <li>The system supports important security measures.</li>
  <li>A common runtime engine is shared by all CLI aware languages.</li>
  <li>A consistent object model is used by all CLI aware languages, including a standard
    API offered by a single base class library. Once you learn this API, you can
    use it in any language supported by the platform.</li>
  <li>There is a simplified deployment model. There is no need to register a
    binary unit into the system registry.&nbsp;</li>
  <li>Multiple versions of the same binary library (DLL) can coexist in harmony
    on the same computer.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<p> C#, as a programming language, has also some important features:</p>

<ul>
  <li>It includes constructs such as properties, events and attributes that ease
    the construction of software components.&nbsp;</li>
  <li>It does not require the use separate header of interface definition
    language (IDL) files.</li>
  <li>It has a simplified versioning mechanism.</li>
  <li>It's type safe and has a unified type system. All data types (including
    primitive types) derive from a single base class.</li>
  <li>It has automatic memory management, through the use of garbage collection.</li>
  <li>It's closely integrated to the CLI.</li>
</ul>

<p>I will discuss these and other C# issues more thoroughly in later
articles.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><a name="resources">Resources</a></h2>

<dl>
  <dt>	<a href="http://www.go-mono.com/">http://www.go-mono.com/</a></dt>
  <dd>The official Mono home page. The download and install instructions
    can be found here.</dd>
  <dt><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dndotnet/html/deicazainterview.asp">http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dndotnet/html/deicazainterview.asp</a></dt>
  <dd>A very interesting interview with Miguel de Icaza about the Mono project
    and the use of ECMA standards.</dd>
  <dt><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cscon/html/vcoriCStartPage.asp">http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cscon/html/vcoriCStartPage.asp</a></dt>
  <dd>Information on the C# programming language at MSDN.</dd>
  <dt><a href="http://www.ecma.ch/ecma1/STAND/ecma-334.htm">http://www.ecma.ch/ecma1/STAND/ecma-334.htm</a></dt>
  <dd>The Standard ECMA-334 C# Language Specification.</dd>
  <dt><a href="http://www.ecma.ch/ecma1/STAND/ecma-335.htm">http://www.ecma.ch/ecma1/STAND/ecma-335.htm</a></dt>
  <dd>The Standard ECMA-335 Common Language Infrastructure.</dd>
</dl>





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Copyright &copy; 2002, Ariel Ortiz Ramirez.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
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<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">Qubism</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
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<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/harsem.html">Jon "Sir Flakey" Harsem</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

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<EM>These cartoons are scaled down to fit into LG.
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<P>

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<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">Debian APT Part 1: Basic Commands</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/tougher.html">Rob Tougher</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

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<html>
<head>
<title>Debian APT Part 1 - Basic Commands</title>
</head>
<body>


<h3>Contents</h3>


<dl>
<dt><a href=#1>Introduction</a>
<dt><a href=#2>Overview</a>
<dt><a href=#3>Using APT</a>
<dd><a href=#3.1>Initial Setup</a>
<dd><a href=#3.2>Updating your local package cache</a>
<dd><a href=#3.3>Viewing the available packages</a>
<dd><a href=#3.4>Viewing the information for a single package</a>
<dd><a href=#3.5>Installing a package</a>
<dd><a href=#3.6>Removing a package</a>
<dd><a href=#3.7>Keeping your system updated</a>
<dt><a href=#4>Conclusion</a>
<dt><a href=#5>References</a>
</dl>


<a name=1 />
<h3>Introduction</h3>

<p>
I use the <a href="http://www.debian.org">Debian GNU/Linux</a>
operating system. I use Debian for the following reasons:
</p>

<ul>
<li>It comes with a lot of 
<a href="http://packages.debian.org/stable/">great software</a>
<li>The software is simple to install
</ul>


<p>
I install Debian software using APT, the Advanced Packaging Tool. With APT
I can install Debian software from either a CD-ROM, an FTP server, an HTTP server,
or my local filesystem. What's even better is that Debian provides their
software archives on <a href="http://www.debian.org/mirror/list">
freely-accessible FTP and HTTP servers</a>. Installation is as simple as pointing
APT at one of these servers and telling it to run.
</p>

<p>
The purpose of this article is to give you an overview of APT and 
describe the basic commands for using it. My hope is that this article
will show you how easy software installation can be using APT.
</p>


<a name=2 />
<h3>Overview</h3>


<p>
The main concept in APT is the <i>package</i>. Every software application that 
Debian provides has a corresponding package. A package is a file 
with a <code>*.deb</code> extension and includes these items:
</p>

<ul>
<li>a software application
<li>a description of the application
<li>a list of dependencies for the application
<li>the installation scripts for the application
<li>the application's user documentation
</ul>

<p>
All operations in APT deal with packages. When you want to
install a software application, you tell APT to install that 
application's package. When you want to remove a software application,
you tell APT to remove that application's package. Even if you only
want information about the software application, you need to
ask APT for the information using the application's package name.
</p>

<p>
Another important concept is the <i>package cache</i>.
The package cache is a complete list of available packages in the 
Debian distribution. The package cache is stored on your local machine, and 
you are responsible for keeping it updated. A later section deals with 
updating your package cache.
</p>



<a name=3 />
<h3>Using APT</h3>


<a name=3.1 />
<h4>Initial Setup</h4>

<p>
Before you can use APT you have to tell it where to look for package files.
Each location you specify is called a <i>source</i>. A source can be a CD-ROM, an HTTP server,
an FTP server, or an archive on your hard drive.
</p>

<p>
APT looks in <code>/etc/apt/sources.list</code> for your list of sources.
The following is my <code>sources.list</code> file:
</p>


<pre>
deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free
deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 r0 _Woody_ - Official i386 Binary-6 (20020718)]/ unstable contrib main non-US/contrib non-US/main
deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 r0 _Woody_ - Official i386 Binary-7 (20020718)]/ unstable contrib main non-US/contrib non-US/main
deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 r0 _Woody_ - Official i386 Binary-5 (20020718)]/ unstable contrib main non-US/contrib non-US/main
deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 r0 _Woody_ - Official i386 Binary-4 (20020718)]/ unstable contrib main non-US/contrib non-US/main
deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 r0 _Woody_ - Official i386 Binary-3 (20020718)]/ unstable contrib main non-US/contrib non-US/main
deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 r0 _Woody_ - Official i386 Binary-2 (20020718)]/ unstable contrib main non-US/contrib non-US/main
deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 r0 _Woody_ - Official i386 Binary-1 (20020718)]/ unstable contrib main non-US/contrib non-US/main
</pre>



<p>
Adding HTTP, FTP, and local file archives to <code>sources.list</code> is simple -
you can add the entries into the file using a text editor (Debian keeps a list
of mirrors on their <a href="http://www.debian.org/mirror/list">web site</a>).
To add CD-ROMs you have to use the <code>apt-cdrom</code> command:
</p>

<pre>
prompt$ apt-cdrom add
</pre>



<a name=3.2 />
<h4>Updating your local package cache</h4>

<p>
You are responsible for keeping your local package cache updated.
Every time you want to install or upgrade a software application,
you should update your package cache first. This ensures that
you have the latest information about the software you 
are installing.
</p>

<p>
Run this command to update your package cache:
</p>


<pre>
prompt$ apt-get update
</pre>



<a name=3.3 />
<h4>Viewing the available packages</h4>


<p>
The apt-cache utility allows you to search the
local package cache for packages with certain text in it. 
</p>


<p>
For example, you might want to install the Apache HTTP server on 
your machine. You could search for the Apache package using the 
following command:
</p>

<pre>
prompt$ apt-cache search apache
</pre>


<p>
This command returns 119 packages on my machine. Instead of reading
through all of the entries, you could filter the output using 
<code>grep</code>:
</p>

<pre>
prompt$ apt-cache search apache | grep "^apache"
</pre>

<p>
This command generates the following:
</p>


<pre>
apache-doc - Apache web server docs
apache-dev - Apache web server development kit
apache-ssl - Versatile, high-performance HTTP server with SSL support
apache-common - Support files for all Apache web servers
<b>apache - Versatile, high-performance HTTP server</b>
apache-perl - Versatile, high-performance HTTP server with added Perl support
</pre>


<a name=3.4 />
<h4>Viewing the information for a single package</h4>

<p>
After having searched for a package, you might want to view the
information for that package. The <code>apt-cache</code> utility takes
a <code>show</code> command, like the following:
</p>


<pre>
prompt$ apt-cache show packagename
</pre>

<p>
For example, If you wanted to view the information for the <code>apache</code>
package, you would type the following at a command prompt:
</p>

<pre>
prompt$ apt-cache show apache
</pre>

<p>
This returns the following:
</p>

<pre>
Package: apache
Priority: optional
Section: web
Installed-Size: 748
Maintainer: Matthew Wilcox &lt;willy@debian.org&gt;
Architecture: i386
Version: 1.3.26-0woody1
Replaces: apache-modules
Provides: httpd
Depends: libc6 (&gt;= 2.2.4-4), libdb2 (&gt;= 2:2.7.7.0-7), libexpat1 (&gt;= 1.95.2-6), mime-support, apache-common (&gt;= 1.3.26-0), apache-common (&lt;&lt; 1.3.27-0), perl5 | perl, logrotate (&gt;= 3.5.4-1), dpkg (&gt;&gt; 1.9.0)
Suggests: apache-doc
Conflicts: apache-modules, libapache-mod-perl (&lt;= 1.17-1), jserv (&lt;= 1.1-3)
Filename: pool/main/a/apache/apache_1.3.26-0woody1_i386.deb
Size: 352814
MD5Sum: 728257f5de8d71e0d00701bdca9d452d
Description: Versatile, high-performance HTTP server
 The most popular server in the world, Apache features a modular
 design and supports dynamic selection of extension modules at runtime.
 Some of its strong points are its range of possible customization,
 dynamic adjustment of the number of server processes, and a whole
 range of available modules including many authentication mechanisms,
 server-parsed HTML, server-side includes, access control, CERN httpd
 metafiles emulation, proxy caching, etc.  Apache also supports multiple
 virtual homing.
 .
 Separate Debian packages are available for PHP3, mod_perl, Java
 Servlet support, Apache-SSL, and other common extensions.  More
 information is available at http://www.apache.org/.
Task: web-server
</pre>



<a name=3.5 />
<h4>Installing a package</h4>

<p>
Installing a package is achieved using the <code>apt-get</code> utility.
The following will install a package:
</p>

<pre>
prompt$ apt-get install packagename
</pre>

<p>
Typing the following at a command prompt would install the Apache HTTP 
Server on your machine:
</p>

<pre>
prompt$ apt-get install apache
</pre>



<a name=3.6 />
<h4>Removing a package</h4>

<p>
You can remove packages from your machine with the following command:
</p>

<pre>
prompt$ apt-get remove packagename
</pre>

<p>
For example, if you wanted to remove the Apache HTTP Server from your
machine, you would use the following:
</p>

<pre>
prompt$ apt-get remove apache
</pre>



<a name=3.7 />
<h4>Keeping your system updated</h4>

<p>
It's good to keep your system updated with the
latest (stable) versions of software. Doing this
using APT is a simple two-step operation. You have
to do only the following:
</p>


<pre>
prompt$ apt-get update
prompt$ apt-get upgrade
</pre>

<p>
The first command updates your local package cache (we saw this in a previous
section). The second command upgrades any packages installed on your machine that
have newer versions available.
</p>




<a name=4 />
<h3>Conclusion</h3>

<p>
In this article I described the basic usage of APT. You should now be able to
use APT to install Debian software on your machine.
</p>


<a name=5 />
<h3>References</h3>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.debian.org/doc/">Debian documentation</a>
<li>man pages for apt-get, apt-cache, and sources.list
</ul>

</body>
</html>









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Copyright &copy; 2002, Rob Tougher.
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<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">Using the Logical Volume Manager</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/vinayak.html">Vinayak Hegde</A></STRONG>
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<h1>  The Problem </h1>

<p>
	One of the biggest problems faced by a linux user is the problem
of estimating and allocating enough disk space to partitions when setting 
up a linux box. It does not matter much whether he is a system administrator
looking after a server farm or an intermediate/power user of linux who has
realized that he is going to run out of disk space. Sounds familiar 
doesn't it? Then starts the struggle to overcome the problem. Aha, 
the user has a brain-wave and problem is solved (after some sleepless nights)
by using some non-elegant methods (read dirty hacks) like symlinks spanning
partitions or using some partition resizing tools like parted. But these are
only generally temporary solutions and we are faced with the same problem again.
</p>
<p> 
	How you wish that this problem could be solved!! The hacker in you
wishes that you had a system on which you can experiment freely regardless
of disk space and you could add or delete disk space as and when required. 
If you are a system administrator of a site with a number of servers which 
are always connected to the Internet, the stakes are all the more higher.
Each minute of downtime causes losses. Even the danger of customers going 
away from your site. You can ill afford to reboot the server after you make
changes to the partition table every time this scenario arises. LVM can be a 
lifesaver in such situations.
</p>

<h1> Introduction to LVM </h1>

<p> 
	The Linux LVM can make your life a little easier. LVM takes a higher
level view of storage space as compared to that of partitions and hard disks. 
Read on to discover how. LVM was introduced into the main kernel source tree 
from 2.4.x series onwards. Before we move on to LVM, let us have a look at 
some of the concepts and terminology that will be used.
</p> 

<center> <img alt="Terminology of LVM" src="misc/vinayak/LVM_1.png"> </center>

<ul> 
<li> <h3> Physical Volume </h3>
	<b> Physical Volume </b> generally refers to the hard disk partitions 
or a device that looks (logically) similar to a hard disk partition such as a 
RAID device.
<li> <h3> Logical Volume </h3>
	One or many physical volumes make up a <b> Logical Volume </b>. In LVM,
a logical volume is similar to a hard disk partition in non-LVM systems. The 
logical volume can contain a file-system e.g. /home or /usr.
<li> <h3> Volume Groups </h3>
	One or many such logical volumes make up a <b> Volume Group </b>. For
LVM , a volume group is similar to a a physical hard disk in a non-LVM system.
The volume group brings together many logical volume to form one administrative
unit.
</ul>

<h1> How LVM works </h1>
<p>
	Now that we have got a grip on the terminology of LVM, let us see
how it actually works. Each physical volume is divided into a number of 
basic units called as <b> Physical Extents (PE) </b>. The size of a physical
extent is variable but same for physical volumes belonging to a volume group.
Within one physical volume, every PE has a unique number. The PE is the 
smallest unit that can be addressed by a LVM on a physical storage.
</p>
<p>
	Again each logical volume is divided into a number of basic 
addressable units called as <b> Logical Extents (LE) </b>. In the same volume 
group the size of the logical extent is same as that of the physical extent.
Obviously, the size of LEs is same for all the logical volumes of a volume 
group.
</p>
<p>	
	Each PE has a unique number on a physical volume but not necessarily 
for a logical volume. This is because a logical volume can be made up of 
several physical volumes in which case the uniqueness of PE IDs is not 
possible. Hence the LE IDs are used for identifying the LE as well as the 
particular PE associated with it. As has been noted earlier there is 1:1
mapping between the LEs and PEs. Every time the storage area is accessed the 
address or the IDs of the LE is used to actually write the data onto the 
physical storage.
</p>
<p>	
	You might be wondering by now, where all the meta-data about the 
logical volume and volume groups is stored. As a analogy, the data about 
the partitions is stored in the partition table in non-LVM systems. The 
<b> Volume Group Descriptor Area (VGDA) </b> functions similar to the 
partition table for LVM. It is stored at the beginning at the beginning 
of each physical volume. 
</p>
<p> 
The VGDA consists of the following information :- 
<ol>
<li> one PV descriptor
<li> one VG descriptor
<li> the LV descriptors 
<li> several PE descriptors. 
</ol>
</p>
<p>
When the system boots the LVs and the VGs are activated and the VGDA is loaded 
into memory. The VGDA helps to identify where the LVs are actually stored. 
When the system wants to access the storage device, the mapping mechanism 
(constructed with the help of VGDA) is used to access the actual physical 
location to perform I/O operation.
</p>

<h1> Getting down to work </h1>
<p> 
	Let us now see how to use LVM :-
<p>
<h2> Step 1 -Configure the kernel </h2>
<p>
Before we begin to install LVM there are some prerequisites:- <br>
your kernel should have the LVM module configured.
	<pre>
	This can be done as follows:-
	# cd /usr/src/linux
	# make menuconfig

	under the Submenu:-
	Multi-device Support (RAID and LVM) --&gt;

	enable the following two options:-
	[*] Multiple devices driver support (RAID and LVM)
and
	<*> Logical volume manager (LVM) Support.
	</pre>
</p>

<h2> Step2 - Check the Amount of Disk Space free on your drive </h2>
<p>
This can be done using the following command:- 
<pre>
# df -h
Filesystem            	Size  	 Used   Avail  	Use% 	Mounted on
/dev/hda1		3.1G     2.7G	398M	87%	/
/dev/hda2		4.0G	 3.2G	806M	80%	/home
/dev/hda5		2.1G	 1.0G	1.1G	48%	/var
</pre>

<h2> Step 3 - Create LVM partitions on your hard disk </h2>
<p>
Use fdisk or any other partition utility to create the LVM partitions.
The partition type of linux LVM is 8e.

<pre>
# fdisk /dev/hda
 press 	p (to print the partition table) 
 and 	n (to create a new partition)
</pre>

After the creation of the Linux LVM partition. Print the partition
table. It will look something like this:-

<pre>
 Device Boot      Start       End    Blocks   Id   System
/dev/hda1   *         1       506   4064413+  83  Linux
/dev/hda2           507       523    136552+   5  Extended
/dev/hda5           507       523    136521   82  Linux swap
/dev/hda6 	    524       778   2048256   8e  Linux LVM
/dev/hda7           779      1033   2048256   8e  Linux LVM
</pre>
</p>

<h2> Step 4 - Create physical Volumes </h2>
<p>
<pre>
# pvcreate /dev/hda6
pvcreate -- -physical volume "/dev/hda6" successfully created

# pvcreate /dev/hda7
pvcreate- -- physical volume "/dev/hda7" successfully created
</pre>
The above command creates a volume group descriptor at the start 
of the partition. 
</p>

<h2> Step 5 - Create Volume Groups </h2>
<p>
Create a new volume group and add the two physical volumes to it
in the following way. 
<pre>
# vgcreate test_lvm /dev/hda6 /dev/hda7
vgcreate- -- INFO: using default physical extent size 4 MB
vgcreate- -- INFO: maximum logical volume size is 255.99 Gigabyte
vgcreate- -- doing automatic backup of volume group "test_lvm"
vgcreate- -- volume group "test_lvm" successfully created and activated
</pre>
This will create a volume group named test_lvm containing the physical 
volumes /dev/hda6 and /dev/hda7. We can also specify the extent size 
with this command if the extent size of 4MB is not suitable for our
purpose.
<br>
Activate the volume groups using the command
<pre>
# vgchange -ay test_lvm
</pre>
<br>
The command "vgdisplay" is used to see the details regarding the volume 
groups created on  your system. 
<pre>
# vgdisplay
--- Volume group ---
VG Name test_lvm
VG Access read/write
VG Status available/resizable
VG # 0
MAX LV 256
Cur LV 1
Open LV 0
MAX LV Size 255.99 GB
Max PV 256
Cur PV 2
Act PV 2
VG Size 3.91 GB
PE Size 4 MB
Total PE 1000
Alloc PE / Size 256 / 1 GB
Free PE / Size 744 / 2.91 GB
VG UUID T34zIt-HDPs-uo6r-cBDT-UjEq-EEPB-GF435E
</pre>

<h2> Step 6 - Create Logical Volumes </h2>
The lvcreate command is used to create logical volumes in 
volume groups.
<pre>
# lvcreate -L2G -nlogvol1 test_lvm
</pre>

<h2> Step 7 - Create a file system </h2>
<p>
Now you need to build a filesystem on this logical volume. We have
chosen to make the reiserfs journalling filesystem on the logical
volume.
<pre>
# mkreiserfs /dev/test_lvm/logvol1 
</pre>
Mount the newly created filesystem using the mount command.
<pre>
# mount -t reiserfs /dev/test_lvm/logvol1 /mnt/lv1
</pre>

<h2> Step 8 - Add entries to /etc/fstab and /etc/lilo.conf </h2>
<p>
Add the following entry to /etc/fstab so that the filesystem is 
mounted at boot. 
<pre>
/dev/test_lvm/logvol1 /mnt/lv1 reiserfs defaults 1 1 
</pre>
copy the recompiled kernel if you have not replaced your 
original kernel with it yet so u have the option of using LVM 
or not using it.
<pre>
  image   = /boot/lvm_kernel_image
  label   = linux-lvm
  root    = /dev/hda1
  initrd  = /boot/init_image
  ramdisk = 8192
</pre>          
After adding the above lines reinstall lilo by using
<pre>
# /sbin/lilo
</pre>

<h2> Step 9 - Resizing logical volumes </h2>
Logical volumes can be resized easily using the lvextend command.
<pre>
# lvextend -L+1G /dev/test_lvm/logvol1
lvextend -- extending logical volume "/dev/test_lvm/logvol1" to 3GB
lvextend -- doing automatic backup of volume group "test_lvm"
lvextend -- logical volume "/dev/test_lvm/logvol1" successfully extended
</pre>

Similarly logical volumes can be reduced by using the following command
<pre>
# lvreduce -L-1G /dev/test_lvm/lv1
lvreduce -- -Warning: reducing active logical volume to 2GB
lvreduce- -- This may destroy your data (filesystem etc.)
lvreduce -- -do you really want to reduce "/dev/test_lvm/lv1"? [y/n]: y
lvreduce- -- doing automatic backup of volume group "test_lvm"
lvreduce- -- logical volume "/dev/test_lvm/lv1" successfully reduced
</pre>

<h1> Conclusion </h1>
<p>
As we can see from the above discussion LVM is quite extensible and
pretty straightforward to use. After the volume groups have been set 
up. It is pretty easy to resize logical volumes as per requirements.
</p>

<h1> Resources </h1>
<ul>
<li> <a href="http://www.sistina.com/products_lvm.htm"> The LVM Homepage</a>
<li> <a href="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/index.html"> The LVM HOWTO </a>
</ul>









<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2002, Vinayak Hegde.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 84 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, November 2002
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">The Back Page</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->



<ul>
<li><a HREF="#gazette">Gazette Matters</a>
<li><a HREF="#wacko">Wacko Topic of the Month</a>
<li><a HREF="#nottag">Not The Answer Gang</a>
<li><a HREF="#spam">World of Spam</a>
</ul>


<a name="gazette"></a>
<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--====================================================================-->

<center><H3><font color="maroon"><I>Gazette</I> Matters</font></H3></center>

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

<H4>Visible Changes</H4>

LG underwent a bunch of changes this month, some visible and some not.  The
most visible change is the spiffy yellow issues table on the 
<A HREF="../index.html">Front Page</A> and the
<A HREF="../lg_issues.html">Site Map</A> page (formerly known as the Index of
All Issues page).  Another visible change is that several files have been
renamed and symlinks removed:  

<UL>
<LI> lg_frontpage.html is gone, replaced by index.html.
<LI> All lg_toc##.html -&gt; index.html.
<LI> All issue##.html -&gt; TWDT.html.  (Going back as far as issue 77.)
<LI> All issue##.txt.gz -&gt; TWDT.txt.gz.  (Going back as far as issue 77.)
<LI> All symlinks are removed except the "current" link.
</UL> 

This has a few implications for readers:

<OL>
<LI> If you bookmarked the home page of your favorite mirror as lg_frontpage.html,
    you must change the bookmark to index.html or just use the site name:
    <STRONG>http://www.linuxgazette.com/</STRONG>.
<LI> You can continue to bookmark the current issue as
    <STRONG>http://www.linuxgazette.com/current/</STRONG>
    and it will update each month.  This is also useful if you want to 
    download the current issue to your palmtop each month.
<LI> You can access the TWDT versions each month from a persistent URL:
    <STRONG>http://www.linuxgazette.com/current/TWDT.html</STRONG> or
    <STRONG>http://www.linuxgazette.com/current/TWDT.txt.gz</STRONG>.
<LI> Windows users can stop complaining that symlinks don't unpack from
    tarballs on DOS filesystems, because there are no more symlinks!  (Except
    one.)
<LI> The Front Page is reformatted and somewhat less verbose.  More on the way.
<LI> If you have been downloading the FTP tarballs, you have a few obsolete 
    files now.  The disk space is minimal, but if you're obsessed with having
    a perfectly clean directory, delete it all and download lg-base.tar.gz
    and your favorite issues again.  Downloading lg-base-new.tar.gz each month
    only updates and adds files, it doesn't delete obsolete files.

</OL>

Remember, starting with issue 83, you can click the author's name at the top of
any article and go to that person's Author page, which has links to all their
articles in LG, their most current contact information, and sometimes a bit of
random information and a picture too.

<P> The mirrors took a bandwidth hit this month as the files were moving
around, but the files have all settled down now.  There will be another big
shuffle sometime when we convert the 649 old GIFs to PNG/JPG, but that's such a
big job I don't know when we'll be able to do it.  Not just to convert the
files -- that can take five minutes with ImageMagick's <TT>convert</TT>
program, <TT>find</TT> and a small shell script -- but we also have to (1)
decide whether image.png or image.jpg is smaller/looks better for each image,
(2) change the IMG links in all the HTML files, (3) not use transparency, and
(4) look at all the pages on various browsers.  Any volunteers?

<P> For next month, I want to refine the navigation links between articles and
between the global pages.

<P> There is one change which will affect only a couple mirror administrators.
Next to the existing search links, there is a commented link the mirror site
can replace with a link to their own search engine.  The comment format has
changed, and I noticed one misspelling in it ("ENDN" instead of "END").  So
mirror administrators with local LG search engines will have to adjust their
scripts.  There may be further adjustment when the navigation links get
refined.

<H4>Invisible Changes</H4>

The scripts I use to generate LG have been largely rewritten.  Configuration
information is now mostly in YAML (.yml) files.  <A
HREF="http://yaml.org/">YAML</A> is a text-readable data serialization format,
inspired by XML but simpler, and automatically converted to native types
(string, int, float, list, hash, boolean, null, date, etc).  It's still in its
early development stage (the language spec and types are just being finalized
now), but the preliminary Python parser <A
HREF="http://wiki.yaml.org/yamlwiki/PurePythonParserForYaml">PyYAML</A> works,
and there are also parsers for Perl, Ruby and C.  Here are a couple article
entries for this issue, in <STRONG>data/issues/084.yml</STRONG>:

<PRE>
---
key:     arndt
author:  arndt
title:   Office Linux -- Feedback
---
key:     bradley
author:  bradley
title:   Adding Plugin Capabilities To Your Code
</PRE>

"key" is a unique (within the issue) identifier for the article.  "author" is a
link to their Author entry, which is a file in rfc822 (mail message) format.
(I could use YAML for it, but rfc822 is really convenient for this particular
object.) "title" is, um, I think you can guess what that is....

<P> The article header/footer, TOC, Front Page, Site Map, etc, are generated
from <A HREF="http://www.cheetahtemplate.org/">Cheetah</A> templates.  Cheetah
is a free software project I've been a developer on for the past 1 1/2 years.
It's a string template system for Python.  Cheetah has been generating the LG
Mirrors page for several months.

<P> There's a shared "lg" module that reads all the configuration files into
a data structure and pickles it out to a cache file for fast reading.  (Or
actually cPickles it, which is a thousand times faster.)  Then the script
"article" takes the article entry and author(s) entry and puts the
header/footer in the HTML file in place, deleting the previous header/footer
if present.  The "authors" script is more complicated because it has to make
each Author's page as well as the author index, TAG bios index, and 
previous/next links for each.  It also searches through the articles data
to generate the links to all the articles published by each author.

<P> I'm close to having TWDT automated, which I'm very happy about.  No more
manually creating that d*%n thing manually and then having to edit three files
(the original, TWDT.html and TWDT.txt.gz) when an article needs a correction.
Soon I'll be able to change just the original and then run <TT>twdt</TT> and
have it automatically regenerate those two files.  Well, almost.  Heather
generates the TAG column lg_answer and TWDT.lg_answer.html simultaneously from
her mailbox files, and she tells me 'twould be difficult to generate
TWDT.lg_answer.html from lg_answer.  So for TAG corrections I'll still have to
edit three files.  
<IMG ALT=":(" SRC="../gx/dennis/unsmily.gif" WIDTH="25"
HEIGHT="25">


<a name="wacko"></a>
<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--====================================================================-->

<center><H3><font color="maroon">Wacko Topic of the Month</font></H3></center>

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


<H4>Rick Moen</H4>
The moving correspondent writes; and having writ moves on. Nor all your
piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all your
tears wash out a word of it.

<H4>Iron:</H4>
what does this mean?

<H4>Dan Wilder:</H4>
Time wounds all heels?

<H4>Rick Moen:</H4>
The correspondent<BR> 
You seek alas is not here.<BR>
Endless others exist.

<P>
You step in the stream,<BR>
But the water has moved on.<BR>
Your penpal is gone.

<P>
Error messages<BR>
Unfold across the monitor.<BR>
Glist'ning like the snow.





<a name="nottag"></a>
<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--====================================================================-->

<center><H3><font color="maroon">Not The Answer Gang</font></H3></center>

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



<blockQuote>
From
From: Mike Orr
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
I'm writing a script for school and I'm having a bit of trouble. The problem
is as follows: it must accept a from a user and display the squares of all
the numbers starting from 1 to that number, as follows:
1 square = ___
2 square =___
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
n square = ___
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Iron]
Did you have a Linux question?  If so, you forgot to include it.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
You didn't mention which programming language you're using, but it doesn't
matter.  We're unlikely to answer questions that can be discovered by simply
reading a tutorial for that programming language.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
See <A HREF="../tag/ask-the-gang.html"
	>http://www.linuxgazette.com/tag/ask-the-gang.html</A>
for the kinds of questions we're willing to answer.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
</blockQuote>

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

From: "Guy" &lt;<A HREF="mailto:guy@gmnow.net"
	>guy@gmnow.net</A>&gt;
<blockQuote>
See now... I answered a sendmail question! <EM>Smile</EM>
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
That tells you I do lurk, until I see a message I can answer!
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

From: Iron
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Aww, somebody's trying to crack my Webware site.  Sorry I don't
have any files for you, buddy.

<PRE>
HTTP404: /favicon.ico
HTTP404: /_vti_bin/owssvr.dll?UL=1&amp;ACT=4&amp;BUILD=2614&amp;STRMVER=4&amp;;CAPREQ=0
HTTP404: /MSOffice/cltreq.asp?UL=1&amp;ACT=4&amp;BUILD=2614&amp;STRMVER=4&amp;;CAPREQ=0
</blockQuote>


<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

<blockQuote>
From
From: "Benjamin A. Okopnik" &lt;<A HREF="mailto:fuzzybear@pocketmail.com"
	>fuzzybear@pocketmail.com</A>&gt;
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
On Tue, Jun 11, 2002 at 05:14:29PM +0200, denis k?llner wrote:
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
Hi
i've download your software (lcdproc) and buyed me a display,
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Iron]
I'm not sure who the "you" in "your software" would be, unless one of
the Answer Gang wrote "lcdproc"...
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><STRONG>
i've connect the display to my LPT-Port how it is in your picture, but it
doesn't work!!

</STRONG></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Oh, <EM>of course</EM> we instantly recognize the exact problem! Thank you for
such a precise description.
</blockQuote>

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

<STRONG>
I need to know about Linux operating system- kernel.
So can u please help me to find some informations about Linux kernel. can
u ple. answer to the below questions ? need  good details !!!
</STRONG>

<P><STRONG>what is a Linux kernels?
</STRONG>

<blockQuote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Neil Youngman]
That's the tasty bit inside the Linux shell.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<STRONG>
what function do they perform?
</STRONG>

<BLOCKQUOTE>
If you crack a Linux shell you can eat the kernel. Also you can grow new 
Linux trees from it.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<STRONG>
how important are they?
</STRONG>

<BLOCKQUOTE>
They are very important if you're stuck on a desert island and they are your 
only source of food.

<P> P.S. We don't do your homework for you.
</BLOCKQUOTE>


<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

<H4>Ben Okopnik:</H4>
Oddly enough, that was
one thing that the Russians _didn't_ claim for themselves... I guess
they figured that inventing the radio, the light bulb, and the airplane
was enough for anybody. :)

<H4>Iron:</H4>
So how do the Russians claim those things?  I thought Marconi was Italian.
<A HREF="http://www.alpcom.it/hamradio/marconi.html">http://www.alpcom.it/hamradio/marconi.html</A>

<H4>Ben:</H4>
Uh-uh. Popov, not Marconi.

<A HREF=""http://www.russiajournal.com/is/columns/columns168-How-the-Russians-invented-the-radio.html>http://www.russiajournal.com/is/columns/columns168-How-the-Russians-invented-the-radio.html</A>

<P>
I learned that stuff in school; with a lot of Russians of the previous
generation (mine was already too cynical), it was an article of faith.

<H4>Iron:</H4>
When I was taking Russian in high school (1983), there were a few students
who had travelled to Russia.  One said he'd gotten into an argument with
somebody over whether Pepsi was an American or a Russian invention.

<H4>Ben:</H4>
&lt;laugh&gt; *That* one, I knew for myself. Pepsi's first plant in Russia was
built in Moscow, about a kilometer away from where I was going to
school. At least they started building it; I left Russia just before
they finished it. But I'd have no problem believing your friend about
having had the argument.


<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

<H4>Neil Youngman:</H4>
<PRE>
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH STROKE
LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH STROKE
</PRE>

These symbols are familiar to us Scandihoovians, and are used to signify 
"This word cannot be pronounced by Americans."

<H4>Ben Okopnik:</H4>

&lt;laugh&gt; And by us Russkis, too - in KOI8, those come out to be upper and
lower case "soft signs". Personally, I think the above description
should be replaced with yours... sorta:

<PRE>
CAPITAL LETTER NOT PRONOUNCEABLE BY AMERICANS
SMALL LETTER NOT PRONOUNCEABLE BY AMERICANS
</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

<STRONG>
Please make a new artical about Brazil because I am doing a report on it and
please type it on Yahoo.com Please DO NOT send e-mails here
</STRONG>


<H4>Heather Stern:</H4>

Oh my, another homework assignment.   Please do not send emails showing
that I'm trying to cheat, to an account I share with my folks.  Besides
then they'd realize I don't even know how to spell "article" much less
think of a topic for one on my own.

<P> Not that this has much to do with Linux of course.... but there are a
lot of Linux users in Brazil;  IIRC Conectiva is quite popular.   

<P> I don't think Yahoo has a mirror of Linux Gazette, but searching there
for "Brazil" would net you a better chance of good information than 
visiting Linux Gazette would, anyway.

<H4>Iron:</H4>
There's a Brazilian tattoo parlor across the street from my house that
just opened up.  It's very bright green.

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

<H4>Iron:</H4>
Your question really boils down to: "We have one program (but we won't tell you
which one) that leaves some files behind when it exits.  Please tell us where
the files are and how to delete them."

<P> Every program is different.  I have no idea what *that* program does,
whatever it is.  I can guess from the word "view" that it's a database
application, but that's only a guess.  Why don't you tell us?

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

Subject: Music break

<H4>Iron:</H4>
Bizet, The Pearl Fishers (les pe^chers de perles),
  "Je crois entendre encore".  Highly recommended.

<H4>Breen Mullins:</H4>
I'm fond of "Au fond du temple saint" from the same opera, myself.

<P>
-- Breen, without quite the high notes to sing that baritone line.


<a name="spam"></a>
<P> <hr> <P> 
<!--====================================================================-->

<center><H3><font color="maroon">World of Spam</font></H3></center>

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

Subject: The Punk Kittens Have A Song For You! *LOL*

<P> Punk Rock Kittens *NEW* LOL!!

<H4>Iron:</H4>
I didn't make up this stuff about punk kittens, honest!

<P> I can just see Heather editing TAG with punk kittens wandering around the
room....
 
<H4>Heather:</H4>
Let's see, we have BlueCat, and GreyCat and robotfindskitten and....
Anyway, it'd never work.  Crystal won't put up with other cats in the
house. 

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

Subject: Customized Warez CD's 

<PRE>
Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64

PFRBQkxFIGNlbGxTcGFjaW5nPTAgY2VsbFBhZGRpbmc9MCB3aWR0aD03MjUg
Ym9yZGVyPTA+DQo8VEJPRFk+DQo8VFI+DQo8VEQgc3R5bGU9IkZPTlQtU0la
</PRE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[Looks like a Klez worm to me.  -Iron.]
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

Howdy from South Texas!  Let's partner together and make some money.
Click the link to learn more.

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

A few people have posted their attempts to lead the Nigeria Scammers on a
wild goose chase.

<UL>
<LI> <A HREF="http://www.haxial.com/fraud/mikeaba.html">http://www.haxial.com/fraud/mikeaba.html</A>
<LI> <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/scamjokepage/">http://www.geocities.com/scamjokepage/</A>
<LI> <A HREF="http://www.brianwizard.com/work/nigerian_419.htm">http://www.brianwizard.com/work/nigerian_419.htm</A>
<LI> <A HREF="http://www.state.gov/www/regions/africa/naffpub.pdf">http://www.state.gov/www/regions/africa/naffpub.pdf</A> (PDF)

</UL>

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

Hi, I couldn't help but notice your web site has portions a little "under 
construction" -- I was wondering if you'd like some help getting the graphics,
navigation, and higher end java features together?  

Features you might want to include are:
<UL>
<LI> profile signups for people that come to your page
<LI> eNewsletter facility
<LI> a database driven design -- so to change your content - you work with the
database - not HTML
</UL>

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

If you want to jump-start your site's success (and I mean really BLAST it into
orbit!) then this could very well be the most important message you will ever
receive. 

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

I have just received this amazing web based email and you have just
gotta check this out. It blows hotmail, yahoo and all other web based
email away.

Basically it's email with graphics, really snazzy like customising your
phone but much better.

If you go to XXXXX you can see what I mean.
The graphics look great fun and they cost no more than what you
pay for mobile ringtones and graphics.

You can reserve your name right now by simply pre registering
an account.

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

<PRE>
--------------------------------------------------------
DOWNLOAD THIS WHITE PAPER AND LEARN...
--------------------------------------------------------

*  The Hacker Profile

*  Common Hacking Tools - The Hacker's Toolkit

*  Top 10 Ways to Secure Against Attack

*  Seven Questions to Test Your Security
</PRE>

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

We are looking for anti-virus and anti-hacker software. 

<H4>Faber Fedor:</H4>
And what, pray tell, is "anti-hacker software"?

<H4>Jay Ashworth:</H4>
Software that makes hackers run away and not want to work on
the box.  You know: Windows.

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->



Most people find it incredible to believe they could
actually write their own ebook in as little as 7 Days...
But people just like you do it all the time... because they
know the secrets to getting their own ebook into their
computer and out on the web where people can buy it as
quickly as possible.

<P> What you should expect from this mini-course...

<P> Today we'll give you the single, *most powerful* element in
the ebook writing process...

<P>Then we'll send you 3 more emails (one every 2 days)
where we cover:

<P>Email 1 - Creating an Idea and Writing your eBook quickly

<P>Email 2 - Publishing Your eBook so *everyone* can read it

<P>Email 3 - Selling Your eBook and making money!

<P> So you see Answerguy we have a lot
of ground to cover... let's get started!


<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

Excuse the intrusion, somehow your email made its way into my database.
I in no way wish to offend or be a bother to anone.  If you would be so 
kind as to reply with remove in the subject line, your email address will 
be deleted from my files,

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->

Dear Sir/Madam, I am a Private Investigator based in Europe. A group of
Government Officials  from an African Country contacted me with a Proposal. I
am to Make contact  with you and state their offer, if your Interest is
Genuine, you will be  contacted for your Account details to which will be
transferred the sum of $33,600, (Minus  the Interest, handling and tax
clearance charges, which Will be offset  by  Us &amp;  Deducted from the
transferred sum) to a nominated Bank account in the Cayman  Islands. I don't
think I need to spell out the importance of Secrecy in this Matter considering
the amount involved.

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
	[The interesting thing about this scam is not the measly amount they're
	offering ($33,000 instead of $33,000,000 -- as the message just before
	this offered), but the fact that it comes with a text attachment
	containing 1230 e-mail addresses, several being Linux Gazette authors
	and other famous Linux personalities.  Oops, I think their harvesting
	software made a mistake.  Did they run it in reverse?  The funniest
	address is "billsux@microsloth.com"; I bet he's just waiting to invest.
	Here's an excerpt: -Iron.]	
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

<PRE>
Email
gazette@ssc.com
linux-questions-only@ssc.com
Heather Stern &lt;star@starshine.org&gt;
Michael Conry &lt;michael.conry@softhome.net&gt;
tag-request@ssc.com
Shane Collinge &lt;shane_collinge@yahoo.com&gt;
Matteo Dell'Omodarme &lt;matt@martine2.difi.unipi.it&gt;
Paul Evans &lt;pevans@catholic.org&gt;
Mark Nielsen &lt;info@gnujobs.com&gt;
Ben Okopnik &lt;ben-fuzzybear@yahoo.com&gt;
billsux@microsloth.com
sponsor@ssc.com
webmaster@linuxgazette.de
ftp@be.easynet.net
Doc Searls &lt;doc@ssc.com&gt;
Contact Us &lt;info@osdn.com&gt;
ShadowDragon &lt;brian.smithSPAM@SUXshadoweb.net&gt;
ASCIIMan &lt;jsaNOSPAMboe@artifexREMOVETHIS.org&gt;
linux-questions-only@ssc.com
postmaster@aol.com
Username@Host
needbulkisp@yahoo.com
MAILER-DAEMON@aol.com
550MAILER-DAEMON@aol.com
gnu@gnu.org
email us &lt;weblocal@linux-mandrake.com&gt;
click here &lt;tony@eastmont.net&gt;
Ben Okopnik &lt;fuzzybear@pocketmail.com&gt;
marketing@elinux.com
you@email.address
info@suse.com
support@suse.it
suse@suse.de
announce@en.tldp.org &lt;announce-subscribe@en.tldp.org.NOSPAM&gt;
-unsubscribe@en.tldp.org
esr@thyrsus.com
debian-user@lists.debian.org
mirrors@debian.org
security@debian.org
sales@nostarch.com
webmaster@kernel.org
ftpadmin@kernel.org
</PRE>




<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%%"> <!--*********************** -->


<HR> <!-- ************************************************************** -->

<P> Happy Linuxing!

<P> Mike ("Iron") 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">

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Published in Issue 84 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, November 2002
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