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Contents: |
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1999 16:59:49 +0100
From: "W.N. Beukers",
beukers@ampcometal.nl
Subject: Set up Linux as server
I am planning to buy a Linux version to use for a server i am setting up. The main things I want to have Linux do is ask as a proxy, a mail and a fax server.
Linux will be running on a PC together with windows 95 and handles all the outgoing faxes, all e-mail communications (internal and external). Also these users have to have the possibility to to on the Internet by means of the proxy server.
Last wish I have is a graphical interface to work with as I am a novice but I still want to set up this system and maintain it. What Unix version is the best, easiest (red hat, Susie, or Debian)
Can you tell what I need as a basis and what additional packages I need so that I can order it.
--
Wilko Beukers
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1999 11:17:18 -0500
From: DJ FALCIONE, falcione@bettis.gov
Subject: Idea for an article
I have an idea for an article.
How about a primer on how to set up one's sound card to do true MIDI?
I have an Ensoniq AudioPCI card and have been successful in getting it to play WAV files via the audio out port and also simulated MIDI using TIMIDITY.
But I can't figure out how to get TRUE MIDI rendering like I get with the same card in Windows 95.
Is this a driver issue? Thanks,
--
Dean Falcione
(Check out Linux Journal issue58. It has an article on Csound that discusses MIDI issues. It's on-line too at http://www.linuxjournal.com/issue58/3187.html. --Editor)
Date: Tue, 05 Jan 1999 22:42:11 -0600
From: Romulo Rodriguez,
romulorc@earthlink.net
Subject: Celeron
I would like to know whether Linux will have any problems with the Intel Celeron Processor. Thanks,
--
R Rodriguez
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1999 10:33:39 -0600
From: "MARK -The Great- ZOLTON",
mcz@wheat.ksu.edu
Subject: Advanced Linux/Java Concepts
At my university, most new programming courses are taught in Java. Because of that, I have become quite apt in programming for such an environment. However, when the time comes that I have a great idea for and application for Linux, I feel somewhat bad about programming it in Java as it is not native to the system. I feel particularly left out when it comes to gathering information from the system. For instance, I am currently working on a set of Zip disk management tools and I have begun coding the core of the application in Java. Since Java is the only language where I have any real experience programming a GUI, I plan on using the Swing widget set to make a slick GUI. Anyway, to manipulate the Zip disks, I make several calls to basic system functions like umount, mount, eject. While this is fine for simply manipulating the disk, I would also like to gather information about the disk... such as, is there a disk in the drive, is it already mounted, etc... Can you see where I'm going. Although Java can do quite a bit, Its platform independence seems to limit it. I would like to know if there is a Java package designed for use with Linux that can provide me information about the system. Or, if that does not exist, does anyone know of a simple, effective method of gathering information from the system? Maybe parsing output from other Linux utilities?? Thanks
--
Mark
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1999 11:30:12 -0600
From: "MARK -The Great- ZOLTON",
mcz@wheat.ksu.edu
Subject: Getting started with programming for Linux
Although I am a somewhat experienced programmer, I find myself wanting to know more about programming for Linux. I have a little C under my belt as well as C++ and a lot of Java (from university classes) and I'm just learning Perl. I am very interested in programming for Linux (specifically X), but I don't know where to start. I don't know enough C to begin fiddling around with other people's source, so I'd like a general introduction to programming for Linux (how to interact with the system, how to program a GUI using GTK, QT, etc..., and how to write Window Maker docklets). However, seeing as how I have only a little knowledge of C, if there is an introduction which provides said things along with intermediate C programming, that would be the best. Does something like this exist and would the O'Reilly X books be of any use at this stage in my development? Thanks again,
--
Mark
Date: Thu, 07 Jan 1999 01:01:58 -0600b4
From: Bob Counts,
rcounts@troi.csw.net
Subject: Gzip and tar files
I am looking forward to reading the gazette but for right now the only machine I have is a Windows 98 that is connected to the Internet. I would like to download the Gazette but I don't have any way to expand and un-archive gzip and tar files in Windows. Is there any software that you know of that will do this. I am still in the infancy stage when it comes to Linux and I need all the help I can get. I know your magazine will help, but until I get PPP going on my Linux machine I am stuck. I think I should mention that my Linux and Windows computers are separate boxes. Thanks
--
Bob Counts
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 12:58:01 +0100
From: Ottar Engstrøm,
Ottar.Engstrom@lfk.mil.no
Subject: Matrox Productiva G100
I am trying to configure X on my PC, XF86config asks me for several questions I can not answer. Like RAMDAC,Chipset ect on my Productiva G100 8MB AGP graphic card? I will be pleased if You could answer me.
--
Ottar
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 18:01:19 +1100
From: "deves",
deves@eisa.net.au
Subject: EMM 386 Emulator
I'm trying to find the EMM 386, can you give me any addresses for download of this emulator? As my computer needs it to play most games including the famed POKEMON game Do you think I should get this emulator, or wait for the PC game? P.S I still want those addys!!!!
--
deves
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 10:53:14 -0500
From: GBE, hawk@valinet.com
Subject: new user
I'm new at Linux(RH5.2) and I've a question. When I download files using Netscape4.04 it puts it in my root directory. Now I guess I'm a little anal-retentive but I would like it to go in a folder called "download" or some other place. When I went to upgrade my XFree86 the install directions said that it was suppose to be in /var/tmp ??? Now I can mkdir for the folder, do I put permission on it? Do I have to link it to somewhere?
Please give me commands to do this, if you can. Thanks
--
Gene Euvrard
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1999 19:32:05 +0200
From: "Volkan Kenaroglu",
volkan@sim.net.tr
Subject: FTP Server
I installed Debian 2.3 recently. And I want to build a FTP server. h All I need to know is how can do this :) But I never tried to do so I don't know even where to start. Please help! Any information would be appreciated. thanx Linux-mates.
--
Volkan
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1999 23:28:18 -0800 (PST)
From: Shanti Mohan,
kas6719@yahoo.com
Subject: Trouble on Linux
This is regarding CD-record software available on Linux. When a CD is doing a actual write to the CDR, and some other user on the server tries to remove a very big file using "rm" (the file is about 400MB) the CD-record program stops writing. This also happens when a user is trying to copy amount of data on the server. Is there any solution to this problem as it means that my server is locked while write is in progress.
Could you please help ? Thanks
--
Shanti Mohan
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 09:30:57 +0000
From: Andreas Neukoetter,
ti95neuk@de.ibm.com
Subject: Idea for an article ...
I'm one of the poor guys in Germany who has to use an Provider for his Web server ... instead of hosting it myself.
The biggest Problem is to keep the "online"-site in sync with the "off-line"-one. Since i choose a cheap-provider i have no telnet-access to "my"-server and can't use the wget- or mirror-approach.
I've written some scripts to make "crc32"-lists (in fact just sum-up the bytes since my crc32.pl just don't works) in Perl and execute it "off-line" and "online" (as a cgi ... the only way to run programs on the server). These lists are compared and different files are synced ... it works... but i don't find it satisfying :(
has anybody a "better" solution ???
--
Anti
Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1999 14:26:26 -0000
From: "Jonathan Homer",
jhomer@pulsesoftware.demon.co.uk
Subject: Re Telnet!
Need help with the Telnet Daemon. It works perfectly accept when you connect via Windows or NT (sorry). It does as far as I can tell a Username lookup. Since NT or WIN 95 does not run such a service there is a pause of 10 seconds or so. I have not yet found the way to switch this lookup off. Can anyone help me? Thanks
--
Jon
Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1999 06:05:39 -0800 (PST)
From: Steve Foster
steve_p_foster@yahoo.com
Subject: Xaw3d Documentation
Just a short note, is there any documentation available for the wigit set, as I have used the example in LG 2(?), and fancy a crack at some other styles.
--
Steve
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 19:29:55 -0500
From: "Jeffrey S. Flowers",
ftn@bellsouth.net
Subject: Linux in ROM
The recent letters about putting Linux on a floppy is interesting to me but what I am interested in is putting Linux in ROM. I have a used 486 and what I would like to do is buy a ISA card that emulates a IDE hard drive. I've seen them advertised but to work with Linux wither a custom driver would be needed or Linux would have to be set up to use the BIOS for all disk accesses.
Does anyone know of anyone doing this kind of thing? Thanks
--
Jeffrey
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 10:14:45 -0600 (CST)
From: Andy Kraut,
opie4624@wagner.mtco.com
Subject: Help Wanted -- Client 32
My High School uses Novell's Client 32 for all of their Internet connections. This means that only the main server has an IP address. Does anyone know how to make Linux (Red Hat 5.2) use the Internet over this? IPX is the only protocol in the Network settings of the Win 95 machines here. Thanks in advance,
--
Andy Kraut
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 10:51:22 +030
From: "bman", biz_bman@hotmail.com
Subject: A Question Please
First, I like your web site, and second, I have a question.
I have two 3com modems v90's one is internal "3com v90 voice" and the other is External 3com v90 .... I am using each one with a Linux System and have them connected to each others by a telephone line .... my problem is that I don't get the 56 speed that v90 should have. I get 33 or some thing like that... is there a way to tune up the modems in Linux operating systems? Thanks a lot.
--
bman
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 17:10:18 -0600
From: "Aaron Becker", abecke2@uic.edu
Subject: Help with AGP Riva TNT and Linux
I just installed Red Hat Linux 5.2, and I don't know how to configure it to utilize my 16 MB STB Velocity 4400 AGP graphics card. That card is not in the card database, unfortunately. I can start the X Window System, but, the resolution is only 320 X 200. This resolution renders X virtually unusable. I would appreciate any help anyone can give me on this subject. Please bear in mind that I am extremely inexperienced with Linux when you respond. Thanks
--
Aaron
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 21:07:17 +0100
From: "Oriol Molist",
omsv@mail.cotursa-hotels.com
Subject: Suggestion
I am a Linux user. I have setup several PCs as X-terminals, but it is quite boring and takes too much time. I want to create a script that allows the easy setup of a X-terminal with lpd and ghostscript printer support, sharing the same NFS root for all xterminals, these would allow to install a network of xterm-PCs easily. Imagine that you can have the same of windows terminal server without having to pay anything.
Please if anyone is interested in helping me, send me e-mail. thanks
--
Oriol Molist
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 00:18:25 -0500 (EST)
From: jvu001@umaryland.edu
Subject: Help: Linux, laptop, PCMCIA SCSI
I have a Toshiba 220CDS laptop and it once ran Linux on a 800 MB partition, but I deleted the partition because I needed the space. I have a PCMCIA SCSI card and am thinking about getting the Iomega Jaz drive (either 1 or 2GB) and installing a Linux partition on that external drive. My question is: Is this possible? Has anyone attempted this and has successfully installed Linux on it? I'm thinking that I would have to use DOS to load the PCMCIA drivers first and then use loadlin to boot the Linux partition. Am I correct in thinking that this will work? Thanks.
--
John
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 08:58:27 -0600
From: Pete Nelson,
pete.nelson@ci.stpaul.mn.us
Subject: Serial Headache
I had been trying to set up a PPP connection from my Red Hat 5.2 box at home to various ISPs. It was so problematic, I ended up writing a script that would begin dialing and fork an xterm with a 'tail -f /var/log/messages' so I could watch it fail.
I ironed out all the bugs in my chat script (Linux would be no fun if everything worked perfectly out of the box!), and pppd would connect - but it would then bomb out.
The messages were always the same before pppd died :
pppd[xxx]: Serial connection is not 8-bit clean. pppd[xxx]: Problem: bit 7 always 0.
So it looks like a serial problem. But I haven't found a fix with 'setserial' or anything in my BIOS, or in the PPP setup. My guess is it's something incredibly simple that I'm just completely overlooking, but no one else that I know can figure it out, either.
If anybody knows the answer to this problem, I'd really like to hear it ( and you can even throw in a 'DUH!' if you so desire - I'm almost positive there's a real easy answer to this! ) Thanks.
--
Pete Nelson
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 14:49:53 +0800 (HKT)
From: Romel Flores, rom@ncc.edu.ph
Subject: (newbie question) messed up terminal
tty1 of my Linux box went gaga and can't accept the enter key. It just displays the ^M when I press the enter key and ^? when I press backspace.
How do I solve the problem without resetting the machine. Thanks.
--
R. Flores
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 12:43:06 -0800
From: "Rick Lim", rick_lim@bctel.com
Subject: PPP dialin and out from the same box
I can connect to my ISP (PPP) which uses dynamic IP address. I can then turn around and configure the same serial port for a static IP (PPP) for someone to dial into the same box.
But if I now try to connect to the ISP my box has the same static IP that was assigned to the port and it will not let me connect.
Is there a way to PPP out dial using a static IP address and still have a PPP in dial and assign a IP from my LAN? Thanks for any help.
--
Rick
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 11:13:38 -0500
From: Dean Maluski, n0ety@home.com
Subject: Netscape
I tried using tip to have Netscape use Mail directory. OK now I created all my sub-directories in Mail but they start with Caps so Inbox is not the same as inbox.
Is there any way to make them the same? Preferably Netscape looking at inbox & not Inbox. One cool thing is now when I look at message center I have a choice of looking in Inbox or inbox, and all directories within /Mail using Netscape.
--
Dean
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 22:19:36 EST
From: tomf7@hotmail.com
Subject: Linux
So I finally got Red Hat 5.2 installed after 8 tries, now what. It seems like a fun game toy, but is it really useful? I can't get Netscape going because the server doesn't have a DNS even though I put one in for it. The xplaycd reads the CD, but no sound. The time I spend on this system doesn't make up for the cost. Linux has at least light years to go to catch up with anything that runs .
Date: Wed, 06 Jan 1999 16:43:22 +0100
From: Christian Schaller,
frostking@linuxrising.com
Subject: RE:Anouncements by Sun & TrollTech
After seeing the latest issue of Linux Gazette I have a couple of comments.
1) I often feel that the stories covered in Linux Gazette and thereafter Linux Journal are dated, I mean these license announcements are old and heavily debated and Slashdot etc. As a Journal subscriber I for one would appreciate if the currentness of the stories covered in the gazette and the journal was more close to date of publication than today.
2) As for the articles content I have one issue I think should be brought up when the "open-source" licenses are discussed. And that is the fact that these licenses are a bigger threat to the free software community than proprietary software. Most of these licenses makes it impossible to reuse code and they undermine the success criteria that GPL/LGPL and BSD licenses gives open source software, by enabling anybody to modify or include code or complete software packages in their own software. If these types of licenses are allowed to be accepted as just as good, the best scenario we might hope for is that anybody making free software "just" have to include 20 different licenses with the software witch have to consist of 15 different patches. I hope SSC through their publications takes care not to support such a development.
Sincerely,
Christian Schaller
(The realities of life are both LG and LJ are monthly magazines. If an announcement is made on on the 4th of the month, it won't show up in LG until the next month. For LJ, it's even longer because there's the lead time needed to get the magazine in print, etc.
We could, of course, just ignore all news related issues and stick with technical articles only, but then we wouldn't be getting our opinions out there.
What would be nice is if these companies would tell us 2 months in advance so we could have the stories in print in LJ at the same time the announcement is made. But this isn't likely to ever happen--insider information and all that.
One of the reasons that I put the article in LG was to get it out a bit quicker than it will appear in LJ. You are not the only one that has made this particular complaint. However, I ask that you all cut us a bit of slack--we are not a daily newspaper.
As to your second point, I noted that these licenses were not the same as GPL--only a step in the right direction. Thanks for writing, --Editor)
Date: Wed, 06 Jan 1999 23:07:49 +0100 (CET)
From: jfm2@club-internet.fr
Subject: Destroying the Kernel Compiling Myth
Once again we find an article propagating the myth of kernel compiling (the one written by a guy from India). Problem is that since 1996 benefits of this are nearly nil in a well designed distribution.
I think this myth is very harmful to Linux: as long as there will be people claiming "Thou hast to recompile thee kernel" it will be impossible to attract non-hackers to Linux. That means confining Linux into a _small_ programmer's ghetto.
The MIME attachment is an analysis of the benefits of compiling a 2.0 kernel. It is based on performance measures, simple maths and source reading. Quantitative analysis shows there are ways far more effective for optimizing a Linux box. I talk about them but that should be developed. The text will be part of the Independence distribution. If you think it is not acceptable for LJ to publish something that will be on a web site in a few days then publish on Linux Gazette.
--
Jean Francois Martinez
Project Independence: Linux for the Masses,
http://www.independence.seul.org
Date: Thu, 07 Jan 1999 23:30:20 -0500
From: Jim Heyssel,
jheyssel@bellatlantic.net
Subject: Make Linux Better, Yet!
I am happy with your site. I am suggesting some improvements to Linux itself which would make it the enterprise software of the next decade.
1. Give Linux full journaling, unlimited file-size, and scalable multiprocessor support. Whether using ext2 with new 64-bit fs, or writing an integrated driver for making ufs, or xfs, or ntfs, it does not matter.
2. Incorporate full IPV6 support. Incorporate complete networking interfaces with NT, Novell, Mac, other UNIX systems. A lot of support is already there, but I am particularly interested in Network Directory Service type support and Domain control support with one login.
3. Fully integrated KDE desktop environment - when you install application software, it should be on the desktop and automated for dummies. Not everyone is a hacker. But everyone who uses computers for the sake of interests other than the computer itself (unlike many of us Linux geeks), should be able to download and install any application without having to read an inordinate amount of documentation or worry about configuration files (unless, of course, we enjoy that sort of thing).
4. Multi configuration automation for distinct uses - e.g. an enhancement like Red Hat's for various types of use: server, router, desktop workstation, database server, etc.
5. Software that deliberately aims at inter-operability with file formats generated by Microsoft, Apple, and other popular software applications.
6. These goals can easily be achieved in the next year and make Linux number one, with a combination of features to entice the most innovative of hackers, and most mundane of end-users.
7. Tell me where to begin. If anyone else is interested in any one of the above, I would like to collaborate.
--
Jim
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 18:58:47 -0600
From: Brian Bray, ixnay@wws.net
Subject: Jan, 99 article Xwindows vs. w95/98/NT
first let me say that I love you :-)~ secondly in your article from Jan 199 entitled X Windows versus Windows 95/98/NT: No Contest, by Paul Gregory Cooper. he states that that...
"Windows95/98/NT on the other hand is a different kettle of fish. Here the OS, GUI, WM, and desktop aren't clearly separated (as in UNIX) but are all rolled into one. Thus you have whatever choice Microsoft happen to give you, i.e. windows themes.
For Microsoft this is an advantage - it stops people butting in and rewriting parts of their OS which could potentially lose them money. For instance they realized that with the old windows 2/3.1 you could simply replace MS DOS with another compatible DOS such as DR DOS from Caldera. In an ongoing court case Caldera allege that MS added code to windows to make it seem like there was a bug in DR DOS. With 9*/NT being all rolled in one there is no need to resort to such tactics. "While I agree that everything that this article states I would like to point out that users of Windows 95/8/NT can indeed change there shell to a Afterstep like interface called Litestep.
http://www.multimania.com/jdubois/litestep/index.htm
I have not personally ever used but know ppl who have. And it doesn't look to bad.
Thanks for your time,
--
Brian Bray
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 05:55:47 -0800 (PST)
From: Casper Boden-Cummins,
casperbc@yahoo.com
Subject: X
Here's a top tip: the popular X Window System is _not_ called `X Windows'. There is no such product. Instead, the man page on X says:
The X Consortium requests that the following names be used when referring to this software:
X
X Window System
X Version 11
X Window System, Version 11
X11
I'd be overjoyed if we could ditch this M$-inspired mistake! ;-)
--
Casper Boden-Cummins
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 10:33:35 -0500
From: Michael Bright,
mabright@us.ibm.com
Subject: How about a cross platform section?
This is to the Gazette as well as Linux Journal. From what I've seen in the industry, most businesses are using Linux in a heterogeneous environment. They are doing this because they don't want to jump into Linux with both feet. A lot of these are NT/Linux houses which leverage the abilities of both platforms to get the job done. This could be anything from a collection of tips to entire articles. I see NT/Linux related questions and tips in almost every issue. Maybe its time they were put in the same section. I even have an Idea for a logo or symbol, Take a Yin Yang and put a Windows emblem in the space for the white dot and a penguin for the black. The black background could be made to resemble the NT workstation package with the "edge of space" graphic and perhaps the penguin could be in an arctic scene.
This idea does not have to be limited to just Linux and NT, there are connectivity issues for Apple, OS/2/Aurora, Novell and others.
Thanks for your time.
--
Michael
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 13:25:02 +0000
From: Me, deltax@pragma.net
Subject: Quark Xpress on WinDos?
Quark Xpress was originally a Mac product.
I was unaware that it was ported to winferior systems.... Indeed it would be very nice to have Quark under UNIX. From what I remember using it (long time ago, old version!) it was a very nice, efficient and powerful page design software.
--
Eric
![[ TABLE OF
CONTENTS ]](../gx/indexnew.gif)
![[ FRONT
PAGE ]](../gx/homenew.gif)
More 2¢ Tips!
Re: Running Your Own Domain Over a Part Time Dialup
If all you need is the ability to telnet into your Linux box, there is a simpler way (assuming your ISP gives you a Web site with CGI). First, create a script on your site called "updateIP.cgi":
#!/bin/bash echo $REMOTE_ADDR >latestIPand another called "telnet.cgi":
#!/bin/bash echo Location: telnet://`cat latestIP` echo(Don't forget to make the CGI scripts executable.) Set up a cron job that will do "lynx -source http://www.example.com/~foo/updateIP.cgi >/dev/null 2>&1" every 15 minutes (or whatever). (Replace http://www.example.com/~foo/ with the URL of your site, of course.) Now you can set yourself a bookmark for "http://www.example.com/~foo/telnet.cgi"; when you go to it, your browser will be redirected to the telnet: URL and will (should) fire up a telnet session.
No need to pay somebody for Dynamic DNS or a domain name. If your ISP doesn't support CGI, you can probably hack up something with FTP instead.
--
John (Francis) Stracke
Boot SCSI with IDE Disk Too
Another way to make it boot SCSI first is to install the IDE drive on the *secondary* IDE controller, not the primary. Whether this works or not depends on the BIOS and the SCSI card.
--
DJ
TAG: ifconfig Reports TX Errors on v2.1.x Kernels
my 0.02 euro:
This is a problem with the net-tools used. The /proc/net format changed during 2.1.x development and old net-tools just can't grok it. The 2.1.x Documentation/Changes file states version and location of the net-tools you need to get correct results: for 2.2.0-pre4 it's v1.49.
It's generally a Good Thing to check Changes after patching the kernel tree. There are more things you need to consider when running a 2.[12].x kernel on a 2.0.x distribution, and Changes has the details.
Linux Gazette is a useful piece of work. Thanks!
--
Michel van de Ven
Triple booting
I read your article about booting linux and NT. I have a triple booting solution for you. I read this in the Jan99 PC@uthority so I can't claim the credit on this much
I recently saw a suggestion for triple booting NTFS, FAT32 and linux. Well here's a quick tip: Linux can be put into the NT boot menu. To do so, run lilo to create a boot sector of your linux partition, then run:
dd if=/dev/hdc1 of=/dev/hda/bootsect.lnx bs=512 count=1Replace /dev/hdc1 with your linux partition and /dev/hda/ with your mountpoint of your "C:" drive under NT. This copies your linux boot sector to a file which NT reads as C:\BOOTSECT.LNX. Then append C:\boot.ini with
c:\bootsect.lnx="linux"Reboot, and linux should work off the NT boot menu.
this is the article I saw word for word and found that it didn't work so here is a version that does. I did this before converting Win98 to FAT32 First make sure that the "C:\"partition is mounted
mount -t msdos /dev/hda1 /mnt/win98then reference it /mnt/win98 in the place of the /dev/hda1, so the line should look like this
dd if=/dev/hdc1 of=/mnt/win98/bootsect.lnx bs=512 count=1I found that is worked.
--
Peter deVries
Searching CD-ROMs
Here is a two cent tip that I have been meaning to submit for a long long time now.
If you have a large stack of CD-ROMS, finding where a particular file lies can be a time consuming task. My solution uses the locate program and associated utilities to build up a database of the CDs' contents that allows for rapid searching.
First we need to create the database, the following script does the trick nicely.
The Mailbag!
#!/bin/bash
onedisk()
{
mount /mnt/cdrom
find /mnt/cdrom -maxdepth 7 -print | sed "s;^/mnt/cdrom;$1;" > $1.find
eject -u cdrom
}
echo Enter name of disk in device:
read diskname
while [ -n "$diskname" ]; do
onedisk $diskname
echo Enter name of next disk or Enter if done:
read diskname
done
echo OK, preparing cds.db
cat *.find | sort -f | /usr/lib/findutils/frcode > cds.db
echo Done...
Start with no CD mounted. Run the script. It will ask for a label for
the CD, a short name like "sunsite1" is best. It will then quickly scan
the CD, eject it and prompt for another. When you have exhausted your
collection just hit enter at the prompt. A file called cds.db will be
done. To make it simple to use copy cds.db to /var/lib (or anywhere
else, that is where locatedb is on my system). Now create an alias like
alias cdlocate="locate -d /var/lib/cds.db"
Now if I type "cdlocate lyx" I get
debian20_contrib/debian/hamm/contrib/binary-i386/text/lyx_0.12.0.final-0.1.deb debian20_contrib/debian/hamm/contrib/binary-m68k/text/lyx_0.12.0.final-0.1.deb debian20_contrib/debian/hamm/contrib/source/text/lyx_0.12.0.final-0.1.diff.gz debian20_contrib/debian/hamm/contrib/source/text/lyx_0.12.0.final-0.1.dsc debian20_contrib/debian/hamm/contrib/source/text/lyx_0.12.0.final.orig.tar.gz lsa3/apps/wp/lyx-0.12.0-linux-elf-x86-libc5-bin.tar.gz lsa3/apps/wp/lyx-0.12.0.lsm lsa3/apps/wp/lyx-0.12.0.tar.gz lsa4/docs/french/www.linux-france.com/lgazette/issue-28/gx/lyx lsa4/powertools/i386/lyx-0.12.0-1.i386.rpm lsa4/powertools/SRPMS/lyx-0.12.0-1.src.rpm openlinux12/col/install/RPMS/lyx-0.11.32-1.i386.rpm openlinux12/col/sources/SRPMS/lyx-0.11.32-1.src.rpm suse53/suse/contents/lyxIn order to prevent locate from warning you that the database is old try touch -t 010100002020 /var/lib/cds.db to set the modification date to January 1 2020.
--
Reuben
Searching Multiple CD-ROM
My English is terrible,so feel free to correct if you decide to publish...
Hello,i am a French linuxer and here is my two cent tips. If you have many CD-ROMs and want to retrieve this_file_I'm_sure_i_have_but_can't_remember_where, it can helps.
It consist of 2 small scripts using gnu utilities: updatedb and locate. Normally 'updatedb' run every night, creating a database for all the mounted file systems and 'locate' is used to query this system-wide database.But you can tell them where are the files to index and where to put the database.That's what my scripts does:
The first script (addcd.sh) create a database for the cd actually mounted.You must run it once for every cdrom.
The second ( cdlocate.sh ) search in the databases created by addcd.sh and display the cdname and full path of the files matching the pattern you give in parameter. So you can search for unmounted files !
To use:
mkdir /home/cdroms
cp addcd.sh cdlocate.sh /home/cdroms
mount /mnt/cdrom
( if your mount point is different , you must adapt
the script )
./addcd.sh Linux.Toolkit.Disk1.Oct.1996
It will take some time to updatedb to create the
databases specially if the cdrom contain many files.
./cdlocate.sh '*gimp*rpm'
Hope this help and happy linuxing !
---Cut here------------------------------
# addcd.sh
# Author: Jose-Luc.Hopital@ac-creteil.fr
# Create a filename's database in $DATABASEHOME for the cd mounted
# at $MOUNTPOINT
# Example usage: addcd.sh Linux.Toolkit.Disk3.Oct.1996
# to search the databases use cdlocate.sh
CDNAME=$1
test "$CDNAME" = "" && { echo Usage:$0 name_of_cdrom ; exit 1 ; }
# the mount point for the cd-ROM
MOUNTPOINT=/mnt/cdrom
# where to put the database
DATABASEHOME=/home/cdroms
updatedb --localpaths=$MOUNTPOINT --output=$DATABASEHOME/$CDNAME.updatedb && \
echo Database added for $CDNAME
---Cut here--------------------------------
# cdlocate.sh
# Author : Jose-Luc.Hopital@ac-creteil.fr
# Usage $0 pattern
# search regular expression in $1 in the database's found in $DATABASEHOME
# to add a database for a new cd-rom , use addcd.sh
test "$*" = "" && { echo Usage:$0 pattern ; exit 1 ; }
DATABASEHOME=/home/cdroms
cd $DATABASEHOME
# get ride of locate warning:more than 8 days old
touch *.updatedb
CDROMLIST=`ls *.updatedb`
for CDROM in $CDROMLIST
do
CDROMNAME=`basename $CDROM .updatedb`
locate --database=$DATABASEHOME/$CDROM $@ |sed 's/^/'$CDROMNAME:'/'
done
ANSWER:
Re: Does Linux have multimedia support?
Don Cramer wrote:
I was wondering if Linux now has, or will support any of the multimedia formats supported by Windows, such as AVI, JPG, WAV, MOV, etc?Yes, all of these are supported in various ways. Animated formats (AVI, MOV, animated GIFs, etc) are supported through the xanim program, along with a host of other tools (xanim just has the widest range of animation format support). Xanim also has support for playing some types of audio embedded in the video file (such as audio that accompanies an AVI file). Sound formats (WAV, AU, etc) are supported via the "sox" program (that plays these formats) and the Linux sound drivers (which you can get either in the Linux distributions or a commercial version which supports a wide range of sound cards and is available from 4Front Technologies for about $20US). Static formats for graphics images (JPEG, GIF, TIFF, TGA, etc) are supported by lots of tools: the GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program, which is similar to Photoshop), xv (which is like LView), ImageMagick and NetPBM (which are both a collection of graphics viewer/manipulation tools). There are lots of tools for viewing/listening to multimedia files. You can try the Linux Multimedia Pages (I've forgotten the URL but I think its listed on SSC's Resources pages) and my Linux Graphics pages at www.graphics-muse.org/linux.html.
Multimedia on Linux is probably not quite what you're used to on Windows as far as how you use them, but the support for most of the well known and well used formats is available. What you can't do (at least I doubt you can) is run multimedia programs from CDs that are Windows specific programs. Those programs won't run (well, they might under WINE but I've never tried them) but their support files may be readable by some of the Linux/Unix programs I've mentioned above.
--
Michael J. Hammel, The Graphics Muse
ANSWER:
Re: Linux and UNIX
The distinction between Linux and UNIX is, at this point, only in name. UNIX is a trademark of the X/Open Group and requires a fee for branding a product as a flavor of UNIX. Some vendors have considered getting UNIX certification for their particular brand of Linux, but I haven't heard of any of them actually doing it. Linux does, however, support the POSIX standards and others required for the UNIX branding, so it could be considered a flavor of UNIX even if it isn't quite official.
--
Drew
ANSWER:
Linux and UNIX
you asked:
I am a 2nd year computer science student. I have looked everywhere for the answer and found only basic answers. My question is what exactly is the difference between Linux and UNIX, excluding size and speed. I would appreciate it if you could just send me a few of the differences.
For all intents and purposes Linux *is* Unix -- ie. it is another unix variant. UNIX is not a single operating system, anyway. It is now a brand managed by the Open Group. That means that Operating System vendors (or Linux distribution vendors) may apply for Unix certification and branding. They pay money and TOG runs a bunch of tests and basically says, "ok, that's unix."
Of course, there are other relevant standards, such as POSIX. No standard fully covers the differences between branded or unbranded Unix implementations.
My question to you is, which unix variant are you referring to? There are so many, Solaris, HP-UX, Digital Unix, AIX, SCO, and BSDI, to name some common ones. SCO is sometimes thought of as the main UNIX as it is the direct descendent of AT&T's original System V source.
Of course, the BSD (Berkeley) derived variations play a pivotal role in Unix history as well. All of the Unix variant's mentioned above including Linux incorporate functionality and ideas from both primary Unix flavors as well as incorporating their own ideas.
System V (SCO) style unix, for example, has a different boot structure than BSD. Most recent Linux distributions use System V style boot scripts. But Linux systems also incorporate BSD style printing mechanisms. The GNU command-line tools used on Linux systems are much enhanced and extended versions of their System V and BSD counterparts. GNU ls has many more options than what many unix vendors may ship. To further confuse the issue, GNU tools can be used to replace vendor-supplied commands if desired.
Are we having fun yet?
Your best bet is to read up on Unix history to understand why unix (small u) is not one Operating System but a family of Operating Systems with similar characteristics. Filesystem structure and permissions, basic commands, process sheduling, boot method and dozens upon dozens of other characteristics add up to define an OS as "unix". Linux falls quite handily into this family despite the lack of (expensive and arguably meaningless) Open Group unix branding.
See Unix Guru Universe for some more info http://www.ugu.com/
Also see the geek-girl site for some more history and info
http://www.geek-girl.com/unix.html
--
Omegaman
ANSWER:
Re: Help Lotus Notes
In your letter to Linux Gazette #36, you wrote:
I have a Linux box, with SuSE, and a Lotus Notes server. I want to e-mail the status of my workstation to another user that belongs to the Notes Network. Does anybody know how to do that, or just the concepts to do this?
Just pipe the output of a command to mail. For instance, I have a cron job that mails a weekly status report to the members of my workgroup. This helps remind the boss that the Linux box is stable and doing useful work.
Assuming you want to do something simple like uptime, the command line would look like:
/usr/bin/uptime | /bin/mail -s "Uptime Report" me@my.address
The script I run is a little more complex because it gathers statistics from various logs:
#!/bin/bash # # Script: wsr (Weekl;y Status Report) # # Purpose: Summarize the relevant activity of the server for the past week. # # Author: Anthony E. Greene agreene@pobox.com # echo " " echo "Uptime" echo "------" /usr/bin/uptime echo " " echo "Mail Transactions" echo "-----------------" MAILSENT=`/bin/grep -c "stat=Sent" /var/log/maillog.1` MAILRCVD=`/bin/grep -c "from=" /var/log/maillog.1` MAILCOUNT=$[$MAILSENT+MAILRCVD] MAILRATE=$[$MAILCOUNT/24/7] echo "$MAILCOUNT ($MAILRATE transactions per hour)" echo " " echo "Web Documents Served" echo "--------------------" WEBCOUNT=`/bin/grep -c " 200 " /var/log/httpd/access_log.1` WEBRATE=$[$WEBCOUNT/7] echo "$WEBCOUNT ($WEBRATE transactions per day)" echo " " # End of ScriptThe cron job is:
/usr/local/sbin/wsr | /bin/mail -s "Weekly Status Report" staff
The "staff" email address is a sendmail alias that points to the actual email addresses of the members of the workgroup. As long as outgoing mail works, this will do what you need.
--
Anthony E. Greene
ANSWER:
Re: Intellimouse
There's a program called imwheel that supposedly does this in XFree86, although I haven't tried it myself. Its homepage is http://solaris1.mysolution.com/~jcatki/imwheel/ and the freshmeat appindex for it is http://freshmeat.net/appindex/1998/08/15/903164189.html
--
Drew
ANSWER:
Re: Does Linux have multimedia support?
Well, the short answer is "yes." :) There are a number of Linux applications that can view and/or edit these types of files.
The Gimp ( http://www.gimp.org/ ) can edit almost every graphics format known to man, and could be considered a good alternative to Photoshop. You can see quite a few others at http://core.freshmeat.net/appindex/x11/graphics.html
In regards to the video formats, XAnim ( http://xanim.va.pubnix.com/ ) can view most of these without any problem.
As for sounds, there are a plethora of programs for doing almost
anything you could think of that involve sounds. For starters, take a
look at http://core.freshmeat.net/appindex/console/sound.html and
http://core.freshmeat.net/appindex/x11/sound.html for a few of the
available sound apps.
Have fun.
--
Drew
ANSWER:
Re: IP Masquerading
There's another HOWTO at http://eunuchs.org/linux/ip_masq/ip_masq_content.html I haven't tried setting up IPMasq myself, so I'm not sure how much this good this will do, but I hope it helps a bit.
--
Drew
ANSWER:
Re: Netscape help
This one's pretty easy. If you're lucky, your settings are only corrupted. This is fixed by removing the ".netscape" (or just "netscape", without a leading dot, I'm not sure which offhand) directory from affected users' home directories.
If Communicator itself is broken, you can remove the /usr/local/netscape directory and reinstall Netscape from the .tar.gz file that I assume you downloaded. If you installed it from an RPM or some other sort of package, I would read the manpage for the package manager and remove it using rpm or dpkg or what have you. Good luck.
--
Drew
ANSWER:
TX errors with 2.1/2.2 kernels
I noticed in your mailbag several letters talking about errors on network devices.
The correct answer is to upgrade the net-tools package. The format of many /proc files has changed. In particular, those used by ifconfig. I recommend browsing through linux/Documentation/Changes for everyone. I would even suggest it be mandatory reading. =)
--
David
ANSWER:
Wheel Mouse under Linux
This appeared in Jan '99 issue:
From: James Jackson
Does anybody know how to enable the wheel on an Intellimouse under Linux? (Red Hat 5.2)
I am sending this to gazette as well, because it might be of general interest.
Look at
http://www.inria.fr/koala/colas/mouse-wheel-scroll/
He might be able to help you.
--
Torben
ANSWER:
Re: I have two ideas for articles
You wanted to get rid of "Start" in fvwm95. Edit your .fvwm95rc like this:
*FvwmTaskBarAutoStick # here I changed Start to Linux *FvwmTaskBarStartName Linux *FvwmTaskBarStartMenu StartMenu *FvwmTaskBarStartIcon mini-exp.xpm *FvwmTaskBarShowTipsYou might want to have a look at an article I wrote a few months ago:
http://www.ssc.com/lg/issue21/fvwm.html
Regarding the virtual desktop issue, have a look into your /etc/X11/XF86Config. In the screen section look for the keyword virtual. Change it to
Virtual 0 0
to switch off the virtual screen.
--
Gerd
|
Contents: |
March 1999 Linux Journal
The March issue of Linux Journal will be hitting the newsstands February 11. This issue focuses on Internationalization and Emerging Markets with articles on multilinual Emacs, printing messages in different languages, autonomous automobiles in Italy and mediated reality. This last is the second part of Dr. Steve Mann's series on wearable computers. Linux Journal now has articles that appear "Strictly On-Line". Check out the Table of Contents at http://www.linuxjournal.com/issue59/index.html for articles in this issue as well as links to the on-line articles. To subscribe to Linux Journal, go to http://www.linuxjournal.com/ljsubsorder.html.
Australian Linux Community Offering
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1998 01:00:31 -0800
OzSearch extends its offer to the Australian Linux community to LG
Australian readers as well:
OzSearch Internet Guide, an all-Australian web directory, recently released its new web site. The site is intended to offer a starting point for any complete search for Australian web sites. In addition to successfully running Linux Red Hat 5.2 (where 100+ days of uptime are common), the site is powered by Apache v1.3.3 with ModPerl and MySQL. Stress tests have indicated that this configuration scales exceptionally well.
To give back to the Linux community, OzSearch is currently seeking to help sponsor an Australian-based Linux users group. Please provide your group's information to Kris Duggan (kduggan@ozsearch.com.au).
OzSearch can be found at
http://www.ozsearch.com.au
For more information:
Kris Duggan, President of OzSearch Internet Guide,
kduggan@ozsearch.com.au
The Bazaar
Date: Thu, 07 Jan 1999 09:55:07 -0400
A major free and open source
software event is a convention entitled the Bazaar. It will have
over 5,000 attendees and 100 vendors. The speaker list includes major
free software developers and advocates like Eric Raymond, Richard
Stallman, and Alan Cox. The Bazaar is the first convention of its kind
to ever be held in New York city and we are very excited for the
Bazaar's maiden voyage. It will be opening on March 13th and continuing
through the 15th at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan.
For more information:
Eddie Park, Assistant Director
eddie@inlimine.org,
http://www.thebazaar.org/
Update on USENIX events (40562)
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 09:25:58 -0800 (PST)
Full tutorial and technical session programs, and online registration,
are now available at http://www.usenix.org/events/ for the following:
NORDU99 - 1st Nordic Europen/USENIX Conference, February 9-12, 1999, Stockholm, Sweden
OSDI: 3rd Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation, February 22-25, 1999, New Orleans, Louisiana
1st Conference on Network Administration, April 7-10, 1999, Santa Clara, California
----Co-located and sharing two days of tutorials with:
1st Workshop on Intrusion Detection and Network Monitoring, April 9-12, 1999, Santa Clara, California
COOTS: 5th Conference on Object-Oriented Technologies and Systems, May 3-7, 1999, San Diego, California
Workshop on Embedded SyStems, March 29-31, 1999, Cambridge, Massachusetts
LISA '99--13th Systems Administration Conference, November 7-12, 1999, Seattle, Washington
Tcl/Tk: 7th USENIX Tcl/Tk Conference, February 14-18, 2000, Austin, Texas
For more information:
http://www.usenix.org/events/,
UNIX Internet Service Administrator Wanted
Job at Cincinnati Bell, Cincinnati, Ohio. Administration of Linux servers and development.
Position Profile:
This position will work closely with the Internet Services team to provide support for the growing number of IP applications within the Internet Access product. Will have a direct impact on the customer's perception of the quality of the Internet Access product as well as the quality of any IP services within the Internet Access product.
Process and Technical Knowledge:
Linux Links
StarOffice 5.0 Personal Edfition Report:
http://macarlo.com/
World's Smallest Computer Runs Linux:
http://wearables.stanford.edu/
UNIX CD Bookshelf Released
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 15:32:04 -0800 (PST)
The recently released "UNIX CD Bookshelf" contains six O'Reilly books
plus the software from "UNIX Power Tools" -- all on a convenient
CD-ROM. A bonus hard copy book of the bestselling "UNIX in a Nutshell:
System V Edition", is also included.
The six included books, purchased separately, would retail for
$175.70, but "The Unix CD Bookshelf" package retails for only $69.95.
The CD-ROM contains the complete text of:
A free sample chapter, Chapter 2: UNIX Commands from "Unix in a Nutshell", is available at: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/unixcd/chapter/index.html
For more information: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/unixcd/
ISS Ships Industry's First, Integrated Network and Host-Based Intrusion Detection Solution
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1999 17:18:51 -0700
ISS Ships Industry's First, Integrated
Network and Host-Based Intrusion Detection Solution
ATLANTA, Ga. - January 7, 1999 - Internet Security Systems (Nasdaq: ISSX), the leading provider of adaptive network security solutions, today announced the worldwide availability of RealSecure 3.0, a solution that combines both network- and system-based intrusion detection and response capabilities to form a single enterprise threat management system. By adding host-based intrusion detection capabilities to RealSecure, customers can have the best of both worlds: fast detection of attacks at the network level stopping security breaches before damage is done, as well as identifying unauthorized access attempts at the system level.
For more information:
Nicki Kopelson,
nickik@connectpr.com
Corel Computer Launches the NetWinder Group Server
Ottawa, Canada=97January 13, 1999, Corel Computer, a division of Corel Corporation, today announced the availability of the NetWinder Group Server, the latest addition to their family of NetWinder thin servers.
The NetWinder Group Server offers departmental workgroups and small businesses a wide range of Internet/intranet services in an easy-to-use, affordable package. Based on the StrongARM=AE RISC microprocessor and the Linux operating system, the NetWinder product family delivers powerful, cost-effective desktop and server solutions.
The NetWinder Group Server with 32 MB RAM carries a suggested retail price of US $979 for the diskless version, US $1,339 with 2 GB hard drive, US $1,629 with 4 GB hard drive and US $1,839 with 6 GB hard drive. Prices subject to change without notice. Dealers may sell for less.
The NetWinder Group Server provides a full suite of Internet/intranet services, including:
For more information:
http://www.corelcomputer.com/
PHT Releases TurboLinux 3.0.1
OAKLAND, Calif - January 18, 1999 - TurboLinux v3.0.1, the first version of the popular Linux distribution to be sold as a boxed set, is available today. TL 3.0.1 will offer a comprehensive installation guide and manual, is priced at $49.95 and can be ordered at http://www.turbolinux.com/orders/.
TurboLinux, the most popular distribution in Japan, if not Asia, has begun a large transition into the U.S. Market. Pacific HiTech (PHT) has been a major part of the Linux community for years, previously acting as the distributor for RedHat and still as the Japanese distributor for all major Linux distributions. PHT recently opened it's new US offices in Oakland, CA and is working on more focused Linux products, beginning with TurboLinux Server, slated for release in the first half of '99, followed by other releases, including TurboLinux 4.0 in early summer '99.
For more information:
Justin Ryan, CEO, Senior WebMaster - PCHelp,
http://computers.iwz.com/, webmaster@computers.iwz.com
Informix/Linux
LAS VEGAS, NV-Informix Partner Forum-January 19, 1999-Informix Corporation (NASDAQ: IFMX), the technology leader in enterprise database-powered solutions and award winning Linux vendor, today announced the overwhelming success of its holiday Linux promotion and ongoing Linux program. International distribution of Informix products on Linux has exceeded expectations with more than 175,000 copies of Informix databases on Linux distributed over the last six months. In response to this overwhelming demand, Informix has increased the global availability of its market-leading Linux portfolio through two strategic alliances with leading Linux distributors Red Hat Software and SuSE. These distribution channel alliances give the company even greater penetration into the rapidly growing worldwide Linux community and make access to Informix products even easier for Linux enthusiasts and business users. These alliances make Informix's Linux products available for download from both vendors' Web sites and demonstrate Informix's unmatched commitment to the Linux platform.
A free development copy of Informix's database is bundled with SuSE's new 6.0 release of Linux. Available in Germany today, SuSE 6.0 will be stocked on U.S. retail shelves for a price of $49.95 by the end of January. The product bundle is currently available from the SuSE FTP site. Informix users will need to register the product online with Informix (http://www.informix.com/register4suse), to receive the free development license.
Informix Dynamic Server, Linux Edition Suite is available for download from the Red Hat Web site (http://www.redhat.com). Informix users will need to register the product online at the Red Hat web site, to receive the free 30-day license.
For more information: http://www.informix.com/
FASTLANE UNVEILS Xni NETWORK ANALYZER FOR LINUX
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 17:07:39 -0600
SUNNYVALE, CAFastlane Software Systems, Inc. announces the release of its Xni
network analysis, security and accounting package on the Linux platform. Xni
is a comprehensive, easy-to-use, software-only solution that monitors every
conversation between hosts in real time, producing a concise graphical view of
network usage and traffic flow without the heavy resource drain and
limitations
of SNMP/ARMON tools or the dedicated hardware typically required of network
analyzers.
Compact data format permits 7-day, 24-hour reporting.
For administrators concerned with tracking DNS performance, Xni uses DNS/Yellow Pages to closely monitor DNS/BIND entries for all hosts it sees and reports all devices that have no DNS entry or result in a timeout.
Xni can identify the activity of all network hosts in real time or over time. Applications can be tracked either individually or in groups. The system can be configured to monitor traffic and respond to alarms in intervals as small as one second. Findings are presented as an easy-to-read combination of graphs, charts and lists.
On-the fly HTML reporting permits access with a standard browser Xni features on-the-fly HTML reporting that allows administrators to create reports on network traffic usage and view them from any machine using a standard browser.
For more information: Fastlane Software Systems, http://www.xni.com/
Applix Announces Applixware for Linux On the Power PC Platform and Bundling Deal With LinuxPPC Inc.
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 09:30:26 -0500
WESTBORO, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 19, 1999--Applix Inc.,
a leader in front office business solutions, today announced support
for a new platform for its market leading suite of decision support
applications. Applixware, Applix's integrated office suite, will run on
Apple's Power PC based computers running the Linux operating system. In
addition, Applix will be selling the product with a bundled version of
LinuxPPC's Linux operating system.
Applixware is a graphical suite running natively under Linux and includes Applix Words, Applix Graphics, Applix Presents, Applix Spreadsheets, Applix Mail, Applix Data, Applix HTML Author and Applix Builder, a visual, object oriented, rapid application development tool that provides full programmability and customization for the suite.
LinuxPPC Inc., headquartered in Madison, WI, distributes the leading Linux distribution for the PowerPC platform. LinuxPPC has been working closely with Applix to raise awareness of the suite's availability on the platform, and has recently announced that the operating system will run on Apple's successful iMac product.
For more information:
Applix, Inc., http://www.applix.com/
Bascom Announces OpenLinux-based K-12 Application Bundle for
Third-largest OEM (ICS)
Orem, UT, January 18, 1998, BASCOM today announced the availability of its Internet Communications Server (ICS), an educational software/hardware solution developed for the OpenLinux OS from Caldera Systems Inc. Having successfully deployed ICS at key regional sites, BASCOM will now make it available to K-12 schools through the third largest hardware OEM and accompanying reseller channels. BASCOM's use of OpenLinux provides the education vertical market with its first Linux-specific application. While providing a secure and easily transportable platform for future alliances, BASCOM's decision to use OpenLinux was based on the unique needs of the education community: needs that fell directly under Caldera Systems' focus on Linux-based business solutions: stable, proven, tested and supported.
For more information:
BASCOM Global Internet Services, Inc.,
http://www.bascom.com/, info@bascom.com
Caldera Systems Inc.,
http://www.calderasystems.com ,
linux@calderasystems.com
Servertec today announced the availability of a new release of iServer, a small, fast, scalable and easy to administer platform independent Web/Application Server written entirely in Java
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 99 175420+0500
Kearny, NJ. - January 26, 1999 - Servertec today announced the availability of a new release of iServer, a small, fast, scalable and easy to administer platform independent Web/Application Server written entirely in JavaTM.
iServer is the perfect Web Server for serving static Web pages and a powerful Application Server for generating dynamic, data driving Web pages using Java Servlets, iScript, Common Gateway Interface (CGI) and Server Side Includes (SSI).
iServer provides a rich environment for building and deploying cross platform Web-based business critical Internet and Extranet applications. iServer is also a robust, scalable platform that individuals, work groups and corporations can use to establish a Web presence.
iServer preview release is available for free at http://www.servertec.com/ (connect-time charges may apply).
For more information:
Servertec, http://www.servertec.com/
Manuel J. Goyenechea,
goya@servertec.com
The Answer Guy
serial port settings --or--
Simplified Security? --or--
eterm quickie + general commment (linux SUPERGRAN)nr_files and nr_inodes --or--
setting up an ISP to serve emailGetting my new linux box to run the ftp serversetting up an ISP to serve email --or--
[Fwd: rsh on 2.0.34] --or--
procmail --or--
Linux Diagnostic Tool --or--
X terminals via serial links? --or--
copy of Microsoft Office --or--
diald modem settings E71 --or--
Further answers to questions? --or--
Steven Hancock: ps to gif --or--
"Routing and Subnetting 101" Linux Gazzette 1/1/99 --or--
Partitioning my new Linux box... --or--
Curious modem hangup... --or--
ifconfig reports TX errors on v2.1.x kernels --or--
System clock is too fast... --or--
you are the man --or--
you are the man --or--
you are the man --or--
modem disconnect problem?modem problems under linux --or--
I want my 10 GIGS!!! --or--
LTT submissionIs it possible to run Debian on 4 MB? --or--
Better resolution (laptop LCD) --or--
you are the manI want my 10 GIGS!!! --or--
DosLow Level FormattingBad Sectors in my HDD --or--
Help --or--
Communicator and PGP on Linux --or--
Uh, where'd my "man" go? --or--
Custom Install --or--
Securing a modem dial-out line.Why can I only login as root? --or--
RAMI used gzip in bad way... help! --or--
TCP patch for SACK? (RFC 2018) --or--
you are the man
Greetings from Jim DennisWell, the 2.2 kernel is finally out. Indeed the 2.2.1 patch has also made its way onto the scene (you just knew they'd find something worth fixing in the first week).
If you're considering upgrading you'll want to look through the list of required/suggested package upgrades to go with that. Although most code in userspace isn't affected much by kernel changes there are always some utilities and applications that will be.
Of course, you can install a new kernel right along side your existing one --- and reboot between them with glee. Remember LILO is a multi-boot utility as well as a boot loader --- so you can easily add new entries to it.
Thus upgrade will be much easier than the migration from 1.2 to 2.0 (when the structure of many /proc interfaces changed --- breaking the 'ps' related utilities). That's good since there are probably close to ten times more Linux users now.
Of course the faint-hearted can just wait for their friendly distribution maintainer to put out an all new version with the 2.2.x kernel and all the new utilities pre-built. However, what would the fun be in that.
To learn more about upgrading your kernel look LinuxHQ (http://www.linuxhq.com/). They have about a half dozen links to pages on the subject (particularly with lists of requisite package upgrades and links to the tar.gz files and even one site that has links to the requisite RPMs).
After you upgrade you'll want to keep you eyes on those sites, checking back over the next couple of months. There will probably be other packages that are found "wanting" (unready for 2.2).
If you get that all installed, read all my rantings for this month and are still bored --- take a look at the "Linux Tips & Tricks" site (http://www.patoche.org/LTT/) and considering adding your own suggestions to the mix.
I added a couple myself. I also suggested to the site maintainer that he link to LG's "2-cent Tips" and to the Linux-Tips HOWTO (http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/Tips-HOWTO.html).
While we're on the subject of "tips" here's one for you budding shell scripters and programmers out there:
If you have to use /tmp --- do it safely. Sure, you script is running on a single-user workstation now. But eventually you'll use it on a multi-user machine or someone will copy it. There are all sorts of nasty tricks people can play on you involving symlinks in /tmp.
Here's one way:
TMPD=/tmp/$0$$$(date +%s)
## get a (hopefully unique) name
## use any reasonable method for this.
OMASK=$(umask)
umask 077 || exit 1
mkdir $TMPD || exit 1
trap 'rm -fr $TMPD; exit' 0
umask $OMASK
... this should either successfully make a safe, private directory under /tmp (and you use $TMPD for the rest of your temporary file operations --- using whatever names you want) or it should fail. There should be no race condition since the new directory should be made with the appropriate permissions in a single system call (and my strace output under Linux/bash confirms that).
The part to be careful of is the 'trap' clause. That should automatically remove the temp directory and files on exit (normal or in response to any trappable signals). (If you use a kill -KILL on that script while it's running --- it won't get a chance to clean up after itself, but a normal [Ctrl]-[C] and most other kill signals should be fine. I still suggest using your own private ~/tmp directory whenever that's feasible (but not if your $HOME is served over NFS).
I'll be teaching a class in shell scripting at Mission College (Santa Clara, CA) starting tomorrow. That should be interesting.
Another Damn WinModemFrom Mark F. Johnson on Mon, 04 Jan 1999
Greetings Honorable Answer Guru,
I have been helping a friend of mine set up RedHat Linux on his system (dual-boot with Windows98). He has a Diamond Supra PCI Voice modem, which is set up on Com 3 but has an IRQ of 11. (I know, I know, it's bizarre, but that's the way it is.) His modem works fine in Windows, but Linux wants to assign it IRQ 4, of course. The modem is apparently configured to use IRQ 11 and the IRQ can't be changed in Windows. I have tried using the "setserial" command and was successful with changing the IRQ, but the modem still won't initialize, and rebooting the system resets the IRQ to the default. I've only been into Linux for about a month, so I'm no expert in the fine art of script writing. I am willing to try, if someone like yourself might give me a starting point and head me off in the right direction. Any ideas/suggestions wil be greatly appreciated.
Last I heard the Diamond/Supra PCI modems were of the "winmodem" variety. They don't work under MS-DOS, or Linux (only under Windows --- probably only under Win '95 and Win '98, maybe they have an NT driver, too).
So you should probably return it. Then go back through last year's "Answer Guy" and search for the word modem. Almost ever problem that has been reported about any internal modem as been that it was a winmodem.
Hopeless!
(If Diamond claims it is not --- then boot from a plain old DOS floppy and get it to to dial the phone using an old shareware copy of Telix, Procomm, QModem, or any other MS-DOS program. If that works, there's hope. Otherwise BURN IT!)
(If it really isn't a winmodem then try disabling "plug and play" in your BIOS and/or play with the pciutils package (available at Linux sites --- search http://www.freshmeat.net for that).
Modem RecommendationsFrom Mark F. Johnson on Fri, 08 Jan 1999
Greetings Once Again Honorable Guru,
You were, of course, right on target with your previous assesment of my
modem woes in regards to what was indeed a WinModem. I had my friend go to
the same dealer from whom I bought my modem, an A_Open FM-56. He bought an
installed what was supposedly the same modem, but again, no joy. Come to
find out that A_Open's current line of PCI modems, including both FM-56
models, are all WinModems. The DOJ may be on to something afterall. To make
a long and boring story short, my friend is going to buy an external modem.
To save time and continued harassment of your Honorable self, may I implore
you to recommend a moden that will work equally well with Windows and Linux?
Much appreciation for your assistance.
However, the model change so fast, and the companies merge and die so often that this is another of those areas where look at the latest Hardware-HOWTO and a poll of your favorite users group, newsgroup or mailing list is probably your best bet.
(I like U.S Robotics Courier series --- but they are expensive. I detest their less-expensive "Sportster" series --- too cheap).
Happy "True"-Modem CustomerFrom Mark F. Johnson on Wed, 13 Jan 1999
Greetings Once Again Honorable Answer Guru,
Just wanted to drop you a line and thank you for your wise and profound
advice. My friend's modem dilemma has been solved. He ended up with a Zoom
external 56k that set up easy and works like a charm. Best of all, it was
just under $90. Who needs Winmodems? Again, much thanks.
M.
Simple Security TipsFrom John Radcliffe on Mon, 04 Jan 1999
One thing that might make Linux more attractive for the Desktop
market is some clarification of security issues. While I don't
consider myself an expert on desktop computer matters, people keep
coming to me for assistance and advice so I must not be completely
obtuse on the subject. Still I do not understand all that I read
regarding Linux security.
13 Tips for Securing your Linux System from Common Threats
... at the Silicon Valley Linux Users Group (http://www.svlug.org) this week.
If I get my act together I'll set up some web pages with some version of the content of my slides and notes at http://www.starshine.org/linux/security/tips.html
(I've put a placeholder there until my notes are presentable).
If you're in the Silicon Valley (San Jose, California) area --- come to the meeting.
I would like to put together a simplified security guide for
people who are not providing internet content or services, but
wish to use a web browser from the Linux desktop. But I do not
want to give bad advice through my lack of understanding.
Do a 'netstat -na' command to see what ports are "active" on your system. If it reports anything in "listen" mode on any port --- you've still got some networking service listening.
It's a bit more complicated than that. I'll go into more detail a bit later.
One thing which I do not understand is how crackers gain access
through SUID root programs. From a look at 'rootshell' and
'bugtraq' there seem to be innumerable ways to do this, and new
ones seem to be found daily. Apparently even 'secure shell' isn't
immune to exploitation. Rather than have the average desktop user
try to keep current with all of these, would it be safe to say
that if Telnet, Shell, and Login are commented out in /etc/inetd
(and file permissions are correct as per the Linux Security HOWTO)
that the desktop users machine would be safe from this type of
attack?
If you are assuming a desktop system which is "owned by" the operator --- that is that you expect any person at the console to have "root" access --- then your primary threat vectors are network/remote exploits (disable services) and trojan horses (or --- very rarely under Linux --- viruses).
In other words if I can already attain root by rebooting into single user mode, I don't need to exploit a bug in some SUID binary to 'get root.' If I get to a shell prompt remotely --- you've already lost (there are too many opportunities for me to violate too many security policies --- so you focus, in the common case for client workstations should be on prevent remote access to shell services and remote execution of any code.
You are correct regarding 'secure shell' or 'ssh' as it's more commonly known. This does nothing to protect a system from SUID bugs nor from trojan horses. That's not its purpose. The purpose of ssh is to allow secure remote access --- which is very difficult to spoof, hijack, sniff, or otherwise compromise.
ssh is a cryptographically strong version of 'rsh' 'rlogin' and 'rcp'. It uses RSA public key cryptography to perform mutual host authentication, and to establish a one-time session key. It then uses IDEA or some similar (user/admin configurable) symmetrical key encryption to protect the contents of the session from sniffing. Since the potential attacker should not be able to properly encrypt any packets (no access to the session key) --- this also prevent the attacker from injecting any forged packets into the communications stream (a process referred to as "session hijacking").
There are a number of other encryption packages available for Linux. They operate over various protocols, serving different needs and providing different features and applications. For example SSL is a set of protocols that are most commonly used for securing web pages and communications between browsers and web servers (primarily submission of form's data to CGI scripts). SSL is used because it is commonly built into the most popular web browsers. There is a suite of other SSL applications such as ssltelnet and sslftp (these are client/server packages --- so your intended host sites must install the appropriate daemons before your clients will be able to use these protocols).
I did post a rather lengthy message on free crypto tools recently --- giving a pretty large list of the tools, though almost no "HOWTO" coverage of them. The idea was to provide lots of pointers to the web sites where more info on these tools (and the tools themselves) could be found.
Naturally, due to the continuing disgrace of U.S. federal government regulations --- which consititute an obvious and despicable subversion of our Bill of Rights --- we are unable to freely provide our crypto software to the world at large. So free nations elsewhere are required to provide these. (Please write to your congress critter to let them know that this is a major votiing issue for all software enthusiasts --- and follow up by endorsing candidates to recognize the freedom of speech extends to the expression of practical mathematics through the art of computer programming.)
I normally avoid politics in my column. However, this is one issue on which I cannot be silent. The sheer pettiness of these regulations (they didn't have the guts to pass them as laws --- they are "regulations" enacted without direct congressional action but clearly with plenty of underhanded political support) is astounding!
The notion that a computer program can be arbitrarily classified as a "munition" and thus fall under export control is a slippery slope. It's only a hare's breadth from the notion that these "munitions" should entail mandatory registration and "7 day waiting periods" and ultimately be banned entirely from domestic use. It'll all start with populist phrases like: "protect the children from child pornography" and "only drug dealers and mobsters have secrets to hide from us"
Anyway, back to your subject. Just commenting out three for four services is not enough. Start by commenting out everything. Then remove 'inetd' completely from your startup sequence. That's much more comprehensive.
However, you may find that you "need" some of those services. For example, if you do IRC you'll find that most IRC servers want to do an "auth" call back to the the 'identd' (identification) server on your system. You can use TCP Wrappers, and only re-enable a service (with restrictions that are as tight as feasible in your /etc/hosts.allow) when you know what it is doing and why you are enabling it.
That's why I'll be giving this talk. It isn't simple.
eterm quickie + general commment (linux SUPERGRAN)From liam on Thu, 31 Dec 1998
Dear Answerguy,
A Quickie: (please read this!)
WHERE THE HELL CAN I GET THE GRAPHICAL TERMINAL ETERM??? (The new replacement for rxvt, you know, the one that supports pixmaps ....not the terminal mode of emacs, great as that is). I can't find it anywhere, it's not in the sunsite or GNU ftp archives, it's mentioned in some HOWTOS, but with no reference as to how to obtain it. Is it part of commercial X distributions only or something?
yours confusedly, Liam.
http://www.tcserv.com/Eterm
A Comment: (linux SUPERGRAN)
On a personal note, my familiy in London who know LESS THAN
NOTHING about computers, got their first PC (assembled by me) for
Christmas, and are all using a pleasent Linux/KDE/Netscape+Applixware combo
which they aver they find much easier
to use than "those funny computers at the university" (-
i.e. basic win95+Novell/IE/MSOffice monstrosity). Obvoiusly I set
it all up and do 100% of the sysadmin, but still even my GRAN uses
it (with my sisters help!) for e-mail & browsing. They are quite
pleased that it never crashes
On My Soapbox: (consign to /dev/null now if looks too long &or boring)
Great column! Nice to see someone with the patience to answer those 'naieve' (i.e. uninformed!) newbie questions of the general form "So what's this Linux all about, can I run it on a PC ..." e.t.c. A waste of time and annoyance to old-timer hacks and busy developers it may be, but if the OS community is to get the message accros to joe public as well as relative "techies" (sys-admins, businessmen, university students like myself...) in the rapidly accelerating battle for hearts and minds; it is vital that everyone makes an effort to encourage outsiders to give it a try. There is an hightened level in media attention in OS & Linux right now which will not neccesairily last forever, and an exciting window of opportunity with the rapid development of 'user-freindly' desktop environments such as KDE and GNOME. It is all too much to ask of one poor Answerguy! Indeed it is an issue that needs attention from the OS community with hopefully a more rounded systematic approach developed: the risk of inaction is that growth of Linux in the home/light use market does not come quickly enough, and home/light users get locked into a depressing windows 2000 (NT5) "development" cycle, (if windows 2000 actually gets off the ground by 2010 that is!).
Two years ago I myself was converted to the 'light side of the force'and became a newbie (perhaps I still am), and if it wasn't for an achademic UNIX familiarity, and a good freind who was my local guru and walked me through the first few weeks, I would not be e-mailing you now (although a lot has changed in two years). I have been pleased to spread Linux to four freinds since then, (walking them through their first install e.t.c), and a healthy informal Edinburgh LUG, has sprung up consisting mostly of home-users. The growth has been phenomenal as all the 'statistics' attest, but in the coming two years word-of-mouth will not be enough.
There are still some rough spots for us to go through. However, I think that we'll make it. Linux currently enjoys about 2.5 percent of the desktop market according to one of the recent surveys. So that's our next goal. We tripled our penetration into the server market last year --- I think we can at least quadruple our share of the desktop (for a total of 10%). Talk to me after the Y2K dust settles in 12 months and we'll see if we made that goal.
Max Open Files and Inodes: Use The Entries under /procFrom 4th Dimension Webmaster on Thu, 31 Dec 1998
Hi , i have a DUAL 400MHz Pentium 2 processor which runs 400+
processes. In kernel 2.0.x i had to increase max processes in
tasks.h, and nr_files and nr_inodes in fs.h.
I tried kernel 2.1.131, it was much more efficient with the dual processors and everything ran more smooth, except one problem. there is no "nr_inodes" in fs.h. So when ever i hit around 400 processes , it was out of file descriptors and couldnt spawn any other processes. If you know how to over come this problem please let me know.
Those would be something like:
/proc/sys/kernel/file-max
/proc/sys/kernel/file-nr
/proc/sys/kernel/inode-max
/proc/sys/kernel/inode-nr
... though I just snarfed those in while running a 2.0.x. I'll need to fetch a 2.1.132 and start a new round of tests on that kernel.
In any event --- the nodes should be under /proc somewhere -- and you can just use 'echo' with standard shell redirection to put new values into these at run-time.
Somewhere on the 'net there is a FAQ or HOWTO that describes this and gives sample values. I think the max inodes should be about 3 times the max open files. Anyway, take a look through the Kernel mailing list FAQ at:
http://www.tux.org/lkml.html
setting up an ISP to serve emailFrom chris smith on Wed, 30 Dec 1998
Jim: Thanks for your response
in checking out my system with the command ps I find that there is no pop deamon running so I guess i will have to find that.
The whole point of 'inetd' is that it monitors all of the TCP/UDP ports (on all of your interfaces) and dynamically launches the services daemons (in.popd, in.ftpd, in.telnetd, etc) on demand.
So, check your /etc/inetd.conf --- and make sure that inetd is running. Then try to run a POP client.
Another trick is to use telnet to connect to the POP-3 port (110). You can then issue USER and PASS commands -- followed by a QUIT command. If those work then your POP daemon is responding.
As with most Unix TCP services, the control messages in the protocol are implemented as a set of short commands and standardized responses. This is the way that SMTP, FTP, POP, IMAP and several others work. (There are also services that use binary and null terminated strings for their protocol elements --- those generally can't be "spoofed" or "debugged" using just plain old 'telnet').
as for my comments about the dos\windows directory structures, let me
clarify in dos\ windows when you go to a a folder for say Netscape,
you will find all of the files(for the most part) to run that program
under that folder and in directories directly under that folder (
excepting perhaps some common system .dll and autoexec.bat config.sys,
and 3 or 4 other common system files,ignoring the system registry fro a
while) It seems to me that the programs under linux are scattered all
over the place. I understand that mostly all of the files are text
based (makes sense to me for set up reasons), but why are they
everywhere, and no one has been able to tell me just what the major
directories mean (or represent) just why is stuff where it is?