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[ Home ] [ Archive ] [ ] [ Previous ] [ Next ] +---[ Issue 14
| 22th August 99 ]----+
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The Linux Bits: The Weekly Linux E-zine
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http://www.thebits.co.uk
------[ CONTENTS
----[ THE BITS HITS SOME MAJOR MILESTONES If you go to the Linux Mall homepage you'll find that the Newbie's Linux Manual - put together by Laurence at The Bits - is now being "hosted" by Linux Mall! Along with a link to The Bits of course. This is a "good thing" of the first order and I congratulate Laurence on having this happen. Way to go Laurence! Keep up the good work. Also along the way of a "good thing" is that The Linux Bits has hit the 2,000 subscriber mark this week! Somebody must like what we have to say in here.
----[ OP-ED PIECE First of all I'd like to apologize for the lateness of The Linux Bits this week. However when you see what's been going on, I think you'll agree it was worth waiting for. At least I hope so. There are some major format changes underway, which is in large measure, responsible for the lateness of the newsletter this week. We're adding quite a few sections and also expanding to include a Monthly as well as the Weekly version of The Linux Bits. Why? Well, as Laurence has pointed out to me, even when I consider the newsletter to be "a bit skimpy" it's really not all that skimpy. So, the plans (for right now at least), are that the Weekly issue will try and contain the more immediate-type stories and the Monthly issue will then be used to put out some articles with a bit more "meat" to them. For instance, "How to Setup a Firewall With Linux on a Cheap 386" or something along that line. This means that we're going to need people to take a more active role in The Linux Bits and contribute some articles. If you have a topic that you'd like to see covered - either in the Weekly or the Monthly edition - please send it along to either or , and we'll see what we can do about putting it into the appropriate spot. One of the sections we'll be adding is a "Books and Links" section to allow for reviews of books about Linux - or links to "Interesting" Linux related material - whatever you might feel appropriate. So, if you have a book that you think is a "keeper" for the Linux Newbie (that includes at least 2,000 of us and growing now!) then by all means send in a short review of the book with the standard info (Publisher, etc.) and if you could either include a link to the publisher or perhaps to the author that would be a "bonus" for all of us.
----[ LINUX NEWS FROM "THE REST OF THE WORLD" The Man Behind LinuxExcellent interview with Linus Torvalds. Red Hat's Special Offer To Linux Coders Good article about the Red Hat IPO last week. Torvalds Jumps From Linux 2.2 To 2.4 Linux creator spells out specs of upcoming Linux 2.4 kernel -- including USB, plug-and-play and PCMCIA support. There's a bit of discussion in the above article about what the 2.4 kernel will include - most notable for me (and perhaps a lot of others) is the inclusion of USB support! Vendors Tiptoe Into Linux If you take the link to the above story - and follow the Red Hat link - you'll see why I included this one - hey, at least they had enough sense to make the correction when it was pointed out to them... and to their credit left the original text as a link. Class on their part. How Get-Rich Hopes Of Linux Techies Went Up In Flames Another article about the Red Hat IPO - and how the E-Trade computers didn't let people get their shares because they didn't have enough "resources" or "trading experience" or some such baloney. It would seem that E-Trade is trying to correct the problem but it really shouldn't have occurred in the first place as these people had offers to buy from Red Hat in gratitude for their work in the Open Source community. Specifically their work on Linux. 64-bit Linux Port Good article about the efforts to port Linux to the upcoming 64-bit chip from Intel (Merced). "Windows-only" Dell Draws Fire From Linux Community Hmmm... I wonder what the "technical difficulty" could possibly be, that prevents Dell from installing Linux on systems sold in Europe? Linux Training Gets Formal Knowledge of Operating System Is Now a Must-Have Interesting bit about some Linux Training options available from the likes of Red Hat, IBM, HP, and others. I'll be coming back to this topic again later you can be sure of that. Linux Gains Ground On Windows 2000, Others Here's a story to warm the heart of any lover of Tux...it seems that companies are increasing their use of Linux (no surprise there really). But they are *also* planning to *wait* anywhere from *six to eighteen months* before proceeding with any "upgrade" to Windows 2000 as a replacement for Windows NT installations. The primary reason cited for the delay in adopting Windows 2000 was "technical stability of the Operating System..." Hey, I didn't say it. IDC did. Statistics and surveys are their business so I guess you can believe the story then eh? Wonderful World Of Linux 2.4 I'll warn you now, the above article is a bit "lengthy" but still worth a read I think. For those of interest in such things at any rate. For the rest of you - well, it's not a "big deal" anyway. Just enjoy the stability of Linux and be secure in the knowledge that you don't really *need* to go chasing about after the "latest version" of this, that, or the other program in Linux - not even the kernel. If you did nothing else except try to keep up with the "latest" versions of all the Linux programs that came with your distribution - whatever that may be - you'd have no time left to enjoy your system! :)
----[ DISTRIBUTION NEWS OpenLinux 2.3 Operating SystemHmmm... OpenLinux 2.3??? That what it says. Anybody *know* for sure about this?? Corel Unveils New Linux Distribution This story and the next are linked since they discuss the Corel distribution in the next story - so I thought it appropriate to include a review of it... Corel Donates Linux Software To The UN FYI - Corel, Rebel.com, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are collaborating to benefit developing countries. Corel will provide Corel WordPerfect 8 for Linux in several languages to the 40 developing countries, the Corel Linux distribution (when available) and WordPerfect Office for Linux (when available). The press release follows. Now there's a story to warm your heart. On that note I'll end this section and move on with the rest of this week's newsletter... ----[ LINKS TO INTERESTING PLACES A couple great links for you: LinuxBergThe #1 place to go for Linux software - if they don't have it here there's something wrong. Linux Weekly News The best Linux news site on the Net. Tux Rampages Redmond! Here's an interesting picture of Tux - in Redmond! :) ----[ FOLLOW-UP TO LAST WEEK'S NEWSLETTER - LINUX BOOKS Last week, as you'll recall, I had sung the praises of Michael Kofler's book "Linux: Installation, Configuration, and Use", and said that I'd need to find out if it had a newer version to be able to make an intelligent buying decision. I'm happy to report that it does have an update which is as I speak, being "rolled of the printing press", so to speak. I've already placed an order with for my copy, and also a copy of the Richard Petersen book - Linux: The Complete Reference, which is now in its 3rd edition. I went to Mr. Kofler's website (listed a bit later) and sent him an email while I was there. I'd been looking for an updated "review" of the contents of the book, as the one that was posted on Amazon.com quite clearly referenced the 1st edition of the book. I was very pleasantly surprised to receive an answer from Mr. Kofler in only a day or so. With his gracious permission it is reproduced here as it was received from him.
REPLY FROM MICHAEL KOFLER Hi Bill, It is the same for me as for you -- I am also waiting for the book. I am expecting my copies any day now. Some background information: The book is translated from German and is based on the 4th German edition (plus some updates, which were necessary after the translation was done :-). The German edition has been the #1 German computer book for some months now, by the way (according to a top ten computer book list published by 'Chip', one of the largest German computer magazines.) In contrast to the 1st English edition, the 2nd edition:
(Actually, the book was completely translated new because this seemed to be less work than incorporating all the changes. The Tcl/Tk chapter is gone due to space considerations.) Here is the 'official' advertising: http://cseng.awl.com/bookpage.taf?ISBN=0-201-59628-8&ptype=0&catid=&navmin=&cty LINUX, Second Edition: Installation, Configuration, Use Michael Kofler ISBN : 0-201-59628-8 Binding : Paper Pages : 736 Copyright: 1999 Series Back Cover Text: Best of 1998: Operating Systems - Amazon.com "As both a step-by-step guide and a reference, a good place for an aspiring Linux user to start" --Michael Shappe, Linux Journal "If you are looking for one book to teach you all the basics of Linux, then this is the book for you" --Rob Frankland, Amazon.com "This book is the best of 3 on Linux I've read, and for sure the place to start for those just beginning Linux" - Karl Reed, Amazon.com If you are looking for one book to teach you all the basics of Linux, from installation and usage to simple programming, then this completely revised and updated edition of Linux: Installation, Configuration and Use is the book for you. It will get you up and running with Linux quickly and effectively, cutting out time-consuming installation problems and searches for on-line documentation. Divided into four separate parts, progressing from introduction to installation and implementation, this practical, hands-on guide will help you:
A series of icons alert you to potential problem areas, indicating possible error sources and highlighting time-saving tips and short-cuts. A further icon will notify you of on-line support and point you in the right direction whatever your particular problem. New in this updated and revised edition:
The accompanying CD-ROM contains a complete Linux system - Red Hat 6.0. This book will teach you all you need to know in order to install, configure and use it. Some information about me can be found here: http://www.addison-wesley.de/Service/Kofler/ehome.html (This page still refers to the old edition. I plan to do an update next week.) Feel free to quote what you like. Best wishes, Michael http://www.addison-wesley.de/Service/Kofler----[ EOF I suppose I needn't tell you how pleased I was by the above reply. Just one more example of why I really love Linux - and the community that comes along with it. I had intended to include a couple of other reviews in this week's newsletter but it's far too long as it is, so I'll just close out with a short bit from Laurence and a short (I swear!) bit about how my week went with Athena (my P100) and that'll be it until next week... ----[ A BIT OF CONFIGURATION MAGIC FROM LAURENCE Hi folks, Laurence here. I had some time on my hands so I thought I'd contribute a little to this week's Linux Bits. Besides, these two articles I've got for you are pretty cool, so I knew you'd appreciate them. Both will help put a little life into your terminal. If anyone would like to write an article for The Linux Bits, please feel free to drop or an e-mail. I'd also like to give a big shout out to David Neeley for the excellent constructive criticism and ideas he gave Bill for The Linux Bits. Cheers David! And of course Michael Kofler for contributing to our humble newsletter. If anyone's interested, I've also got an article in this month's Linux Mall Newsletter on how to create desktop "shortcuts" in GNOME.
RED = DANGER: CUSTOMISING YOUR PROMPT I love this one. Makes your terminal look very cool. It will display the account your logged into in blue, followed by full path of your current directory (no more need for pwd). But here's the nifty bit, whenever you're root, root is displayed in red to constantly warn you! - 1 - Enter: su -c '/etc/bashrc' ...followed by the root password. - 2 - Add the following to the end of the file: if [ $USER = 'root' ] ; then COLOUR=41 # red else COLOUR=44 # blue fi STYLE='m' # Default grey text. # STYLE=';1m' # Bright white text. export PS1="\[\033[$COLOUR;37$STYLE\]$USER:\[\033[37;40$STYLE\]\w\\$ " - 3 - Press Ctrl+D to log-out, and log-in as a user.
A COOL MESSAGE EVERY TIME YOU LOG-IN! - 1 - Enter: su -c '/etc/profile' ...followed by the root password. - 2 - Add the following to the end of the file: # Call Fortune program, if available. if [ -x /usr/games/fortune ] ; then echo ; /usr/games/fortune ; echo fi ...and press Ctrl+O to save and Ctrl+X to exit. Now every time you log-in you'll be greeted by a cool message. Here's a sample quote from the /usr/games/fortune program, albeit a little larger than the average snippet. I get the impression that this guy isn't a fan of the X Window system, although I can see his point since the fortune program begun back in '94 and as far as I know, was last updated in '97. Back then the GUI wasn't up to much. X windows:
Elevating brain damage to an art form.
And here's another: "..and scantily clad females, of course. Who cares if it's below zero outside." -- Linus Torvalds
----[ THIS WEEK WITH ATHENA Well, last week I said that I'd managed to get myself to the point where I could get access to the net, but had to be logged in as root in order to access the modem. This week I solved that problem - with a little bit of help from Laurence and the Newbie's Linux Manual... Basically it went like this... (this is all in the Newbie Manual btw, if you've not downloaded a copy of the manual lately you should). Use the >> su -c control-panel << command. What that does, is allows you to login as root for JUST one command. The "control-panel" is a setup utility under Red Hat that allows you to make the settings for your internet (PPP) connection. I went into that panel, made sure all my settings were correct, made *sure* I had the "Allow users to (de)activate connection" set as well as the "don't attempt to redial" and then I *saved* the info before exiting the control panel *networking* portion. While I was there I checked my modem settings as well. I logged out, which put me back into "normal user" mode as wildbill and then tried the *Usernet* app - this is located on the *Another Level* menus under Networking, and started that program up. It dialled my ISP, made the connection for me, and then I just minimized it till I was done. ALL without having to be logged in as root! :) So now I can get my email - or just 'net access - anytime I want and without being logged in as root. That was pretty much the sum total of my config work on Athena this past week. Well, a couple of other small things as well. I've started to use KMail for my mail client as it isn't anywhere NEAR the consumer of resources that Netscape is. I also discovered, much to my delight, that if you click on a URL in KMail you get a funky little browser (KFM) that works just fine for most things. Doesn't do Java apparently but other than that it seems to do just fine for most tasks, and allows you to have the "graphics experience" which you won't get in Lynx. This week, my plan is to get Pine configured so that I can use it as my Email client when I wish to. KMail is OK, don't get me wrong, I really LOVE that it has "built-in support" for PGP (you DO have PGP don't you??) but it's an X program. I like the console for some things and just want to be able to use Pine when I want to. I'm fairly certain that most of what remains so far as Pine is concerned is to just configure Fetchmail - I have hopefully gotten Sendmail correctly configured already - and do a bit of testing to be sure it all works as it should. I'll let you know next week how it went. Oh, one other thing I did. I switched my "default shell" from Tcsh to Bash. Why? Well, Bash is the default for Linux and I've not used it yet. Also, it seems that every time I see some "neat" little script or other it's written for Bash not Tcsh - and although it doesn't take all *that* much effort to make a translation between the two, I'm short of time and would just rather be able to use the scripts "as-is" for a little while at least. Besides, if Bash is the default then it would probably be a "good thing" if I knew my way around it eh? For professional reasons if nothing else.
----[ WRAP-UP I had a lot more stuff I *could* have put in here. Joe, you've got another week to put a bit of "polish" on your review of SuSE and Star Office my friend! I know you'd felt a "bit rushed" and afraid of not doing a good enough job so this gives you some breathing space. :) I would like to have contributions from others as well. Remember, you don't have to be a "geek" with 37 years of Linux experience to provide a review of a useful book, or utility, or application, or Linux distribution, or ... ?? Got a handy tip that has helped you out? We'd like to hear it! Well, that's it for another week my fine-featured Penguin lovers. What did you think? Good? Bad? Let me know what you thought and make any suggestions on topics you'd like to see covered here. As I said last week, this is your newsletter as much as mine... smile.
----[ CREDITS This week's The Linux Bits has been brought to you by:
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