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                            The Linux Bits: The Weekly Linux E-zine
===================================================================
http://www.thebits.co.uk

------[ CONTENTS

• OP-ED PIECE
• THE MUTT MAIL PROGRAM
• THE PROCLAMATION OF ARMAC
• LINUX NEWS FROM "THE REST OF THE WORLD"
  • Why Microsoft and Intel Both Lost Ground This Week to the Open Source Movement
  • A Quick Look at Embedded Linux
  • Sun Micro free software offer may spur market shift
  • Sun to offer Microsoft Office competitor for free
  • Alan Cox Interview
• LINUX BOOK REVIEWS
  • Incredibly brief review of Upgrading and Repairing PC's 10th Edition
• HARDWARE REVIEWS
  • The Gorgeous Internal Iomega Zip Drive
  • We Need YOU!
• DIE BUG DIE!
• THE LINUX BITS MONTHLY (TLBM)
• LINKS TO INTERESTING PLACES
  • Some Links From Laurence
• A WORTHY CAUSE: THE HUNGER SITE
• THIS WEEK WITH ATHENA
  • Backup!
• WHAT'S NEW AT THE BITS THIS WEEK?
• JUST FOR FUN
• QUOTE OF THE WEEK
• WRAP-UP
• CREDITS

Well, late again. At least I'm consistent. :) But let me say a word about that...

I've been late before, but it seems there's always an exceedingly good reason for it. However, I'm making some changes in my work schedule that will, hopefully, allow me to get the newsletter out in a more timely manner. I'd said in the A Windows Vendetta? section, in one of my articles, that I had the job I had at least partially, because it would allow me the flexibility I needed to set my own schedule so I could attend classes. Well, I realized this past week that the "classes" I need to be attending right now are here in my own room!

I'll be taking a bit more time off so I can have the time I need to do more in depth study of Linux and that should allow me, as a "side-benefit" to get the newsletter out in a more timely fashion as well. I don't know for sure that it'll happen next week but it's in the works.

Let me tell you a bit about how I put this together. As I said last week, I just round up the articles and so forth and send them along to Laurence in raw-text. It's him you have to thank for the look of TLB every week. You're doing a marvellous job Laurence. I appreciate it. :)

had asked about people's preference for editors. I use Emacs to put this together every week. Along with KMail, and on those occasions when it simply can't be avoided, Netscape. KMail has kind of grown on me to tell the truth. It's not a huge resource hog like Netscape and has a browser built in that if you hit a URL in a story it will open that link for you. KFM is the browser. No Java support but other than that it seems to do ok - at least it meets my needs for this particular purpose.

I usually have Emacs open, along with KMail, and when I find a good article I want to check on I just click the URL and KFM opens up, I check it out and if I think it's of interest I just use the mouse to copy the URL - and perhaps a small blurb on the link - over to Emacs.

I really like Emacs. It has an auto-save function that appeals to me because I don't have to worry so much about saving every time I make significant changes - although I try and remember to do that anyway - but if I get involved and forget Emacs is doing the auto-save bit every so often and if anything did happen (highly unlikely under Linux but it could happen I suppose) the file isn't just gone "into the great Bit Bucket".

Emacs also allows me to have multiple buffers (files) open at once, and has a function called Dired that is a Directory function. So if I need a bit for this week's newsletter and have it in another file, but can't remember where it is, then with Emacs it's no big deal to find it. I can even go back to a previous issue (which I keep compressed using gzip) by using the Dired function and when I select the file, Emacs opens it for me automatically (thanks to a setting in my .emacs config file) and I just "mark" the section I need and then I can do a "cut and paste" to the buffer that actually needs it. Then I just close the file down again when it's no longer needed.

Of course Emacs does so much more. I am going to be putting together a section on Emacs here in the future. The really neat thing about Emacs is that it does so many things - and you don't need to have it running under X to be able to use most of them. With Emacs if you run it under X you get some added functionality - like being able to mark regions with a mouse for instance - but you don't lose anything that you could do under the console version.

I'll talk more about KMail later but for now it's On With The Show!

Great job Howard! Really appreciate the effort you put into it. I hope to be able to give Mutt a try sometime before the next millenium myself. :)
-- Bill

One of the very first applications that a new Linux user wants is a program to handle e-mail. Even experienced Linux users may want to upgrade to an e-mail application that can handle their more sophisticated demands. I urge both kinds of users to take a serious look at Mutt. Make no mistake though--if you're fresh from Windows 98 and you're looking for another Outlook Express(R) or Eudora(R), perhaps Mutt isn't for you just yet. However, if you aren't GUI-addicted and you're looking for a fast, flexible, full-featured mail user agent (MUA), look no further than Mutt.

Mutt is a text-based MUA. The phrase "text-based" is important here--Mutt is a console application, not an X-Windows GUI. However, its use of either 'slang' or 'curses' libraries gives it a very satisfying interface.

Mutt is highly configurable yet for simple situations it works "out-of-the-box." When Mutt is first invoked, it will read the default configuration file that comes with the distribution tarball. Although the default configuration will give you a serviceable MUA, it does have the "plain vanilla" look of a default. So it is usually desirable (and fun too) to tailor Mutt to suit your own tastes.

Mutt anticipates your urge to customize by looking for a file named .muttrc in your home directory. In this file you place the options that configure Mutt to your own taste. If you've ever been frustrated by so-called configurable applications that give you no clue about the syntax of the config file, relax. Mutt comes with detailed and clear documentation that describes not just config file syntax, but everything you'll need to know to be an effective Mutt user. Be warned, though--the Mutt Manual is succinctly styled and requires careful attention. And using that documentation, advanced features like keyboard macros, mail threading, regular expression searches and a pattern matching language for selecting groups of messages are there for those who need them.

Similar to many other mail clients, there are two modes in which mail is read in Mutt. The first mode displays an index of messages that are in the mailbox. This mode normally shows a message number, the message date, the sender's name and the subject. In the second mode the message contents are displayed, along with as many message headers as you care to see. As you could have guessed, you have complete control of the information that is displayed in these modes by way of that .muttrc file.

Mutt handles textmode MIME with ease, including PGP/MIME and 'application/pgp'. In addition to explicitly telling Mutt to view an attachment with the MIME viewer defined in a mailcap file, Mutt has support for automatically viewing common MIME attachment types. That's a big convenience for those of us who receive lots of HTML formatted mail.

Full PGP support is available in the International versions of Mutt, without the need for plugins or add-ons. Of course the actual encryption, verification and signing of messages are handled by invoking the external PGP binary, but the key selection process is handled by Mutt itself. Key rings in either the PGP 2.6 or 5 format are accommodated. One can use different versions of PGP for composing and decrypting/verifying messages, and for handling the key rings. PGP behavior is controlled by variables in the .muttrc configuration file.

Mutt can be compiled with POP3 support, giving it the ability to fetch your mail from a remote server for local browsing. The POP3 support is purely a convenience and lacks many features. More experienced users will likely prefer to use specialized programs like fetchmail and procmail for handling inbound POP3 mail.

Mutt supports reading and writing of four different mailbox formats: mbox, MMDF, MH and Maildir. The mailbox type is autodetected, so there is no need to use a flag for different mailbox types. Other important and easy-to-use features of Mutt are its support for multiple inboxes and mailing lists. After specifying which mailboxes receive incoming mail in the .muttrc file, Mutt will tell you which boxes have received new mail.

Composing and sending mail with Mutt is simple and feature-rich. Mutt allows the user to compose mail messages using vi as a default, or to specify some other favorite editor. Replies to messages can be directed to the sender or to the addresses in the "To:" or the "Reply-To:" headers. Quoting of the original text with the > character is the default. If a mailing list is specified in the .muttrc file, Mutt can use a reply-to-list function which responds only to the mailing list.

Because it's very cumbersome to remember full addresses, Mutt allows you to create "aliases" which map a short, easily remembered string to a full address. Aliases can also map to a list of addresses. To use aliases, you merely type the alias any place where Mutt prompts for addresses, such as the "To:" or "Cc:" prompt. You can use the tab character to expand a partial alias to the full alias.

At times it is desirable to delay sending a message that you have already composed. Mutt allows you to store the body of your message and any attachments until you are ready to recall the message, edit it and send it.

As a well-behaved Unix-style application, Mutt contains no mail transfer agent (MTA) features. You will need to use sendmail, qmail, smail or another MTA to actually handle the transmission of your mail by whatever protocol is appropriate. Naturally the proper syntax for your MTA is specified in your .muttrc file.

Compiling and installing Mutt is simple and easy through the use of the GNU 'autoconf' package. After untarring the Mutt distribution, the user runs the "configure" script. In most cases, it will automatically determine everything it needs to know in order to compile. Of course there are a few options to "configure" that can be used to change the default behavior. The Mutt distribution contains ample How-To docs.

I've already referred to Mutt's detailed documentation. Another outstanding resource for Mutt users is the active Mutt mailing list. This is the place for soliciting help on hard-to-solve problems (preferably not items covered in the Mutt Manual), getting word on third-party add-ons and learning about upgrades. Everything begins at the Mutt homepage. That's where you can go for download sites and links to sophisticated Mutt users own pages. Give Mutt a try as your MUA; I know you'll like it.

Quite the strangest e-mail I've ever received. Armac agreed to it being used so long as the Linux Linebackers protected him from the Microsoft Maulers. ;)
-- Laurence

Yes, sir, yes, sir, you've warmed the cockles alright. Just when I thought my complete ignorance of computers and their dangers to my dull, staid, teacherly way of life was founded on the bed-rock of enslavement to the Will-man, you showed me a ditch through which I might crawl into a nestling, little space and play to my heart's content with these damned boxes and no one ever the wiser, students, faculty, parents or police!

Nevertheless, I must press on in the service of the Will-man b/c my admins are also in heavy bondage to him and his minions and they are everywhere. I expect you know that internal Winmodems give off a high-decibel, ultra-silent sound which gradually reduces the wilfullness of the modern key-puncher and forces them into the army of the Will-man, willfully or not, or back to the Gates, or some kind of post-modern crap like that!

I never believed as a late-comer to this whole, sleazy business of computers that I could have my intellectual balls tickled at my age. It's disgraceful. I think as a matter of fact that you should have this site rated so as to keep young people away from it. You, sir, are threatening a damned sight more than the Will-man ever did, the very foundations of modern computing. You are setting us up to leap with you into the command-line abyss of Penguin Hell, a deliciously cool lake where users punch and experiment and lie back and listen to the purr of the box. I warn you: the Blue Screen will gather its forces and strike you down as an infidel and a miscreant rebel. Damnation, sir, will you not repent? Will you not turn back and give up this ingenuous undermining of the whole computing enterprise? I beg of you, a trembling nation awaits your response. Do not fail us in our hour of need!

One of the best articles I've ever read. I'll definately be bookmarking this site. The title says it all so I'll say no more, apart from: "Miss it, miss out!"

A superb article on how our world could change, thanks to a web server the size of a match head, an alarm clock, and a penguin!

A definate "must-read". This article will fill you in on the much talked about "Sun-StarOffice" story. If all goes as planned, Sun Microsystems could change the way we looks at the software industry, the Internet, and to a lesser degree, the server market!

Not as good as the above article, but it does help shed some extra light on this exciting article. I use the word "exciting" because if you sit back and think about it for a second, the ramifications of this story are astounding. Open Source volcano anybody? ;)

An interesting question and answer session between folk from the Linux community, and Alan Cox the kernel guru.

No "real" reviews this week. However, Dusty has kindly decided to post up a review for us next week on "Open Sources", which is a book that has all the "Gods" of the Open Source movement in it apparently. Linus Torvalds (now where have I heard that name before??), Richard Stallman, and Eric S. Raymond to mention a few that I know of. I'm really looking forward to it Dusty! :)

by Scott Mueller
10th Edition. 2 CDs included. 1500 pages. Hard cover.
( also available)

"Nothing smells quite as new or sexy as a new piece of hardware." --Kryton

Hmmmm... what's this I see? A blank section? Need's filling up then doesn't it? (Hint, hint.)

Seriously, I'd love to see some reviews on hardware you've found to be a real "no brainer" (i.e. you don't have to think about it, you just installed it and it works like it should) or your own personal version of "Spawn of Satan!" that has been no end of trouble. Either way, we'd like to know about it.

I would be particularly interested in hearing about people's experiences with Sound Cards and CD-RW drives as those are my own next planned changes for Athena.

Bill doesn't know I've added this short review (hence his mention of this section being blank), but I thought I'd start "the ball rolling" as it were.

The Internal Iomega Zip drive. Ah what joy. Sick to the hind-teeth of backing-up my work to bundles of floppies I decided to fork out the cash for an Iomega Zip drive. What can I say about this baby? An absolute doddle to install and a dream to use. You have no idea how beautiful it feels to backup a 13Mb file to a single disk, if all you've ever experienced is multiple-spanning to 10 floppy disks, with your old-friend WinZip!

When I was first introduced to Linux, back in the days when Red Hat 5.1 had just been released, I remember the one and only thought that went through my head as I partitioned my humble 3.2Gb hard drive, ready for the installation of RH5.1: "If my Zip drive doesn't work in Linux, then I'll forget about getting into Linux until it does. No way am I going back to floppies... NO WAY!"

Fortunately for me - and you ;) - Linux instantly recognised it, and a quick read of the Zip-HOWTO educated me on the illustrious /etc/fstab file, and this alien concept called "mounting".

The only drawback to the Zip drive is the price of the 100Mb disks (approx. £10/$6). Fortunately a mate of mine got me a bunch of disks at half the usual cost (cheers Brian!), so no complaints from me. I don't know why, but I think there's a nicer feel to a Zip disk or tape than you get from a "gold" CD. And believe me, feel counts for a lot where your own system is concerned. Especially if you're a geek like me. ;)

If you do decide to purchase a Zip drive then the "age-old" question is, "Do I go external or internal?" This is a question you'll obviously have to answer yourself dependant on taste, requirements, and cost. If you have more than one system, go external. If you want your Zip drive to feel like a true replacement for your ancient floppy drive then go internal. If price is an issue then again go internal. If you want the new 250Mb model (still pretty pricey) then you can only go external. I'll leave it with you to decide...

I mentioned last week that Fatbrain had Michael Kofler's new edition available. I went over there this past week to just run through the ordering process, to find out what the shipping charges would be, and also if I'd have to pay taxes. (As I had no clue (still don't) as to where Fatbrain is located.)

However, all didn't go as planned. I got to the section where you fill out your shipping and billing addresses. But when I hit the "clickable" States field the screen locked up. I was able to get out by hitting the "Back" button in Netscape, but wasn't able to complete the form. At which point I did what anyone would do - or at least should do - and sent an email to the webmaster with as many specifics as I could think of at the time (OS, NS 4.61, etc.).

A day or so later I got an email from a customer service tech named Clinton Rogers and we discussed the problems. I sent along a bit more detail on the setup I was running and we exchanged a couple more emails. At some point last week I had the same thing happen to me on a different site which pretty clearly indicated that it was a "Netscape issue" and not a problem inherent to the ordering section at Fatbrain. Clinton said he'd a similar problem with Netscape under Windows, so it would seem to be well and truly a "Netscape issue", and not one that's platform-specific.

I did a bit of testing and was able to find a workaround for the problem. I've already sent Clinton an email detailing this, so you're probably seeing it before he will, given that it's a Holiday weekend here in the States.

First, it made absolutely no difference whatsoever whether or not Java support was enabled. None. I've had occasions in the past with Netscape that some truly weird problem could be eliminated by disabling the Java support but this is not one of those - unfortunately.

After a bit of trial and error I discovered that if I used the Tab key to "skip" the "clickable States" list and just went to the next field (States/Province/Other) and entered in my state (WA) manually, everything else worked just fine. I went back a bit later and checked and you can also use the mouse to "click into" that States, etc. field and it works as it should as well. So, bottom line is don't click on the "clickable States" selection deal and you should be fine.

One thing I did not test for (shame on me!) was the "clickable Countries" field. I had no need as US is the default, so you'll have to find out for yourself if you plan to ship something internationally.

Clinton and the guys are working hard to eradicate the bug but as I pointed out above, it doesn't appear to be a bug that they can do anything about at this point, as it's clearly a bug in Netscape and therefor out of their control.

One thing that would be very helpful though is if you have a browser - any browser - other than Netscape 4.61 - that does graphics, and go test it for yourself. I've not had an opportunity to do that as I have only just d/l'd Arena (and quite honestly don't even know if it's a graphics browser or not!) and have had no time to install it so I could use it for a test bed for this nasty little critter. It would be nice if we could get someone with Arena, Mosaic, Opera, and yes, even I.E., to try it out.

If you're able to do this, please and let me know how it all turned out (and I'll send along the results to Clinton). I would just have put his email up for you here but I didn't think of this until a few minutes ago, and no way would I put up someone's email address without their express consent first. I don't work that way. Since I didn't have an opportunity to ask him beforehand it wouldn't be fair to post it here even with "bug squashing" as a reason. (Although he probably wouldn't mind, I have no right to make his decisions for him do I?)

This "testing" thing is my own personal request and Clinton had nothing to do with it. Just so everyone is clear on that. Yes, he did ask me if I wouldn't mind doing a bit of testing. And I did so, willingly. But he doesn't know about this request of mine as it's something I thought of on the spur of the moment.

Laurence and I have discussed it and are in agreement that it's best to let TLBM #1 slip until October 1st, instead of rushing something together just for the sake of having it out there. You should know by now that's not how either of us do things.

We'll keep you informed on what's up with TLBM and if you have some articles you feel would be appropriate for the first issue let one of us know! I would love to see a bit on the Linux filesystem for sure, and perhaps a bit on setting up a firewall with a cheap 386 or something along that line. Firewalls and cheap 386's are an ideal application for Linux as I'm sure you're aware... :)

Tour of an Austrian Castle

You're by this point no doubt ready for something a bit lighter. How about a tour of an Austrian Castle?

I got this link from Joe (the one who did the great review of SuSE last week) who lives in Vienna. In fact, Joe told me that when you're looking at the homepage just think that he lives about 1300 meters to the left - probably the closest I'll get to a trip to Vienna (this year any way) and I really enjoyed taking the "Virtual Tour". Left me speechless (if you can believe that). Don't forget to sign their guestbook! :)

refdesk.com

I found this link in one of the many newsletters that pass my way. Worth a bookmark? Definitely. What do you want to know about?

Troubleshooters.Com

Speaking of "worth a bookmark" here's another really great site I kind of stumbled across this past week. I think you really have to admire a site that has a gif of Tux sharing the same page as a gif of Albert Einstein. :) While it's not a "strictly Linux" site there are sections specifically about Linux. I've not had nearly enough time to look it over thoroughly but I'll be going back again soon I'm sure of that.

TuxFinder

Looking for a program in RPM? Know what it is? Let Tuxfinder help you find out where to get it.

Linuxberg

The #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. (Even better than ours! ;)

I love this site. When you're taking the mick out of Microsoft etc. there's a fine-line between funny and "sueable". Segfault pole-vaulted that line and mooned at the Judge! ;)

DaveCentral

I stumbled across this site by accident this week, I was bored and clicking away at random. Took my breath away, I can tell you - definately a candidate for the stealing of Linuxberg's crown as number 1 place to go for Linux software.

KernelNotes.org

Great site to go to for the latest kernel updates. A "nothing-flash, no-nonsense" site for "grabbing" the files you need, with the least of effort.

<shameless advocacy mode on>

Last week I gave you a link you could go to every day because you wanted to win a new Dell server system. And there is, of course, nothing whatsoever wrong with that. However, this week I give you a link I stumbled across in one of the newsletters I get flowing thru my mailbox every day that actually makes a real difference to somebody.

There's a spot right on the front page that you can click and when you do you are making a donation that will help feed somebody. You don't have to pay one dime out of your pocket as they have "sponsors" for the site that actually donate to the United Nations World Food Programme when you click on the button. Depending on how many sponsors the site has that day you can donate anywhere from 1/4 cup (only one sponsor) to 2 1/4 cups (for 9 sponsors) as each sponsor will donate 1/4 cup of food (rice, corn, whatever) for each "click donation" made.

I thought this was important enough I put it into my sig line for my email. So? What have you done to make the world a better place today? Got 30 seconds? Feed Somebody.

</shameless advocacy mode off>

Well, it was an "interesting" week although it would seem not a lot was accomplished.

I have a 17 GB IDE drive on order (only $139!) from an auction I saw at Ebay, which I should be getting in a couple of weeks if all goes well. It's a "re-conditioned" drive but is still "certified error-free" and has a 90 day warranty. For anyone with some experience around computers you'll know that if your component, whatever it may be, manages to live through the first week - let alone the first 3 months - you're usually in the "it won't be dying any time soon" stage. Don't know yet what manufacturer it is but "major brand" was all they said on the site. I checked all the feedback for this seller first (37 listings, 37 positives) and sent email to ask the questions I had concerns about. I'm satisfied. I'll let you know how it turns out...

Obviously with a drive that size I wanted to know about the limitations of my BIOS. I also wanted to find out more info about whether or not my BIOS would support the "El Torito" spec - being able to boot from a CDROM. I thought about it a bit and decided that since Dell made the BIOS they would probably be the people to ask. So I did.

I went to the Dell site and did a bit of looking around on my own first but couldn't seem to find all the info I needed, so I decided I'd send an email to Tech Support. Now, quite honestly, I didn't expect much. After all, I didn't buy the system from them, it's a used-system I bought from someone locally, and Dell is most assuredly under no obligation whatsoever to even answer my questions under that circumstance, particularly since it won't put any money into their pockets.

I was very pleasantly surprised to receive an answer from Dell tech support after a few days that provided me with a link to a page giving me the specs for my system (something handy I assure you) and also provided some answers to my questions about the BIOS and drive size limitations (if any) and the booting from CDROM.

What I found out was that the BIOS - as it is now - has support for LBA so that means essentially that there is no "hardware" or BIOS limitation on the size of the drives I can install. A "good thing" to know for sure.

I also discovered, unfortunately, that the current BIOS does not support the El Torito spec and therefore booting from a CDROM just isn't possible unless I replace the BIOS. I've sent an email asking for a bit more clarification on that particular issue but as it's a holiday weekend won't get anything back for a few days I'm sure. I'll keep you informed of what I find out.

Well, that's about it for this week I guess. I hope you liked the links to the stories, and the contributions by Howard and Armac - Thanks a lot guys!

Oh, I just did a quick check and Athena has been "up" now for almost 6 days. The reason for the last reboot? My own ignorance of Linux combined with the fact that Microsoft has - somehow - managed to convince tens of millions of people worldwide that it is not only normal to have to reboot your system routinely - but an "acceptable solution" to system problems of all types. More on that another time though.

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