|
[ Home ] [ Archive ] [ ] [ Previous ] [ Next ] +---[ Issue 22
| 27th October 99 ]----+
+---------+ +---+ +-------+ |
| | | | | \ |
+--+ +--+ | | | ---- | |
| | | | | + |
| | | +----+ | ---- | |
| | | | | / |
+---+ +--------+ +-------+----------------------------------+
The Linux Bits: The Weekly Linux E-zine
===================================================================
https://linuxdot.org
------[ CONTENTS
----[ OP-ED PIECE I've still not managed to get my kernel compiled to support my Zip or CD-RW drive. However, I discovered it was not entirely my fault. When I got round to actually reading the docs in the /usr/src/linux/Documentation directory I discovered in the Changes file (for kernel 2.2.5) that I had at least 5 - not one, or two, but 5! - programs/libraries that were necessary for a successful compile, not installed on my system. I'll talk more about that in "This Week with Athena". For those of you who went to my site last week, looking for the Star Office 5.1 patch, and found it missing, I apologise for not having it uploaded sooner -- it's there now. But as Laurence said back in Issue 21, the SysGods did not see fit to grant us 26 hours in a day, so I just didn't find the time to get it done until this morning. Sorry. It just shows how smart the SysGods are. If they had granted us an extra 2 hours in each day - and taken away the need for sleep in the bargain - I'm quite sure that Laurence, Steve, and I would have found a way to fill up all that "available time" in short order - and been back again asking for more! :) Also, if you're looking about and see some references to Linuxdot.org and some to thebits.co.uk, rest assured that all the links work. I just haven't had the chance to make sure all the URLs point to Linuxdot.org. It's "on the list" and will get done.
----[ COLOUR OF THE WEEK "He's slightly mad don't you know." --His Invisible Therapist Not reason for the colour this week. Just felt it was the right one to go with. "I'm blue baby, blue, I am blue baby blue, I am blue baby, blue, I am blue." You know those corny songs that hit #1 in the charts? That you can't stand... yet you can't get them out of your head? Well that's one of them. Plague you like parasites they do -- the veritable MTV Mosquito if you will. "I'm blue baby, blue, I am blue baby blue, I am blue baby, blue, I am blue." DAMN IT STOP! ... "I'm blue baby, blue, I am blue baby blue, I am blue baby, blue, I am blue." Right that's it, no more! "I'm blue baby, blue, I am blue baby blue, I am blue baby, blue, I am blue." AAAGGGHHH!!!
----[ THIS WEEK'S BEST LINUX NEWS & ARTICLES The Corel Linux Test Drive Oh dear, LinuxWorld's Nick Petreley is justifiably none too impressed with the beta release of Corel Linux. I've only seen screenshots of it, and whilst it looks nice, it sounds like Corel might have put Homer Simpson on the job. WinLinux 2000 Installation Review It's been hyped as the first Linux to run from Windows, and has been downloaded from Download.com like there's no tomorrow. Here you can read about the installation nightmare that is WinLinux 2000! Intel To Market Red Hat Linux For Web Servers With Intel supplying the web servers, and Red Hat supplying the OS and Technical Support, this announcement raised Red Hat's share value by 12%. Red Hat 6.1 Review A nice, quick review of Red Hat's latest release.. Don't Do It For Money An outstanding article, best one I've read in a long time, quick and to the point. This entire site comes highly recommended. It's clear they have "good" people working over at LinuxTopia. He couldn't be more right about the LinuxOne IPO either, such a sham it didn't bear thinking about. Interview With Jon "maddog" Hall Great interview with Jon "maddog" Hall, Executive Director of Linux International and 100% Linux advocate. Anyone who's not aware of the great work Linux International do for the Linux community should take a read of this article. Mutt 1.0 Released! After all these years of using alpha and beta versions of the popular e-mail client Mutt, version 1.0 has finally been released! 2.3.23 Linux Kernel Released Only a week after the release of the 2.3.22 kernel, 2.3.23 is out! As usual the change summary (link above) will take a few days to be updated. You can download the patch here (556.8k), or the full source here (15.9Mb). "Feel Lucky, Tux?" Maximum Security Linux Now Available SecurityPortal.com and Macmillan USA have teamed up to provide a Linux Security Suite to help protect your Linux machines from the ever more sophisticated cracker. ATI Embraces Linux Many companies - hardware companies especially - could learn a thing or two from ATI. New GNOME Documentation Project David Mason from Red Hat announces a, "newly organized, revitalized GNOME Documentation Project". 2.2.13 Linux Kernel Released It's taken a while to arrive but it's here at last. It's likely there's many sites with details of the changes made to arrive at the 2.2.13 kernel, but I believe the above page to be the best presented and most thorough. You can download the patch here (675.5k), or the full source here (14.38Mb). Debian GNU/Linux 2.1- Release3 Review A nice review of Debian's latest release -- Debian GNU/Linux 2.1- Release3, explaining why Debian are still using the 2.0.36 kernel and old software to make the stablest and most secure distro possible. Maybe that's why Linux.com is powered by it? internet.com Acquires LinuxToday.com With over 5 million page impressions a month and nearly 400,000 unique visitors per month, it's safe to say LinuxToday.com is a pretty big Linux site. Now with internet.com buying them over it's clear they want their piece of the Linux pie. ----[ KERNEL NEWS As of the 27th October '99: Current development kernel: 2.3.23 (Released: 23rd October '99) Current stable kernel : 2.2.13 (Released: 20th October '99) 2.2.x Change List | 2.3.x Change List KernelNotes.org ----[ DID YOU KNOW... Distributions date back to 1993 when Pat Volkerding was playing with his copy of Linux. He added features, removed them, installed software, removed software, and kept on like this until he had a wildly different Linux system than the one he installed. He called it "Slackware", and thus the first Linux distribution was born. - Source -----[ LINKS TO INTERESTING PLACES LinuxTopia A very cool site, featuring bags of information perfectly suited to the Linux newbie. I just wish this site had been around when I was first learning Linux. It most definitely would have helped me no end. The CGI Resource Index An utterly gorgeous site, no other way to put it. Everything you've every wanted to know about CGI is on this site. Linux's main application is in the web server sector and without CGI the Web wouldn't be half what it is now. Anyone who can run CGI from their web server should check this site out. (When you're finished there you might also want to check out Matt's Script Archive -- another excellent site.) Update: LAME: Linux Administration Made Easy I mentioned this last week. The problem was the manual was moved to another domain shortly after the release of Issue 21. Quite a few people were nice enough to mention this, including Steve Frampton, the author. Better click that link above quick, before it decides to move again. ;) ----[ THE AMAZING NETMAX I've been trying to get a Linux box configured to work seamlessly with an NT network with no luck at all. I've tried everything, have purchased every version of Linux ever produced! Bought every book on Samba and Linux I could find. Searched the newsgroups. Exchanged email with people. Everything you could imagine. I would give up ... then start up again. Wish I had a buck for every time I fdisk'd my drive and started fresh with another copy of Linux! Anyway, one day I travelled to Columbus, Ohio to pickup some SCSI drives and a copy of FreeBSD from Microcenter (pretty big toy store!). I read that FreeBSD integrates easily into NT, so I decided to give up on Linux, and go with FreeBSD (having spent almost 3 solid weeks working on Linux and NT with no luck). While I was there, I noticed they had a new version of OpenLinux, so I picked up a copy of that also. While I was browsing, I noticed this product called "NetMAX FileServer and PrintServer for Linux", it was only $80, so I figured what the hell, and bought it also. I got back to my office and immediately wiped my drive clean, and installed OpenLinux. Then played with it for a few hours, without any luck. So I opened the NetMAX box and got out the CD. I soon learned it was best to start with a fresh clean hard drive (NetMAX will install Red Hat 5.2 with it). Now, I'm no Unix guru.. just a wannabee... I like things easy and don't like reading manuals like others do. Anyway, I installed the product, answered a few questions and it was time to reboot... I was paged to another office to work on their PC so I left it while it was rebooting. While I was away working on another PC (Windows 98! Ack!), I was trying to figure out why this person's username and password wouldn't work. Once I figure out the problem, I usually startup Network Neighbourhood to make sure the PC can see the network. I went into our Server domain and selected our server to see if he could access a directory, and saw a box in that domain named "NetMax"!! WTF! I clicked on the NetMAX box and it asked for a username and password. So I typed in the root user and password. Damned if I didn't get in! Friggin' 5 or 10 minutes of work and it was on my NT network!! I went back to the computer room and started playing with it. It has the kewlest Web admin interface. I installed WebMin), then downloaded the new version of webJetDirect from HP's site. I setup a! HP2500CM printer in NetMAX, the printer has a HPJetDirect 600N card in it and after a few steps (and a phone call to HP) the printer was setup in Linux! I went back to a Windows 98 PC (ACK!) and was able to install a network printer exactly like I did when the damn thing was on the NT network! Works great! The NT network even passes user authentication to the Linux box without a problem. Only thing I have to manually enter is each username and password from our NT Network to the Linux box. I guess there's an easier way, but I can't figure that part out... yet. While on the NT server box, I started up the "Server Manager" and was able to invite the NetMAX box into the domain. I haven't yet tried to add it as a BDC or try and do a sync with it yet... too afraid to. Everything is working so smoothly, I'd hate to touch it! I was beaming all day! Nothing could get my down! After all this time... it finally works! I called the NetMAX folks and had to tell them my story. I know the subject of integrating Linux and NT is cause for much discussion on all the BBS' and newsgroups. I'd recommend this product to anyone! ----[ THIS WEEK WITH ATHENA Athena is Bill's Linux box -- his pride and joy. Each week he gives us an update on what's been happening with Athena... hopefully providing some tips for your own Linux box in the process... Well, it's been an interesting week all things considered. As I said in my Op-Ed piece, I still don't have my Zip or CD-RW drive working as yet. One of the primary reasons for that being that when I actually took the time to read the docs (what a concept, eh?), if I'd done that I'd have saved myself much time and unnecessary frustration. And most likely my Red Hat partition would still be bootable... sigh. I discovered that I had no fewer than 5 programs/libraries, that absolutely had to be there for a successful compile, not installed on my system. I've also discovered to my sorrow that I did not have them lying about on a CD somewhere either - if I had them at all - so I spent a bit of time scouring the Net to gather together the needed programs/libs and have been patiently waiting for time to actually try and do something about it.
Tom's Root Boot I said last time that I was going to be taking a look at a couple boot/rescue type programs that I've downloaded already. I have only had a chance to look at one so far but it has everything I need at present. Here's the relevant info on the program: The "tomsrtbt" program is a diskette image that fits onto one floppy and includes the 2.0.36 kernel, a whole host of needed utils, and can be customised to fit your particular needs. I've not had time to do the "customise" part yet. About the only thing I do not like about it, is that the shell used is the Bourne shell (sh) and not the bash shell, so a lot of things I've become too used to - like command completion - just aren't there. Other than that though it works as it should, as I tested it, and was able to boot up and gain access to my hard drive, and even modify some files -- it even has Emacs and Vi on the disk! When I get time I may decide to try and put bash on the disk as well, so I can have access to that. It's not such a horrible thing to have to fully type out the name of the directory to switch to or the command to run I suppose, given the alternative of not being able to use your system at all. The installation was dead simple. I just put it into a directory of its own and read the docs (yes, I do learn!). Formatted the floppy to 1722Kb, transferred the system to the floppy, and verified that all the files had transferred correctly. I just sat and watched. When it was finished I took it for a "spin". It worked - as advertised - and Tom, where ever you are -- you have my utmost respect for a well-written and utterly essential program! Caldera OpenLinux 2.2 I had picked up a book from the local library that had Caldera's OpenLinux 2.2 on CDROM so decided to give it a try on my system as none of the Red Hat 6.0 installs I had done so far had recognized my Zip drive "by default" and was hoping to be able to avoid actually having to compile the kernel. I don't know if it would have recognized the Zip drive or not, as I never actually made it that far on the install before it just died on me. Seriously. I tried not once, but 3 times to do the install on my system. Each time I got as far as the setting up of the video card and it just flat out died on me. It said that it recognised my video card (an S3 generic card with 2Mb), and the Monitor (NEC MultiSync 3FGe) was on the list of supported monitors. But when I clicked on the "test" button for the video, the screen just went black and never came back. Since I know full well that my video card and monitor are anything but esoteric, in my opinion, that places the blame for the failure squarely on the shoulders of Caldera. I suppose if you like "eye candy" the install routine is nice enough. I'd prefer one that allowed me a bit more control over what goes on to be honest. And of course one that actually worked would be nice. This is not a problem only with me either from what I've heard. In fact, I've had a couple of emails recently from others that had similar experiences - Caldera's OpenLinux 2.2 failing during the install - so that being the case it would seem not to be something I did. Therefore I'll not be looking at OpenLinux 2.2 again anytime soon. If I can get a copy of OpenLinux 2.3 I'll give it the same chance I gave OpenLinux 2.2: 3 Strikes and you're OUT! Red Hat 6.1 I sent an email to I received the package last night (22nd). What a pleasant surprise to come home from work to. :) I had actually stopped off in the U-District to pick up a pack of floppy disks, as I'd used the last one I had to install Tomsrtbt onto - and picked up a wrist-rest as well - so it was very nice to find that now I'd have a use for the disks I'd just bought. (To make a boot disk.) The package I was sent is the Deluxe Edition, that includes the Red Hat Powertools CDs and the Star Office 5.1a CD. The same thing you'd get if you went to the local store and purchased it. I'll be doing a full review of Red Hat 6.1 soon. You will certainly have an overview of the Installation in the next issue of TLB! :)
The "LILO Wars" Continue... I'm actually starting to really get a dislike for LILO. I had - or at least thought I had - managed to get LILO properly configured on the /dev/hda2 partition - the 32Mb partition "formerly known as SWAP" :) - and have been booting just fine the few times that I had to boot Athena this past week. Up until a few days ago that is. Now when I try to boot with LILO, it puts "LIL" on the screen and just sits there... frozen. The only thing I can do is reach for the reset button. I can still boot up into the Kofler or Xpresso Linux installations using the boot disks I'd created for them, but unless I use the boot disks, the system is unbootable with LILO. Why? I've no clue. Laurence has told me he has a similar problem on his system, so I don't feel so alone anymore. I think that what I'm going to do is to ensure that LILO is completely and totally removed from either the MBR (on /dev/hda) or the current place it is supposed to be installed on (/dev/hda2), by resetting the relevant partition data using the assistance of /dev/zero to wipe whatever info LILO may have put there. I recall seeing in one of the LILO docs that if you use the dd command to put nulls into the MBR, that that will well and truly remove LILO from your system. I just have to make absolutely certain that I have the correct syntax and values to do that, since the last thing in this world I want - or need - is to get either one of the drives into an "unbootable" state. Right now LILO may have won a few battles but you can rest assured that it will be wildbill that wins the war! I'll be doing my "victory dance" in the next issue you can be sure. :) Looking Ahead I've a busy week ahead of me. First I've to wipe LILO, and have it booting on my terms. Then I have to gain support for the Zip and CD-RW drives. I've not decided yet on whether or not I'm going to try compiling the kernel first, or just try the installation of Red Hat 6.1 and see what happens with that first. I'll likely just try the install of Red Hat 6.1 and see what happens, since according to the Red Hat 6.1 manuals (I've not yet even cracked the seal on the CDs yet!), there are lots of improvements over Red Hat 6.0. It will be interesting to see if the new install routine will recognize the Zip drive, since none of the previous ones I've tried so far, have. First of all though is a long-delayed game of FreeCiv with Steve. (Man does not live by kernel compiling alone!) Two new sections were added to the Newbie's Linux Manual this week: Emacs Tutorial #1: Basic Editing A complete command reference list. Perfect for printing off and having at your side whilst you struggle to become proficient with this scary package. If you don't read this, you'd be as well tattooing your root password to your forehead. ----[ THE LINUX CHRONICLES: PART 1
This serial was written entirely in biodegradable crayon. The sun shimmered on the horizon as he looked out. Behind him only hot, unforgiving desert. Over the hill he saw much the same. In the middle of nowhere. Lost in the wilderness, for now at least. The long walk he had to take was showing no signs of ending any time soon. He sighed and stumbled on. The fight must continue... his mission wasn't at an end yet. Hours passed. He blacked out from heat exhaustion... When he came too he was in a room. Small. Metal walls. Bright light above. He shielded his eyes with his wing. "Need water," he thought. It had been a long time since he'd seen water. Sweet water. He missed his home. Snow, ice, fish... God how he missed the fish... diving into the cool refreshing water... stretching his wings... he sighed. A bang disturbed his dreaming. A door opened in the far wall. He hadn't realised there had been a door there. It must have been hidden. A small goblin entered. He coughed then spoke with an East-London accent. "I am Igor. The Master will see you now." He exited the room. After a few seconds he returned. "Well, are you coming?" "Am I supposed to?" "Well... Yes." "Erm... No, I think I'll stay here..." Igor reached into his left coat pocket and pulled something out and waved it around. "Look, you don't want to upset me. Don't make me use this on you." "That?" He said gesturing to the item in Igor's hand. "Yeah, this. I swear, you really don't want me to use this device..." "It's a pen." "I've seen grown men cry when I use this..." "It's a pen." "No it's..." He looked at it. It was indeed a pen. "Oh bugger. You know what this means don't you?" "That you're an imbecile?" "That my wife's writing a letter to her mother with a tazer!" "Somehow I think it's going to be a very short letter." "Damn... Anyway... Erm... Where was I." "You were saying something about the Master seeing me now." "Oh yeah, thanks. Well, you coming then?" "Do I have a choice?" "Erm..." "I guess you'll write me to death if I don't, won't you?" Igor went to say something. "No, don't worry, I'm coming." And with that they left. They walked down what seemed like endless corridors for a few minutes until Igor stopped at a junction. "Bugger!" "Problem?" "Yeah. What we have here... hang on, what's your name? I can hardly talk to someone whose name I don't know." "You can call me..." He paused to think of a suitable moniker. "Eric." Little did Igor know, that Eric's name was in fact Tux, a cute penguin, adored by millions of crazed computer fanatics. "Okay Eric. What we have here is your standard basic unable to determine the location situation." "In other words you're lost." "...Yes." "And you've worked here how long?" Igor puffed with orcan pride. "16 years." "And you're lost. I'm guessing the intelligence tests to get this job were of the level of, say, putting on a hat?" "Yeah. In fact that was one of them. A nice red one." "Why am I not surprised..." "It's no use, I'll have to call for help." He reached into his coat and pulled out a cellphone. He punched a few numbers. He put the phone to his ear. After a few seconds he spoke. "Yeah, hi, Frank? Yeah, it's Igor. Where the bloody hell am I?... Yeah... Yeah... Yeah... Okay, great!" He hung up and turned to Eric. "He doesn't know." "Maybe we should go back?" "Maybe we should. Do you think we should?" "Are you sure you should be asking me? I mean I seem to be a prisoner. Is it standard practice to ask the prisoners for help?" "Erm... Probably not." Igor gestured back up the corridor and Eric started walking with Igor close behind. They walked a bit further. Eric saw something on the floor up ahead. It was a beer bottle. He picked it up and stopped, turning to Igor. "Igor. Would you say you're happy with your job? Happy with your lot in life?" Igor looked thoughtful for a few seconds then spoke. "I guess... Why do you ask?" "Well, you see I was just curious as to whether you felt the risks were worth it." "Worth it? Risks? There are risks!?" "You know -- the risks of your profession." "Risks of my profession? Can you give me an example?" "Okay. Say I was to hit you over the head with this beer bottle. Would you consider that a risk?" "Why? Is it something you're likely to do?" "Quite probably." "Then I'd have to say no, it's not worth it." "I'm sorry to hear that." Eric swung and broke the bottle over Igor's head. "Oh bugger, that's going to hurt in the morning." Said Igor as he slumped to the floor. Eric dropped the remains of the bottle then hurried off down the corridor. There was a sign when he reached the next fork. He took the left fork, the one with the sign that said "Master's Chambers". TO BE CONTINUED... Will Eric make it to the Master's Chambers? Will Igor be asking for "danger money" from now on? Will Igor's wife recover from her inadvertent tazering? Does gravity exist, or does the world simply suck? All this and more will probably be answered in the next strangely intriguing instalment of The Linux Chronicles! ----[ WRAP-UP
An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it. --Mahatma Gandhi I was actually looking for a different quote by M. Gandhi but that one will work just fine. Why did I put it there? Well, the past few weeks - especially the last couple - have seen a veritable explosion of anti-Linux "forces" spreading (or trying to spread) FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) about Linux. If you go to Microsoft's website and check out the "Linux Myths" page, you'll get a laugh. They did, however, mix in just enough "true facts" to make it something that we (meaning the Linux community) should not just ignore it or blow them off completely. So, what does it all mean then? Quite simply, it means that what I've said in this space before -- that Microsoft is "running scared" (although you'll never hear them say so publicly). It's becoming such an obvious thing that it no longer needs to be said by me. Microsoft themselves are now doing the job for me. It's a pity really that Microsoft seems to think that Linux proponents are all "stupid fanatics" that can't tie their own shoes without help. Even worse is what they think about the computing public in general -- as evidenced by their callous disregard for truth in their dealings with the rest of the world. I had someone tell me (an NT Admin) in response to a feedback I'd posted on some website or other (ZDNet maybe, I don't recall), that the way Microsoft "does business" is not only "perfectly acceptable", but that's "the way the world works", and that I should just accept it. Sorry. I don't buy that. Just because Microsoft (or Intel or any other company) sees fit to act in a manner that I find to be reprehensible doesn't mean that it should be accepted. Microsoft is scared of Linux with good reason. Not only because Linux is "more stable" than any Microsoft "OS" you care to name. Or because Linux brings the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) back down out from the stratosphere and into more reasonable realms. But also because of the whole Open Source concept that is the reason Linux exists at all. Microsoft can't deal with that. They have no clue how to deal with that. Consequently it frightens them. So then, when I see this FUD from Microsoft (or one of the "independent" researchers they've funded) it actually makes me smile. Because I know then - beyond any doubt - that Microsoft is indeed, "running scared", and that means that Linux is one step closer to being a "Legitimate Choice". An operating system I'd like to see in all computer stores. Not the only choice, but a legitimate one.
----[ CREDITS This week's The Linux Bits has been brought to you by:
Want to contribute? Feel free to your submission. |