Linux-Misc Digest #541, Volume #19 Sun, 21 Mar 99 06:13:09 EST
Contents:
Re: What is the best Linux to install? (Jon-o Addleman)
Re: Linux Safeguards for the Consumer? (David E. Fox)
C/C++ Programming on Linux: Good Books? ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Linux kernel ("Jean-R�ginald Louis")
Mouse with Dosemu (Mike Brown)
Latest version of xgraph? (Jonathan M Hill)
Re: Linux kernel (Michael McConnell)
Re: Unusual number of posts differing only in date ??? (Allen)
Re: Booting Linux filesystem as read only (Guus Zijlstra)
Re: Some questions (Bernd-Ulrich Adrigam)
Re: bzlilo compile Kernel 2.2.3 error (please help) (eric malloy)
Re: knews: How to stop downloading all groups every time? (Nick Dreyer)
Netscape on Linux -- Bookmark Bug -- to Mr. Gero Marten ("Benjamin Sher")
Beginner help!!! Xwindows (Adriano Marcuz)
Re: Freecell (Gary Johnson)
Re: Help with remote session (Keith E. Jennings)
Re: RH 5.1 is missing /proc/swaps: So, swapon -s doesn't work... ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Netatalk - socket (James Campbell Andrew)
Re: How to customize sound - volume settings that startup... (Andreas Hinz)
pppd setuid? (Eric)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Jon-o Addleman)
Crossposted-To:
alt.os.linux,comp.os.linux,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.os.linux.redhat,comp.os.linux.networking,alt.os.linux.slackware
Subject: Re: What is the best Linux to install?
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 1999 07:06:40 GMT
Just for the record, I've attempted several times to use redhat and
found it unintuitive, confusing, and generally really annoying. On the
other hand, Debian has been simple and user-friendly from the start,
except for a few minor things (default pagersetup in 2.0, etc...). I
don't see where these ideas appear about redhat being the easiest, and
Debian the hardest to install - I find it's just the opposite!
The biggestproblem with RedHat for me was that it would install
things, but not set them up. Debian packages typically ask a number
of questions upon install and set themselves up nicely. For example,
when I installed a new window manager in Debian, it asked if I wanted
to make it the default in X, and added it to a number of menus, config
files, etc... With Redhat, it did nothing, and I was left to my own
devices to find out what file to edit, and how to do it. The same
happens with many other things.
As well, there are a few rather silly things that Redhat doesn't do -
for example, the terminaldoesn't support the home/end/delete keys! I
don't see how they can get away with that... it's very annoying.
Of course, now I'm also simply used to Debian, and know where to find
files, how to set up the init (a bit...) and so on, so of course I
prefer it. But I have a lot of trouble understanding how people
recommend anything else for newbies - I've had huge troubles with
other distros that I tried - for the record, I started with RedHat,
and didn't get very far.
--
Jon-o Addleman
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (David E. Fox)
Subject: Re: Linux Safeguards for the Consumer?
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: 21 Mar 1999 06:46:22 GMT
In article <01be6960$be9ba1c0$8a97d6d1@sher07>, Benjamin Sher wrote:
>Specs: NEC Pentium 166, MMX, 64 meg Ram. Win95 + Linux (hopefully) using
>LILO.
Such a machine should run Linux fine.
>Are there any safeguards (either command-line or by way of the GUI) against
>accidentally hitting the wrong key combination while in "root" mode? Does
The 'ctrl-alt-del' combination? Well, properly configured systems (and
most distributions qualify) will have an entry in a file named
/etc/inittab which intercepts this combination and executes a
proper shutdown. Of course, you should always properly shutdown the
system, and not just turn it off, but this is true of Windows systems
too (at least more recent versions).
>hitting such a combination of keys really result in destruction of your
>system (as opposed to "merely" requiring a reinstallation of Linux?
I would say neither. I've never had to reinstall Linux due to problems
ascribable to it, not really even because of human error.
>I am planning to buy a battery to protect me from power failures, etc.
>Makes a lot of sense. But what about human error? Inadvertently hitting the
Linux supports various UPSes and has a 'powerfail' setup in the same
/etc/inittab file (gets read when booting).
>power button to shut down the system. I understand that fsck or File System
>Checker is the LInux equivalent of Scan Disk. Is it a sufficient safeguard
>against human error?
The "root mode" you mention is a very good safeguard. When you are
using Linux, you only should use root mode when absolutely necessary, and
at all other times you should run it as a regular user. This is a
"protection" not really afforded by Windows, where you are essentially
"root" all the time, and anybody walking past your system can inadvertently
(or purposefully) ruin your system.
fsck is essentially the same thing as Scan Disk, except that it works, and
doesn't have a silly graphic of a doctor looking at your disk :). The
default filesystem in Linux (ext2) is extremely robust compared to that
fragility called 'FAT". In the five or so years I've personally been
running Linux, I've only lost two files, and that was when the power
went out during some heavy disk activity. (For those interested, it
was in the middle of a Cnews expire.)
>I have read that Linux, unlike Windows, runs in "unprotected" mode. What
>exactly does that mean, from a practical point of view? Does that mean that
>the safeguards above do not apply or cannot really be applied to Linux?
Actually it runs in "protected" mode, which is a feature that is
available on 386/486/etc. processors. Such a mode makes it more
difficult for programs to corrupt the system. Combined with features
(like file permissions), it makes it almost impossible for virii to
exist under Linux, for instance.
>Another way to put is: Is Linux ready for the consumer?
This is a different (and new) twist on the issue. Most people who ask this
question ask whether or not Linux is easy enough for the consumer, if
it is easy to install, etc. You, of course, are more interested in
stability and reliability. Would that others would focus on that side of
the coin as well.
For more info, look at www.linux.org.
>Benjamin Sher
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
========================================================================
David E. Fox Tax Thanks for letting me
[EMAIL PROTECTED] the change magnetic patterns
[EMAIL PROTECTED] churches on your hard disk.
=======================================================================
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Crossposted-To: comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,alt.linux
Subject: C/C++ Programming on Linux: Good Books?
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 00:27:51 GMT
I have used Visual C++ for C/C++ programming on Windows platform; now, I am
planning to switch to Linux and want to do programming using the free GNU
compilers that come with Linux.
I am looking for a good book that describes the use of GNU C/C++ compilers
(have they both been merged and now called gcc?), various command-line
switches, GNU Debugger (gdb), etc. Anybody want to recommend a good and
not-so-verbose book? Thanks.
BOB
============= Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ============
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
------------------------------
From: "Jean-R�ginald Louis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Linux kernel
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 19:49:12 -0500
Where can I find new kernel version to install? Currently I have the version
2.0.34 from Redhat 5.1. It's that old?
------------------------------
From: Mike Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Mouse with Dosemu
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 06:25:09 -0800
I have been setting up dosemu on my system and am having a problem
getting the mouse to act properly. The center button seems to dump
whatever is in the cut&paste buffer into DOS's keyboard input. This
creates a byte-explosion because the DOS program isn't expecting all
these characters (and either was I). I have programs that use the
center button so whatever is happening disables them. I have gone thru
every bit of documentation I can find and search the user net for an
answer but so far no luck. I have tried to disable dosemu's internal
mouse driver but nothing I do changes anything (did this by setting the
mouse items in dosemu.conf to ""). Tried several DOS (microsoft and
logitech) mouse drivers but they always report that another driver
already exists in memory and bail. Other than the center button out
of control the mouse generally works OK in dosemu. This problem occures
both in 'X' and the console. The one difference is that when I tried to
disable the mouse it did in console mode but I still couldn't load any
DOS mouse drivers. I am running the following versions:
Red Hat 5.2
Kernel 2.0.36
dosemu 0.98.5-1
KDE 1.1-3
MS-DOS 6.20
Thanks in advance for any help you may send my way.
Mike Brown
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Jonathan M Hill)
Subject: Latest version of xgraph?
Date: 20 Mar 1999 02:38:26 GMT
Hello;
xgraph is a very simple program useful for graphing data, its been
around for years. I have experience with xgraph on the workstations
at my college.
Anyways, I have developed a fondness for xgraph and installed it
on my own Linux box (yea!) but I soon found that the version is 11.3.2,
dated December 1989. OK, on one hand I am impressed - xgraph has indeed
been around for a while. On the other hand I'm hoping that there is a
newer version out there.
I checked a bunch of FTP sites and did not find anything newer.
Anyone have any ideas?
Jonathan Hill
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: Michael McConnell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Linux kernel
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 02:36:22 +0000
On Sat, 20 Mar 1999, Ryan Ho wrote:
> Try www.kernel.org
>=20
> Jean-R=E9ginald Louis wrote:
>=20
> > Where can I find new kernel version to install? Currently I have the ve=
rsion
> > 2.0.34 from Redhat 5.1. It's that old?
Or, get the 2.0.36-3 RPMs from updates.redhat.com (and mirrors).
-- Michael "Soruk" McConnell
Eridani Star System -- The Most Up-to-Date Red Hat Linux CDROMs Available
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.amush.cx/linux/ Fax: +44-8701-600807
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Allen)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.hardware
Subject: Re: Unusual number of posts differing only in date ???
Date: 20 Mar 1999 04:04:36 GMT
No, it's not your imagination, and it caused my windows client and newsreader to
crash too. I've been archiving these groups and most of the comp.os.linux
groups for the last 4-5 months, and I even saw some of my posts that were fine
earlier this week showing up in multiples. I've got a huge cleanup here on this
windows machine, or I could just take this weekend to try to figure out how to
configure a NNTP local spooler on the Linux box?
On 19 Mar 1999 22:55:59 GMT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Bengt Richter) wrote:
>Is there a problem in the delivery chain somewhere?
>
>I can't believe so many folks are re-posting their
>stuff...
>
>Regards,
>Bengt Richter
Allen
(email addy; user ID portion has a numeral one in place of word
onespoiler, and of course, delete the bogus secondary domain of nospam.)
PC/hardware Guru, and Linux Newbie
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 17:43:38 +0000
From: Guus Zijlstra <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux,comp.os.linux.questions,comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: Booting Linux filesystem as read only
Login as root and edit /etc/fstab
For read only filesystems you want the options in the fourth
column to be 'ro', without quotes.
You can try you modification by doing the following
% umount -a; mount -a
The filesystems that are in use cannot be unmounted, so you'll
have to reboot at some point.
Guus.
Andre wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I'm going to be using Linux as an analog router, and I was wondering if
> anyone knows how to boot the file system up as read only. Obviously I'll
> have to shut down some deamons such as syslogd, but I was wondering if
> anyone has any other tips or info I will need.
>
> Thanx
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Bernd-Ulrich Adrigam)
Subject: Re: Some questions
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 1999 08:15:43 +0100
NF Stevens schrieb in Nachricht <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
>John Appleyard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>>A few easy ones
>>
>>(1) If I 'cat' a binary file by mistake, I often end up with a garbaged
>>system - all messages and prompts are translated into Klingon - or
>>something like it. How do I recover without rebooting? Even exit
>>doesn't fix it.
>
><control-J>reset<control-J>.
>
>Norman
Hello Norman,
I saw the "reset" - advice several times in this newsgroup,
but you are the first with <CTRL>J reset <CTRL>J !
What does the <CTRL>J stands for ???
Bernd
------------------------------
From: eric malloy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To:
comp.os.linux,comp.os.linux.development,comp.os.linux.questions,comp.os.linux.x,alt.os.linux,linux.sources.kernel
Subject: Re: bzlilo compile Kernel 2.2.3 error (please help)
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 1999 07:42:10 GMT
Elmo Recio wrote:
> Where's the error?!?
see the attached files
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Nick Dreyer)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.questions
Subject: Re: knews: How to stop downloading all groups every time?
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 1999 07:47:02 GMT
On Sun, 21 Mar 1999 03:44:23 GMT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Bob Hauck) wroth:
>In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Nick Dreyer) writes:
>
>> Next time I go into knews, the groups get down loaded again.
>
>In "man knews" we find...
>
>[snip]
>
> +/-active
> Sets the resource 'Knews.readActiveFile' to
> True/False.
>
>[snip]
>
> readActiveFile
> Setting this to False will stop knews from reading
> the active file when connecting, using the groups
> in the newsrc file instead. This will speed up
> connection on slow lines if you don't have too many
> subscribed groups. The default is the value of the
> resource Knews.readActiveFile, whose default is
> True.
>
Aahh. I did scan that, but the term "active file" meant nothing to me (it's
not exactly the most descriptive name either).
Thanks for helping me get up to speed on newsgroup terminology.
>> Finaly what does the message about not finding domain name mean?
>
>You have not set a domain name *on your machine*. I don't recall
>offhand where knews gets this from, but I think if you just set a
>fully-qualified host name (mymachine.mydomain.com) using the
>"hostname" command it will be happy.
No luck with that. I had just a minimal hostname, "home". Now I changed it
to "nick.dreyer.home.oz.net" in both the /etc/hostname and /etc/hosts files.
Rebooted, tried running knews as non-root user, all to no avail. Can't seem
to get rid of the message
knews: Couldn't determine domain name. Posting will not be possible.
and it's true, as it says: Posting isn't allowed.
Any other ideas? I'll poke around a bit to see where else the hostname might
be hidden . . .
|\|.
------------------------------
From: "Benjamin Sher" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Netscape on Linux -- Bookmark Bug -- to Mr. Gero Marten
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 1999 06:18:33 GMT
Dear Gero:
In you response to question concerning the AUTOMATIC sorting of bookmarks
by NAME in Netscape 4.x and above, you answered very laconically by saying
that No sorting possible in Linux.
I would very much appreciate a little elaboration and clarification of this
remark. It is of great importance in my work. I have still not received my
Linux program. It is scheduled to arrive Monday, and I am trying to prepare
for it in every way possible. The automatic sorting by name bug in Netscape
for Windows has essentially crippled Netscape's bookmarks, and Netscape,
for two years now, has either not listened to its user's complaints (and I
am a registered Netscape user) or cared about them. At any rate, may I ask
if the Netscape version for Linux has the AUTOMATIC sorting by name option
under Edit Bookmark, View. If so, does it not work. Or is the option
missing? And, sorry for sounding naive, but what do you mean when you say
that sorting is not possible in Linux. I know I will find out sooner or
later, but your explanation would reassure me one way or another.
Thank you so much.
Benjamin
--
Benjamin Sher
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sher's Russian Web & Index
http://personal.msy.bellsouth.net/msy/s/h/sher07/index.html
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Adriano Marcuz)
Subject: Beginner help!!! Xwindows
Date: 20 Mar 1999 16:09:45 GMT
Hello all,
Need newbie help in setting up Redhat 5.2 with the following,
1) Set my Cirrus Logic 5640 with 2MB video RAM to 1024x768
2) Add an Icon to the desktop for any program I would like to launch ie.
apache server manager.
How does one accomplish this in linux? The install process does not have
any paths to accomplish this and it's different enough from my SCO 5.0.4
that I am lost........can a kind soul please help me?
Adriano
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Gary Johnson)
Subject: Re: Freecell
Date: 21 Mar 1999 09:42:45 GMT
Dave Ulrick ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
> John Girash <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> >try xpat2; it's better than WinFreeCell.
>
> Amen. xpat2 allows you to make most card movements with a single
> mouse click; dragging and dropping is almost never necessary. As well
> as Freecell, xpat2 has great implementations of Spider, Seahaven
> Towers, and several other solitaires. I have xpat2 running constantly
> in one of my fvwm virtual desktops. :-)
Where do you find xpat2? I couldn't find it at either www.linuxapps.com
or www.freshmeat.net. I have pysol and like it, but I would rather
click than drag.
Gary
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Keith E. Jennings)
Subject: Re: Help with remote session
Date: 20 Mar 1999 16:59:33 GMT
ok, I'm pretty stupid. I wasn't properly setting the DISPLAY variable.
I finally used export DISPLAY=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:0.0 and then tried to run
an xterm and it worked. stupid me
keith
--
Keith E. Jennings
THE Funkomatic
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: RH 5.1 is missing /proc/swaps: So, swapon -s doesn't work...
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 1999 09:35:43 GMT
Not sure if this is what you mean, but the command "top" in an xterm will show
you all sorts of interesting things, including the amount of swap you have and
how much of it is being used.
VanL
In article <7d1dh0$79o$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> NF Stevens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Kenny McCormack) wrote:
> >
> >>I have an RH51 system, installed from "Official RH 5.1" in the pretty box.
> >>
> >>I have 2 working swap partitions - Running 'free' shows 96 megs of swap.
> >>When I run "swapon -s", I get /proc/swaps: No such file or directory.
> >>
> >>Assuming something is missing from the kernel. How do I fix this?
> >
> >/proc/swaps is not available in 2.0.xx kernels. It is a new feature
> >that only became available in 2.2.0.
>
> I see. Odd that they would program for a non-existent feature in the
> version (of the swapon program) shipped with (on the same CD as) the
> 2.0.x kernel.
>
> Is there any other way to find out what is currently being used as swap?
>
============= Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ============
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
------------------------------
Subject: Netatalk - socket
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (James Campbell Andrew)
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 1999 09:56:49 +0000
I recently recompiled my kernal to 2.2.3 after a completely fresh
re-install of Suse 5.2. Now when I try to start Appletalk networking via
atalkd I'm getting the message 'socket: invalid argument'. I'm guessing
that I've forgotten to compile something into the kernal but I;m blowed
if I can find what it is :-)
Any ideas?
Thanks.
--
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | The application "Jim" has suffered
The Official Site For | a Total Enthusiasm Failure
B R E A T H E | and must exit immediately.
http://www.october.u-net.com | [[ OK ]] [ CANCEL ]
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Andreas Hinz)
Subject: Re: How to customize sound - volume settings that startup...
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 1999 09:56:40 GMT
On 20 Mar 1999 08:25:25 GMT, Miernik <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>I want Debian to start with output volume 25%, and line-in volume 100% and
> so on. Now I have to set it each time with XMixer....
>
In your startup script call:
mixer pcm 25
mixer line 100
If you run sound as modules, this has to be done every time the modules have
been rmmod/insmod.
I do not know how to do this automaticly.
You could run the mixer command in a cron job, but then the modules will be
loaded all the time and then some advantages of modules compared to kernel
build in sound is gone.
--
Med venlig hilsen / Best regards
Andreas Hinz
------------------------------
From: Eric <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: pppd setuid?
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 08:44:22 -0700
I just reinstalled RH5.2 on my computer,
and I can't get PPPD to work with anyone
else but the root user. It says
something to the effect of 'PPPD can
only be run as root' and then something
about the setuid not being set
correctly.
It has been awhile since I had to
install RH and I forget how to fix that.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
------------------------------
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End of Linux-Misc Digest
******************************
