Linux-Misc Digest #250, Volume #24 Tue, 25 Apr 00 11:13:25 EDT
Contents:
Re: How Microsoft inhibits competition & innovation ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: Sound for the VIA82C686A (K7V motherboard) chipset??? (Rod Smith)
Another shell script question (David Bell)
Creative Labs Nomad and Linux? ("Noone")
Re: ICQ masquerading problems (Jean-Sebastien Morisset)
Re: Another shell script question (Hal Burgiss)
Could MS 'Buy' Linux? (Richard Phillips)
Re: ICQ masquerading problems ("Tad")
Re: Another shell script question ("David ..")
Re: Another shell script question (David Bell)
Re: I think I have been HACKED!!! (C. Newport)
Re: Installing Linux over Win98 (David Turley)
Re: Could MS 'Buy' Linux? (Todd Knarr)
Re: probs w/ X Config in Mandrake (Andrew Purugganan)
Re: Could MS 'Buy' Linux? (Dances With Crows)
Re: Installing Linux over Win98 (Dances With Crows)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: How Microsoft inhibits competition & innovation
Crossposted-To:
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy,comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy,comp.lang.java.advocacy
Date: 23 Apr 2000 23:13:56 GMT
Sen Donnchadha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Roger Blake) wrote:
:>>Like I said, those OSs don't have nearly as many hardware manufacturers
:>>writing drivers for them. And those that do can afford
:>
:>You're reaching here, trying to blame Windows' notorious problems on
:>drivers from hardware vendors.
:
: Hey, it's just my experience, that's all. Microsoft bashers talk on and on
: about Windows' "notorious problems", but when asked to drill down on the
: vast majority of them, they come up with squat. A great example of this
: is DLL Hell. In discussions like this one, I've asked dozens of people
: moaning about DLL Hell to list just a few problems they've actually traced
: to DLL conflicts, and apart from half a handful of well-known instances
: where the vendor (usually Microsoft) screwed up a specific DLL upgrade,
: their responses always add up to a big fat zero.
"Apart from noting many well-known and commonly experienced
examples, they they don't come up with squat."
Oh, that's classic... :-/
: The same goes for registry corruption,
Recent example: My work mate's machine (Windows98) was running
Apache and nothing else at the time. Two days ago, it freezes up
while I was hitting the web server for a couple files. Screen is
still up, but the mouse is frozen, three finger solute does nothing,
etc. I hit the reset button. Scandisk runs and finds no problem,
however when the machine trys to boot...the registry file isn't
found. It's not corrupted, it's not there at all... Press entry to
continue and watch the machine power itself down completely...
Corrupted, missing, same thing...the OS and every application on it
is hosed. He had to reinstall the OS and all applications, which is
partially his mistake for not having a recent backup, however backup
or not it's a problem that shouldn't have happened at all.
: OS-level memory leaks, etc. People making these claims usually hate
: Windows to begin with and don't bother researching problems when they
: occur. To their pet OSs, of course, they give much more slack. Another
: point worth mentioning is that when talking about these issues, advocates
: invariably leave out the fact that non-Microsoft OSs are just as
: vulnerable as Windows to most of them. Do you really think Unix/Linux is
: immune to shared library conflicts or misbehaving drivers?
Of course not. However, Unix application installs however, don't
mess with /usr/lib and friends, thus making the "problem"
impossible.
Unless you're running a braindead system like RedHat...but that's
another flame war...
Application installs have no business touching anything in
C:/WINDOWS/SYSTEM*, yet almost every single one does. Why? Because
the system lets them and because MS started the trend itself (See
Office and friends, as well as any VB app that requires a VB runtime
DLL that MS never kept upto date in their OS...). Even MS admits to
"DLL Hell" as a major problem, which Win2k is touted to have
"fixed". -I still haven't looked into exactly how they think they
fixed it however, so I can't comment there.
Drivers can screw up any OS, to be sure. Unix does however, tend to
be stricter overall about quality in my (and most peoples')
experience. Unix venders also tend to write many (most/all) the
drivers themself, which makes it much easier to maintain quality
controls. -Which only makes sense, because if a driver crashes the
system the end user will likely blame the OS vender, not the driver
maker, especially if the driver was shipped with the system (see
Windows for an example).
:>>What design issues?
:>
:>There are so many deficiencies with Windows design that it's hard to find
:>a place to start! On a high level, one good example is the braindead
:>design of the registry which in its Win95 incarnation would grow
:>boundlessly until it wouldn't permit the OS to boot up!
:
: The registry does seem to never shrink on Win9x, but I've *NEVER* seen it
: prevent the OS from booting, and I've used Win9x since the Chicago beta
: days. And after 10 years of Unix development, I welcome the concept of the
: registry with open arms.
How about a missing registry? See above.
:>It's still so damned fragile and nearly impossible to debug that now
:>Windows 98 keeps multiple copies around and tries to heal itself if
:>corruption is detected.
:
: No, it just keeps several backups around for disaster recovery (it doesn't
: try to "heal itself"). What the heck's wrong with that?
It did a great job of "healing itself" on my co-worker's computer a
couple days ago...
>snip<
:>Then how about a network subsystem whose design dictates that the response
:>to network errors is that THE ENTIRE SYSTEM HANGS INTERMINABLY.
:
: How about that's a pile of crap? I've never experienced that, nor even
: heard of it.
NT's network libraries don't have this problem, however 95/98's do.
Most network (at least TCP/IP) calls block the entire system until
they return, error or not. The three finger solute normally works,
however.
It's not just network errors however. Applications have more then
enough rope to hang themself. Anyone else remember when Netscape
first got JavaScript and had no problem hanging the OS hard by
simply putting this in the location:
javascript:while(1){}
The three finger solute couldn't even save you from that one...
Netscape fixed this, but Windows95 should never have let the problem
happen in the first place. If you tried the above JavaScript
example on a Unix system...only Netscape hung. The system had no
problem and indeed, with a proper user limit configuration Netscape
would quickly be killed off by the system. Even in "unlimited"
mode, Unix had no problem keeping the rest of the system running
just fine as the priority quickly was dropped to the floor.
:>Another issue is the endless problems with shared DLLs. EVEN DLLs PRODUCED
:>BY MICROSOFT ARE FREQUENTLY INCOMPATIBLE ACROSS VERSIONS AND CAN CAUSE
:>SEVERE SYSTEM PROBLEMS!
:
: Yes, Microsoft has screwed up DLL upgrades several times. So what?
"Yes, even MS is a large contributer to this major problem. So
what?"
Again, that's just classic...
:>For that matter, what other OS has a design that practically requires
:>non-trivial applications to modify the operating system in order to run?
:
: You've got it backwards. Windows does *NOT* have a design that requires
: nontrivial apps to modify the OS. However, many apps *DO* modify the OS
: anyway. Why? Because of the intensity of commercial competition.
Oh, that's rich. Why should the OS allow any apps to modify the
system directory in the first place, competition or not?
Even you admit that MS itself has been part of this problem. Is
this not really a case of, "Do as I say not as I do"?
:>In Linux, to install an app, I copy the files to a directory and run the
:>executable. If anything, the only other thing that may be needed is to
:>install a support library. That's it. To uninstall, just delete the
:>files! Amazing!
:
: Oh, you're leaving out a *BUNCH* of stuff here. In fact, Unix is way
: *WORSE* in this regard than Windows. That's because nontrivial Unix
: apps have to sprinkle bits and pieces of themselves all over the file
: system.
That's a feature.
: Let's see now. The executable or launcher goes into one of the "bin"
: directories, the data goes into one of the "lib" directories, global
: settings go God knows where, per-user settings go into home directory
: dotfiles, log files go into one of the "etc" directories or some place
: under "/var", and heaven help you if the app installer wants to give you
: some way to access the app from the GUI.
The usage of the Unix directory structure is simple, complete,
intuitive, and well understood by it would seem, everyone that works
with Unix except you.
: And that's just for relatively simple apps. Just wait until commercial
: ISVs start giving your stable little OS their "magic" treatment.
We'll see. For the most part, applications modifying the OS is such
an extreme no-no in the Unix world that the typical response to an
ISV trying to do such a thing would be met with great hostility or
silence.
:>One of the best-known of these was moving display functions into the
:>unprotected "Ring 0" of the OS -- now a buggy display driver can crash
:>your enterprise server.
:
: Now this is one anti-Microsoft argument that never fails to amaze me. A
: device driver can crash the OS?! Yeah, like Unix is safe from bad device
: drivers. And as for display functions being in "Ring 0", let me remind you
: that one of the most reliable microcomputer Unixes in history was SunOS
: 4.x, with the SunTools GUI in the kernel.
How do you figure the SunTools GUI was in the kernel? How do you
figure any part of any GUI was in the kernel?
: It took many years for Solaris to become that stable (and many would argue
: that it still isn't) after they made the switch to SVR4.
Indeed, however that has nothing to do with the GUI.
:>>Come on. Mac reliability is a joke, and the reason it may not be as
:>
:>I have not found this to be the case. We use PowerMac systems to do
:>digital video and they have been quite reliable in running the demanding
:>applications involved. I couldn't even imagine trying to do anything
:>similar on Windows systems.
:
: It doesn't matter if you can't imagine it. The fact is that it's happening
: everyday. Millions of people use Windows to run demanding applications.
: And let's not forget that Mac reliability is almost by definition a joke
: compared to that of WinNT/Win2K.
Ok, this part I have to agree with. Macs running high-end video
editing systems and such reliably are very commonplace, however it
has nothing to do with the Mac OS and everything to do with the fact
that the machines run absolutely nothing else. Once you start and
Avid for instance, you pretty much leave Mac OS behind.
When you're building basically a turnkey, embedded machine such as
most high-end video editing systems are, it's much easier to
maintain rock solid stability. It's when the system is used for
general purpose applications that things get tricky and where Mac OS
falls apart. As bad as Windows is, it's better then Mac OS in this
reguard.
And both Mac users and Apple know it. Mac OS X however, will likely
turn the tide heavily in Mac's favor. The ease of use of a Mac,
with the stability and performance of (BSD) Unix. Windows and MS
could be in a shitload of trouble if Apple plays its cards right...
:>[standard anti-Microsoft babbling deleted]
:
: What can I say? I totally disagree. In my experience, Microsoft's stuff is
: on average of *BETTER* quality than the majority of the others. Some of
: their design decisions were clearly motivated by marketing considerations
: rather than the desire to create "beautiful technology", but I don't think
: it's fair to fault them for that. They are, after all, not a nonprofit
: research organization.
I'll fault any and all technology who's design choices have a hidden
and damaging agenda behind them. ...This is, in fact, also a fault
I find with the Linux movement in general as well.
There is too much "anti-" going on and not enough "pro-". MS is
"anti-everything non-MS" and Linux tends to be "anti-Microsoft".
I'm much happier with design choices made in a "pro-" mentality,
such as "pro-Unix", "pro-Mac", "pro-BeOS", even... "pro-Windows".
--
-Zenin ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) From The Blue Camel we learn:
BSD: A psychoactive drug, popular in the 80s, probably developed at UC
Berkeley or thereabouts. Similar in many ways to the prescription-only
medication called "System V", but infinitely more useful. (Or, at least,
more fun.) The full chemical name is "Berkeley Standard Distribution".
------------------------------
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Rod Smith)
Subject: Re: Sound for the VIA82C686A (K7V motherboard) chipset???
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.hardware
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 23:30:12 GMT
[Posted and mailed]
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> Hello,
>
> Does anyone have any idea how to get the sound working
> for the VIA82C686A chipset.
>
> I have the new ASUS K7V motherboard and have been trying to get the
> sound working, and frankly have tried all I know...
Try the 0.5.6 or later ALSA driver. I'm using it on two systems. One's got
an ASUS K7M motherboard, the other is a Compaq Presario notebook with a
VIA MVP4 chipset. Both use the 82c686a for sound. I've got a few more
details on my notebook web page:
http://www.rodsbooks.com/presario/
--
Rod Smith, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.rodsbooks.com
Author of books on Linux networking & multi-OS configuration
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (David Bell)
Subject: Another shell script question
Date: 23 Apr 2000 23:30:29 GMT
Hello! I've got a very simple question... I'm making a script to retrieve my
current PPP ip address. Here's an example: /sbin/ifconfig ppp0 | grep 'inet
addr' | awk '{print $2}' . I get the output: addr:<ip here>. How can I filter
out 'addr:' to just get the ip? Anyone know of a good, easy to read, shell
script howto? TIA
=========================
David Bell - Otherwise known as DB7654321
Remember to remove nospam, notrash or anything odd looking from my email
address. :)
------------------------------
From: "Noone" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Creative Labs Nomad and Linux?
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 06:29:45 -0400
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
=======_NextPart_000_01E3_01BFACED.510B39A0
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
I am new to Linux (Caldera OpenLinux 2.3) and I am looking for a program =
that will allow me to download MP3's to my Creative Labs Nomad 64K =
digital player. Does anyone know of a package that can do this?
Thanks.
=======_NextPart_000_01E3_01BFACED.510B39A0
Content-Type: text/html;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" =
http-equiv=3DContent-Type>
<META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2920.0" name=3DGENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>I am new to Linux (Caldera OpenLinux =
2.3) and I am=20
looking for a program that will allow me to download MP3's to my =
Creative Labs=20
Nomad 64K digital player. Does anyone know of a package that can do=20
this?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Thanks.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
=======_NextPart_000_01E3_01BFACED.510B39A0==
------------------------------
From: Jean-Sebastien Morisset <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.networking
Subject: Re: ICQ masquerading problems
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 19:35:28 -0400
Johann Maas wrote:
>
> You have to change the timeouts. This is discribed in the Masquerading HOWTO.
Thanks, but I've already tried that. I used the following command to set the
timeout to 160 secs:
ipchains -M -S 7200 10 160
Here's a list of my masq'ed connections (just after using the ICQ connect
button):
root@marvin:/etc/rc.d$ ipchains -M -L -n
IP masquerading entries
prot expire source destination ports
UDP 02:37.58 10.1.1.20 205.188.179.38 3628 (61480) -> 4000
TCP 105:26.11 10.1.1.20 206.106.140.252 3605 (61478) -> 119
I'm using ICQ v99b for Windows98. Should I try another client instead?
Thanks,
js.
--
Jean-Sebastien Morisset, Sr. UNIX Admin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Personal Homepage <http://www.jsmoriss.dyndns.org/>
UNIX, Internet, Homebrewing, Cigars, PCS, CP2020 and other Fun Stuff...
This is Linux Country. On a quiet night you can hear Windows NT reboot!
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Hal Burgiss)
Subject: Re: Another shell script question
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 23:37:11 GMT
On 23 Apr 2000 23:30:29 GMT, David Bell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Hello! I've got a very simple question... I'm making a script to retrieve my
>current PPP ip address. Here's an example: /sbin/ifconfig ppp0 | grep 'inet
>addr' | awk '{print $2}' . I get the output: addr:<ip here>. How can I filter
>out 'addr:' to just get the ip? Anyone know of a good, easy to read, shell
>script howto? TIA
/sbin/ifconfig ppp0 | grep 'inet addr' | awk '{print $2}' | cut -f2 -d:
Extracts the 2nd Field as Delimited by ':'. Probably many other ways to
do the same thing.
--
Hal B
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
------------------------------
From: Richard Phillips <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Could MS 'Buy' Linux?
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 00:43:25 +0100
Hello,
Just a little philosophical thought here. I am using Linux now (and
very happy I am too) and read many threads about where Linux is heading
and where MS would like it to head. MS seem to solve these problems by
throwing money at them until they go away. I don't know anything about
the organization of the Linux community except that Linus Torvalds is
the guy that has final say on changes to the kernel (am I right
there!?).
My question though is, could MS effectively destroy Linux by buying it's
various contributors out, were it not for the current climate of court
cases?
Regards,
Richard.
------------------------------
From: "Tad" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.networking
Subject: Re: ICQ masquerading problems
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 23:43:35 GMT
Jean-Sebastien Morisset <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> Thanks, but I've already tried that. I used the following command to set
the
> timeout to 160 secs:
>
> ipchains -M -S 7200 10 160
I had to set mine to 360 before it started working correctly with the
module. BTW, I have found that the port forwarding method described in the
IP_Masq_HOWTO works much better than the ICQ module. File xfer, chat......
it all works.
Tad
------------------------------
From: "David .." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Another shell script question
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 18:36:47 -0500
David Bell wrote:
>
> Hello! I've got a very simple question... I'm making a script to retrieve my
> current PPP ip address. Here's an example: /sbin/ifconfig ppp0 | grep 'inet
> addr' | awk '{print $2}' . I get the output: addr:<ip here>. How can I filter
> out 'addr:' to just get the ip? Anyone know of a good, easy to read, shell
> script howto? TIA
>
> -------------------------
> David Bell - Otherwise known as DB7654321
>
> Remember to remove nospam, notrash or anything odd looking from my email
> address. :)
Maybe:
`/sbin/ifconfig ppp0 | grep inet | cut -d : -f 2 | cut -d \ -f 1`
--
Registered with the Linux Counter. http://counter.li.org
ID # 123538
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (David Bell)
Subject: Re: Another shell script question
Date: 23 Apr 2000 23:56:17 GMT
OK! Thanks a bunch :)
=========================
David Bell - Otherwise known as DB7654321
Remember to remove nospam, notrash or anything odd looking from my email
address. :)
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (C. Newport)
Crossposted-To: uk.comp.os.linux,comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: I think I have been HACKED!!!
Date: 24 Apr 2000 00:50:15 +0100
JoeB ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
: Hello,
: I think our mail server has been hacked into. These are some traces I
: saw.
: Can someone please confirm the fact that we have been hacked into and
: how to prevent such actions in future:
Take that machine off of the internet IMMEDIATELY.
Nuke everything, preferably buy a new disk drive and keep the old one
as evidence only. There are probably a dozen or more sneaky back doors
into your system, and you will *not* find them all.
Do not trust any other machine on your network, they may all have
been compromised. You may have to re-install them all.
Now build a new system using the latest patched release from a trusted
source such as a CD.
Rip out everything that is not absolutely essential for a mail server
and install tripwire. Configure IPCHAINS to wall off everything except
smtp connections.
If you need help from a Unix security consultant give me a shout.
at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: David Turley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Installing Linux over Win98
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 23:01:21 GMT
On Sun, 23 Apr 2000, Nathan Weston wrote:
>I was looking into setting up my win98 machine as a linux/win98 dual-
>boot, when I discovered several linux distributions that can share a
>partition with windows (DragonLinux, PHATLinux, ArmedLinux). This seems
>like an easier solution than creating a separate Linux partition.
I tried Phat Linux for a bit. Nice but a bit buggy, new, and not much useful
support. If you want to try Linux, I suggest you try BigSlack, from
www.slackware.com. Once you are comfortable, it is a very simple matter to to
move it to a regular Linux ext2 partition. BigSlack runs under UMSDOS, so it is
a bit slow, but you will get a good feel for Linux. Slackware does not have all
the fancy GUI of a RedHat-derived distro, but you will find you learn a lot
more, and are less constrained by the MS-like "we know better what you
want to do than you do" attitude offered by RH-derived distros.
My notes at http://www.binary.net/dturley/linux/easylinux.html may be useful.
------------------------------
From: Todd Knarr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Could MS 'Buy' Linux?
Date: 24 Apr 2000 00:06:29 GMT
In comp.os.linux.misc <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Richard Phillips
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> My question though is, could MS effectively destroy Linux by buying it's
> various contributors out, were it not for the current climate of court
> cases?
No.
The problem is the GPL. The entire kernel and most of the critical
libraries and programs are under the GPL, so the entire source code
for the current versions is and must remain permanently available to
everyone. The current maintainers get their authority from the fact
that they have proven to do a good job and the user base accepts their
decisions as official. Were MS to 'buy out' Linus, for example, and
convince him to take the kernel in a direction the user base doesn't
agree with, or to close off the source code, the user base would
stop accepting Linus as the owner of the kernel, the kernel would be
forked at the current version and the majority of the user base would
accept the new branch as 'more official' than the Linus/MS one. And
neither Linus nor MS could do a thing about it.
--
Collin was right. Never give a virus a missile launcher.
-- Erk, Reality Check #8
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Andrew Purugganan)
Subject: Re: probs w/ X Config in Mandrake
Date: 23 Apr 2000 23:55:29 GMT
Did you get to the point where it says it is going to try X with the
settings you've chosen? It informs you, then goes into a countdown if you
really like those settings
If it seems you have followed the steps, I can only suggest heading for
MUO: http://www.mandrakeuser.org, where they describe installation
solutions specific to your release
Jules Leduc ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
: i am installing Linux Mandrake 7 on my PC.
: when i get to the last step of the install (X Config)after i have
: specified my Monitor (Generic SVGA 800x600)and VideoCard (Diamond Viper
: PCI)and I click on OK(?) the screen flashes and then goes black.
: About 10 seconds after that the HardDrive stops responding.
: If i reboot and go into Linux i have access to the textBased Shell, but if
: i type "startx" at the prompt, i get an error loading KDE message.
: I have re-installed 3 times now choosing different monitors. But get the
: same problem. Is there a monitor setting that works well with most SVGA
: screens?
--
jazz annandy AT dc DOT seflin DOT org
Registered linux user no. 164098
Doesn't it bother you, that we have to search for intelligent life
--- OUT THERE??
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Dances With Crows)
Subject: Re: Could MS 'Buy' Linux?
Date: 23 Apr 2000 20:14:26 EDT
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Mon, 24 Apr 2000 00:43:25 +0100, Richard Phillips
<<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> shouted forth into the ether:
>Just a little philosophical thought here. I am using Linux now (and
>very happy I am too) and read many threads about where Linux is heading
>and where MS would like it to head. MS seem to solve these problems by
>throwing money at them until they go away. I don't know anything about
>the organization of the Linux community except that Linus Torvalds is
>the guy that has final say on changes to the kernel (am I right
>there!?).
>My question though is, could MS effectively destroy Linux by buying it's
>various contributors out, were it not for the current climate of court
>cases?
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
...among other places. The kernel, most of the shells, all the basic
utilities, and a whopping portion of the graphical interfaces are covered
under the GPL. MS *cannot* buy these things or restrict peoples' access
to the source code if the GPL is legally valid.[0] It's entirely possible
that they could offer large sums of money to individuals or corporations
to persuade them to stop developing Linux, but they could never get every
single hacker in the world. Plus, there are a number of people out there
who are committed to doing things the Open Source way and wouldn't change
that unless MS held guns to their heads.[1][2]
If Linus were to spontaneously combust tomorrow, someone would step into
his shoes. There would be much wailing and gnashing of teeth, but the
work would go on in some fashion. The whole thing started as a loose-knit
coalition of hackers with ideas, skill, and Net connections... returning
to that would slow development down but not kill it IMO.
[0] Throw money at judges and lawyers; get the GPL declared invalid?
Possible, but I believe the bad PR there would cause a wretched stench to
hang around MS until Hell freezes over.
[1] Maybe not even then.
[2] This *IS* still illegal, and will probably remain so. When it isn't,
I'm going to be very scared.
--
Matt G / Dances With Crows \###| Programmers are playwrights
There is no Darkness in Eternity \##| Computers are lousy actors
But only Light too dim for us to see \#| Lusers are vicious drama critics
(Unless, of course, you're working with NT)\| BOFHen burn down theatres.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Dances With Crows)
Subject: Re: Installing Linux over Win98
Date: 23 Apr 2000 20:20:08 EDT
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Sun, 23 Apr 2000 22:30:20 GMT, Nathan Weston
<<8dvths$o1u$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> shouted forth into the ether:
>I was looking into setting up my win98 machine as a linux/win98 dual-
>boot, when I discovered several linux distributions that can share a
>partition with windows (DragonLinux, PHATLinux, ArmedLinux). This seems
...bad disk performance, reported problems with X in some cases...
>BTW I have experience with setting up/maintaining a Linux system,
>although I have used RedHat a fair amount, mostly for programming in my
>CS classes.
Then what's the problem? Read the documentation for FIPS (available on
CD#1 of every distribution), use it to split the HD, and go from there.
Performance will be much better when you do, and you'll be happier playing
with a real Linux distribution.
--
Matt G / Dances With Crows \###| Programmers are playwrights
There is no Darkness in Eternity \##| Computers are lousy actors
But only Light too dim for us to see \#| Lusers are vicious drama critics
(Unless, of course, you're working with NT)\| BOFHen burn down theatres.
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