Linux-Misc Digest #711, Volume #25 Sat, 9 Sep 00 17:13:04 EDT
Contents:
Re: The Government's Decision to Use Microsoft (David Steuber)
Re: End-User Alternative to Windows (David Steuber)
strange error message after "make config" (Ken Yasuda)
Re: Logged into KDE desktop as root ("Gareth Williams")
Re: Logged into KDE desktop as root ("David Stone")
Re: The Government's Decision to Use Microsoft ("Peter T. Breuer")
StarOffice Setup for multiple users on one machine (Rob)
Re: Wish for a writable ISO-9660 compatible filsystem (brian moore)
Re: getting disconnected (brian moore)
Re: StarOffice Setup for multiple users on one machine ("Peter T. Breuer")
Re: End-User Alternative to Windows (Dave Martel)
Re: End-User Alternative to Windows (Dave Martel)
Re: # of maximum outstanding disk IO's (Kaz Kylheku)
how to logout from inside a script or app? (Jerry L Kreps)
Where can I download SuSE 7.0 ??? (Christoph Lechner)
Question: cron and tape backups (Robert Jones)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: The Government's Decision to Use Microsoft
From: David Steuber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 20:00:02 GMT
The Darkener <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
' I'm not here to explicitly bash NT, but that's just some info on exactly how and
' why NT is certified. Linux does have a long way to go as well, but I think they
' have a better chance in achieving the final goal as Microsoft does...
I expect for Linux to acheive C2, it is simply a matter of packaging
and configuration. I'm sure that if somebody who understood computer
security wanted to, and had the time and resources, he could put
together a C2 Linux edition on a single CD distribution.
Of course updates require dealing with RAMP, but government contracts
can be lucrative if you don't underbid too much.
--
David Steuber | "Are you now, or have you ever been, a member
NRA Member | of the NRA?" --- HUAC, 2004
Happiness is a SAAB Gripen <http://www.gripen.saab.se/> in the
garage, an FN-FAL in the safe, and an HK P7M8 on the hip.
------------------------------
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux,comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: End-User Alternative to Windows
From: David Steuber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 20:00:06 GMT
"Lina" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
' Hi,
' I'm a Linux newbie. What is the percentage of computers and servers running
' Linux now. Will an end-user alternative similar to Linux appear anytime
' soon?
As an 'end user', I can testify that all my machines run Linux
exclusively. YMMV, but I've got an alternative to Windows.
--
David Steuber | "Are you now, or have you ever been, a member
NRA Member | of the NRA?" --- HUAC, 2004
Happiness is a SAAB Gripen <http://www.gripen.saab.se/> in the
garage, an FN-FAL in the safe, and an HK P7M8 on the hip.
------------------------------
From: Ken Yasuda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: strange error message after "make config"
Date: Sat, 9 Sep 2000 15:04:30 -0500
This will probably be a very simple question for all you die-hards
out there.
While trying to tweak the settings of my kernel, I tried to type
make config and
make menuconfig and
make xconfig
and always came up with the following error:
make: *** No rule to make target `xconfig'. Stop.
What would this error suggest that I'm doing wrong, and what
steps should I take to diagnose the symptom?
(BTW, the "make" commands were entered from /usr/src/linux.)
Thanks,
Ken
------------------------------
From: "Gareth Williams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Logged into KDE desktop as root
Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 21:26:02 +0000
"test" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> spake unto the multitude, saying:
> Hello,
>
> I'm a new Linux user, so I'm probably making some new user type error.
>
> Logged into the KDE desktop as root on Caldera eServer 2.3, I can browse
> through the various folders of files and utilities, but it won't let me
> launch anything.
Try NOT to go pottering around as root if you're a newbie, especially in a
graphical environment like KDE. It's all too easy to move or delete some
critical file that way. Believe me, I've done it. Log in as a user instead.
Having said that, clicking on files in directories generally won't launch
much in any case. Either use the KDE menu, quick-launch toolbars or
commands in a console for that.
--
All the best, GH Williams.
------------------------------
From: "David Stone" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Logged into KDE desktop as root
Date: Sat, 9 Sep 2000 13:27:33 -0700
As root, when I follow the menu structure to an app, I expect it to launch,
but it doesn't. As a regular user, I follow the same path to the same apps,
and the app does launch.
I'm trying to run particular apps as root because I know I will need to
change the IP address of the computer's network card and enter the addresses
of the DNS servers before the computer can see the Internet. I'm thinking
these settings are configurable only when logged in as root.
Thank you.
Dave
"Jerry L Kreps" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> test wrote:
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > I'm a new Linux user, so I'm probably making some new user type error.
> >
> > Logged into the KDE desktop as root on Caldera eServer 2.3, I can browse
> > through the various folders of files and utilities, but it won't let me
> > launch anything.
> >
>
> Describe your problem more clearly and don't assume so much. Are you
> attempting to run apps by clicking on them while in Kfm, or are you
> saying that when you follow the menu structure to an app and click on
> it, it won't run?
>
> Are you trying to run apps as root because you couldn't fire them as a
> user?
> jlk
------------------------------
From: "Peter T. Breuer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: The Government's Decision to Use Microsoft
Date: 9 Sep 2000 20:23:06 GMT
David Steuber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
: "Peter T. Breuer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
: ' If you want to disable all buffer overflow exploits, run on a machine
: ' where the program stack increases upwards!
: Better would be to use a language that uses dynamic arrays (growable
: buffers) or fgets instead of gets for *all* reads.
Well, the latter is probably doable. But it wouldn't be a language
that is as close to the architecture as C is. It'd have to be
interpreted, since the real machine code doesn't know about buffer
sizes.
: In this day and age, there is no excuse for being able to overflow a
: buffer. A modern langauge should either grow the buffer or throw an
: exception when more data than expected is read.
It's the machine code, not the language. You can execute arbitrary
machine code off the stack, and once you are there, only the machine can
save you, so that's what you have to change. Hence my suggestion.
Peter
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 15:33:49 -0400
From: Rob <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: StarOffice Setup for multiple users on one machine
I have been trying to setup StarOffice 5.2 - Linux on my Caldera 2.4
Open Desktop. I see that they say in the Setup Guide on page that
Linux users must mount your CD-ROM drive with the "Execute" rights to be
able to run the Setup Script from the CR. What does this mean & how do
I do this. I cannot find anything on this.
It also says to run ./setup -net. I cannot figure how to do this.
Nothing I try works.
I am new to Linux, but not to computers. I am getting frustrated & need
help.
Thanks,
Rob
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (brian moore)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development.system
Subject: Re: Wish for a writable ISO-9660 compatible filsystem
Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 20:34:46 GMT
On Fri, 8 Sep 2000 23:33:40 +0200,
Otto Wyss <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> While I was reorganizing my backup (using a CD-writer), I had the idea
> of using an ISO-9660 image file mounted through the loopback device. I
> soon had to learn it won't work the way I liked since ISO-9660 is simply
> readonly.
>
> I think it's time Linux gets the ability to use writable image files, so
> I'm going to make the following proposition:
>
> 1. Creating a writable ISO-9660 compatible fs (I'm calling it isorw)
> - mounted on a writable device, writing/deleting/etc is possible
> - written on a CD, it should be readable as if it were ISO-9660
> - capable of Joliet and/or RockRigde extension
>
> 2. Creating tools to handle isorw
> - kernel device drivers, readable part might be identical to ISO-9660
> - mkimage for creating image files
> - possible extension for CD writing programms
>
> Q: Why a new filesystem
> A: Sofar there is no fs for Linux which is writable on a disk and still
> ISO-9660 combatible on a CD. Of course a writable image could be made
> with ext2fs but it always needs special treatment if written to CD.
Which it always will need be for ISO-9660.
> Q: Why ISO-9660 compatible
> A: For archiving puroses (storing and retrieving on CD's for serveral
> years) there aren't many alternatives. Vfat is one but not very
> attractive to me. UDF might be another in a few year but not now since
> not many computers can read UDF.
But you haven't looked at the structure of ISO-9660. If you add a
single block to a file at the start of your 'image' you have to move
EVERYTHING after it (or waste the space -- which is not nice for trying
to fit as much as you can on an 650MB CDR).
> Q: How complicated is isorw
> A: It depends on the way it's implemented. The reading part could
> possible taken from the ISO driver. The writing part might be implementd
> along the line of ISO-9660 Level 3 (as Rod Smith kindly suggested). IMHO
> although I haven't read yet it I think it's doable.
>
> Q: Why not simply changing the current ISO implementation.
> A: This shouldn't be changed since lot of people needs it working.
> Anyway if isorw is working it might be merged in later on.
>
> Q: Could isorw be used on other systems, i.e. Windows
> A: Of course but only readonly as an ordinary ISO-9660 file unless isorw
> is implemented there as well.
>
> Q: How about Joliet format
> A: There shouldn't be a problem with Joliet and/or RockRidge extensions,
> it should be handled as usual.
>
> What are you thinking about my proposition? Could this be done or are
> there obstacles I don't see. Is it alltogether not necessary, because
> there's a much better solution?
>
> Is there anyone who is interested in isorw as well and likes to help me.
> I'm currently not a Linux/Unix developer, I mostly programmed on TANDEM
> computers.
If you did it, it would be unbearably slow. "Hey, how come when I
update it a file it takes MINUTES before the 'cp' is done??"
Moving around hundreds of megabytes, even on a relatively fast medium
like a hard drive is not exactly quick.
ISO-9660 is highly optimized (by design) for read-only access. You
would need to rebuild the image far too often to make it usable.
--
Brian Moore | Of course vi is God's editor.
Sysadmin, C/Perl Hacker | If He used Emacs, He'd still be waiting
Usenet Vandal | for it to load on the seventh day.
Netscum, Bane of Elves.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (brian moore)
Subject: Re: getting disconnected
Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 20:41:22 GMT
On Fri, 08 Sep 2000 16:28:50 GMT,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I am getting very frustrated with my computer. It is a COMPAQ that I
> purchased in January of this year. It has worked beautifully and still
> does except for one problem. I can get on-line and stay on all day long
> and not get booted off once. As soon as 6pm comes I can't stay connected.
> It boots me off continuously. I counted the other night, 22 times in 18
> mins. I'm trying to chat and it boots me off. I have called my internet
> server and they told me my modem is going bad. If thats the case, why
> doesn't it do it during the day? It only does it at night. I have gotten
> up at 2am to try it and it does it then also.It is then o.k. again after
> 6am. Do you have any ideas or suggestions to help me?
Most likely you have some hardware related problem that is tickled by
cooling. It's not in your modem per se (though another modem may be
better able to adjust to it ... or less), but most likely in the
telephone wires themselves. Try making a voice call on the line when
your modem is complaining and see what sorts of noise you hear.
That, or you're seeing the effect of a noisy RF emitter of some sort:
does your phone line run near some nifty RF emitter like flourescent
lights that switch on at 6pm? Do you have a neighbor with a ham radio
that talks to his friends all night but works during the day?
The fact that it is time-based points to a regular real-world
environmental problem of some sort.
(Heck, it could even be something nasty that I saw on a phone line once
-- in an effort to save copper the telco put a multiplexor on the line
and then made it line-powered... it would charge a small battery when
the line wasn't in use, but if you stayed online too long, it wouldn't
hvae the power to maintain the line and would drop calls until it had
sufficient idle time to recharge.)
--
Brian Moore | Of course vi is God's editor.
Sysadmin, C/Perl Hacker | If He used Emacs, He'd still be waiting
Usenet Vandal | for it to load on the seventh day.
Netscum, Bane of Elves.
------------------------------
From: "Peter T. Breuer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: StarOffice Setup for multiple users on one machine
Date: 9 Sep 2000 20:43:45 GMT
Rob <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
: I have been trying to setup StarOffice 5.2 - Linux on my Caldera 2.4
: Open Desktop. I see that they say in the Setup Guide on page that
: Linux users must mount your CD-ROM drive with the "Execute" rights to be
: able to run the Setup Script from the CR. What does this mean & how do
Man mount. Grep for "exec".
: I do this. I cannot find anything on this.
: It also says to run ./setup -net. I cannot figure how to do this.
Are you incapable of typing, or just incapable of doing what they said
about mounting your CD with execute capabilities? The latter is
comprehensible. The former is not. So we hope it is the latter.
: Nothing I try works.
Give me an example! Typing "./setup -net" while in the directory
indicated should work fine. If it doesn't, report the error message so
that you can be helped.
: I am new to Linux, but not to computers. I am getting frustrated & need
: help.
I suggest you walk before you run. Read a beginners guide to unix. You
need to understand how to execute programs, what a path is, and so on.
When you know how to wander around, try reading the installation
instructions again, and see if they make sense to you now.
Peter
------------------------------
From: Dave Martel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux,comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: End-User Alternative to Windows
Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 14:44:06 -0500
On Sat, 09 Sep 2000 18:56:49 GMT, "Ingemar Lundin"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>you cant be for real...are you really pushing for a OS that has been
>STONEDEATH!!! for at least 10 years now???
The Amiga was WAY ahead of its time. A lot of people, including some
of my friends, still use their old Amigas for daily work. There's a
company somewhere in China still knocking off Amiga clones. Quite a
few people on Usenet have told me that they use an Amiga for video
editing because it does the job better than PC's. I find that hard to
believe but anyway it's what they claim. (I could be wrong, but isn't
linux available for the Amiga, too?)
Commodore designed the most wonderful machines despite the limited
technology of the day but kept throwing it all away with some of the
worst marketing mistakes I've seen in the history of technology. I
don't think MS even had Windows 1.0 when the Amiga came out with a
multimedia GUI-based OS. At any rate it wasn't until a decade after
the first Amiga that Microsoft had an OS (Windows 95) that even came
close to the Amiga's.
Had Commodore packaged and marketed the Amiga as an office system
rather than a kid's toy, they could have blown the IBM/Microsoft team
right out of the water.
------------------------------
From: Dave Martel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux,comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: End-User Alternative to Windows
Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 14:44:14 -0500
On Sat, 9 Sep 2000 19:27:57 +0100, jabali <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>IBM has stopped its development and no further versions will be issued. It may
>remain around for years to come, just like Atari-TOS is still around. But you
>would not advise anybody to take it as a viable alternative, would you ?
>From watching the news it kinda looks like IBM wants linux to take the
place of OS2?
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Kaz Kylheku)
Crossposted-To:
comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.os.linux.hardware
Subject: Re: # of maximum outstanding disk IO's
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 20:50:26 GMT
On Sat, 9 Sep 2000 11:46:11 -0700, Hog Rider <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>We are doing some performance testing of disk storage on different
>platforms, and I was wondering if Linux has a maximum number of IO's that
>can be outstanding at any given time. Translated, if the storage device is
>busy and the h/w queue is full, how many IO's will Linux queue up waiting
>for the storage device to be available again.
Linux has a dynamic buffer cache that uses all available memory. Buffers that
are modified are called dirty; they are periodically flushed to disk.
------------------------------
From: Jerry L Kreps <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: how to logout from inside a script or app?
Date: Sat, 9 Sep 2000 16:03:06 -0500
I've tried the system() function and got nowhere.
I don't want to put my code at the bottom of ~/.profile or ~/.bashrc but .....
What's the secret?
JLK
------------------------------
From: Christoph Lechner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Where can I download SuSE 7.0 ???
Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 23:06:35 +0200
Hi!
Where can I download SuSE 7.0 ?
Thnx
- C. Lechner
------------------------------
From: Robert Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Question: cron and tape backups
Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 16:07:14 -0500
==============4CB9DF055E1223403E51EF48
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
I have an incredibly simple question for which I've been unable to find
an
answer. I perform regular backups to tape and have settled in on a
script that
does everything I want except start while I'm sleeping. So, I made and
tested
(using different day and time) a crontab entry to start the script.
Problem
is, the script calls tar to create a multi-tape set and when the first
tape
is full, tar likes to issue a prompt to prepare the next tape and push
<return> to continue. The question is (or are, as it were) where is that
prompt gonna go when my machine is sitting here with monitor off and
nobody
logged on and what good will it do to hit <return> if it's waiting for
me to
log on? Have I defined an impossible goal?
Thanks for any clues!
--
Revolution, n.:
A form of government abroad.
3:57pm up 5 days, 10:10, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
==============4CB9DF055E1223403E51EF48
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
<html>
I have an incredibly simple question for which I've been unable to find
an
<br>answer. I perform regular backups to tape and have settled in on a
script that
<br>does everything I want except start while I'm sleeping. So, I made
and tested
<br>(using different day and time) a crontab entry to start the script.
Problem
<br>is, the script calls tar to create a multi-tape set and when the first
tape
<br>is full, tar likes to issue a prompt to prepare the next tape and push
<br><return> to continue. The question is (or are, as it were) where
is that
<br>prompt gonna go when my machine is sitting here with monitor off and
nobody
<br>logged on and what good will it do to hit <return> if it's waiting
for me to
<br>log on? Have I defined an impossible goal?
<p>Thanks for any clues!
<pre>--
Revolution, n.:
A form of government abroad.</pre>
<pre>
3:57pm up 5 days, 10:10, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.00,
0.00</pre>
</html>
==============4CB9DF055E1223403E51EF48==
------------------------------
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End of Linux-Misc Digest
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