Linux-Misc Digest #782, Volume #26 Thu, 11 Jan 01 17:13:01 EST
Contents:
Full-featured, reliable POP-mail client for Linux? ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: Softball newbie question(s)
Re: Softball newbie question(s) (Grant Edwards)
Re: joining two lines ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Which prog for streaming (Tobias Schenk)
/dev/sequencer (Youngert)
Re: Linux on a 64MB flash disk (Vincent Fox)
Re: Softball newbie question(s) ("Johnny Kitchens")
Re: Softball newbie question(s) (Mike Silva)
Re: Which version of XFree86 am I running ? (Thomas Zajic)
Re: Softball newbie question(s) (Jean-David Beyer)
Re: Backup software for Linux? (Dave Brown)
Re: Swap Partition Size (Floyd Davidson)
Re: Softball newbie question(s) (Dwight Tovey)
Re: Softball newbie question(s) (Markku Kolkka)
Re: joining two lines (Harlan Grove)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Crossposted-To: comp.mail.misc,alt.os.linux.suse,alt.os.linux
Subject: Full-featured, reliable POP-mail client for Linux?
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 20:02:46 GMT
I'm running SuSE Linux 6.4, and the KDE 1 and kmail 1.0.28 that came
with it. kmail (but nothing else) crashes every few days when fetching
POP-mail, freezing X(-windows) and requiring a reboot and fsck; none of
the escapes to text mode work. It often crashes when fetching spam
containing Big-5 (Chinese) text, but can be killed and restarted. Worst
of all (in addition to a few more failure modes) it sometimes deletes
mail on its own initiative. I'd upgrade kmail to its latest version,
but, according to the kmail website, to do that I'd also have to
upgrade to KDE 2, which I'd rather not take the time for at the moment.
I'm seeking recommendations for a POP-mail client that has the features
of kmail -- multiple mbox files ("folders") into which I can move a set
of selected messages from inbox with only a few key- or mouse-strokes,
address book, spam filters, multiple sort modes, attachment and MIME
capability, and compatibility with KDE 1. It doesn't need a builtin
editor -- I'd be happy to use the one in Midnight Commander. Most of
all I want it to handle my mail safely, not discarding anything I don't
tell it to (and even having a "trashcan" where it puts mail I do tell it
to discard, so I can change my mind). I'd like one that can check at
least one POP-mail account automatically every few minutes (without
crashing, of course).
I'm very leery of kmail at this point, but I guess I'd be ok with a later
version that's known to have fixed these problems, and works with KDE 1.
Eudora or Pegasus Mail would be great, but they've not been ported to
Linux. I used to use Elm with Unix, but it doesn't have the features
and convenience of kmail or Eudora. I don't care whether it's X- or
curses-based (I still use lynx when I don't need the features of
Netscape), but I'd rather, e.g., select a destination mbox file from a
menu than type in its name each time.
I could spend a week trying every MUA in linux.davecentral, but reliability
would still be a question. So I'm asking for recommendations from folks
who've been using a program for at least a couple of months and who know
that it fulfills the above (admittedly long and picky) wishlist.
Heartfelt thanks in advance!
Mark S Bilk, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/
------------------------------
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Softball newbie question(s)
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 15:12:35 -0500
in the directory where the file exists, type "ls -l a.out"
this means, List ,using the "long" format
you should see something like
rwx------ <user> <group> <size> <date> a.out
If the first three ( rwx) are not there , type
"chmod +rwx a.out"
and check it again.
what it means :
r - can read
w - can write
x - can execute
the first three are for the user . ( you )
the next three ( they are dashes, as I have typed them here ) are for the
group ( The group you belong to )
the last three are for the rest of the users on the system.
The above file shows that it can be read, written to and executed by the
user , and no one else has any access . ( root is ofcourse a different
matter - it is the "god" mode, and can access everything )
For you to execute it you need the "x"
If you see that "x" is missing , type "chmod +x a.out"
and check it again.
Now for the path problems :
Most of the time , your current path is not in your "path" variable .
so how does one execute the file in the current directory ?
./a.out
that 's dot-slash-<program name> in this case "a.out"
hth ,
and have fun.
:)
Mike Silva <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:93l0c3$j8f$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> As a total Unix & Linux (RH 7.0) newbie I sure feel dumb asking this,
> but how do I run a gcc-compiled program? I've made a directory,
> created the requisite "hello world" using pico, compiled it to a.out
> using gcc (even used -S to confirm that things looked reasonable), but
> I can't run the program! Typing "a" or "a.out" produces "command not
> found". The file a.out is there, I can see it. Have pity and tell me
> the secret, please!
>
> BTW, while we're all here, is Linux pronounced "lie-nux" or "lin-ux"?
> Told you these were softballs...
>
> BTW#2, my hello world program does run under cygwin...
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mike
>
>
> Sent via Deja.com
> http://www.deja.com/
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Grant Edwards)
Subject: Re: Softball newbie question(s)
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 20:26:45 GMT
In article <5On76.144$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Johnny Kitchens wrote:
>Mike, sorry but I can only answer the simple question.
> "lie-nux" or "lin-ux"?
>From the Linux community majority I say it's pronounced, "lin-ux"
>I made the same pronunciation error when first introduced to the product.
>I thought it was "lie-nux" for a long time.
It is lie-nux. Most people get it wrong...
;)
>> I can't run the program! Typing "a" or "a.out" produces "command not
>> found". The file a.out is there, I can see it. Have pity and tell me
>> the secret, please!
The current directory isn't generally in your PATH try this
$ ./a.out
--
Grant Edwards grante Yow! I Know A Joke!!
at
visi.com
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.admin
Subject: Re: joining two lines
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 20:22:21 GMT
No no no, the right way to do it is:
awk 'NR%2==1{printf("%s",$0);}NR%2==0{print}'
j/k
thanks for letting me amuse myself.
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Anthony Ewell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Not to ask a stupid question, but does anyone
> know of a sed (or other) command to join every other
> line in a text file? For example
>
> Before:
> abc
> def
> ABC
> DEF
> 654
> 321
>
> After:
> abcdef
> ABCDEF
> 654321
>
> Many thanks,
> --Tony
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/
------------------------------
From: Tobias Schenk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Which prog for streaming
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 21:49:51 +0100
Hi,
is it still up to date to use 'tar' if I want to stream my data for
backup? I think not.
Which programs do you use and what is your streaming philosophy to do
so?
I have an HP 12GB SCSI-DAT-Streamer. Are there certain issues to this.
Which progs do I need to handle a streamer? I heard of 'st'. But apart
from ejection it doesnt seem to work correctly.
Thank you for any advice
Tobias
------------------------------
From: Youngert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: /dev/sequencer
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.hardware
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 20:36:49 GMT
Hi,
My Athlon 500MHz system on an Asus K7M mobo running a SuSE-7.0 Linux distro
is complaining "write /dev/sequencer failed" when trying to use Rosegarden.
The following error is printed out on the console when I tried to play
some midi songs:
Rosegarden OSS Mapper: write /dev/sequencer failed: Input/output error
and the /var/log/messages file shows:
Jan 11 15:32:31 kernel: Sequencer Error: Unable to open Midi #0
The /dev/sequencer and /dev/mid are r/w for all as shown here:
crw-rw-rw- 1 root audio 14, 1 Jul 29 08:48 /dev/sequencer
crw-rw-rw- 1 root audio 14, 8 Jul 29 08:48 /dev/sequencer2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 5 Nov 13 15:02 /dev/midi -> midi0
crw-rw-rw- 1 root audio 35, 0 Jul 29 08:48 /dev/midi0
crw-rw-rw- 1 root audio 14, 2 Jul 29 08:48 /dev/midi00
crw-rw-rw- 1 root audio 14, 18 Jul 29 08:48 /dev/midi01
crw-rw-rw- 1 root audio 14, 34 Jul 29 08:48 /dev/midi02
crw-rw-rw- 1 root audio 14, 50 Jul 29 08:48 /dev/midi03
crw-rw-rw- 1 root audio 35, 1 Jul 29 08:48 /dev/midi1
crw-rw-rw- 1 root audio 35, 2 Jul 29 08:48 /dev/midi2
crw-rw-rw- 1 root audio 35, 3 Jul 29 08:48 /dev/midi3
What else could go wrong? Any help will certainly be appreciated. TIA.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Vincent Fox)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.embedded
Subject: Re: Linux on a 64MB flash disk
Date: 11 Jan 2001 20:50:33 GMT
In <93jmug$29c$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Klaus-Guenter Leiss) writes:
*snip*
>>I'm about to install Linux on a PC/104 card with a 64MB flash disk.
>>Most of the Linux distributions I've seen requires a lot more than 64MB, so
>>I'm wondering if anyone have suggestions on a Linux distribution I can use.
*snip*
>I think every distribution can be stripped smaller than that provided
>your accumulated assortment of programs that you want to use is not
>larger. There are 1 Floppy Distribtions ( 1.4MB .. 1.7 MB ) that provide
>enough functionality to restore a linux system. A quite complete list
>of distributions is found at http://www.fokus.gmd.de/linux/. I would
>suggest that you start with a distribution for embedded designs. On
>http://embedded.linuxjournal.com/magazine/ you will find articles
>that describe some of the technologies you could use.
I took a slackware 7 distribution and trimmed it quite easily
to under 40 megs just by not including X and a lot of non-server
and non-runtime items. Then do a strip on whatever binaries and
libs are left.
The way to do this is NOT to treat the flash as a disk however.
You set up a ramdrive of 64 megs or less.
Copy your working slim distro into RAMdrive, then umount.
dd ramdrive into a big file, compress this file, store on flash.
Setup LILO and initrd on your flashdevice so it can access the
image file and uncompress into ramdisk.
After initrd completes, the ramdisk becomes the root device.
It works well, it's slick, and it avoids writes to the
slow Flash which has a limited lifespan on writes anyway.
There are some wrinkles but nothing super complex.
Once you got it, you have a system you can just flip
the power off anytime. There are no fsck's since in
the production version you never mount the flash as
anything but read-only. No need for Reiser or any
experimental stuff. It also boots very fast in my
experience on any semi-modern PC.
--
"Who needs horror movies when we have Microsoft"?
-- Christine Comaford, PC Week, 27/9/95
------------------------------
From: "Johnny Kitchens" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Softball newbie question(s)
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 15:57:04 -0500
Hey! I'm glad you cought that! I did have it backwards. I think. Now I'm
confussed again. I think You're correct in "Lie-nux" I don't know now. :-(
"Grant Edwards" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:9Go76.665$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> In article <5On76.144$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Johnny Kitchens wrote:
> >Mike, sorry but I can only answer the simple question.
> > "lie-nux" or "lin-ux"?
> >From the Linux community majority I say it's pronounced, "lin-ux"
> >I made the same pronunciation error when first introduced to the product.
> >I thought it was "lie-nux" for a long time.
>
> It is lie-nux. Most people get it wrong...
>
> ;)
>
> >> I can't run the program! Typing "a" or "a.out" produces "command not
> >> found". The file a.out is there, I can see it. Have pity and tell me
> >> the secret, please!
>
> The current directory isn't generally in your PATH try this
>
> $ ./a.out
>
> --
> Grant Edwards grante Yow! I Know A Joke!!
> at
> visi.com
------------------------------
From: Mike Silva <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Softball newbie question(s)
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 20:51:50 GMT
In article <Pine.LNX.4.21.0101111242570.21722-
[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Dwight Tovey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Thu, 11 Jan 2001, Mike Silva wrote:
>
> > As a total Unix & Linux (RH 7.0) newbie I sure feel dumb asking
this,
> > but how do I run a gcc-compiled program? I've made a directory,
> > created the requisite "hello world" using pico, compiled it to a.out
> > using gcc (even used -S to confirm that things looked reasonable),
but
> > I can't run the program! Typing "a" or "a.out" produces "command
not
> > found". The file a.out is there, I can see it. Have pity and tell
me
> > the secret, please!
>
> You probably don't have the current directory in your shell's PATH.
> From the shell prompt, try using "./a.out" to run your program.
Yes, thanks, that did it. As an ex-MSDOS user I'm surprised that the
current directory is not automatically part of the path -- anybody know
the reasoning behind that?
Mike
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Thomas Zajic)
Subject: Re: Which version of XFree86 am I running ?
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Thomas Zajic)
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 21:00:17 GMT
On 11/01/01, Arctic Storm ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
> How do I know which version of XFree66 I'm running ?
> Is there a command that I can issue to display the version number?
> If it's not 4.0.2, the lastest, I want to upgrade.
Try 'X -version'. ;-)
HTH,
Thomas
--
=-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
- Thomas "ZlatkO" Zajic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Linux-2.2.17/slrn-0.9.6.3pl4 -
- "It is not easy to cut through a human head with a hacksaw." (M. C.) -
=-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
------------------------------
From: Jean-David Beyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Softball newbie question(s)
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 16:01:51 -0500
Dwight Tovey wrote:
>
> On Thu, 11 Jan 2001, Mike Silva wrote:
>
> > As a total Unix & Linux (RH 7.0) newbie I sure feel dumb asking this,
> > but how do I run a gcc-compiled program? I've made a directory,
> > created the requisite "hello world" using pico, compiled it to a.out
> > using gcc (even used -S to confirm that things looked reasonable), but
> > I can't run the program! Typing "a" or "a.out" produces "command not
> > found". The file a.out is there, I can see it. Have pity and tell me
> > the secret, please!
>
> You probably don't have the current directory in your shell's PATH.
> From the shell prompt, try using "./a.out" to run your program. Your
> program should now execute. If you instead get something like
> "Permission denied", then for some reason the execute bits are not set
> on your program.
>
> If the problem is the PATH, check the man page for your shell and look
> for how to set the PATH environment variable. If the problem is the
> execute permissions, check the man page for 'chmod'.
You really do not want . in your PATH: it subjects you to the slings and
arrows of Trojan horses.
--
.~. Jean-David Beyer Registered Linux User 85642.
/V\ Registered Machine 73926.
/( )\ Shrewsbury, New Jersey
^^-^^ 4:00pm up 2 days, 17:09, 3 users, load average: 2.25, 2.16, 2.12
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Dave Brown)
Subject: Re: Backup software for Linux?
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: 11 Jan 2001 16:12:21 -0600
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Jean-David Beyer wrote:
>Dave Brown wrote:
>>
>> In article <3a5c6b13.15616603@news>, Martin Gregorie wrote:
>> >I'll second that. What have you got against letting the drive do the
>> >compression, though?
>>
>> Personal opinion: it depends on the reliability of the media. A single
>> media error destroys the ability to continue the decompress, so you
>> lose everything past that point. If uncompressed, you only lose that
>> file corrupted by the bad spot. At least that's been my experience.
>> (And why I store backups on CDRs, using compression, but checking
>> them after writing.)
>
>I think a lot depends on whether you compress on hardware or with
>software, what the compression algorithm is, what your backup tool is
>(tar-type or cpio-type), whether you check the backup afterwards or not,
>and so on). It is my understanding that in tar, if you have tar do the
>compression, that you lose everything after the first error. With cpio,
>you have to compress separately. It is my understanding that you lose
>only the bad block.
>
Thanks for clarify. Actually, I cancelled my post after I made it.
After I said what I said, I did some experimenting with tar and
"tar -z", and found that, after "corrupting" the .tar file or .tgz
file, extraction was often possible using either. In fact, it
seemed that the gzipped version was better at extracting files subsequent
to the corruption than the ordinary tar file.
But, my conclusion was that no conclusion could be drawn from my
experimentation, and that my post was probably erroneous. So I cancelled
it. Apparently you read the post before the 'cancel' was effective.
I do, however, stand behind the statement that putting archives (where
practicable) on a permanent medium such as CDR is a Good Idea(TM).
--
Dave Brown Austin, TX
------------------------------
From: Floyd Davidson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Swap Partition Size
Date: 11 Jan 2001 11:38:04 -0900
Bob Simon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> "Arctic Storm" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> > When I originally installed RH7, I had 16MB RAM and allocated
>> > 32MB to the swap partition. I've just installed another 32MB
>> > RAM for a total of 48MB.
>> >
>> > I've read that the swap partition should be at least as large as
>> > the total amount of memory. Why? What are the consequences of
>> > not having as much swap space as real memory?
...
>> Second, the swap space is needed if what you're doing requires more
>> memory than what's available.
That statement is the key to allocating swap space. The question
is not one of what ratio of swap to RAM is needed, but of how much
memory is required to run processes. If you have 512Mb of RAM and
never ever run processes requiring more than 256Mb, then swap space
is not even required. But if you have that same 256Mb of process
memory required, and only have 16Mb (or 32Mb), then clearly the
system is not going to function if swap is only %150 or even %200
the size of RAM.
The point of having swap space available is not to use it during normal
operations (hopefully there is enough RAM that active processes are not
normally ever swapped out), but to have enough virtual memory to be able
continue running even when the rare occasion requiring the most memory
occurs.
>> When you're running multiple applications simultaneously, you
>> usually need more memory than what's physically available, so
Not necessarily. As noted above with 512Mb of RAM and only
256Mb needed...
>> swap is used as a virtual memory, to accommodate for the lack
>> of physical memory. The size of the swap space is a personal
>> choice, and ranges from 50% to 150% of physical memory. If
>> you need a swap space (the virtual memory) that is twice as
>> large as your physical memory, than you probably need more
>> physical memory.
Actually, if your system *ever* swaps out active processes, you
can use more RAM. If it *regularly* swaps active processes,
then you _need_ more RAM.
>> 16 MB doesn't cut it, and you're wise to
>> expand to 48 MB, although greater than 64 MB would be better.
>> Because you have such a little physical RAM, use a large
>> swap; use 150% of physical RAM.
Why not allocate 300Mb of swap? Given the low cost of hard disk
space today, it generally does not make sense to allocate less
that the extreme maximum possible.
Saying that swap should be 150% of RAM is a disaster for a system
with little RAM. The less RAM, the _more_ swap space is required
to have the same total amount of virtual memory. The whole idea
of having swap is to have more virtual memory than the system
will ever actually use.
>What happens if a system requires more swap space than what's
>been allocated? Does the last initiated process go to sleep
>or terminate, or does the kernel lock up, or what?
Processes will be killed. Generally the system does not "crash",
but the effect is about the same. The safest way to recover is
to shut the system down and reboot.
But... as noted, disk space is cheap, so that can easily be
avoided in almost all cases.
--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://www.ptialaska.net/~floyd>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: Dwight Tovey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Softball newbie question(s)
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 14:28:56 -0700
On Thu, 11 Jan 2001, Jean-David Beyer wrote:
> Dwight Tovey wrote:
> >
> > If the problem is the PATH, check the man page for your shell and look
> > for how to set the PATH environment variable. If the problem is the
> > execute permissions, check the man page for 'chmod'.
>
> You really do not want . in your PATH: it subjects you to the slings and
> arrows of Trojan horses.
>
>
That is of course correct. Having "." in your PATH can be a major
security problem. What I meant to say (and really did a lousy job of
explaining) was that he could add the specific directory that his
program is in to his PATH if he intends to keep developing programs
there: ala PATH=$PATH:$PWD
In general though it would probably be just as easy (and in the long
run, safer) to just get into the habit of using the "./" form when you
want to run local programs.
/dwight
--
Dwight N. Tovey
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
---
I Suffer Occasional Delusions of Adequacy
------------------------------
From: Markku Kolkka <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Softball newbie question(s)
Date: 12 Jan 2001 23:14:16 +0200
"Johnny Kitchens" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> Hey! I'm glad you cought that! I did have it backwards. I think. Now I'm
> confussed again. I think You're correct in "Lie-nux" I don't know now. :-(
The _definite_ version of correct pronounciation of "Linux" is at:
http://www.linux.org/info/sounds/english.au
--
Markku Kolkka
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: Harlan Grove <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.admin
Subject: Re: joining two lines
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 21:17:13 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>awk '{a=$0; getline; print a $0}' < inputfile
...
Or
awk '{ getline a; print $0 a }' inputfile
to squeeze every bit of performance out of this one-liner.
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/
------------------------------
** FOR YOUR REFERENCE **
The service address, to which questions about the list itself and requests
to be added to or deleted from it should be directed, is:
Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
You can send mail to the entire list by posting to comp.os.linux.misc.
Linux may be obtained via one of these FTP sites:
ftp.funet.fi pub/Linux
tsx-11.mit.edu pub/linux
sunsite.unc.edu pub/Linux
End of Linux-Misc Digest
******************************
