Linux-Setup Digest #989, Volume #20 Thu, 5 Apr 01 03:13:06 EDT
Contents:
problem with Xconfigurator ("John Jamieson")
Re: Upgrading packages with RPM (KCmaniac)
Re: Red Hat 7.0 & Lilo (Markku Tikkanen)
Re: I would like to register a complaint ... (Darin Johnson)
please help, my OpenOffice's help (and many other things) doesn't work (Hector13)
Re: Magic partition on linux? (Dustin Clifford)
Re: I would like to register a complaint ... (Norman Levin)
Re: Unkown users made by RedHat (Norman Levin)
rpm & kpackage (Jay & Shell)
Re: Magic partition on linux? (Conrad Newton)
Re: modem installation. (E J)
Re: Magic partition on linux? (E J)
Re: problem with Xconfigurator ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: Unusual mount problem ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: Red Hat 7.0 & Lilo ("Elem103")
Re: modem installation. ("Randy Basham")
Re: wrong major or minor number (Nader)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "John Jamieson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: problem with Xconfigurator
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 04:18:37 GMT
Because my video card is not supported by XFree86, I have to resort to using
'generic vga'. But when I select a higher resolution than 640x480, I get
640x480 anyway. Is there anything I can do to get higher resolution using
generic VGA?
BTW, I am using RedHat 7.0, with a matrox g450 card.
-john
------------------------------
From: KCmaniac <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Upgrading packages with RPM
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 00:39:31 -0400
>
> * download it, and then install it after testing for problems
> rpm -U --test rpm-4.0.2-5x.i386.rpm
> solve potential problems, conflicts, missing libraries etc. and
> then install the update:
> rpm -U rpm-4.0.2-5x.i386.rpm
Ok, maybe that is what my problem is. I have been trying to install 7x thinking
that was for RH version 7.0. But as it turns out maybe I need to use 5x so it
will install on my 5.2. I didn't know 5x, 6x, 7x, etc. was for installation
purposes. I thought they meant versions of RedHat they wanted to run with. I
was trying to upgrade to 7.0 so I figured I needed 7x. I read nothing to tell
me otherwise. It is all becoming clearer now. Thanks. I feel like it will
work now. Maybe even the HD upgrade procedure I have been trying to use will
work now. Thanks again.
------------------------------
From: Markku Tikkanen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: aus.computers.linux
Subject: Re: Red Hat 7.0 & Lilo
Date: 5 Apr 2001 04:38:18 GMT
Theng Ung <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Yes, It is now up and running. But I had to install Red Hat again as I had
> to create a boot disk.
> and modify lilo.conf and add another line to boot Windows 2000.
> Many thanks for your help.
> Theng
Can Win 2k boot loader run after lilo has taken in? I had the idea that 2k
acts like NT and doesn't boot if it doesn't 'own' the MBR? Am I wrong?
Anyway, if you have lilo in MBR and you're able to boot 2k, please let me
know your configuration.
Yes, I have similiar problem, I have first 3 Fat32 partitions
(hde1,hde5,hd6) 8 Gigs each and then linux / and swap. Tried to do that
MINI-HOWTO-procedure for NT-bootloader, but lilo says then only 'LI' and
repeats it over and over again... Like this:
LI
LI
LI
LI ...and so on.
(I've RH 7.0)
Even tried both 'linear' and 'lba32'. Would grub work better?
tiki
------------------------------
Subject: Re: I would like to register a complaint ...
From: Darin Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 04:38:21 GMT
hoffmyster <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> But you
> are also left with the rest of the partition as one file full of zeros.
If you do the "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hdxX", you have NOTHING left,
no files, no directories, zip. Mke2fs will clean it all up.
If you do have one huge file full of zeros, then mke2fs will easily
remove it, and do so quickly. Fixing up a partitions "organization"
will automatically destroy any knowlege it has of files.
> mke2fs won't help now because it is passive when
> it comes to data and rm -rf * won't help when the huge file IS the entire
> partition.
This is incorrect. Mke2fs will completely remove all files and
directories on the disk. It just won't write 0's over all the old
data. If there's no file system left (because you did the "dd" trick)
then rm won't work, but mke2fs will gladly clean things up for you.
mke2fs is the same as DOS "format /quick" for all intents and purposes.
Imagine a really simple file system: In the first part of the disk is
a known location that says "there are 12 files and here is where they
reside on the disk". Then the format command just changes that 12 to
a 0 and writes 0's on top of the list of files, and is done.
Mke2fs and DOS format do essentially the same thing. They don't have
to know about the files or where they reside on the disk, and
especially they don't have to actually read the files. They just
clear out all the data that says if and where files exist. Ie, it
uses white-out on the table of contents! That's only a few small
sections on the disk, and will run very quickly. Mke2fs will often
run FASTER than doing "rm -rf *".
> The moral of the story is don't use /dev/zero to clear an entire
> partition. You are then certainly in for more than you bargained. Whoever
> gave me that advice, thanks alot .... NOT.
That advice isn't as bad as you make it to be. Zeroing the partition
does not require you to ever go back to DOS, and mke2fs will always be
able to clean things up for you. Of course, if you didn't actually
want to zero out the data then you're wasting time waiting for the
"dd" to finish running.
Actually, rather than booting to dos, you could have run "mkdosfs" :-)
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Hector13)
Subject: please help, my OpenOffice's help (and many other things) doesn't work
Date: 5 Apr 2001 04:47:00 GMT
Hi all,
I just installed redhat 7.0 a couple days ago (this is my first time with
linux). I was able to get my X and internet working (I am posting now from
netscape 6), but I can not get OpenOffice to work.
I downloaded version 619 and the install ran fine, but when I try to use its
help, all I get is an empty help window. Nothing happens when I click on
"contents" or if I try to search for anything.
I tried to run the setup's "fix installation" or whatever it is called and
had no luck. The setup program now won't even let me uninstall openoffice. I
tells me I must quit openoffice first (even when I am not running anything
else).
There are also other things wrong with the install, like, for instance, the
spell checker does not work at all either.
Oh yeah, one other thing. Since I am so new to linux, please forgive the
stupidity of this question. Coming for Windows, I am used to programs
intalling themselves and creating shortcuts in the "start" menu. Is this not
the case with X applications? Neither netscape nor openoffice created any
shortcuts after installation. Its not a big deal, but it just seems like
something I though would be automatic.
Anyway, thank you for any help you can provide
------------------------------
From: Dustin Clifford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: linux.redhat.install,linux.redhat,redhat.config
Subject: Re: Magic partition on linux?
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 00:52:59 -0400
And.... Linux fdisk (way the hell better than MS FDisk) will also let
you change partition size, type, and a whole bunch more.
Remember for almost everything you can find for windows... Unix type
systems have something way the hell better.... maybe
a little harder to learn. You see MicroSoft believes you are a moron and
designs all of thier software as such. Unix programmers
don't care if you're a moron.... they'll let you figure it out if you
can.
DISCLAIMER: that something better always exists in Unix may not always
be true.... but for the most part :^)
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2001 22:27:18 -0500
From: Norman Levin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: I would like to register a complaint ...
Nick Condon wrote:
>
> KCmaniac wrote:
>
> >There is a very fundemental concept in the DOS/Windows world of being
> >able to format a partition, after which you can begin again compiling
> >data into that empty but very much functional partition. WHY DOESN'T
> >LINUX HAVE AN EQUIVALENT COMMAND/FUNCTION???
> >
> >Sorry for the big letters but I am now extremely frustrated over Linux's
> >
> >apparent inability to clear a partition of all its data and to be able
> >to just simply begin again. Instead, it appears that you have to jump
> >through a bunch of hoops and all of which I have not yet found.
>
> Why on earth would want to format a filesystem just to clear it out?
> cd into your partition and type: rm -rf *
** even this is more work than necessary.
The first appender doesn't realize that a 'format" in dos or windows does not
really do a hardware format. All it does is rewrite the File Allocation Table
(FAT) so that the disk appears logically empty. The data is still there and
a data reclaim company could easily get the data.
With that as an example, in Linux (and other unix systems), the equivalant
to format is, mkfs (make filesystem) or some such variation. In this case,
a superblock is written in record one pointing to an inode table (analogous
to a FAT) which also points to the physical root directory block.
> --
> Nick
--
Norman Levin
"In 1555, Nostradamus wrote: 'Come the millennium, month 12, in the home of
greatest power, the village idiot will come forth to be acclaimed the
leader.'"
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2001 22:40:07 -0500
From: Norman Levin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Unkown users made by RedHat
Very nice description of special users. I'm including both appends just
in case some readers of this group may have missed the response. Well worth
appearing twice.
"H.Bruijn" wrote:
>
> On Mon, 02 Apr 2001 14:16:43 +0200, Jimbo allegedly wrote:
> >Hi,
> >
> >In my "lastlog" a see a list of users that have been made by the setup
> >of RedHat (both 6.2 and 7.0).
> >
> >Some of them I already deleted but about others I'm not quite sure
> >what kind of result it will have when I delete them.
> >Does anyone got a clue?
> >
> >daemon **Never logged in**
> >adm **Never logged in**
> >sync **Never logged in**
> >mail **Never logged in**
> >named **Never logged in**
> > [ snip: more ]
> >
> >Which of these am I allowed to just issue "userdel xx" and "groupdel
> >xx"?
>
> These are "system users" added to the system by certain pieces of
> software. They have no active password, ie the password field in
> etc/shadow only contains a * . You can't use them to log in.
> The reason they exist that for some software it is advisabe
> that it doesn't run as root, but as an user with limited permissions.
> That way when an unknow exploit is used and somebody uses that service
> to gain access they won't get root, but only the limited access that is
> granted to the user ID running that service.
> For instance if you are running a DNS server, for which the whole point
> is that it can be accessed from all over the world, so you can't protect
> it with firewall rules. For security you'd run it under the UID named,
> and when a new exploit allows someone to gain acccess using that service;
> they only get access as "named". Now that isn't good, but it also means
> they can't modify anything on the system, as the UID named is only a
> system user. There is no home directory ~/named, there are no files owned
> by named (save the log files of the DNS server) etc. Now if root would
> have been running that service, the whole system would have been
> compromised.
> The same holds for a lot of other daemons that are connected to the net
> or run on your system. To force some restrictions on them they run under
> a different UID then root, as far as is possible. So if possible the
> mailserver runs as, let's be creative, user "mail", the webserver runs
> as "httpd" , other daemons run as "daemon" etc.
>
> All in all those users and groups are there for a reason, you do not
> need to remove them, they do not pose a threat. If you want you can
> remove them, as long as you won't run the services that require them.
>
> The second are some groups which exist on a system. They are used,
> obviously, to give some groups of users some extra permissions and such.
> For instance on my system, there are some people who need to examine the
> system log files, to generate reports on system usage, number of hits on
> the webserver, most popular search strings in the database, etc. Now I
> don't want all users to be able to to read the log files (fi in the mail
> log you can see exactly who mails whom at what time, interesting thesis
> topic for a social scientist trying to look at the propagation speed of
> rumours?) So each log is only readable by the owner and the group, and
> then selectively other users are made member to that group, on a need to
> know basis.
> that also allows the administyartors to watch those logs, without having
> to log in as root.
>
> You can see which groups you are a member of by issueing the "id"
> command.
> --
> If a trainstation is the place where trains stop, what is a workstation?
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Herman Bruijn website: http://hermanbruijn.com
> The Netherlands
--
Norman Levin
"In 1555, Nostradamus wrote: 'Come the millennium, month 12, in the home of
greatest power, the village idiot will come forth to be acclaimed the
leader.'"
------------------------------
From: Jay & Shell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: rpm & kpackage
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 05:07:10 GMT
How do I resolve this:
kpackage: Symbol 'rmpTagTable' has different size in shared object,
consider re-linking
I'm using Gnome 1.2
Mandrake 7.1 kernel 2.2.16
--
Registered Linux User #192969
Ms-Windows = A Colorful Clown Suit For Dos !
------------------------------
From: Conrad Newton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: linux.redhat.install,linux.redhat,redhat.config
Subject: Re: Magic partition on linux?
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 05:34:38 GMT
alfred hammerfield wrote:
> hi
> is there a utility on linux that permit to redistrubut disk partitions
> like partition-magic on Win NT4 ?
> my system: redhat 6.2 kernel 2.2.14-5
> help!
> thanks.
It is still in beta, but keep your eye on
http://sistina.com/lvm/
------------------------------
From: E J <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: modem installation.
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 05:34:43 GMT
Sorry, it is an unsupported winmodem, it won't work under linux.
You could check www.linmodems.org to see if it supported in the future.
Write a complaint letter to rockwell to release the programming specification
of the chip.
Complaining helps, the formerly useable MWAVE modems are now useable under
linux
Graham wrote:
> I am having problems installing a modem into linus mandrake 7.2
>
> the modem is Rockwell chipset. it's serial is FM-56PCI/HFC.
>
> I am unsure if I need to download a driver or if I need to set up a genric
> driver ?
>
> if any one can help could you please email me at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> thanks for any help
>
> Linux newbie. Graham
------------------------------
From: E J <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: linux.redhat.install,linux.redhat,redhat.config
Subject: Re: Magic partition on linux?
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 05:36:28 GMT
Try "parted" from www.gnu.org
alfred hammerfield wrote:
> hi
> is there a utility on linux that permit to redistrubut disk partitions
> like partition-magic on Win NT4 ?
> my system: redhat 6.2 kernel 2.2.14-5
> help!
> thanks.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: problem with Xconfigurator
Date: 5 Apr 2001 05:51:37 GMT
John Jamieson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Because my video card is not supported by XFree86, I have to resort
> to using 'generic vga'. But when I select a higher resolution than
> 640x480, I get 640x480 anyway. Is there anything I can do to get
> higher resolution using generic VGA?
I think you must tinker with the XF86Config file for yourself.
See the XFree86-HOWTO and don't forget to save the old file
before start tinkering.
Davide
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Crossposted-To:
comp.os.linux.questions,comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.redhat,linux.redhat.misc,linux.redhat.install
Subject: Re: Unusual mount problem
Date: 5 Apr 2001 05:54:41 GMT
In comp.os.linux.setup Dennis Bayrock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 2. When I run MC and try to view the same partition - I can't see
> ANYTHING (Yes I am navigating to the right place in the filesystem)
> 3. When I exit MC and run X (Gnome 1.0) - I still can't see anything with
> GMC.
Well, since it's working in the console I think that the mount
is working well. Maybe is a problem related to MC/Gnome, but
I can't see a way to solve it.
BTW, I have an NTFS partition on my machine and I can see it
in KDE, so maybe is a problem of Gnome.
Davide
------------------------------
From: "Elem103" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: aus.computers.linux
Subject: Re: Red Hat 7.0 & Lilo
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 15:59:41 +1000
"Markku Tikkanen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:9agsrq$14og$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> Theng Ung <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > Yes, It is now up and running. But I had to install Red Hat again as I
had
> > to create a boot disk.
> > and modify lilo.conf and add another line to boot Windows 2000.
>
> > Many thanks for your help.
>
> > Theng
>
> Can Win 2k boot loader run after lilo has taken in? I had the idea that 2k
> acts like NT and doesn't boot if it doesn't 'own' the MBR? Am I wrong?
I'm running my system with NT and Linux and Linux owns MBR. Also have a
system with Win2K and linux and it works fine too.
> Anyway, if you have lilo in MBR and you're able to boot 2k, please let me
> know your configuration.
Err.. everyone has different lilo config.
Generally the important parts are:
# Set LILO to go on the MBR
boot=/dev/hda
# My Linux Partition
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.3
label=Linux243
root=/dev/hda2
read-only
# My Windows Partition
other=/dev/hda3
label=WinNT
> Yes, I have similiar problem, I have first 3 Fat32 partitions
> (hde1,hde5,hd6) 8 Gigs each and then linux / and swap. Tried to do that
> MINI-HOWTO-procedure for NT-bootloader, but lilo says then only 'LI' and
> repeats it over and over again... Like this:
> LI
> LI
> LI
> LI ...and so on.
>
> (I've RH 7.0)
>
> Even tried both 'linear' and 'lba32'. Would grub work better?
=-
Elem103
------------------------------
From: "Randy Basham" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: modem installation.
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 03:46:43 +0930
Hi,
Same problem, different modem. I just installed Red Hat Linux and I'm having
problems installing a US Robotics Sportster
modem. I don't believe its a WinModem. I've upgraded it to a V.90
standard. I went to a local Linux users group to get help.
They suggested that I run pnpdump to set up devices on an ISA bus. So far,
that hasn't worked. Any suggestions, please
contact me. The modem is on Com 2, Interrupt 3, Address 2F8. Its
identifier is USR3090, ISAPNP\USR3090.
Another Linux newbie,
Randy
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"Graham" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:GSQy6.944$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> I am having problems installing a modem into linus mandrake 7.2
>
> the modem is Rockwell chipset. it's serial is FM-56PCI/HFC.
>
> I am unsure if I need to download a driver or if I need to set up a genric
> driver ?
>
> if any one can help could you please email me at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> thanks for any help
>
> Linux newbie. Graham
>
>
>
------------------------------
From: Nader <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: wrong major or minor number
Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2001 23:19:19 -0700
Make sure you have read the installation notes and upgraded your other
system components. I had problems mounting my CD-ROM after I upgraded
the kernel to 2.4.2. I had to upgrade binutils and a couple other items
to bring my system into "compliance" and everything worked normally
after that.
NeMo wrote:
> After I compiled the 2.4.2 Kernel,
> when I tried to mount floppy , zip , other vfat hard-disk
> I optain the message "wrong major or minor number"
> What does it means?
>
> NeMo
------------------------------
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End of Linux-Setup Digest
******************************
