Yesterday, I was having troubles when telnetting into my Linux box. I tried using Minicom, and Minicom reported that I couldn't use it, and to ask my system administrator for access or something. Surprisingly, I am the sysadmin. So how do I enable other accounts to use it? Later, I don't remember what account (mine or root) it was on, but Minicom reported something like "device modem is locked". Sometime later I tried again, and Minicom reported that the lockfile was out of date and let me in. But what are lockfiles important for, and what should I do in case this would happen in the future? Dan Rasmussen
