💾 Archived View for gem.sdf.org › jmccue › consnews › issue08.txt captured on 2024-05-26 at 15:27:37.

View Raw

More Information

⬅️ Previous capture (2024-03-21)

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

___________________________________________________________________

issue 8                     http://console-newsletter.hypermart.net
 __  __  _ _  __ __  )) __  console: tips,tricks & news about linux
((_ ((_)((\( _))((_)(( (('_ _______________________________________

[4/2000]                                            "a good read.."

+ headlines

Caldera Systems, Inc. set to file for its own IPO

Caldera, makers of OpenLinux are joining the ranks of RedHat
and others in the rush to take their offering public, we wish
them all the best but cant help but wonder if the Linux "IPO
craze" hasn't already reached the point of saturation. Witness
VA-Research and Corel...

http://www.calderasystems.com/company/press/000110ipo.html
--

+ hmm..

USB v2.0 specs. cost $2500

The popular Universal Serial Bus standard (an interface to easily
connect printers, scanners, etc) is sadly tuning out to be a
chapter out of Orwell's, "Animal Farm" which in essence means,
we are equal but only those that pay for the specifications can
be board members.

http://www.usb.org/developers/index.html
--

+ humorix

Back in the early 1990s, Bill Gates promised that Microsoft would
finally produce an enterprise-level operating system that worked
perfectly. Ten years and 63,000 bugs later, that dream is still
five Service Packs away.  Nevertheless, Redmond's latest creation,
Windows 2000, is now officially available. Public reaction has
been mixed. Below is a roundup of events and responses surrounding
the Win2K launch that our Vast Spy Network(tm) has collected.

http://i-want-a-website.com/about-linux/feb00.shtml#Redmond-Roundup
--

+ distro watch

Linux In A Pillbox (LIAP) - a set of specialized,
easily-configurable Linux floppies:
http://www.liap.eu.org/

Serial Terminal Linux - custom init script that runs minicom,
turning an otherwise unusable computer into a dumb terminal:
http://members.wri.com/johnnyb/seriallinux/
--

+ new apps

moon-buggy 0.4.1 - a simple character graphics game:
http://www.hangout.de/moon-buggy/index.html

micq 0.4.4 - Matt's ICQ Clone for the console:
http://phantom.iquest.net/micq/

sawmill 0.25.2 - mostly GNOME-compliant extensible window manager:
http://sawmill.sourceforge.net/
--

+ article

procmail (email filtering made easy) - digs <mjs@nts-online.net>

A quick note about this document:
This article has been laying around on my hardrive in various
drafts for years, as a newbie I began researching email filtering
a few years back, large parts of this article came from -many-
varied places, usenet; the procmail faq; and any number of
websites.
If you see something thats yours let me know, credit where credit
is due. Also will this work with Netscape? Versions above 4.0
provide a filtering mechanism builtin, read the help included
with Netscape.  Finally before you start this project you -MUST-
have a properly working mail reader.

Filtering email can seem to be a pretty tough dragon to do
battle with under Linux but when broken down to individual steps
is really very easy & as a plus (you'll love that minty fresh
feeling :)) you get from organization. Just what is procmail?
From the man page:
an autonomous mail processor or process mail, what this means
for you is the ability to push your email through a set of
filters and -this is the nifty part- perform actions based on
matching criteria or non matching criteria for that matter. Once
setup its all automatic.  Basicly procmail compares each piece
of incoming mail against each "recipe" then acts accordingly.
Here are some basic examples:

All recipes start with this header:
:0
Then possibly a flag:
c = copy
b = body
h = header
note: see man procmailrc for all the flags.
And if needed a closing that creates a lock file:
:

This recipe makes a backup of incoming mail.
:0 c:
backup

Another example, this sends all mail from "some_twit" to /dev/null.
:0:

/dev/null

Yet another for your email lists, this sends all email from the
newsletter "console" to a mail file called console.
:0:

console

One can even forward mail based on sender and/or subject:
note, the "c" saves a copy.
:0 c:

! me@my_vaction_address.net

Even a "selective biff"
:0 c:

| xmessage "you have mail from honey bun."

Lets jump right in & get down to business.(note I assume your
at the command line & I'll use pico as an editor your free of
course to use another editor.)

1.see if you have procmail installed on your system at the
prompt type:
which procmail
if you don't you can pick it up from http://www.procmail.org

2.like most u*ix programs procmail depends on a "dot" or rc file
in this case its called .procmailrc and is located in your home
directory.
cd
pico .procmailrc

# lines that begin with # are comments and are ignored
# -always- define the next three:
PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin
SHELL=/bin/sh
TMP=/tmp

#Set on when debugging
VERBOSE=on
#VERBOSE=off

# Directory for storing procmail log and rc files
PMDIR=$HOME

# Name of procmail log file
LOGFILE=$PMDIR/procmail.log

# Our first filter
# lets play it safe & keep a backup of all incoming mail.
# what this very basic recipe does is copy all mail to
# ~/mail/backup
:0 c:
backup

# Next lets try a real filter.
# this puts all mail with a subject of "test" in a mail file
# called:
# ~/mail/testing also note that's [zero] not o.
:0:

testing

3.Next we -MUST- create a ~/.forward file so your MDA [mail
delivery agent] will pass incoming mail to procmail.
cd
pico -w .forward

"|IFS=' ' && exec /usr/local/bin/procmail -f- || exit 75 #user"

BIG FAT NOTE:

  -ALL ON ONE LINE-

  use joe.

  .forward.

4.Make your .forward world readable (so other programs can
read it.)
cd
chmod 644 .forward
chmod a+x .

5.Send your self a test message with "test" as the subject line.

6.Crank up your mailer & check if you got the message.
note: you'll have to tell your mailer if you directed procmail to
send the test message to a non-standard file/folder example:
Pine uses mail, Elm uses Mail, while Mutt might look something
like this:
#.muttrc
# when invoked via "mutt -y"
mailboxes ~/mail/testing /var/spool/mail/$USER

Once you have every thing working you can create a ~/.procmailrc
better suited to your needs.  I've included a copy mine below
to hack away on as a starting point.
Further reading:
man procmailrc; man procmailex; man procmail; man formail

# begin digs ~/.procmailrc
# -always- define the next three:
PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin
SHELL=/bin/sh
TMP=/tmp
#Set on when debugging
VERBOSE=on
#VERBOSE=off

# Directory for storing procmail log and rc files
PMDIR=$HOME

# Name of log file
# the log file automagiclly
LOGFILE=$PMDIR/procmail.log
#LOGFILE=/dev/null

# The order of this file is -very- important!
# the spam entry at the bottom of this file is
# there because this file takes each argument in the order given.
# imagine a trickle down effect
# if any line starts with a # symbol then its not read by procmail
# also don't use the ~ symbol in any path statement as procmail
# cant understand it

# Archiving mail: -------------------------------------------------
# This recipe is real handy it allows you to save a compressed file
# of mail while [appending] new mail to the same gz file.
# note: a copy will still be sent uncompressed to proper mailbox.
#:0 bc:
#* ^(To|From|Reply-To|Cc|Sender).*your_favorite_email_list
#| gzip >>archived.email.gz

# unsubscribe: ----------------------------------------------------
# Just a pet peeve of mine I hate seeing unsubscribe messages so
# lets send'em to the +spam folder or /dev/null :)
:0:

/home/digs/mailbox/spam

# - Email lists are next -

# Basic Linux Training: -------------------------------------------
:0:

/home/digs/mailbox/blt

# wmx mailing list: -----------------------------------------------
:0:

/home/digs/mailbox/wmx

# my brother: -----------------------------------------------------
# living proof that some people have a fear of reading help files.
:0 c

| xmessage "sup bro, how do I..."

# Mailbot auto-responder thingie: ---------------------------------
# This recipe will email the sender a file if the subject
# line matches.  Example,include something like this in your
# ~/.signature file To receive my latest banana nut bread recipe
# please send an email with "banana-nut" in the subject line
# to: me@my_address.foo then change * ^Subject:.*WHAT_EVER to *
# ^Subject:.*banana-nut make sure /somedir/somefile points to
# the correct path and file
#:0
#* !^From *YOUR_EMAIL_ADDRESS_GOES_HERE
#* !^Subject:.*Re:
#* !^FROM_DAEMON
#* ^Subject:.*WHAT_EVER [note: one word sure makes it easy.]
#| (formail -r ; cat /somedir/somefile) | $SENDMAIL -oi -t

# - Spam filtering start here -

# Some junk mail I get from xoom.com: -----------------------------
:0:

/home/digs/mailbox/spam

# More spam: ------------------------------------------------------
:0:

/home/digs/mailbox/spam

# Ok here's a nifty recipe: ---------------------------------------
# If any mail made it this far & -dosent- have your_email_address
# in the To Cc From or Sender fields we send it to the +spam folder
# or send it to /dev/null [BIG FAT NOTE]:
# /dev/null will erase the offending email.
# note: the ! symbol negates the argument ie:
# To me = True [will get sent to me]
# !To me = False [-wont- get sent to me]
:0:

/home/digs/mailbox/spam

# This is for testing your recipes: -------------------------------
#:0:
#* ^Subject:.*test
#/home/digs/mailbox/testing

# Suspicious email: -----------------------------------------------

# Empty Message-IDs usually indicate a broken mail server
# which are very likely used to send spam.
:0:

/home/digs/mailbox/spam

# If any mail left slipped thru the filters they will go into
# /var/spool/mail/$USER ie. your default mailbox
# end
--

+ quote of the month

"A wounded deer leaps the highest."
-Emily Dickinson
--

+ grok

CTRL-T in bash will transpose two characters; great for typos.

Typing CTRL-l at a bash prompt, will clear the screen,
and put the current line at the top of the screen.

In BitchX, using CTRL-V will invert your text.
--

+ jargon

:SMOP: /S-M-O-P/ n. [Simple (or Small) Matter of Programming]
1.A piece of code, not yet written, whose anticipated length
is significantly greater than its complexity. Used to refer to
a program that could obviously be written, but is not worth the
trouble.  Also used ironically to imply that a difficult problem
can be easily solved because a program can be written to do it;
the irony is that it is very clear that writing such a program
will be a great deal of work.  "It's easy to enhance a FORTRAN
compiler to compile COBOL as well; it's just an SMOP." 2. Often
used ironically by the intended victim when a suggestion for
a program is made which seems easy to the suggester, but is
obviously (to the victim) a lot of work.
--

+ hobbes' internet timeline

1971
Ray Tomlinson of BBN invents email program to send messages
across a distributed network. The original program was derived
from two others: an intra-machine email program (SENDMSG) and
an experimental file transfer program (CPYNET)

1972
First computer-to-computer chat takes place during ICCC as
psychotic PARRY (at Stanford) discusses its problems with the
Doctor (at BBN)

1973
Bob Metcalfe's Harvard PhD Thesis outlines idea for Ethernet.
The concept was tested on Xerox PARC's Alto computers, and the
first Ethernet network called the Alto Aloha System
--

+ article Poor Man's Net Mini How-TO

Ewald Arnold, ewald@ewald-arnold.de
v1.1, 17 Oct 1999

How to set up a little net under Linux using RS232 to connect a
laptop to a desktop computer

1.  Why this document

Recently, I bought a used laptop, an IBM Thinkpad  750.  I  was
lucky to get Linux installed on it. It it has no cdrom and the
floppy is useless under Linux because of some incompatibilities
in the hardware.
So I tried to connect it to my desktop computer which has all
these useful things.

You wonder how I installed my Linux distribution on cdrom under
these circumstances ?

First I installed (using my desktop) a core system on an ex-ternal
zip drive with a kernel including zip drive support.
Then I launched this kernel under DOS on the laptop  and copied
everything to the harddisk. After setting up lilo.conf and
running lilo the system booted without problems :-)

Additional software packages can now be installed from the cdrom
on the desktop using the little network described below. In the
meantime I have a complete system with X, Netscape, KDE and so on.

This document is the summary of my experiences and is distributed
in the hope that is is useful to others facing the same problem.
Everything is based on my own system, running SuSE 6.0. Some
things will differ to other distributions, e.g. printing.

If the commands don't work properly on your system, please let me
know, especially if you already have a fix for an update.

It is assumed that you already have installed pppd, BSD print-
ing, rpc and everything else needed on the laptop.

2.  Hardware

To connect the two computers you need some sort of cable, called
a nullmodem. The simple version uses software handshaking
to control the data flow. The "deluxe" version does this
using the modem  control signals  (RTS/CTS).  If possible,
use hardware handshaking. The risk to lose data packets will
decrease and the data throughput  will rise. It is also very
useful to have a serial chip with FIFO support. A 16550 for
example can store up to 14 bytes in it's fifo  chain until it
signals an interrupt to gather the data.

2.1.    The simple nullmodem cable

DTE 1                                      DTE 2

9pol  25pol (female)                      25pol 9pol (female)

5         7  ]--GND--------------------GND------[  7   5

2         3  ]--RxD--------. ,---------RxD------[  3   2
X
3         2  ]--TxD--------' `---------TxD------[  2   3


2.2.    The full-featured nullmodem cable

DTE 1                                      DTE 2

9pol 25pol (female)                       25pol 9pol  (female)

5         7  ]---GND--------------------GND------[  7   5

2         3  ]---RxD--------. ,---------RxD------[  3   2
X
3         2  ]---TxD--------' `---------TxD------[  2   3

7         4  ]---RTS--------. ,---------RTS------[  4   7
X
8         5  ]---CTS--------' `---------CTS------[  5   8

4        20  ]---DTR--------. ,---------DTR------[ 20   4
X
6         6  ]---DSR--o-----' `------o--DSR------[  6   6
                      |              |
1         8  ]---DCD--'              `--DCD------[  8   1

3.  Software

To connect the two computers you have to set up some files
describing the properties of your computers. Some of them may
be the same on both, some are different.

3.1. Launch the ppp deamon

3.1.1. /etc/hosts (laptop and desktop)

The TCP/IP protocoll uses numbers to address computers in
a network.  It is possible to assign names to those numbers
by adding these to a special file. Be careful with ip numbers:
only use numbers beginning with 192.168.x.x which are reserved
for private networks.

------- start of file -------

#
# hosts   This file describes a number of hostname-to-address
# mappings for the TCP/IP subsystem.  It is mostly used at boot
# time, when  no  name  servers  are running. On small systems,
# this file can be used instead of a "named" name server. Just
# add the  names, addresses
# and any aliases to this file...

127.0.0.1          localhost
192.168.0.1        desk.home       desk
192.168.0.2        lap.home        lap

-------- end of file --------

3.1.2.  /usr/local/bin/interlink (laptop and desktop)

The  following  script will start and stop the ppp protocoll
on ttyS0.
Adopt it to your requirements:

BAUD
contains the baudrate to use. On computers with a  serial chip
with a fifo you  can have full speed at 115200. Older systems like
might not be able to really run  faster  than  38400 average,
especially with hard disk writing/reading at the same time or
a too slow cpu.

DEV
represents the serial connector you want to use.

COM1 on a PC
equals ttyS0, ttyS1 means COM2. Also possible is the symbolic
name modem.

HANDSH
defines the type of handshaking. Use xonxoff for software flow
control with the simple cable. Replace with crtscts for hardware
flow control if you have the according cable.

LOCAL / REMOTE
names of the pair of computers to be connected.

------- start of file -------

# script to launch the pppd on the rs232 cable

BAUD=57600
DEV=ttyS0
HANDSH=xonxoff
LOCAL=lap                  # customize those two lines !
REMOTE=desk                #=============================

case "$1" in
start)
echo "starting interlink ($BAUD baud)"
/usr/sbin/pppd  -detach $HANDSH lock $LOCAL:$REMOTE \
/dev/$DEV $BAUD &
;;
stop)
echo "shutting down interlink"
test -f /var/lock/LCK..$DEV  &&  kill `cat /var/lock/LCK..$DEV`
;;

echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop}"
exit 1
esac
exit 0

-------- end of file --------

3.2.    Using the desktop's printer

This section assumes a BSD-like printing system.

3.2.1.  /etc/printcap (laptop)

The entry in printcap is very simple, because the files are
just transfered to the desktop. It is assumed  of course that the
printer on the desktop is correctly working.

------- start of file -------

#/
# Copyright (c) 1983 Regents of the University of California.
# All rights reserved.
# Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are  permitted
# provided that this notice is preserved and that due credit is
# given to the University of California at Berkeley. The name of
# the University may not be used to endorse or promote products
# derived from this software without specific prior written
# permission. This software is provided ``as is'' without express
# or implied warranty.
# @(#)etc.printcap        5.2 (Berkeley) 5/5/88
# typical remote printer entry

lp:rm=desk.home:sd=/var/spool/lpd:lf=/tmp:mx#0:
lp1:rm=desk.home:sd=/var/spool/lpd/lp1:mx#0:

-------- end of file --------

3.2.2.  /etc/hosts.lpd (desktop)

Only hosts listed in hosts.lpd are allowed remote printing.

------- start of file -------

#
# hosts.lpd
# This file describes the names  of  the  hosts which are
# to be considered "equivalent", i.e. which are to be
#  trusted enough for allowing rsh(1) commands.
#
# hostname

desk.home
lap.home

-------- end of file --------

3.3.    Mounting the desktop's filesystems

3.3.1.  /etc/fstab (laptop)

To mount filesystems from the desktop with user privileges,
you have to include them to fstab with the user option.

/       Access to all mounted partitions on the desktop.

/cdrom To install additional programs from my distribution cd.

/a The floppy on my thinkpad does not work under  linux,  so
the desktop is the only possibility.

/z       Here I mount my external zip drive. I also could connect
it directly to the laptop, but for that I have to crawl behind the
computer table.

------- start of file -------

desk:/         /desk           nfs   defaults,noauto,user
0   0
desk:/cdrom     /cdrom.d          nfs      ro,noauto,user
0   0
desk:/a        /a.d            nfs   defaults,noauto,user
0   0
desk:/z       /z.d            nfs    defaults,noauto,user
0   0
desk:/usr/data  /usr/data.d      nfs   defaults,noauto,user
0   0

-------- end of file --------

3.3.2.  /etc/exports (desktop)

exports lists all hosts that are allowed to  mount local
filesystems and their according permissions. I added
no_root_squash to have root privileges on the laptop while I
work with desktop files.

------- start of file -------

# See exports(5) for a description.
# This file contains a list of all directories exported to other
# computers.  It is used by rpc.nfsd and rpc.mountd.

/cdrom                      lap(ro,no_root_squash)
/usr/data                   lap(rw,no_root_squash)
/mnt/hdb7                   lap(rw,no_root_squash)
/                           lap(rw,no_root_squash)
/a                          lap(rw,no_root_squash)
/z                          lap(rw,no_root_squash)
/zv                         lap(rw,no_root_squash)

-------- end of file --------

3.4.    Offline browsing with wwwoffle

WWWOFFLE is an internet browser caching program. I gave it
100MB of disk space, what allows me to browse offline all
internet files I visited the last months.

Your browser must then be configured to use desk.home as proxy
(on port 8080 if you did not change).

3.4.1.  /usr/local/bin/internet-on (desktop)

This is my short script to tell wwwoffle we're online now. Not
really necessary, but useful to understand the following file
ip-up.

------- start of file -------

wwwoffle -online
wwwoffle -fetch

-------- end of file --------

3.4.2.  /etc/ppp/ip-up (desktop)

Script automatically launched by pppd after connecting. If
talking to the laptop, nothing happens. If connected to my provider
via modem it puts wwwoffle online.

------- start of file -------

#!/bin/sh
if $5 != "192.1.2.32"; then
echo 'Welcome to the internet'
internet-on
else
echo 'connected to laptop'
fi

-------- end of file --------

3.4.3.  wwwoffle/wwwoffle.conf (desktop)

Add  the  following line to wwwoffle.conf in the AllowedConnect
section to give the laptop access to the cache:

------- start of snippet -------

lap.home

-------- end of snippet --------

4.  Experiences

The following picture is a snapshot while installing about 100M
of programs on the laptop which took more than three hours.     I
I recognized no problems.

/proc/net/dev reported about 2% of lost ppp-packets and in
/var/log/messages I also found some lines about a "non responding
server". This is due to the weak serial chip on the laptop and
no big problem. It only means a bit more time for transfers.

5. Author

My Name is Ewald Arnold and I live in south germany. My hobbies
are programming, wood working and reading. You can see some
examples of my work on my homepage at http://www.ewald-arnold.de/.

My english is not the very best but I hope everything was
understandable enough. If not, let me know about it.

The most recent version of this document is located on my home-
page at http://www.w-4.de/~earnold/pmn/Poor-Mans-Net.html

6.  Thanks

The following sites were helpful to create this mini-howto:

FAQ  Kabel, a german site, which describes a lot of cable faqs.

Leased line mini howto,
http://www.sput.signature.nl/software/leased-line.html

The Linux Documentation Project Homepage

Most important, a response to a question in news:comp.os.networking
how to set up a pppd connection over RS232.

7.  Open questions

I am still looking for a program to synchronize two files/di-
rectories to keep both laptop and desktop up to date.

If someone knows such a (free or GPL'd !)  program, tell me
where to find it.
--

+ funnies
 _______
(_)___oo) Ned the log ----------- . Particle man -----------------
 _______                         |
(_)___oo) vampire Ned            | % particle man see-saw
------''----------------------------------------------------------
--

+ wrap up

Coming next issue:

rsh (remote-shell) - run commands remotely from another box on
your network.

Passing arguments to your scripts - (foo -arg)

Hello everyone, hope this issue finds you all doing well.
As several of you that have have been with console awhile
may have noticed topica now hosts the mailing of console,
this change will (for the most part) be transparent.

And let me welcome you newer members - console works
on the premise of user submitted content, if you have an
idea or experience you'd like to share by all means jump
right in and send in your article (see instructions below)
I'm sure newbies & guru's alike will agree, we can always
learn something from one another ;)

later on,
digs
--

+ subscriptions & submittals

To subscribe send a blank email to: console-subscribe@topica.com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to:
   console-unsubscribe@topica.com

To submit an article:
http://console-newsletter.hypermart.net/

Past issues can be found at:
http://console-newsletter.hypermart.net/old/
--

+ about

This issue of console was brought to you by:
digs <mjs@nts-online.net> - chief writer & layout
Ewald Arnold <ewald@ewald-arnold.de> - contributor

Hobbes' Internet Timeline (c)1993-9 by Robert H Zakon.
http://www.isoc.org/zakon/Internet/History/HIT.html

Console (c)99-00 Michael S Sanders, All Rights Reserved.
--

eof