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issue 3 http://console-newsletter.hypermart.net
__ __ _ _ __ __ )) __ console: tips,tricks & news about Linux
((_ ((_)((\( _))((_)(( (('_ _______________________________________
[11/99] "a good read.."
+ headlines
DOOM sources are now under the GPL: http://www.doomworld.com
id Software, makers of the quintessential "shoot'em up" game
DOOM, have released the source code under the GNU General Public
License. While the game itself is hardly new, the different wads
(new levels for the game) sure to appear from this move ought
prove to be good gaming if nothing else.
We all know what RTFM means, anyone remember the BFG-9000?
--
+ hmm..
This issue's ubiquitous "hmm.." award goes to columnist
John Dvorak whose scathing review of Linux, produces
what seem to be very compelling reasons -NOT- to use "the
little OS that could" astute readers however, will note
Mr.Dvorak's views are 100% devoid of supporting evidence.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/comment/0,5859,2338326,00.html
One has to wonder if he's ever even used linux, hmm..
--
+ humorix
Microsoft Announces Open Source for Windows 2000
The computer world was stunned today with the announcement that
software giant Microsoft will open its source code for Windows
2000 when the product hits the stores in 2002.
"It's totally unreal," one user commented. "It's like the Berlin
wall coming down 10 years back. People kept saying over and over
that it would never happen. Then one day right out of the blue
the impossible comes true."
Users thrilled by this news should be warned. Although the
source code will be available completely free of charge,
there are several limitations that Microsoft has placed on the
project. Probably most importantly is the fact that the source
code will be available in printed form only.
http://i-want-a-website.com/about-linux/jul99.shtml#Win2K-OSS
--
+ distro watch
DragonLinux - can co-exist with Windows on the same partition:
http://www.dragonlinux.nu
e-smith server and gateway - email, web hosting, file sharing:
http://www.e-smith.net
--
+ new apps
XEmacs 21.1.7 - powerful, extensible text editor with full
GUI support:
http://www.xemacs.org
Laptop-HOWTO 2.0 - http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html
Midnight Commander 4.5.39 - file manager and shell:
http://www.gnome.org/mc
--
+ interview
Henry White - creator of Basic Linux Training a free online
course.
http://basiclinux.hypermart.net/basic/index.html
Before we get rolling with this interview I'd like to say that
in the linux community there are several high profile people that
"talk the talk" conversely there are those that "walk the talk".
We all know the type, those rare folk who work behind the
scenes and get things done without alot of fuss. Henry is from
that stock. This interview is my honor.
-digs
In early '98 I somehow stumbled across a webpage that offered
online training to individuals that were coming from a dos/windows
background and were interested in learning linux. While I was
not "green" in the deployment of Linux, I felt (and still do)
that one can always learn something new -we're all newbies at
some level-. I signed up for the courses on the spot. From the
blt webpage:
"Over the past two years over nine thousand people have
registered for the course. The course has been used by several
Linux User Groups for training new members and as in technical
presentations. More importantly, 9 former members have started
a LUG where none existed before - with a combined 'membership'
of over 600!"
console: Hello Henry, we appreciate you taking the time to talk
with us, what prompted you to begin an endeavor such as this?
Henry: When I first got interested in Linux in 1995, there weren't
very many books you could buy, so all the documentation was on
the Internet or on the CD. I read everything I could my hands
on before I tried the initial installation. In my case, I was
lucky because everything went textbook perfect - but that's not
always the case.
I've run across machines that will fight you every step of the
way; some distributions will install like putting on a silk
glove, while other distributions on that same machine will balk
and stutter and give you nothing but grief. Move on to the next
machine and any distribution may install without any problem. Go
figure. It shouldn't be that way, but it is.
The real difference is that PC manufacturers only have to do
this one time for each production model, and they have highly
skilled professionals to do it. Anyone who ungraded hardware on
a preinstalled operating system can tell you it's not always a
walk in the park ;-)
Unless you've worked with another variant of Unix, things
like file and directory ownership and permissions are new
concepts. Having all the configuration files in plain text,
it's all too easy to make a typo that you keep overlooking -
you know what you intended to type and that's what you read when
you look at it.
'RTFM' originated on USENET and is still valid. The main reason
you run across it so often is people are conditioned (even
encouraged) by other operating systems to instant solutions
without doing reading any of the manuals. That doesn't work with
Linux - at least, not for long. You might get the system installed
and configured without very much reading. That short cut is
likely to become a short circuit - unless you understand what's
going on and how to control it you're in for a rude awakening
(usually along the lines of Murphy's Law, If something can go
wrong, it will, and at the worst possible time).
Linux is most definitely NOT for everybody. This course is NOT
for everybody either. If you really want to learn Linux and are
willing to invest some time and effort, the course will save you
a lot of time and wasted effort. If you just want a quick fix,
it's definitely the wrong place to go.
Someone has calculated that if you spent an hour a day reading
the HOWTOs and mini-HOWTOs, within 6 months you could qualify as
a Linux guru. I don't know about that - but I certainly approve
of the goal and the method. I've been into Linux for almost
5 years now, installed hundreds of times on a wide variety of
machines, taught this course for over 2 years, started 2 Linux
Users' Groups, etc., and I wouldn't call myself a guru! Not by
a long shot!
With any operating system there is a lot to learn. In the course,
I've tried to present a good foundation with a couple of hundred
new terms and concepts you'll need to know and understand, and
a logical sequence for reading the 200+ HOWTOs and mini-HOWTOs,
URLs for other online documentation, manuals, and tutorials. It
has helped a lot of people, but it will NOT transform someone
who is essentially computer illiterate into a computer genius or
Linux guru just by osmosis - it's entirely up to the student how
much time and effort they put into it, and their actual mileage
will vary accordingly.
console: Your associated email list,
http://www.onelist.com/community/blt boasts several hundred
members yet, unlike the circus known as usenet the prevailing
attitude seems to foster folks helping one another, what's the
goal here?
Henry: Most people coming into Linux now have never had to
deal with an installation from scratch, so almost everything
will be alien to them. Those of us who have 'been there, done
that' can help cut through all the chaff - particularly other
newbies who are having the same problems or just went through
it. I try to stay out of the way as much as possible - unless
they're headed in the wrong direction, overlooking something,
or some vital piece of information is missing from the textbook
and the lessons. Students helping students works best. From a
subscriber base of over four hundred, you're much more likely
to run into someone who has the same hardware, etc.
console: What other projects are you currently involved with?
Henry: The Linux Counter - http://counter.li.org/ - board member
and U.S. country manager (Harald Alvestrand's registry of users,
machines, and users' groups);
http://www.linux.com/lug/ - list owner of the LUG support list
(helping to develop, grow, and expand users' groups so they can
better serve the local members);
founding president of two LUGs with a combined membership of
over 300 Linux users;
best pastry chef in all Linuxdom ;-)
(I guess I shouldn't mention the 'complete world domination'
thing, should I? Most people don't understand that's an artifact
from the early days when whistling though the graveyard kept a
lot of hackers motivated. It's strictly tongue in cheek, but a lot
of DOS/Windows users take it personally. I guess if my computer
crashed several times a day and I had to reinstall a couple of
time every week I wouldn't have much of a sense of humor either.
It's not going to be 'Linux' people knocking down their doors
at 4 AM, confiscating all the computer equipment, software,
books, etc.; it's the other guys who do that. It's not 'Linux'
people want to invade their privacy, monitor and surrepticiously
send reports to the legal department about what software is
installed and whether it's pirated or paid for; it's the other
guys who are trying to do that. Linux is not a bunch of geek,
nerds, and wild-eyed radicals envious of the wealth and success
of the other guys; I guess they missed the news that Linux has
it's own bbbbbbbbbbbbbbillionaires now, and, frankly, Linux
doesn't have the clout to manipulate the Department of Justice,
19 States Attorneys General, Intel, IBM, Sun, Corel, Apple and
a host of others who want to see an end of the abuse of power by
the Evil Empire; Microsoft brought all that hate and discontent
upon themselves long before Linux came along.)
console: Why do you use linux Henry?
Henry: Coming from mainframes and mini-computers, the PC was
little more than an expensive toy until Linux came along. My
work involves text only, so I never was taken in by the gee-whiz
graphics and eye-candy that has seduced so many people into
thinking they're computer literate just because they can push
a mouse around the screen and click icons ;-) A four year old
can do that! What I like about Linux is I have all the power
of a Unix workstation, all the development tools, and most
importantly the source code - and every bit of it is entirely
free. I can change whatever I want and not have the operating
system override my preferences. Although I do have problems with
Netscape crashing occasionally, it has almost always been confined
to the application; it's extremely rare that the GUI crashes,
and in almost 5 years I have never had the operating system crash
other than a couple of power failures during thunderstorms. And
as a bonus, I don't worry about viruses, either. Best of all,
there are some marvelous programs already online or currently
under the development. Linus has announced a 'feature' freeze for
the next kernel and the code freeze will come in another month
or so, which means kernel 2.4 should be available around the
end of the year; after that, we can look forward to journaling
in the kernel after that - sometime in 2000.
Life is good! Linux is fun! I wish more people could enjoy both
as much as I do.
console: Before we draw this interview to an end, let me ask
you this, If you had it all over to do again would you?
Henry: Absolutely! Without any doubt! If I could change anything
it would be to have started with Linux a couple of years sooner.
--
+ quote of the month
Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.
- M Kathleen Casey
--
+ grok
If you want to be able to use a floppy disk in the DOS way
(ie no mounting and unmounting), the mtools package is for you.
All of the important commands are available, prefixed with an
m like:
mcopy, mcd, mdir, mmd, mdel, mdeltree.
cat /dev/vcsN >file.out to screen dump the Nth console.
There is a very fast method of killing a respawning process in your
/etc/inittab configuration file -- by switching the run levels.
For example, if you have a line as follows,
1:1235:respawn:/usr/sbin/mgetty /dev/ttyS1
switching the run level to 4 will stop the respawning process
while restarting the respawning again upon a switch to other
levels (1, 2, 3 or 5). example: as root type, init 4
--
+ jargon
angry fruit salad: n. A bad visual-interface design that uses
too many colors. (This term derives, of course, from the bizarre
day-glo colors found in canned fruit salad.) Too often one sees
similar effects from interface designers using color window systems
such as {X}; there is a tendency to create displays that are flashy
and attention-getting but uncomfortable for long-term use.
--
+ new! hobbes' internet timeline
1957
USSR launches Sputnik, first artificial earth satellite. In
response, US forms the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)
within the Department of Defense (DoD) to establish US lead in
science and technology applicable to the military.
--
+ article
The History of Linux - Jeanette Russo <jrusso2@suba.com>
Who could have ever believed from such humble and simple
beginnings such a huge phenomena could have started. Today Linux
is eight years old. The initial public release of Linux version
0.01 occurred on September 17th 1991. Of course this version
really contained only the barest elements of the kernel and you
had to have a computer with Minix to even run it.
Today when I checked the Linux Counter there are 115,559 users
registered, 61,616 machines registered, and there are estimated
to be eleven million Linux users' world wide.
But where did it all begin? We will soon know.
I doubt even the father of Linux Linus Torvalds, could have ever
dreamed he would be a world wide celebrity when at age 10 or 11
his grandfather brought home a Commodore VIC-20. Since there
were not many programs available for this early home computer
young Linus took it upon himself to create some games using the
free BASIC program. He soon moved up to machine code.
When it came time to go to the University Linus chose
the University of Helsinki in his native land of Finland.
Linux was really born out of the disappointment Linus had with
his first PC a 386. It ran MS DOS but at school young Linus was
using Minix. Minix was a teaching operating system created by
Operating Systems theorist Prof. Andrew Tanenbaum to teach UNIX
to University Students.
Linus really liked UNIX, but could only run Minix on his PC. It
seems Minix was too limiting for the young programmer. So Linus
thought gee I am a hot shot programmer why can't I just write
my own version of Minix with all the UNIX features I want.
Now I have since read in interviews with Linus, that if he
really knew what was involved he would have never started on
this project. But being young blinded him to the realities and
hard work of the undertaking before himself.
On October 5, 1991, the first official version of Linux version
0.02 was announced. These first discussions about Linux were in
the USENET group comp.os.minix.
"Do you pine for the nice days of Minix-1.1 when men were men
and wrote their own device drivers? Are you without a nice
project and just dying to cut your teeth on an OS you can try
to modify to your needs? Are you finding it frustrating when
everything just works on Minix? No more all nighters to get a
nifty program working?
Then this post may be for you." "As mentioned a month ago,
I'm working on a free version of a Minix-lookalike for AT-386
computers. It has finally reached the stage where it's even
usable (although may not be depending on what you want), and
I am willing to put out the sources for wider distribution.
It is just version 0.02..but I've successfully run bash, gcc,
gnu-make,gnu-sed,compress, etc under it."
Ever more people began working through USENET and the Internet
joined Linus to work on this new project. Truly Linux could
not be where it is today without the Internet and a huge number
of programmers and contributors. The Internet and its quick
feedback allowed Linux development to accelerate rapidly.
Linux is Open Source,this means the source code is freely
available and can be modified by any programmer who so desires.
In a brilliant move Linus licensed Linux under the General Public
License created by the Free Software Foundation. This means Linux
is Free. This is freedom as in "freedom of speech not beer."
The GPL allows you to sell Linux, and even make money on it
as so many companies are doing right now. However, you cannot
restrict the rights of others to do the same. Meaning you can
modify Linux however you want, but you cannot make it your own
proprietary Operating system and sell it. This is because any
software derived from Linux is covered under the GPL as well.
Linux was designed not to be a cut rate version of UNIX but
source compatible with UNIX, so UNIX programs can compile and run
programs on Linux. Even so Linux uses no proprietary UNIX code.
Linux could not be where it is today without the help of the
GNU project at the Free Software Foundation. You see most of the
software in Linux distributions was not created by Linus Torvalds.
In fact Linus only created and maintains the kernel or the guts of
Linux. Most of the rest of the software comes from other places.
The Free Software Foundation and its creator Richard Stallman
are responsible for the GNU programs that make up a good portion
of Linux. You see Richard Stallman also wanted to create a free
version of UNIX. While the FSF never finished their version
of UNIX, they did create many of the programs that meshed with
the kernel and make up the bulk of a Linux distribution. These
programs include the GNU tools such as the GCC compiler. Many
other parts of Linux come from the Berkeley UNIX distribution.
These include the Networking daemons and utilities. The X
Window System came from MIT and is the standard GUI for UNIX
systems. Today Linux is being run on everything from Intel PC's to
Super Computers and everything in between. Linux is the fastest
growing Operating system and it's predicted it will surpass
Microsoft's NT next year in number of server installations.
Today the kernel is at version 2.2.12 for stable and 2.3.18 is
the current development kernel. Big companies such as Netscape,
Corel, IBM, Oracle and Sun Microsystems are creating software
for Linux. Silicon Graphic's is using Linux on some of their
workstations and Dell and IBM are selling computers with Linux
factory installed. Who could have ever dreamed that a young
Finnish Graduate student could have started all this furor?
RedHat stock after its IPO of $14 a share is now well over $100
a share and of course I have no money to buy some stock.
Now on to World Domination!
--
+ correction?
Last issue console stated that a "Red Hat Certified" laptop
from IBM contained a "win-modem" apparently that was wrong,
the modem in question however still doesn't work under
linux. http://www.lwn.net/1999/0923
Sorry Red Hat & Big Blue you still got it coming, "hmm.."
--
+ new! funnies
_______
(_)___oo) Ned the log ----------- . Particle man ------------------
_______ | \/
(_)___o-) hide-n-seek Ned | . [] particle man watching tv
-------------------------------------------------------------------
--
+ wrap up
Coming next issue:
We'll chat with Tom Oehser creator of - Tom's Root Boot Disk.
Navigating directories within the shell, a great submittial
from a fellow console reader
Plenty of groking, Interesting links & more shenanigans from
Ned the log & Particle man.
I'd like to give a personal thanks to Jeanette Russo.
Check out Jeanette's web site its great for newbies!
http://stormloader.com/jrusso2/index.html
Have some thoughts on linux? This is your vehicle.
later on,
digs
--
+ subscriptions & submittals
To subscribe send an email to: console-subscribe@onelist.com
To unsubscribe send an email to: console-unsubscribe@onelist.com
To submit an article visit this link:
http://console-newsletter.hypermart.net/submit.htm
Past issues can be found at:
http://console-newsletter.hypermart.net/past.htm
--
+ about
This issue of console was brought to you by:
digs <mjs@nts-online.net> - chief writer & layout
Jeanette Russo <jrusso2@suba.com> - contributor
Hobbes' Internet Timeline (c)1993-9 by Robert H Zakon.
http://www.isoc.org/zakon/Internet/History/HIT.html
Console (c)1999 Michael S Sanders, All Rights Reserved.
--
eof