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issue 6 http://console-newsletter.hypermart.net
__ __ _ _ __ __ )) __ console: tips,tricks & news about Linux
((_ ((_)((\( _))((_)(( (('________________________________________
[2/2000] "a good read.."
+ headlines
China backs Linux
HONG KONG (IDG) -- It is now government policy in China to use
the Linux operating system across all government ministries,
according to Jon "Maddog" Hall, the executive director of Linux
International, a non-profit group that distributes information
about the open-source operating system.
http://cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/01/14/china.linux.idg/index.html
--
+ hmm..
Jan. 14 Just how easy is it to steal credit card numbers on
the Internet? On Thursday, MSNBC was able to view nearly 2,500
credit card numbers stored by seven small e-commerce Web sites
within a few minutes, using elementary instructions provided
by a source. In all cases, a list of customers and all their
personal information was connected to the Internet and either
was not password-protected or the password was viewable directly
from the Web site.
http://www.msnbc.com/msn/357305.asp
--
+ humorix
'Mush' Version 0.1 Released
Yet another command line shell has been created. Mush, the
Microsoft User SHell, simulates the DOS and Windows environment
in Linux. Its developers are a group of ex-Windows users. "We
want to provide a CLI hat eases the transition from DOS/Windows
to Linux," the project head said.
Former DOS users will be right at home with Mush's familiar
C:\> prompt. DOS commands work, including COPY, FORMAT, DEL,
and UPGRADE. Some caveats to the Mush shell, however, include
the 8.3 filename limitation, limited text editing capabilities,
numerous security holes for viruses to exploit, and meaningless
error messages such as "Keyboard not found. Press F1 to continue."
http://i-want-a-website.com/about-linux/jul98.shtml#Mush
--
+ distro watch
Coyote Linux - single-floppy distribution for sharing an Internet
connection:
http://www.vortech.net/coyote/
Empire Linux - A simple Linux mini-distribution.
http://home.c2i.net/buddha9/empire/
--
+ new apps
CDject - a program to eject and close the CDROM tray:
http://pimpsmurf.linuxbox.com
xmnt - simple graphical way of mounting & umounting your CDROM
& floppy
http://console-newsletter.hypermart.net/xmnt/
nano (Nano's ANOther editor) - GPL'D pico clone:
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/astyanax/nano/
--
+ review
linux on a floppy disc:-
a view from a Newbie of three different mini-Distros.
Tim Moore <tim.moore@bracknell.ac.uk>
Introduction
This is a personal view and if it gives rise to debate & comment,
then good! I'm a newbie to Linux & Unix but have been messing
with computers for too many years.... I remember when 'Drums'
were in use and real 'core' which didn't forget when you
powered down. Octal was easier than hex to key in on switches
etc. etc.. but sadly that doesn't give me infinite knowledge,
merely the chance to forget lots of stuff I ought to know.
Linux works and is also vast so I try and proceed on a need to
know basis and when I get stuck find a Guru (or a community
of Guru's) who are patient enough to guide me through my
difficulties.
It all seems too good to be true. Every aspect of linux is
controlled by a 'script' which can be found and then edited using
'Vi' or one of a million alternative editors. The problem is
to find out where the script is and what its called. That is a
voyage of discovery which, for me, looks to last for years!
The chance to start with some minimal Linux distributions and
check them out in detail looked (& still looks) good to me.
I still have larger PC's for running applications like Star
Office5.1 and accessing a network, but being able to run Linux
on a small Laptop IBM Thinkpad 360Cs with 8Mb of Ram allows me
to fill odd moments with tinkering and exploring.
There are lots of mini distributions and I'm sure that a good
number are equally excellent to the one's I've found, so lets
get some emails flying around about the ones I've missed!
Tom's Linux
Very easy to download and get working on a single floppy disc.
It wakes up with lots of 'man' documentation Vi and emacs.
Its targeted to act as a recovery tool and works really well as
Linux using ram discs occupying about 3.5Mb of Ram.
I find it a great way to explore all the commands that I ought
to get to know and get up to minimal speed using Vi & Emacs.
For other Thinkpad users to get Linux to know about your floppy
drive its necessary to type in a boot prompt:-
zImage floppy=thinkpad.
I owe this vital bit of information to the book 'Running Linux'
3rd Edition by Matt Welsh.
The big plus is that any old PC can be used for this as it
doesn't attack the Hard Disc in anyway unless you want to!
(Keep away from fdisk!)
Support seems to OK as Tom's is still alive & well! But I've
not needed it yet.
muLinux.
This is the BIG one. Its very alive and has loads of significant
extensions. It can run off a single floppy and also totally in
ram including its extras, but can also be placed on a Hard Disc
in a MS formatted directory e.g. the Hard Disc does not need
to be repartitioned etc. Etc.. Everything does fit in about
23 Mbytes of Hard Disc and 16 Mb of Ram. I suspect that the
later experimental Version 7.x.x releases do not run cleanly
in 8Mb of ram when the extensions are added or cloned onto a
hard disc. V7.6 has just arrived complete with a 'stable' tag.
As yet unproven by me.
I may return to the last stable version of V6.4 for my laptop
usage and anticipate all the current difficulties to go.
I've spent many hours trying to get V7.x.x releases to work
but I think the 8Mb of Ram just isn't enough to service the
extra goodies. I finally managed it but its not at all healthy!
On my deskbased PC, I've got everything working fine, but its
got 24 Mb of Ram & 100 Mb of free hard disc space.
The goodies include Gcc (cut down version), X Windows and Tcl
(just added). X -Windows and loads of significant networking
and server stuff. I get the very strong feeling that for a
minimum system this is a major achievement. And that its just
going to get better and better. One of the major 'pains ' of
large distributions is that they sometimes offer vast amounts of
'extra ' software and as a Newbie I've got only a flimsy idea of
what to keep and how to partition my hard disc to take account of
all of this. I've even bought a 8.4Gb hard Drive to accommodate
everything and run out of space. My suggestion is that distros
should take all the non functioning demos, games and other junk
and keep it to a separate CD that is not offered during the
installation with a few clear comments on how much hard disc
resource is needed for what installation options. (That is aimed
at SuSE 6.0 CD set as a good example of CD bloat)
Support for muLinux is weird. It's Italian in origin and the
author does reply to email but there is a slight communication
language barrier. He is doing such good work writing the code its
a shame to disturb him. There ought to be an active usergroup but
I've not found it yet. I really believe that there is a massive
support 'hole' here and I hope someone will either update me
on where it is or consider how to put forward on going 'newbie'
support. Having said that, I think the active developers and
knowledgeable users email each other and work well together but
an 'exclusive' club might mean excellent software but the many
challenges a newbie faces are not well served yet. The UK
site has given me many very major items of help information
(Dave Houghton, thank you!) but the immediate timescale of a
response within a few hours 'lists' often achieve, has in the past
been missing. I don't think its fair to just support a distro
by email, a self-help community is far better. I've floated one
on onelist but its yet to become 'active'. A lot of the support
needs have come from the release of extra goodies in the 'yet
to stabilize' Version 7.x.x and IBM Thinkpad 360Cs with 8mb of
Ram limitations which are of no interest to anyone but me.
FREESCO- A router serving up to 3 ethernet cards and 2 modems.
Ref:- www.linuxsupportline.com/~router
I've not tried this out but have received 'rave' email reviews of
it in action. It seems that for a small network need this single
floppy nails the problem to the floor! Great. It took some ten
minutes to get up and running! The manual seems to be pretty
well together. If you have the need well worth investigating.
Any comments to : tim.moore@bracknell.ac.uk
--
+ quote of the month
A reasonable amount of fleas is good for a dog -- keeps him from
brooding over being a dog, maybe.
-Edward Noyes Westcott
--
+ grok
Create several directories with a single command:
mkdir /tmp/{a,b,c}
would produce, /tmp/a, /tmp/b, /tmp/c
Modem seem slow?
As root, setserial -a /dev/modem to see your modem settings,
if the speed is "normal" change it to very high by,
"setserial /dev/modem spd_vhi"
--
+ jargon
:airplane rule: n. "Complexity increases the possibility of
failure; a twin-engine airplane has twice as many engine problems
as a single-engine airplane." By analogy, in both software and
electronics, the rule that simplicity increases robustness. It
is correspondingly argued that the right way to build reliable
systems is to put all your eggs in one basket, after making sure
that you've built a really _good_ basket.
--
+ hobbes' internet timeline
1969
ARPANET commissioned by DoD for research into networking
First packets sent by Charley Kline at UCLA as he tried logging
into SRI. The first attempt resulted in the system crashing as
the letter G of LOGIN was entered.
--
+ codecraft
Viewing A File That Keeps Growing
Some files, such as program log files, keep growing while
the program is still running. You'd like to watch what is
being written to the file as it's being written, but you're
sick of typing
$ cat MyProgram.log
every minute or two.
The tail command shows you the last 10 lines of a file (you
can make that more or less - see the man page).
$ tail MyProgram.log
This saves you watching the whole file scroll past when
you're only interested in the last few lines.
Tail can also be used to 'follow' a file as it's being
written. In this mode the last 10 lines are printed on the
screen, and then extra lines are printed as they're written
to the file.
$ tail -f MyProgram.log
This is great for following the execution of your program if
it takes a long time to run. The tail command will keep
printing output on the screen until you press Ctrl-c.
A friendly tip provided by:
Codecraft http://www.cyberelectric.net.au/~collins/index.htm
--
+ review
TurboLinux Workstation v4.0 - digs <mjs@nts-online.net>
With the coming of the new new year I'd decided it was high
time to clear of all the cumulative crud from my hardirve
and start afresh. After backing up what I wanted to save, it was
time to install a new linux distro. We'd received a press copy
of Turbolinux Workstation a few weeks before and now was the time
to jump in with both feet.
My boxen -
The computer I most use is a Cyrix pentium clone 200mhz, with a 2.1
gig hardrive and one stick of ram(32 meg). For this installation I
choose to install on bare metal. IMHO, so many problems newbies
face with Linux start with partitioning, master boot records and
such, that I thought I'd take a different approach. Microsoft
Windows it's self cant (wont?) deal with the existence of other
OS's (overwriting the master boot record, etc..)
Here we go -
Like my children at Christmas time I clutch the boxed copy
of Turbo workstation with excitement of just what's inside.
Let's see here, the penguin on the box is NOT the warm and
fuzzy mascot I'm use to but rather, a sleek wide-eyed creature
most striking is the yellow on black look. I'm informed by a
sticker on the front that reads: "includes, 60 days of tech
support, System Commander Deluxe (a partitioning program) and
Word Perfect v8 and a rebate offer. Flipping the box over I
view the system requirements, x86 and clones, 16mb ram, etc..
Well, let get this show on the road.
I open up the box and out plops a paper-bound user guide 300
pages in length. The guide is very well written, a plus for
anyone new to Linux. The book even has several "what if"
scenarios, cool. Next I spy 3 floppies, a bootdisk, another for
extra hardware and lastly system commander, since I'm installing
fresh here wont need that but, I'm impressed I have the option.
On to the cdrom[s] three here also, install, sources and companion
cd's. Since my box supports booting from cdrom I'll take that
option (after configuring the bios to boot from the cd-rom first).
Installing -
After inserting the the first cdrom and rebooting I'm presented
with a screen asking me if I want to autoprobe my hardware, I'm
suspicious of this but allow it and am glad I did, it went hitch
free. Now the install asks if want to manually or automagically
partition for a swapdisk and main linux partition. I feel cocky
so I choose automatic, this process was somewhat clumsy but
again went without any problems. Now install wants to know if I'd
prefer a lan setup or dialup since I have a netcard I choose lan.
Once again, a menu helps me along asking me card type (ne2000)
which was detected correctly and my network address after entering
my address Turbo correctly fills out the remaining lines by its
self, base address. DNS, etc. I could get use to this :) Time now
to install the packages, Turbo uses RPM format which will take
care of any needed dependencies. This next point has got to be
where this distro shines, there are a plethora of installation
models, a base system weighing in at only 96meg, up to a full
blown install whose price is 813meg in space. But wait there's
more ;) once you choose a model to install from that too can be
further manipulated with yet more options like unattended install,
this is an administrators dream come true. I'll take a common
install, a panel with a gauge pop's up and begins installing the
various packages, time for me grab a can of soda and let Turbo
do it's job.
Ok, back with refreshment in hand, all apps are installed and
the screen waits silently for me to choose a kernel I can have:
A regular kernel, a kernel w/ APM (advanced power management)
or a kernel w/ SMP (symmetric muli-prosessor) I decide upon the
APM kernel. Next lilo wants to know which hardrive to boot, since
I only have one drive I tap enter. Yet more options, do I wish
to sync my clock with a server on boot? sure, I give my host's
number. Do I wish to detect any PnP (plug and play) devices, an
evil grin cross my face for this box has a PnP modem. I say yes
and its detected properly! Finally I'm asked for a root password
and asked to create a default user and give her a password.
First boot -
I reboot and the ever present kernel and sysinit messages
scroll past nothing looks out of the ordinary and thats good.
I log in and from the user guide I've found several tools to get
me up and running: turbopkg for installing RPM'S, turboxcfg for
installing X11, turbonetcfg for networking, and the amazing
turbohw for detecting hardware. After playing with these I'm
ready to run X11. Notable in its absence is kde and gnome.
Afterstep is the desktop Turbo defaults to. The desktop is
workable but somewhat on the clunky side. I exit and logout,
all is well.
My conclusions -
Turbo Linux Workstation has a VERY flexible install procedure,
one can choose from among several ways of getting Linux installed
on their box. One thing I found very handy was the inclusion of
the openlook window-manager suite (several apps with a common
look and feel, great for older boxen - think pre kde.)
Honestly, this isn't for newbies however, the average linux user
with a modest amount of experience sure wont have any trouble
atall. And in fact the options presented for installing and
setup are nothing short of impressive. But all the options might
well confuse an inexperienced person, but for the administrator
stringing several clients together you just might want to have
a look.
--
+ article
scripting with xmessage - digs <mjs@nts-online.net>
Sometimes in the headlong rush to find new apps their are
utilities lurking on our hardrives that may never see the light
of day, the standard linux distribution has so many tools I'd
be hard pressed to get close to using them all. If you use the
x windowing system from MIT there is one such jewel, xmessage a
small seemingly non-incendental application that does nothing
spectacular when executed because like most its depends on
a few "switches" to be of some use. What does xmessage do?
The quick answer, it returns the value of a string. Don't let
that definition fool you this little pup has a few tricks up
its sleeves as were about to see.
At its most basic xmessage will echo a string with an ok button:
from an xterm type: xmessage "hello world"
Another example telling xmessage to use stdin:
df -h | xmessage -file -
(note the switches here "-file" means file, while the second
switch "-" means read from standard input the piped output of
the df command)
Let's take it further still, in your editor type:
#!/bin/sh
xmessage -center -buttons exit:1,xemacs:2,pine:3 "handy"
ANS=$?
if [ $ANS -eq 1 ]; then
exit
fi
if [ $ANS -eq 2 ]; then
xemacs
fi
if [ $ANS -eq 3 ]; then
rxvt -fn 9x15 -title "mail" -e pine -i
fi
now save the file in your home directory (I'll call this button.sh)
while still in a xterm set the executable bit by issuing the
command:
chmod +x ./button.sh
now run the file, neat huh?
I've included a more complex example to chew on, this script
produces a toolbar, have fun.
# toolbar.sh
# note the "while" construct and the use of "&", this prevents
# our toolbar from exiting after a button is selected.
while : ; do
xmessage -geometry +92+156 -center -fn 8x13 -name "toolbar" \
-title "toolbar" \
-buttons exit:1,mail:2,netscape:3,connect:4,disconnect:5 \
"$USER@$HOSTNAME"
ANS=$?
if [ $ANS -eq 1 ]; then
exit
fi
if [ $ANS -eq 2 ]; then
rxvt -fn 9x15 -cr green -bg black -fg white -title \
"mutt" -e mutt -y &
fi
if [ $ANS -eq 3 ]; then
netscape &
fi
if [ $ANS -eq 4 ]; then
/path/to/your/dial-up/script &
fi
if [ $ANS -eq 5 ]; then
/path/to/your/disconnect/script &
fi
done
--
+ funnies
_______
(_)___oo) Ned the log ----------- . Particle man ------------------
* . . |
+ * : |