[luau] Linux Sux?

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Last week I had a chance to chat with a couple of my attorney friends 
who were kind enough to try Linux. Their comments were unanimous: No one 
likes Linux. I asked their reasons; their major complaints include:


  1.

 OpenOffice.org is too slow, way too slow;

  2.

 Linux file manager sucks;

  3.

 Powering off the machine is a big pain, no one could remember the
 “shutdown [EMAIL PROTECTED] command;

Etc., etc.

On the surface, this may sound really discouraging, but, in reality, I 
am beginning to see light at the end of the Linux desktop tunnel. Their 
biggest problem was, they were using older versions of Linux that—now I 
have to admit--were not ready for desktops (Red Hat 8 and Mandrake 8.2). 
Who could tolerate a wordprocessor that takes, on some machines, more 
than a couple of minutes to load (OpenOffice 1.0.x and StarOffice 6.x)? 
Fedora Core Test 3 (Red Hat 10 beta 3) still has some glitches but it 
now includes OpenOffice 1.1, which loads (on my AthlonXP 2000 machine) 
in less than 10 seconds. Lack of a competent office suite is THE largest 
stumbling block preventing anyone to consider Linux desktops. OO.o 1.1 
has just opened the Linux desktops gate and now everyone can begin to be 
admitted.


On the file manager and other stuff, the key lesson I have learned is 
that, never EVER give someone, no matter how computer literate s/he may 
claim to be, a LinuxDistro ISO (or a set of LinuxDistro ISOs) and leave 
that person alone. Giving someone a Linux CD is the best way to lose 
friends and trash your credibility. I am sure things will change after a 
couple more iterations, but have you ever handed someone a Windows CD 
and expect everything will just fit into the right place?


I will touch the subject of Linux desktop customization (e. g., the 
“poweroff” icon that I mentioned in a previous post, plus customizations 
in Konqueror, etc.) later. But the future of Linux desktops should be 
very bright. wayne

Re: [luau] [Fwd: Athlon Comptuer] / Hard Drive

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Scott-

Thank you for forwarding me those interesting discussions.

I am sure everyone has a lot of things to worry about than to be engaged 
in mud wrestling.  Can we all respect privacy?  What about ALOHA? 
(Oddly, my tirade towards RoadRunner's dhcp was about privacy, but no 
one seems to be able to catch that.)  Arguments are very healthy to 
reinvigorate a public forum, but are unfair to those (such as myself in 
this case) who have no way of knowing that his/her name is being toasted 
around.  I don't know how I got involved in this, but:


Warren: I thought all the personal info about LUAU should be kept 
confidential, including who's joining and who's leaving? I don't know 
whether Scott has forwarded you my reply to his kind message, but I DO 
have urgent matters to take care of--I just came back from the federal 
district court on Ala Moana--and will not be able to continue doing what 
I thought would be beneficial to our community.


(Re the Athlon/PII combo, I respect George as one of the most 
enthusiastic Linux aficionados I have ever known, from whom I have also 
learned a lot about Linux desktops.  George is currently frustrated 
because his wife does not allow him to buy a new PC.  And if you do not 
have plans of using it, I would like George to have it.  Otherwise, I 
have another machine which will retire soon and he will have it.)


Georgy, my good ol' buddy:  I don't know how you manage to provoke 
Warren the way he was able to completely lose his usual cool.  I have 
noticed that you do have a very special talent of making recipient of 
your communication become totally insane.  But remember LUAU is 
primarily a forum for kids to learn and practice their skills, both 
techically as well as professionally.  I wish I could do more for them. 
You should do the same.



I hate to interrupt your lively discussions but I don't like to see my 
name being toasted behind my back.  Regarding RoadRunner, I have nothing 
but deep appreciations.  I have often mentioned to my friends that in 
Hawaii, we have the weather and we have Roadrunner.  As I probably 
mentioned here before, I have heard tons of horrible stories about their 
cable modem services on the mainland, but not with mine.  The fact that 
so many LUAU members, both on- and off-line, came to their defense is a 
testimonial to their excellent services.  But, again, the issue is not 
about technical matters--RoadRunnder definitely does its job nad has 
complied with the industry standards.  My issue is about transparency. 
With Windows, I would never had noticed the fixed hostname issue. 
Whether it is good or not (as Eric pointed out, a fixed IP would have 
cost more), is not the point.  With a more transparent system like 
Linux, at least I have an opportunity to discover that something that 
has been accepted as the industrial standard may not be what I thought 
it should be.  I am sure you guys/gals are all Linux/xNIX advocates, and 
I just don't see how all of you can miss this point.


Since I open this issue again, it is probably unfair for me to say that, 
for those who agree or disagree with me, please let this dhcp issue die. 
I agree with everything you guys said (Vince, Dustin, Eric, Warren, 
Ray, and others). Let the elder (i.e., me) take a final parting shot., 
OK? If you are interested in the transparency issue, read the Dec 18 
issue of Nihon Keizai Shinbum.  It was exactly because of this 
transparency issue, or more specifically, the lack thereof with Windows, 
Japan's LDP (the one which that actually makes policy decisions) has 
decided to use Linux (at least along with Windows) in renewing their 
national information system, which is expected to complete in 2007 and 
is budgeted at 2 trillion Yen.  Fujitsu, the No. 1 computer company in 
Japan, plans to beef up its Linux staff to 10,000 in year 2003, and 
increase its Linux R&D staff tenfold to 1000.  The No. 2 NEC also has a 
similar plan.


But everyone in our state gov is still clueless.  (Warren, does that 
explain to you why I am so agitated?)




R. Scott Belford wrote:


On Friday 27 December 2002 07:57 am, Joe Linux wrote:
 


 I got this email from Wayne Liauh,  he now wants to give the computer
that he gave to you and your group to me.  While you are at it, please
return the disk drive that I donated to Mid-Pac High school to be used
for open source.   I will make arrangements to donate it to a more
deserving organization which does not have a leader who constantly
insults persons who contribute financially to the cause of Linux and
open source.  We will inform Mid-Pac of the reasons why we are asking
for its return.

 Original Message 
Subject: Athlon Comptuer
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 2002 15:42:38 -1000
From: "W. Wayne Liauh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Joe Linux <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
References: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>



Just realized that I don't have Warren Tog

[luau] GNOME Screensavers in KDE 3.1

[W. Wayne Liauh]

With KDE 3.1 (at least the version of KDE 3.1 that's included in Red Hat 
8.1 beta), the GNOME backgrounds and screensavers have been 
incorporated.  Some of the new screensavers are really cool (I 
particularly like the "flame").

Re: [luau] dhcp-146-41

[W. Wayne Liauh]

It appears that I never had this problem because I either was running 
Windows or  always had an external firewall.


In this regard, I think Red Hat is actually doing us a big favor.  An 
external firewall is a must if you use a broadband connection.  With 
Windows, you probably will never receive the warning until it is too late.


However, this also illustrates the potential peril of trying to enlist 
your friends in the fight against Microsoft monopoly.  I don't think 
anyone would like this message when logging out from Red Hat: "Your 
computer is being controlled by a server . . ."




Joe Linux wrote:

I have Earthlink Cable which still comes on Oceanic lines and the host 
name changes all the time.  It just so happens that Mandrake doesn't 
care, but Redhat does.  I know the members of Denver Linux Club (CLUE) 
were discussing the issue at some length during an install fest. 
Everyone seems to know it is a problem except the people who created 
RedHat.


 Respectfully yours,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] root]#

Re: [luau] dhcp-146-41

[W. Wayne Liauh]

I thought about posting a comment asking if anyone in this forum has 
ever used RedHat 8.0 on a machine with RoadRunner without an external 
firewall, but decided against it, as doing this would have been too 
tasteless, even to someone as gross as I.


I had a dhcp server installed at home a few years ago.  It had been 
working continuously for over one year and half until I decided to 
change the kernel.  This is a great testimonial to the stability of 
Linux.  Although this was based on a beta version of dhcp, I believe the 
architecture still stays pretty much the same.


One of the key features of dhcp, as far as I was concerned, is that the 
ip address is temporary which will expire upon disconnection or be 
renewed after a pre-set period of time (with a new ip), depending on the 
server configuration.


I believe many cable modem users will not be thrilled when they realize 
that their computers, instead of having a changing ip, are actually 
assigned a permanent hostname.  Of course, our local dhcp experts are 
telling me that having a permanent hostname don't make no difference, 
and are implicitly accusing me of spreading FUD. You make your own call.




Kevin Goad wrote:


-Original Message-
It's not only Redhat that changes the Hostname. I used to have that
problem when I first installed Mandrake 8.0 until I manually entered my
own hostname.  To even the score I recall playing around with snort one
time and sniffing packets from my XP box when I came across a name
something like this, mycomputername(somenumbers).hawaii.rr.com.  It
concerned me for a while that my computers name was exposed to the
outside, that Roadrunner knew it and used it to identify me, but then I
figured with two firewalls I shouldn't worry too much.

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Re: [luau] dhcp-146-41

[W. Wayne Liauh]

You seem to have totally ignored the fact that it is my right that is 
being breached, my computer that is being invaded.  


Of course, I have to 'warn" you that I am now speaking as a politician.


Dustin Cross wrote:


Wayne,

Road Runner has always assigned hostnames to all of their DHCP clients and
so does every other ISP that uses DHCP that I know of.  This is standard
practice and is how they track the systems on their network.  You can
override this functionality, but it sounds like your problem is with a
Redhat configuration.  The hostname of your system should have no effect on
its operation.  The name localhost is ment to be assigned to 127.0.0.1 and
not your external IP address.  When your system communicates with localhost
it is talking to 127.0.0.1 and not the IP address Road Runner assigned,
unless you have changed something or Redhat's default config is wrong.  You
are making a big deal out of nothing.


Dusty
 

Re: [luau] dhcp-146-41

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Again, most discussions seem to have missed my point that this is not a 
technical issue, but something of a much broader significance.



[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

I may have missed something in context here but I do not believe this is 
some conspiracy.


Setting a hostname is something normal in DHCP operation.  It is a 
configuration option on a DHCP server and overrideable option on a DHCP 
client.


This option is useful if you need it but can be equally a pain if you 
don't.  That is why it can be overriden on the client end.


Here is a typicial config entry in a DHCP server and one I use on my 
local network:


host printsrv {
   option host-name "printsrv.sux2beu.ml.org";
   hardware ethernet 00:A0:C9:95:53:DD;
   fixed-address 192.168.0.20;
   }

In fact I use this configuration for a majority of workstations on my 
local network (not the servers) as I think its easier to set the hostname 
on windows machines that way without having to rely or hope that the netbios name 
is set the same which can cause many problems.  
This works great and helps maintain your hostnames and DNS records in 
sync across your network like Whatever stated.


You CAN override or basically 'ignore' this DHCP server sent 
parameter on the client end with the -h and -R.


There are more DHCP server options that can be sent down the wire to the 
client.  Anyone interested read the dhcpd and dhcpcd man pages or 
search Google for "dhcpd.conf" and "options" search goolge or even the 
dhcpd man page 


On Mon, 23 Dec 2002, W. Wayne Liauh wrote:

 

Changing our own config is no problem.  But the main issue is, should we 
allow a public utility type dhcp to change our hostname?


   

Re: [luau] dhcp-146-41

[W. Wayne Liauh]

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

Setting a hostname is something normal in DHCP operation.  It is a 
configuration option on a DHCP server and overrideable option on a DHCP 
client.
 

I agree.  There is nothing wrong with dhcp having this capability, but 
we have a very serious privacy breach when an  (at least) pseudo public 
utility company like RoadRunner turns it on.

Re: [luau] dhcp-146-41

[W. Wayne Liauh]

I don't think you understand the seriousness of this issue.  As I 
mentioned in my very first post, RoadRunner changed the host name of MY 
computer without my permission.  (As a result, I was unable to load my 
printer driver even as a root.)  The succeess of internet age depends on 
trust, i.e., whether we can trust bandwidth providers.  If you think 
this is OK, then perhaps you should get your brain examined.


Jimen, you have always demonstrated yourself as one of the more 
knowledgeable Linux experts on our island.  I am interested in sending 
out a message.  Nothing personal.



Jimen Ching wrote:


Wayne, I think you need to cool down a bit.  This problem is getting to
you, and it is affecting your interpersonal interactions.
 

Re: [luau] dhcp-146-41

[W. Wayne Liauh]

I don't like you tone.  Taking something out of context (in this case, 
comment within a comment, even though it is my own comment) is a very 
rude and very childish behavior.


Vince Hoang wrote:


Would anyone be willing to share privately or publicly how this is done?

Thanks,
-Vince
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Re: [luau] dhcp-146-41

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Changing our own config is no problem.  But the main issue is, should we 
allow a public utility type dhcp to change our hostname?


whenever wrote:

Since RH 7.2 it changes my hostname, so I alway start dhcpcd with the -h 
option:

dhcpcd -h myhostname eth1
add -R if you don't want it to over write your /etc/resolv.conf (I use my own 
cache DNS)

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Re: [luau] Xandros (Redhat)

[W. Wayne Liauh]

I think Linux has developed to such a stage that a lot of users will 
claim that the one distro that they use is the best since sliced bread. 
On Xandros, if you need those features that I mentioned, then it is the 
best distro (and the time you have to spend to, say, get Samba to work 
the way as Xandros does, will definitely cost much more than the $79 
newly discounted price).  Otherwise, I would much prefer Libranet 2.7 
and Mandrake 9.0.  OTOH, for anyone who is interested in getting 
involved in the business aspect of Linux, I don't think s/he can ignore 
Red Hat.  There are, of course, a lot of problems with Red Hat.  But 
that's how a Linux developer/consultant can expect to pay his/her bills.


Back on Xandros.  I know many of its developers and officers.  However, 
I don't think you can put your head in the sand by doing a close-ended 
beta with only a handful of beta testers, and hope that your problems 
will go away.



Joe Linux wrote:

So are you saying Xandros is a good thing?  Are you recommending that 
we purchase a copy?  Even though RedHat has problems, you prefer it 
over other distributions.  Do you think Xandros is superior to 
Libranet, or Mandrake?  Also I thought Xandros cost $99.00.


W. Wayne Liauh wrote:

Xandros automatically discovers Windows Network domains and 
workgroups, and then manages authentication credentials required to 
access network resources. It also provides support for Windows domain 
users that are logging in when your machine joins the domain, and 
allows its users to access files from a long list of sources, 
including HTTP, SFTP/FTP, telnet/SSH, NFS/SMB/NetBIOS, LDAP, WebDAV, 
audio CDs, digital cameras, and PDA.  I am sure quite a few 
experienced Linux users will be able to tweak Knoqueror to do this, 
but it will cost you a lot more than $79.

Re: [luau] dhcp-146-41

[W. Wayne Liauh]

The following is the comment that I sent to a kind LUAU member who 
responded to my question in private.  I believe the situation is in a 
total mess (and I envy those Windows cable modem users who are being 
totally screwed up without an opportunity to realize it).  More 
specifically, as per George's comment, it appears that Red Hat's dhcp 
client configuration allows the RoadRunner router to alter your hostname 
(which should be a very big no no, in light of the problems that I had 
experienced).  OTOH, it also appears that, for very strange reasons, 
some RoadRunner dhcp servers (e.g., the one connected to my house) do 
not attempt to change the hostname. A public dhcp server is supposed to 
"lease" you a temporary ip address.  No thing more.  Anything beyond 
that and we may have someone committing criminal activities upon us.



"It appears that this particular RR router is doing what it is NOT 
supposed to do (trying to take control of the computer but leaving no 
host address; and believe me, we have reformatted the HD several times.)


"Previously this PC was running Win98 and was "on" all the time (while 
connected to RR).  I suspect whether anyone is trying to take advantage 
of their vulnerability?  Althogh I just don't think how this could be 
possible.  Previously, the Win98 system had deteriorated to a stage that 
it was almost imoperatable (it is a very powerful system, and its owner 
was doing nothing but browsing and emailing)."




Ray Strode wrote:

Not sure why it's causing so many problems, but I can explain a little 
bit about how the process works on

redhat.

First, the computer requests an ip from the dhcp server (called DHCP 
request), then
dhcp server returns the computer's ip address and other network 
information, including the dns server
(called DHCP ACK [ACK is for acknowledgment]).  Some time during this 
process the file
/etc/sysconfig/network gets sourced and certain environment variables 
are set. 
If HOSTNAME is one of the environment variables to get set and it is 
set to something other than

"" or "localhost", then the hostname of the system is set to $HOSTNAME.

If HOSTNAME is not set, or it is set to "" or "localhost"  then the 
computer performs a reverse lookup on the ip
it was just given (by asking the dns server it was just told about). 
Whatever results from this reverse lookup is the
hostname assigned to the system.  If the reverse lookup fails, then 
the hostname is set to localhost.  --Ray



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Re: [luau] Xandros (Redhat)

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Xandros automatically discovers Windows Network domains and workgroups, 
and then manages authentication credentials required to access network 
resources. It also provides support for Windows domain users that are 
logging in when your machine joins the domain, and allows its users to 
access files from a long list of sources, including HTTP, SFTP/FTP, 
telnet/SSH, NFS/SMB/NetBIOS, LDAP, WebDAV, audio CDs, digital cameras, 
and PDA.  I am sure quite a few experienced Linux users will be able to 
tweak Knoqueror to do this, but it will cost you a lot more than $79.



Joe Linux wrote:

Maybe someone in the Club will buy Xandros, and we can see it in 
action. However, it would have to run ICE for me to be happy, but what 
is so amazing about the Xandros file manager?  I use "konqueror" in 
conjunction with ICE and find it just fine.  "mc" is also a very good 
file manager in many respects as it runs in terminal mode, and does a 
lot.


Alvin Murphy wrote:

I found it impossible to configure printers (local or smb) on red 
hat. Mandrake is better at that. On the other hand, RedHat was a 
little better at copying files from a win machine over my home lan. 
But if Xandros is anything like Corel at these tasks, it is the clear 
winner. It does come with some limitations, but I think if you wanted 
other things, they could be loaded. I read that it was even possible 
to make it into a full Debian but still keep the amazing file 
manager. Anyway, we will see.





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[luau] Linux servers growing revenue by 65 percent

[W. Wayne Liauh]

http://www.wpuniverse.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7934


"Gartner's survey of the global server market in the third quarter of 
2002 showed Linux servers growing revenue by 65 percent from 2001.


http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupd...2902165,00.html 



"(In today's depressingly down environment, it's nice to see something 
is moving up. Of course, at the present time Linux is mostly displacing 
Unix, but it has at least stopped the once-thought-inevitable invasion 
of Windows servers. Pretty soon, Linux will move into Windows' 
territory, including, yes, Windows desktops.)"

Re: [luau] help with rm

[W. Wayne Liauh]

change -exec to -ok, then you will be prompted before the comman rm is 
executed.


Ray Strode wrote:




Assuming your Windows/VFAT partition is /dev/hda1, and is mounted
on /mnt/hda1, as root, type:

   cd /mnt/hda1
   find . -type f -name "*.eml" -exec rm -f {} \;

That should remove all the files under a directory that ends with
the .eml extension.
 

Just a warning.  As Vince said, it will delete ALL the files with .eml 
extension, so make sure that's

what you really want to do before you run the command.

--Ray

Re: [luau] dhcp-146-41

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Thanks Warren.  What's bothering me is that I have installed dozens of 
Red Hat 8 with DHCP, and the hostname was always localhost.


Warren Togami wrote:


W. Wayne Liauh wrote:

I was helping one of my partners installing Red Hat 8.0.  This is a 
stand-alone machine with RR cable modem.


I noticed that, instead of the usual "localhost", the computer was 
designated, out of the blue, a name called "dhcp-146-41".  It was 
subsequently concluded that this was the source of all the problems 
(including inability to install printer driver, etc.)


If I unplug the cable modem and re-install Red Hat, then everything 
would initially appear normal (i.e., it will be given the "localhost" 
name).  However, as soon as I turn the cable modem back on, the host 
name would immediately change to "dhcp-146-41".  And during booting 
or re-booting, the system would try to load sendmail and samba 
server, both of which were never installed.  There are also other 
problems, including the messages of "cannot find server address 
dhcp-146-41" and "this system is controlled by another computer), 
etc.  If I do the installation with cable modem on, it would 
automatically install sendmail and samba, even though I only checked 
on the "personal" packages.


Anyone cares to take a crack?  I have an identical system at home 
which never had any problem.


That's the default behavior of DHCP in Red Hat 8.0.  It is probably 
best to override that with a set hostname when you use DHCP.  However, 
I wasn't aware that changing hostnames like that would cause so many 
problems for those services.  I need to take a closer look at this on 
my system.



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[luau] dhcp-146-41

[W. Wayne Liauh]

I was helping one of my partners installing Red Hat 8.0.  This is a 
stand-alone machine with RR cable modem.


I noticed that, instead of the usual "localhost", the computer was 
designated, out of the blue, a name called "dhcp-146-41".  It was 
subsequently concluded that this was the source of all the problems 
(including inability to install printer driver, etc.)


If I unplug the cable modem and re-install Red Hat, then everything 
would initially appear normal (i.e., it will be given the "localhost" 
name).  However, as soon as I turn the cable modem back on, the host 
name would immediately change to "dhcp-146-41".  And during booting or 
re-booting, the system would try to load sendmail and samba server, both 
of which were never installed.  There are also other problems, including 
the messages of "cannot find server address dhcp-146-41" and "this 
system is controlled by another computer), etc.  If I do the 
installation with cable modem on, it would automatically install 
sendmail and samba, even though I only checked on the "personal" packages.


Anyone cares to take a crack?  I have an identical system at home which 
never had any problem.

Re: [luau] print problems win4lin

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Try one of the "standard" sizes which is closest to your spec--A6 (4.1" 
x 5.8").  Then adjust your margins, respectively and accordingly.  

I didn't have any problem printing it in landscape or portrait mode. 
However, I am using WP10 with Win4Lin 4.0.5.



Alvin Murphy wrote:

Hi all; this is kind of an obscure problem, but I thought maybe 
someone had an answer. I am trying to migrate to Linux for my daily 
work (writing progress notes and prescriptions); am using Win4lin and 
win98se and Wp9;  no problem printing usual progress notes, but when I 
try to print prescriptions, using 1/4 size paper (5.5" by 4.25"), the 
output comes in portrait mode even though the script is written in 
landscape, using custom paper size. That is, the linux driver 
(cups/gimp) does not seem to honor paper size or orientation. In the 
setup, one can choose paper size but not orientation. Any ideas? Thanks. 

Re: [luau] Problems with Red Hat 7.1 install

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Do you have a broadband connection?  If you do, perhaps you may want to 
try installing from an ftp.


Stan Baptista wrote:


Thanks Ben, I'll give it a shot.

--- Ben Beeson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
 


Stan,

	I'll take a stab...  


It probably doesn't like your disk.  Try using a
different floppy disk. 
Chances are a protion of the disk is corrupted. 
(You may have to try more 
than one floppy before you get one that works.)


Hope this helps,

Ben 



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[luau] "Critical" security flaw in Microsoft Windows XP

[W. Wayne Liauh]

 *If we need to be on-line so much, perhaps we should not use a fixed 
disk based system.

*

*
The Knoppix-like CD-based operating system suddenly looks more and more 
(commercially) attractive--this is maybe what the doctor has ordered for 
Linux.  (Both Red Hat and SuSE have demo CDs, but their performance 
substantially lags that of Knoppix.  Why this is so, I am very 
interested in finding out.)


*

*Dow Jones Business News*

NEW YORK -- Listening to music online suddenly looks a lot more risky.

Late Wednesday, Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT 
 - News 
) revealed a "critical" flaw in its 
Windows XP operating system that could enable hackers to use malicious 
MP3 and Windows Media Audio, or WMA, music files and file-swapping 
services to wrest control of users' computers. Once in the PC, an 
attacker could take any action he chooses, including deleting or 
modifying data, reformatting hard drives or running nefarious programs.


http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/021219/1855000986_1.html

Re: [luau] Mozilla w/ xft

[W. Wayne Liauh]

I guess whether you will see any difference or not depends on what kind 
of monitor you use. I am using a 0.20mm 21" Nokia @ 1152x864, and the 
difference in fonts is truly stunning.


Before xft, I would alway avoid using Internet Explorer, because it made 
Moz "look" so inferior.   Now I won't hesitate talking about Moz.


I am using xft-enabled Red Hat rpm.  I did have a couple of crashes with 
1.2.1. However, since the 1.0 series does not have xft, I am not looking 
back.



MonMotha wrote:

Oh, it makes a huge difference in font quality.  Unfortunately it 
seems to be VERY, *VERY* unstable for me (looking at it the wrong way 
tends to make it segfault).  Unfortunately my moz build is compiled 
without debugging so I can't determine if it's actually xft that's at 
fault or something new in 1.2 (I upgraded from 1.1 to 1.2.1).


--MonMotha

Re: [luau] Mozilla w/ xft

[W. Wayne Liauh]

In my system, the differences are stunning.  How do others see?


Jimen Ching wrote:


On Thu, 19 Dec 2002, W. Wayne Liauh wrote:
 


Compare the two screenshots of Mozilla 1.2.1,
(1) with xft:
http://www.wpuniverse.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=46869
(2) without xft:
http://www.wpuniverse.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=46870
   



You have better eyes than me.  I can't tell the difference.

--jc
 

[luau] Mozilla w/ xft

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Compare the two screenshots of Mozilla 1.2.1,

(1) with xft:

http://www.wpuniverse.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=46869

(2) without xft:

http://www.wpuniverse.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=46870

Re: [luau] KNOPPIX LINUX ON TECHTV

[W. Wayne Liauh]

B/c Knoppix runs on ramdisk and decompresses files from CDROM on the 
fly, its speed depends, to a much greater extent, on CPU speed and the 
amount of RAM.


I ran it on my 1GHz Athlon with 256 MB ram and 2000+ Athlon XP with 512 
MB.  Both ran almost as fast as Red Hat 8.0 on their respective hard 
disks (and both systems are very fast).  It actually runs faster on my 
HP xh455 (900 MHz Athlon 4 with 256 MB ram.


There are also a number of bootup options.  With a low-resource system 
such as PII-200 with 64 MB ram, you can boot into text mode.  Of course, 
if you have your own ftp or you don't mind using a floppy disc, you can 
save your configuration as well as data files either on-line of in your 
floppy, then you will have a GUI-based OS (an entire OS) that can 
literally travel with you.  (Now, I hope you will tell this to your 
Windows-using friends/bosses/associates.)


Another great advantage of Knoppix is that you can load it into a hard 
disk (a very convenient way to install a Debian system), make 
modifications, then re-masterize it into a CD.  At the present time, 
Knoppix only has a limited number of language options.  Inclusion of 
Chinese and Japanese as a bootup option will be a great plus for Hawaii.





[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

I've been messing with it on and off for about two weeks now.  Seems to 
run very well on my Intel P3 1Ghz and Intel P4 1.7Ghz with 512MB 
ram but a dog on my P200 with only 64MB.  I have not tried it on any 
laptops yet.  I've never used KDE so I have nothing to compare it to.
Bottom line it is a great concept and a very workable package.  
Two of the Windows admins at my job wanted a copy to mess with 
themselves.  I had to explain the /dev/hdX concept but they seemed fine 
after that.



On Tue, 17 Dec 2002, Jason Smallwood wrote:

 


Had caught the following link on TECH TV's web site regarding KNOPPIX
LINUX.  

   



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Re: [luau] mandrake screensavers

[W. Wayne Liauh]

The name of the directory should be /usr/X11R6/bin, and the command 
should be /usr/X11R6/bin.  (%$#$#%$ Red Hat)


To run GNOME screensavers, basically, all you have to do is turn off 
the KDE screensave then run the following command:


/bin/X11R6/xscreensaver

[luau] Red Hat Posts First EVER Quarterly Profit

[W. Wayne Liauh]

 *Associated Press*
Red Hat Reports a Profit on GAAP Basis
Tuesday December 17, 6:55 pm ET

Red Hat Reports Its First Profit on GAAP Basis, Attributing Net Income 
to Higher Server Subscriptions


RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Linux software provider Red Hat Inc. said Tuesday 
it earned a profit under generally accepted accounting rules for the 
first time, attributing its net income to higher server subscriptions.


The Raleigh-based company said it earned $305,000, or break-even per 
share, for the three months ending Nov. 30, compared to a net loss of 
$15.1 million, or 7 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.


http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/021217/earns_red_hat_1.html

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/021217/tech_redhat_earns_4.html

[luau] mandrake screensavers

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Alvin-

For some reason your e-mail was accidentally deleted, as a bunch of 
other mails.  Yes, KDE does not prevent you from running a non-KDE 
screensaver (I love Atlantis screensaver).  To run GNOME screensavers, 
basically, all you have to do is turn off the KDE screensave then run 
the following command:


/bin/X11R6/xscreensaver

(I am writing this from memory.  To make sure that the directory is 
correct, run this command: locate xscreensaver--or whereis screensaver 
in MDK.  Furthermore, perhaps you could convert an xscreensaver file to 
a kscreensaver file; however, I am too lazy to find out.)


BTW, would be able to share your experience about using IBM's ViaVoice?)



Alvin Murphy  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Wed Nov 6 23:17:01 2002

Probably a trivial point to most; I prefer to run KDE most of the time,
but the Gnome screensavers are a lot more fun. Question: is there any
way to run the Gnome screensavers from KDE?  I know you can
ctrl-alt-back and restart in gnome but I was hoping there was a command
line option or script that would allow running the gnome screensavers
from within KDE. Thanks.

Re: [luau] Duplicating Music CD

[W. Wayne Liauh]

W. Wayne Liauh wrote:

The default permission (RH 8.0) for /dev/cdrom is 300.  


Oops.

600.

Re: [luau] KWord

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Alvin Murphy wrote:


Yep, now it needs a macro writer like WP.

I was talking about importing relatively simple Word .doc files that 
contain CJK characters.


Of course, in terms of office productivity, nothing comes close to 
WordPerfect.  (Not even Microsoft Office.)


(BTW, the Supreme Court of Florida recently announced that it will 
henceforth only accept files that are submitted in pdf or WP format.  No 
more fatally sneaking and potentially spying Word .doc files.)

Re: [luau] Duplicating Music CD

[W. Wayne Liauh]

The default permission (RH 8.0) for /dev/cdrom is 300.  Since I am the 
owner of this file, as long as I am the user, making it 777 does not 
make any difference in this case.



Ben Beeson wrote:


Aloha,

	I haven't played much with this or any other cdripper, but...  I recall that 
default permissions on my cdrom drive have caused me trouble in the past.  
Making the cdrom chmod 777 when combined with an appropriate set of 
permissions in the fstab file fixed all my troubles without having to suid 
any programs.   For my own purposes, this was a better solution than fixing 
all the programs. Essentially the only security change I had to worry about 
was  physical access to the cdrom drive as the software remained the same.   
Could this or something similar work for cdparanoia?  {I don't have a cd 
burner, or I'd try it myself. } 


Mele Kalikimaka,

Ben 
 

Re: [luau] Duplicating Music CD

[W. Wayne Liauh]

W. Wayne Liauh wrote:

The default permission (RH 8.0) for /dev/cdrom is 300.  As long as I 
am the user, making it 777 does not make any difference in this case.


Ben Beeson wrote:


Aloha,

I haven't played much with this or any other cdripper, but...  I 
recall that default permissions on my cdrom drive have caused me 
trouble in the past.  Making the cdrom chmod 777 when combined with 
an appropriate set of permissions in the fstab file fixed all my 
troubles without having to suid any programs.   For my own purposes, 
this was a better solution than fixing all the programs. Essentially 
the only security change I had to worry about was  physical access to 
the cdrom drive as the software remained the same.   Could this or 
something similar work for cdparanoia?  {I don't have a cd burner, or 
I'd try it myself. }

Mele Kalikimaka,

Ben
On Sunday 15 December 2002 03:52 pm, you wrote:
 


In UNIX, a code is better than a thousand words.  The following two
lines of simple code should clearly convey to those in the know the
power of the setuid bit in UNIX/Linux/xBSD.

/bin/chgrp xcdwrite /usr/bin/cdparanoia
/bin/chmod 4710 /usr/bin/cdparanoia

  


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Re: [luau] Duplicating Music CD

[W. Wayne Liauh]

The default permission (RH 8.0) for /dev/cdrom is 300.  As long as I am 
the user, making it 777 does not make any difference in this case.


Ben Beeson wrote:


Aloha,

	I haven't played much with this or any other cdripper, but...  I recall that 
default permissions on my cdrom drive have caused me trouble in the past.  
Making the cdrom chmod 777 when combined with an appropriate set of 
permissions in the fstab file fixed all my troubles without having to suid 
any programs.   For my own purposes, this was a better solution than fixing 
all the programs. Essentially the only security change I had to worry about 
was  physical access to the cdrom drive as the software remained the same.   
Could this or something similar work for cdparanoia?  {I don't have a cd 
burner, or I'd try it myself. } 


Mele Kalikimaka,

Ben 


On Sunday 15 December 2002 03:52 pm, you wrote:
 


In UNIX, a code is better than a thousand words.  The following two
lines of simple code should clearly convey to those in the know the
power of the setuid bit in UNIX/Linux/xBSD.

/bin/chgrp xcdwrite /usr/bin/cdparanoia
/bin/chmod 4710 /usr/bin/cdparanoia

   


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Re: [luau] Dual Booting with WinXP Pro

[W. Wayne Liauh]

W. Wayne Liauh wrote:


hide (hd0,0)
unhide (hd0,2)

before the line:

rootnoverify (hd0,1)

and a third line:

makeactive

thereafter.


Just a quick stop by.  The line

rootnoverify (hd0,1)

should be

rootnoverify (hd0,2)  ,

as I reserved the third partition (not the second, which is occupied by 
my root partition) for WinXP.  I am sure everyone has caught this 
inadvertent error.


OTOH, I forgot to comment on my own question (whether it is possible to 
dual boot Windows from a non-first drive).  GRUB also allows you to boot 
Windows from a non-first drive (for example, slave of the first IDE). 
To do this, you simply have to insert the following two "map" commands:


map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)

Isn't this amazing?

[luau] KWord

[W. Wayne Liauh]

There are a lot of talks about OpenOffice.  However, from my own 
experience, I am much more fond of KWord, especially in importing 
Microsoft Word files that contain CJK characters.


This largely underrated wordprocessor is really amazing.

Re: [luau] Dual Booting with WinXP Pro

[W. Wayne Liauh]

I am really shocked to realize how much more transparent the newly 
improved GRUB has made the task of dual booting Linux and XP to be. 
Both SuSE 8.1 and Mandrake 9.0 now (and only NOW!) automatically 
recognize your NTFS (or VFAT) partition and configure the grub.conf file 
accordingly.


What I was interested, was whether I could reserve a non-first partition 
for a "subsequent" installation of WinXP.  After I installed XP, it, as 
well know, overwrote GRUB in the MBR.  The issue was, how to re-install 
GRUB.


This indeed is very simple.  After installing XP, you will not be able 
into boot into Linux.  So, you insert the first RH 8.0 CD, type "linux 
rescue" at prompt. Then chroot to the root partition (in my case, 
/dev/hda1--hda0 is used for /boot partition).  Type /sbin/grub-install 
/dev/hda, this will write grub to the MBR (and erase/overwrite the NT 
bootloader).


Now, re-boot into Linux.  Su to root, and open the file 
/boot/grub/grub.conf with any editor.  In the section titled "DOS", 
insert the following two lines:


hide (hd0,0)
unhide (hd0,2)

before the line:

rootnoverify (hd0,1)

and a third line:

makeactive

thereafter.

Save the grub.conf file, then reboot.  (Unlike LILO, you don't need to 
do anything.)  Of course, you can remane "DOS" to "Windows XP".  But I 
don't bother.





W. Wayne Liauh wrote:

Actually, Windows (including NT or XP) will always look in the first 
partition of the first drive for the boot sector.  Thus, using GRUB as 
an example, if you install XP in the second partition of the first 
drive, you have to insert the following two lines in the part of the 
grub.conf file reserved for XP (may not be exact, I am writing from my 
memory):




before the line

 

What I am not sure is that, I don't know whether is it possible to 
boot NT/XP from a slave (i.e., hd1,0)?

Re: [luau] Duplicating Music CD

[W. Wayne Liauh]

In UNIX, a code is better than a thousand words.  The following two 
lines of simple code should clearly convey to those in the know the 
power of the setuid bit in UNIX/Linux/xBSD.


/bin/chgrp xcdwrite /usr/bin/cdparanoia
/bin/chmod 4710 /usr/bin/cdparanoia

With cdparanoia/xcdroast, I was able to "rip" a regular audio CD in 
about 10 minutes (compared to sometimes hours with cdda2wav; however, it 
must be noted that I have only very limited experience with either 
program).  Thus, conceivably, it should not be too difficult to write a 
script combining cdparanoia and cdrecord for direct audio copying.




W. Wayne Liauh wrote:

Very good point(s).  Again, I don't think we can discuss the setuid 
issue without realizing that we are talking about (1) a 
consumer-oriented desktop, for which there is necessarily a 
recognizedly lesser level of security that needs to be implemented, 
and (2) a set of CDROM-associated programs that are designed to have 
their setuid turned on (i.e., w/o the options that may cause buffer 
overflow concerns or other known security issues).  When an executable 
file has its SUID bit set, the file's owner owns the resulting 
process, no matter who launched it.  Of course we don't want the SUID 
bit to be set for every executable program, but sometimes, such as su, 
sudo as you mentioned, or a printing program such as lpr, this is a 
necessary evil.


OTOH, you are also exactly right on the wrapper script that's setuid 
to a certian group that has full access to the CDROM and CD Player.  
In order to run cdparanoia or cdda2wav, you also have me make yourself 
member of a group called "xcdwrite".

Re: [luau] Dual Booting with WinXP Pro

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Actually, Windows (including NT or XP) will always look in the first 
partition of the first drive for the boot sector.  Thus, using GRUB as 
an example, if you install XP in the second partition of the first 
drive, you have to insert the following two lines in the part of the 
grub.conf file reserved for XP (may not be exact, I am writing from my 
memory):


hide (hd0,0)
unhide (hd0,1)

before the line

rootnoverify (hd0,1)

What I am not sure is that, I don't know whether is it possible to boot 
NT/XP from a slave (i.e., hd1,0)?




Eric Hattemer wrote:


On Thu, 2002-11-07 at 23:13, Brandon Jasper wrote:

 


Windows will generally try to install its own bootloader NTLDR in the MBR,
NT and 2k does so I expect XP would do so as well.
   



Yeah, winxp almost certainly will rewrite the MBR.  


On 11/7/02 7:05 PM, "W. Wayne Liauh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

 


Thanks.  I think you just answered the first part of my question, in
that I should be able to install WinXP Pro in any of the three primary
partitions.  If this is not correct, please let me know.

(It should be noted that although textbooks say that there are "four"
primary partitions, since the fourth one will be used to create
   


extended
 


partitions, there are only three primary partitions in which to
   


install
 


a bootable partition.  Also, since Win98 does not use MBR, I am pretty
sure that you must install Win98 in the first primary partition,
   


unless
 


you install a multiple booting tool first, such as Norton something.)
   



I'm not sure I agree with you here...  See, first, a lot of the time you
don't need extended partitions.  I try to avoid them at all costs.  I
have two hard drives, so that helps a bit, but you could easily organize
it as:

Linux Swap
Boot
Windows
Linux

And have two OS on 4 partitions.  Now if you want a third OS, you can
replace the boot partition.  


As far as overwriting the MBR goes, what you can do is put LILO onto the
the linux/boot partition instead of the MBR.  This sets the MBR to chain
load lilo.  Then when XP writes over the MBR, it doesn't write over
lilo.  All you need to do now is go into NT fdisk (control
pannel/administrative tools/computer management), and set the linux/boot
partition as the only active partition.  This will restore the situation
with no need for a boot disk.  


But yes, probably the best method would be to think long and hard about
how you want the partitions to be.  Then, even though the NT and linux
partitioning programs have similar functionallity, I prefer to use the
linux one.  So boot a linux CD, run fdisk, set up the partitions the way
you like them.  Save that and reboot with the win CD.  You probably will
want at this point to remove and put back the windows partition just so
that windows formats it properly.  Windows NT+ does not need to be
installed to the first partition.  Then once that's finished and happy,
install the linux to the leftover partitions.  


-Eric Hattemer

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Re: [luau] Interested in Becoming a Patent Agent?

[W. Wayne Liauh]

I received a few private e-mails asking the same questions.  Since this 
does not involve any secret, I guess it's fair to post my brief reply in 
the open forum.


Basically, a patent agent receives an invention disclousure from an 
inventor, interviews the inventor, does a "prior art" search, prepares 
the patent application (which includes a detailed description of the 
invention and a set of "claims") to be filed with the Patent Office, 
files the application, then responds to any questions/rejections 
received from the Patent Office.  Depending on experience and location, 
the pays of patent agents typically range from 50 to 100K.  (For 
comparison, a registered nurse in Honolulu makes between 50 and 70K.)


If you are really interested in invention and doing patent work, perhaps 
a better route is to try to apply for a job as a patent examiner with 
the Patent Office.  Your chance of getting a job with the Patent Office 
should be pretty good if you have a computer science background. 
However, the pays are pretty low, expecting between 30 and 40K to 
start.  I believe if you work as a patent examiner for four years or 
more, you will be waived from the patent exam.


A number of patent examiners go to George Washington Law School, which 
is located at the same office compound (Crystal Plaza) at night to get 
their law degree.  Patent Office used to pick up the full tuition; there 
are some limitations as to the maximum number of credits the the 
government will reimburse.  If you are a Hawaii resident, of course, you 
automatically become part of our second largest industry--the Hawaii 
congressional delegation.  In this regard, you will really miss 
Representative Mink.  I don't believe anyone who is going to take over 
her place will be as warm as our most beloved Patsy.




W. Wayne Liauh wrote:

One of the career opportunities that I don't see much publicized on 
the islands is becoming a Patent Agent.  (If you have a law license 
then you will be called a patent attorney.)  This is a professional 
license (probably the only professional license) that will entitle you 
to practice your profession in all the 50 states plus Puerto Rico and 
Guam. I have also known quite a few patent attorneys with superb 
computer knowledge.  For anyone who may be interested, the following 
info is the first step:


http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/oed/grb0403.pdf

The patent agent exams take place twice a year.  The next exam will be 
held on April 15, 2003.


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[luau] Interested in Becoming a Patent Agent?

[W. Wayne Liauh]

One of the career opportunities that I don't see much publicized on the 
islands is becoming a Patent Agent.  (If you have a law license then you 
will be called a patent attorney.)  This is a professional license 
(probably the only professional license) that will entitle you to 
practice your profession in all the 50 states plus Puerto Rico and Guam. 
I have also known quite a few patent attorneys with superb computer 
knowledge.  For anyone who may be interested, the following info is the 
first step:


http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/oed/grb0403.pdf

The patent agent exams take place twice a year.  The next exam will be 
held on April 15, 2003.

Re: [luau] Duplicating Music CD

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Very good point(s).  Again, I don't think we can discuss the setuid 
issue without realizing that we are talking about (1) a 
consumer-oriented desktop, for which there is necessarily a recognizedly 
lesser level of security that needs to be implemented, and (2) a set of 
CDROM-associated programs that are designed to have their setuid turned 
on (i.e., w/o the options that may cause buffer overflow concerns or 
other known security issues).  When an executable file has its SUID bit 
set, the file's owner owns the resulting process, no matter who launched 
it.  Of course we don't want the SUID bit to be set for every executable 
program, but sometimes, such as su, sudo as you mentioned, or a printing 
program such as lpr, this is a necessary evil.


OTOH, you are also exactly right on the wrapper script that's setuid to 
a certian group that has full access to the CDROM and CD Player.  In 
order to run cdparanoia or cdda2wav, you also have me make yourself 
member of a group called "xcdwrite".



MonMotha wrote:

OK, I'll clear up a bit of confusion we seem to be having here about 
the setuid bit.


Normally, when you run a program, it gets run as you.  This means it 
has all the same permissions you do, including what you can do on the 
filesystem.


When you run something that has the setuid bit set, it gets run as the 
user who owns the file (often root).  This means that it has all the 
permissions of that user (if root, total).  This is useful for GAINING 
privilages (su for example) or changing between users (su again, since 
only root can do setuid).  In this case, we're talking about running 
something as root so it has access to a CD drive.


Most programs that are designed to be run setuid immediately drop all 
capabilities they don't need (Linux is pretty flexible here with POSIX 
CAPS).  The idea is to drop all privilages we can (and carefully audit 
the secions of code where we do this) and then setuid everythign back 
over to the user that ran the program (leaving just a few additional 
programs left, like the ability to edit the shadow password file for 
"passwd").  Problems occur with this in two circumstances:


A program is setuid that wasn't designed for it:
In this case, the program will be run as the user it is owned by 
(often root or another "privilaged" user filesystem wise, like the 
user bin). Since the program isn't designed to be run setuid root, it 
won't know to drop all these additional privilages and will just do 
everything as the user root.  If the user can get the program to do 
something that it wasn't designed to do (via careful use of options or 
more creative tricks such as buffer overflows), this can lead to the 
user doing things you didn't want them doing...as root.  Often, this 
is executing "arbitrary code" (basically doing whatever they want), 
which usually means "bring up a shell" as root.  Once the user has 
this "root shell," they basically own the system as it's like they 
logged in as root.


A program that is designed to be run setuid root has a bug:
Sometimes, programs designed to be run setuid root have a bug.  
XFree86, for example, would print the first line of whatever file you 
gave it for a config if an error occurred.  Since the X server is 
setuid root, it can read any files (including the elusive /etc/shadow, 
the shadow password file containing crypted passwords).  A bug was 
found where the user could simply specify /etc/shadow as a config file 
and XFree86 would flag it as an error and print the first line.  
Usually the first line was the entry for "root".  Oops, there goes 
your root password (crypted, but a modern PC can brute force the 
entire DES keyspace in a matter of hours or at worst a few days; MD5 
may take a few weeks if the user is determined).  Notice that this 
wasn't even a buffer overflow or a condition where arbitrary code 
could be executed!  This was just creative [ab]use of a seemingly 
harmless bug.


There are some things that absolutely have to be setuid root.  
Anything that needs to elevate privilages (su, sudo, etc), modify 
system config files (passwd, chfn, chsh, etc), or do stuff at a 
hardware level (X servers, etc) will have to be setuid root so that 
ordinary users can run them.  There isn't anything one can do about 
this.  It's just the way UNIX was made.  There's nothing wrong with 
it; it just requires some careful coding (which should be standard 
anyway!).


Back to the CD burner/ripping subject: just give the user read/write 
access to the CD device (generic and block).  I like to make a group 
or two (cdburn, cdrom) that I can add people to (usually just me on my 
mostly single user desktop), make the device nodes owned by this group 
and set mode 664 or 660 (depending on my mood).  This allows any user 
to access the device without needing setuid bits all over the place.  
The only thing the setuid bit was getting you was the filesystem 
permissions override CAP.


X-CDRoase uses a different method.  

Re: [luau] Duplicating Music CD

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Hi Vince-

Apparently you have never used xcdroast or grip yourself?  What is the 
most recent version of "commercial" Linux distribution that you have used?


I am asking this question, because you apparently don't really know the 
heck of what I was talking about.  

Yes, there are some inherent problems with the setuid facility--anything 
that deals with root privilege inherently has security problems.  But it 
is well recognized that Linux's setuid facility allows programs to run 
by ordinary users to make use of the root account in a limited and 
tightly controlled way.  Of course, it is also well noted that if you 
use setuid shell scripts in a certain shell, they can be entirely 
insecure.  But we are talking about a well-known "program", and not a 
setuid "script".  I really hate people who mix apples and oranges.


I have been doing programming, on and off, for over 35 years.  Coming 
from the VMS (precedecor of Windows NT, btw--and there is even an 
OpenVMS project) background, I am also one of the first converters to 
UNIX.  (Interestingly enough, if my memory serves me correctly, facility 
tools such as setuid is one of the reasons promping the conversion.) 
And the reason I am spending a lot of extracurricular activities 
hanging with computer boards such as this one, is that I don't want to 
be fooled by tech consultants who think technical jargons belong to 
their monopoly.  At least I don't need no kids to teach me what "su" or 
"sudo" is.


Can't hide my disappointment.

Re: [luau] Duplicating Music CD

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Vince Hoang wrote:


With SUID, the application runs as root anyway. You merely
avoid the process of having to su or sudo. I look at cd writing
utilities in similar light to dd and mkfs.
 


Hi Vince-

Since I expect the majority of our readers don't have UNIX background, I 
believe your statement needs to be qualified to some extent.


When running as root, you leave your "entire computer" open for security 
attacks.  Whereas, with SUID, you only allow a specific program to 
invoke process(es) that would otherwise require something equivalent to 
a root privilege.  In other words, with SUID, instead of blanket 
privileges, only very limited extent of privileges are granted.  SUID is 
an ingenious way to provide compromised convience and security.


Most end users, however, do not notice the security issue.  What happens 
in the real world if you run grip (or any other Linux CD ripping 
program) as root is that, instead of being in your home directory, the 
ripped/encoded files will be stored in the root directory.  After you 
spend hours thinking you've copied your favorite CDs into your hard but 
could find them, then you will really hear someone cursing.


Anyway, if there is anything that desperately needs to be improved in 
Linux, it is the audio copying capability.

[luau] Linux in China

[W. Wayne Liauh]

I have been following Linux development in China for quite a few years. 
The pace at which Linux development is being picked up in China is now 
beginning to scare me.  See an example of a Chinese Linux forum:


http://www.linuxfans.org/nuke/index.php

(I don't have to warn you about the dire consequences if we continue to 
allow Microsoft to use its money to pollute our political environment 
and its threat of using patents--which have effect only in the US--to 
asphyxiate development of open-source technologies.)

[luau] KDE 3.1 RC5

[W. Wayne Liauh]

One of the killer advantages of Linux, in addition to multi-locale user 
logins, is its ability to allow an entire distro to be provided in a 
single CD.


After Knoppix, we now have another "independent" Linux demo CD called 
"Yoper".  If anyone is interested in the newest KDE but afraid to mess 
up current system, try the Yoper CD--it includes KDE 3.1 RC5.  There is 
a striking similarity between KDE 3.1 and the next version of Windows. 
(It should be very clear as to who is copying whom, but as it was said 
in "Apple vs. Microsoft", there is no copyright in look-n-feel.)

Re: [luau] Duplicating Music CD

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Most distros, RH included, now offer a number of "security" options 
during installation.  Only a moron OS (i.e., Linux) would require root 
privilege to copy a CD by default at "standard" security.  :-)


When you run xcdroast for the first time as a non-root, it will prompt 
you to log in as root, to change its configuration in order to allow 
non-noot users.  But for some reason, the Red Hat version of xcdroast 
rpm only turns on the setuid bit for cdda2wav, but not cdparanoia.  This 
is where the problem arose.


Point to be taken: Don't just give someone a Linux CD and expect him/her 
to fall in love with it.  It is important to accumulate experience.  You 
will be surprised how much just a small modification (from the stock 
distro) can to do improve its image.


Peace!


Vince Hoang wrote:


On Sun, Dec 08, 2002 at 07:10:29PM -1000, W. Wayne Liauh wrote:
 


It turns out that either RH 8.0 failed to turn on the setuid
for cdparanoia, or one of the rpms that I subsequently
installed turned it off. A simple command "chmod 4744
cdparanoia" solved the problem. While I still couldn't
duplicate audio CD directly, I am happy for now.
   



I think it is a good thing that cdparanoia should not have the
SUID bit set by default. It is one less possible overflow to
worry about. A bit more hassle, but it is worth the security. I
am not current on rpms, but the package manager can default to
no, but prompt to see if you want it SUID. (Debian offers this.)

-Vince
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Re: [luau] Duplicating Music CD

[W. Wayne Liauh]

It turns out that either RH 8.0 failed to turn on the setuid for 
cdparanoia, or one of the rpms that I subsequently installed turned it 
off.  A simple command "chmod 4744 cdparanoia" solved the problem. 
While I still couldn't duplicate audio CD directly, I am happy for now.


From my experience, cdparanoia is a much better audio CD ripping 
program than cdda2wav.  With the former, I consistly get a ripping rate 
of about 2.5~2.8x; whereas, the latter only gives me at best 1.4x 
(sometimes it even went below 1x).


I would really appreciate it if other Linux users can also post their 
experience on various annoyances.  If it gets crowed here, I'll be more 
than happy to find an alternate host.



W. Wayne Liauh wrote:

The problem I am having now appears to be that the xcdroast that came 
with RH 8.0 is broken.  I installed the "updated" xcdroast rpms which 
seems to throw everything in further chaos--now everything is broken, 
including cdrecord.

Re: [luau] Why Red Hat?

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Oops, should be 3,000.  Or may be the number 30,000 is correct.  I am 
confused.  (The reason I mentioned Germans is that the number of native 
Germans living in Hawaii is so significant, there is a need for a couple 
of German lawyers here handling their affairs back home.)



W. Wayne Liauh wrote:

Not just Chinese/Japanese/Korean (CJK), although this is the most 
significant, but we also have about 30,000 Gernams living in various 
islands in Hawaii, as well as an almost equal number of French 
Canadians living in Kihei.

Re: [luau] Why Red Hat?

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Of course, the multi-locale feature has no meaning if the program is not 
"localized".



Vince Hoang wrote:


On Thu, Dec 05, 2002 at 10:14:26PM -1000, W. Wayne Liauh wrote:
 


Such a multi-lingual, multi-locale feature offered by Red Hat 8.0
   



I believe it is still a bit problematic. On another list, a
user was able to start up acroread because it did not have
proper language support. IIRC, the problem was worked around by
exporting LANG=C before starting acroread.
 

Re: [luau] Why Red Hat?

[W. Wayne Liauh]

You have to include the "languages" during installation.  For Chinese 
and Japanese, Red Hat 8.0 is working beyond my expectations.


Vince Hoang wrote:


On Thu, Dec 05, 2002 at 10:14:26PM -1000, W. Wayne Liauh wrote:
 


Such a multi-lingual, multi-locale feature offered by Red Hat 8.0
   



I believe it is still a bit problematic. On another list, a
user was able to start up acroread because it did not have
proper language support. IIRC, the problem was worked around by
exporting LANG=C before starting acroread.

-Vince
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Re: [luau] Why Red Hat?

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Not just Chinese/Japanese/Korean (CJK), although this is the most 
significant, but we also have about 30,000 Gernams living in various 
islands in Hawaii, as well as an almost equal number of French Canadians 
living in Kihei.


Joe Linux wrote:

The reason is that Red Hat has the capability to switch languages at 
log in time.  It is the best distribution for people who need Chinese 
and Japanese characters or moreover a complete operating system in a 
particular language.


W. Wayne Liauh wrote:


No one has any clue?  I am disappointed.

W. Wayne Liauh wrote:


This is a quiz-

There is a set of very unique features in Red Hat 8.0 that make it 
the natural distro of choice for those of us who still believe that 
Hawaii "should" still be America's gateway to the Asia market.  Has 
anyone noticed this uniqueness of Red Hat?


Yes, Red Hat sucks; it is not as fun to use as Mandrake 9.0 and not 
as stable as Libranet 2.7.  But that just means there are still 
opportunities left for us non-mainlanders to explore and exploit.

Re: [luau] Why Red Hat?

[W. Wayne Liauh]

You're exactly on the mark!  This is something that, unless you have a 
need you won't appreciate it.  But once you do, you're completely sold.


Such a multi-lingual, multi-locale feature offered by Red Hat 8.0 (I 
first saw it in Red Hat 7.3, but it was not nearly as eloquent) truely 
sets it apart from any other operating system (not just other Linux 
distros, but any OS, inclusing Microsoft Windows).


Of course, the fact that both Mozilla and, particularly, KOffice (not 
OpenOffice) have, at the same time, evolved into true multi-lingual, 
multi-locale application programs, also greatly helps.  Combining 
KOffice with Red Hat 8.0, and we have an absolute winner.


Finally, we have something in consumer desktop Linux that is clearly 
demonstrably superior to anything Microsoft Windows can offer!



Duane wrote:

Would it be the ability to set language environments for each user.  I set my 
wife up with an account in Korean, and she's actually willing to start 
learning about email and web browsing.


Probably off the mark, but it's one of the cooler things I've seen.

Duane
 

Re: [luau] Why Red Hat?

[W. Wayne Liauh]

No one has any clue?  I am disappointed.

W. Wayne Liauh wrote:


This is a quiz-

There is a set of very unique features in Red Hat 8.0 that make it the 
natural distro of choice for those of us who still believe that Hawaii 
"should" still be America's gateway to the Asia market.  Has anyone 
noticed this uniqueness of Red Hat?


Yes, Red Hat sucks; it is not as fun to use as Mandrake 9.0 and not as 
stable as Libranet 2.7.  But that just means there are still 
opportunities left for us non-mainlanders to explore and exploit.

Re: [luau] Installing Fonts in Red Hat 8.0

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Linux has really evolved!  Actually, once you create the fonts directory 
(make sure that its permission is at least r--r--r--), you can further 
use a Red Hat utility tool called chkfontpath to finish the rest.  What 
can I say--I am speechless.


When APIC is finalized, and someone figures a way to do direct audio CD 
copying, I just don't see how Microsoft Windows can compete against 
Linux in the consumer desktops arena.



Ray Strode wrote:


W. Wayne Liauh wrote:

While we are at it (i.e., discussion about fonts), I seem to vaguely 
remember that there was a font installation tool in Red Hat 7.3 
(through KDE, I believe).  But now I don't seem to be able to find it 
in 8.0. Does anyone know how to do that in Red Hat 8.0?



I think you should be able to copy the fonts to /usr/share/fonts or to 
~/.fonts
Any fontconfig enabled programs will have access to them then. 
For programs not using fontconfig yet, you will have to install 
freetype-utils,
create a directory somewhere, put your fonts in that directory, run 
ttmkfdir > fonts.dir, add the relevant line to your XFree86 config 
file, and then restart X (or xset +fp the directory).  I don't know of 
any graphical utilities for installing fonts, but I wouldn't be 
surprised if there is one.


--Ray

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[luau] Why Red Hat?

[W. Wayne Liauh]

This is a quiz-

There is a set of very unique features in Red Hat 8.0 that make it the 
natural distro of choice for those of us who still believe that Hawaii 
"should" still be America's gateway to the Asia market.  Has anyone 
noticed this uniqueness of Red Hat?


Yes, Red Hat sucks; it is not as fun to use as Mandrake 9.0 and not as 
stable as Libranet 2.7.  But that just means there are still 
opportunities left for us non-mainlanders to explore and exploit.

Re: [luau] ALSA & Nvidia Drivers on Red Hat 8.0

[W. Wayne Liauh]

I have decided to go the traditional route, download the zipped source 
files, then ./configure; make; make install.  Nothing beats the source.


W. Wayne Liauh wrote:


Warren Togami wrote:



Wayne, why is it trouble to upgrade the kernel?



I am using Win4Lin, which ties me to a specific kernel.

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Re: [luau] Interesting question I found...

[W. Wayne Liauh]

I really don't have any respect for those self-proclaimed "technical" 
people who insist that they must use pentium this and itanium that.  To 
me, they are nothing more than a bunch of ignorant anti-tech idiots.

[luau] Installing Fonts in Red Hat 8.0

[W. Wayne Liauh]

While we are at it (i.e., discussion about fonts), I seem to vaguely 
remember that there was a font installation tool in Red Hat 7.3 (through 
KDE, I believe).  But now I don't seem to be able to find it in 8.0. 
Does anyone know how to do that in Red Hat 8.0?

Re: [luau] ALSA & Nvidia Drivers on Red Hat 8.0

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Warren Togami wrote:



Wayne, why is it trouble to upgrade the kernel?


I am using Win4Lin, which ties me to a specific kernel.

Re: [luau] Mozilla 1.2.1 released

[W. Wayne Liauh]

1.  Xft was available in Moz 1.2 (or 1.2b, I am confused), but you had 
to put it in manually, a big pain in the butt.


2.  Whether it be type1, truetype, or now freetype, it involves a 
certain definition/specification, and no one "owns" truetype.  But after 
Adobe trademarked "Times New Roman," you are prohibited from using it 
"in the stream of commerce". There is a truetype font called "Thornburg" 
which is supposed to be a clone of and identical to "Times New Roman" 
font.  But the free software community is not interested in accepting 
ttf clones.


3.  I am not familiar with any restrictions against redistribution of 
Microsoft fonts.  But even if there are no restrictions, a potential 
"redistributor" may still be prohibited from calling them "Microsoft 
this and that fonts", because we may have a potential trademark 
infringement problem.  In other words, we are talking about two 
different types of intellectual properties.

Re: [luau] Needs SAMBA HELP

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Al-

By the time your friend figures the answer out, KDE 3.1, which is 
supposed to provide the GUI tools for easy SAMBA configurations, will be 
available.


In the meantime, your friend may want to take a quick look at the 
following sources:


http://www.tweakhound.com/mdk9net.htm

(*How To Network Mandrake 9.0 to Windows XP)

and

*http://hr.uoregon.edu/davidrl/samba.html

(The Unofficial Samba HOWTO)

Red Hat is not known to provide good configuration tools.  What works in 
Mandrake doesn't mean that it will work in Red Hat.  Usually not.

Re: [luau] ALSA & Nvidia Drivers on Red Hat 8.0

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Thanx.  The question I had was the alsa kernal packages I could find 
were all compiled for 2.4.18_18.  Will this go with the 2.4.18_14 kernel 
that came with RH 8.0?  (I really hate to recompile the package, and 
updating the RH kernel will cause a myriad of other problems.)


Or is there any other place that I could find 2.4.18_14 packages?



Jeff Mings wrote:

I've installed ALSA for RH 8.0 on my Dell Laptop - the "regular" 
drivers were fairly dysfunctional with that finicky sound chip.  I 
believe I just grabbed the packages from freshrpms.net, which also had 
a nice tutorial as well - it was pretty easy.


-Jeff

Re: [luau] Mozilla 1.2.1 released

[W. Wayne Liauh]

DeanFujioka wrote:


What does xft stand for?

Basically xft (x Free Fonts) is Free-Source's answer to the truetype 
fonts (ttf).  Adobe (and probably to some extent, Microsoft) owns the 
rendering engine, which is proprietary, and libraries for ttf.  OTOH, 
while you cannot copyright a truetype font (or any other font), you can 
trademark its name.  Without a license, which is unlikely to be granted 
by Microsoft, a Linux distro cannot legally distribute many of the 
popular truetype fonts such as Times New Roman, Arial, or many Microsoft 
fonts (mainly because of trademark infringement).  This has caused a lot 
of problems with Mozilla, making it at least superficiously inferior to 
IE.  Now things can begin to change.


 

[luau] ALSA & Nvidia Drivers on Red Hat 8.0

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Has anyone ever installed ALSA & Nvidia Drivers in Red Hat 8.0?

Re: [luau] Mozilla 1.2.1 released

[W. Wayne Liauh]

The biggest difference between Moz 1.2.1 and Moz 1.2, in addition to the 
DHTML bug fixes (which keep freezing my Moz sessions when running under 
Windows, but I did not notice any problem in Linux), is that it now 
includes a version that has xft built in.


The xft-version only comes in RedHat rpms.  Try it, and you will be 
shocked to see how nice Moz fonts look.



Warren Togami wrote:


ftp://videl.ics.hawaii.edu/mirrors/mozilla/mozilla1.2.1

Mozilla 1.2.1 was released today.  Local mirror above.  This release fixes a
nasty DHTML bug that accidentally was shipped with 1.2, along with a few
other bugs.

Release Notes
http://mozilla.org/releases/mozilla1.2.1/

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[luau] Stunning Chinese Fonts from WordPerfect 10 in Linux

[W. Wayne Liauh]

I am really stunned by how exquisite those Chinese fonts look:

http://www.wpuniverse.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=45871

[luau] Chinese Mandrake "9.1"

[W. Wayne Liauh]

During my recent trip to Taipei and Osaka, I noticed that most if not 
all of the "home-grown" distributions have "mysteriously" disappeared. 
The only distributions I can find are localized versions of Red Hat and 
Mandrake.  Of course, there are always players in the Debian camp.


China seems to be following the same trend.  No one seems to be 
interested in their own "Red Flag" Linux no more.  Some Chinese 
developers even poked into Cooker and put together a "Mandrake 9.1".


http://www.linuxfans.org/nuke/modules.php?set_albumName=album17&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php&page=1

[luau] Running WordPerfect 10 in Linux

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Take a quick look at the crispy fonts of WordPerfect 10 running in Red 
Hat 8.0


http://www.wpuniverse.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=45723

Re: [luau] Duplicating Music CD

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Hi Al-

I have FreeBSD 5.0 rc2 downloaded, and will play with it during the holiday.

BTW, I would appreciate it if you could explain what kind of services 
your ADSL subscription provides.  For example, if I am thinking about 
putting together a vnc for Linux demo, how would you facilitate my need? 
(But  99+% of my ideas were aborted.)  Thks.

Re: [luau] Duplicating Music CD

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Reading an audio CD is much more complicated than we thought.  (Think 
about it, even xcdroast is not able to do direct copying of audio CDs.) 
The problem I am having now appears to be that the xcdroast that came 
with RH 8.0 is broken.  I installed the "updated" xcdroast rpms which 
seems to throw everything in further chaos--now everything is broken, 
including cdrecord.


I don't think you can access an audio CD without going through cdda2wav 
or cdparanoia or other equivalent programs.  Insert an audio CD, run any 
CD player program, then do a kdf, and you will find out that the CDROM 
is not even mounted.



Ray Strode wrote:

Music CDs are recorded in a different format, that I don't even know 
if they can be access via the block device.  




Also, since the music is in multiple tracks, this wouldn't work.



D'oh.  You're right of course.  I suppose my idea would probably blend 
all the tracks together into one long track.


I assume the audio is available from the block device for most newer 
drives tho, because most newer drives support
cdda extraction (w/o the digital -> analog  -> digital evilness), and 
I assume tho do that through the ATAPI interface.


I don't know, maybe the cdrom driver uses an ioctl interface to 
manipulate the drive and access various audio tracks

and things..
--Ray


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Re: [luau] Duplicating Music CD

[W. Wayne Liauh]

For a background info, I used the following script to do a "direct" 
(sorta) CD copying from /dev/cdrom (read-only CDROM) to /dev/scd0 (CD-RW):


#/bin/bash
mkdir /var/cd
cd /var/cd
cdda2wav -D /dev/cdrom -B -owav
cdrecord -v dev=0,0,0 -audio *.wav
rm -r /var/cd

For some reason, this script no longer works in RH 8.0.  OTOH, this is a 
very simplistic script and was very slow even when it worked.  (xcdroast 
doesn't do direct CD copying, thus the above script was written.)




W. Wayne Liauh wrote:

Does anyone know how to duplicate music CDs in either Red Hat or 
Mandrake/

Re: [luau] MPLUG Status 11/23/2002

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Warren Togami wrote:


W. Wayne Liauh wrote:


Hi Warren-

Sorry that I have not been visiting LUAU for quite some time.  About 
quitting school, even for just one semester, I really think you 
should give it very careful thoughts.   I remember Michael Dell told 
us (at Exxon) exactly the same thing, that he was going to quit 
University of Texas for just one semester.  But he never returned to 
school.  There are, of course, big differences between Dell and 
yourself.  Michael Dell had a very definitive goal and eventually 
became a multi-billionaire. Working on Linux (ha!), particularly on 
the kind of "pro bono" projects that you mentioned, will get you 
nowhere. Between my wife and I, we are probably one of the most 
educated pairs on earth (I have BS, MS, PhD in chemical engineering 
and JD, and my wife has BS, MS in electrical engineering and MD).  I 
always hated schools.  And because I hated schools, may goal had 
always been to study as hard as possible while in school so that I 
could get the degree and get out of school as quickly as possible.



I understand your concern but don't worry about me, I have every 
intention of continuing school.  Next semester I will be part-time 
with maybe 3-6 credits, 3 will be for ICS499 independent study 
projects. Here's my project:



For a while, you got me worried.  :-)

[luau] Duplicating Music CD

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Does anyone know how to duplicate music CDs in either Red Hat or Mandrake/

Re: [luau] MPLUG Status 11/23/2002

[W. Wayne Liauh]

 Warren Togami wrote:

I have decided to take a semester off of college during Spring 2003 in 
order to focus on Linux research, development and advocacy.  I will 
spend all of my time until Fall 2003 working on the following projects.



Hi Warren-

Sorry that I have not been visiting LUAU for quite some time.  About 
quitting school, even for just one semester, I really think you should 
give it very careful thoughts.   I remember Michael Dell told us (at 
Exxon) exactly the same thing, that he was going to quit University of 
Texas for just one semester.  But he never returned to school.  There 
are, of course, big differences between Dell and yourself.  Michael Dell 
had a very definitive goal and eventually became a multi-billionaire. 
Working on Linux (ha!), particularly on the kind of "pro bono" projects 
that you mentioned, will get you nowhere. Between my wife and I, we are 
probably one of the most educated pairs on earth (I have BS, MS, PhD in 
chemical engineering and JD, and my wife has BS, MS in electrical 
engineering and MD).  I always hated schools.  And because I hated 
schools, may goal had always been to study as hard as possible while in 
school so that I could get the degree and get out of school as quickly 
as possible.


The technology world, however, represents a very different story.  If 
you really plan to take one semester off, you should try to formulate a 
much grander goal--more particularly, trying to work on something that 
has a much broader reach and more permanent impact.  For example, 
instead of working on the project(s) yourself, perhaps you should think 
about the possibility of working on a "handbook" (or "cookbook"), so 
others can do the dirty work for you. That's how technology and 
experience can best propagate and grow local roots.  By doing this, you 
and our other LUAU "guys" (gender-neutral) will acquire a strong 
leadership, and Hawaii will produce an army of willing and able Linux 
advocates.


As I mentioned earlier, I will be more than happy to sponsor you 
project, if you can articulate its worthy goals and demonstrate its 
long-term self-sustainability (the key word is "self").  Hawaii is a 
very difficult place to do business, and I have drastically cut down my 
expenses, including moving my office to my basement, to compensate for 
my drastically reduced revenue.  However, I believe I will still be able 
to absorb at least part of the hardware cost to develop a "Linux lab". 
In order to promote Linux in Hawaii, I really believe we should shelf 
the idea of using used PCs at least for a while.  My idea is to build a 
number of powerful (and cheap) new LInux and Windows PCs networked 
together, which can be duplicated by business concerns.  One of those 
PCs should be a new Athlon-64 machine.  :-)


Technology and money always have to go hand in hand.  I know a number of 
venture capital groups.  But to be blunt, I just don't see how anyone 
will be interested in investing in what we are doing here.  (Living in 
paradise has a price, but we should never give up our hope.)  Another 
possibility (probably the only possibility) is to pursue the non-profit 
route.  There are quite a few chartible foundations in Hawaii constantly 
reviewing funding proposals.  As an example (this is the one that I am 
somewhat familiar with), when one of my neighbors (Doris Duke) died, she 
left more than two billion dollars in her estate.  Her will was recently 
probated, giving all her money to a charitable foundation established 
under her name.  As a matter of law, her estate must give out at least 
5% of its assets (or 100 million dollars) to non-profit causes including 
education.  I don't have any influence, whatsoever, as to how the 
trustees of her estate will decide on funding requests.  I brought this 
up because you mentioned quitting school, and believed that you probably 
need to look over a broader horizon.





1) "Linux for Education Showcase" at Mid-Pacific Institute
---
We are rapidly approaching a point at MPI where Linux servers and LDAP 
central authentication will be adopted.  Late December we will begin 
to transition all the teachers from the current unstable Windows based 
e-mail server to Linux (uw imap, Sendmail, SpamAssassin, Vipul's 
Razor, virus scanning).  This e-mail server roll-out will be the 
beginning of Linux based LDAP central authentication on Mid-Pac 
campus.  Immediately upon LDAP implementation, the LTSP thin client 
lab will use LDAP for authentication.  Before mid-2003 we will 
integrate the Windows clients on the school network with LDAP/Samba.


http://diradmin.open-it.org/
We will be using "Directory Administrator" in order to easily manage 
LDAP authentication.


MPI is also in the process of implementing another LTSP thin client 
lab in lower campus.  This will probably occur sometime around January.


Late December we are converting all Windows machines to use Mozilla as 
the campus standard browser, replacing the 

Re: [luau] Dual Booting with WinXP Pro

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Eric Hattemer wrote:


Yeah, it seems the grub equivalent to /sbin/lilo is called "grub-install
/dev/xxx".  Make sure you know what you're doing before running this,
but it should solve your problems.  

 


Thanks, I will give it a try.

Re: [luau] My thoughts regarding linux demos

[W. Wayne Liauh]

 My experience with Knoppix is nothing short of absolutely sensational. 
Booting time on my "ancient" Athlon 900 MHz notebook (from power-on to 
ready to do productive work) was less than one minute and half--faster 
than from the hard disk.  Web browsing is faster than even using a much 
more powerful desktop.  And the Japanese version of Knoppix also worked 
on my first try; the "shift-space" combo (to input Japanese characters) 
worked seemlessly in OO, KO, vi, etc.


Of course, the reason Knoppix is faster is because it was optimized for 
desktops.  Knoppix is also structured to utilize your existing swap 
partition if you have Linux, or a DOS partition if you don't.


I have spent more time on Linux desktops than probably anyone on earth 
(that, of course, doesn't mean that I am good--which I definitely am 
not; but as I mentioned here before, I was the technical editor for the 
first book on Linux desktops--"WordPerfect 8 for Linux Bible"), and my 
recent experience with Knoppix is ranked among the most exciting 
adventures that I ever had.


Understandably, LUAU is not the right forum to discuss Knoppix; thus, I 
have set up a separate group called KnoppixHawaii to facilitate further 
discussions:


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KnoppixHawaii/

Because I don't really anticipate much activity, this forum, at the 
present time, is totally uncensored and unmoderated. If, however, we 
become lucky and our knowledge and experience should reach a certain 
level such that someone from our islands will be able to develop a 
business proposal, I will be more than happy to provide some seed money. 
As I mentioned to Warren, the entire work will have to be done under 
the GPL, so everyone will benefit.  How to share your knowledge with 
other (so others will be willing to share theirs with you) while 
maintaining a technical niche, is something our previous generations 
didn't have to seriously face.





W. Wayne Liauh wrote:


MonMotha wrote:

If you guys ever need any help with this kind of stuff, I have a bit 
of experience working in tight quarters (fitting entire systems with 
kernel on floppy, 4MB flash, etc) as well as readonly filesystems.


Feel free to ask me at any time for suggestions, however keep in mind 
that I'm not very familiar with redhat.


--MonMotha




Thanks.  So far, Knoppix seems to be doing exactly what I had in mind 
(I really don't care whether it's red hat or white hat, as long as it 
does the job).  I am also very excited to find out that there are a 
lot of interests in this distro in Japan.  (I am downloading a 
Japanese version of Knoppix 3.1 as I type.)


The only thing I needed was to be able do a customization to install 
cjk locales along with a couple of commonly used programs that were 
not included in the original CD, then remasterize the customized 
distro into a new CD.  Someone is already doing this at the Knoppix 
forum.  But I will keep you offer in mind.  :-)


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Re: [luau] My thoughts regarding linux demos

[W. Wayne Liauh]

MonMotha wrote:

If you guys ever need any help with this kind of stuff, I have a bit 
of experience working in tight quarters (fitting entire systems with 
kernel on floppy, 4MB flash, etc) as well as readonly filesystems.


Feel free to ask me at any time for suggestions, however keep in mind 
that I'm not very familiar with redhat.


--MonMotha



Thanks.  So far, Knoppix seems to be doing exactly what I had in mind (I 
really don't care whether it's red hat or white hat, as long as it does 
the job).  I am also very excited to find out that there are a lot of 
interests in this distro in Japan.  (I am downloading a Japanese version 
of Knoppix 3.1 as I type.)


The only thing I needed was to be able do a customization to install cjk 
locales along with a couple of commonly used programs that were not 
included in the original CD, then remasterize the customized distro into 
a new CD.  Someone is already doing this at the Knoppix forum.  But I 
will keep you offer in mind.  :-)

Re: [luau] My thoughts regarding linux demos

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Warren Togami wrote:

It would take a non-trivial amount of work, so if the project is 
monetarily sponsored then some people on this list would be more than 
capable of doing this.



If we are not talking about an exobitant amount of money, I will be 
willing to consider sponsering it (the entire work will have to be done 
under GPL).


BTW, Knoppix 3.1 is amazingly snappy.  In some aspects (and if your 
system has lots of RAM), because it is running under ramdrive, it 
actually runs faster than from a hd.

Re: [luau] Dual Booting with WinXP Pro

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Also, since it is well known that Linux doesn't write NTFS files very 
well, it is almost mandatory in a dual boot system to have a separate 
FAT32 partition to store data which will be shared by Linux and XP.  The 
number of partitions in a well designed Windows/Linux dual-boot system 
should always be greater than 4, thus, necessating the need for extended 
partitions.


Even with a workstation/desktop, I always keep at least a separate 
/home partition in extended partition. Since I have to run Win4Lin, I 
am also keeping /var and /opt in separate partitions.  (The main 
reason you keep separate partitions is that, when you re-install a new 
distro, you don't have to re-format them.)


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Re: [luau] Dual Booting with WinXP Pro

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Eric Hattemer wrote:

3.  I'm not sure I agree with you here... See, first, a lot of the time 
you don't need extended partitions. I try to avoid them at all costs.


2.  As far as overwriting the MBR goes, what you can do is put LILO onto 
the the linux/boot partition instead of the MBR. This sets the MBR to 
chain load lilo. Then when XP writes over the MBR, it doesn't write over 
lilo. All you need to do now is go into NT fdisk (control 
pannel/administrative tools/computer management), and set the linux/boot 
partition as the only active partition. This will restore the situation 
with no need for a boot disk.


1. But yes, probably the best method would be to think long and hard about how you want the partitions to be.  Then, even though the NT and linux partitioning programs have similar functionallity, I prefer to use the linux one.  So boot a linux CD, run fdisk, set up the partitions the way you like them.  Save that and reboot with the win CD.  You probably will want at this point to remove and put back the windows partition just so that windows formats it properly.  Windows NT+ does not need to be installed to the first partition.  Then once that's finished and happy, install the linux to the leftover partitions.  


-Eric Hattemer

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Looks like I am picking on you again Eric.  (Since you indicated you 
don't mind, I will not forbear until you protest.)


1.  What you're saying is, I should install NT/2k/XP "before" Linux. 
Doesn't everyone know that already?  My question is, how can I install 
XP "after" Linux?  I have installed Win98 after Linux.  But that was 
with LILO.  How do I do that with GRUB?


2.  With GRUB, you can install it directly into MBR.  The method you 
described is for LILO.


3.  "[A] lot of the time you don't need extended partitions. I try to 
avoid them at all costs."


You're not serious, are you?  :-)  Even with a workstation/desktop, I 
always keep at least a separate /home partition in extended partition. 
Since I have to run Win4Lin, I am also keeping /var and /opt in 
separate partitions.  (The main reason you keep separate partitions is 
that, when you re-install a new distro, you don't have to re-format them.)

Re: [luau] knoppix

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Bootable is not good enough.  It must be both bootable AND runnable.

W. Wayne Liauh wrote:


I forgot to mention the question that I really meant to post:

Can we (or do we know anyone who has been able to) squeeze Red Hat 8 
or Mandrake 9 into a KNOPPIX-like bootable CD?



Cliff Brown wrote:


W. Wayne Liauh wrote:



   What is KNOPPIX??

KNOPPIX is a bootable CD with a collection of GNU/Linux 
<http://www.knopper.net/linux/> software, automatic hardware 
detection, and support for many graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI 
and USB devices and other peripherals. KNOPPIX can be used as a 
Linux demo, educational CD, rescue system, or adapted and used as a 
platform for commercial software product demos. It is not necessary 
to install anything on a hard disk. Due to on-the-fly decompression, 
the CD can have up to 2 GB of executable software installed on it.




W. Wayne Liauh wrote:

I remember someone here might have mentioned this before (or maybe 
not), but does anyone know anything about knoppix?


http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

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Knppix can also be installed to the hard drive.
http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2002/1104.barr.html


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Re: [luau] knoppix

[W. Wayne Liauh]

I forgot to mention the question that I really meant to post:

Can we (or do we know anyone who has been able to) squeeze Red Hat 8 or 
Mandrake 9 into a KNOPPIX-like bootable CD?



Cliff Brown wrote:


W. Wayne Liauh wrote:



   What is KNOPPIX??

KNOPPIX is a bootable CD with a collection of GNU/Linux 
<http://www.knopper.net/linux/> software, automatic hardware 
detection, and support for many graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI and 
USB devices and other peripherals. KNOPPIX can be used as a Linux 
demo, educational CD, rescue system, or adapted and used as a 
platform for commercial software product demos. It is not necessary 
to install anything on a hard disk. Due to on-the-fly decompression, 
the CD can have up to 2 GB of executable software installed on it.




W. Wayne Liauh wrote:

I remember someone here might have mentioned this before (or maybe 
not), but does anyone know anything about knoppix?


http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

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Knppix can also be installed to the hard drive.
http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2002/1104.barr.html


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Re: [luau] knoppix

[W. Wayne Liauh]

   What is KNOPPIX??

KNOPPIX is a bootable CD with a collection of GNU/Linux 
<http://www.knopper.net/linux/> software, automatic hardware detection, 
and support for many graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI and USB devices 
and other peripherals. KNOPPIX can be used as a Linux demo, educational 
CD, rescue system, or adapted and used as a platform for commercial 
software product demos. It is not necessary to install anything on a 
hard disk. Due to on-the-fly decompression, the CD can have up to 2 GB 
of executable software installed on it.




W. Wayne Liauh wrote:

I remember someone here might have mentioned this before (or maybe 
not), but does anyone know anything about knoppix?


http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

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[luau] knoppix

[W. Wayne Liauh]

I remember someone here might have mentioned this before (or maybe not), 
but does anyone know anything about knoppix?


http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

Re: [luau] Dual Booting with WinXP Pro

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Thanks.  I think you just answered the first part of my question, in 
that I should be able to install WinXP Pro in any of the three primary 
partitions.  If this is not correct, please let me know.


(It should be noted that although textbooks say that there are "four" 
primary partitions, since the fourth one will be used to create extended 
partitions, there are only three primary partitions in which to install 
a bootable partition.  Also, since Win98 does not use MBR, I am pretty 
sure that you must install Win98 in the first primary partition, unless 
you install a multiple booting tool first, such as Norton something.)


The second part of my question, which I did not ask, is that, if I 
install WinXP "after" Linux, do I need to do anything? With Win98, if 
installed after Linux, it will wipe out the content of MBR.  When that 
happened, you need to use a bootable floppy or CD, chroot, then reload LILO.


Thus, I am rephrasing my question: can I reserve a space for WinXP 
(which will be below the 1012nd cylinder, or roughly 8GB), then install 
it after everything is done?



Eric Hattemer wrote:


I am thoroughly confused at this email.  First, when you say "dual
booting", are you refering to two versions of Windows?  If not, then
there is almost no order required.  You get 4 primary partitions on your
system (make sure you partition with win > NT or linux).  The first
sector of your disk is the MBR, and points to the first sector of the
partition which will be booted.  This can be any of the 4 primary
partitions.  There are rules like that the start of that partition
cannot be over 8GB, and that it can't be an extended partition, but I
believe both of those rules can be cicumvented in most modern
situations.  


When you install lilo to the MBR, it is the first thing that comes up
when your system is booted.  It then selects which of those partitions
will be booted.  For linux it automatically starts reading the kernel
and etc.  For windows, it does a thing called chain loading, where it
starts the windows partition boot sector, and then windows starts
loading its own kernel.  Sometimes people in linux create a boot
partition, which holds the kernel and whatnot.  This is especially
useful for software raid or odd root filesystems that can't easily be
booted from lilo.  You might want to put that at the beginning of the
disk, but it really shouldn't matter.  It should be below 8GB, but other
than that, it can go wherever.  Generally the windows partition should
start under the 8GB mark.  But like I said earlier, I'm almost sure that
doesn't matter even in win98.

Now if you're depending on the windows bootloader in boot.ini, then
that's probably a different story.  However, its a story that I know
little about.  As long as you have linux on the system, you should
probably use lilo or grub.  If not, you still might consider it or
another 3rd party boot loader.  If you are using windows boot loader,
then I believe the NT-style OS should be first, but I could be wrong.  


-Eric Hattemer

On Thu, 2002-11-07 at 12:34, W. Wayne Liauh wrote:
 

When dual-booting with Win98, of course, Windows must be in the first 
partition.  However, I remember this (i.e., the Windows be in the first 
partition) is not necessary with Win2000.


Does anyone know whether I can put WinXP Pro in a non-first partition?

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Re: [luau] Web-Based Thin Clients

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Thanks Ray.  Since I will be only intestested in a test pilot with a 
very limited scope, any info will be useful.  Please let me know how I 
can learn more of your system.


Wayne


Ray Strode wrote:


W. Wayne Liauh wrote:

I have a bunch of old associates who are very interested in trying 
Linux but could never gather 



the courage to install a non-Windows system on their machines. 
Perhaps a web-based thin client 



system will be the easiest way for them to experience KDE/GNOME and 
test some of the 



applications in Linux.  Any thoughts on building a simple web-based 
thin client test pilot?



I have vnc.grokthecruft.org setup at my box for when i'm on campus and 
the computer doesn't have vnc installed.  Maybe you could do something 
like that?


--Ray

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Re: [luau] Web-Based Thin Clients

[W. Wayne Liauh]

A friend of mine developed a system which runs Linux thin clients on a 
Win2000 server.  He couldn't sell even a single copy and very quickly 
went out of business.


Why? Most private Windows users don't have to pay for their software 
(which either came with the machine or is pirated).  But this is not so 
with a business concern.  And the licensing cost (e.g., multiple MS 
Office licenses) to run a business Windows server will simply asphyxiate 
any business without a deep pocket.


Thus, the idea is to run the thin client either in Windows or with a 
bootable Linux CD.  The server has to be in Linux, running free or 
reasonably-priced Linux programs.



Randall Oshita wrote:


I have a bunch of old associates who are very interested in trying Linux

but could never gather the courage to install a non-Windows system on 
their machines.


Perhaps a web-based thin client system will be the easiest way for them 
to experience KDE/GNOME and test some of the applications in Linux.  Any


thoughts on building a simple web-based thin client test pilot?

++
If the thin client is a linux box, would it be able to access/run MS
apps? If so, what must the server be running?
Randall


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Re: [luau] Screen Font "Improvement" in WordPerfect 8 for Linux

[W. Wayne Liauh]

 It's not that I don't want to answer your question, but if you use Red 
Hat 8.0, the answer should be very obvious.


DeanFujioka wrote:


On Monday 04 November 2002 10:10 pm, you wrote:
 


2. The new generations of Linux distributions (e.g., Red Hat 8.0,
Mandrake 9.0, Xandros 1.0, etc.) now allow changes in screen resolution
to be made "on the fly". (BTW, I would like to point out that this
feature has been available in "our" Corel Linux--the predecesor of
Xandros--for ages, but was available in other distros only recently.)
   



I remember reading it somewhere, but how do you change screen resolution it's 
something+??


dean
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[luau] Red Hat 8.0 "Bible"

[W. Wayne Liauh]

 Just got a copy of Red Hat 8.0 Bible from Barns & Noble.  This books 
has been written and re-written at least half a dozen times, and, as a 
result, is quite good.


Obviously, even with more than 1,000 pages, no books with a such general 
scope can cover detailed info.  But for introduction, this should be a 
good book.

[luau] Dual Booting with WinXP Pro

[W. Wayne Liauh]

When dual-booting with Win98, of course, Windows must be in the first 
partition.  However, I remember this (i.e., the Windows be in the first 
partition) is not necessary with Win2000.


Does anyone know whether I can put WinXP Pro in a non-first partition?

[luau] Web-Based Thin Clients

[W. Wayne Liauh]

I have a bunch of old associates who are very interested in trying Linux 
but could never gather the courage to install a non-Windows system on 
their machines.


Perhaps a web-based thin client system will be the easiest way for them 
to experience KDE/GNOME and test some of the applications in Linux.  Any 
thoughts on building a simple web-based thin client test pilot?

Re: [luau] Ghost for Linux and Pattition Image

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Do you have any info as to how to make those demo CDs?  I remember SuSE 
has a downable demo CD.  But how to make one in Red Hat?


MonMotha wrote:

You may want to look at "live" CDs.  These are normally used for 
demoing linux (you just boot the CD), but with fairly little 
modification could probably be imaged onto a hard drive and be made to 
run read-write.


--MonMotha

[luau] "A Practical Guide to Red Hat Linux 8"

[W. Wayne Liauh]

This seems to be a good book. I will be getting a copy when it comes out 
(expected published date: Dec. 20, 2002). If it turns out to be good, I 
will get another copy and place it in KCC library.



I. THE LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM.

1. GNU/Linux: A Product of the Internet.
The GNU/Linux Connection.
The Heritage of GNU/Linux: UNIX.
What's So Good about GNU/Linux?
Overview of Linux.
Additional Features of Linux.

2. Getting Started.
Before You Start.
Red Hat Linux.
passwd: Change Your Password.
Documentation beef up info coverage.
Tutorial: Use pico to Create/Edit a File.
Basic Utilities.
Special Characters.

3. Introduction to the GNU/Linux Utilities.
Work with Files.
(Pipe): Communicate Between Processes.
Four More Utilities.
Compress and Archive a File.
Locate Commands.
Obtain User and System Information.
Communicate with Other Users.
E-mail.

4. The Linux Filesystem.
The Hierarchical Filesystem.
Directory and Ordinary Files.
Work with Directories.
Access Permissions.
Links.

5. The Shell I.
The Command Line.
Standard Input and Standard Output.
Redirection.
/dev/null: Data Sink.
Pipes.
Run a Program in the Background.
Filename Generation/Pathname Expansion.
Builtins.

II. INTERMEDIATE LINUX.


6. X and GUI.
X and GUI: Desktop, Window, & Mouse.
X Window System.
.xinitrc.
.Xdefaults.
X Applications.

7. GNOME Desktop Manager.
Get Started.
Nautilus: File Manager, Browser, and More.
GNOME Utilities.
Customizing GNOME.
The Sawfish Window Manager.

8. KDE.
Get Started.
KDE Utilities.
Konqueror Browser/File Manager.
Menus.
Bookmarks.
Customize KDE.

9. Networking and the Internet.
Types of Networks & How They Work.
Communicate over a Network.
Network Utilities.
Distributed Computing.
Usenet.
Tutorial: Use pine as a Newsreader.
Netnews with Mozilla.
WWW: World Wide Web.

10. The vim Editor.
History.
Tutorial: Create and Edit a File with vim.
Introduction to vim Features.
Command Mode—Move the Cursor.
Input Mode.
Command Mode—Delete and Change Text.
Search and Substitute.
Miscellaneous Commands.
Yank, Put, and Delete Commands.
Read and Write Files.
Set Parameters.
Advanced Editing Techniques.
Units of Measure.

11. The emacs Editor.
History.
Tutorial: Get Started with emacs.
Basic Editing Commands.
Online Help.
Advanced Editing Topics.
Language-Sensitive Editing.
Customize emacs.
emacs and the X Window System.
Resources for emacs.

12. The Shell II: The Bourne Again Shell.
Background.
Assignment Statements.
Creating a Simple Shell Script.
Command Separation and Grouping.
Redirect Standard Error.
noclobber: Avoid Overwriting Files.
Job Control.
Directory Stack Manipulation.
Processes.
Parameters and Variables.
History.
Command Line Editing.
Alias.
Command Line Expansion.

13. Programming the Bourne Again Shell.
Control Structures.
if…then.
if…then…else.
if…then…elif.
for…in.
for.
while.
until.
case.
select.
Expanding Null or Unset Variables.
String Pattern Matching.
Filename Generation.
Builtins.
Functions.

14. The TC Shell.
Shell Scripts.
Entering and Leaving the TC Shell.
Features Found in Both the Bourne Again and TC Shells.
Redirecting Standard Error.
Command Line Expansion.
Command Line Editing.
Spelling Correction.
Variables.
Control Structures.
if.
goto.
if…then…else.
foreach.
while.
switch.
Builtins.

15. The Z Shell and Advanced Shell Programming.
Z Shell Basics.
Variables.
Builtins.
select.
repeat.
Command Line Editing.
Command Processing.
Shell Programs.
Z Shell Options (set).

16. Programming Tools.
Programming in C.
Using Shared Libraries.
make: Keep a Set of Programs Current.
Debugging C Programs.
Threads.
System Calls.
Source Code Management.

17. Red Hat Linux System Administration.
System Administrator and Superuser.
Overview of Installing Red Hat Linux.
Install and Remove Software.
Keep Software up to Date.
System Operation.
File, Directory, and Filesystem.
GUI System Administration Tools.
User and Group Account Configuration.
Back Up Files.
Manage Printers.
Configure Network Services.
Rebuild the Red Hat Kernel check with new kernel.
PAM.
Administration Utilities.
Administration Tasks.
Get Help.

III. LINUX UTILITY PROGRAMS.


Utilities That Display and Manipulate Files.
Network Utilities.
Communication Utilities.
Utilities That Display and Alter Status.
Utilities That Are Programming Tools.
Source Code Management (RCS, CVS) Utilities.
Miscellaneous Utilities.
The cvs-commands.

[luau] Screen Font "Improvement" in WordPerfect 8 for Linux

[W. Wayne Liauh]

1. One of my biggest complaints about WP8/L is that its screen fonts are 
very unprofessional and annoying; this has been the single most critical 
factor keeping me from using it.


2. The new generations of Linux distributions (e.g., Red Hat 8.0, 
Mandrake 9.0, Xandros 1.0, etc.) now allow changes in screen resolution 
to be made "on the fly". (BTW, I would like to point out that this 
feature has been available in "our" Corel Linux--the predecesor of 
Xandros--for ages, but was available in other distros only recently.)


3. Because it has become so convenient to change screen resolution, I 
decided to change the resolution from 1028 x 768 to 1152 x 864, and then 
re-installed WP8/L.


4. Now the screen fonts in WP8/L look very acceptable. I am going to 
play with it for a while. To me, WP8/L is still the most powerful 
wordprocessor in the world.

Re: [luau] Ghost for Linux and Pattition Image

[W. Wayne Liauh]

The reason I am all of a sudden interested in a Ghost-like image cloning 
program such as g4u or Partition Image is that, during my recent trip to 
Taiwan, I installed a Linux PC (Red Hat 8.0) for my mother-in-law, who 
never even dared to touch a computer in her life.


With the Red Hat Linux PC (remember, there are very big differences 
between versions 7.3 and 8 of Red Hat), not only did she no longer have 
the fear (believe me, Microsoft Windows is VERY intimidating, especially 
for old people), she was also very impressed and instantly liked it. 
(In fact, she liked the Linux PC so much that, after I left, she bought 
herself a nice LCD monitor as well as applied for an ADSL 
subscription--so that she can better manage her stock portfolio).


Without Linux, my mother-in-law most likely would have never had the 
"privilege" to use a computer.  Linux has removed the psychological as 
well as generational barrier.  And I don't think her experience will be 
unique.


One of the most impressive features of Red Hat 8.0 is its multi-lingual 
capability.  For example, you can set up a plurality of users, each with 
a different locale such as English, Taiwanese (traditional Chinese), 
Chinese (simplified Chinese), Japanese, Korean, etc.  In the part of the 
world where we should be most interested in, this setup is guaranteed to 
impress everyone.


What I have in mind is that it should not be too difficult to develop an 
optimized and "minimalized" Red Hat 8.0 system, then clone the image 
into a CD-R and make the disk bootable.  Thereafter, when booted from 
the CD-ROM, it will execute scripts which will copy the disk image onto 
the free space.





Warren Togami wrote:


[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

  



Yep, several people I know who use ghost for mass deployment of NT and
other DOS family systems swear by it and tell me that they haven't
found any application "magic" numbers it couldn't handle (or that the
ghost development team couldn't make handle within a few days of
reporting a problem).

MonMotha> However, on UNIX, I can't think of anything a specialized
MonMotha> program would offer over dd and netcat :)

Maybe it just offers a degree of branding "security" for the novice
user and perhaps a little cleverness at figuring out things like the
blocksizes.

Bruce

 

Perhaps my understanding of these tools is inaccurate, but I thought 
that nothing Open Source came close to the capabilities of tools like 
Ghost.  For example, we have nothing like the multicasting features. 
None of our tools are nearly as polished either.



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Re: [luau] Ghost for Linux and Pattition Image

[W. Wayne Liauh]

I guess no one has used "partition image" yet.  Below is a brief 
description of this beta program:


*Description:* Partition Image is a Linux/UNIX utility which saves 
partitions in many formats (see below) to an image file. The image file 
can be compressed in the GZIP/BZIP2 formats to save disk space, and 
split into multiple files to be copied on removable floppies (ZIP for 
example),  The partition can be saved across the network since 
version 0.6.0


*Supported file systems:*

   * *ReiserFS :*: a new journalized and
 powerful file system
   * *ext2fs/ext3fs :* the linux
 standard
   * *FAT16/32:* DOS & Windows file systems
   * *NTFS :* Windows NT and 2000
 File System (experimental support)
   * *JFS :* Journalised File System,
 from IBM, used on Aix (beta support)
   * *XFS :* another journalized and
 efficient File System, from sgi, used on Irix (beta support)
   * *HPFS:* IBM OS/2 File System
   * *HFS:* Hierarchical File System: MacOS file systems (beta support)
   * *UFS:* Unix File System (Berkeley Fast File System: FFS, and
 Solaris File System are supported) (beta support)


Partition Image will only copy data from the used portions of the 
partition. For speed and efficiency, free blocks are not written to the 
image file. This is unlike the 'dd' command, which also copies empty 
blocks. Partition Image also works for large, very full partitions. For 
example, a full 1 GB partition can be compressed with gzip down to 400MB.


This is very useful to save partitions to an image in some cases:

   * First you can restore your linux partition if there is a problem
 (virus, file system errors, manipulation error). When you have a
 problem, you just have to restore the partition, and after 10
 minutes, you have the original partition. You can write the image
 to a CD-R if you don't want the image to use hard-disk space.
   * This utility can be used to install many identical PCs. For
 example, if you buy 50 PCs, with the same hardware, and you want
 to install the same linux systems on all 50 PCs, you will save a
 lot of time. Indeed, you just have to install on the first PC and
 create an image from it. For the 49 others, you can use the image
 file and Partition Image's restore function.




http://www.partimage.org/index.php3



Warren Togami wrote:


[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

  



Yep, several people I know who use ghost for mass deployment of NT and
other DOS family systems swear by it and tell me that they haven't
found any application "magic" numbers it couldn't handle (or that the
ghost development team couldn't make handle within a few days of
reporting a problem).

MonMotha> However, on UNIX, I can't think of anything a specialized
MonMotha> program would offer over dd and netcat :)

Maybe it just offers a degree of branding "security" for the novice
user and perhaps a little cleverness at figuring out things like the
blocksizes.

Bruce

 

Perhaps my understanding of these tools is inaccurate, but I thought 
that nothing Open Source came close to the capabilities of tools like 
Ghost.  For example, we have nothing like the multicasting features. 
None of our tools are nearly as polished either.



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Re: [luau] Ghost for Linux and Pattition Image

[W. Wayne Liauh]

I have used both DriveCopy and DriveImage; they both worked well for 
ext2 partitions.  I was wondering whether anyone has experience with the 
Ghost for Unix mentioned in Slashdot, or, more interestingly, a program 
called "Patition Image".  The latter seems to work better than the former.


Since I brought this subject, I am also wondering whether the newer 
versions of DriveImage work with the new file systems in Linux.

[luau] Ghost for Linux and Pattition Image

[W. Wayne Liauh]

Slashdot has a thread on Ghost for Unix which also contains a side 
thread on "Partition Image".  Has any one ever used either of these 
tools?  If so, can you "copy" the image to a hard disc with a different 
size?

Re: [luau] News - Namibia wisely spurns M$ 'gift' in favor of Linux

[W. Wayne Liauh]

A friend of mine told me that Open Source's biggest enemy is the "Bill 
and Melinda Gates Foundation", which has more than 20 billion dollars of 
tax-evaded money (remember, half of that money should be ours).


One of the most notable good deeds of the B&MG Foundation is to donate 
money, tens sometimes hundreds of millions of the tax-evaded money 
(again, half of that should rightfully belong to me), to hospitals and 
other charitable institutions to buy computer software.  Of course, as a 
matter of law, no strings can be attached, and the recipients are under 
no obligation, at least there is nothing in writing, to buy Microsoft 
software.  However, as I was told, such a generosity has become the 
single biggest threat to the Open Source movement.




Warren Togami wrote:


This writer's last sentence says it well.  "No wonder Gates has more
money than God. ®"  (Note: Bill Gates sold over 3 million shares of
Microsoft at $50 during the last few days.)

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/27878.html

 

[luau] Japan KDE Users' Group

[W. Wayne Liauh]

http://www.kde.gr.jp/index.php3