From MAILER-DAEMON Tue Feb 4 21:36:40 2003 Date: 04 Feb 2003 21:36:40 -0600 From: Mail System Internal Data Subject: DON'T DELETE THIS MESSAGE -- FOLDER INTERNAL DATA Message-ID: <1044416200@poochie> X-IMAP: 0973219167 0000000120 Status: RO This text is part of the internal format of your mail folder, and is not a real message. It is created automatically by the mail system software. If deleted, important folder data will be lost, and it will be re-created with the data reset to initial values. From sean@gateway.ertw.com Thu Nov 2 18:25:52 2000 -0600 Received: from list.cramsession.com (list.cramsession.com [24.108.74.105]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id SAA12060 for ; Thu, 2 Nov 2000 18:25:50 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: What's Up With RedHat 7? Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 15:34:29 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 1 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, November 2, 2000 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News StarOffice Source Released RedHat and Sound? Micro$oft buying into Linux? PHP 4.0.3 released 3) Linux Resources Signal 11 Journal File Systems 3COM 3C509 help 93 Watt Processor? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DOUBLEDAY Want to brush up on essential Windows 2000 skills? Then The Official MCSE Windows 2000 Certification Library is a must-have! This 3-book/2-CD set (a $179.97 value) is yours for only $9.99 when you join the Library of Computer and Information Sciences Book Club. Learn to install, configure and support Active Directory Services, manage system resources, and further your skills with proven test-taking strategies. http://161.58.99.48/cgi-local/redirect.pl?UEBQFCJSS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ Welcome to the issue zero of the Brainbuzz Linux newsletter! (if there is one thing you learn from this, let it be that most things in Unix are zero indexed). This weekly publication is for those who want to keep on top of Linux news, and pick up some great resources along the way. There's been a lot of hoopla in the news lately about RedHat 7. Comments from "2500 bugs", to "binary incompatibility", and even foul language like "Microsoft tactics" are being thrown around. If you're thinking that RedHat 7 is representative of Linux as a whole, it's simply not true. First, Linux isn't RedHat. RedHat is one out of several distributions of Linux. It's a good one, IMHO, even though it has a history of shipping buggy point-oh releases. It's just the price to be paid to ship the latest code. Furthermore, a distribution ships the Linux kernel along with the software to run on it. Can Linux itself be blamed for someone shipping bad client software? That's a little like saying Windows is bad because my spreadsheet crashes all the time. Second, upgrades aren't as big a deal in the Unix world as they are elsewhere. The basic theory is "if it works, don't touch it". I've still got a 2.0.36 kernel on one machine simply because it does the job it's needed for. Upgrading to the latest version of the distribution (Slackware in this case) would mean upgrading *every* piece of software. That's like moving your Windows 95 machine to Windows ME, along with upgrading your office suite, all the games, and everything else you're running. So if you're running RedHat 6.2, you may not want to make the immediate leap to 7.0. Setting up a new system? 7.0 may be for you. The machine I'm typing this on is RedHat 6.1, using the X-Windows from 6.2, and GNOME from Helix. A difference between Windows and Unix upgrades is that software in Unix is very compartmentalized. Want to upgrade Microsoft Exchange to the 2000 version? You'd better upgrade your OS to Windows 2000, right? Want the latest sendmail on your Linux 1.2 machine? Go ahead, just install it. There are some instances where this isn't the case, like when you get into the system libraries. However, there is a clear distinction between the OS and the user in Linux. Even the GUI runs as a user! This is the biggest reason that Linux is able to obtain such high uptimes. Back to RedHat. They've got a long history of shipping the latest code in their distributions. If you've ever looked at the source for the kernel that they ship, you'll see that it's got a lot of extra patches that haven't made it to the current kernel yet. It helps to promote open source by getting the software into people's hands. Being on the bleeding edge comes at a price. Sometimes software just isn't ready. One of the more serious issues with RH7 was the inclusion of GCC 2.96, which is a snapshot release. A snapshot release is one that has been pulled right out of the development tree. Compare this to a formal release, where the developers have decided that the code is at a point where it is ready for widespread use. Alas, 2.96 creates object files that are not compatible with current versions, nor will be compatible with future versions. The GCC steering committee thought that this was a stupid move, so they issued a release about it: http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc-announce/2000/msg00003.html Bob Young, Chairman of the Board of RedHat responds: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/10/12/163218&mode=thread LinuxToday provides some balanced comments: http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2000-10-09-005-21-NW-CY-RH On the subject of binary incompatibilities, support for the old libc5 has been dropped. RedHat has been using glibc2 for some time now, so I can forgive them for shedding some deadweight. People with legacy binary packages may find their applications broken, but installing libc5 shouldn't be a big problem. RedHat was one of the first distributions to move over to glibc2, and at the time there was some discontent about it. Now, there is little dispute that it was a good move for the Linux community. glibc2 allowed improvements and design fixes to enter the system libraries. On that thought, maybe shipping a snapshot compiler wasn't a bad idea? Some other notable bugs in RedHat 7: RedHat 7 crashes after 3 weeks due to a file descriptor bug: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/10/11/1341237&mode=thread RedHat 7 security errata (7 packages): http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/rh7-errata-security.html RedHat 7 package fixes (9 packages): http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/rh7-errata-bugfixes.html Bugs aside, RedHat 7 includes some great new features, such as: - OpenSSH for secure telnet and file copying - SSL for secure web transactions and sockets - XFree86 4.0, the latest X servers for better performance - GNOME updates. I am quite happy to see the inclusion of strong cryptography into a popular distribution. In case you didn't know, until recently companies couldn't export cryptographic software from the States without a license (or back door). These restrictions have since been relaxed. RedHat is also using 7.0 to publicize their new update service, called the RedHat Support Network: http://www.redhat.com/products/support/network/ So what's your opinion on RedHat 7? Let me and others know on the Brainbuzz RedHat board: http://boards.brainbuzz.com:80/boards/vbt.asp?b=184 On a closing note, even though I'm in Canada, I know the Americans in the audience are coming up to election time. Out of interest, I checked out what OS the candidates chose to host their website: www.algore2000.com: Apache/1.3.12 (Unix) PHP/4.0.1pl2 secured_by_Raven/1.5.1 www.bush2000.com: Microsoft-IIS/5.0 Long live the penguin, Sean swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ------------------- StarOffice Source Released ------------------- SUN StarOffice is a pretty nice office suite that runs on Solaris, Linux, and Windows. It's goal is to be a functional clone of Microsoft Office, and let me tell you that it's not doing too badly. SUN recently put the source under the GNU license and posted API and file format documentation so that the community can direct and improve the project. Brilliant move or cheap marketing ploy? Only time will tell. In the meantime, enjoy the free office suite. http://www.sun.com/staroffice/openoffice/ ------------------- RedHat and Sound? ------------------- windfall has a Creative Vibra 128 and can't get it to work on his RedHat 6.2 box. Sound isn't my forte (I've got an SB 16 -- works on everything!), but maybe it's yours... Can someone give this fellow a hand? http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbm.asp?rpg=1&wpg=1&sb=0&m=186129 ------------------- Micro$oft buying into Linux? ------------------- Tell me it's not true! Microsoft recently pumped $135M into Corel. Now, Corel is a good [Canadian!] company and can use the money, but the only thing they have to offer is Linux! So why would Microsoft want to talk to them? From a M$ SEC filing: "Corel hereby grants Microsoft an option for Corel to Port some portion or all of the .Net Framework from the Windows Platform to the Linux Platform." Ahhh. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-3173984.html?tag=st.ne.1002.bgif.ni ------------------- PHP 4.0.3 released ------------------- PHP is a server side web scripting language, much like ASP. It'll run on UNIX and Win32, using IIS, Apache, or most other web servers. If you've never used it, take a look. If you run it, you'd better upgrade because some security related bugs were found in the older versions. http://www.php.net/ ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ --------------- Signal 11 --------------- Signal 11, otherwise known as a Segmentation Fault (or violation), is the Unix equivalent of GPF. When a process accesses memory that it hasn't been allocated, the kernel sends it signal 11 and stops it. Usually this is the result of sloppy programming, but can sometimes indicate bad or misconfigured hardware. The Sig 11 FAQ explains what causes this condition, and how to diagnose what's causing it. http://www.bitwizard.nl/sig11/ ------------------- Journal File Systems ------------------- Ever turned off a busy Unix box without properly shutting it down? They don't power on very well, do they? That's because some of the filesystem was in memory waiting to be flushed to disk, so now there are inconsistencies that must be fixed. A journal file system logs the changes to a journal file, much like a database. After a crash, the system just replays the log file and the file system is good as new. There are also some performance enhancements that you get out of this. http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue55/florido.html ------------------- 3COM 3C509 help ------------------- BrainBuzz member GuitarLynn has posted a how-to on the 3C509 network card. It's a good, cheap ISA card that is quite popular with older PCs. The problem is that ISA cards don't always get detected on bootup, so you've got to give Linux a hint. This document will fix you right up. (Watch out for the URL, it's going to wrap!) http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU866&tn=3c509B+ install&pi=S1C1&pn=How+To%27s ------------------- 93 Watt Processor? ------------------- This is a good article on power consumption in CPUs. The author also shows how a P4 CPU can consume up to 93 Watts of power! My soldering iron is 30 Watts! How much longer before the cooling and power needs of PCs will make them unattractive to the home buyer? http://www.linux.com/hardware/newsitem.phtml?sid=1&aid=10997 ============================================================ (C) 2000 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@gateway.ertw.com Thu Nov 9 16:10:01 2000 -0600 Received: from list.cramsession.com (list.cramsession.com [24.108.74.105]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id QAA14745 for ; Thu, 9 Nov 2000 16:09:57 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: Dell loves Linux! Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 15:04:50 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 2 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, November 9, 2000 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News IBM Rolls out Small Business Suite for Linux IBM in a 15,200 Linux Server Deal Dell loves Linux 2.4 nears release 3) Linux Resources Software RAID The bad RAM patch Traffic Graphs How to use a floppy Controlling access via TCP Wrappers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Budgetware Cisco 2.0 study tools are now available! This study tool comes in four parts. Part one is now shipping! This 60-minute, 120+ questions will only enhance your chances of passing CCNA certification. We also have Router Simulation available on CD-ROM. Our entire product line comes with a 90-day guarantee. Click here for more info: http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=87 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ As someone who used Microsoft Windows before my transition to Linux, I've run into a few problems trying to make the change. Although applications you currently run are probably not available under Linux, there may be an equivalent. The web browser is the easiest transition of all. As a Netscape user before the move, I found that the Linux version was just as good. Some plug ins (including Flash) have even been ported so that your web browsing experience is the same. I used to be a big fan of Word Perfect, so I thought that using the Linux version would be right for me. This didn't turn out to be true, mostly because I wanted the ability to embed spreadsheets into a text document. I also found the interface to be a bit clunky compared to what I was used to at the time. Eventually I found out about StarOffice, and immediately took a liking to it. With StarOffice, I can do all of the word processing and spreadsheets I need, and in the rare event that I need to do a presentation it's got that built in too. It'll read and write MS Office files, which I've used on several occasions to read attachments that were sent to me. I wouldn't recommend the mail reader (I'm still a fan of PINE), since Netscape's is much quicker. I've got a Palm Pilot and I use it to keep my life in order. StarOffice has Palm Pilot integration, but that would mean I'd have to fire it up whenever I wanted to look up a phone number. It also doesn't handle all the functionality of the Windows Palm Desktop. Since I'm a GNOME user, I installed the gnome-pilot and pilot-link packages, which allow me to easily HotSync to the GNOME address book and calendar, along with keeping track of my memos and the like. When I upgraded to Helix-GNOME, it was all built-in, so now I can easily keep up on updates via the Helix System Updater. My favorite news reader was Forte Free Agent. Not wanting to give that up, I found out about the WINE project (http://www.winehq.com). WINE is an implementation of the Win32 API. Many applications run on it, including Free Agent and Gnutella. There is some good documentation out there on how to get WINE going. I was even able to play a game of Red Alert on my Linux box using WINE. Unfortunately, WINE doesn't do everything. One such example is Quicken 2000. There are reports of Quicken 98 working under WINE, as long as the Internet features aren't used. Since I use this to update my balances and investments, I couldn't make do without the Internet aspect. One alternative is GNUCash, which is a very good personal finance application. If GNUCash could handle online updating of account balances, I think I'd ditch Quicken in a flash. At the moment, I've installed VMWare (www.vmware.com), running Windows 98. It is fairly slow on my K6-233, but it gets the job done. I've also used VMWare to do some testing of Linux in a separate environment. So, for those of you looking to make the jump to Linux, I hope that you learn from some of my experiences. It is a viable desktop OS, and it has been much more reliable than my old Windows configuration. Let's hear your thoughts on this: http://boards.brainbuzz.com:80/boards/vbt.asp?b=184 Long live the Penguin! Sean swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ -------------------------------------------- IBM Rolls out Small Business Suite for Linux -------------------------------------------- IBM has bundled Lotus Domino, the WebSphere Application Server, and DB2 Universal Database into a suite, and priced it at the $500 mark rather than the $3,600 the components would cost if bought separately. The catch is that they'll only license you up to 100 users, but that's OK for the multitude of small businesses out there that want some great software at a low per-seat cost. http://www.zdnet.com/enterprise/stories/linux/0,12249,2649962,00.html --------------------------------- IBM in a 15,200 Linux Server Deal --------------------------------- Busy this week, aren't they? A Japanese convenience store chain is replacing Windows machines with Linux machines in 7,600 stores. The servers will be connected to touch screen terminals that provide information and Internet services to customers. No news on what distribution will be used though. http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/11/03/ibm.linux.japan.idg/index.html ------------------- Dell loves Linux! ------------------- Dell has joined the growing number of computer distributors that have embraced Linux. In a series of press releases, Dell announced that they'll be shipping RedHat 7 pre-installed on some of their servers and workstations. They also announced some impressive web serving performance on an 8-way box. It's running custom developed code, but it should hit mainstream soon enough. http://www.dell.com/us/en/biz/topics/products_alls_pedge_000_redhat.htm ------------------ 2.4 nears release ------------------ The next major release of the kernel, 2.4, is getting closer to completion. 2.4-test10 was just released, with a note from Linus saying that there are no show-stoppers in this one. 2.4 promises better support for SMP (multiple processors), an area where Linux has traditionally been weak. Once again, they've redone the networking code to be more robust, so if you just got the hang of ipchains, get ready to learn iptables! http://freshmeat.net/news/2000/10/31/973025893.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ -------------- Software RAID -------------- RAID is a technology that lets you increase the reliability of your disk system by storing data in a redundant fashion, to expand the capacity by combining several disks into one larger volume, or a combination of both. You can buy an expensive RAID card, or you can get your operating system to do it for you. This document explains how RAID works, and how to implement software RAID on your Linux box. http://www.osfaq.com/article.php3?sid=27 ------------------- The bad RAM patch ------------------- One of the things that can go wrong with a RAM chip is that a certain memory address will get "stuck", i.e. always show the same number. Usually it means the whole chip is junk. This is a patch that allows you to specify where the RAM is bad, and the kernel will work around the address. Even with the relatively low cost of RAM, this can have some interesting applications. Regardless, it's another example of the benefits of open source (and that some people never sleep). http://home.zonnet.nl/vanrein/badram/ ------------------- Traffic Graphs ------------------- Anyone who manages more than a few switches and routers knows how helpful SNMP can be. MRTG, the Multi Router Traffic Grapher, is a collection of PERL scripts and C code that will graph traffic utilization, or any other SNMP variable. It also has the capability to graph other things, such as load average, hits/second on a web server, or proxy usage. What would you expect to pay for this amazing software? Nothing, of course! http://ee-staff.ethz.ch/~oetiker/webtools/mrtg/mrtg.html ------------------- How to use a floppy ------------------- One of the more common questions I've seen from people is "How do I access a floppy disk?" It's not quite as easy as putting it in and typing "A:"! That's because a filesystem has to be mounted before it can be used. This article, courtesy of linuxnewbie.com, is an excellent introduction to disks and filesystems. http://linuxnewbie.com/articles/tutorials/7,1/ ----------------------------------- Controlling access via TCP Wrappers ----------------------------------- TCP Wrappers are one of the simpler ways of controlling access to your computer. Through two text files, you can control who can connect to most of your services. Pretty much everyone ships with them pre-installed, but you have to know how to use them effectively. This article will set you on the right foot so you can keep the bad guys out. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU792&tn=How+to+ use+TCP+Wrappers&pi=S1C1&pn=How+To%27s ============================================================ (C) 2000 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@gateway.ertw.com Thu Nov 16 17:55:55 2000 -0600 Received: from list.cramsession.com (list.cramsession.com [24.108.74.105]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id RAA18031 for ; Thu, 16 Nov 2000 17:55:53 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: Apache 2.0 alpha 4 Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 16:33:20 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 3 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, November 16, 2000 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Apache 2.0 alpha 4 An interview with Rasmus GIMP 1.1.29 And the most popular web server is... 3) Linux Resources It's just plain Lunacy Apache+SSL+mod_perl+PHP+mysql mod_ssl overview Creating dynamic sites From CGI to mod_perl 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BEACHFRONT DIRECT We GUARANTEE you will pass your exam or you get your money back! Linux News subscribers save up to 50%... Call Today! Red Hat Special Only $79.95 each Normally $149.95 Check out our BrainBuzz specials on new Cisco 2.0, Win2K, CompTia and Citrix Advanced titles today. CALL (800) 845-8569 FOR MORE INFORMATION OR VISIT US AT http://www.beachfrontdirect.com/csb38.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ The steep learning curve involved in learning Unix is well known. Many in the audience will have been frustrated by the filesystem at one time or another, confused by compiling, or driven crazy by the kernel (OK, I'll stop there, it's getting bad). Instead of the gradual learning curve of products like Windows NT, it seems like one must master many tasks before doing even the simplest thing under UNIX. It's true, and no apologies are made. One of the Unix philosophies is that the user, and to a much greater extent the administrator, knows what he/she wants to do, and doesn't want to be hindered by the operating system. Rather than a tree of options to configure a web server, you've got a large text file. Nothing is assumed by the shell-- one space or misplaced character can easily destroy your filesystem instead of the file you meant to delete. In essence, the interface is so simple that the smarts of the system have to reside in the user, not in the GUI. Understand that, and the operating system becomes less intimidating. Think of it as a formula one race car -- in the hands of a novice it's bouncing off the railings and out of control. With a seasoned driver behind the wheel, it is an elegant machine, a model of power and speed. So how does one ascend from being a novice to a master, or at the very least, be able to make sense of a Unix system? The disappointing answer is that it comes with experience. Linux is a great way to get this experience because of its open nature, easy installation, and documentation. It is also an excellent variant of Unix, such that many organizations are starting to use Linux instead of traditional UNIX OSes like Solaris and HP/UX. When learning a new technology, I find it easier to relate it to something I already know. When I get asked by someone how best to learn how to write a web database, I usually respond by suggesting that they write a timesheet application. Everyone knows what a timesheet is, so it gives a solid goal to work towards. It's simple, so you can focus on the use of technology rather than trying to solve a difficult problem with an unknown tool. It's flexible, so you can start off small and work from there. With that in mind, learning Linux should be made easier with a project that is a known quantity. All of us are familiar with the web, and most will know about web servers. By following the process towards building a web server on a Linux box, one can learn a great deal along the way. Apache is a popular and easy to use web server, and it has lots of plug-ins to make it all the more challenging at the later stages. Writing HTML isn't hard, so I would consider this a great project. This issue of the Linux newsletter is devoted to the web. The news section is all about what's going on in the web server world, and the resource section contains references to tutorials on how to get your web server up and running. Remember that it's not about the destination, but the journey. Pay attention to what you're doing as you do it. Don't be afraid to try out things to see what happens. Even if you have to reinstall your OS and start from scratch, you've still learned something. Don't forget about the resources that Brainbuzz.com provides in the boards. Post your questions to one of the Linux boards: http://boards.brainbuzz.com:80/boards/vbt.asp?b=184 Finally, feel free to email me with your thoughts and comments. Long live the Penguin, Sean swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ------------------ Apache 2.0 alpha 4 ------------------ Apache, the most popular web server in the world, is getting ready for version 2.0. Over the years, Apache has been continually enhanced with little signs of slowing down. 2.0a4 is the latest release on the road to 2.0, and Ryan Bloom takes the time to explain what's new, what's great, and why you should give this alpha a try. http://apachetoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2000-06-30-002-01-NW-LF-SW ------------------------ An interview with Rasmus ------------------------ Rasmus Lerdorf, the author of PHP, explains where PHP came from, where it's going, and talks about his book, "PHP Pocket Reference". http://web.oreilly.com/news/lerdorf_0200.html ----------- GIMP 1.1.29 ----------- Billed as the release candidate for GIMP 1.2, the latest version of the GNU Image Manipulation Program has been made available. For those of you looking for a free Photoshop quality tool for UNIX (or Windows for that matter), here it is. For current GIMP users, it's time to upgrade! http://www.gimp.org/download.html ------------------------------------- And the most popular web server is... ------------------------------------- Not much of a surprise, is it? Apache continues to dominate the web server market. This report has some very interesting graphs showing the percentage of marketshare over time. Over 22 million sites were polled for this study. http://www.netcraft.net/survey/ ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ---------------------- It's just plain Lunacy ---------------------- Linux Lunacy, that is...a one week cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. See the sights of the Caribbean, enjoy the Bon Voyage cocktail party, and attend seminars from famous names in the Linux world. They've even got a page that explains how to sell this to your boss! http://www.geekcruises.com/ ----------------------------- Apache+SSL+mod_perl+PHP+mysql ----------------------------- Common questions I hear fall along the lines of "How do I get mod_X (or PHP, or SSL for that matter) working with Apache?" This article will lead you through setting up a web server with SSL, mod_perl, PHP, and a mysql database. http://www.linux.com/sysadmin/newsitem.phtml?sid=1&aid=11206 ---------------- mod_ssl overview ---------------- While on the subject of Apache and various modules, this link will lead you to a presentation given at Apachecon 2000 on mod_ssl (the module that enables secure web pages). It shows various scenarios in which you can use mod_ssl, along with the configurations to do them. It starts off with a description on how SSL really works -- a must read if you plan on implementing it within your organization. http://www.modssl.org/docs/apachecon2000/ ---------------------- Creating dynamic sites ---------------------- It wouldn't be fair of me to give you all this information on how to set up Apache, PHP, and mysql, and then not tell you how to use it all! Using the example of a database driven site to display press releases, the process of developing the database and writing the PHP code is explained. http://www.linux-mag.com/2000-08/wonders_web_01.html -------------------- >From CGI to mod_perl -------------------- CGI is the usual way of getting the output of a perl script out to the browser. mod_perl allows you to run your perl code directly as a module so that you have increased flexibility and faster execution. For those of us who know CGI but not mod_perl, this page takes you through the transition. http://perl.apache.org/dist/cgi_to_mod_perl.html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ In the newest section of the newsletter, I'm going to try to provide an application or utility that you may find of use. For this first edition of App o' the Week, in keeping with this week's web theme, I present...the Webalizer! The Webalizer is an amazingly fast and flexible statistics tool for web server logs, Squid logs, and FTP logs. With a bit of tweaking, it can also process IIS logs. Turn on combined logging (i.e., referrers and agents) in Apache, and the report will include a list of the top search strings that people used to get to your site! http://www.webalizer.org Have a good utility that you think others should hear about? Let me know: mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ (C) 2000 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@gateway.ertw.com Thu Nov 23 18:29:06 2000 -0600 Received: from list.cramsession.com (list.cramsession.com [24.108.74.105]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id SAA19127 for ; Thu, 23 Nov 2000 18:29:04 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: Working With MP3's Under Linux Date: Thu, 23 Nov 2000 16:12:51 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 4 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, November 23, 2000 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Torvalds Unplugged 5th Annual Obfuscated Perl Contest Awards Look out, VMWare! Will the new TLDs fly? 3) Linux Resources Winmodems...Ick What's with all the licences? Cron 101 Fun with processes Linux and MP3 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AUDIOWHIZ Speed up your test success - innovative and unusual study method Increases learning, retention and faster recall... Click Here To Read More: http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1464 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ One thing that no system administrator can do without is a good editor. Sure, pico can edit a file, but the first time you edit a file with long lines and it conveniently wraps them for you, you'll set out to find a new editor. pico is not on every system either... VI has long been a favourite of system administrators. Not to get into the age old debate of VI vs EMACS, but VI is on every UNIX system, so administrators should at least have a passing familiarity with it. If your system has crashed and you have limited access to your filesystems, it's going to be a lot easier to get VI up and running than emacs. So, here's a brief introduction to VI. VI has two basic modes, insert and command. If you're typing in text, you want to be in insert mode. If you're moving around and doing text operations (search/replace, deleting lines), you want to be in command mode. All right. Let's fire up VI. % vi Yes, it's that difficult. When you first start up, you'll be in command mode. Type 'a' to start typing. 'a' means append, so you will start typing at the spot after the cursor. Type the following sentence: I really lvoe linux. Then hit the escape (ESC) key to get out of the insert mode. Oops! We made some typos. Move the cursor to the 'v' in lvoe. Now type "xp". I really love linux. 'x' means to delete the current character and store it in the buffer. 'p' means to put the buffer out AFTER the current character. 'P' would put it out BEFORE the current character. (Yes, VI is very picky about case). So, "xp" together is "transpose", but is actually two separate commands. The next thing is that "linux" should be capitalized. Move the cursor on top of the 'l' in linux, and type '~'. The tilde means to change the case of the current character. I really love Linux. Maybe you don't "love" linux, you just think it is cool. Move on top of the 'l' in love. Type "cw". 'c' means to change, 'w' means "word". Type "think" and then hit ESC to exit the insert mode. To add "is cool", hit '$', which takes you to the last character on the line. Type 'i' to insert, then " is cool". 'i' and 'a' are pretty much the same, except for where they start editing. Hit "ESC" to get out of insert mode. I really think Linux is cool. Most of VI builds on what you learned above. For example, to change one letter instead of a word, do "cl". Note that you can replace one letter with a whole word. "c$" means to change the rest of the line. Replace the 'c' with 'd' and you'll delete. To save what you're working on, enter ":w" from command mode. You can also specify a filename, which we'll need to do, so ":w vi.test". To quit, ":q". To quit without saving, ":q!". 'i' and 'a', when capitalized, mean to start inserting at the beginning of the line, or appending to the end of the line respectively. VI is a powerful editor, but you've got to remember a bunch of little commands. Once you've got the hang of it, you'll never touch pico again! Here are a couple of links to get you on your way with VI: http://www.darryl.com/vi.shtml http://www.cs.umr.edu/uniinfo/general/packages/viguide.html Don't forget about the resources that BrainBuzz.com provides in the boards. Post your questions to one of the Linux boards: http://boards.brainbuzz.com:80/boards/vbt.asp?b=184 Finally, feel free to email me with your thoughts and comments. Long live the Penguin, Sean swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ------------------- Torvalds Unplugged ------------------- In this interview, Linus talks about 2.4's SMP support and filesystems. He also explains what was behind the Dell server in the SpecWeb bench last month, and what's going on in the embedded Linux world. http://www.freeos.com/articles/2689/2/11/ ------------------- 5th Annual Obfuscated Perl Contest Awards ------------------- Perl, "...the best language for managing a hardcore porn website", can be hard to understand at the best of times. Take a look at the results of this contest, where the idea is to make elegant code that's hard to read. There is a game of frogger (you'd swear the code was line noise), some CGI, and much more. And I thought my code was hard to read! http://www.itknowledge.com/tpj/obfusc-5-awards.html ------------------- Look out, VMWare! ------------------- Plex86 is a free emulator, similiar to VMWare. It can currently run Linux, DOS, and FreeDOS under a Linux environment. It was recently announced that Windows 95 will work! Congrats! Check out the article for more information, and a link to a screenshot of the system in action. http://www.plex86.org/news.phtml?id=28 ------------------- Will the new TLDs fly? ------------------- By now you must have heard that new Top Level Domains (TLDs) such as .biz, .info, .name, are on their way to a nameserver near you. Did you know that there are some stringent restrictions on who can use them? What kind of an impact will this have on the existing TLDs? http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,40270,00.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ---------------- Winmodems... Ick ---------------- So called "Winmodems", where the real smarts are implemented in software, are inexpensive and take care of some of those extra processing cycles, but the software is only available for Windows. If you have one (my laptop at work does) and want to use it for Linux, this resource will help you find the software you need to make your "Winmodem" into a "Linmodem". http://www.o2.net/~gromitkc/winmodem.html ----------------------------- What's with all the licences? ----------------------------- If you're from the Windows world, you're probably used to just commercial and freeware software (i.e. you can either copy it or you can't). In the Unix world, where most things are free (as in free beer), the code itself has varying degrees of free-ness (as in free speech). There's the GPL, LGPL, BSD, Artistic, and PD among many. This article sets straight some of the differences (good and bad) between the two major Unix-derived OSs - GPL and BSD. http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=00/10/18/1154216 ------------------- Cron 101 ------------------- Cron is the daemon that takes care of scheduling jobs, like cleaning up logs, running web stats, notification, etc. It's a system administrator's best friend, since almost any manual task can be written up in a script and automated. This page explains the basics of cron, and how to get the most out of it. http://www.linuxlookup.com/html/guides/cron.html ------------------- Fun with processes ------------------- Now that you know how to use cron, you might want to use it to ensure that certain processes are running. This can be a bit tricky, since you'll have to get your script to read the process list. Fear not, the shell's features make this pretty easy. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU782&tn=Fun+wit h+processes&pi=A&pn=Tech+Library ------------------- Linux and MP3 ------------------- Ever wondered how to play, stream, rip, or encode MP3s under Linux? This HOWTO explains it all. There is lots of information on various utilities that can be used to work with MP3s and sound in general. http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html_single/MP3-HO WTO.html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ This week's utility may help you manage your time a bit better. "Pete's GNOME Time Card" is a panel applet for GNOME that allows you to enter various projects in a drop down box, and a single click indicates that you have started or stopped work. You can then get a report on how much time you've spent on each task. This is very useful for anyone who does contract work, or who wants to know where they're spending their time. http://www.cse.nd.edu/~prijks/puters/petesoft/pgtc/ ============================================================ (C) 2000 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@gateway.ertw.com Thu Nov 30 15:34:56 2000 -0600 Received: from list.cramsession.com (list.cramsession.com [24.108.74.105]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id PAA25727 for ; Thu, 30 Nov 2000 15:34:54 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: Using Perl With Linux Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 14:08:44 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 5 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, November 30, 2000 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News New Distributed.net Client Raises Controversy Bring back Gopher! Watch Out For Those Naked PCs RH7 Advisories 3) Linux Resources Patching 101 Perl, or PHP? Drawing Lines in GIMP Moving the Root Partition Need Debian Help? 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Double Day Become a Visual Basic Programming Wizard for $9.99! Get this three book three CD-ROM set and you'll receive instant access to authoritative VB 6 solutions - for $9.99 when you join Computer Books Direct. Click for details: http://161.58.99.48/cgi-local/redirect.pl?VZDXMOLMT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ PERL, the Practical Extraction and Reporting Language, is a vital tool in the system administrator's toolbox. It is a powerful scripting language, and the availability of modules on CPAN (Comprehensive Perl Archive Network) means that a lot of code is already written for you. It used to be that adding modules to Perl was fairly complex. Module A may depend on Module B, which further depends on Module C. Luckily, the modules are usually smart enough to tell you that something is missing, but it's up to you to go out and find it. Enter CPAN.pm. This module will go out and find modules for you. It will take care of downloading, compiling, testing, and installing. If another module is needed, it'll grab it off of CPAN and install it. It can keep track of versions, even going so far as upgrading Perl itself if need be. CPAN.pm comes with Perl by default, so you should be able to start it up (as root is probably your best bet) via # cpan If that doesn't work, you might have to start it the long way: # perl -MCPAN -e shell (the cpan command, if you have it, is merely a shell script that runs the long version). The first time you run this, you'll have to go through a configuration. Accepting the defaults is fine, but you'll have to select your closest mirror site based on your continent and country. Since you're probably missing some modules, you can ensure that the basics are up to date: cpan> install Bundle::libnet ... cpan> install Bundle::CPAN This will ensure that the libnet and CPAN bundles are current. A bundle is a predefined group of modules. For example, libnet is a set of modules that allow you to do FTP, HTTP, SMTP, and a bunch of other protocols. Rather than installing support for each protocol, they're all in a bundle. At some point or another in your use of CPAN, it's going to want to install a newer version of PERL for you. You can go ahead and let it. Accepting the defaults for everything is going to be fine, except for the location of PERL itself. Many distributions (RedHat for sure) install PERL in /usr/, but the distribution wants to go in /usr/local/. If you accept the default, you'll lose support for all previous modules, and cause confusion for yourself with two different versions of PERL. So, make sure you know where PERL is, and tell the install utility to overwrite it. The use of CPAN.pm is straightforward. If you want to find a particular module, such as an FTP client, you can do a search... cpan> i /ftp/ ...that will return many files (since one module can have several sub-modules, you'll see a lot of duplicates). By looking at the filename, you can guess which module you want. In this case, Net::FTP (G/GB/GBARR/libnet-1.0703.tar.gz) Looks good. You can then do the install: cpan> install Net::FTP CPAN.pm will go out and do whatever is needed to install, or, if you already have the module, you'll see: Net::FTP is up to date. To figure out how to use the module, you can check out the man page. In the case of Net::FTP, you'd run # man Net::FTP CPAN.pm can save you a lot of time, both in finding a module to do the work you want, and in installing the module and dependencies. It has a friendly interface, and by reading the output carefully you can usually find out what you're missing if a problem occurs. The man page (man CPAN) is very helpful. For example, it tells you how to find out what modules are out of date via # perl -e 'use CPAN; CPAN::Shell->r;' This being PERL, you could also get it to install the outdated modules automatically, but I'll let you look that one up on your own! Let's hear what you've got to say on the discussion boards. RedHat Board: http://boards.brainbuzz.com:80/boards/vbt.asp?b=184 PERL Board: http://boards.brainbuzz.com:80/boards/vbt.asp?b=290 Finally, feel free to email me with your thoughts and comments! Long live the Penguin, Sean swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ --------------------------------------------- New Distributed.net Client Raises Controversy --------------------------------------------- "Disputes have arisen in the first few days after the release of Distributed.net's W2KB client which uses an inverted code regression algorithm to compute the number of bugs in Windows 2000. Accusations are flying between Team Microsoft and Team Linux about code patches and forged packets." Anyone who has participated in distributed.net before will find this article to be a hoot! http://www.bbspot.com/News/2000/11/distributed.html ------------------ Bring back Gopher! ------------------ Gopher was around long before the web. Think of it as the Web without hyperlinks in documents. It's certainly one way to get rid of the "World Wide Wait", since Gopher is a very clean way of getting documents shipped around. Check out the "Bring Back Gopher" Campaign below to see why we shouldn't let this time tested protocol die out. http://www.scn.org/~bkarger/gopher-manifesto ----------------------------- Watch Out For Those Naked PCs ----------------------------- It use to be the common practice--selling a PC with Windows pre-installed. With Linux and other free OSs becoming more popular, vendors are starting to sell PCs without an OS. This, of course, is not good for Microsoft, so they've countered with a press release suggesting that this will lead to widespread piracy. Follow this link for some reasons why this is not true, and is just another cheap ploy by Redmond to keep their bottom line safe. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/14955.html -------------- RH7 Advisories -------------- There have been a few updates made to RedHat distributions in the past week or two. Most importantly, OpenSSH can be exploited to steal someone's screen without their knowledge. There are some other ones there, Pine, GhostScript, and Joe, so play it safe and make sure your system is up to date. http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/rh7-errata-security.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ------------ Patching 101 ------------ Most administrators will have to apply a patch to source code at some point in their lives. What about when you want to create a patch file for others? This short article explains how to use "diff" to get the differences between two source trees and dump them into a patch file that can be applied with "patch". http://linux.com/tuneup/database.phtml/Development/002013.html ------------- Perl, or PHP? ------------- Both Perl and PHP can be used to create some great dynamic web sites. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, and only experience can be the true guide of which to choose. For those just entering the web development scene, this article is a great primer on the differences between the two. http://www.techweb.com/se/directlink.cgi?IWK20000117S0053 --------------------- Drawing Lines in GIMP --------------------- GIMP, the GNU Image Manipulation Program, is a Photoshop quality drawing package for Unix. Its wide range of filters and intuitive interface make it a useful tool for anyone who needs to whip up some graphics. One of the more common questions is "How the heck do you draw a straight line?". Surprisingly enough, it's not as obvious as it should be. http://www.gimp.org/~sjburges/straightline/straightline.html ------------------------- Moving the Root Partition ------------------------- Moving around partitions is a normal task in the life of a Linux admin. If /var starts to run out of space, it's time to get it onto a new hard drive. What happens when the root partition needs expanding? There is a lot of data that resides on this partition that must be handled carefully. Follow these instructions, and you won't have to worry when the system comes back up. http://www.ciol.com/content/services/forum/artdisplay.asp?secid=4&thid=1&id= 58 ----------------- Need Debian Help? ----------------- Debian is a popular distribution of Linux, well known for its strict policies regarding Free (speech and beer) software. Support for Debian has been largely difficult to obtain, compared with giants like RedHat. debianhelp.org is designed to fix that. http://www.debianhelp.org/ ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ Even though X-Windows is network transparent, or most of your administration can be done via a telnet/ssh session, there are times when you want a full screen view of your machine, just like PC-Anywhere. Or, do you want to control a Windows machine from a Unix box? Or a web browser? How about giving Windows users their own X-Windows session without an expensive X-Server on the client end...one that you can return to after disconnecting, instead of having to re-open all the applications? VNC is what you want. It's cross platform, fast, and free. http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/ ============================================================ (C) 2000 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@gateway.ertw.com Thu Dec 7 16:30:58 2000 -0600 Received: from list.cramsession.com (list.cramsession.com [24.108.74.105]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id QAA31275 for ; Thu, 7 Dec 2000 16:30:57 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: Put Your E-mail Into A Blackberry Basket Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 15:13:27 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 6 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, December 7, 2000 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Do Your Part Strut Your Stuff Creative, but... Windows Whistler vs. Gnome 1.2, KDE 2.0 3) Linux Resources Command Line Weenies System Basics Journaling Filesystems Keep Tux Safe Using Snort 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CYBERSTATEU Win Free Certification Training from CyberStateU.com. It's really simple. Follow this link! http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1096 and fill out the entry form. You can win free certification training courses in hot Internet technologies such as Microsoft, Novell, Cisco, Computer Telephony and Linux. Can not be combined with any other offer. Limit one entry per person. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ It's hard to believe this is already the sixth week of the Linux newsletter! Thanks to all of you who sent your feedback to me at mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com ... Keep it coming! I was talking with a friend the other day, and he was wondering how he could get some of the email sent to his personal account forwarded to his Blackberry wireless device. Not all of them, mind you, just from certain people or certain subjects. Plus, the message still has to end up in his regular mailbox. This, along with other mail filtering problems, is the realm of procmail. Want to put your mailing lists in their own folders? Procmail is the answer. Filter out spam? You guessed it... Procmail is a utility that is fed "recipes" which dictate what it should do with messages. It tends to be called from your mail transfer agent, such as sendmail. Most distributions tend to have procmail available, but if you can't get it from there, the links at the end of this article will lead you to the sources. Before putting procmail to work, you've got to get your MTA set up first. Some distributions, such as RedHat, make procmail your default local delivery agent so this is done for you. Otherwise, you need to create a .forward file with the following contents: "|IFS=' '&&exec /usr/bin/procmail -f-||exit 75 #username" (you'll want to replace the "username" with your username. Don't forget the double and single quotes too!) Recipes go into the .procmailrc file in your home directory, and must only be writable by the owner. Before you can start writing the rules though, you'll have to tell procmail about your system (within .procmailrc): PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/bin MAILDIR=$HOME/mail #you'd better make sure it exists LOGFILE=$MAILDIR/from #recommended The rules themselves take the form of :0 [flags] If the condition starts with a *, it means that we're passing along a regular expression, or a string to match within the header: :0 * ^Sender: Bugtraq List bugtraq This rule looks for the Sender: field in the header and matches it up against the Bugtraq phrase (a popular security mailing list). If so, the action "bugraq" means to dump the message into the folder called "bugtraq", which is located in the directory specified above in $MAILDIR. This is your basic "sort my email into folders" type of recipe. One of my favorite rules, and one that illustrates nested rules, is to pretend that my account doesn't exist (ie send a bounce message) when the sender is from a certain domain, ie spammer.com: :0 * ^From: .*spammer.com { EXITCODE = 67 :0 h: bounce.log } The first condition is to match the From: field with anything ending in spammer.com (.* means match anything). The action is then enclosed in a nesting brace, and consists of an action and another rule. EXITCODE=67 means return a bounce, and the next two lines mean to dump the headers of the message into the "bounce.log" folder. Slick, eh? Now, to help out my friend: :0 c * ^Subject: important ! me@blackberry You'll notice the "c" flag, which means to generate a carbon copy. In this recipe, we generate this copy with the subject begins with "important", and send it to me@blackberry (the ! means to send to an email address). To run this recipe on multiple incoming email addresses, we'll have to craft the regexp with caution: :0 c * ^From: (fred@somewhere.com|joe@elsewhere.com) ! me@blackberry If we had put two conditions in one rule, they would be ANDed, ie :0 c * ^From: (fred@somewhere.com|joe@elsewhere.com) * ^Subject: important ! me@blackberry would only generate the page if fred or joe sent an email with the subject of "important". So, without getting into a lot of complex stuff, we'll stick with the two separate rules to handle everything. Through the use of a program called "formail", you can rewrite the email in transit, i.e. to change the subject. That's outside the scope of this week's article, but check out the man page for "procmailrc" on how to do this. You can also pass the message through another program, or delete it entirely (action=/dev/null). Procmail is fun! You can get the procmail code from: http://www.procmail.org Some great sites on writing recipes: http://www.procmail.org/jari/pm-tips.html http://www.uwasa.fi/~ts/info/proctips.html "man procmailrc" Let's hear what you've got to say on the discussion boards. RedHat Board: http://boards.brainbuzz.com:80/boards/vbt.asp?b=184 Linux/Unix Mail: http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=106 Finally, feel free to email me with your thoughts and comments! Long live the Penguin, Sean swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ------------------- Do your part ------------------- Brainbuzz, your community site, needs your help in changing the future of Microsoft's head... Or is it Microsoft's head's head? How about the head of Microsoft's head? There we go! Get all your friends to sign too! http://www.cramsession.brainbuzz.com/petition/ ------------------- Strut your stuff ------------------- Skilldrill is a new section of the Brainbuzz.com web site. Take a test in various subjects, including RedHat, and see how you rank with all the other Brainbuzz members. Link your transcript with your online Resume from the jobs section, and show potential employers that you know your stuff. Bragging rights are on the line! http://www.skilldrill.com ------------------- Creative, but... ------------------- It seems someone has written a trojan whose payload is Linux propaganda. If you see a message with "Check out this new flash movie that I downloaded just now ... It's Great. Bye", don't run the attachment! I know us Linux folk can be a bit... insistent... when it comes to promoting Linux, but causing damage to Windows boxes is taking it too far. If you feel the need to write a virus in order to promote Linux, I think we'd all prefer you to put your energy into an open source project instead. At the end of the day, you'll do more good for Linux that way. http://www.msnbc.com/news/496999.asp?cp1=1 ------------------- Windows Whistler vs. Gnome 1.2, KDE 2.0 ------------------- KDE vs GNOME comparisons are pretty common, but how do these user interfaces stack up to the Redmond empire's next release? This article highlights the key similarities and differences. http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=00/11/20/0317238 ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ --------------- Command Line Weenies --------------- Everyone using Linux is going to come into contact with the shell at one point or another. Often, it's the fastest way to get something done. Learning how to make effective use of the shell is difficult, but this article will walk you through some of the basics, like how to chain commands together. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU545&tn=A+comma nd+line+weenie+%26+proud+of+it&pi=S1C21&pn=Linux%2FUnix+Articles ------------------- System Basics ------------------- Learning how the filesystem is laid out, and how to work with files is fundamental to working with Linux. It isn't obvious how everything is supposed to work, so follow this article for a primer on file operations. http://www.linuxworld.com.au/article.php3?tid=8&aid=77 ------------------- Journaling Filesystems ------------------- I've talked about journaling filesystems before -- a filesystem that commits data to a log, much like a database, so that in the event of an unclean shutdown no data is lost. This article explains how the default filesystem, ext2fs, works, and how a journaling filesystem is different. It also shows how to install ReiserFS, one of the more stable JFSs out there. http://www.linux-mag.com/2000-08/journaling_01.html ------------------- Keep Tux Safe ------------------- As changes are made to a running machine, the security of the box can be compromised. It's up to the administrator to keep on top of security all the time. Here are a few things to keep in mind. http://www.zdnet.com/sp/stories/column/0,4712,2658066,00.html ------------------- Using Snort ------------------- Snort is an open sourced Intrusion Detection System (IDS). It listens on your network for any traffic matching known attack signatures. Like many security tools, it's pretty hard to use if you're new to the IDS game. Linuxsecurity.com takes you through the steps to install, update, and test your Snort IDS solutions. Happy hunting! http://www.linuxsecurity.com/using-snort.html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ If you're using Linux as a mail server, or as an SMTP gateway, you may want to get it to perform some basic virus scanning. The Anomy Mailtool is a powerful PERL script that will enforce policies on incoming and outgoing mail, such as removing .VBS files from email, protecting the Exchange server from the MIME vulnerabilities, and forcing executable attachments to be renamed before being executed. http://mailtools.anomy.net/ ============================================================ (C) 2000 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@gateway.ertw.com Fri Dec 15 18:43:03 2000 -0600 Received: from list.cramsession.com (list.cramsession.com [24.108.74.105]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id SAA13958 for ; Fri, 15 Dec 2000 18:42:54 -0600 X-Mailer: Lyris Web Interface Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 13:30:56 -0700 Subject: How to Compile and Install the New Kernel To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" From: "BrainBuzz.com" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 7 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Friday, December 15, 2000 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Window$ Sinks the Kursk! Layoffs at Red Hat Will Linux save Microsoft? GNOME for Windows 3) Linux Resources More VMWare Competition Securing sendmail Got LDAP? Handful of Vulnerabilities A Lighter PDF Reader 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AUDIOWHIZ Certification News: Would you like to learn FASTER? Read how many cert students are learning faster and using lost study time to their advantage. Read more... http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1464 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ Well, 2.2.18 is hot off the presses. Come see what's changed: http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.2/linux-2.2.18.log Besides stuff like a port to the S/390, support for over 2GHz machines, and the usual myriad of bug fixes, the USB code has been ripped out of the 2.3/2.4 stream and made to work under 2.2 This, of course, brings us to one of the topics that has plagued the Linux newbie, and even the experienced folks for quite some time -- How to compile and install the new kernel? The first thing to do is grab the source from your mirror. http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.2/linux-2.2.18.tar.gz is where I grabbed mine. The next thing to do is set up /usr/src to keep your trees separate. /usr/src/linux is generally a symbolic link to your kernel tree: # cd /usr/src # rm linux # mkdir linux-2.2.18 # ln -s linux-2.2.18 linux presto. Next thing we do is unpack the archive # tar -xzf linux-2.2.18.tar.gz # cd linux At this point, /usr/src/linux has the source tree. As with most software, there are three steps - Configure - Compile - Install Getting into the configure menu is the easy part: # make menuconfig Through the menus, you'll be able to choose the options you want, and if you want them to be compiled as a module or not. Since modules can be loaded in and out, there is little harm in making most of your drivers into modules. Figuring out exactly what you need is up to you though! Exiting the menu, you've configured the kernel and are in /usr/src/linux. The compilation step is actually quite easy due to the makefiles you just configured: # make dep clean bzImage modules That does four separate builds. The first fixes up the make process so that dependencies (one file depending on another) are resolved, the next cleans the build out (it's a fresh install this time, but you may have upgraded). "bzImage" builds the kernel itself, and "modules" builds the modules you selected. To install the kernel and modules requires another make: # make install At this point, assuming your distribution is still at its defaults, you can reboot into your new kernel! If you end up at your old kernel, some things to check are: /etc/lilo.conf specifies what gets booted. Take a look at the image=/path/to/kernel line, and make sure that /path/to/kernel is the kernel you just installed (the date and name will give you a clue). If not, you can change it so that it reflects the new kernel. After that, run "/sbin/lilo" to rebuild the boot sector. If you've installed a kernel before (or tried), it's quite likely that a link is out of place somewhere, so you're going to boot your old kernel. Did the "make install" finish properly? Did one of the previous makes not finish? Take a look at the error -- you may be missing some of the development tools to build the kernel. If you choose to go to 2.2.19 when it comes out, you'll find the process gets a lot easier. Since you have the 2.2.18 tree, all you need is the .19 patch (patch-2.2.19.gz). Download that, and apply it to the tree # cd /usr/src/linux # zcat patch-2.2.19.gz | patch -p0 You've already configured the kernel, so the only thing to do is configure any new items: # make oldconfig Then it's off to the "make dep clean bzImage modules" phase! The Kernel-HOWTO at http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/docs/howto/Kernel-HOWTO is a good read. It's a bit out of date, but explains the sections in the configure menus and some more of the troubleshooting aspects of kernel installation. Talk about your kernel building experiences in one of BrainBuzz's Linux boards: http://boards.brainbuzz.com:80/boards/vbt.asp?b=184 Finally, feel free to email me with your thoughts and comments! Long live the Penguin, Sean swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ------------------- Window$ Sinks the Kursk! ------------------- Remember that Russian submarine that sank a while back? Was it a collision that caused it? Torpedo misfire? What if it were a failed Windows upgrade? http://www.justlinux.com/bin/topic/listtopic.pl?cid=3974123 ------------------- Layoffs at Red Hat ------------------- According to Red Hat, the layoff of 20 people and closing of 3 offices was to eliminate some redundancy caused by acquisitions. Is this a sign of things to come in the Linux world, or is it as Red Hat says? This article talks about the layoffs, and shows some interesting statistics about the other public Linux companies. http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/2000/48/ns-19476.html ------------------- Will Linux save Microsoft? ------------------- Could Microsoft use the Linux strategy to save itself? Hey, it worked when they took the Netscape strategy and gave away Internet Explorer. Scary thought. Good article. http://www.cnbc.com/news/001208plotkin.html ------------------- GNOME for Windows ------------------- This is pretty slick! The GNOME desktop, ported to Windows. Stuck with Windows, but find yourself longing for the panel? Give this a shot. Some pretty good screen shots demonstrating the level of customization that can be had are included too. http://www.gtlinc.com/gnome-desktop.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ --------------- More VMWare Competition --------------- Win4Lin is like VMWare, but with the sole intent of running Windows 95 or 98 under a Linux host. The reviewer says that there is little speed loss, so it doesn't appear to be doing instruction translating like VMWare. Anyone tried this out? http://www.linuxworld.com.au/article.php3?tid=1&aid=111 ------------------- Securing sendmail ------------------- sendmail is one of the best Mail Transfer Agents (MTA) out there. It's powerful (though complex), and speedy enough for any situation. Unfortunately it had a lot of security problems in its early days, and if not configured properly, these can come back to haunt you. Learn how to properly configure this beast for maximum security. http://sendmail.net/?feed=000705securitygeneral ------------------- Got LDAP? ------------------- LDAP, the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, is a great way to put together a phone directory, single sign-on system, or anything else that calls for a quick lookup into hierarchically organized data (org chart, network, etc.). These series of articles give the beginner an introduction to LDAP, and then information on how to design the structure. http://www.ldapman.org/articles/index.html ------------------- Handful of Vulnerabilities ------------------- Some bugs found in software like glibc, Midnight Commander, slocate, ed, and majordomo. Oops. Depends on the distribution though, so take a peek at this site to see if you're vulnerable. Then check with your vendor to see if there is an update. http://oreilly.linux.com/pub/a/linux/2000/12/06/insecurities.html ------------------- A Lighter PDF Reader ------------------- This tuneup article from Linux.com lets you know about some alternatives to Adobe's PDF reader. I followed some of the advice in the comments after reading this, and was amazed at the difference! http://www.linux.com/tuneup/database.phtml/X11/2099.html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ Look out Exchange, here comes Eridu, a killer web based groupware application. Anyone familiar with Outlook Web Access will be right at home here. It's developed in PHP as part of a University programming project, and has been put on Sourceforge so that others can aid in its development. Scheduling, Email, and task lists are supported. Demo is available on the site, so check it out! http://www.eridu.org/ ============================================================ (C) 2000 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@gateway.ertw.com Fri Dec 22 00:54:27 2000 -0600 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id AAA08829 for ; Fri, 22 Dec 2000 00:54:25 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: The SourceForge Solution Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 22:35:21 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 8 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, December 21, 2000 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Wholesaler Rolls Out Linux SUN Completes Acquisition of Cobalt Networks Slow Progress to the Desktop Shell Oil to Use Linux For Exploring Corel Sells Linux Arm 3) Linux Resources PHP + MySQL = E-Business Backend Don't Forget Your Pants! More on Reiserfs Cisco's Printing Solution Learn PERL! 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BEACHFRONT We GUARANTEE you will pass your exam or you get your money back! Linux News subscribers save up to 50%...call Today. Red Hat Special Only $79.95 each Normally $149.95 Check out our BrainBuzz specials on new Cisco 2.0, Win2K, CompTia and Citrix Advanced titles today. CALL (800) 845-8569 FOR MORE INFORMATION OR VISIT US AT http://www.beachfrontdirect.com/csb38.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ The Open Source movement is a great thing. In essence, you have talented people working on a project not for monetary reward, but for a common goal. Take for example the folks developing the GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), a Photoshop quality imaging tool. Do they sell it? No. What you get though is a group of people that have a need for such a tool developing it themselves, with the freedom to make changes and implement requested features. The Internet itself is based on this philosophy, the old mantra of the IETF was "Rough consensus, and working code". We may not have the ideal solution (TCP/IP instead of OSI, OSPF instead of IS-IS), but it is a working solution, one that can be quickly adopted and fixed. Get the code in the hands of the people and let them work with it, and submit changes and suggestions. It's the Open Source way, and has made such great things as the GIMP and Linux itself. Not every great coder is a great systems administrator, nor will they have a dedicated connection to host mailing lists, CVS servers, and bug tracking databases. Recognizing this, VA Linux has created SourceForge, a service that provides all this and more, so that talented programmers can open their projects to the world. Any project under an Open Source license is allowed to host on SourceForge. This means that they'll give you your own CVS tree to keep your code and changes, the ability to create discussion lists for announcements and discussion, a web page to display your project, and much more. Furthermore, you can post your need for developers on the main page, as there are lots of people out there that may be looking for a project to code on (of course, help isn't limited to coding, there is formal testing, documentation, and user assistance that is critical to any project's success). It's really a slick system, and - surprise, surprise, is a SourceForge project of it's own. You don't have to be a starving programmer to make use of this either. Later on in this newsletter, you'll see how Cisco Systems has developed their own printing architecture based on Linux. Realizing that others may benefit (and the potential for growth) they have turned it into a public project on SourceForge. If you have some software that you use at work that you developed, this may be a good way to improve it. As a side note, Open Source doesn't have to mean free labor either. Many projects are released under the GPL or a like license, but have paid staff working on it in addition to people working for free (WINE, SNORT, SourceForge). Situations like this show that the industry is catching on to the usefulness of opening up their software. I encourage everyone to look at SourceForge: http://www.sourceforge.net Browse around, and maybe you can find a project that can help you out at work or at home. Find it useful? Lend a hand. Submit a bug report. Add a new feature if you can code. Write some documentation if you can't. Resolve to make a difference in that project. Open Source is more than Free software. It's about building a community. Speaking of communities, BrainBuzz is the place to talk about Linux and ask your questions: http://boards.brainbuzz.com:80/boards/vbt.asp?b=184 Finally, feel free to email me with your thoughts and comments! Long live the Penguin, Sean swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ -------------------------- Wholesaler Rolls Out Linux -------------------------- 300 Linux boxes rolled out over six-and-a-half weeks. The need to grow in the B2B area, and the low cost contributed to this company's choice of Linux for their branch office business applications. Companies like this (and Home Depot) are really starting to embrace Linux for mission critical applications. http://www.stuff.co.nz/inl/index/0%2c1008%2c536077a1896%2cFF.html -------------------------------------------- SUN Completes Acquisition of Cobalt Networks -------------------------------------------- SUN Microsystems gained a strong foothold in the network appliance market by buying out Cobalt Networks, makers of the RaQ and the Qube. Yah, you know 'em, the 1U Linux boxes that do pretty much everything? I know SUN is going to get a lot out of this deal, but hopefully not at the cost of replacing the Linux OS with Solaris on these devices. I'll sure be watching SUN on this one... http://www.sun.com/smi/Press/sunflash/2000-12/sunflash.20001207.1.html ---------------------------- Slow Progress to the Desktop ---------------------------- No one said it would be easy, but Linux is slowly making inroads to the desktop. The latest release of KDE 2 (K Desktop Environment), a GUI interface for Linux, should go a long way towards making the desktop more usable. This article also has some comments from ID Software, makers of the Quake series, and some observations on why progress in this area has been less than stellar. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-4101018.html ------------------------------------ Shell Oil to Use Linux For Exploring ------------------------------------ Another victory in the large scale computing area for Linux. Shell is using a 1024 node Linux cluster powered by IBM servers to run seismic and other geophysical applications. This is one area where Linux is going to clean up in the next few years. Who wants to buy big iron when you can build a super cluster out of commodity hardware? When you're done with it, you've got a lot of nice desktops! (Maybe not, but you can still see the advantages!) http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/12/12/linux.shell.reut/index.html --------------------- Corel Sells Linux Arm --------------------- I really hate to see this good (Canadian!) company get pounded, but it's recently started work on selling off its Linux arm. Corel has put together its own distribution, and has been putting a lot of resources into WINE (a Windows compatibility layer) for their office suite and for other uses. However, the buyer is Linux Global Partners, who have an interest in Helix Code, WINE, and GNUCash. Hope it's for the best. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0%2c4586%2c2665020%2c00.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ -------------------------------- PHP + MySQL = E-Business Backend -------------------------------- I've given out a few links in the past on how to use PHP, but this one really stands out. Using the example of an online coffee mug selling web site, a basic database and order system is created. Just another example of the tools that are out there for the using. Did I mention they're free? :) http://www.nwc.com/unixworld/1119/1119uw.html ------------------------ Don't Forget your Pants! ------------------------ This SYSV init script will "Make sure you're wearing pants when you go multi-user." I know I face this challenge constantly, much to my embarrassment. http://www.linux.org.au/~conrad/scripts/pants.html ---------------- More on Reiserfs ---------------- Hmmm...I seem to be on a roll with the links on journaling file systems. This article walks through some of the benefits of Reiserfs, and how to compile, install, and use it. For those that are new to them, journaling file systems allow for faster and more reliable recoveries after an unclean shutdown. http://www.linuxworld.com.au/article.php3?tid=1&aid=104 ------------------------- Cisco's Printing Solution ------------------------- I remember reading an article in a Linux magazine a couple of years ago on how Cisco started using Linux to manage all of their enterprise printing. It's a really slick system for distributed management. They've released this to SourceForge under the GPL, and VA Linux has picked up on it. If you have a medium-to-large company, maybe this software can help. http://ceps.sourceforge.net/index.shtml ----------- Learn PERL! ----------- I think every UNIX administrator should learn PERL. Problems have obvious solutions when you can code around them. Reports are easy to write, statistics a breeze to collect. Laugh at the mere mortals who have to import data into spreadsheets and manipulate. Anyway, here's a good intro to the language. Don't forget that BrainBuzz has some good PERL hackers that read the PERL board. http://www.perl.com/pub/2000/10/begperl1.html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ Any Cisco PIX users out there? (A PIX is Cisco's firewall). The logging is interesting on them, eh? It's either quiet, or filling up your disk with everything it sees. Have no fear, this PERL script interacts with syslogd and generates HTML reports of activity. I've been looking for something like this for a while! http://cs.calvin.edu/~mpost89/pixlog/ ============================================================ (C) 2000 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@gateway.ertw.com Thu Dec 28 17:46:11 2000 -0600 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id RAA07805 for ; Thu, 28 Dec 2000 17:46:09 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: The Year in Review Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2000 15:08:37 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 9 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, December 28, 2000 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News The Year in Review Sendmail, Inc, Acquires Web/Wireless Email Company Linus Speaks on Red Hat 7 Linux Enlists in the US Army 3) Linux Resources Will Unix Certs Ever Catch on? SSH and SSL Safe for Now What's a Honeynet? Why Can't You Run Linux on a P4? AVI and ASF Under Linux 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AUDIOWHIZ Visual Basic 6 Study Tool Now Available! This study tool includes two hours of 130+ questions and answers/explanations. It is designed to help you target the exam objectives. We also have many other study tools for your certification needs. These study tools are a must have for the busy IT professional. 90 day money back guarantee as well! Click Here: http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1464 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ As the year 2000 draws to a close, it comes to the time where years of journalistic tradition dictate that I review highs and lows of the year. Don't worry -- you won't find any top N lists in this article! 2000 was certainly not the year of the Linux stock. Red Hat (Nasdaq:RHAT) hit its high point of $148/share in mid- January, and began a slow and steady decline to where it sits now, at under seven bucks. Corel (Nasdaq:CORL) didn't do a heck of a lot better. VA Linux (Nasdaq:LNUX) started off the year at around $200 and dove to around $9. These are extreme examples, mind you, but it's a trend. The Linux Weekly News tracks Linux stocks (and Linux related stocks): http://www.lwn.net/stocks/ Kernel 2.4 was the talk of the community, and it managed to earn fourth place in Wired's annual vapourware contest: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,40484,00.html I must disagree, though. It wasn't Linus who was making all the promises (his only promise was December, which he'll narrowly miss), it was mostly the media talking about it. Right now, we're at Linux 2.4.0test13pre4ac2 (how's that for a mouthful), which has Linus' and Alan Cox's trees merged, along with a lot of the stuff that was fixed in 2.2.18. Not all Linux software is vapourware though...The GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Tool) was released as version 1.2 after a long development period. The GIMP is a Photoshop quality drawing tool, and a fine example of how well Open Source works. http://www.gimp.org PERL was released as 5.6.0. All the major distributions went through a couple of release cycles such as Red Hat and Mandrake 7.0. It was also a big year for the BSDs, as Free BSD came out with a release featuring high-grade cryptography (yes, I know OpenBSD has been doing it for ages). All in all, a good year for Linux (as long as your retirement fund didn't rely on the stocks). I wish I had some usage figures handy, but judging from all of the media attention, it has to be growing quickly. Here's to all the best in 2001. Long live the Penguin, Sean Walberg swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ------------------- The Year in Review ------------------- Linux has made a lot of progress this year. It survived the Y2K scare in January, and December marks the release of 2.2.18, Gimp 1.2, and one of the last releases towards kernel 2.4. In between this were a whole lot of press releases from people announcing support, hardware, and new companies starting up. Here is a timeline of 2000. http://www.lwn.net/2000/features/Timeline/?month=all -------------------------------------------------- Sendmail, Inc, Acquires Web/Wireless Email Company -------------------------------------------------- Sendmail, Inc, the corporate arm of the popular sendmail MTA, announced that it has acquired Nascent Technologies. Through this arrangement, Sendmail gets the technology to allow web-based email access and wireless WAP email. http://www.businesswire.com/webbox/bw.121900/203540182.htm ------------------------- Linus Speaks on Red Hat 7 ------------------------- You may recall the first edition of Linux News where I talked about some of the bugs in Red Hat 7. One of the big things was the snapshot compiler that was shipped causing a lot of problems with the symbols inside object files. Alan Cox, one of the chief maintainers of Linux spoke out on Red Hat's behalf, but Linus doesn't agree. http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2000-12-14-002-21-NW-RH-SW ---------------------------- Linux Enlists in the US Army ---------------------------- Red Hat has a product called "uClinux", which is an environment for running Linux on embedded microprocessors. The US Army recently announced that they will be testing uClinux out in tanks and other vehicles for monitoring, and possibly rolling it out to as many as 50,000 vehicles! http://www.linuxtoday.com.au/r/article/jsp/sid/440053 ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ------------------------------ Will Unix Certs Ever Catch on? ------------------------------ The domain of Unix certifications has been pretty quiet. Each vendor has their own, and there are a couple in the Linux world. But does anyone actually get these things? A wise Unix admin explains his view on the whole thing. http://www.networkingnews.org/headline_news/main_news/12week_3/week3_unixcer t.html ------------------------ SSH and SSL Safe for Now ------------------------ It all started off with Kurt Seifried writing an article about dsniff, a hacking tool, and the potential impact on protocols like SSL and SSH. It was pretty doom and gloom, which prompted a response from a noted author on SSH, Richard Silverman. Kurt's an intelligent fellow and raises some good points, but I'm afraid my money is on Richard. http://sysadmin.oreilly.com/news/silverman_1200.html ------------------- What's a Honeynet? ------------------- No, it has nothing to do with Pooh bear...a honeynet is a network of computers designed to be hacked, but with a watchful eye. Lance Spitzner explains his project to learn the way of the hacker by watching them do their work. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2666273,00.html?chkpt=zdhpnews 01 -------------------------------- Why can't you run Linux on a P4? -------------------------------- It was big news the other week -- Most distributions of Linux won't run on a P4. Of course, the reasons behind it were never published. The author blames Microsoft (and a case could be made for it) but I'll just chalk it up to miscommunication on Intel's part. http://www.linux.com/hardware/newsitem.phtml?sid=1&aid=11457 ----------------------- AVI and ASF under Linux ----------------------- Here is a plug-in for XMMS to let it play AVI and ASF files, two formats common to Windows machines (the latter more than the former). Read the comments on this page if you're going to install it, as there are some traps you may run into. http://www.xmms.org/comments.html?show=P122 ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ Anyone remember the DOS game, Scorched Earth? Destroy the enemy tanks with high-powered weapons before they get you. Well, it's been ported to X, and is as fun as ever. It has hooks for network play... Anyone up for a game? http://freshmeat.net/projects/xscorch/ ============================================================ (C) 2000 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@gateway.ertw.com Thu Jan 4 17:18:57 2001 -0600 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id RAA05420 for ; Thu, 4 Jan 2001 17:18:56 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: When will Mom use Linux? Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2001 14:20:35 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 10 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, January 4, 2001 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News 10 Questions With Miguel de Icaza Loki's QA Team Talks IBM Claims Fastest Unix Workstation Beat 'em to the Punch 3) Linux Resources 802.1q VLAN Patch The Sendmail Boys Have Been Busy... Solaris-Style Performance Monitoring BASH Cheat Sheet The Case For Centralized Computing 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AUDIOWHIZ Visual Basic 6 Study Tool Now Available! This study tool includes two hours of 130+ questions and answers/explanations. It is designed to help you target the exam objectives. We also have many other study tools for your certification needs. These study tools are a must have for the busy IT professional. 90 day money back guarantee as well! Click Here: http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1464 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ When will Mom use Linux? Will she ever? Should she? I was reading an article asking the first question, when the second and third ones came to mind: http://linux.com/news/newsitem.phtml?sid=1&aid=11497 This article asks if Linux is ready for the novice who just wants a computer that works. Not one with a web server, database, and enterprise directory, but one that you can plug your hardware into, load up your software, and get going. It seems that people are willing to pay a huge price for this convenience. It's no secret that Windows isn't the most stable thing going, yet people are more than happy to reboot constantly. What good is an operating system that can run for a year without a reboot if it doesn't work with the latest hardware and play the latest games? The hardware is probably the hardest problem to solve. There are a lot of tools out there to reverse engineer software, but to figure out how a device works without the specs is difficult. Opening vendors' eyes to Open Source is difficult. Many put access to specs under NDA, which prevents Linux drivers from being written. What competitive advantage can there be to prevent technical people from using your products? It baffles the mind. Native ports of software are rare. Some big names like Word Perfect are available under Linux, but when will titles like Quicken start appearing? Compatibility layers like WINE [0] and Trans Gaming [1] are trying to build compatibility layers into Win32 and DirectX/Direct3D respectively, but it will be a long time before they're at the "Double Click to install" phase. This brings me to the questions I posed...Do we want this? Can't we be content with an operating system that serves our needs? I'm willing to sacrifice some usability in order to obtain stability, reliability, and speed. Shouldn't we dedicate our resources to improving the kernel and developing better server applications? On the other hand, "dumbing down" (for lack of a better term) the operating system could have benefits across the board. More users mean more vendor support. Widespread acceptance makes it profitable for vendors to target Linux for their applications. Failing that, companies like Loki [2] can make a decent living porting other people's software. Maybe then hardware vendors will devote some resources to publishing Linux drivers the way that Adapsys [3] does. So, do we want wide-spread Linux use? I'm not hell-bent on world domination, but I can't stand to see the technically- better solution being beaten out by a better looking but inferior one. Seeing the latest hardware supported by Linux at Day 1 would be a bonus. There isn't one strategy that can accomplish this though. The WINE team is starting to look at issuing "Works with WINE" stickers to vendors whose applications run under WINE. People like you and I are bringing Linux into our workplaces to do a better job for a fraction of the cost. It's going to be a long time until Linux sits on a large fraction of the desktops out there. Until then, don't lose sight of what we have. What are your thoughts on the future of Linux for the masses? http://boards.brainbuzz.com:80/boards/vbt.asp?b=184 Finally, feel free to email me with your thoughts and comments! Long live the Penguin, Sean swalberg@brainbuzz.com [0] http://www.winehq.com/ [1] http://transgaming.com/ [2] http://www.lokigames.com/ [3] http://www.connectcom.net/downloads/software/os/linux.html ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ --------------------------------- 10 Questions With Miguel de Icaza --------------------------------- Miguel is one of the core GNOME developers, and one of the founders of Helix Code. In this interview, he talks about the future of Helix GNOME, a packaged desktop, and some of the products his company will be coming out with. He also explains why Helix GNOME has been behind in keeping up with packages. http://www.linuxorbit.com/features/interview3.php3 -------------------- Loki's QA Team talks -------------------- Loki Software focuses on porting Windows games to Linux. Titles include Q3 Arena, Heretic II, and Soldier of Fortune. Linuxpower had an interview with some of the QA team, and asked them what's involved in the porting and testing of a new game. Must be a tough life...Playing video games for a living :) http://linuxpower.org/display.php?id=197 ----------------------------------- IBM Claims Fastest Unix Workstation ----------------------------------- IBM has come out with a new RS/6000 model, the 170. Boasting a 450MHz CPU, it has some impressive graphics capabilities. This doesn't come cheap, however... $30K US for the top of the line, but that gets you 2GB of RAM and a really nice graphics card. You probably won't see Quake running on this bad dog though; it's made for high-end engineering applications. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2669346,00.html --------------------- Beat 'em to the Punch --------------------- Who is going to support Itanium first...Windows or Linux? I'll give you a hint...Who already runs on more platforms? According to this article, Windows isn't expected to have an Itanium-tailored version ready for the chip's debut. On the other hand, even though the Linux distributions haven't caught up, the kernel is ready. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-4236527.html?tag=st.cn.1491268.today.10 03-200-4236527 ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ----------------- 802.1q VLAN Patch ----------------- 802.1q is a method of tagging Ethernet packets so that VLANs can be trunked. This patch allows normal NICs to speak dot1q, so you could have your box sit on several VLANs to speed file server access, or act as a router between VLANs. http://scry.wanfear.com/~greear/vlan.html ----------------------------------- The Sendmail Boys Have Been Busy... ----------------------------------- Sendmail 8.11.2 was recently released. The 8.11 series has some pretty advanced features like LDAP lookup, TLS (Transport Layer Security), multiple queues, better virtual hosting support, and a whole whack more. Got a simple, one domain setup? 8.9.3 is probably still OK for you. Anything more advanced and you may want to give this a look. http://www.sendmail.org/8.11.html ------------------------------------ Solaris-Style Performance Monitoring ------------------------------------ If you're coming from the Solaris world, you'll be familiar with tools like sar and iostat for checking on the status of your system. You quickly found out that Linux was a lot different! This fellow has developed some performance monitoring tools, including Solaris-style sar/iostat. It produces some detailed reports, and the documentation is very good. http://perso.wanadoo.fr/sebastien.godard/ ---------------- BASH Cheat Sheet ---------------- Shell scripting is one of the more powerful weapons in the administrator's arsenal. Unfortunately, it can be a tad arcane at times, which is why a good reference can help. I've always relied upon my "Unix in a Nutshell" book, but now I've found a more concise source. http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/intel/programming/bash_cheat.html ---------------------------------- The Case for Centralized Computing ---------------------------------- Thin clients: love 'em or hate 'em, they're out there. This commentary from freshmeat.net takes a look at some of the options out there (Microsoft, Sun, Linux) and shows how they could fit into a school environment. With the power of computers today, it's a bit absurd that a secretary doing email and word processing has the latest and greatest, when the same box could serve a few of them just as well. http://freshmeat.net/news/2000/12/23/977633999.html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ Since it's the holiday season, this week's app is yet another game. Call this one "Asteroids on crack". Great graphics, sounds, and fast action make this a fun game. There are even add-ons, like a Star Wars theme. http://www.devolution.com/~slouken/Maelstrom/ ============================================================ (C) 2000 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@gateway.ertw.com Thu Jan 11 18:37:16 2001 -0600 Received: from ertw.dyn.dhs.org (root@h24-70-148-34.wp.shawcable.net [24.70.148.34]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA11423 for ; Thu, 11 Jan 2001 18:37:13 -0600 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by ertw.dyn.dhs.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id RAA04919 for ; Thu, 11 Jan 2001 17:10:10 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: 2.4.0 is Here! Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 16:05:01 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 11 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, January 11, 2001 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News 2.4.0 is Here! So What Does Linus Think? What's New? Linux Gaming - Looking Back, Looking Forward 3) Linux Resources A Window Manager With a Windows Look and Feel comp.os.linux.security FAQ Can you Grok the GIMP? Tricks for PPPoE and 2.4 Git 'Yer 3COM NIC Drivers Here! 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DOUBLEDAY Novell's Network Professional Toolkit, a 3-book/4-CD set, is now $9.99 - save over $184! Advance your tech skills and advance your career. Optimize NetWare LANs to peak performance with proven tools and techniques for managing Novell Directory Services, Netscape FastTrack Server for NetWare, Pure IP, and more. http://161.58.99.48/cgi-local/redirect.pl?UEBQFCJSS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ I got some interesting response to last week's newsletter. It seems to be obvious that Linux is too complex for the average user (or Mom), so a two-pronged approach is necessary - Make it easier to use, and make it more desirable to use (applications, features). It was also mentioned that some people will stay with the first OS that they encounter, so it would be nice to get Linux into schools and the like. With the cost of keeping Windows networks up to date, maybe this will come sooner than we expect. Something that was brought up at the local Unix users' group on Tuesday was "Why do you have to log in?". Should the concept of users be hidden from people? I'm not necessarily saying everything should run as root, but to be prompted for the "special" password when root access is needed, otherwise start the default X session as a generic user. It was mentioned that Mandrake has this option (with strong warnings accompanying it, and rightfully so), but in our "Linux for the masses" distribution this could be the norm. Now, this once again forces us to ask "do we want this?" I personally don't think so, since I'm fine with logging on to my Linux box, or to my NT Workstation at work. That being said, it's apparently a concern of people because the topic was discussed at great length. On the applications side of the fence, I read a lot of comments on Slashdot (not a good demographic of "Linux for the Masses", I know) about "that last app" that people need to completely migrate to Linux. Usually it's a good financial manager that has the features of Quicken or MS Money, but sometimes it's programs like Visio or Rational Rose, specialized drawing tools. For many users, it's games. If we can't get the die-hard techies to use it, what business do we have getting Mom to use it? I'm trying not to be a pessimist about this, but we do want to target Linux to the masses. In case you haven't read, kernel 2.4 is out. As a result, most of the news section of this week's newsletter is about this very topic. Congrats to the hard working kernel developers! Expect to see your favorite distribution coming out with support in the near future. Also expect to see some future articles on features like iptables, the replacement for ipchains and ipfwadm. I've also used a feature of the Brainbuzz Discussion Boards to create a poll. I'd like to know what you prefer in this section of the newsletter. Enter once, void where prohibited. http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbm.asp?rpg=1&wpg=1&sb=0&m=234268 You'll also start seeing some book reviews in this newsletter. As we speak, a couple of titles arrived in the mail. And, as always, the discussion boards are there for you to sound off in: http://boards.brainbuzz.com:80/boards/vbt.asp?b=184 Finally, feel free to email me with your thoughts and comments! Long live the Penguin, Sean swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ --------------- 2.4.0 is Here! --------------- After eight months of pre-release, test, and other 2.4 versions, 2.4.0 has officially been released. It's out on the mirrors, so if you've been waiting for this, go out and get it! You'll need to upgrade your modutils--check your distribution's web site or install them yourself from the URL in the documentation directory. http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-01-05-001-04-NW-LF-KN -------------------------- So What Does Linus Think? -------------------------- ZDNet sent Linus some questions via email. His answers are a bit surprising to say the least... http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2671714,00.html ------------ What's New? ------------ A lot has changed in 2.4...ipchains has been replaced by a more robust system, USB support is supposed to be there, SMP support has been improved. Disks, RAID, and devices have all been reworked. This page gives a rundown of what's new and changed. Support for 10 IDE controllers!?! http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-01-05-007-04-NW-LF-KN --------------------------------------------- Linux Gaming - Looking Back, Looking Forward --------------------------------------------- One of the obstacles Linux faces is the lack of games. After all, computers aren't just for word processing and drawing, you've got to be able to have some fun with them! Gamespy.com takes a look at what's happening in the Linux gaming scene, and where they think things are going. http://www.gamespy.com/articles/january01/futurelinux/ ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ --------------------------------------------- A Window Manager With a Windows Look and Feel --------------------------------------------- Brainbuzz user Guitarlynn wrote in with a link to this WM. It looks a lot like Windows, right down to the start menu and desktop. It still has virtual desktops (who can live without those?), but for those who want a comfortable intro to the Linux world, this may be the solution for you. http://www.qvwm.org/ -------------------------- comp.os.linux.security FAQ -------------------------- Linuxsecurity.com interviews Daniel Swan, the author of the comp.os.linux.security FAQ. It's a great document, but before you head to it you should get an idea of who is behind it, and who it is for. http://www.linuxsecurity.com/feature_stories/interview-cols.html ---------------------- Can you Grok the GIMP? ---------------------- Grokking the GIMP is a very complete book on how to use the GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Tool), a free Photoshop quality imaging package. Not only is the book good, it's free and online. Check out this review of the book, which has a link to the book itself. http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/01/04/1545229 ------------------------ Tricks for PPPoE and 2.4 ------------------------ People using PPPoE or other tunneling software are likely familiar with the MSS (Mean Segment Size) problems. The mssclampfw module was a good way to get around it, but now that 2.4 is out, there is a cleaner solution that uses iptables. http://www.hgfelger.de/mss/mss.html ------------------------------- Git 'Yer 3COM NIC Drivers Here! ------------------------------- A thread on comp.os.linux.networking was started because some 3COM drivers were left out of the 2.4 kernel. If you are in this situation, 3COM's site has what you're looking for. http://support.3com.com/infodeli/tools/nic/linux.htm ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ Need a secure and robust FTP server? WU-FTPD is good, but Proftpd is better. It's got an Apache-like configuration syntax, loads of features, and is easy to use. It really shines if you need virtual hosting, which is a breeze with this server. http://proftpd.net/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Jan 18 17:30:56 2001 -0600 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f0INUtd10079 for ; Thu, 18 Jan 2001 17:30:55 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: Stand up and Be Counted! Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 11:44:54 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 12 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, January 18, 2001 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Stand up and Be Counted! Linux as Least Secure? Run Ebay on Linux! Cobalts to use Athlon 3) Linux Resources What's Kerberos Doing Here? Bugs, Bugs, Bugs Load Balancing Clusters Booting off of a RAID-1 Device The Personal Side of Being a Sysadmin 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FREETECHMAIL.ORG Tired of looking everywhere for newsletters with the technical information you need? FreeTechMail.org can help. It has the largest network of high quality opt-in newsletters on the Net. FreeTechMail's search engine enables you to find all the newsletters to keep you at the forefront of the IT industry. Subscribe to your IT newsletters today at: http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1703 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ One of the new features of the 2.4 kernel is an updated version of the IP packet filtering code. Users of 2.2 are familiar with IP chains, and should become familiar with IP tables. Luckily, it's not too much different for basic packet filtering. With ipchains and iptables alike, there are three default chains for filtering: input - rules on this chain are applied to packets as they enter an interface output - rules on this chain are applied to packets as they leave an interface forward - rules on this chain are applied to packets that cross from one interface to another There are some major differences, however. iptables capitalizes the name of the default chains, so it's really INPUT, OUTPUT, and FORWARD. With ipchains, a packet that was to be routed crossed the input, forward, and output chains in that order. With iptables, routed packets hit only FORWARD. INPUT and OUTPUT are for packets that originate or terminate on that interface. Instead of DENYing a packet in ipchains, you DROP it in iptables (more on this later). If you just want to do basic filtering and masquerading, those are the differences. Under the hood, however, you have been given direct access to packets at various stages of processing known as "tables" (hence iptables). For example, we'll hook into the NAT table to get address translation. Modules can also be written to interface with packets. We'll become acquainted with NAT in a second, but first load in the module: modprobe iptable_nat Those familiar with ipchains will remember that we could masquerade out our PPP interface via: ipchains -A forward -i ppp0 -j MASQ ...In iptables, we now run: iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o ppp0 -j MASQUERADE Say what? -t nat? -A POSTROUTING? What's going on here? Time to discuss the "filter" table. INPUT, OUTPUT, and FORWARD chains are part of the "filter" table, which is the default. This is where packets go before they're accepted or transmitted. When a new connection is started, the "nat" table is consulted. It has it's own chains, namely PREROUTING, POSTROUTING, and OUTPUT. The one we're interested in, POSTROUTING, is checked before a packet is sent on the wire (but not before it hits the filter table!) At this point, we're just sending any packets going out the ppp0 interface to the MASQERADE chain. Subtle differences from ipchains here -- the chain is no longer MASQ, and on the forwarding chain you can specify the incoming (-i) or outgoing (-o) interface. Previously, you could only specify the outgoing interface via -i. That aside, your basic packet filtering is the same: iptables -A INPUT -s 10.0.0.0/8 -j DROP This will drop all packets coming from the 10.x.x.x network. The -j parameter sends the packet matching this rule to either another chain (you can make up extras to optimize stuff), or to a built in target, in this case "DROP". Others are "ACCEPT" and "REJECT". A REJECTed packet causes an ICMP message to be sent back, while a DROPped packet is ignored. Those of you who want a bit more time with ipchains (or even the 2.0 ipfwadm) can opt to have support for that. Load in the "ipchains" or "ipfwadm" modules instead of the above and go to town. I encourage you to learn this exciting new way of handling packets (OK, maybe it's not exciting... My day job is as a network guy so these kinds of things turn me on). You can get a lot of useful information from the iptables man page or at http://netfilter.samba.org/ The kind folks at Brainbuzz.com have given us our own board to sound off on: http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 Long live the Penguin, Sean swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ------------------- Stand up and be counted! ------------------- I remember that Slackware used to (and probably still does) put a link to the Linux counter in root's mail box by default. Sign up for the Linux counter; you can even see who else is signed up in your area! http://counter.li.org ------------------- Linux as least secure? ------------------- This is a fun read... Some mainframers decided that the good 'ol mainframe is the most secure place to store data, and that Linux is the worst. Their reasoning isn't much better than "It's too hard to use". Sigh. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1116290 ------------------- Run Ebay on Linux! ------------------- Ebay runs on some high-end Sun hardware. As good as the stuff is, they've had some serious outages in the past. Would Linux be a good alternative? Lots of cheap hardware rather than a little expensive gear? One only has to look at Google to see what four thousand Linux boxes can do... http://www.internetweek.com/newslead01/lead011101.htm ------------------- Cobalts to use Athlon ------------------- I love AMD. For desk tops and low end servers, you can't beat the price/performance. SUN, after their recent acquisition of Cobalt, is going to use Athlon chips in the new appliances. This article points out some interesting things with regard to scalability of the chips. http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/OEG20010112S0082 ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ --------------- What's Kerberos doing here? --------------- I was rebuilding Apache and PHP on a new Red Hat 6.2 box yesterday. I found out the hard way that the imap packages in 6.2 are linked against Kerberos, a distributed authentication architecture. Even though I wasn't going to use them, I still had to link PHP against the libraries. I needed kerberos-devel and this handy tip: http://www.geocrawler.com/archives/3/5/2000/5/50/3818227/ ------------------- Bugs, bugs, bugs ------------------- I encourage everyone to follow linuxsecurity.com's advisory watch to keep on top of the latest problems. This week's advisories include some serious issues, including a bug in glibc 2.2, the system libraries that ship with Red Hat 7. http://linuxsecurity.com/articles/forums_article-2287.html ------------------- Load balancing clusters ------------------- Most people are familiar with Beowulf, a clustering project for Linux. Here is Mosix, a general purpose cluster that's a lot more transparent to applications. It's good for building web clusters and the like. http://www.mosix.org/ ------------------- Booting off of a RAID-1 device ------------------- RAID-1 is otherwise known as mirroring, a process whereby copies of data are stored (mirrored) on two drives. Lose one, the other takes over. It's a bit tricky to make your root partition a mirror, however. This article shows you the ropes. It also focuses on another aspect of mirroring, namely backing out of changes. Break the mirror before you do your work. If something hits the fan, you've got a pre- change copy of the system. http://www.samag.com/linux/articles/v10/i01/a7.shtml ------------------- The personal side of being a Sysadmin ------------------- System administration isn't easy work... Besides the technical stuff, you have to deal with people. Here's some helpful advice for anyone in the system or network administration role! http://www.linux.com/sysadmin/newsitem.phtml?sid=1&aid=11529 ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ Looking for some CD writing software for Linux? Look no further than gcombust. I was up and running within minutes. Lots of options, helpful troubleshooting, and a clean interface make it the App o'the week. http://www.abo.fi/~jmunsin/gcombust/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Jan 25 11:48:30 2001 -0600 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f0PHmSd00713 for ; Thu, 25 Jan 2001 11:48:29 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: Linux Problem Solving Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 10:11:51 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 13 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, January 25, 2001 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News 2.0.39 Released Linux Virus An Interview with Dan York - President of the LPI Is Linux Really Free? 3) Linux Resources NT to UNIX Migration Underground Book Available Linux and USB MySQL Filesystem Lots o' Free Fonts 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CYBERSTATEU In Line or Online--Where Do You Want To Spend Your Time? With massive shortages of skilled IT and technical personnel, and the rapid releases of new products and technologies - traditional classroom training and methodologies cannot keep up with Internet time. CyberState's Synergy Learning System provides the finest, E-training methodology for individuals and corporations seeking proficiency in network infrastructure technologies. MCSE, CTE, CCNA, CNE, LPI Linux. Call 1-888-GET-EDUCated or visit http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1761 for special promotions. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ What's the most important skill a Unix admin needs? Is it shell scripting? Knowing the ins and outs of the file system? Running sendmail, perhaps? Or maybe vi? All of the above skills are good to have, but there is a skill that is more important. It's problem solving. Problem solving is knowing how to find the answer to what you need. Guaranteed, no matter how much you know about sendmail, you're eventually going to run into a problem that makes you scratch your head. Of course, going out and asking a guru the question may get you the answer you need quickly, but you don't end up learning anything. It is the learning part of problem solving that's important. A small example to illustrate. When writing last week's article, I made the statement that the OUTPUT chain of the filter table is consulted after the POSTROUTING chain of the nat table. As I got up to that sentence, I asked myself who takes the last stab at the packet. Maybe nat:POSTROUTING gets it after filter:OUTPUT? One thing that popped into my mind was to find a newsgroup or IRC channel and ask. However, I took a couple of minutes to deny packets to an outside web server in both chains, set my machine pinging through, and checked the counters. Sure enough, I proved to myself that filter was consulted last, and learned a lot more about iptables than just that. While flipping through the man page and web sites I found some new options and cool features of iptables. The best tool to use in this particular instance is the man pages. Don't know how to use iptables? "man iptables". Does that solve your problem? If not, I usually check the HOWTO's site at-- http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/docs/howto/ --to see if it's already documented. Failing that, I surf on over to google.com (as a side note, I used to use Altavista until quite recently. After trying google once I was hooked. Much faster, cleaner and more complete). Google is great for finding out why you're getting certain error messages. Another great source of information on error messages is the source itself: grep "Connection refused" *.c ...and start from there. I also experiment a lot on my own machines, as I showed above. Part of the learning process is recovering from your own mistakes, like the time I upgraded my system libraries in the wrong order and rendered my machine fairly useless. So, if you're asking yourself "How can I become better at Linux?", the answer is to dive in and try it. Want to know how email works? Set up a mail server. Just getting in to Linux? Give it a whirl, try things out, and if you get really stuck ask for help. On that note, the BrainBuzz Linux-General board is a great place to start: http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=191 We've also got our own board for discussions: http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 And, because I can't get enough of that poll feature, I'd like you to tell me what kind of book reviews you'd like to see in the latest Linux News Poll: http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbm.asp?rpg=1&wpg=1&sb=0&m=239510 Long live the Penguin, Sean swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ --------------- 2.0.39 Released --------------- If 2.4 is not your bag, and you never made the jump to 2.2, then this may interest you. Some updates have been made to 2.0: lots of IDE stuff, some NIC updates, memory leaks, and even some backporting of 2.4 features (devfs). Believe it or not, I know of a few 2.0 boxes out there, one of mine included! http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0101.1/0624.html ----------- Linux Virus ----------- Well, it had to come around sooner or later, a virus targeted specifically towards Linux. This one goes after RedHat 6.2 and 7.0 servers, in particular the rpc.statd, wu-ftpd, and LPRng bugs. All of these are fixed in updated RPMS on RedHat's errata section. What's funny about this virus is that it replaces the web server's home page with a picture of a package of Ramen Noodles, and a message. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1123000/1123827.stm ------------------------------------------------- An Interview with Dan York - President of the LPI ------------------------------------------------- An interesting interview with the President of the Linux Professional Institute -- one of the certification bodies for Linux. What makes this cert good is that it's not particularly distribution specific. In this interview, we find out why Dan thinks that this is a Good Thing, and other stuff about the LPI cert. http://www.slashtco.com/article.pl?sid=01/01/19/1223227 --------------------- Is Linux Really Free? --------------------- Sure, it costs you nothing to buy, no upgrade costs, but are the maintenance costs zero? Probably not, but how do they compare to others? This series of short interviews investigates the question, "Is Linux Really Free?" http://www.computerweekly.com/cw_management_zone/cw_management_clinic.asp ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ -------------------- NT to UNIX Migration -------------------- This whitepaper covers the advantages of Unix over NT. Well presented in a technical fashion, this document presents a fair argument for making the move. http://web.cuug.ab.ca/~leblancj/nt_to_unix.html -------------------------- Underground Book Available -------------------------- "Tales of hacking, madness and obsession on the electronic frontier" is the by-line of this book. It has recently been offered as a free download, in a multitude of formats, including mp3! It's been well reviewed, I'm looking forward to reading it (on my palm pilot no less!) http://www.underground-book.com/download.php3 ------------- Linux and USB ------------- The author of this piece contends that Linux is not ready for the desktop until USB support is as easy as it is with Windows. More or less, it'll be ready when vendors ship Linux drivers with the equipment. Check out the comments and resources section for some helpful information on USB and Linux. http://linuxworld.com/linuxworld/lw-2001-01/lw-01-penguin_3.html ---------------- MySQL Filesystem ---------------- >From the "because we can" department comes a filesystem that runs out of a MySQL database. Truthfully, though, the developer brings up some excellent applications for this. It will make access for non-technical users easier, so that your marketing folk could browse the database with Windows explorer, and you don't have to write any fancy front ends. http://no.spam.ee/~tonu/mysqlfs.html ------------------ Lots o' Free Fonts ------------------ I've been playing with the GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) lately, and found this site with lots of True Type Fonts. It's also got instructions on how to get True Type support added to your system. http://fonts.linuxpower.org/ ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ This program (Linux and Windows versions available) will help you develop essential skills needed to work with Windows systems, such as using the mouse to close error dialogues. http://bluesine.com/archives/software/mcseTrainer/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Feb 1 16:04:57 2001 -0600 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f11M4iN06860 for ; Thu, 1 Feb 2001 16:04:46 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: How To Secure Your Linux Installation Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2001 14:30:04 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 14 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, February 1, 2001 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Microsoft's New Product More on the Ramen Worm SUN Shines on GNOME 2.4.1 Released 3) Linux Resources Star Office Patches Available GIMP Essential Reference Using Kerberos New Freshmeat FTP and your Firewall 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AUDIOWHIZ Gain study time and enhance your learning! Hear hundreds of certification exam questions on audio CD or cassettes. Learn while you commute to and from work, exercise or walk the dog. Ideal for those times when you can't read. 90 day money back guarantee if you are not happy. http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1464 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ *** Running BIND? Serious bugs found. Check out: *** *** http://www.isc.org/products/BIND/bind-security.html *** While the Ramen worm that came out the other week didn't cause a huge stir, it does show that people aren't security conscious. Even if your machine doesn't have any important data on it, a security breach is inconvenient. It can also result in your machine being used as a place from which a cracker[0] can mount an attack, or run a warez[1] site. Securing your box starts right after it finishes booting for the first time. Here is my checklist of things I do after the install: 1) Go to the distro's web site and download any patches. Apply them. RedHat - http://www.redhat.com/errata Debian - http://www.debian.org/security Mandrake - http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/security/ 2) Run through /etc/inetd.conf. Comment out any services I don't want to run, especially stuff like the R*[2] utilities, FTP, etc. I can add anything later, once I'm ready to configure it properly. 3) Eyeball the packages that were installed, and remove anything I don't want. RedHat is notorious for installing extra stuff. 4) Find out what services are running at boot. In RedHat, I can do-- chkconfig --list | grep :on --to find out what's being started. Furthermore-- chkconfig sendmail off --will turn off the sendmail process. Not running a mail server? You don't need sendmail started. Things like portmap, ypbind, netfs should be turned off unless you're running NFS or NIS. Plan on being a print server? Probably not, so you don't need lpd. That's one of the Ramen worm's targets. 5) I then make a note of what is going to be running on boot up, and start configuring it. Nothing should be running with the defaults. 6) Peek at /etc/passwd... What accounts are there? Is there a valid shell? 7) Install SSH. http://www.openssh.org 8) Set up wrappers. Put "ALL:ALL" in /etc/hosts.deny, and then let in machines from hosts.allow. "man hosts_access" for the syntax. 9) Reboot the computer. When it comes back up, check the process listings and boot logs to see if the changes have had the desired effect. 10) Resolve to keep an eye on logs. Having a program parse them and email them is a good thing, try "logcheck" from the Abacus project. http://www.psionic.com/abacus Portsentry, from the same site, is another good program to help secure your box. 11) Resolve to keep up on updates. The sites I listed above for downloading updates usually have an address where you can subscribe to a list that lets you know when something is new. If you did, then things like the Ramen worm won't scare you. The vulnerabilities it exploited have had patches available for quite some time. This may all seem like a lot, but it takes less than half an hour. The steps listed above will shut down the script kiddies, and let you get on with your life. Anything to add to this list? Security concerns? Questions about Linux? The Linux news board is open 24x7. http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 Long live the Penguin, Sean swalberg@brainbuzz.com --------- FOOTNOTES --------- [0] - Hacker good, Cracker bad. A hacker is someone with a knack for computers, a cracker is someone who uses that knack to cause harm. [1] - Illegal software [2] - rsh, rcp, rexec, rlogin - these utilities were designed to copy/run programs between trusted systems. Now, nothing can be trusted. SSH can securely replace these. ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ----------------------- Microsoft's New Product ----------------------- We'll start off this week's resource section with a light one. First you have Windows CE, then ME, and finally NT. What do you get when you put them all together? http://www.geocities.com/rcwoolley/ ---------------------- More on the Ramen Worm ---------------------- The Ramen worm targeted RedHat 6.2 and 7.0 machines that weren't up on their security patches. This release from RedHat shows the vulnerabilities, and the necessary patches. http://www.redhat.com/support/alerts/ramen_worm.html ------------------- SUN Shines on GNOME ------------------- In case you haven't heard, SUN Microsystems, maker of that wonderful operating system called Solaris, has embraced the GNOME windowing environment. In this interview, John Heard, manager of architecture and strategy at Sun, talks about where SUN wants to go with this technology. http://linuxpower.org/display.php?id=202 -------------- 2.4.1 Released -------------- The kernel team has been busy. 2.4.1 promises some features left out of the 2.4.0 release, including ReiserFS. Grab it from your local mirror and patch up! http://www.kernel.org/ ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ----------------------------- Star Office Patches Available ----------------------------- Anyone who has used Star Office knows that it's pretty good, but far from perfect. Since the 5.2 release, they've done a lot of work, fixed a lot of bugs. Go here to grab the latest patches for Star Office 5.2. http://supportforum.Sun.COM/cgi-bin/WebX.cgi?officePatchPage ------------------------ GIMP Essential Reference ------------------------ The GNU Image Manipulation Program is a great piece of software, but the plethora of options can be intimidating and even confusing. Take a peek at my review of this reference guide, which promises to shed some light into the darkest of the corners of the GIMP. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU1130 -------------- Using Kerberos -------------- It's there, but what does it do? Kerberos is a distributed authentication mechanism, but incorporates strong cryptography. If you have multiple Unix systems, you may want to consider running Kerberos to reduce the user administration you have to do. http://www.redhat.com/support/manuals/RHL-7-Manual/ref-guide/ch-kerberos.htm l ------------- New Freshmeat ------------- Freshmeat has just undergone a redesign. If you've never visited it before, it's a searchable index of useful software. Freshmeat II promises better categories and a host of new features. Check it out! http://www.freshmeat.net --------------------- FTP and your Firewall --------------------- FTP transfers data by building a data channel from the server back to the client. This, of course, doesn't make firewalls happy. This article gives the details, and shows you how to make it all work. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU1057 ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ With Napster gearing up to charge for usage, I thought I'd pass along a link to this system. Mojonation is a distributed filesharing and searching architecture with a twist -- pay for downloading with a currency called "mojo". Earn mojo by providing services to the Mojonation. http://www.mojonation.net ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Feb 8 21:02:57 2001 -0600 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f1932uN22096 for ; Thu, 8 Feb 2001 21:02:56 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: Diving For Perls Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2001 10:54:55 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 15 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, February 8, 2001 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Supercomputer on a CD Random Linus Quotes Pack up Your Bags, Folks. It's Over Whistler Testers Shout "Linux!" 3) Linux Resources Guerilla Guide to Great Graphics with the GIMP Free Oracle 9i for Linux Trial Intro to RAID Best Newbie Distro Red Hat 7.1 beta 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FREETECHMAIL.ORG Tired of looking everywhere for newsletters with the technical information you need? FreeTechMail.org can help. It has the largest network of high quality opt-in newsletters on the Net. FreeTechMail's search engine enables you to find all the newsletters to keep you at the forefront of the IT industry. Subscribe to your IT newsletters today at: http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1703 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ I was just reading through this week's PERL newsletter from perl.com. To my amazement, they announced that the WinCE port of perl is complete, bringing the total number of systems supported to around 70. 70! Forget Java, PERL is the cross platform language to learn! You don't have to be a guru to learn PERL either. With its wide variety of command line options, you can get a surprising amount of mileage out of your command line. If you've read my article on the command line, you'll remember that I can convert a phrase within a stream with sed, the Stream EDitor. For example: cat mgmtreport | sed 's/ use / utilize /' > mgmtreport.tmp mv mgmtreport.tmp mgmtreport --Will fix up my management report to make it a bit more friendly to my manager. PERL can do the editing in place for you though: perl -p -i.bak -e 's/ use / utilize /' mgmtreport -p means to read a line from STDIN, do something, then run a print. -i.bak tells perl to use a temporary file to do in-place editing for the files specified on the command line -e means that we're passing code on the command line (that would be the something referenced in the -p) That may not mean a lot to you, but without the options it would be 14 lines of PERL code! You only end up saving about 30 characters over the sed method, but with the PERL invocation you can specify multiple files (or wildcards) instead of processing each file individually. Another handy one is to generate repetitive lines of text. For example, if I were setting up a new Cisco switch, I'd need to type something like the following for every interface (48 on some switches!): interface fastethernet0/N spanning-tree portfast switchport mode access vlan 10 Or, I can copy the output of this script to the switch: perl -e 'for($i=1;$i<=48;$i++){print"interface fastethernet0/$i \spanning-tree portfast\nswitchport mode access vlan 10\n"}' (the \ means to continue the command on to the next line. Since we're still technically within the "" of the print statement, the \n can be skipped) I even use stuff like this when writing this newsletter. To save a lot of cutting and pasting for the table of contents, I just pass the newsletter through: while() { if (/^-------/){ $_=; print "\t$_"; $_=;} } Presto, my table of contents is nearly generated. This one just looks for the headings of each resource, prints the following line, then carries on. Lazy? You bet. It's one of the three virtues of a programmer, the other two being impatience and hubris. http://www.netropolis.org/hash/perl/virtue.html PERL Homepage (great tutorials): http://www.perl.com Linux News Board: http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 Long live the Penguin, Sean swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ --------------------- Supercomputer on a CD --------------------- Clustering multiple computers isn't exactly news, but the Open Cluster Group aims to make it so easy that anyone can do it. "We've actually taken it to the point where a typical high school kid who has a little bit of experience with Linux and can get their hands on a couple of extra boxes could set up a cluster at home," says one of the people working on the project. http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/01/25/2330211 ------------------- Random Linus Quotes ------------------- >From the "I've got too much time on my hands" department comes a collection of quotes from Linus on the linux-kernel mailing lists. Come see what Linus thinks about things from project management to families. Well worth a read. http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/opinions/2980/1/ ----------------------------------- Pack up Your Bags, Folks. It's Over ----------------------------------- You might have seen Microsoft's statement last week that Linux has no future. Since Microsoft is always right *snicker* it looks like we may as wall pack our bags and call it quits *giggle*. I mean, why should we spend all this time and effort when Mickeysoft is foreseeing our demise? *laugh* http://www.satirewire.com/news/0101/linux_quit.shtml ------------------------------- Whistler Testers Shout "Linux!" ------------------------------- It looks like Microsoft is going to add some serious copy protection into Whistler. As any security measure works, it's a tradeoff between effectiveness and ease of use. Microsoft has not struck a good balance with its Whistler copy protection plan, which is leading some of the Whistler testers to threaten defection. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/16648.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ---------------------------------------------- Guerilla Guide to Great Graphics with the GIMP ---------------------------------------------- Last week I showed you "GIMP Essentials". Maybe you're a beginner to the world of computer graphics, and are looking for a how-to type book. Well, the folks at Prima Tech have answered your call. This is a great book about the GIMP, written in an easy to follow, tutorial style manner. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU1150 ------------------------------ Free Oracle 9i for Linux Trial ------------------------------ Oracle is giving away Oracle 9i Application Server trials. Follow this link to register with Oracle and get your software. Oracle is one vendor quick to embrace Linux by making their core software available on the Linux platform. (There's also a free draw for an EMPEG Linux MP3 Car Stereo.) http://www.oracle.com/start/9iweekly/intro.html ------------- Intro to RAID ------------- RAID, a Redundant Array of Independent Disks, is a technique for spreading data across multiple disks to allow for fault tolerance. Sure, Linux supports it in both hardware and software, but you still need to know when RAID is appropriate and what the different levels are. This article gives an excellent introduction to how RAID works. http://www.systemlogic.net/articles/01/1/raid/ ------------------- Best Newbie Distro ------------------- Every technical group has it's own religious wars, and Linux is no exception. What is the best distribution for newbies? Which is the easiest to install and maintain? This article and discussion tries to tackle the issue. http://www.linuxnewbie.com/articles/features/6,1/ ------------------- Red Hat 7.1 beta ------------------- Want to be on the on the bleeding edge? Give Red Hat 7.1 a shot. Updated packages, kernel 2.4, and more configuration tools promise to make this beta release a good one. http://www.redhat.com/apps/download/beta/rhl.html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ I found this one the other day when trying to resolve IPs into names in a text file. There are many programs out there to do this for Apache style logs, but I needed a general purpose filter so I could specify that the IP was, for example, in the third column of comma separated values. This week's program does all this and more. http://sourceforge.net/projects/cocalores ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Feb 15 13:45:44 2001 -0600 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f1FJjgN16661 for ; Thu, 15 Feb 2001 13:45:43 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: What Are The Advantages of Joining a LUG? Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2001 10:56:45 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 16 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, February 15, 2001 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Win2K vs. Linux Reality Check! Linux vs. FreeBSD Red Hat Unveils Expanded E-Commerce Offerings 3) Linux Resources LDAP Query with PHP No Rest for the Kernel Team GNOME Installation Guide How are Kernel Decisions Made? libmilter 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FREETECHMAIL.ORG Tired of looking everywhere for newsletters with the technical information you need? FreeTechMail.org can help. It has the largest network of high quality opt-in newsletters on the Net. FreeTechMail's search engine enables you to find all the newsletters to keep you at the forefront of the IT industry. Subscribe to your IT newsletters today at: http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1703 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ Linux User Groups (LUG) are a great way of furthering your knowledge of Linux, and helping out others. Within a LUG you'll find people who just installed Linux the day before (or perhaps not even yet), to people who work with it every day. There are two big advantages to joining a LUG. The first is the technical content. For example, I frequent the Manitoba Unix Users Group (MUUG). Each session starts off with an open forum where people ask questions. At the last meeting, everything from window managers to obscure shell scripting techniques was discussed. After that is a presentation. The latest was an excellent tutorial on how to lock down your machine, and in the past there have been demonstrations of products and related technologies. Between the presentation and the forum, you have to try hard not to pick up something new, even if it is just a new piece of software to try out. Everybody does things differently, and learning these ways can only help you. Through discussion you can get into some really interesting topics. The second advantage of a LUG is the people. You may run in to someone looking for temporary work, or meet some people face to face that you've only seen in email. You may trade email addresses with people you meet there, and use each other to bounce ideas off of in between meetings. Linux.com has provided a database of LUGs, so if you don't know if there is one in your area, check it out: http://www.linux.com/lug/ On another note, the latest .VBS worm, with the Anna Kournikova attachment has been making its rounds. If you use sendmail to handle email at your site, look at the libmilter link in the resources section. It will let you delete harmful attachments. Or, for a more general purpose email filter, try this out: http://mailtools.anomy.net In case you're in the dark on this, you should be checking the IT Resources section of Brainbuzz more often! Here's the article: http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/Headline/default.asp?hi=S1H2173 Did you hear about the email worm for Unix? It works on the honour system -- it asks you to delete some files and then to forward it off to your friends. Don't forget about the Linux Newsletter board, where you can talk to me and other subscribers: http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 Until next week, take care, and Long Live the Penguin. Sean swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ------------------- Win2K vs. Linux ------------------- Come see Win2K compared to Linux on a variety of non-technical merits. Who has the better mascot? Who sucks less? Not a report you want to give to your manager, but some good ammo the next time you get into an OS argument. http://www.bbspot.com/Features/2000/12/os_guide.html ------------------- Reality Check! ------------------- SUN's Reality Checks are always a good read. Usually they're directed at the Microsoft FUD machine, and this time is no different. It looks like a Microsoft PR firm was talking behind SUN's back to some reporters, so SUN thought they'd set the record straight. http://www.sun.com/dot-com/realitycheck/headsup010205.html ------------------- Linux vs. FreeBSD ------------------- The BSD family is quite possibly more reliable than Linux, but they don't seem to have the publicity. Here is a good comparison of the two. http://www.byte.com/column/BYT20010130S0010 ------------------- Red Hat Unveils Expanded E-Commerce Offerings ------------------- "Red Hat will integrate Akopia's popular Interchange e-commerce platform into Red Hat's solutions portfolio that now includes Interchange, the Stronghold Secure Web Server and CCVS e-commerce payment system for a comprehensive e-commerce solution stack." http://www.redhat.com/about/presscenter/2001/press_akopia.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ --------------- LDAP Query with PHP --------------- PHPBuilder is a great site for people who develop with PHP. If you've ever heard of LDAP and wanted to start learning it, this is a great article to get a simple directory application up and running. http://phpbuilder.net/columns/dstanley20010206.php3 ------------------- No Rest for the Kernel Team ------------------- 2.4.1ac11 is out, and the accompanying article shows a list of changes. While you may prefer to wait for 2.4.2, keeping up with the intermediate changelogs is helpful in that you may spot some features or bug fixes that concern you. If you can keep up with the AC's, then your feedback can be helpful to the developers, especially at this time of rapid development. http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-02-13-008-04-NW-KN ------------------- GNOME Installation Guide ------------------- If your system doesn't include GNOME natively, or you're looking to do an upgrade, this site is a definite must. If you already have GNOME, it's still got a lot of useful information on how to select and install applications, and some tweaks too. http://www.karubik.de/gig/ ------------------- How are Kernel Decisions Made? ------------------- Ever wondered who gets the final say on what goes in to the kernel or how it is to be done? It's a complicated system, but has worked so far. http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/02/08/0757219 ------------------- libmilter ------------------- libmilter is a filtering library that is included in recent versions of sendmail. It lets you write C code to filter through your email to remove the undesired content, like the latest .VBS worm. This page has instructions on how to configure and write filters using a .VBS/.SHS removal example. http://aeschi.ch.eu.org/milter/ ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ This week's app is more of a script of dubious utility. Think of a perl script that's entire purpose is to reformat itself into the shape of a camel. Then think of this script silk-screened on to a T-Shirt. Wow! :) http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/things/321a.html ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Feb 22 14:10:38 2001 -0600 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f1MKAQN17401 for ; Thu, 22 Feb 2001 14:10:28 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: Understanding Runlevels Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 11:45:13 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 17 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, February 22, 2001 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Planning GNOME 2.0 Linux and POS systems Bastille Linux Update Real World Linux Security Book Review 3) Linux Resources Tired of FSCKing? GNOME 1.4 Beta 1 Released Fun With Netfilter Linuxsecurity.com on Netfilter KDE 2.1 Released 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DOUBLEDAY Cisco CCIE Certification Toolkit, 3 books and 2 CDs - reference set for Cisco's internetwork operating system, is now $9.99 -- save over $199! A great resource if you're preparing for the CCIE exam or want to design networks, move through any configuration of Cisco IOS-based routers, and take advantage of test preparation techniques. http://161.58.99.48/cgi-local/redirect.pl?VTIYCXNDF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ The way that Linux knows what processes to start up, and the order in which it does this, tends to be a source of confusion for many. This week, I hope that I'll be able to clarify this for you. The first thing to do is to define a runlevel. UNIX uses runlevels as a way to keep track of what state the system is in. There are 7 default runlevels, numbered 0-6. Each one is associated with a particular state. 0 and 6 are halt and reboot respectively. So, another way of saying "reboot that machine" is to say "switch to runlevel 6!". Runlevel 1 is called "single user mode". In this state we're either bringing up the system or are in maintenance mode. No users can log in remotely, and there is limited functionality. The idea is to get the system at a state where it is stable so file system checks and others can be run. Runlevels 2 and 4 aren't really used anymore, which leaves us with 3 and 5. 3 is called "multiuser". If anyone remembers the way Slackware used to boot up, it would say "going multiuser..." at which point it would switch into RL3. This is the normal operation for a server, as all the normal services are running. 5 is the same as 3, except that you add your X window system. Most of us will be in runlevel 5. Another thing to note is that to get to runlevel 5, you don't have to hit 0-4. You can jump between them all you want. To actually change runlevels, use /sbin/init newrunlevel That's all well and good, but how does one define what services are started in what run level? Glad you asked. The answer is in the SysV init system. Take a peek in /etc/rc.d: [sean ~]$ ls /etc/rc.d init.d rc rc.sysinit rc1.d rc3.d rc5.d rc.local rc0.d rc2.d rc4.d rc6.d The important ones to note are init.d, and the rc?.d directories. First take a peek in init.d. You'll see a bunch of files, one for each service, in that directory. Each one is responsible for starting and stopping a service. If you have a file called httpd, which starts and stops the web server, you can run httpd start # start the web server httpd stop # stop the web server httpd status # is the web server running? The next piece in the puzzle is the rc?.d directories. You probably guessed it, but the number has something to do with the runlevel. Looking in the directory, you'll see that the files are links to the respective file in ../init.d, and that the names are funny. S80sendmail? What's that mean? A good question! Upon entering runlevel N, the system does the following: 1. Iterate through all the files in /etc/rc.d/rcN.d that start with K, processing them in order of the number, ie. K10abc before K20def. For each file, run it with the "stop" parameter 2. Do the same thing for all the "S" files, but with the "start" parameter So, if you want a service to start in runlevel 3, say, between cron (40) and inetd (50), give it a start priority of 45. (Note that the priorities aren't necessarily essential, but it allows you to ensure that networking is up before you start your web server and the like). You'll also want to make sure that all the other runlevels have a corresponding Kill script, since it's entirely possible that you switched from a runlevel where it was running into one where it shouldn't. Managing those symlinks is a big task. Fear not, Red Hat- based distributions include "chkconfig" to help manage, and Debian-based ones use "update-rc.d" (thanks to faithful reader and Debian aficionado Guitarlynn for finding that one!) Alas, the use of those commands will have to wait for another newsletter, but the man pages are pretty good! Don't forget about the Linux Newsletter board, where you can talk to myself and other subscribers: http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 Long Live the Penguin. Sean swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ------------------ Planning GNOME 2.0 ------------------ Miguel de Icaza, guru of all GNOME, shares his vision of what's going in to GNOME 2.0, and even closer, 1.4. There are lots of things in there, like GNOME-VFS (a shared filesystem), and better interoperability between applications. http://primates.ximian.com/~miguel/gnome-2.0/ --------------------- Linux and POS Systems --------------------- "Red Hat and Wincor Nixdorf to Deliver a Linux and JavaPOS Solution Platform for Retail POS Systems". Linux is easily deployable, and runs on a variety of different hardware, making it an ideal candidate to run a Point of Sale (POS) system. Home Depot uses it, so have a look! http://www.redhat.com/about/presscenter/2001/press_wincor.html --------------------- Bastille Linux Update --------------------- Bastille Linux is a set of scripts that really harden a Linux box. They've gone through some rapid development lately after some cash infusion, so now is a good time to look at this. It's great for people just getting started in Linux, because all the options are well explained. http://bastille-linux.sourceforge.net/ ------------------------------------- Real World Linux Security Book Review ------------------------------------- If you're looking to start taking security into your own hands, this cookbook style manual is a good one. Real World Linux Security walks you through the ways to lock down Linux, to monitor for weaknesses, and how to minimize the damage if you do get broken. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU1171 ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ----------------- Tired of FSCKing? ----------------- Journalling file systems allow quick recovery after an unclean shutdown. Did you know that they can also make your file system faster and make more efficient use of space? This article investigates some of the various journalling file systems out there, with an eye on how they improve performance. http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/212/ ------------------------- GNOME 1.4 Beta 1 Released ------------------------- With features like a newer panel, better help, better applications, and the usual bug fixes (and fresh bugs, of course), a Beta of GNOME has been released. I wonder if this has anything to do with the upcoming KDE 2.1 release? http://slashdot.org/articles/01/02/18/1343236.shtml ------------------ Fun With Netfilter ------------------ This tuneup article from Linux.com takes you through some basic and advanced iptables commands. iptables has some really fancy modules, so you can trigger a rule based on traffic volumes and the like. http://linux.com/tuneup/database.phtml/Networking/2192.html ------------------------------ Linuxsecurity.com on Netfilter ------------------------------ Linuxsecurity.com is a pretty good place to pick up tips and tricks about securing your Linux system. Dave Wreski, security guru and all around nice guy, has put together an informative article on what netfilter is all about. http://www.linuxsecurity.com/feature_stories/kernel-netfilter.html ---------------- KDE 2.1 Released ---------------- According to the KDE home page, 2.1 was supposed to be released by the time you get this. At any rate, 2.1beta was released a couple of weeks ago in anticipation of the 2.1 release. KDE is a great WM that doesn't seem to have received the breaks that GNOME has. http://www.kde.org ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ Need a system to run your helpdesk, track trouble tickets, or software issues? Look no further than Request Tracker! Featuring powerful tracking, multiple users and queues, and a great web interface, this software is sure to help you out. http://www.fsck.com/projects/rt/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Mar 1 15:43:48 2001 -0600 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f21LhkR06755 for ; Thu, 1 Mar 2001 15:43:47 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: Certification Boot Camp Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2001 13:15:58 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 18 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, March 1, 2001 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Ximian Red Carpet Microsoft Hates GPL VA Linux to Cut 25 Percent of Staff Certification Boot Camp 3) Linux Resources Red Hat 7 Unleashed Mmmm... Cola VIM and mouse wheels ACLs for ext2 Integrating Unix DNS with Win 2K 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FREETECHMAIL.org Tired of looking everywhere for newsletters with the technical information you need? FreeTechMail.org can help. It has the largest network of high quality opt-in newsletters on the Net. FreeTechMail's search engine enables you to find all the newsletters to keep you at the forefront of the IT industry. Subscribe to your IT newsletters today at: http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1703 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ Last week I mentioned that KDE 2.1 was due to be released RSN. Here you go: http://dot.kde.org/983227586/ I also mentioned that I'd get around to explaining Red Hat's chkconfig to you. Before I get there, I'll save you a few keystrokes when you're playing with your daemons. To start, say, the httpd service, you can run: /etc/rc.d/init.d/httpd start Or, save yourself a few keystrokes: service httpd start Cool, eh? (If you're running Red Hat 6.0, grab the initscripts update because this seemingly simple script was shipped broken.) On to chkconfig. An init script can be managed by chkconfig if it has the following comments near the top: # chkconfig: 2345 51 49 # description: start the foo daemon The 2345 means that by default, if this daemon is on, it will be started in run levels 2, 3, 4, and 5. It will have a start priority of 51, and a kill priority of 49. This would correspond to a symlink called S51foo created in the rc2.d, rc3.d, rc4.d, and rc5.d directories, and K49foo in the others. To set up the initial links, tell chkconfig to add the script: chkconfig --add foo To delete it from management: chkconfig --del foo To ensure that it gets started on boot (in the runlevels you specified): chkconfig foo on And, to turn off: chkconfig foo off If you wanted to override the 2345, and only start it up in run level 3 and 5: chkconfig --level 35 foo on Be careful with this, as if you later turn the service off, you may have to specify --level again, because chkconfig only turns it off in runlevels that are defaulted to on. So, if the daemon normally comes up in level 3, but you turn it on for 3 and 5, it will be on in 5 if you turn it off without --level. To see the whole list: chkconfig --list Or, what I like to do: chkconfig --list | grep 3:on ...to see what's coming up in run level 3. It's a heck of a lot easier than managing all the symbolic links! Red Hat also includes GUI tools like ntsysv, tksysv, and linuxconf to manage these, but after a bit of practice you'll find that the command line is much quicker! Long live the Penguin, Sean swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit The Linux Newsletter Board http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ------------------- Ximian Red Carpet ------------------- Red Carpet is a revolutionary concept for Linux. Subscribe to software channels, and let Red Carpet keep your system up to date. For example, you could subscribe to the Ximian Desktop and Red Hat 7 channels. When packages are released by either party, you're informed and have the option to update your system. Sweet! http://www.ximian.com/apps/redcarpet-announce.php3 -------------------- Microsoft Hates GPL -------------------- It's no secret that Microsoft doesn't care for Linux, but their latest round of attacks have focused on the GPL license, saying that it's "too restrictive" and "un-American". http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/zd/20010220/tc/microsoft_clarifies_exec_s_open- source_concerns_1.html ------------------------------------ VA Linux to Cut 25 Percent of Staff ------------------------------------ Linux Box maker VA Linux is to cut a quarter of its staff in order to try to make a profit. I really hate to see stuff like this happen to such a company, as they've pumped a lot of money into hiring developers to put work into the kernel, especially the storage area. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010220/tc/valinux_earns_dc_1.html ------------------------ Certification Boot Camp ------------------------ Boot Camps are nothing new in the Windows world, but here is the first one I've seen for Linux. This one is a bit different than others though; you work on a laptop the whole time, and then get to take it home with you! http://www.linuxnews.com/stories.php?story=01/02/21/8763536 ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ -------------------- Red Hat 7 Unleashed -------------------- Looking for a book to walk you through Red Hat 7, from installation to setting up services? Look no further than Red Hat 7 Unleashed. This link points to my review of the book. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU1188 ------------- Mmmm... Cola ------------- What if programming languages were colas? What kind would Perl be? How about C or C++? Read on to find out. http://dave.oreillynet.com/stories/storyReader$55 -------------------- VIM and Mice Wheels -------------------- It seems everyone has those wheel mice but me... Not sure what the attraction is, but to each his own. Linux.com has a write up on how to get VIM (VI Improved) to recognize when you're rolling that thing around, and respond accordingly. http://www.linux.com/tuneup/database.phtml/Misc/2220.html -------------- ACLs for ext2 -------------- One thing that Linux can't do yet is fine grained ACLs on files. Most commercial Unixes have it, and it's a requirement for some security certifications like C2. Enter this project, which adds POSIX style ACLs to the ext2 file system. http://acl.bestbits.at/ --------------------------------- Integrating Unix DNS with Win2K --------------------------------- DNS is essential to Win2K's operation, that's well known. Many people will already have a DNS server set up, and there is no reason they should ditch it so that 2K can run. This article explains how Unix and NT can play nicely in the same DNS infrastructure. http://win2000mag.win2000mag-asap.com/info/com.winntmag_winntmag_7874_7874.h tml ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ If you're like me, you've got lots of little Post-It (or generic replacement) notes all over your desk, monitor, chair, and wall. Enter "Goats", a GNOME version of the KDE KNotes, which lets you post notes in a variety of colours to your desktop. This will save me a fortune in those little things! http://www.menudo.freeserve.co.uk/goats.html ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Mar 8 14:52:37 2001 -0600 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f28KqZw09000 for ; Thu, 8 Mar 2001 14:52:36 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: SuSE 7.1 - A First Look Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2001 09:58:38 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 19 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, March 8, 2001 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News SuSE 7.1 - A First Look The Little Engine that Could Get 'yer BOFH Gear Here IBM Puts on the Tux 3) Linux Resources Security Features in 2.4 More Uses of TCP Wrappers The e-smith Server and Gateway: A Perl Study BOFH Archive UNIX System Administration Handbook 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AUDIOWHIZ NT Madness 6 CD Set Do you need the ultimate study tool? Buy this 6 cassette/cd bundle Tutorial for your NT Server 4.0 certification. You will save time and learn faster. Click here: http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1464 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ In operating systems like Windows NT, a lot of the action is hidden from you. Sure, you can get a list of processes from the Task Manager, even its memory usage and CPU time, but if you want some real details, you have to grab some extra utilities from places like sysinternals.com. UNIX, on the other hand, will give you all the information you need and more. A process is really an instance of a program. The editor I am typing this in is a process. It was started from the shell, which is another process. That shell was started... you get the point. Each process has a name, a priority, a number, and a whole whack of other attributes. A process is identified by its process ID, or PID for short. Typing "ps -ef" will show you all the running processes. Here is one such entry from the list UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD root 874 805 0 Mar05 pts/1 00:00:00 ssh poochie Starting from the left, you can see the owner of the process, namely root. The process id is next, which is 874. What's PPID though? That's the Parent Process ID, ie. the process that invoked this one. So what would that be? % ps -ef | grep 805 sean 805 794 0 Mar05 pts/1 00:00:00 -csh Hmm... owned by sean, with process id 805 and parent 794. sean 794 1 0 Mar05 ? 00:00:04 gnome-terminal And finally parent is process #1. Discussion of process 1 (init) will have to wait for another day, so let's get back to the other fields. 'C' is the CPU usage value used for scheduling. TTY is the terminal (a throwback to "Teletype"). Users interact with terminal devices. If you look at the process tree above, you'll see that gnome-terminal has no TTY, but its child, -csh, does. Following that logic, you can see that I typed in "ssh poochie" to my shell in my gnome- terminal, to get process 874. The second from last field is the CPU time the process has used. Remember that we're in a multi-tasking operating system, so even though everything looks like it has the full attention of the CPU, it's really taking turns with all the other processes. gnome-terminal has taken up 4 seconds of CPU time, and the other two haven't yet taken up a second. Of course, the last field is the name of the command. This is changeable, so you can't rely on it 100%. So, from the "ps -ef" listing, you can figure out a few things. Processes that have a TTY associated with them are talking via the keyboard with the user. If it is listed as '?', then it's more than likely running in the background. Processes with a high CPU time may have busy loops, or other hangs. Older versions of syslogd would chew CPU, and thus, show up very clearly in a ps listing. The date (STIME) of a process is also helpful. Daemons that start up per connection (anything run out of inetd, sendmail, httpd) that have children with old STIMES may be stuck. It's unlikely that someone has been FTPing to your site for the past week! My apologies to the readers that joined between February 22 and March 1. I had written a two part article last week, but the second part wouldn't have made much sense without the first. I've archived it for you here: http://www.ertw.com/~sean/newsletter/February+22%2C+2001 Thanks to the reader that pointed this out! As always, feel free to email me with your comments, or post questions on the various boards on Brainbuzz.com. Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit The Linux Newsletter Board http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ----------------------- SuSE 7.1 - A First Look ----------------------- SuSE, a distribution from Germany, has become popular with a lot of people. This review shows what's new and great in the latest version. It's one of the first released distributions with the 2.4 kernel, BTW. http://www.linux.com/newsitem.phtml?sid=1&aid=11830 ---------------------------- The Little Engine that Could ---------------------------- With the decline in prices and the insane increase in speed, PCs have taken the digital effects world by storm. Come see how Linux is making inroads into this industry because of its ease of administration and increasingly available software. http://www.millimeter.com/2001/02_feb/features/linux/engine.htm ----------------------- Get 'yer BOFH Gear Here ----------------------- Show your users that you won't take any flak from them by wearing some BOFH gear. Don't know what BOFH is? Check out the "BOFH Archive" below. The phrase "What's your username?" will never mean the same thing again! http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/31/17033.html ------------------- IBM Puts on the Tux ------------------- I'm looking forward to seeing this one on TV... IBM is going for a 60's style psychedelic ad featuring the Linux penguin. The rest of this article shows some impressive numbers-- 144% growth in IBM Linux server sales in Asia during 2000, and a global growth of 24%, which beat Microsoft's 20%. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,42156,00.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ------------------------ Security Features in 2.4 ------------------------ Linuxsecurity.com has come out with another great article on new features in Linux 2.4. This time, Dave Wreski talks about "capabilities", which are fine-grained permissions designed to reduce reliance on the root account. The second half of this article is about the cryptographic features available to plug in to the kernel, such as encrypted file systems. http://www.linuxsecurity.com/feature_stories/kernel-24-security.html ------------------------- More Uses of TCP Wrappers ------------------------- TCP wrappers are great for controlling who can and can't connect to your TCP-based services. Access control is just the beginning, though. This article takes an in-depth look at how the wrappers work, and explores a couple of extra goodies that you may not know the wrappers have in them. http://www.freeos.com/articles/3729/ -------------------------------------------- The e-smith Server and Gateway: A Perl Study -------------------------------------------- e-smith is a pretty cool distribution of Linux, which builds appliance-like boxes with a great web interface. The web interface itself is a great example of what Perl can do, and this article gets behind the scenes with some great design tips. http://www.perl.com/pub/2001/02/esmith.html?wwwrrr_20010220.txt ------------ BOFH Archive ------------ Maybe you're wondering what the BOFH is. Maybe you've heard about it but haven't read the stories. Maybe you're a BOFH looking for some pointers. Here is a site with links to all the BOFH info anyone could ever want. http://members.iinet.net.au/~bofh/ ----------------------------------- UNIX System Administration Handbook ----------------------------------- If you manage more than a few UNIX machines, with several users, then you want this book. It's targeted towards Solaris, Linux, FreeBSD, and HP/UX, and contains essential information on keeping everything running in top shape. An all-in-one reference for the system administrator, you'll be keeping this one close at hand to help solve your UNIX problems. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU1195 ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ The Apache Toolbox takes care of downloading and compiling various modules into your web server. Download this 46K script, navigate the menus, and tell it to start compiling. Presto! It will download the modules you asked for, and build them into an Apache source tree. A simple "make install" in that directory later, and you've got a new web server. http://www.apachetoolbox.com/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Mar 15 15:03:29 2001 -0600 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f2FL3Rx17397 for ; Thu, 15 Mar 2001 15:03:28 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: Notes From Underground! Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 10:05:34 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 20 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, March 15, 2001 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News DVD Decryption in 7 Lines Layoffs at Linuxgruven SOUP, Anyone? Ain't Kapitalism Great? 3) Linux Resources Showing syslog in real-time Fundamentals of Web Application Development The Secret to Success Anatomy of an Attack SE Linux 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FREETECHMAIL.org Tired of looking everywhere for newsletters with the technical information you need? FreeTechMail.org can help. It has the largest network of high quality opt-in newsletters on the Net. FreeTechMail's search engine enables you to find all the newsletters to keep you at the forefront of the IT industry. Subscribe to your IT newsletters today at: http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1703 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ A while ago (January 25th, in fact), I gave you a link to "Underground", a book about the hackers and phreakers of the 1980's. At the time, it had been released to the online community as a free download. http://www.underground-book.com/ I downloaded it to my Palm Pilot, and promptly forgot it was there. I remembered about it when I was stuck in a waiting room, so I started to read it. For the next two days, I was glued to my Pilot, fascinated by the story. Not wanting to spoil the plot, I'll just say the book is a series of stories, told from the viewpoint of the crackers. It's not glorifying their actions, instead it spends a lot of time talking about their involvement with law enforcement. I don't know what drew me into this book. Perhaps it's a nostalgic trip through memories of the hours I spent acquiring "secret" computer knowledge from BBS hackers. The first time I was able to connect to a computer system in another country from the comfort of my home was an epiphany. Though I didn't understand a thing about what I saw and read, the desire to gain a deep knowledge of how these systems worked is something that stayed with me, even to this day. In some ways, I think it is this quest for power and outreach that draws people like us to Unix, especially Linux. No more do you have to risk jail time to connect to other computers, or break into machines to have a conversation with other enthusiasts, but the global reach is there. We can peek under the hood of our machine, can simulate enterprise class applications on a desktop, and even play the cat and mouse game with the script kiddies out there. (Though, the target these days seems to be defacing web pages or causing damage, rather than increasing knowledge). Give Underground a shot... You may learn something about what motivates you. At the very least, it's a great story, and a background on what shaped the Internet culture. I'd also recommend "The Cuckoo's Egg" by Cliff Stoll. Some of its characters are mentioned in Underground, but this one is told from the viewpoint of the systems administrator. Long live the penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit The Linux Newsletter Board http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ------------------------- DVD Decryption in 7 Lines ------------------------- DVDs have a fairly restrictive licensing scheme, and are encrypted to boot, thus limiting their availability under Linux. Some time ago, a fellow managed to figure out the encryption and posted DeCSS to the Net, which allows anyone to decrypt a DVD and watch it on Linux. Not to be out done, some MIT students rewrote the code in only *seven* lines of PERL. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,42259,00.html ---------------------- Layoffs at Linuxgruven ---------------------- Linuxgruven has been the source of many questions lately... Is it worth it to pay them for a course, in order to get a job? Or, is it a scam? Recently, this company laid off 100 employees, and the Slashdot commentary has a lot of insight into this event. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/03/10/140214&mode=thread ------------- SOUP, Anyone? ------------- SOAP is Microsoft's answer to distributed computing (that's Simple Object Access Protocol). Ximian, formerly HelixCode, is working on making sure that Linux users aren't left out of the loop. To do this, they're porting SOAP to the GNOME environment and dubbing it SOUP. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-5079895.html ----------------------- Ain't Kapitalism Great? ----------------------- Kapital is a personal finance manager designed for KDE that has recently been released in an online format in preparation for an upcoming boxed release. It isn't free, but if the screenshots are any indication of the functionality, it'll be worth the $25. http://dot.kde.org/982559990/ ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ --------------------------- Showing syslog in real-time --------------------------- Brainbuzz member mdnelson posted this great set of instructions on how to get syslog to output to a virtual terminal. Using this technique, you can see the real time output of the logging system on your monitor. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU1110 ------------------------------------------- Fundamentals of Web Application Development ------------------------------------------- Designing web applications is no walk in the park. There are a lot of things you have to keep in mind. This article goes into great depth on what makes a web application successful. http://www.phpbuilder.net/columns/angus20010304.php3 --------------------- The Secret to Success --------------------- Luke Ehresman, the brains behind the ever-so-cool SquirrelMail project, gives an accounting of what it takes to make an Open Source project successful. Remember, you can't throw money at the developers to make them work harder, since everyone is working on a volunteer basis. http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/223/ -------------------- Anatomy of an Attack -------------------- One of the best ways to learn how to protect yourself from crackers is to think like one. This article shows packet traces of a successful attack on a RedHat 6.2 box, along with commentary on what's going on. http://www.netw3.com/documents/compromised_redhat.html -------- SE Linux -------- The American NSA (National Security Agency, or No Such Agency, depending on who you ask) did some work to make a more secure version of Linux dubbed "SE Linux" (Security Enhanced). The main goal seems to be adding mandatory access controls to the operating system in order to replace current physical security measures being used. This secretive agency even released the source code. Keep your eye on this site, as future articles that explore the code itself are promised. http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/s-selinux/?n-s-381 ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ A reader sent in this App o' the week... Dia is a high- quality drawing tool, along the lines of Microsoft Visio. It is quite functional, easy to learn, and best of all, free. http://www.lysator.liu.se/~alla/dia/dia.html ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Mar 22 14:02:25 2001 -0600 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f2MK2Ox22990 for ; Thu, 22 Mar 2001 14:02:24 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: Prevent Disasters: Back It Up Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 11:30:47 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 21 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, March 22, 2001 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News 99.99% of High School Seniors can't Read PERL Linuxgruven Still Making Headlines Red Hat Network to Charge IBM Targets SUN 3) Linux Resources Building a Bridging Firewall Introducing the Z Shell Free PHP Code The Moron's Guide to Kerberos Yes, You Can Sell Free Software 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FREETECHMAIL.org Tired of looking everywhere for newsletters with the technical information you need? FreeTechMail.org can help. It has the largest network of high quality opt-in newsletters on the Net. FreeTechMail's search engine enables you to find all the newsletters to keep you at the forefront of the IT industry. Subscribe to your IT newsletters today at: http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1703 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ One of my favourite lines is "He who laughs last probably made a backup." Having suffered through various crashes, breakdowns, misfortunes, and stupid mistakes, I have to agree. When setting up a UNIX system, there are a few things you can do to make your system more tolerant of problems. The first, and obvious one, is a tape backup. My favourite backup software is AMANDA: http://www.amanda.org The neat thing about AMANDA is that it eschews the traditional full Friday backup, and daily incrementals. While that works great, the problem is that except for the full backup, you've got a lot of empty tape. What AMANDA does is rotate the full backups of various partitions with incrementals of other partitions. In this way, you have a near constant tape usage, allowing you to back up much more on a single tape. At a previous job, we crammed a whole bunch of workstations and servers on to one 4/8G tape. The interface is great--you can have it check the status of the servers, tapes, and clients every day before you leave. When you get into work the next morning, it can print out the tape label. Don't have a tape drive? How about a burner? There are a lot of programs on freshmeat.net that allow controlled backup to CD. A CD or two a week can give you peace of mind. RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is a technique that allows you to combine multiple disks into one. In its most basic form, RAID-0, you take two disks and make them "mirrors" of each other. Writes go to both drives, so if you lose one you're still running on one good one. Further discussions on the various RAID levels is best left to others though: http://www.systemlogic.net/articles/01/1/raid/ Needless to say, in the absence of an expensive RAID card, you can do it in software. I'll cover this procedure in a future issue but until then, have a look here: http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/docs/howto/Software-RAID-HOWTO With software RAID, you don't have to dedicate two (or more) whole drives. You can slice off a couple of hundred megs off a two drive system and make it /home. At least you'd still have your data in the event of a crash. The last thing I'll cover here is partitioning. It's quite possible to build a Linux system on one partition (two if you need swap). However, if you get a filesystem corruption on one partition, you could potentially lose everything. Not that this happens a lot, but it is a risk...especially if your power has a tendency to flicker. At the minimum, put /home on its own partition. Since it's going to be mostly data, you're more likely to skip corruption of that filesystem in the event of an unclean shutdown. Having /var on a separate partition is another good idea, since it constantly has log files being written to it. Don't carry this theory too far and put every root directory on its own!!! /etc, /lib, /bin, /sbin, /tmp, and /dev need to be on the root. What I usually do is set up separate partitions for /, /boot, /home, /usr, and /var. In addition to better recovery, this prevents log files, binaries, and users from filling up the root partition. UNIX and Linux are very stable, but accidents do happen. Take precautions when you commission a system to ensure it can be recovered in the event of a fault, and ensure that your disaster recovery procedures work (ie, check your backups!). You'll have the last laugh, I promise. Sean swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit The Linux Newsletter Board http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ --------------------------------------------- 99.99% of High School Seniors Can't Read PERL --------------------------------------------- What is the public education system coming to? 99.99% of surveyed seniors couldn't pass a PERL exam. "I didn't know what the hell any of it meant," said one Senior, "it had lots of slashes and periods and brackets. It was so confusing. I'm feeling rather nauseous." http://www.bbspot.com/News/2001/03/perl_test.html ---------------------------------- Linuxgruven Still Making Headlines ---------------------------------- This is a bit of an update on the story I posted last week. Linuxgruven is in a bit of a transition period, to say the least. People who paid in advance for courses, and even employees, were greeted by a locked door when they came in one morning. Ouch. http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/03/19/0013212 http://www.linuxgruven.com ------------------------- Red Hat Network to Charge ------------------------- Red Hat's automatic update service is going to be charging for access. Note that you'll still be able to download patches, but this value added service will be $10/month. Personally, I'll either continue to do it by hand, or use Red Carpet for my limited machines, but this service will be well suited for the corporate network trying to deploy Linux. http://www.redhat.com/products/network/service_changes.html --------------- IBM Targets SUN --------------- Big Blue, the big guy in the server market, is reorganizing and shuffling around product lines to get back on its feet. I saw a presentation on the eSeries machines, and have to admit, it's pretty slick stuff. The reliability of mainframe hardware, with the power and versatility of Linux. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5079743,00.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ---------------------------- Building a Bridging Firewall ---------------------------- Most firewalls act as a router within a network. With the powerful ip filtering and bridging capabilities of Linux, there is no reason why you can't make the firewall act as a bridge, thus making it even more transparent. This article describes the process behind this device. http://www2.linuxjournal.com/articles/misc/0041.html ----------------------- Introducing the Z Shell ----------------------- The Z shell is an alternative to the old standbys of bash and csh/tcsh. You may be intimidated at the prospect of having to learn yet another shell, but as this article will show, the Z shell is much the same but offers some advantages. http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-z.html?open&l=335,t=gr ,p=Z-Shell ------------- Free PHP Code ------------- One great thing about Object Oriented Languages is the ease of sharing code. This site has a good selection of pre-written PHP classes for things like form validation, popup menus, and graphics. http://phpclasses.upperdesign.com/ ----------------------------- The Moron's Guide to Kerberos ----------------------------- Kerberos, a cryptographically secure authentication protocol, is fairly complex. Out of all the documentation on it that I've seen, this is the most friendly introduction to how everything works, and what all the different parts are called. http://www.isi.edu/gost/brian/security/kerberos.html ------------------------------- Yes, You Can Sell Free Software ------------------------------- There is a common misconception that you can't sell free software. You may be obligated to give it away if asked, but nothing is stopping you from making money off of it. This article shows how a business model can be (and is) wrapped around free software. http://www.anchordesk.co.uk/anchordesk/commentary/columns/0,2415,7108709,00. html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ If there is one Windows application that I can't live without, it's Quicken. GNUCash is a full-featured financial manager, with the goal of being a viable Linux alternative to Quicken. It's not perfect yet, but with every release it gets closer. 1.4.11 was just released, and it's very usable. The features in the 1.5 series mean that 1.6 is going to be a real hit. Depending on your tolerance for bugs, give one of the two versions a shot! http://www.gnucash.org ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Mar 29 12:30:02 2001 -0600 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f2TIU1R30912 for ; Thu, 29 Mar 2001 12:30:01 -0600 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: Software RAID on Your Linux Box Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 10:53:50 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 22 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, March 29, 2001 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News 2.2.18 Kernel Exploit (Local) Tux in Space How Perl Creates Orders for the Air Force Red Hat Acquires Planning Technologies, Inc. 3) Linux Resources Install a Hard Drive in 5 Steps Free Database Hosting Solaris Jumpstart Solaris 8 Essential Reference RAID Upgrade 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CYBERSTATE U In Line or Online - Where Do You Want To Spend Your Time? With massive shortages of skilled IT and technical personnel, and the rapid releases of new products and technologies - traditional classroom training and methodologies cannot keep up with Internet time. CyberState's Synergy Learning System provides the finest, E-training methodology for individuals and corporations seeking proficiency in network infrastructure technologies. MCSE, CTE, CCNA, CNE, LPI Linux. Call 1-888- GET-EDUCated or visit http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1761 for special promotions. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ Last week I made a big goof when I wrote that RAID-0 was called mirroring. In fact, RAID-1 is mirroring (which stores data on two drives simultaneously), and RAID-0 is striping (in which data is stored over two drives in a non-redundant fashion). Take 2x9G drives. RAID-1 will give you a 9G drive set that can withstand the loss of one of the drives. RAID-0 will give you a 18G drive set that will break if one of the component drives goes to that big spindle in the sky, but should have better performance than just one 18G drive. While I'm on the subject of RAID, I'll show you how to set up software RAID on your Linux box. The first thing you'll need is a couple of drives. You'll probably want to partition them into just one partition, we'll call them hdb1 and hdc1 for now. When you're in partitioning them, set them as type "fd" (the 't' option in fdisk). http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/docs/howto/mini/Partition has further information on partitioning hard drives. By default, all RAID configuration goes in /etc/raidtab. The format is typical of most UNIX programs. Each RAID device starts with raiddev /dev/mdX where X is the device number. Start from 0 and go from there. After that, give some more information about the raid volume: # raid-level (0,1,5,linear) raid-level 0 # store RAID info on the drive too, so the kernel doesn't # necessarily have to reference /etc/raidtab persistent-superblock 1 # chunk size specifies how many K are used per stripe chunk-size 64 As you can see from above, we're creating a RAID-0 device (striping). Now, we specify how many drives form the array, how many spares are available, and then assign drives to those jobs. Here, we've got two drives and no spares: nr-raid-disks 2 nr-spare-disks 0 # device and raid-disk must be paired, with device first # hdb1 is therefore the first drive in the array (zero indexed!) device /dev/hdb1 raid-disk 0 # hdc1 is the second drive in the array device /dev/hdc1 raid-disk 1 If you had a spare disk hdd1 (not much use in raid-0) you would have changed nr-spare-disks to 1, and added device /dev/hdd1 spare-disk 0 Now that raidtab is defined, it's time to build the RAID set. # mkraid /dev/md0 Warning! You'll lose everything on those drives! We're creating a fresh drive here! Check the status of the drive: # cat /proc/mdstat Personalities : [raid0] read_ahead 1024 sectors md0 : active raid0 hdd1[1] hdc1[0] 3313088 blocks 32k chunks unused devices: (That's from my system, so some of the numbers are different) At this point, you have a drive (/dev/md0) that's like a real hard drive. May as well put a filesystem on it: # mke2fs /dev/md0 This week's resource section also has a link on how to set up a new hard drive, the procedure there can be followed to make this volume a permanent addition to your system. You stop the RAID volume via # raidstop /dev/md0 (the filesystem has to be unmounted) and start it up again # raidstart /dev/md0 Most distributions auto detect the presence of RAID and will do the raidstart for you. If not, you'll have to put it in your config files. A couple of warnings. Don't do this on your root partition without some extra research. Remember that this will destroy existing data, so don't do this to an existing partition. I haven't covered reconstruction, so if you plan to rely on this do some more reading to find out what to do when a drive does die! http://www.linas.org/linux/Software-RAID/Software-RAID.html Linux software RAID is very versatile. Changing this configuration to a mirror is pretty easy. You can also build RAID devices out of other RAID devices, such as mirroring two stripe sets (or striping two mirrors). Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit The Linux Newsletter Board http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ----------------------------- 2.2.18 Kernel Exploit (Local) ----------------------------- A bug has been found in kernels up to 2.2.18 involving a race condition in some system calls. The result is that a local user can get root if they can run a setuid program. Ouch. If you know a bit of C, the exploit itself is a worthwhile read. http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/171708 ------------ Tux in Space ------------ One of NASA's divisions has funded a two year project to build a version of Linux suitable for use in space vehicles. It's using part of RedHat's embedded software toolkits. The article brings forward some interesting things about the restrictions, such as limited transmission windows. http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/03/13/2112221 ----------------------------------------- How Perl Creates Orders for the Air Force ----------------------------------------- By creating a web based order system, an Air Force group was able to save between 900-1500 man hours per year, and improve efficiency and service. http://www.perl.com/pub/1998/07/rwperl.html -------------------------------------------- Red Hat Acquires Planning Technologies, Inc. -------------------------------------------- RedHat announced that it has acquired Planning Technologies, Inc., an Atlanta-based Professional Consulting Service company that specializes in infrastructure consulting for a wide array of clients, including enterprise, service providers and government. http://www.redhat.com/about/presscenter/2001/press_planning.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ------------------------------- Install a Hard Drive in 5 Steps ------------------------------- Installing a hard drive under Linux is a bit different than in Windows just due to the nature of the OS. Like all other things in Unix, there are some decisions to be made, commands to be run, and config files to edit. Read on to find out the details. http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/intel/hardware/hd_add.html --------------------- Free Database Hosting --------------------- Ever wanted to start learning SQL and databases like MySQL and PostgreSQL, but didn't have the ability to get the server running? This site offers free database hosting (just MySQL for now, others to come)! Now you can have a database without the trouble of administering it. http://superid.dyndns.org:8080/freesql/index.php ----------------- Solaris Jumpstart ----------------- Jumpstart is a Solaris tool that allows you to set up a lot of machines at once. If you thought Kickstart (RedHat's version) was hard, Jumpstart will make your head spin. Having an example worked out for you will help out immensely, so here you go. http://www.amorin.org/professional/jumpstart.php ----------------------------- Solaris 8 Essential Reference ----------------------------- This book is designed to be the ideal reference for Solaris users who know what they want to do, but just need to know how to do it. It's a great reference book for people who work with SUN's operating system on a daily basis. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU1211 ------------ RAID Upgrade ------------ As it turns out, many IDE controllers can be easily converted into hardware RAID controllers by some software upgrades and perhaps a touch of solder. Most chipsets are used in both the IDE controller and RAID version, so it makes sense that the manufacturer would just make one board and cripple the RAID functionality (ala 486SX FPU's). If your controller or motherboard is listed here, you might just be able to go RAID. http://www.tweakhardware.com/guide/ ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ Remember the old Sierra games like Leisure Suit Larry, King's Quest, and Police Quest? You probably have them kicking around somewhere, just waiting to be played again. Rather than the traditional VMWare or WINE methods of playing DOS/Windows games, this group of people created FreeSCI, an emulator for Sierra games. http://freesci.linuxgames.com/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Apr 5 14:39:59 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f35JdwR32738 for ; Thu, 5 Apr 2001 14:39:58 -0500 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: Test Your Admin Skills At Honeynet Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 11:14:15 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 23 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, April 5, 2001 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Ximian Survey Lion Virus is Out There... Transgaming CEO on WineX NSA Linux 3) Linux Resources Securing DNS with Transaction Signatures Free IBM Developer's Kit Put Away the WINE More Linux Clustering Why I chose Windows NT over Linux: Not This Time! 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DOUBLEDAY Become a Visual Basic Programming Wizard for $9.99! Get this three book/three CD-ROM set and you'll receive instant access to authoritative VB 6 solutions - only $9.99 when you join Computer Books Direct. http://161.58.99.48/cgi-local/redirect.pl?VZDXMOLMT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ I've mentioned the honeynet project before, but for those that missed it, it's a collection of well-monitored machines scattered throughout the Internet just waiting for a cracker to break in. Every move is logged, and a team of experts pour over the traces in order to figure out the latest in cracking techniques. http://project.honeynet.org/scans/ What's significant about the above URL is that each month a trace is posted, with an open challenge to perform an analysis. At the end of each month, the experts rank the solutions and provide their take on it. Take a peek through some of the old solutions. See the ease with which the system was compromised. There are attacks on both Unix and Microsoft machines. Even with the vast resources available to the software developers, critical bugs still creep in that can open your system to the world. For those of you with some time on your hands, try giving the challenge a shot. This month, it involves an attack on an NT IIS server. I was amazed at how quickly the system was taken over. What I found more interesting, was trying to determine what the adversary was thinking. Since I had the trace, I could see every typing error, the delay from when he made a mistake and realized it, and the files that he found interesting. Even though I did a pretty bad job of figuring out how he broke in, I think I did OK trying to figure out the person behind the keyboard. While on the security soapbox, I should mention that a third Linux worm, Adore, has been spotted. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-5506966.html http://www.sans.org/y2k/adore.htm This one uses the three vulnerabilities used in Ramen (rpc.statd, wu.ftpd, and lpd), and the one used in 1i0n (named). As Linux gains in popularity, specifically the popularity associated with large scale attacks on Linux boxen, these worms are going to keep on coming and coming. One problem, I think, is that people become complacent and assume that their system is secure. Linux can be just as insecure as NT or anything else, don't forget that. The benefit of Linux (and Unix), is the open nature of the software. Fixes come out faster. The more eyes on the code, the more likely that the bug will be found by the good guys first. Due to the low level at which you work in Unix, it is easier to confirm that no services are hanging around, and anomalies show up more easily. Your best defense is to keep informed, both through web sites and your own logfiles. Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit The Linux Newsletter Board http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ------------------- Ximian Survey ------------------- Ximian, formerly Helix Code, has an online survey for you. Take five minutes to let them know how you use Linux, and you could win a DVD player. http://infopoll.net/Live/surveys/s11518.htm ------------------- Lion Virus is Out There... ------------------- Hot on the tails of the Ramen worm is the Lion... This one goes after known BIND vulnerabilities, and then installs a rootkit (trojaned binaries, sniffers, etc). This makes it harder to detect on your system, and far more dangerous. http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/2001/12/ns-21832.html ------------------- Transgaming CEO on WineX ------------------- Transgaming is a company that is working on getting Windows games to work on Linux. They're doing this by supporting the WINE project, specifically on DirectX development. The CEO of the company talks about what the status and direction is, and also tosses in some wicked screen shots. http://www.gamespy.com/interviews/march01/gavrielstate/ ------------------- NSA Linux ------------------- A couple of weeks ago I brought you a couple of links on the technical aspects of the NSA Linux project. Here is a higher level overview of what's happening, and what the potential benefits are. Believe it or not, this super secret spy agency is planning on releasing the code, too! http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/03/23/1534247&mode=nocomment ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ --------------- Securing DNS with Transaction Signatures --------------- BIND has the ability to use Transaction Signatures (TSIGs) in order to sign DNS requests. For example, you could set up your secondary servers so that zone transfers are authenticated, thus preventing some DNS poisoning attacks. Read on to find out how this feature works. http://www.networkingnews.org/headline_news/root_news/01_week_4/week4_NDS.ht ml ------------------- Free IBM Developer's Kit ------------------- Order up this CD, and get free applications like Domino, DB2, and WebSphere from IBM. I just got my CD in last week so I haven't had a chance to look at the apps, but the documentation that IBM has put on this CD is amazing. The license is only for development, so if you want to roll it out it'll cost you, but it's a good way to get your feet wet. http://www-4.ibm.com/software/is/mp/linux/adk/ ------------------- Put Away the WINE ------------------- Most people think VMWare and WINE when it comes to running Windows apps under Linux, but this article brings forth some other contenders. One is an application server, designed for the corporate environment, the other a cross between WINE and VMWare, made for the desktop. http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reports/3071/1/ ------------------- More Linux Clustering ------------------- The Linux Virtual Server project is designed to allow you to build large clusters of Linux boxen that act as one, such as a web server farm. Ericsson Research studied the scaling capabilities of the LVS, and gave this report, along with instructions on the implementation of their test farm. http://www2.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/issue84/4588.html ------------------- Why I chose Windows NT over Linux: Not This Time! ------------------- While this article is another "How I converted to Linux" story, it does have a lot of good technical information that most other stories of its kind don't bother to include. It's got a procedure to build a Samba PDC, hints on building an email server, and some other odds and ends. http://www.linuxnewbie.org/articles/linuxovrnt1.html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ This week's app claims that it is "Sniffing the glue that holds the Internet together". This may seem odd until I mention that it is Ethereal, a network protocol analyzer. It has a lot of the features you'd expect in a packet sniffer, and it's free. http://www.ethereal.com/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Apr 12 11:39:44 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f3CGdfB18397 for ; Thu, 12 Apr 2001 11:39:43 -0500 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: "Hottest Linux News and Resources" Subject: Tame the syslogd Daemon Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 10:06:14 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 24 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, April 12, 2001 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Slashdot Interviews Bob Young Linux PDA W32.Winux a Sign of Things to Come? New Digital Internet/TV has "Linux inside" 3) Linux Resources Clean up /tmp the Safe Way A First Look at Linux Clustering GIMP PERL Scripting Free Chapters on mod_perl Linux for Windows Users 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AUDIOWHIZ Hear hundreds of certification exam questions on audio CD or cassettes. Learn while you commute to and from work, exercise or walk the dog. Ideal for those times when you can't read. 90-day money back guarantee if you are not happy. http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=2547 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ The syslogd daemon is one of the more important programs that is installed on a Unix box. Its job, like the name implies, is to log all the system messages. Without the benefit of syslog, the administrator is blind to what is going on with the other daemons. It is somewhat like the NT Event Viewer, except that in traditional Unix fashion, is very configurable. If you're familiar with the NT Event Log, you'll know that you get a lot of messages sent into one of three different logs (System, Security, and Application if memory serves). Syslog lets you specify virtually unlimited different logs, and gives you the power to choose what goes into them. To do this we introduce two attributes of a log entry, namely the facility and the priority (or severity). The facility of the message tells us what type of application the message came from. auth, authpriv, cron, daemon, kern, lpr, mail, news, syslog, user, uucp, ftp, and local0-local7 are the available ones. auth and authpriv are security-related messages, with authpriv being used for things that should be kept private. The other ones are self-explanatory, such as kern for kernel messages, ftp for ftp messages, etc. local0 through local7 allow systems not covered by the above to be handled. For example, Cisco devices default to local7. The priority field lets you differentiate between debugging messages and very important ones. In terms of ascending severity, you've got debug, info, notice, warning, err, crit, alert, and emerg. So, each message has both a facility and a priority. Sendmail may log notification of handling an email to mail.info, and errors such as insufficient disk space to mail.err. With the classification system in mind, it is up to the administrator to decide what messages are important, and where they should be logged. Most distributions of Linux have a pretty sane way of doing it, which serves as a basis for further tweaking. This is all controlled in /etc/syslog.conf. Generally, one line per file is the safe way to do it (some versions of syslogd support some extended syntax, which you should stay away from for portability reasons). Each line starts off with a list of the facility/ priority combinations, and the name of a logfile. These are separated by tabs. (In practice, the Linux syslogd accepts spaces too, but the Solaris one is very picky about requiring tabs). When you specify a priority, all higher priorities are implied by default. This means if you select mail.info, you're going to get mail.info all the way up to mail.emerg, unless you explicitly say mail.=info. The values of * and none refer to everything and nothing respectively. So, if you wanted to log all the kernel messages to /var/log/kernel you would have: kern.* /var/log/kernel and if you wanted all the info messages except for mail in /var/log/info: *.info;mail.none /var/log/info Looking at the default syslog.conf is helpful. Here, the definition of the messages file, which is usually a good place to find general messages about anything: *.info;mail.none;authpriv.none /var/log/messages This grabs any messages with a priority of info or above, unless they are from the mail or authpriv facility. Later on you'll see definitions for authpriv.* and mail.* to split those off unto themselves. Anything that isn't caught in the config file gets dropped. Any changes to the file require that you restart the syslogd daemon. Furthermore, syslogd will not create the logfile, you have to use the touch command to create it yourself. You can test your rules with the "logger" command. This same command is also great for shell scripts to provide status via syslog. logger -p kern.info "Hey!" --will write "Hey!" to kern.info. The syslog system is very powerful, and allows you to take control over what you log. Since the back end communication works on sockets and files, unprivileged processes can safely write private messages. The man pages for both syslog.conf, syslogd, and logger will show you the other options available, such as having all your machines log to one central machine for security and ease of administration. Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ----------------------------- Slashdot Interviews Bob Young ----------------------------- Bob Young, Chairman of Red Hat software, gave his answer to some questions posed by Slashdot readers. Among them are his take on Linux's future, and some pretty harsh criticism about recent comments made by Open Source opponents. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/04/11/1555216 --------- Linux PDA --------- The Agenda VR3 is the first commercially released PDA that runs Linux. Brainbuzz user mokjason gives some thoughts, links, and the start of a discussion. http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbm.asp?rpg=1&wpg=1&sb=0&m=275587 ----------------------------------- W32.Winux a Sign of Things to Come? ----------------------------------- An announcement earlier in the month about a virus that is supposed to be able to infect both Windows and Linux computers came as quite a surprise to me. Though at the moment a low risk, this article asks the question, "What Next?" http://www.networkweek.com/wire/story/TWB20010402S0004 ------------------------------------------ New digital Internet/TV has "Linux inside" ------------------------------------------ Embedded Linux devices may soon be making their way into homes by way of televisions. This TV offers Internet functionality, not to mention some sophisticated systems on the regular TV programming. In a market where price is paramount, the maker was able to drop the per unit cost by using Free software. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2694183,00.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ -------------------------- Clean up /tmp the Safe Way -------------------------- Automatically getting rid of temporary files may seem like an easy task, but if done improperly can cause problems. Most often, you may be working on files that other people can control, which requires some care. This article goes through the simple cases, and then into some more secure and correct ways of dealing with /tmp. http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue18/tmp.html -------------------------------- A First Look at Linux Clustering -------------------------------- Most people are familiar with the concept of a Beowulf cluster, which has been popularized lately by companies like Shell. Have you ever wondered about the details behind such a beast? Are there other ways to accomplish the same thing? This article tries to answer those questions, and the reader comments at the end round it out. http://www.linux.com/newsitem.phtml?sid=93&aid=12019 ------------------- GIMP PERL Scripting ------------------- I'm a big fan of the GNU Image Manipulation Tool. The wide range of plugins available is astounding, plus it's really easy to write your own. I've always wondered how to use the Gimp perl module so that I could control it from Perl (rather than learning Scheme). Alex Harford, an author and fellow Canadian, wrote an excellent tutorial on the Gimp perl module. http://www.dowco.com/~alexh/perl.html ------------------------- Free Chapters on mod_perl ------------------------- mod_perl is an apache module that embeds a perl interpreter within the web server itself to enhance performance. This site has some sample chapters from the O'Reilly book on writing perl apache modules, covering topics such as the Apache::Registry module (to replace CGI), and writing authentication and authorization modules. http://www.modperl.com/book/chapters/ ----------------------- Linux for Windows Users ----------------------- For those not wanting an in-depth technical discussion of how to migrate, this article takes a high level view of the differences and similarities in the GUIs. There are lots of screen shots presented together that highlight that Linux can be just as easy to use as Windows. http://mozillaquest.com/Linux4Windows/Linux4Windows01/Linux4Windows_01_01_St ory-01.html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ The first time I tried this out, I was hooked. PHPNuke is a PHP web site system that allows you to update news articles easily, host forums, FAQs, and downloads. It is all done within a theme structure, so you can easily change the look and feel of your site without having to know much PHP. MandrakeSoft, the makers of the Mandrake Linux distribution hired the author of this on a full time basis, ensuring that PHPNuke will be around for the long haul. http://www.phpnuke.org ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Apr 19 15:53:29 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f3JKrQB29200 for ; Thu, 19 Apr 2001 15:53:27 -0500 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: sean@ertw.com Subject: Wrangling With GNU Cash Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 14:25:30 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 25 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, April 19, 2001 ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News RedHat Announces 7.1 Release Tribes 2 and Alpha Centauri for Linux The Next Step for Linux Advocacy Integrate Linux Solutions into your Windows Network 3) Linux Resources gcc or kgcc? Ethernet Diagnostics Use GnuPG with Pine Make SSH do More Care and Feeding of RPM 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FREETECHMAIL.ORG Tired of looking everywhere for newsletters with the technical information you need? FreeTechMail.org can help. It has the largest network of high quality opt-in newsletters on the Net. FreeTechMail's search engine enables you to find all the newsletters to keep you at the forefront of the IT industry. Subscribe to your IT newsletters today at: http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1703 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ I've long been wanting to install the latest version of GNU Cash just to see how it's working. Unfortunately, RPMs of the development series have only been released for RedHat 7, and I'm running 6.1. After ensuring I had a reliable backup, I decided to try the upgrade function. First, I should say something about this system. It was installed as RedHat 6.1. I then upgraded many of the XFree86 packages from the RedHat 6.2 CD, and also installed Helix- Gnome. It's also running kernel 2.4. I opted the first time to try in graphical mode. Accepting the defaults, I figured that I'd add in other packages later. After letting it cook for a while, it was time to boot up the system. And...it hung during the boot sequence. After booting into single-user mode, I noticed a few things. One was that /usr was full. Next was that modutils had been downgraded from 2.3.21-1 to 2.3.14-3. Finally, most of the packages weren't upgraded, they were re-installed. So, instead of seeing the latest version when I do an rpm -q, I see both! I ended up having to uninstall most of the packages on the system, including stuff like fileutils (rm, mv, ls, etc). Once that was done, I was able to do the upgrade. Due to the downgraded modutils and screwed up start-up scripts, I had to go back into single-user mode. After getting that somewhat in order, I re-booted into multi-user mode. Strangely enough, all my logins timed out. I eventually traced it to /etc/nsswitch.conf trying to use NIS for logins. Strangely enough, most of the startup scripts were way out of whack. For example, the unmounting of filesystems on a reboot or halt was left out, so after all the processes were killed, the system just hung. It's been a few days and I'm still cleaning up little odds and ends (I just got sound working again today). The kickers? RedHat 7.0 still uses XFree86 3.3.6 for my Mach64 card, I had hoped to get the benefit of 4.0. And, GNUCash crashes whenever I try to do a report. So, some of the morals of this story: - Always have a backup - Keep data on a separate partition. If you have to ever do a re-install, at least you can take that partition with you - If your system deviates from the stock install, be prepared for some trouble Until next week... Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ---------------------------- RedHat Announces 7.1 Release ---------------------------- Sure enough, I upgrade to 7.0 and they release 7.1! This version features the 2.4 kernel and security improvements, among others. Given the number of patches that came out for 7.0, it probably isn't a bad idea to upgrade. http://www.redhat.com/about/presscenter/2001/press_sevenone.html ------------------------------------- Tribes 2 and Alpha Centauri for Linux ------------------------------------- Loki Games earns their living by porting Windows games to Linux. They've just announced the release of two new games. Tribes 2 looks simply amazing in the videos. While you're at it, check out the list of games ported to date and download a demo or two. Their work so far is impressive. http://linuxpr.com/releases/3592.html -------------------------------- The Next Step for Linux Advocacy -------------------------------- Linux Advocacy has to be more than just yelling out "Linux is better!" This article takes a realistic view of the situation, and shows some things you can do in your own home. http://www.osopinion.com/perl/story/8789.html --------------------------------------------------- Integrate Linux Solutions into your Windows Network --------------------------------------------------- So, you know that Linux is a good fit in your company. You know what you need, but you've never used Linux before! Not a problem, because this book is made for you. Learn Linux as you implement file and print sharing, put a Linux backend on your Access databases, and more. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU1247 ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ------------ gcc or kgcc? ------------ With RedHat 7.0 you need a separate compiler to build the kernel. Stupid, I know, and I hope it's fixed soon. Here is the official RedHat word on how to "fix" your downloaded kernel so that it works with your installation. http://www.redhat.com/support/docs/gotchas/7.0/gotchas-7-7.html -------------------- Ethernet Diagnostics -------------------- Something as simple as setting the duplex and speed on an Ethernet card should be obvious, but it isn't. The ether-diag set of utilities is a more universal way of changing the settings on the fly rather than having to look up the module parameters. http://www.scyld.com/diag/index.html ------------------- Use GnuPG with Pine ------------------- GNU Privacy Guard is a Free email encryption tool. Integrating it with your favorite email tool may be difficult, though. This article shows how to set it up with PINE. Unlike some other instructions out there, this covers everything from key generation to sample usage. http://www.linuxsecurity.com/feature_stories/feature_story-83.html ---------------- Make SSH do More ---------------- The Secure Shell is one of the essential tools in your toolbox. Sure, it secures your logins, but it can do a lot more than that. This article points out some of the handier features of this software, like portforwarding and password-less authentication. http://www.itworld.com/Comp/2384/LWD010410sshtips/ ----------------------- Care and Feeding of RPM ----------------------- Kurt Seifried, in his latest "Kurt's Closet" column, speaks out on some of the dangers behind binary packaging, specifically RPMs. He then goes on to give some thoughtful advice on how to mitigate the risk. http://securityportal.com/closet/closet20010411.html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ If you're like me, your system is probably littered with software that's been installed out of a makefile or tarball, rather than being managed by RPM. Putting this software into RPM isn't always easy, mostly because it's hard to find out what exactly is installed and how to tweak the makefile. This set of utilities "watches" the process and builds the list of files for you, or even the RPM! http://mayams.net/~izto/checkinstall-en.html ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Apr 26 14:55:28 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f3QJtRB29740 for ; Thu, 26 Apr 2001 14:55:27 -0500 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: sean@ertw.com Subject: Rev Up Your X-Windows Session Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 13:38:24 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 26 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, April 26, 2001 Read By 5,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Ximian GNOME 1.4 is Out! Perl: The Complete Reference (2ed) IBM Takes to the Street Linux as a Radio Station 3) Linux Resources Application Directories Using Stunnel to Secure IMAP Connections More Honeynets Building A Better Gaming Machine Dynamic IPTables Firewalls 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CBT NUGGETS Get your hands on the best training resources available for Win2K certifications. Unmatched quality at an incredibly low price gets you $10,000 worth of training for only $299. Click below to view a sample clip... http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=2459 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ I was browsing around the web the other day, and came across a helpful hint that should make your X-Windows session more responsive. renice -10 -p PIDOF_X where PIDOF_X is the processid of your X-Windows server. Recall from the March 8th issue of this newsletter, each task in the system is given a processid: http://www.ertw.com/~sean/newsletter/March+8%2C+2001 Each processid also has a "nice level" attached to it, a value of -20 to +20 (or +19, depending on who you ask), with -20 being the highest priority. So, a process is considered "nice" if it doesn't want too much of the CPU. What we're doing in the above command is giving the X process a higher priority. Note that you probably don't want to do this on a server! UNIX is a pre-emptive multitasking operating system. "Pre-emptive" means that processes don't have to be aware they're running alongside others -- the operating system will dole out (and take away) their use of the CPU as it sees fit. Contrast this with a non pre-emptive system like Windows 3.1, where the application had to relinquish control of the CPU when it was done. So, the Linux scheduler (part of the kernel) works hard at giving CPU time to processes, timing them, and then moving on. But how does it choose which process to put on the burner? Enter priorities. In a nutshell, each process gets a priority based on the nice level and some other factors, such as how long it's been sitting idle. This is all mashed into a number between 0-99, and is considered to be the process's priority. The kernel looks in the top priority bin to see if any processes are in there. If so, they get the CPU for a time slice. When it's done with it's slice, the process goes to the end of the queue (within the same priority). So, as long as a process with a higher priority is ready for the CPU, lower ones won't execute. As I said above, the priority depends on other factors. The kernel is tuned so that a process can't hog the CPU -- if it stays on the burner too long, its priority is slowly decremented until the system is normal again. The next thing to remember is that the computer is super fast compared to the IO system (including the users!). A process may need to access the disk or other input device. While it's waiting for the data, the kernel marks it as waiting for IO and puts it to sleep. While in this state, it doesn't get the CPU. Once the data arrives, this process will pre-empt a lower priority process that is on the CPU, if applicable. On most systems, this is enough to keep the system usable. Put a few CPU bound processes in, and that's when the administrator is going to have to step in with the renice command. renice isn't just for administrators, users can use it too, subject to some restrictions. A normal user can only assign priorities between 0 and 20 -- negative numbers aren't allowed. Furthermore, you can only increase the nice level, you can't decrease it. You can also start the process at a nice level of 10 (most processes by default are 9 or less) with the nice command: nice mycommand (check out the man pages for "nice" and "renice" for more usage) That's the process scheduling system in a nutshell. Those interested in the dirty details can check out http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxkernel/chapter/ch10.html sched_setscheduler manpage, and the pages in the see also section /usr/src/linux/kernel/sched.c (it is well commented). Don't forget about the Brainbuzz Linux News Board, where you can post your comments about the newsletter and talk with other readers: http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ------------------------ Ximian GNOME 1.4 is Out! ------------------------ Ximian, formerly Helix Code, are the guys that put together a great distribution of GNOME related stuff. Their latest release incorporates GNOME 1.4 and Mozilla. Installation is super easy, but at the moment is pretty slow due to the huge load. http://www.ximian.com/ ---------------------------------- Perl: The Complete Reference (2ed) ---------------------------------- If you're looking for a book that will teach you PERL, and then act as a great reference, this is for you. Starting off with the basics, it takes you through the language, with plenty of examples to help you along. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU1248 ----------------------- IBM Takes to the Street ----------------------- IBM's Peace, Love, and Linux slogan which was slapped on billboards has graced the pavement of San Francisco. You'd think geeky stuff like this would go over well, but some key people weren't impressed. At least they were able to wash it off! http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2710728,00.html?chkpt=zdhpnews 01 ------------------------ Linux as a Radio Station ------------------------ In the "fascinating, but completely useless category", Real Time Linux has been used to turn a Linux box into a radio transmitter. That's right -- it toggles voltages on the parallel cable to act as an antenna. This article explains what RTL is, and how it differs from normal Linux operation. http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT3239582376.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ----------------------- Application Directories ----------------------- This Freshmeat editorial asks why the current filesystem is laid out the way it is. Windows 3.1 had something going for it, as most everything was stored in its own directory. In UNIX, though, all the binaries are crammed into a handful of directories. When package management doesn't cut it, what do you do? http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/247/ ---------------------------------------- Using Stunnel to Secure IMAP Connections ---------------------------------------- Stunnel is a utility that allows you to tunnel protocols over SSL. In this example, IMAP is the target. Various methods of doing it are explained, depending on what your client can support. http://members.home.net/beldridg/imaps.htm -------------- More Honeynets -------------- The folks at the Honeynet project have updated their "Know Your Enemy" series of papers. This time, a detailed analysis of the implementation of their Honeynets is presented. For those that were wondering how they prevent crackers from doing serious damage to other sites after cracking a honeypot, this question has been answered. http://project.honeynet.org/papers/honeynet/ -------------------------------- Building A Better Gaming Machine -------------------------------- Building a better gaming machine is different from building that perfect web server. There are different bottlenecks to overcome, and different items to add on. This article walks through the things you'll want to keep in mind for that next upgrade. http://linux.com/newsitem.phtml?sid=26&aid=10810 -------------------------- Dynamic IPTables Firewalls -------------------------- "Firewalls are good and fun, but what do you do when you need to make rapid, complex changes to your firewall rules? Easy. Use Daniel Robbins' dynamic firewall scripts that are demonstrated in this article. You can use these scripts to increase your network security and responsiveness, and to inspire your own creative designs." http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-fw/index.html?dwzone=l inux ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ This week's app isn't for Linux, it's for Windows. Crazy, you say? Probably. Foxserv is an installer for the Windows versions of Apache/PHP/MySQL. If you can't spare a box for Linux, but need a great web development platform, give this a shot. http://sourceforge.net/projects/foxserv/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu May 3 12:48:09 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f43Hm8B27228 for ; Thu, 3 May 2001 12:48:08 -0500 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: sean@ertw.com Subject: A Look At Ximian's New Release Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 11:33:34 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 27 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, May 3, 2001 Read By 5,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News IBM Small Business Suite Review Get 'yer Kernels While They're Hot Your Psychic Microsoft Friend Linux Training Pyramid Topples 3) Linux Resources Chapter from "Data Munging With PERL" Java Web Applications Amateur Fortress Building Stopping Spam and Trojan Horses Spam Hall of Fame 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FREETECHMAIL.org Tired of looking everywhere for newsletters with the technical information you need? FreeTechMail.org can help. It has the largest network of high quality opt-in newsletters on the Net. FreeTechMail's search engine enables you to find all the newsletters to keep you at the forefront of the IT industry. Subscribe to your IT newsletters today at: http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1703 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ Being the GNOME fan that I am, I was quite eager to try out the new release from Ximian. For those who don't know, Ximian (formerly Helix Code) is a company that creates a distribution of the GNOME windowing environment and miscellaneous applications. Their latest release includes Gnome 1.4, the Mozilla web browser, Nautilus file manager, and the Red Carpet software updating system. http://www.ximian.com Red Carpet is perhaps the most intriguing part of the whole thing. With Helix 1.2, you got the Helix updater, which would check back to the main site to see if any updates had been released to the Helix packages. If so, it would show you a list of what was important, what was just new, and what you didn't have in case you wanted to try it out. Red Carpet takes this one step further by making channels of software. For example, the Ximian channel would be a list of all the packages that are relevant to your Ximian installation. There is also a Red Hat 7.0 channel (or whatever your distribution might be) that finds out from RedHat what updates are needed. Thus, after subscribing to the appropriate channels, one can keep one's system up to date by running Red Carpet every few days. I'm looking forward to other vendors getting on board, such as Sun offering patches for Star Office. The installation is pretty straightforward. Whether you're upgrading or doing a fresh install, you just run lynx -source http://go-gnome.com/ | sh When you finish with that, the system runs you through a pretty complete wizard that lets you select your desktop options (or keep them the same). Running "doorman" lets you go back and select your options. For all the hype that mozilla and nautilus were given, I wasn't impressed. Mozilla is nice, but doesn't really give me any reason to switch from my current Netscape. Nautilus, on the other hand, is pretty, but it's a pig! Opening up a folder takes a long time, as does navigating through files. It does, however have a lot of promise, as many common tasks are available within Nautilus itself. For example, it works like Windows' Quick View, so you can open up files within the console itself. It can also render HTML (through a Mozilla widget), so you can have web pages (ie documentation) within the same window. I found some software services within it, which allowed for a user to install software off of the main web site (commercial or open source) quite easily. All in all, the upgrade to Ximian 1.4 was worthwhile. I'm still tweaking the settings, but the newer options and software are worth it. Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit the Linux News Board at http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ------------------------------- IBM Small Business Suite Review ------------------------------- IBM has a special offer whereby small businesses can get a limited version of popular IBM products, such as Domino, DB2, and WebSphere for a great price. UnixReview.Com reviewed this offering--it is well worth a read. http://unixreview.com/articles/2001/0104/0104j/0104j.htm ---------------------------------- Get 'yer Kernels While They're Hot ---------------------------------- 2.4.4 is released. For us i386 folk, it looks like it's mostly USB updates. Lots of updates for the other platforms though. http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/ChangeLog-2.4.4 ----------------------------- Your Psychic Microsoft Friend ----------------------------- After getting some not-so-stellar support from Microsoft PSS, some bored students decided to compare the service to that received from the Psychic Friends network. You'll be surprised at the results. http://www.bmug.org/news/articles/MSvsPF.html ------------------------------ Linux Training Pyramid Topples ------------------------------ Linuxgruven makes more news, as some of the stories come to light. This time around, the founder has a previous fraud charge, and the Better Business Bureau comes forward with a list of complaints. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,43192,00.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ------------------------------------- Chapter from "Data Munging With PERL" ------------------------------------- This book is a fairly recent publication, and deals with processing data in the PERL language. Chapter 2 is available online, and is very helpful for those trying to get the most out of the language. http://linux.com/newsitem.phtml?sid=93&aid=12063 --------------------- Java Web Applications --------------------- The Tomcat extensions to Apache give it the ability to serve out Servlets and JSP (Java Server Pages). This series of articles goes into how this is set up, and how the applications are written. http://onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2001/03/15/tomcat.html ------------------------- Amateur Fortress Building ------------------------- This author takes a different approach to securing a Linux box. Rather than the standard locking down of inetd.conf, he chooses to do away with it entirely and install a whole new set of tools. It is rather a good article, getting down into alternate ways of locking down a box, and more importantly, verifying that you're locked tight. http://secinf.net/info/unix/linuxf1.html ------------------------------- Stopping Spam and Trojan Horses ------------------------------- If you're a sendmail user, you must read this paper on using the built-in features to stop spam. Not only does it cover how to stop your site from being a spam relay, it has advice on things you can do to protect your users from spam. http://www.brettglass.com/spam/paper.html ----------------- Spam Hall of Fame ----------------- On the lighter side of spam, sendmail.net brings you some of the funnier bulk mailings to ever waste bandwidth. If you thought the one that offers you a "degree from a prestigious non-accredited university based on your life experience" was a riot, you've got to see these. http://www.sendmail.net/000807knaussspamone.shtml ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ This week's app is really an appliance. Now, Linux appliances are nothing new, but I'm sure you'll agree that this one has a different angle on the market. http://www.riverdale.k12.or.us/linux/toaster/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu May 10 12:00:15 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f4AH0EB25640 for ; Thu, 10 May 2001 12:00:14 -0500 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: sean@ertw.com Subject: Open Source - Seeing Through The FUD Date: Thu, 10 May 2001 10:18:09 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 28 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, May 10, 2001 Read By 5,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News .COMs Gone, Google Races On Behind AnandTech - 2001 Server Upgrade Mozilla 0.9 Released RLX Outed 3) Linux Resources Unresolved Symbols in Kernel Modules Creating a Driver for the PC Speaker Network Security Bible Apocalypse 2 Learning to Count on Perl at the Census Bureau 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Get your hands on the best training resources available for Win2K certifications. Unmatched quality at an incredibly low price gets you $10,000 worth of training for only $299. Click below to view a sample clip... http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=2459 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ------------------------------------------------------------ * Hyperlinks throughout the newsletter may be too long to fit in your window without wrapping. Be sure to copy and paste both lines of longer links into your browser's address bar. ------------------------------------------------------------ ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ For the past week or so, I've been seeing stories about how Microsoft is looking to move to a subscription-based revenue stream. There was even talk about making Office XP available on a yearly contract, rather than buying the licence outright. All of this is designed to change people from customers into revenue streams. Not that it's wrong in any way to make a buck. The problem lies in the fact that a subscription delivery of software takes choice away from the consumer. Thought you were happy with the '97 version of your office suite? "No", says Microsoft. That's four years of income they've been missing out on! According to Microsoft, about 60% of people are using versions of Microsoft Office that are pre-2000. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-5067906.html Open Source is about choice. Do you want to stay with your 1997 era kernel? No one is stopping you. You've got the source, just rebuild it on your machine. (Yes, things change and upgrades are sometimes necessary, but there are almost always workarounds). Linux, being a product of the Open Source movement, embraces this philosophy. There are several window managers to choose from. Darn near everything can be customized to some extent. There are several word processors, database systems, development environments, and any other common application. The choice is yours. Most of the time, if you have a feature request, you can speak directly with the author. Another advantage is support. Remember Y2K? Remember having to upgrade Windows? With Linux, you had the source. Chances were that no matter what version you were running, you could find the appropriate patches. Even if Linus decides that no one should ever run anything older than 2.2, you'll still be able to find someone that supports it. Running an Alpha processor? What did you think about Microsoft dropping support for it? Guess what? That didn't happen under Linux. So, to counter Open Source, Microsoft makes up "Shared Source", and presents it along with the usual Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD): http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/craig/05-03sharedsource.asp Linus Torvalds responds: http://web.siliconvalley.com/content/sv/2001/05/03/opinion/dgillmor/weblog/t orvalds.htm Alan Cox responds: http://news.wideopen.com/fc/2-118,209-119,509967 Take away the source, take away the choice. Without the choice, we're left only with what we're told we want. What does the future hold? I don't have a clue. What I do know is that I've got the source to my operating system and applications, and that no company can take that away. Long Live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit the Linux News Board at http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ --------------------------- .COMs Gone, Google Races On --------------------------- Google is a great example of the power of distributed computing. Using 4,000 Linux boxes around the Internet, Google creates a search engine out of commodity hardware. They're at 4,000 nodes now, and growing to over 8,000! http://www.internetweek.com/story/INW20010427S0010 -------------------------------------- Behind AnandTech - 2001 Server Upgrade -------------------------------------- AnadTech is a web site that specializes in hardware news and reviews. Though their main system is running on NT, they were able to use the Linux Virtual Server project to build a scalable, redundant web cluster. Lots of pictures and descriptions of the hardware that went into it are included. http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1456&p=1 -------------------- Mozilla 0.9 Released -------------------- According to the release notes, the Mozilla team has done a lot to improve the performance of their browser and email software, including a complete rewrite of the image rendering library. http://www.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla0.9/ --------- RLX Outed --------- One rack is 42 Rack Units, which gives you around 80 processors. The RLX uses Transmeta chips, and gives you 336 processors at a fraction of the power consumption. It's not truly SMP, so Databases are out, but serving web pages is where this device is positioned. http://www.linuxgram.com/newsitem.phtml?sid=108&aid=12209 ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ------------------------------------ Unresolved Symbols in Kernel Modules ------------------------------------ If you've ever compiled your own kernel, you may have seen unresolvable symbols when trying to load certain modules. As this page shows, it's tied back into module versioning-- the kernel is set up to do it, but the module doesn't support it. http://faqchest.dynhost.com/linux/KERNEL/kern-01/kern-0102/kern-010209/kern0 1020221_32215.html ------------------------------------ Creating a Driver for the PC Speaker ------------------------------------ While most of us have little intention of writing a kernel driver ourselves, knowing more about the kernel couldn't hurt. This article is about one person's effort to make a driver for the PC Speaker that looks like a sound card. It explores what drivers do and how they function. http://www.linux.com/newsitem.phtml?sid=93&aid=12197 ---------------------- Network Security Bible ---------------------- The intent of this site is to be a resource for security papers across the Internet. There are almost 100 links to papers on all aspects of security. http://www.securityflaw.com/bible/ ------------ Apocalypse 2 ------------ Any time Larry Wall, the creator of PERL, speaks, it's worth a listen. His Apocalypse series of articles have to do with what's going on under the hood of Perl 6. If you code a bit of Perl, reading this is a good idea! http://www.perl.com/pub/2001/05/03/wall.html ---------------------------------------------- Learning to Count on Perl at the Census Bureau ---------------------------------------------- And, while I'm on a Perl trend, here is a case study on how Perl is used at the US Census Bureau. In fact, Perl and PHP enabled the 2000 census to be used on the Internet, resulting in a huge savings. http://perl.oreilly.com/news/census_0101.html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ Slashcode, the software that runs Slashdot and many other sites, is this week's App. Version 2.0.0, "Bender" was just released, with a slew of new features. If you're looking for a dynamic news system that can handle the load, this might be the one for you. http://slashcode.com/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu May 17 12:28:29 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f4HHSSr25949 for ; Thu, 17 May 2001 12:28:29 -0500 X-Mailer: ListManager Web Interface Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 12:26:52 -0400 Subject: Scheduling Tasks With cron To: sean@ertw.com From: "BrainBuzz.com" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 29 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, May 17, 2001 Read By 6,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News IPv6 News Linux at the Top of TPC Benchmark Nokia Media Terminal to use Loki Games Erase the Eazel 3) Linux Resources To Port, or Emulate, that is the Question Core Files, and What to do with 'em A Comparison of Linux PDAs Dealing With setuid Programs Protect Your Network 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We GUARANTEE you will pass your exam or you get your money back! Win2K Titles Only $99.95 each Normally $149.95 Win2K Accelerated Exam Only $169.95 Normally $349.95 A+ Core & Elective Only $99.95 Normally $249.95 INET+ or Network+ Only $79.95 each Normally $149.95 CCNA 2.0 Only $149.95 Normally $249.95 Cisco 2.0 titles Only $149.95 each Normally $249.95 Add our Audio Quizzer for only $19.95 for each cassette or CD. CALL (800) 845-8569 FOR MORE INFORMATION OR VISIT US AT http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1170 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ The ability to run a certain program at a certain time is critical to the stability of a system. You may want to run backups at midnight, clean up temporary files that haven't been touched in weeks, or run some reports. Since you've probably got better things to do than look at your watch all the time, you might want to automate this. cron is the daemon that handles this task. With it, users have the ability to schedule commands to run at regular intervals, be it daily, weekly, or even every minute. The standard way to schedule a job is to edit your crontab, or the list of cron jobs you wish to run, via crontab -e That will bring you into the editor of choice, specified by the $EDITOR environment variable. Each line in this file specifies one job. There are 6 fields you'll have to know about: minute hour day month weekday command A * means anything goes. So, to run something at midnight every day: 0 0 * * * command Or, Midnight on Sunday 0 0 * * 0 command or, 0 0 * * Sun command (note that with day of week, and month, you can use the names instead of numbers. 0 is Sunday, 1 is Monday, etc) You can also specify ranges. Here is weekdays, on the half hour: 0,30 * * * 1-5 command Once you exit the editor, the job will be scheduled. It will exist and run until you delete it or comment it out from "crontab -e". "command" can be any Unix command. Usually, you'll put the complex ones into a script and run that. Keep in mind that this script will be run as the user that you ran the crontab command from, so make sure the permissions are such that other people can't edit the script. If your command produces any output, it will be mailed to the owner of the crontab. You can change who it goes to (i.e. for root's crontab) by putting MAILTO=fred in the top of the crontab. You may also want to add SHELL=/bin/sh to force the Bourne shell to be used. Normally, scripts may output debugging information, so you may want to redirect the output to /dev/null: command > /dev/null Any errors will not be caught by that, and will get emailed by the process above. If you still don't want to hear them, direct both errors and regular messages to /dev/null command > /dev/null 2>&1 Some examples of regular jobs you may do: # Process web logs with webalizer (www.webalizer.org) at midnight 0 0 * * * (cd /var/www/html/stats && /usr/local/bin/webalizer /var/www/logs/access_log) > /dev/null # Process system logs with logcheck (www.psionic.com) 0 * * * * /usr/local/etc/logcheck.sh Executing "crontab -l" is a quick way to see your crontab without having to bring it into an editor. root can edit/list other people's crontabs: crontab -e -u fred "man 5 crontab" is another great reference for some more ways to use cron. As you can see, cron is a powerful tool. When using it, you have to keep a few things in mind: - The program should run without requiring any input - Your path is likely different than your regular shell Always specify locations of commands explicitly - Try to run commands with the least privilege necessary, i.e. you don't always need to use root's crontab Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit the Linux News Board at http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ --------- IPv6 News --------- The current Internet Protocol, version 4, has shown some limitations in terms of keeping up with growth. IPv6 is the protocol destined to replace it. This article gives a good background on the reasons we're not running v6 now, and what has to happen. http://www.ecompany.com/articles/web/0%2c1653%2c11667%2c00.html --------------------------------- Linux at the Top of TPC Benchmark --------------------------------- The TPC-H benchmark is a measure of how well a database performs in a decision support situation. Vendors like to tout their TPC numbers. Well, Linux 2.4.3 now tops the 100GB category, running on an SGI system and IBM's DB2. http://www.tpc.org/tpch/results/h-ttperf.idc -------------------------------------- Nokia Media Terminal to use Loki Games -------------------------------------- "The Media Terminal is an innovative infotainment device that seamlessly combines digital video broadcast (DVB), gaming, full Internet access, and personal video recorder (PVR) technology. As part of the agreement Linux-based games from Loki will be pre-installed on the Media Terminal. Anticipated roll out of the Media Terminal will be early Fall in Europe." http://www.lokigames.com./press/archive.php3?05162001 --------------- Erase the Eazel --------------- It's official...Eazel, the makers of Nautilus, are shutting down. However, we're promised that development will be picked up by others in the GNOME community. I like the product, but not the resources it takes on my system. I can only hope that the work will continue. http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-hackers/2001-May/msg00203.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ----------------------------------------- To Port, or Emulate, that is the Question ----------------------------------------- In order to get a Windows game to run on Linux, you would either have to port the game to native X/Linux code, or build an abstraction layer to emulate the Windows API. The former is being done successfully by Loki software, and the latter by the up and coming Transgaming. Which is better? http://www.gamespy.com/articles/may01/wine/ ----------------------------------- Core Files, and What to do with 'em ----------------------------------- So you see a large file called "core". What is it? Where did it come from? They can be all over your filesystem, eating up space, so you'd better learn how to deal with them! http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/intel/filesys/corefiles.html -------------------------- A Comparison of Linux PDAs -------------------------- I've got a Palm Pilot, and I'd sure be lost without it. As demand for applications on these devices grows, the open nature and low profile of Linux makes a great fit! This review covers the Agenda VR3, Compaq iPaq, and the G. Mate Yopy. http://linux.oreillynet.com/pub/a/linux/2001/05/11/linux_pdas_one.html ---------------------------- Dealing With setuid Programs ---------------------------- The setuid attribute on files indicates that it can assume the UID of the owner when it's run, rather than that of the current user. This has serious implications, especially when root is the owner! Learn how to deal with setuid files, and clean them up. http://linux.com/enhance/newsitem.phtml?sid=1&aid=12286 -------------------- Protect Your Network -------------------- Firewalls are an essential part of security, but they're only a small part of your total security solution. This article has some pointers on what else to look for, some audit techniques, and plain old good advice. http://www.nwfusion.com/net.worker/research/2001/0514feat2.html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ The Abacus Intrusion Prevention System is a set of utilities designed to increase the security of your system. Logcheck will process your log files and email you of any anomolies or security breaches. PortSentry monitors for portscans, and can react by blocking the offender if you wish. HostSentry learns the login patterns of your users and notifies you of anything unusual. http://psionic.com/abacus ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu May 24 17:25:24 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f4OMPNr28918 for ; Thu, 24 May 2001 17:25:23 -0500 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: sean@ertw.com Subject: Scheduling Tasks With cron - Part 2 Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 11:34:11 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 30 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, May 24, 2001 Read By 6,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Mind Rover to be Released Watch out for the Cheese Worm Browser Plugins for Linux 1.7GHz Xeon 3) Linux Resources A Path To Knowledge Bandwith Limiting Win a Free Tape Drive The Linus Autobiography RIP: Linux on the Desktop 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tired of looking everywhere for newsletters with the technical information you need? FreeTechMail.org can help. It has the largest network of high quality opt-in newsletters on the Net. FreeTechMail's search engine enables you to find all the newsletters to keep you at the forefront of the IT industry. Subscribe to your IT newsletters today at: http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1703 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ Last week I explored the basic use of the crontab daemon, which is the facility that enables you to schedule the regular execution of scripts: http://www.ertw.com/~sean/newsletter/May+17%2C+2001 A sharp reader pointed out that the option to edit your crontab (-e) sits right next to the option to remove the crontab (-r). His suggestion was to back up your crontab periodically: crontab -l > ~/.crontab.bak ...and to replace from the backup: crontab ~/.crontab.bak Note that specifying a filename on the commandline *replaces* your crontab with the given file, it does not add. Using the crontab command is not the only way to schedule jobs through cron. The version that ships with most Linux distributions, written by Paul Vixie, creates two additional methods. One is the /etc/crontab file, the other is /etc/cron.d. The first is much like the root crontab file, though it can be edited directly. The second can contain multiple files, each consisting of similar crontab entries. The difference is that these entries have seven columns instead of the regular six. Column six specifies the username to run under. For example, you could create /etc/cron.d/backup: 0 0 * * * amanda /usr/local/sbin/amdump DailySet1 Storing individual application crontabs makes things a lot easier for package maintainers, and sysadmins trying to figure out what commands are necessary to keep various applications happy. I tend to prefer this method (and the next) because it keeps me from having scripts all over the filesystem. If you look at your default /etc/crontab, you'll see some lines in there: 01 * * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.hourly 02 4 * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.daily 22 4 * * 0 root run-parts /etc/cron.weekly 42 4 1 * * root run-parts /etc/cron.monthly These lines simply schedule a command to run hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly. These jobs make creating cron jobs a lot easier. Want to run a script every hour? Toss it in /etc/cron.hourly. There's no messing with crontabs, as the script stays separate from all the other crontabs, so you always know what it is a part of. The run-parts command is also a handy one for scripting. It takes a given directory and runs each file inside in turn. If you're concerned about spreading out your hourly cron jobs so that they all don't run right on the hour, this method is great because it ensures that only one is running at a time. Scheduling jobs is very powerful, but could cause some problems if misused. Think of a user running a web statistics program every minute...that could certainly cause some problems! Enter /etc/cron.allow and /etc/cron.deny. If you want to allow only certain users to use crontab, enter their usernames in /etc/cron.allow. Anyone who isn't in the list who tries to edit their crontab will get a message like: $ crontab -e You (sean) are not allowed to use this program (crontab) See crontab(1) for more information If you want to make sure certain users can't use it, put them in /etc/cron.deny. Cron is finicky, so make sure you only use one of these files at a time, and if it ends up being empty, delete it. So that wraps up my two part series on cron. Hope you found it useful! Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit the Linux News Board at http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ------------------------- Mind Rover to be Released ------------------------- Loki Games, the porters of Windows games to Linux, announced the release of Mindrover: "By day, you're a researcher on Jupiter's moon Europa. In your free time you re-program the rovers to race around the hallways, battle it out with mini-lasers and rocket launchers, and find their way through mazes." Looks pretty cool, and there is a demo available. http://www.lokigames.com/products/mindrover/ ----------------------------- Watch out for the Cheese Worm ----------------------------- If you remember the L10n worm from a few months ago, we've got a new one called the "Cheese Worm". This one isn't too bad, as far as worms go: once it gets into your system, it tries to erase the back doors that L10n left behind. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-5949401.html ------------------------- Browser Plugins for Linux ------------------------- "Looking to narrow the gap in features between Windows- and Linux-based platforms, CodeWeavers Inc. has developed a series of browser plug-ins such as Shockwave and QuickTime for Linux-based Internet appliances." http://www.eet.com/story/OEG20010508S0061 ----------- 1.7GHz Xeon ----------- Anandtech is starting to become a favourite site of mine because of its detailed analysis of hardware. In this installment, they look at the new Xeon chip, especially the differences between it and it's older siblings. http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1472 ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ------------------- A Path To Knowledge ------------------- This article takes a slightly humourous look at the path to Unix Wizardry. It's a dialogue between a wizard and a newbie, where the wizard explains the journey. http://www.rootprompt.org/article.php3?article=2377 ----------------- Bandwith Limiting ----------------- Like many routers, Linux can do complicated queuing of packets in order to prioritize traffic down a congested link, or to limit the amount of bandwidth that one application can take up. This recently posted HOWTO shows the various ways this can be implemented. http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/docs/howto/Bandwidth-Limiting-HOWTO --------------------- Win a Free Tape Drive --------------------- This company gives away several tape drives each month. When I entered myself, I noticed that they have a Linux page claiming that they are Linux-compatible. It's always good to see companies noticing the Linux market! http://www.ecrix.com/extreme/index.cfm?id=banner&ref=66095 ----------------------- The Linus Autobiography ----------------------- "Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary" is the autobiography of Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux. Linux.com has managed to get Chapter One placed online. It's well worth a read! http://www.linux.org/people/justforfun.html ------------------------- RIP: Linux on the Desktop ------------------------- Last week I mentioned the demise of Eazel, a company looking to revolutionize the Linux desktop. An opinion on Linuxplanet.com says that this is a sign of the end for desktop Linux itself. Is this a bad thing, he asks? We do well on the server end, shouldn't that be enough? http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/opinions/3387/1/ ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ If you've ever had some serious filesystem corruption, you know that fsck can get you back on your feet, but the results aren't always pretty. This week's utility is designed to take a very damaged filesystem, and get the drive to the state where you can mount it read only to recover the data. Contrast this to fsck, which will get you a filesystem that works, but with a lot of data lost in the process. The author claims that his program, e2salvage, can deal with much more damage than can fsck. Let's hope it never comes to it, but keep this one in your rescue kit. http://project.terminus.sk/e2salvage/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu May 31 15:26:54 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f4VKQrc02980 for ; Thu, 31 May 2001 15:26:53 -0500 X-Mailer: ListManager Web Interface Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 14:55:33 -0400 Subject: A Sneak Peek at RedHat 7.1 To: sean@ertw.com From: "BrainBuzz.com" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 31 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, May 31, 2001 Read By 6,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News IBM to Offer Use of Mainframe Startup Unveils Personal Server Layoffs at Mandrake Kernel 2.4.5 Released 3) Linux Resources An Introduction to Printing Distribution Roundup Linux to Order DNS, Oversimplified Defining What a "Linux Job" Is 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cisco CCIE Certification Toolkit, 3 books and 2 CDs - reference set for Cisco's internetwork operating system, is now $9.99 -- save over $199! A great resource if you're preparing for the CCIE exam or want to design networks, move through any configuration of Cisco IOS-based routers, and take advantage of test preparation techniques. http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=3090 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ Through some rather lucky timing, I managed to get my new hard drive and an evaluation copy of RedHat 7.1 nearly on the same day. So, I decided that it was time for a fresh install of my machine. I thought that I'd share some of the things I found out while getting this going. One of the biggest changes in 7.1 is the use of the 2.4 kernel. With some large partitions on my machine, I was looking forward to using ReiserFS and saving a lot of time on unclean shutdowns (power is unreliable in my building, so I get the occasional shutdown of all my systems). Alas, the installation phase wouldn't let me choose the filesystem type, nor could I find any documentation saying the capability existed. When installing a new hard drive, I always enable the "bad blocks checking" just to be safe. Unlike NT's "exhaustive scan of your hard drive", this process takes some time. It was getting to be so long that I decided to start over, and skip the formatting of that partition. Alas, when I gave the partition a name (/spool) but didn't elect to format, the install bombed with a critical error (even though the install would have been fine). Lesson learned -- leave the extra partitions out entirely next time, or be prepared to wait. Other than that, the install went just fine. I was really impressed, as the only drive in my system was /dev/hde, which was sitting on a HighPoint 370 controller. I didn't expect the system to even see it, but everything went flawlessly. Once this was all done, I quickly checked the performance of my drive (hdparm -t /dev/hde), and was extremely disappointed. By default, it would appear that hard drives are set for absurdly safe settings, like 16 bit, no DMA, etc. RedHat created an /etc/sysconfig/harddisks file that lets you pass options to hdparm on bootup. Enabling all the options, and adding "-p5" to the end (PIO mode 5) brought the speed up to something more respectable. People wishing to tweak settings like this would be well advised to read /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit and search for "hdparm". There are some comments in there on how to set up the harddisks file properly for multiple drives. RedHat 7.1 offers some interesting security features. During the install, you are prompted for a firewall setting. "High" doesn't let anything except DNS and DHCP in. "Medium" is a bit more tolerant (but still locked me out of my computer from SSH), and "none" adds no protection. For those interested, though the system is 2.4, the firewall settings are done in ipchains style (/etc/sysconfig/ipchains). The hooks are there to edit /etc/sysconfig/iptables and have iptables rules used if you want the added functionality. Still on the security angle, RedHat moved to xinetd instead of the standard inetd in 7.0. xinetd does away with the monolithic /etc/inetd.conf, and relies on individual files in /etc/xinetd.d for each service. This way, more control can be put on each individual service, including ACLs that used to be defined in /etc/hosts.allow and deny. Even more surprising, everything was turned off by default! Congrats, RedHat! The list of services (chkconfig --list) turned on by default has shrunk somewhat, so this still needs to be worked on. One of RedHat's methods to make a buck is to sell update service through the Red Hat Network. The price is pretty hefty, around $20US/mo. For the home user, Red Carpet from Ximian seems a much better choice, but since this boxed set includes 60 days of free service I think I'll give it a shot. The set also includes a CD of trial games from Loki, and a CD full of applications like StarOffice. This Linux fan couldn't get the included StarOffice RPM installed, but I suspect it didn't like my partitioning scheme. All in all, I'm pretty happy with my installation. The boxed set, while being significantly more expensive than the old download and burn, does provide good value for the money, especially for the newbie. Depending on the set you buy, you get between 30 and 90 days of web and telephone support. Six CDs come in this collection, including the powertools, source, games, and extra apps. There is also a sheet of RedHat stickers you can use to adorn your boxes and show off your Linux pride. Some of the guides are in printed form, and provide a good path to follow to get everything installed and functional. Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit the Linux News Board at http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ----------------------------- IBM to Offer Use of Mainframe ----------------------------- IBM has been touting their zSeries mainframes as a great platform on which to run Linux. To further this assertion, they're allowing people to register for use of a public machine. It's got 10 processors and 2.1TB of storage, capable of handling over 1,000 simultaneous users. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-6006251.html ------------------------------- Startup Unveils Personal Server ------------------------------- Call it a personal firewall with a twist. This appliance-like Linux box seems to have all the bells and whistles wrapped up in a cute looking package. The target audience is non- technical folk, so expect to see a fairly decent interface. A pretty steep price for the personal market, but it does offer a lot of features. http://www.zdnet.com/enterprise/stories/main/0,10228,2717584,00.html ------------------- Layoffs at Mandrake ------------------- As a sign of the tightening of belts within Linux companies, Mandrake has laid off a bunch of senior management and some engineering staff. Mandrake is a fine distribution, so I hope this move helps keep them afloat. http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/05/22/009242&mode=thread --------------------- Kernel 2.4.5 Released --------------------- This time around, it looks like some stability, networking, and filesystem fixups. I'm rather pleased to see the slower pace of upgrades in the early stages of 2.4. It's showing that Linux is becoming much more stable and mature. http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/ChangeLog-2.4.5 ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ --------------------------- An Introduction to Printing --------------------------- In traditional UNIX fashion, printing isn't as simple as it seems. A client-server framework exists so that you can scale the system from one to a thousand clients and printers easily. Features like filtering let you dump raw images to a printer and it will be converted automatically. Learn how it all works here. http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/210/1/ -------------------- Distribution Roundup -------------------- Sorting through all of the distributions is no easy task. This site classifies aspects of some more popular (and some lesser known!) distributions, along with a lot of links to reviews and information. http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/misc/distroroundup/ -------------- Linux to Order -------------- Linux to Order is a big download site for everything from distributions to individual packages. The interface is nice, and there are a lot of custom bundles of software. For a reasonable price, you can save yourself the download and have them burn a custom CD from any of the software on the site. http://www.linux2order.com/ ------------------- DNS, Oversimplified ------------------- The name of this site pretty much says it all. In a down-to- Earth manner, this site takes you through troubleshooting your DNS installation. http://www.rscott.org/dns/ ------------------------------ Defining What a "Linux Job" Is ------------------------------ There is a myth that only programmers use Linux, but nothing could be further from the truth. This article explores various ways that people work with Linux, and what the author thinks the future will hold. http://www.linux.com/interact/newsitem.phtml?sid=1&aid=12342 ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ This week's app might help you solve two problems at once, because it consists of two separate programs that work well together. wipl is a program that generates some interesting network usage statistics on a per client basis. wrr can then re-assign bandwidth to your machines in a fair manner. http://wipl-wrr.sourceforge.net/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Jun 7 19:59:43 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f580xfc04464 for ; Thu, 7 Jun 2001 19:59:42 -0500 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: sean@ertw.com Subject: Where it's "at"! Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2001 13:05:48 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 32 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, June 7, 2001 Read By 6,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News RedHat Unveils 7.1 for the Itanium Where Did All the IPs Go? New Cluster Options VA Linux. Ouch. 3) Linux Resources Linux Network Administrator's Guide CGI Security Getting Started on Email Services with Linux AMANDA Network Backup Made Easy Opening Sockets in PHP 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tired of looking everywhere for newsletters with the technical information you need? FreeTechMail.org can help. It has the largest network of high quality opt-in newsletters on the Net. FreeTechMail's search engine enables you to find all the newsletters to keep you at the forefront of the IT industry. Subscribe to your IT newsletters today at: http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1703 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ A couple of weeks ago, I was demonstrating the cron system: http://www.ertw.com/~sean/newsletter/May+17%2C+2001 http://www.ertw.com/~sean/newsletter/May+24%2C+2001 Cron allows you to submit jobs to be run at regularly scheduled times, such as log processing, or other system maintenance. There is another, similar, system called "at" that lets you schedule one-off jobs quite easily. For example, I'd like to remind myself to leave early this Friday: $ at 4pm friday at> xmessage -display bob:0.0 Go home at> job 5 at 2001-06-08 16:00 Start off by typing "at", followed by the description of the time. It is quite flexible, in this case "4pm friday" is interpreted to mean this upcoming friday at 1600. You will then be prompted with "at>" for the commands you want to execute. In this case, I'm going to pop up a window with the xmessage command. Since this is going to be running with a stripped environment, I need to specify the X display that the message will pop up on. Then I pass the message, "Go home". At the next at> prompt, I enter Control-D which means that I'm done. The response to that is a confirmation that the job has been scheduled for the correct date. Come Friday, I'll be out early enough that I don't get caught in traffic! If I were so inclined, I could verify the job was still there: $ atq 5 2001-06-08 16:00 a sean Yep...Job 5 is scheduled to run on Friday at 4pm. But now I get a call from my mean old boss, saying that I have to work late on Friday! The nerve! Guess I'd better delete that job. $ atrm 5 $ atq $ Well, I'll be sure to get an early start for next week: $ at 4pm next friday at> ... Some other helpful uses of the command follow. Run the contents of the /usr/local/bin/report (rather than typing in the whole thing) at 1 pm, tomorrow: $ at 1pm tomorrow -f /usr/local/bin/report or, two days from now, at midnight: $ at midnight + 2 days Specify the date to avoid confusion: $ at 4pm Jun 9 If you leave out the time, it will run at the current time, on the date you specify $ date +%H:%M 20:28 $ at Jun 9 ... job 15 at 2001-06-09 20:28 And, my favourite, $ at teatime (Teatime is 4pm, for those that didn't know) So as you can see, UNIX offers some very powerful scheduling capabilities. You can schedule jobs to run regularly with cron, or do one-off jobs with at. There is even another one, batch, that will run jobs when the system load gets below a certain amount. Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit the Linux News Board at http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ---------------------------------- RedHat Unveils 7.1 for the Itanium ---------------------------------- The nice thing about having an OS that you have the source to, and that of the compilers, is that you can build a version that specifically takes advantage of higher end processors. RedHat has just released a version of 7.1 targeted towards Intel's Itanium processor. http://www.redhat.com/products/software/linux/7-1_itanium.html ------------------------- Where Did All the IPs Go? ------------------------- This is an interesting news piece on why free software should hop on the IPv6 bandwagon. It also gives some views on why we are where we are now, when the whole thing might have been preventable. http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2001/03/02/ip_gone.html ------------------- New Cluster Options ------------------- A startup, Lineo, has taken the wraps off a nice Linux cluster solution. This one uses a SAN (Storage Area Network) to facilitate the inter-node communication. Prices look reasonable for some of the more medium sized players. http://www.zdnet.com/enterprise/stories/linux/0,12249,2764358,00.html --------------- VA Linux. Ouch. --------------- VA Linux recently reported a 41% drop in sales. "Ouch" is all I can say. A huge restructuring charge didn't help, but at least the company is optimistic. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/19134.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ----------------------------------- Linux Network Administrator's Guide ----------------------------------- This guide started off in the Linux Documentation Project, then O'Reilly cleaned it up a bit and made a printed version. Seems they've done some revisions, and released it to the world over the Web. This is a handy reference guide! http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linag2/book/index.html ------------ CGI Security ------------ CGIs are notorious for being insecure. This is mostly because web developers are not security experts, and vice-versa. CGISecurity.com is devoted to bringing forward serious issues in CGIs out there, and to promote secure CGI coding practices. http://www.cgisecurity.com/ -------------------------------------------- Getting Started on Email Services with Linux -------------------------------------------- Email is a great thing, but is very complex in the back end. It's also a great project to set out on if you want to learn about UNIX, because it will force you to use a lot of the OS' features to get it going. This is one man's documentation at his attempts to get email set up. http://www.linux.com/learn/newsitem.phtml?sid=1&aid=12386 ------------------------------- AMANDA Network Backup Made Easy ------------------------------- Anyone who has ever asked me what to use for backing up will have heard me rant about AMANDA. They usually come back the next day asking how anyone is supposed to configure it. This document gives the rundown on this task, which can be a bit daunting to even the experienced Linux hacker. http://linuxnewbie.org/nhf/intel/software/amandanetwork.html ---------------------- Opening Sockets in PHP ---------------------- PHP is a great server-side web scripting package. It can do pretty much anything. As this article shows, PHP can perform socket calls, which the author uses to speak NNTP and fetch USENET articles. http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/armel20010427.php3 ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ If you're working with LDAP, this is a great tool to have. It presents you with a graphical view of your tree, and allows for editing and reorganization. It's easy enough that non technical people can use it! http://www-unix.mcs.anl.gov/~gawor/ldap/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Jun 14 16:45:09 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f5ELj2U05594 for ; Thu, 14 Jun 2001 16:45:05 -0500 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: sean@ertw.com Subject: Know Your Partitions Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 14:28:48 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 33 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, June 14, 2001 Read By 6,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News The Joy of Linux Maximum Linux Security Reduce your Premiums, run Unix Magic Passage VPN Appliance 3) Linux Resources Portscanning -- an Introduction Getting a GNOME Session with VNC More on Linux Device Drivers Free Chapter from LPI book Linux Cryptography 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gain study time and enhance your learning! Hear hundreds of certification exam questions on audio CDs or cassettes. Learn while you commute to and from work, exercise or walk the dog. Ideal for those times when you can't read. 90-day money back guarantee if you are not happy. http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=2547 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ One of the most common frustrations people have with installing Linux has to do with partitioning the hard drive. In the Windows world, we're used to having C:, and maybe D: when we add a new drive. Swap runs right on the same partition as your data, so you don't have to plan that out either. In UNIX, everything is one big filesystem--there are no drive letters. However, in the install, you're prompted to partition the drive and assign mount points. What gives? I'm going to make things simple for you: only two partitions are really needed. Swap, and the root (/). Swap is the space that is used to temporarily store memory in order to make room for other programs or data (thus, to swap it out). Like its Windows counterpart, it lets your computer act as if it has more memory than is actually installed. I generally make my swap partition 1-2 times my physical memory, but never less than 128M, on the low side for workstations, and on the high side for servers. Others might say differently, but this is just one guy's opinion. You can always add swap later (even temporarily), and experience will guide you into the future. Some of the confusion with swap comes from older versions of Linux, where swap partitions were limited to 128M. This limitation has since been overcome. The root filesystem can then take up the rest of your hard disk space. This is where all your data, utilities, applications, and kernels go. That was too easy... so why does everyone complain? UNIX is set up so that the filesystem can span multiple devices, by assigning parts of the tree (ie /home) to specific devices. It's all transparent to the user; when they are in /home/foo/, they don't care if they are on the primary master drive, the fifth drive on a SCSI chain, or even another computer. There are some places that administrators tend to break up the filesystem, though. /boot is a special partition used to overcome limitations of PCs. LILO, the software used to boot Linux, relies on BIOS routines to access the hard drive. Thus, it is limited to the first 1024 cylinders. By creating a small partition called /boot, the installation can ensure that this resides under the 1024 limit, and then temporarily use it to boot the system until the kernel takes over. 16M is all that is needed for this partition, since it only stores kernels. This three partition setup, swap, root (/), and /boot is what you'll get if you select a workstation installation under RedHat. It has some advantages in that you don't have to manage your space. If you have a drive under 2 gigs, you may wish to leave it at this, because breaking up the partitions any further will require some good estimations as to growth and usage. The first partition you might want to break off is /home. This is where all your users will have home directories (even if the only user is you). There are a few big advantages to this. - If you re-install your system, you can opt to keep this partition for the new install. Voila, you never lose data between installations! - The fewer files on the partition, the less chance of corruption. If your other filesystems had problems, your data will be saved. On the same token, if /home gets corrupt, you'll at least still have the system. - Running one partition out of space (the /var and /tmp directories are notorious) will still allow you to save data to /home. - It's easier to select files for backup The size of this partition varies...with drives being as big as they are nowadays, a couple of gigs is a good idea. Depending on how else everything goes, I sometimes just check the "assign unused space to this partition" option. /usr is where you store most of your binaries and libraries, and is also a good candidate for its own partition. I try to give this one at least a gig, if not two, since I tend to install a lot of stuff. (Staroffice currently takes up 243M ...Ouch!) Once again, this is a trade off between what space you have and future growth. Besides the advantages listed above, if you have multiple servers you could set them up to share the same /usr partition over NFS (Networked File System). Upgrade one computer, they all get the upgrades. /var is where all the variable files (ie logs) go. Your RPM database is here, and so is any mail if your machine is set up properly. Depending on the use of the machine, this partition could be 100M and up. If you plan on serving mail, collecting logs, or running a database or web server, you'll want to up this number. swap, /, /boot, /home, /usr, and /var make up the basic partitions you'll want to look at separating. Most anything is a candidate, but /bin, /dev, /etc, /lib, /sbin, and /tmp should always remain on the root partition, because critical files needed to boot up the system (and by extension, the other partitions) are there. You'll want to make sure that you've got about 250M for these directories, plus whatever else you keep on the root partition. Once again, experience will be your guide. Using the three basic partitions (swap, /, and /boot) is a good way to get a feel for what goes where. Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit the Linux News Board at http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ---------------- The Joy of Linux ---------------- This might be the perfect book to get your significant other who doesn't quite understand all this Linux jazz that keeps you up until the wee hours. The book is all about the Linux culture, though it manages to introduce some basic technical concepts in a friendly way. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU1301 ---------------------- Maximum Linux Security ---------------------- If you have any machines exposed to the Internet, you know what kind of stuff is out there. Take a look at your system from the viewpoint of a hacker. The included CD will also keep you entertained for weeks with cool software toys. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU1302 ------------------------------ Reduce your Premiums, Run Unix ------------------------------ One insurance firm has decided to charge a 5-15% premium on hacker insurance for those companies running NT. It was "...found that system administrators working on open source systems tend to be better trained and stay with their employers longer than those at firms using Windows software..." http://www.zdnet.com/intweek/stories/news/0%2c4164%2c2766045%2c00.html --------------------------- Magic Passage VPN Appliance --------------------------- Magic Passage is a relatively new VPN box that runs Linux, and is wrapped up into a nice little package. The price looks great, around the $400 US mark. Looks like a nice solution for those that need some easy VPN services. http://www.linuxwizardry.com/magicpassage.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ------------------------------- Portscanning - An Introduction ------------------------------- Confused as to what portscanning is? Know what it is, but don't know what your system has open? This article covers all the basics, plus some of the portscanning tools out there. It's best if you scan yourself and know what's open, before someone does it to you! http://www.linux.com/enhance/newsitem.phtml?sid=1&aid=12424 -------------------------------- Getting a GNOME Session with VNC -------------------------------- If you've ever used VNC (much like PC Anywhere), you know that it brings up a really sparse desktop when you're connecting to a Unix box. This How-To explains the procedure to turn that boring desktop into a full featured GNOME session. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU1212 ---------------------------- More on Linux Device Drivers ---------------------------- One of the more interesting things going on in kernel development is in the driver arena, because they are the pieces that end up doing the productive work. One of the developers, and co-author of the O'Reilly device driver book takes some time out to make some comments on what the future holds for 2.5, and thus 2.6. http://linux.oreillynet.com/pub/a/linux/2001/06/08/drivers_update.html -------------------------- Free Chapter From LPI Book -------------------------- In more news from O'Reilly, they've just released a book covering the LPI certification exams 101 and 102. Along with this release, they've published the chapter on Linux Installation and Package Management on their web site. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/lpicertnut/chapter/p2_ch04.html ------------------ Linux Cryptography ------------------ This presentation by Michael Warfield of Internet Security Systems is a great introduction to cryptography, and some of the services available for Linux that support it. http://www.wittsend.com/crypto98/index.html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ The web is a great place to put data, since it's easily accessible from anywhere. I've always had the need to put a few simple forms on the web, nothing fancy, but I just didn't want to code the backend database stuff for each form. Phormation is a set of PHP scripts that allow you to describe the form elements, and then it will build both the input and edit screens, along with an index page that lets you sort and browse all your forms. http://www.peaceworks.ca/phormation.php ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Jun 21 15:11:06 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f5LKB6U03432 for ; Thu, 21 Jun 2001 15:11:06 -0500 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: sean@ertw.com Subject: Everything is a File. (almost) Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2001 11:43:44 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 34 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, June 21, 2001 Read By Over 6,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Red Hat in the Black GCC 3.0 Released Linux Firewalls Linux Comparison...Or is it? 3) Linux Resources Diary of a Linux Newbie Setting up PostgreSQL Linux Newbie Administrator's Guide System Maintenance Can be Fun GIMP-PERL Debugging 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cisco CCIE Certification Toolkit, 3 books and 2 CDs - reference set for Cisco's internetwork operating system, is now $9.99 -- save over $199! A great resource if you're preparing for the CCIE exam or want to design networks, move through any configuration of Cisco IOS-based routers, and take advantage of test preparation techniques. http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=3294 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ One of the directories you'll find on your Linux box is known as /dev. In it are a bunch of strange filenames, lots of numbers and the like. If you do an ls -l on one of them, you'll notice they look different than normal files: $ ls -l /etc/passwd /dev/hda1 brw-rw---- 1 root disk 3, 1 Mar 23 22:37 /dev/hda1 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 976 May 29 21:56 /etc/passwd The first thing you'll notice is the first character of the line. passwd has a '-', meaning a normal file (you might also be familiar with 'd' for Directory), while hda1 has a 'b'. The 'b' means "block device", which is part of something central to Unix: Everything is a file. (well, almost everything) hda1 happens to be the first partition of the first IDE hard drive. Yea, that's a file. If you have the rights, you can cat it, vi it, or send it to your speaker. It's just a file. But it's got that 'b'. Unix knows that /dev/hda1 is your hard drive because of the "3,1" in the fifth column. Those numbers make up the major and minor device numbers respectively. Numbers are reserved within the kernel, so when the kernel is doing an operation on a file marked as a block device with id 3,1, it knows where to look. A block device is one that reads and writes in blocks, usually disk drives, RAM disks, and the like. On a similar vein are character devices, which read and write a character at a time, like your keyboard, memory, or serial devices. Surprisingly enough, they have a 'c' in the beginning. Like other files, devices have an owner and a group, timestamps, and a name. (That's a Good Thing -- you don't want anyone to be able to read and write directly to a hard drive!) You create devices with the "mknod" command (but the kernel has to understand the numbers you assign), and delete them with the "rm" command (but deleting the file doesn't destroy the device, just your link to it). Some of the more popular devices are IDE drives: hdXN, where X is a letter and N is either nothing (meaning the disk itself), or a non-zero, positive integer (meaning the Nth partition). SCSI drives look the same, except instead of hd you have sd. Serial ports are ttySN, so COM1 is ttyS0, COM2 is ttyS1, etc. One common device is /dev/null, otherwise known as the bit bucket. Anything sent there is lost, so if you mv a file there, say goodbye. This is a great place to redirect output that you don't care about, especially in crontabs or scripts: myprog > /dev/null # output suppressed /dev/zero will spit out 0's until the cows come home, /dev/urandom will do the same thing with pseudo-random numbers, and /dev/random does much the same thing except that it'll pause every so often to collect entropy from the computer. Some devices (things) that aren't devices (files) are your network cards (eth0), though PPP devices (ppp0) have a corresponding file (/dev/ppp). This is nothing to worry about, as there are ways to do it if you want to be able to read and write packets to your NIC by a file. By habit, device files live in /dev (because it would suck if you accidentally cleaned up your hard drive and lost it in the process). So, tread carefully in /dev! Long Live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit the Linux News Board at http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ -------------------- Red Hat in the Black -------------------- Even with IT budgets shrinking, Red Hat managed to post a profit for the first quarter, a sign that Open Source software is great value. This press release lists some big customers that even surprised me, someone who likes to follow what this company is up to. http://www.redhat.com/about/presscenter/2001/press_Q12002.html ---------------- GCC 3.0 Released ---------------- Formerly the GNU C Compiler, now the GNU Compiler Collection, this ubiquitous piece of software has reached a milestone, Version 3.0. Look forward to better optimization and more targets, not to mention a slew of fixes and features. http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-3.0/gcc-3.0.html --------------- Linux Firewalls --------------- I found this book to be a solid text on using ipchains in many different firewalling situations. If you thought that firewalling meant setting up masquerading and walking away, you are in for a surprise! http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU1328 ----------------------------- Linux Comparison... Or is it? ----------------------------- I initially thought that this was another benchmark showing Linux on top, but after a while it turned into a prime example of how benchmarks can be skewed. The test in question is a UNIX application that was ported to Windows, so WIN32 performance suffers off the hop. Add to it some bad assumptions, and you can make the data look almost any way you want. Validity of the data aside, there is some good info on how sockets work, not to mention a couple of nuggets about tuning. http://www.sysadminmag.com/articles/2001/0107/0107a/0107a.htm ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ----------------------- Diary of a Linux Newbie ----------------------- In ten installments, this fellow chronicles his trek from a Linux newbie to... er... non newbie, I guess. It is pretty interesting reading, even for folk that have been down this path. http://www.linuxdot.org/diary/ --------------------- Setting up PostgreSQL --------------------- PostgreSQL is one of the more popular Open Sourced SQL engines out there. Compared to the ever famous MySQL, it offers transactions, sub-selects, and a whole whack more stuff. However, it's not quite as friendly as it's lean and mean cousin, which is why this article will come in handy. http://phpbuilder.com/columns/kevin20010314.php3 ---------------------------------- Linux Newbie Administrator's Guide ---------------------------------- This guide is designed to help you out after you've installed your system. Everything from X, to devices, to networking seems to be covered here, so you'll want to bookmark this one! http://sunsite.dk/linux-newbie/ ----------------------------- System Maintenance Can be Fun ----------------------------- Are your users sucking up CPU and memory? Blast 'em with the BFG! Oh yea, I forgot to mention, I'm talking about a version of Doom where processes are represented by monsters, and you can kill them (or just knock down their priority) with various weaponry. Who said UNIX isn't user friendly? http://www.cs.unm.edu/~dlchao/flake/doom/ ------------------- GIMP-PERL Debugging ------------------- If you've used the GIMP, an awesome graphics editor, you'll know that there are a lot of plugins available. If you've ever wanted to try your hand at writing one, perhaps to automate a task you regularly perform, you'll need a way to debug as you go. This tutorial covers the making of a simple script, and the way to debug it. http://www.gimp.org/~sjburges/perl_debug/intro.html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ For those of us who can't live without our Palm Pilots, this is a pretty handy app to have around. Abacus is a spreadsheet for the pilot that...here's the Linux connection...syncs up with Linux. The format you'll see is Lotus 1-2-3, which should be readable by StarOffice and Gnumeric, so you can work on those numbers wherever you go! http://www.pmdc.pt/abacus/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Fri Jun 29 01:25:44 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f5T6PgU06867 for ; Fri, 29 Jun 2001 01:25:42 -0500 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: sean@ertw.com Subject: Don't Send Mixed SIgnals Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 13:59:53 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 35 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, June 28, 2001 Read By Over 6,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Loki MPEG Player Update RedHat Enters Database Market Putting a Bad API on a Good OS BOFH Meets the Linux Evangelist 3) Linux Resources SAIR Linux Security Certification Linux on the Desktop: A Guide For Windows Users Installing a Custom Kernel Fundamentals of Multithreading The CGI Bin 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Award Winning Java2 Training Available Online Now! Do your beans all fall properly in place? Do you have the Java skills you need? Online training is the most intelligent way to learn what you need to know when you need to know it! Get all 15 Dynamic Java courses for just $1,225 or buy the courses individually. This package is normally priced at $1,595. http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=3345 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ It's been a while since we looked at some of the stuff that goes on behind the scenes. This week, we're getting back into it by brushing up on signals. Signals are messages that are sent to a process. Messages might be from you (quit), or from the kernel itself (hey, you just stomped on someone else's memory!). In the Windows world, programs cycle around an event loop. In UNIX, they are allowed to go on their merry way, but can optionally trap certain signals. Signals have a default action, so if the app doesn't trap the signal, it may continue as normal, or perhaps be stopped by the system. You're probably already familiar with signals, if you've ever done: # kill 1234 # killall -HUP named then you've sent signals to processes. The first example sends the SIGTERM signal to process 1234, which will cause it to stop execution. The second sends the SIGHUP signal to all the named processes. Uncaught, SIGHUP (hangup) will also cause the application to terminate, but common usage is to trap it and cause the application to re-read its configuration files. There are about 30 signals used in Linux, but you'll only need to know a few of them. To give you an idea of how this all operates, I'm going to have to write some code. If you want to follow along with me, you can call this t1.c. /* Program execution starts here */ int main (void) { printf("My PID is %d\n", getpid()); while (1) { printf("Good night!\n"); sleep(10); printf("Good morning!\n"); } } Compile this with: gcc t1.c -o t1 which will create an executable called t1. In C, execution starts in the main() function. The code prints it's current processid, and then enters an infinite loop. Run the program: ./t1 and you'll see that you get "Good night!", a 10 second pause (that's the sleep() function in action), followed by "Good morning!", then it repeats. Still with me? Pop open a new window, and send a HUP signal to the process. If you saw: My PID is 21317 then in your other window you'll type: kill -HUP 21317 On my screen, I get: $ ./t1 My PID is 21317 Good night! Hangup $ So, even though the program never had any logic to get out of that infinite loop, the operating system terminated the process (and wrote "Hangup"). Let's catch that signal now. Call this file t2.c: #include /* This is the signal handler */ void handler(int signum) { printf("Inside handler (signal %d)\n", signum); } /* Program execution starts here */ int main (void) { printf("My PID is %d\n", getpid()); signal(SIGHUP, &handler); while (1) { printf("Good night!\n"); sleep(10); printf("Good morning!\n"); } } The first line imports all the definitions for the signal handling functions. The next few lines define a signal handler, simply called "handler". A signal handler has a known form -- it can return nothing, and accepts an integer (signal.h has all that stuff in there). Inside handler, I simply print out the value of that integer, and return. The last difference is that I call the signal() function before I start the loop, which associates the signal (SIGHUP) with my handler. Build the program and then run it: $ gcc t2.c -o t2 $ ./t2 My PID is 21343 Good night! Send the HUP signal again, and see what happens: $ kill -HUP 21343 Inside handler (signal 1) Good morning! and execution continues. Why? t2.c caught the HUP signal, and decided to continue execution. You can kill it by sending a TERM (actually, that's the default) signal to it: $ kill 21343 Terminated In fact, there is no reason we can't capture SIGTERM and ignore it, though in practice we would want to exit gracefully instead of just dying. To make sure that people don't do stuff like that, some signals can not be ignored, such as SIGKILL. SIGKILL is a heavy handed version of SIGTERM, it has signal number 9, and you can do stuff like... kill -9 21343 kill -KILL 21343 ...to get rid of that process that just won't die. I use this one a lot on Netscape: killall -9 netscape-navigator because sometimes it just hangs and there is no way to get rid of it. There are some processes that can't be killed with good ol' signal 9, these are called "zombies". I won't get into what a zombie is today, but they show up on a "ps -ef" with the word zombie on the line. To get rid of those, you have to kill its parent (third column in the ps listing). You can get a list of all the signals through the signal(7) man page: man 7 signal Those interested in learning more about this kind of stuff should pick up "UNIX Network Programming" by W Richard Stevens. A necessity if you're going to get into network programming, and inter-process communications. Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit the Linux News Board at http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ----------------------- Loki MPEG Player Update ----------------------- Loki, the porters of many fine games, developed an MPEG library a while ago to handle playback of movies. This most recent update fixes a bunch of bugs and adds some features. If you're looking for an MPEG player, here is a great start. http://www.lokigames.com/development/smpeg.php3 ----------------------------- RedHat Enters Database Market ----------------------------- RedHat, "the leader in developing, deploying and managing open source solutions, today announced Red Hat Database. The Red Hat Database product is an open source database solution, based on PostgreSQL 7.1, and optimized with Red Hat Linux 7.1, for mid-sized organizations and corporate workgroups and departments." http://www.redhat.com/databasesolution ------------------------------ Putting a Bad API on a Good OS ------------------------------ Some might say that OS/2's WIN32 compatibility was part of its downfall since it offered vendors no incentive to target it specifically. So, are projects like WINE, which implement the WIN32 API under Unix, doing the same? http://www.osopinion.com/perl/story/11297.html ------------------------------- BOFH Meets the Linux Evangelist ------------------------------- Everyone's favourite system administrator, the BOFH, matches wits with a luser...I mean user...who doesn't quite get the hang of his new Linux system. "Where's Word?" he asks. See how the BOFH handles this call. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/30/19898.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ --------------------------------- SAIR Linux Security Certification --------------------------------- If you were looking to write the SAIR Linux Security exam, you'd be wise to check out Brainbuzz user ironpaw's view. He wrote the exam and was, shall we say, less than impressed. http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbm.asp?m=313946 ----------------------------------------------- Linux on the Desktop: A Guide For Windows Users ----------------------------------------------- This article (watch out for line wrapping in the URL) is a nice little introduction on what has to be done when installing a desktop version of Linux, and what you can expect. Those that have done it once or twice might find their time better spent elsewhere, but for the complete newbie it's a worthwhile read. http://www.extremetech.com/article/0,2299,s%253D1028%2526a%253D5549,00.asp -------------------------- Installing a Custom Kernel -------------------------- Though I wrote about this topic a while back, this article puts the whole process of kernel compilation and installation into a nice stepped process. It is geared toward the people who are recompiling the existing kernel, instead of doing an upgrade, so take some extra care if you're doing the latter. http://www.linux.com/develop/newsitem.phtml?sid=1&aid=12439 ------------------------------ Fundamentals of Multithreading ------------------------------ Threads are otherwise known as light weight processes, they are one of the methods that allow applications to take advantage of multi-processor machines. Within this article, a lot of threading and MP topics are examined. Warning - this article gets pretty technical. http://www.systemlogic.net/articles/01/6/multithreading/ ----------- The CGI Bin ----------- CGI, the Common Gateway Interface, allows a web server to interact with other processes to produce dynamic web pages. This site has several tutorials that introduce you to the topic using some pretty handy examples. http://www.thecgibin.com/ ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ This looks like a handy one...If your server is so locked up that you can't log in to fix things, but can still be pinged, this kernel patch will let you send a special ping to reboot. Don't worry, there is a password mechanism in place! http://nail.itapac.net/ricmp/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Fri Jul 6 20:22:16 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f671MEs25606 for ; Fri, 6 Jul 2001 20:22:15 -0500 X-Mailer: ListManager Web Interface Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2001 12:48:21 -0400 Subject: Going Adobe Free To: sean@ertw.com From: "BrainBuzz.com" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 36 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, July 5, 2001 Read By Over 6,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Microsoft's "Dot Truth" Estimating the Size of Linux Linux Standards Base MS Calls GPL "viral" 3) Linux Resources MRTG and SNMP Software LILO Help 12 Steps to Freedom Sorting in PERL Call me a Sucker 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We GUARANTEE you will pass your exam or you get your money back! Win2K Titles Only $99.95 each Normally $149.95 Win2K Accelerated Exam Only $169.95 Normally $349.95 A+ Core & Elective Only $99.95 Normally $249.95 INET+ or Network+ Only $79.95 each Normally $149.95 CCNA 2.0 Only $149.95 Normally $249.95 Add our Audio Quizzer for only $19.95 for each cassette or CD. CALL (800) 845-8569 FOR MORE INFORMATION OR VISIT US AT http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1170 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ It's been a pretty exciting week. July the 1st was Canada Day, the 4th was Independence Day, and the Linux kernel bumped up a notch to 2.4.6. If you've been following the development of 2.4, this is one to grab. Besides some important fixes to ReiserFS, there appear to be a lot of other fixes and improvements. It's also been a busy week for attacks on Open Source. On one of my regular visits to Slashdot, I was startled by this article: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/07/04/013249&mode=thread It seems Adobe is going after the author of KIllustrator for trying to confuse their trademark. Even though he immediately took down his website until it could all get worked out, they insist that he pay the $2,000 in legal fees, along with a threat of a $400,000 lawsuit. I'm no lawyer, but those are pretty nasty tactics. I for one will not support a company that makes such threats. At this point, I'm happy to say I'm Adobe free. I use xpdf to read PDF files, GhostScript to write them, and the GIMP to work with graphics: http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/ http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/index.htm http://www.gimp.org xpdf is far faster than the Adobe PDF viewer. If you're a Netscape Navigator user like myself, you can set it up as your PDF viewer of choice from the Edit->Preferences menu, selecting Navigator->Applications, and finding the option marked "Portable Document Format". Change "Handled by" to "/usr/bin/xpdf %s". If the option isn't there yet, just create one with new, using "application/pdf" as the MIME type, and "pdf" as the suffix. Not only are you making a statement about Adobe, but you'll notice a significant increase in startup speed, and less memory used. To write a PDF file requires a Postscript input, which is usually easy to obtain under Unix. (Yes, I realize the irony of using the Adobe file formats.) From the command line, you can run cat output.ps | gs -q -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=/tmp/test.pdf - Replace output.ps with the name of your PostScript file, and the /tmp/test.pdf with what you want the result to be called. Don't forget that dash at the end of the command. It signifies that GhostScript (gs) is to get the input from STDIN rather than a file. "cat output.ps" dumps output.ps to STDIN, and the rest is history. If you want to be really slick about it, you could create a print queue that does all that automagically, and emails you a link to the file. I'll leave this one as an exercise to the reader. On another note, check out the news about Microsoft calling the GPL and other software "viral software". This one has me pretty steamed, but you're spared from hearing my opinion until I have a chance to see how Microsoft explains this one. Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit the Linux News Board at http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ----------------------- Microsoft's "Dot Truth" ----------------------- Microsoft directly attacks Sun Solaris on this website, with multiple pseudo articles claiming that Solaris doesn't quite stack up to NT. It's almost sad to see what Microsoft's marketing department is willing to try. I think this all stems from Sun's "Reality Check" column, which makes comparisons against other vendors (though it is done far better than dot truth.) http://www.dot-truth.com ---------------------------- Estimating the Size of Linux ---------------------------- If you had to write all the applications that came on the Red Hat 7.1 CD, what would it cost you? What is the breakdown of various licences within the CD? (this one surprised me!) Believe it or not, someone figured this out, compared it to previous results from Red Hat 6.2, and came up with some very interesting numbers. http://www.dwheeler.com/sloc/redhat71-v1/redhat71sloc.html -------------------- Linux Standards Base -------------------- The LSB is a project designed to increase standardization across distributions. This will make it easier for all of us to do our work, not to mention make life easier on the vendors who may be considering porting to Linux. The first release of the document is finally out, so it might be a good idea to see what is in store. http://www.linuxbase.org/ -------------------- MS Calls GPL "viral" -------------------- In the licence for Microsoft's Mobile Internet Toolkit is a clause stating that it can't be used with "potentially viral" software, including Perl and Linux. Nope, not abusing their monopoly position, are they? http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/zd/20010702/tc/ms_attacks_open_source_1.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ---------------------- MRTG and SNMP Software ---------------------- MRTG is a great tool for monitoring network traffic. This page has some helpful advice on how to use it, some Perl scripts to do some other cool stuff with routers, and even a Windows front end to MRTG. http://www.geocities.com/mrtg_daemon/ --------- LILO Help --------- LILO is a pretty complex program, a bit of troubleshooting advice is always welcome. The message in this link has a great summary of the README file, and some good advice on how to troubleshoot. http://www.linux.cu/pipermail/linux-l/2000-November/006554.html ------------------- 12 Steps to Freedom ------------------- Here is a twelve-step program on how to get Microsoft out of your life. It's not your typical "Microsoft Sucks" site, but a well thought out Linux advocacy manifesto. Anyone that considers themselves a Linux evangelist should give this one a read. http://i-want-a-website.com/about-microsoft/twelve-step.html --------------- Sorting in PERL --------------- Sorting can be easy or hard, depending on the data you're dealing with. Perl has some features that you may not know about, that make sorting easier than you'd think. What I really like about this article is that it progressively builds the code, suggesting better ways to do it. http://www.cpan.org/doc/FMTEYEWTK/sort.html ---------------- Call me a Sucker ---------------- I'm a sucker for online contests. But, can you blame me? This one is for a Cobalt Raq 4, and all you have to do is give them a good joke. http://www.cobalt.com/ads/isp-market/index.html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ Looking for a good CAD program for Linux? This one is full of features, and can read/write AutoCAD files. The Linux version is open sourced, though there appear to be add-on packages that you have to pay for. http://www.qcad.org/index.php3 ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Jul 12 12:36:35 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by poochie.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f6CHaVB27302 for ; Thu, 12 Jul 2001 12:36:33 -0500 X-Mailer: ListManager Web Interface Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 13:07:00 -0400 Subject: Due Processes To: sean@ertw.com From: "BrainBuzz.com" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 37 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, July 12, 2001 Read By Over 6,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Caldera OpenLinux to Require Licencing CerfBoard Interview with a PHP Developer Microsoft to Allow Some Rebranding in XP 3) Linux Resources HTTP Benchmarking Security Manuals SNMP FAQ PostgreSQL Book XPilot Newbie Guide 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ XML is the wave of the Future. Make sure you're ready to take advantage of the Skills needed in today's competitive market. FirstClass Systems offers superior XML training presented online with mentoring. Online Training is the most intelligent way to learn anything! http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=3345 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ One of the fundamentals of UNIX is how processes are created. Sure, we know init does all the dirty work, but how do processes themselves call for new processes? If you're running a web server you'll see that there are a bunch of httpd processes going, but you only started one of them. Likewise, inetd (or xinetd) can fire off your ftp server if a connection comes in. Well, folks, it's all done through the fork() system call. Fork, like the name implies, denotes a split of paths. A simple example (fork1.c) will illustrate (or confuse): int main(void) { printf("Hello (%d)\n", getpid()); fork(); printf("Goodbye (%d)\n", getpid()); } Remember from a previous article that the main function is where everything starts. We're going to print out "Hello" along with our processid. Then we call fork(), and then another silly message along with the PID. Should be simple, eh? $ gcc fork1.c -o fork1 $ ./fork1 Hello (3169) Goodbye (3169) Goodbye (3170) Huh? I only told it to print out Goodbye once! Look at the PID, though. The first and second are from different processes. The fork() actually returns twice, but after creating a second process. 3169 is the parent process, 3170 is the child process. So if fork() returns twice, what kind of value does it return? Here is fork2.c: #include #include int main(void) { pid_t pid; printf("My pid is %d\n", getpid()); pid = fork(); printf("Fork returned %d in pid %d\n", pid, getpid()); } The differences here are that I included a couple of files that the man page for fork() recommended. This gets me the pid_t type which stores the result of a fork(). I then captured the return value of the system call, and printed it out along with the PID. $ gcc fork2.c -o fork2 $ ./fork2 My pid is 3235 Fork returned 3236 in pid 3235 Fork returned 0 in pid 3236 Now this is pretty interesting. The parent (3235) was given the PID of its child (3236). The child was given a big fat zero. But this isn't a problem, because a child can always find its parent with getppid(), but it is difficult for a parent to find all its children. Now, on to the practical part of the whole exercise. Forks are generally used as worker tasks. Client server programming is helpful in systems administration, you can write a quick little daemon that waits around for connections and does some small tasks. When the connection comes in, you don't want the process to be busy until the work is done, you want to wait for another connection. The solution? fork() off another process. If it returns 0, you're in the child process, so do the work. If you get a positive number, you're the parent, so go back to listening. On that thread (pardon the pun), you could have a program that is interacting with the user. Rather than making the user wait while some action is performed (like a backup), fork() a child process to do the work. If you recall a couple of weeks ago, we talked about signals. Well, when the child process dies (finishes), the parent process is notified with SIGCHLD. http://www.ertw.com/~sean/newsletter/June+28%2C+2001 The fork() system call isn't only accessible in C, many other languages let you use it in the same manner, such as PERL. I'm going to give you one more example that has no useful application, except to demonstrate where init fits into all of this. See if you can answer the question before trying this out. "If the parent process dies before the child process, who is the child's parent?" Here's fork3.c, which will attempt to answer that: int main(void) { printf("My pid is %d\n", getpid()); if (fork() == 0 ) { /* child */ printf("I am %d, my parent is %d\n", getpid(), getppid()); sleep(5); printf("I am %d, my parent is %d\n", getpid(), getppid()); } else { /* parent */ sleep(1); printf("I am the parent %d, but I'm leaving now\n", getpid()); } } I'm using the sleep() library call to make each process wait so that the child can display its parent before and after it dies. This example also demonstrates the way that programmers use fork() to decide who is the child and who is the parent. $ gcc fork3.c -o fork3 $ ./fork3 My pid is 3353 I am 3354, my parent is 3353 I am the parent 3353, but I'm leaving now I am 3354, my parent is 1 The child, 3354, was picked up by PID 1 -- our friend init. So that's process creation in a nutshell. Even if you never use it, understanding fork() is almost essential in order to understand the rest of the system. Every time you run a command, your shell is fork()ing off a new process. Following the parent-child relationship in the process tree gives you a better handle on the state of the system. This whole business of parents dying before their children is what causes zombies (and was going to be today's topic, but I got sidetracked). I've posted a poll on the Linux news board, please give your opinion on the use of C code and the discussion of system calls in general: http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbm.asp?rpg=1&wpg=1&sb=0&pvm=False&m=321050 Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit the Linux News Board at http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ -------------------------------------- Caldera OpenLinux to Require Licencing -------------------------------------- I can't believe anyone thinks this is a good idea. Users of Caldera 3.1 OpenLinux Workstation will be required to buy a licence for each computer they run it on. I'm thinking that within six months, they'll either reverse this decision or go bust. How about you? http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-06-25-006-20-PS --------- CerfBoard --------- Besides a cool name, this device features a 192 MHz StrongARM 1110 with 32 MB of RAM, 16 MB of non-volatile flash memory, ethernet, and a lot of IO. Not too useful as a general purpose computer, but this embedded device prototype fits into 0.015 cubic foot! http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT2683549967.html ------------------------------ Interview with a PHP Developer ------------------------------ PHP (http://www.php.net) is an ultra cool, super powerful, web development language, along the lines of ASP. Linux.com interviews one of the developers here, and he offers some insight into the future of the language, along with the reasoning behind ActiveState's commercial interest in the software. ActiveState is the company that ported PERL to WIN32. http://www.linux.com/develop/newsitem.phtml?sid=93&aid=12466 ---------------------------------------- Microsoft to Allow Some Rebranding in XP ---------------------------------------- I guess all the antitrust suits must be paying off. In this MS press release, our favourite monopoly says they'll allow OEMs to place icons on the desktop, and remove some Start menu items. My favourite is that they promise to make the end user parts of IE easily removable, but then again they've always claimed you could do that. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2001/jul01/07-11OEMFlexibilityPR.asp ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ----------------- HTTP Benchmarking ----------------- If you're doing any sort of dynamic web pages, system administrators everywhere will thank you if you take performance into consideration. Systems administrators might also want to see how well the latest upgrade improves speed on the web server. In both cases, you'll want to do some benchmarking. This HOWTO explains how it should be done so that you get reliable data. http://www.xenoclast.org/doc/benchmark/HTTP-benchmarking-HOWTO/ ------------------- Security Manuals ------------------- The Idea Hamster, besides being a funny name, is the title of a project that is developing open-sourced manuals for security-related topics. There is one on how to perform security tests, how to write secure code, and much more. http://www.ideahamster.org/ -------- SNMP FAQ -------- The Simple Network Management Protocol can be used to get information on systems such as a Linux box or a network switch. Despite the "Simple" in the title, the whole concept can be a bit confusing, so this FAQ will help you out. Network and Systems people alike should be well versed in this protocol ...used properly, it can make your job a lot easier. http://www.pantherdig.com/snmpfaq/ --------------- PostgreSQL Book --------------- This online book is all about PostgreSQL, a free relational database. PGSQL is very powerful, having many more features than MySQL. This comes at a cost of resources and more skills to administer it. Luckily, you'll have this book handy to get you through it. http://www.ca.postgresql.org/docs/aw_pgsql_book/index.html ------------------- XPilot Newbie Guide ------------------- Ever since finding this game, I've been hooked. XPilot is a multiplayer game where you control a little spaceship, and fly around a map fighting with other people. There is even a team play mode, where the object is to get the other team's treasure back to your own base. The Newbie Guide here will show you how to control your ship so you don't get blown out of the skies quite so fast. http://www.j-a-r-n-o.nl/Xpilot/Newbie/Unix/newbie.shtml ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ TPC stands for "The Phone Company", which is a project designed to build a worldwide fax over email service. I didn't even notice that RedHat has the client for this on the distribution CDs until the other day! If your recipient is in an area covered by this, you might just save a few bucks on long distance. If you live in an uncovered area, it might be worthwhile to set up a node. Not only are you giving something to the community, but it's a pretty good way to get into UNIX administration if you're looking for a project to do. http://www.tpc.int ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Jul 19 10:59:13 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f6JFxCx23933 for ; Thu, 19 Jul 2001 10:59:12 -0500 X-Mailer: ListManager Web Interface Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 11:41:34 -0400 Subject: Adobe Cracks The DMCA Whip To: sean@ertw.com From: "BrainBuzz.com" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 38 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, July 19, 2001 Read By Over 6,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Linux Clusters Grow Business Guardian Digital EnGarde Secure Linux DocBook Publishing Slackware 8 Review 3) Linux Resources IDE Resources Maximum RPM Linux+ Cramsession Released Shell Scripting Tutorial Internet Sharing 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tired of looking everywhere for newsletters with the technical information you need? FreeTechMail.org can help. It has the largest network of high quality opt-in newsletters on the Net. FreeTechMail's search engine enables you to find all the newsletters to keep you at the forefront of the IT industry. Subscribe to your IT newsletters today at: http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1703 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ A couple weeks ago I reported on Adobe's lawyers threatening action against the author of KIllustrator for trademark violation. The Register reports that this was done without the consent or knowledge of Adobe, and that it's all part of an interesting German copyright law. He's since changed the name, and all seems well in that respect. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/20431.html However, Adobe's not off the hook. A Russian programmer who exposed serious flaws in the PDF encryption scheme was arrested for DMCA violations after the Feds were tipped off by Adobe. He was in Las Vegas giving a presentation at the Black Hat conference. http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/lv-crime/2001/jul/18/512096646.html http://cryptome.org/usa-v-sklyarov.htm http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010717/ts/tech_hacker_arrest_dc_1.html In a nutshell, DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) is a law in the USA that says that it is illegal to write software that circumvents copyright controls. Adobe's product is used to protect documents from being copied. Easy enough? Not quite. Most of the plugins that provide the PDF encryption are third-party, so anybody could theoretically copy them. One of the companies using this decided to encrypt the data with ROT-13 -- 'A' becomes 'N', 'B' becomes 'O', and so on. That's some pretty serious stuff there! The mechanism that is used to employ these plugins is not much better, so this software was able to get through pretty much any protection. Furthermore, the software this guy wrote is sold for $99, far above the $20-$30 that the files go for. You also need to be the legitimate copyright holder (ie. you need the password or key in the first place). Now, there is nothing wrong with owning a copyright, and making money off it. (This is where the whole Linux angle is coming in) Why develop secure systems in private? The open nature of Linux development means that more eyes will be on your code. How many eyes are on your operating system? How about that web server that protects your business transactions? That cryptography that protects your email -- it's good, right? Perhaps what irks me more about the development of secure systems in private are vendors getting governments to legislate it. If someone wants to advertise a false sense of security, I'd like to know people are out there trying to prove it, right or wrong. Who knows if DMCA will hold up in court. If it does, it has serious implications for the Internet community. Linux users have an interest in all of this, as it goes against the whole development model that has brought us to where we are. Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit the Linux News Board at http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ---------------------------- Linux Clusters Grow Business ---------------------------- In days of old, it was big names like Cray and SGI that built the huge machines. Want to simulate a nuclear explosion? You'll need one big machine! These days, big machines can be built of many smaller and cheaper machines. Lots of companies are building their business out of this, as this article discusses. http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/07/18/188256&mode=thread ------------------------------------- Guardian Digital EnGarde Secure Linux ------------------------------------- The name of this distribution is quite the mouthful. You may recognize this from linuxsecurity.com, since the maintainers of the site are the developers of EnGarde. This review covers the installation process, and the features that this distribution brings to the table. It boasts a nice web interface, and easy installation. Well worth a look. http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/misc/engarde101/ ------------------ DocBook Publishing ------------------ DocBook is a set of standards that allow you to write text in an SGML/XML fashion, and have them render it in HTML, PDF, PS, or any number of formats. It's useful if you're writing a book, or academic papers. This book from the folks at Prima Press is all about DocBook, and how to use it to your advantage. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU1354 ------------------ Slackware 8 Review ------------------ Before I started using RedHat, I was a huge slackware fanatic. The distribution has come a long way, including some turmoil when the parent company dropped the product. Not letting that stop it, the slackware team has released 8.0. http://www.maximumlinux.org/article.php?story=20010716225904639 ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ------------- IDE Resources ------------- Understanding the system underneath the OS is almost as important as understanding the OS itself. A knowledge of the relevant standards also helps you squeak out more performance, and to choose hardware more wisely. This site is all about IDE drives, how they work, and which ones to choose. http://www.mkdata.dk/click/module5b1.htm ----------- Maximum RPM ----------- Not only is this site the place to grab the latest version of the RedHat Package Manager, but it is home to an excellent (free) book called "Maximum RPM". This book has everything you'd ever want on using RPM, including how to make your own packages. http://www.rpm.org --------------------------- Linux+ Cramsession Released --------------------------- Brainbuzz brings you the Cramsession for the upcoming Linux+ exam from Comp Tia. Topics covered include Planning, Installing Configuring, Maintaining, and Troubleshooting a Linux system. http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/cramsession/comptia/linux/ ------------------------ Shell Scripting Tutorial ------------------------ Shell scripting is one of the more important skills a Unix user can have. This guide is a complete tutorial to the world of shell scripting. http://www.freeos.com/guides/lsst/ ------------------- Internet Sharing ------------------- Brainbuzz user Guitarlynn has a knack for explaining things. In this article, she explains some of the finer points of getting multiple computers shared through one Linux box using a package called PMFirewall. There are also some helpful hints for dialup users. http://www.geocities.com/guitarlynn/isc.html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ Forgot the password to that pesky zipfile? Co-worker left without letting you know? Zipcracker is a program that will brute force that password. It has PVM support, so it will run under a Beowulf cluster (just in case you have one hanging around), and even has a version for WIN32. http://zipcracker.sourceforge.net/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Jul 26 15:24:33 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f6QKOWx01080 for ; Thu, 26 Jul 2001 15:24:33 -0500 X-Mailer: ListManager Web Interface Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2001 13:12:43 -0400 Subject: Who's The Man?! To: sean@ertw.com From: "BrainBuzz.com" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 39 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, July 26, 2001 Read By Over 6,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Adobe Backs Off Kernel 2.4.7 Released Mandrake to Have an IPO Big Hole in SSH 3.0 3) Linux Resources Bootstrapping Linux: An Analysis Move Over, Procmail PHP Tutorial Shell Scripting Tutorial High Availability Filesystem 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Training Gets Easier!!!!! Pressed for study time? A unique study method has helped thousands of students escalate their learning skills. Retention is higher, they learn faster and ...Click Below To Find Out More! http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=2547 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ "RTFM" is the classic answer to the newbie question, usually a sign from the giver of the answer that the solution is described in detail in the system documentation. You may have noticed when you downloaded Linux that you didn't get a manual. If you bought it, the printed documentation doesn't seem large enough to answer all your questions. So how are you supposed to RTFM if you don't have one? Luckily, the documentation can be found on your computer in the form of "man pages". The man system is divided into sections; each section takes care of a different part of the documentation: 1 - Commands 2 - System Calls 3 - Library Calls 4 - Special Files ( usually /dev) 5 - Config File Formats 6 - Games 7 - Macro Packages and Conventions 8 - System Management Commands Keep in mind that the lines are blurred between the sections, and that there can be even more sections depending on what you have installed. Why the sections? One example would be that man(1) teaches you how to use man, while man(7) teaches you how to write man pages. (Note the use of parenthesis... this is commonly used when one wants to be explicit) Luckily, the man program will search the sections in order. This is all controlled out of the /etc/man.config file. Now's a good time to give you an example of how to use man. Learn about the man.config file with: $ man man.config Man pages by themselves are nothing special... Most have a brief synopsis of the command, lengthy descriptions of the options, and perhaps an example or two. After that comes a very important section -- SEE ALSO. Most programs will list their config files in here. As an example, ask for help on man itself: $ man man ... SEE ALSO apropos(1), whatis(1), less(1), groff(1), man.config(5). It's telling you that there are other commands (as specified by the (1)), and a config file (man.config(5)). Earlier, though, I said there were two man pages for man... One in section 1 and the other in 7. When you typed "man man", you got 1, so how do you get 7? $ man 7 man (users of really old Linux versions, and BSD users take note -- for this one you'd run man -s 7 man) That's all well and good if you know what you're looking for, but what if you're lost? Let's say you want to add a user. "apropos" will search the index of man pages for the substring you pass it. $ apropos user ... Ouch... My machine returned 185 entries. It just so happens that the command I'm looking for was at the end, but what if it wasn't? The answer to that has nothing to do with man pages, but with the (IMHO) handiest tool in the System Administrator's arsenal, grep. $ apropos user | grep -i create mysqlaccess [mysqlaccess] (1) - Create new users to mysql newusers (8) - update and create new users in batch useradd (8) - Create a new user or update default new user information To those just tuning into the world of Linux, I piped the output of apropos with the '|' character, into the grep command, which prints out the lines that match the given substring. I used "-i", which means to ignore case. >From this list of three commands, I can see that useradd is what I want (though newusers looks like one I should tuck in my pocket for another day). Pull up the new found man page with: $ man useradd Some environment variables control the way man operates (it can also be done in /etc/man.config). Setting PAGER will change your viewer--by default it's probably less, but depending on your terminal you may want to make it use more. Likewise, MANPATH can let you add extra search directories to the man command. If you installed some software to your home directory that makes a man directory, you could have man search it: $ export MANPATH=~/man or $ setenv MANPATH ~/man So, that's the man page system. Next time you have a problem, give these techniques a try--maybe you'll save yourself some time! Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit the Linux News Board at http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ --------------- Adobe Backs Off --------------- "San Jose, Calif. - Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq: ADBE) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today jointly recommend the release of Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov from federal custody. Adobe is also withdrawing its support for the criminal complaint against Dmitry Sklyarov." http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/20010723_eff_adobe_sklyarov_pr.html --------------------- Kernel 2.4.7 Released --------------------- Nothing out of the ordinary in this release of the Linux kernel, just looks like a lot of cleanups. We should expect to see the pace of upgrades slowing down now as the kernel code stabilizes. http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/ChangeLog-2.4.7 ----------------------- Mandrake to Have an IPO ----------------------- Mandrake, makers of a fine Linux distribution, has announced their plans for an initial public offering of company stock. The market they are entering is the French "Marche Libre" (Free Market), with an initial price of 6.2 Euros (under $5.50 USD). Congrats, and best of luck! http://www.mandrakesoft.com/company/investors/ipo ------------------- Big Hole in SSH 3.0 ------------------- SSH, the Secure Shell, is supposed to protect your system from hackers. However, if the software itself is buggy, that doesn't help out! Luckily, it's in the 3.0.0 version, which is recent enough that most people won't have upgraded. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-6649868.html?tag=lh ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ -------------------------------- Bootstrapping Linux: An Analysis -------------------------------- If you're curious as to what happens with the system after the kernel comes up, you can read through the startup scripts. But how does the system get to that state? This article walks you through the process, from BIOS to kernel. http://www.linux.com/learn/newsitem.phtml?sid=1&aid=12476 ------------------- Move Over, Procmail ------------------- Procmail's syntax leaves something to be desired. For those that prefer a programming-like view of mail filtering, Mail ::Audit may be for you. It provides a high level library that lets you filter incoming mail using perl syntax. Even those that don't know perl should be able to use this tutorial to filter mail, as it provides very good examples. http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2001/07/17/mailfiltering.html ------------ PHP Tutorial ------------ PHP, the ultra-cool server side web scripting language, still requires that you learn some new concepts to get going. This tutorial is a good kickstart into the world of PHP programming, with the intention of giving you enough knowledge to start making use of the reference material (ie, the docs) available elsewhere on the site. http://php.net/tut.php ------------------------ Shell Scripting Tutorial ------------------------ When the document starts off with a quote "When the only hammer you have is C++, the whole world looks like a thumb.", you know you're in for a treat. If you've read some of the other tutorials on the net, you may want to learn about some more techniques, like functions, that the shell can do for you. This tutorial picks up where the others leave off... If this is your first foray into scripting, you'll find links at the bottom of the article that cover the basics. http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue57/okopnik.html ---------------------------- High Availability Filesystem ---------------------------- For those systems that just can't go down, but need shared disks, InterMezzo might be for you. Filesystems can be replicated across a network, but all the expected locking is there. As usual, it's Beta, but there seems to be a strong development team behind it. http://www.inter-mezzo.org/ ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ I'm a big fan of RPM, but it does have some shortcomings. rpm-get is a simple clone of Debian's apt-get, which does a good job of resolving dependencies and making upgrades easier. http://www.linuxscript.org/rpm-get/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Aug 2 12:44:14 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com (list.freetechmail.org [206.112.74.59]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f72HiDx14736 for ; Thu, 2 Aug 2001 12:44:13 -0500 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: sean@ertw.com Subject: Getting Perl To Fetch Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 10:21:46 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 40 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, August 2, 2001 Read By Over 6,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Mandrake Pulls Off IPO City of Largo Goes Live With KDE 2.1.1 Sparks Fly at Open Source Debate KOffice Release Candidate 3) Linux Resources Programming, Graphics, and OS Tips Sendmail SpamMaster Diamond Rio and Linux The Tao of Programming 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What can ASP training do for you? Make sure you have the knowledge you need when you need it. Train Online with FirstClass Systems and have the knowledge you need at your fingertips. Online Training is the most intelligent way to learn anything! http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=3345 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ One of the more common questions on the Perl board is how to get a script to fetch a web page. Unsurprisingly, it's a cinch to do in Perl, as long as you have the right module. LWP is a "Library for WWW access in Perl". And who said Unix jocks couldn't come up with good names? Actually, it's a pretty bad name, because you can use the same set of modules to access HTTPS, FTP, NNTP, and a few other protocols. A fine example of one of the three virtues of a programmer--laziness: http://www.netropolis.org/hash/perl/virtue.html If your system doesn't come with LWP installed, hop onto CPAN and install it. # perl -MCPAN -e shell cpan> install Bundle::LWP ... cpan> With that, let's start our program. ---- cut here ---- #!/usr/bin/perl -w use LWP::UserAgent; # One user agent required per program my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new; # The request object says what we want my $boards = HTTP::Request->new(GET => "http://boards.brainbuzz.com"); # Pass the request object to the user agent to get the page my $data = $ua->request($boards); # $data is an HTTP::Response object, data is in content() print $data->content(); ---- cut here ---- The first line of a script always starts with "#!" (pronounced "hash bang", or sometimes "she-bang"), which lets the system know that the rest of the line will specify the interpreter to run it. This time, it's /usr/bin/perl -w, the perl interpreter. Those who have seen me write Perl code in previous newsletters will notice I've started using the -w flag. This turns on warnings, which makes the interpreter point out potential errors. For newbies and experts alike, it is very helpful for finding bugs that lurk in your code. Next, I bring in the LWP::UserAgent module, which gives me access to all the LWP functions. In LWP, a user agent is used, almost akin to the web browser itself. If I needed to set things like proxies, I'd do it to $ua, and the effects will trickle down to all my requests. The new method of LWP::UserAgent just invokes an object. Next, I create a request object, of type HTTP::Request. As before, I invoke the new method, but this time I have to tell it the url and the request method. Here, I'm GETting the url for the Brainbuzz boards. Note the URL is fully qualified -- http and all. This is because behind the scenes, the system has to figure out if it should use HTTP, FTP, or any other method supported. Finally, I tell the user agent to send off the request I just made. Since it's returning an object, I use the content method to get the data as a scalar (string). A small sidebar: Try leaving off the whole content part, and just printing $data directly: $ perl bb1.pl HTTP::Response=HASH(0x8350c74) That's perl telling you that you've got a data type of HTTP::Response, and that it really doesn't know how to print it, other than the memory location. Do a "man HTTP::Response" to find out what your object does, and you'll find you need the content method to get at the data. All of this would be useless unless I were to do something. While I've got http://boards.brainbuzz.com loaded, why don't I print out a list of the top posters, along with their posts? ---- cut here ---- #!/usr/bin/perl -w use LWP::UserAgent; # One user agent required per program my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new; # The request object says what we want my $boards = HTTP::Request->new(GET => "http://boards.brainbuzz.com"); # Pass the request object to the user agent to get the page my $data = $ua->request($boards); # $data is an HTTP::Response object, data is in content() my ($posters) = grep /Top Posters/, (split /\n/, $data->content()); my @table = split /<\/tr>/, $posters; for (@table) { printf "%20s %d\n", $1, $2 if (/vbd.asp.*?>(\w+).*\((\d+)/); } ---- cut here ---- It's all the same up to the request... Rather than a lot of temporary variables, I've taken advantage of some of Perl's features. Start at the right side of the fifth to last line. In the parenthesis, I'm using the split() function, which splits a string into substrings based on a given delimiter. In this case, I'm breaking the result of the request into lines (\n means "newline"). The result of that is grep()'ed (searched) for the string "Top Posters", and returned in the $posters variable. $posters is in parenthesis because grep is supposed to return a list, but since I only want the first occurrence, I can use this trick. So, this line of code returns the line containing the Top Posters phrase. Next, I do another split, this time on the tag. Note that I had to escape the / with a \, otherwise it would be construed as the end of the regular expression. Now I've got a list of strings in the @table array, each potentially containing a poster. But there is some other junk in there too! The last three lines set up a loop on every element of @table. Since I didn't specify a variable to hold the current value, it gets stored in a special variable, $_. (Yes, that's "dollar underscore"). The significance of that is that the regular expression search in the next line will search $_ unless it's told otherwise. Ain't Perl great? The regexp itself (the stuff between the /'s) can be broken down for clarity: / # begin regexp vbd.asp # look for the string "vbd.asp" .*?> # followed by anything (.*) ending in a > # adding ? to the end means to stop at the first match (\w+) # Next will be at least one alphanumeric character # Parenthesis mean to save it into a positional variable # since this is the first in the regexp it is $1 .* # skip ahead... match anything \( # find a literal left parenthesis (\d+) # followed by a number... save this in $2 / # close regexp If that is found, then print $1 and $2 (the saved username and posts respectively) with some formatting. Finding out what you're supposed to match on is usually an exercise in paging through the HTML source to a web page, and slowly building up the expression. The output is: $ perl bb1.pl mrobinson52 125 Tezz 120 newd00d 119 robnhood 111 likeitontop 84 editormatt 76 mgraham44 74 fsec 67 bizzybot 61 cjaquess 49 So, as you can see, LWP is a pretty cool module that lets you pull out the necessary data from web pages... Poke around the man pages for LWP and LWP::UserAgent, and find out what else they can do. Try writing a program to calculate your stock portfolio by sucking back quotes from the web! The Perl board is there to discuss code like this... Post your questions, or show us the cool things you can do with the LWP module: http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=290 Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit the Linux News Board at http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ---------------------- Mandrake Pulls Off IPO ---------------------- Congrats to the Linux distribution based out of France for pulling off their IPO. The stock is set to start trading tomorrow. This news item also has relevant information for those looking to add this stock to their portfolio, but read the comments first, it looks like there was a typo in the ticker symbol. http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/07/30/2348248 -------------------------------------- City of Largo Goes Live With KDE 2.1.1 -------------------------------------- The City of Largo, Florida were looking for an upgrade to their current system that is required to support 800 users and 400 thin client devices. KDE to the rescue! Not only does this announcement give some details of the system, it has some items to look out for if you're considering such a move. http://eltoday.com/article.php3?ltsn=2001-07-23-001-14-PS -------------------------------- Sparks Fly at Open Source Debate -------------------------------- What else did you think you'd get when you have Microsoft execs speaking at an open source convention? The execs were defending their position against Open Source (ooh! "Shared" source!), but the audience wasn't buying it. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5094814,00.html?chkpt=zdnnp1tp 01 ------------------------- KOffice Release Candidate ------------------------- "KOffice is an integrated office suite for KDE which utilizes open standards for component communication and component embedding. The primary goals of this release are to provide a preview of KOffice 1.1 and to involve users and developers who wish to request/implement missing features or identify problems. Code development is currently focused on stabilizing KOffice 1.1, scheduled for final release in mid-August, 2001." http://www.koffice.org/announcements/announce-1.1-rc1.phtml ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ---------------------------------- Programming, Graphics, and OS Tips ---------------------------------- This is one great site, containing links to various tutorials on everything from C programming to shell scripting, and a whole lot of tips and tricks about Linux (and other operating systems). http://www.osconfig.com/ -------- Sendmail -------- This article from Server/Workstation Expert is a great introduction to sendmail, what it is, and how it does what it does. While you're on the site, go to the main page and subscribe. It's free, and always has some interesting columns. Out of all the trade rags that I receive, this is the one I like the most. http://swexpert.com/C2/SE.C2.JUL.01.pdf ---------- SpamMaster ---------- For those getting sick of the spam in their inbox who have realized that conventional filters can't help, here is spammaster. It's a custom filter that is designed to weed out spam, and reduce the false negatives and positives associated with other filters. Some of the ideas used are quite interesting, not to mention effective. http://www.lne.com/ericm/spammaster/ --------------------- Diamond Rio and Linux --------------------- Last I checked, my Rio didn't come with Linux software, but a gadget like that won't stay unsupported for long. The developers managed to reverse engineer the communications protocol, and then write the software. Great work, guys! http://www.world.co.uk/sba/rio.htm ---------------------- The Tao of Programming ---------------------- On the lighter side of the resource section, I thought I'd share a document that I've always found both informative, and entertaining. The Tao of Programming explains how programmers and management should interact and work. http://epims.gsfc.nasa.gov/tao.html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ Need some fax software for Unix that's network aware, and has Windows, Unix, and Mac clients (don't forget the web and email use either)? Hylafax is the answer. Do yourself a favor and RTFM when you install this... It's not hard, but there are several important steps that can be easily missed. http://www.hylafax.org ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Aug 9 11:25:33 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com (list.freetechmail.org [206.112.74.59]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f79GPXx23322 for ; Thu, 9 Aug 2001 11:25:33 -0500 X-Mailer: ListManager Web Interface Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2001 11:47:43 -0400 Subject: Supporting True Type Fonts To: sean@ertw.com From: "BrainBuzz.com" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 42 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, August 9, 2001 Read By 7,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Dell takes Linux off the Desktop Menu Observations on Mandrake and XP Linux Financial Software Open-source Brouhaha: Missing the point 3) Linux Resources Crash Recovery Webifying Snort Auto Console Login Build Your Own Firewall Online Do You Dream in Code? 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tired of looking everywhere for newsletters with the technical information you need? FreeTechMail.org can help. It has the largest network of high quality opt-in newsletters on the Net. FreeTechMail's search engine enables you to find all the newsletters to keep you at the forefront of the IT industry. Subscribe to your IT newsletters today at: http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1703 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ If there is one place where Windows absolutely kills Linux, it is the handling of fonts. Traditionally, X11 uses a different type of font than Windows, known as a bitmap font. Bitmap fonts don't scale well because they're essentially pictures. They'll end up jagged and hard to read, because the system is essentially taking out or making up information when it scales the font. Contrast this to a vector style font like True Type, where fonts are represented as a series of curves which can be scaled at will. X, by default, will support similar fonts called Type 1 fonts, but when is the last time you saw that cool font you wanted in Type 1 format? No, it's True Type or bust. Luckily, X can be coerced into supporting TT fonts. Most distributions even support it out of the box, if you know what to do. The solution is through the use of the the font server (XFree86 4 supports TT fonts in the XServer itself, but your distribution is probably going to give you the font server anyway, so may as well use it.) The font server, xfs, allows you to consolidate fonts on one server and have many clients access it at the same time. You can see the advantages to this in a large environment! The first thing to do is to make a directory for all your fonts: # mkdir /usr/share/fonts/TrueType If you're on a single user system, it'll be easier down the road if you change the ownership to yourself: # chown sean /usr/share/fonts/TrueType Now, tell xfs where to look. On Redhat systems, /etc/X11/fs/ config is the file, Debian uses /etc/X11/xfs/config. There's not too much to this file, look for the line starting with "catalogue=". Add in the directory above, making sure that you add a comma in the appropriate part. This list of directories tells xfs where to find all the fonts. Restart xfs to make it pick up that change. That's it for the one time configurations. Whenever you want to add fonts: 1) Copy them to the True Type directory 2) Rebuild the font maps. From the directory, # ttmkftdir -o fonts.scale # mkfontdir 3) Reload the xfs font database by restarting the daemon There, that wasn't so bad, was it? Step 2 can be done as the logged in user, assuming that you gave appropriate permissions above. Otherwise, do it as root. To restart xfs, though, you'll need root access. Now that you've got True Type fonts installed, you can use them in most X applications. StarOffice and Applixware are special cases, unfortunately, but the Font-HOWTO explains the next steps: http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/docs/howto/Font-HOWTO Most importantly, Netscape will pick up on your fonts. Some websites still won't look right--the best way to fix that is to go into Edit -> Preferences, select Appearance->Fonts, and play with the "Sometimes a document will provide its own fonts" options. While you're there, you can specify something nicer for the default fonts. Enjoy the fonts. Not only does it let you do some cooler graphics work, but they tend to be a lot easier on the eyes. Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit the Linux News Board at http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ------------------------------------- Dell takes Linux off the Desktop Menu ------------------------------------- Dell, once a champion of Linux, has decided that the demand isn't there yet to keep them shipping Linux on PCs. You can still get it on servers, but the drop of the desktop line is quite a blow. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-6757216.html? ------------------------------- Observations on Mandrake and XP ------------------------------- While a lot of people like to point out the differences between Microsoft operating systems and Linux, there are still a lot of similarities. This review of XP and Mandrake draws some parallels between the two, showing that the GUIs in Linux are really starting to take shape. http://www.systemlogic.net/agurusworld/19/ ------------------------ Linux Financial Software ------------------------ One of the uses of my computer is keeping track of my expenses, paying bills, and watching my portfolio nosedive. There is a lot of software out there written to do this, even for Linux. Both commercial and free software are included in this article, and it's broken down by functionality to help you find what you want. http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/269/ --------------------------------------- Open-source Brouhaha: Missing the point --------------------------------------- This is a well written (and interesting) opinion piece that takes the middle ground of the whole "Open vs Closed source". Some real world examples, such as HP, are even cited as people who have already seen the benefits. http://www.zdnet.com/enterprise/stories/main/0,10228,2798014,00.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ -------------- Crash Recovery -------------- A hard disk failure doesn't always have to mean the whole unit dies at once. Instead, you'll probably start to see errors in places that were working fine before, and maybe hear some funny noises. The author of this article noticed these, and decided it was time to get the data off before it was lost for good. Depending on what's broken, it may not be as easy as you'd think. This article outlines some innovative data restoration ideas. http://www.linux.com/enhance/newsitem.phtml?sid=1&aid=12488 --------------- Webifying Snort --------------- Snort is an open source Intrusion Detection System (IDS) that offers a load of features. Unfortunately, you're on your own to choose a package to do the reporting. Though quite Solaris- specific, this article details the procedure to get Snort logging to a database, and use some of the web-based utilities to do monitoring. http://www.elementkjournals.com/sun/0109/sun0191.htm ------------------- Auto Console Login ------------------- If you're the only user on your Linux box, it might be handy to be logged in automatically on some of the virtual consoles. Through the use of "qlogin", you can do this. Even if this idea doesn't appeal, read the article anyway, it's got a great explanation of terminals, gettys, and the init process, not to mention some great uses of this technique. http://linuxgazette.com/issue69/henderson.html ------------------------------ Build Your Own Firewall Online ------------------------------ If you're looking for an easy way to write firewall rules, this page may be for you. By following the prompts in the web pages, you'll get a complete list of rules. Unfortunately, it hasn't been updated for iptables, but ipchains, ipfwadm, and ipfw (BSD) rules are supported. http://www.linux-firewall-tools.com/linux/firewall/index.html --------------------- Do You Dream in Code? --------------------- While not strictly a Linux thing, I thought this web development site would be appreciated by the readers of this newsletter. Dream In Code has some great news and tutorials for web developers and programmers. http://www.dreamincode.net/ ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ I'm sure you've heard about the Code Red viruses that are running around the net, infecting Microsoft IIS servers. If you've looked in your Apache log files (and are connected to the Internet of course), you might see some attempts on your machine. This script analyzes your Apache logs, and gives a very detailed report on who has attacked, and what version of CodeRed they are infected with. http://www.kryptolus.com/red8.txt ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Aug 16 14:04:51 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com (list.freetechmail.org [206.112.74.59]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f7GJ4ox18651 for ; Thu, 16 Aug 2001 14:04:50 -0500 X-Mailer: ListManager Web Interface Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 13:52:43 -0400 Subject: Keeping Time With NTP To: sean@ertw.com From: "BrainBuzz.com" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 43 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, August 16, 2001 Read By 7,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Happy Birthday, Linux More on Largo KDE 2.2 is Released 2.4.8 Released 3) Linux Resources What is Cygwin? TrinityOS Serial Console HOWTO Mandrake Campus Learning with NMAP 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We GUARANTEE you will pass your exam or you get your money back! Win2K Titles Only $99.95 each -- Normally $149.95 Win2K Accelerated Exam Only $169.95 ------ Normally $349.95 A+ Core & Elective Only $99.95 ------- Normally $249.95 INET+ or Network+ Only $79.95 each -- Normally $149.95 Cisco 2.0 titles Only $149.95 each - Normally $249.95 Add our Audio Quizzer for only $19.95 for each cassette or CD. CALL (800) 845-8569 FOR MORE INFORMATION OR VISIT US AT http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1170 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ "A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure." -- Segal's Law If you've operated more than a couple of computers together, you know how true this can be. Keeping clocks synchronized between multiple computers is a nightmare. Windows folks have their "net time" command, which doesn't offer too much accuracy, but is better than nothing. Enter the network time protocol (NTP). NTP allows a client to grab the current time from the server over a network. The protocol is even designed to take into account network latency, local clock drift, and several other factors such as two servers giving two separate times. Rather than having everyone get their time from one server, NTP assigns a "stratum" to each server, and allows servers to query each other. A stratum 1 server gets its time directly from an official time source, usually by GPS. A stratum 2 server gets its time from a stratum 1 server via NTP. A stratum 3 server gets its time from a stratum 2 server, and so on. Most of us will want to get our times from a stratum 2 or 3 server, since the time difference is almost insignificant. (It's also said that if you need that kind of accuracy, you're better off getting a GPS receiver and becoming a stratum 1 yourself) Installation of NTP is straightforward. Grab the latest sources from www.ntp.org. Unpack the distribution: # tar -xzf ntp-4.x.x.tar.gz # cd ntp-4.x.x # ./configure ... # make ... # make install It'll install a few binaries, by default in /usr/local/bin. "ntpd" and "ntpdate" are the most important ones. ntpdate sets your local clock to the time on a specified server. ntpd is a daemon that periodically checks ntp sources and adjusts your clock. Note that ntpdate will do an abrupt change, while ntpd will slowly migrate your time to the correct time. However, if you're too far off (1,000 seconds), ntpd will refuse to run. This is why I generally execute "ntpdate" before "ntpd" in my startup scripts. The next step is to find yourself a time server or two (or three, but no more than three for now). http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/ntp/clock2.htm has a list of publicly available servers running at stratum 2. Take note! Some request that you either email a notification, or ask permission, before using. Please respect the server's wishes. For now, I'm going to select numbers 19 and 20, the Canadian National Research Council and University of Regina respectively. They're both relatively close to me, so they'll make great servers. /etc/ntp.conf is the default configuration file. We're going to do the easiest config possible, allowing our computer to be both an NTP client and server: server time.nrc.ca server timelord.uregina.ca driftfile /etc/ntp.drift Servers are specified with the "server" command, and the "driftfile" tells ntpd where it can keep track of clock drift. Once that's done, fire up ntpd. It'll fork off to the background, so it's safe to put in startup scripts: # ntpd And, /var/log/messages should see: ntpd[17161]: ntpd 4.0.99k23 Tue Aug 7 21:30:12 CDT 2001 (1) ntpd[17161]: precision = 20 usec ntpd[17161]: kernel time discipline status 0040 ntpd[17161]: frequency initialized -73.714 from /etc/ntp.drift I also set my clock back a day to show what happens: ntpd[17161]: time error 132771 over 1000 seconds; set clock manually And ntp dies. The solution is to ntpdate your system first: # ntpdate time.nrc.ca 15 Aug 14:06:47 ntpdate[17232]: step time server 132.246.168.164 offset 132770.937557 sec Once your primary computer is set up to get time, you can use the same technique for other machines under your control. This time, though, specify your own server as the server. For those looking to add Windows machines into the mix, I have had good luck with a program called "Tardis". You can read more about the system that keeps the master clock, and how it all works, at: http://tycho.usno.navy.mil Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit the Linux News Board at http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ --------------------- Happy Birthday, Linux --------------------- August 25th marks the 10th birthday of Linux. There are celebrations all over the world, so check this site out to see if there is one in your area! http://www.linux10.org/ ------------- More on Largo ------------- A while ago I gave you a link about the City of Largo, who had converted to thin clients using KDE on a Red Hat server. This story was written by someone who visited the place, and talked to some of the users about their experiences. http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/08/10/1441239 ------------------- KDE 2.2 is Released ------------------- All you KDE fans out there, it's time to upgrade. 2.2 promises more stability, increased speed, improvements to Konqueror, and a lot of new features. http://www.kde.org/announcements/announce-2.2.html -------------- 2.4.8 Released -------------- So much for the pace of upgrades slowing down-- 2.4.8 is out. Luckily, there don't appear to be any changes that necessitate an immediate upgrade. http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/ChangeLog-2.4.8 ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ --------------- What is Cygwin? --------------- The answer to this, and many other questions, can be found in the Cygwin FAQ. Cygwin is a project that ports development tools from Unix to Windows. It's written such that many Unix applications will compile directly on Windows. Even if you don't need that, it provides the familiar shells and utilities to the Windows environment. http://cygwin.com/faq/faq_toc.html --------- TrinityOS --------- The TrinityOS Documentation is a step-by-step set of instructions for building a secure Linux box. Most services you'd need on a gateway are here, and the instructions are easy to follow. http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~dranch/LINUX/index-linux.html -------------------- Serial Console HOWTO -------------------- Running a Linux box "headless" (i.e. no keyboard or video) is a great way to save space and money. There may be occasions where you need console access to a box, and having to lug in a monitor is not desired. Like other UNIXes, Linux can have a serial port act as the console port, so you can get access to the box right from the LILO prompt. http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Remote-Serial-Console-HOWTO/ ------------------- Mandrake Campus ------------------- The Mandrake campus offers free online training, on topics from basic tools to server services. It's well done, easy to navigate, and best of all, free! http://www.mandrakecampus.com/ ------------------- Learning with NMAP ------------------- Not only does this tutorial show you how to scan your network with NMAP, it shows you what's under the hood, to help you understand how TCP works and to see when your network is being scanned. An excellent article on a utility that should be in every administrator's toolbox. http://linuxfocus.org/English/July2001/article170.shtml ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ This week's application, coinciding with the release of KDE 2.2, is KDevelop, an integrated development environment (IDE) for coders. Don't let the 'K' fool you, this baby has wizards for both Qt and GNOME applications, not to mention regular C/C++ programming. http://www.kdevelop.org/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Aug 23 12:38:59 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com (list.freetechmail.org [206.112.74.59]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f7NHcwR22039 for ; Thu, 23 Aug 2001 12:38:59 -0500 X-Mailer: ListManager Web Interface Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 11:38:06 -0400 Subject: Spin Your 'Top' To: sean@ertw.com From: "BrainBuzz.com" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 44 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, August 23, 2001 Read By 7,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News RSA's Official Guide to Cryptography Mandrake 8.1 Beta Available I Can't Believe It's Not Linux! Red Hat Stands Behind ext3 3) Linux Resources The Linux Cookbook Some Tips and Tricks for Samba NIST Special Publication on Intrusion Detection Systems RHCE Essentials Various Handy Commands 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Overview of Java 2 for $9.95 plus shipping and handling. Save $95 and learn the skills you need for today's demanding job market. Save yourself Time and Money by having the training you need at your fingertips. http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=3772 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ So, everything's been running fine on your web server ever since you converted it to Linux. You locked it down, verified it, and now stuff like Code Red doesn't worry you. Suddenly, your daydream of how you'll spend your raise is interrupted by the phone ringing! It appears your company's web site is responding very slowly! You log in, sure enough, everything is slow. What's causing it? Too many hits? Evil crackers? How do you fix it? More RAM? Extra CPUs? Maybe move the database off to a separate server? Your first indication of how your server is running is the Load Average. The quickest way to get this is through the "w" or "uptime" commands. The load average is returned as three numbers: load average: 0.13, 0.12, 0.09 These numbers represent the average number of processes in the run queue over 1, 5, and 15 minutes respectively. The run queue contains all the processes that are waiting for the CPU...that is, they aren't waiting on IO, and haven't been suspended. In the case above, the numbers are very low, and fairly consistent across the three time periods. The latter indicates a level load, i.e. there were no bursts. If you had a 15 in the first column, but 0.10 in the other two, you're either temporarily loaded, or just starting into some heavy processing. On a system with one CPU, anything above one would mean that processes are contending for the CPU. This isn't a bad thing, things will just be slower. Obscene numbers like 20 are usually a sign that things have run away. Check your process listing (ps -ef) for processes you don't expect, such as 100 odd sendmail processes. On a system that normally sits at, say, 0.20 across the board, but is at 1.20, check for a process that is spinning, or otherwise taking more than its fair share of CPU. To do that, we'll look at the "top" program. Top, as its name implies, shows the most intensive processes. You'll see some status information first: 7:42pm up 18 days, 1:16, 3 users, load average: 1.10, 1.08, 1.08 98 processes: 95 sleeping, 3 running, 0 zombie, 0 stopped CPU states: 99.6% user, 1.1% system, 0.0% nice, 0.0% idle Mem: 384392K av, 351296K used, 33096K free, 0K shrd, 87940K buff Swap: 0K av, 0K used, 0K free 165224K cached We'll read more into this another day, but for now, notice the consistent load average of around 1.10. Look at the CPU state line -- 98.8% user load, so it's going to be user process as opposed to the kernel. Skipping down to the list of processes: PID USER PRI NI SIZE RSS SHARE STAT %CPU %MEM TIME COMMAND 28598 root 19 0 304 304 248 R 99.4 0.0 346:24 cpusucker There we are -- that "cpusucker" process has been hogging the CPU! Take a peek at the "time" column, it's been going for a while. This time represents the seconds of CPU usage that the process has soaked up. A process that spends most of its time on the CPU will thus have a high time. Processes like these are rare, most programs do a lot of IO. Examples of heavy CPU using programs would be SETI, raytracers, and password crackers. After killing off PID 28598, your system returns to normal, and everyone is happy. The next thing you do is find out what that process was, and plan your resources around it. On a web server, this could be a sign of some sloppy coding in a CGI. This time, we were lucky and it was an easily spottable CPU hog. Next week, we'll look at how to check on the status of memory and other resources. A final note about the load average -- It's a good indicator, but it doesn't tell the whole story. You can have a busy system with a low load, or an idle system with a high load. More often than not, though, a high load is a sign of some trouble. Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit the Linux News Board at http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ------------------------------------ RSA's Official Guide to Cryptography ------------------------------------ Yep, it's by the same guys that made the algorithms that protect your e-commerce transactions. This book provides a great introduction to cryptography and its applications, without getting into the math. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU1390 --------------------------- Mandrake 8.1 Beta Available --------------------------- Looking at the software list, this thing is still smoking hot! KDE 2.2, GNOME 1.4, Kernel 2.4.8 with ReiserFS, JFS, and ext3 as options right out of the install, not to mention a bunch of updates to the tools. http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/test81beta1.php3 ------------------------------- I Can't Believe It's Not Linux! ------------------------------- Caldera, who makes a Linux distribution, bought SCO, who has its own version of UNIX (Unixware) for Intel. Then it announces that it's added support for Linux binaries to Unixware, and that it's going to come bundled with the "Linux Environment". So is it Linux? Or isn't it? How is this different from FreeBSD or Solaris? http://www.sco.com/press/releases/2000/6948.html -------------------------- Red Hat Stands Behind ext3 -------------------------- This one was a surprise to me...Red Hat is going to push the ext3 filesystem. Like ReiserFS, it's journalled, but according to this story, it has a lot of added features. http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-08-22-004-20-NW-RH ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ------------------ The Linux Cookbook ------------------ This book is made for people who use Linux for their everyday work, and want to know how to get the job done. Lots of examples and clear organization make this one a winner. You can even read the book online, but this is one you'll want in dead tree format. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU1416 ------------------------------ Some Tips and Tricks for Samba ------------------------------ This site provides some handy tips for working with Samba, the daemon that emulates Windows filesharing. Examples include policies and profiles, and how to increase speed. http://www.patoche.org/LTT/samba/ ------------------------------------------------------- NIST Special Publication on Intrusion Detection Systems ------------------------------------------------------- The US National Institute of Standards and Technology wrote a paper on the proper use of Intrusion Detection Systems, which was converted to HTML and mirrored on cryptome.org. It is a very complete paper, covering network, host, and application IDS. http://cryptome.org/sp800-31.htm --------------- RHCE Essentials --------------- The Red Hat Certified Expert certification combines both written and practical tests, and successful candidates must have a mastery of Linux in order to pass. This article chronicles one person's trip through the program, and offers some insight for those looking to make it themselves. http://certcities.com/editorial/exams/story.asp?EditorialsID=21 ---------------------- Various Handy Commands ---------------------- This collection of tips shows the use of strace, od, and even some parts of ls that I'll bet you didn't know about. There are even some commands to help you find who's hogging all your disk space! http://www.linuxlookup.com/html/totw/2001/july.html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ Thought switches protect from sniffing? Think again. Dsniff is a tool for network security auditing. It does some really interesting things with your network, such as impersonating the gateway. It's also a great tool for learning about how the lower levels of the network work. http://www.monkey.org/~dugsong/dsniff/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Aug 30 16:44:18 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com (list.freetechmail.org [206.112.74.59] (may be forged)) by gateway.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f7ULiHR29072 for ; Thu, 30 Aug 2001 16:44:17 -0500 X-Mailer: ListManager Web Interface Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2001 16:02:56 -0400 Subject: Rooting Out Memory Hogs To: sean@ertw.com From: "BrainBuzz.com" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 45 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, August 30, 2001 Read By 7,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Review of Checkpoint FW-1 on Linux KOffice Rolls Out Spot the Bugs, Win Some Loot Corel to Sell Linux Operating System Unit 3) Linux Resources How to create a Linux-based network of computers for peanuts How to View MSWord Documents in Linux UNIXHelp for Users Free SuSE CD Minimal Perl 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Overview of Java 2 for $9.95 plus shipping and handling. Save $95 and learn the skills you need for today's demanding job market. Save yourself Time and Money by having the training you need at your fingertips. http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=3824 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ Last week we took a look at the Load Average and the top utility as a way to spot CPU hogs. http://www.ertw.com/~sean/newsletter/August+23%2C+2001 This week, it's time to look at the memory situation. A quick snapshot can be called up with the "free" command. I've used -m to report in megabytes, and trimmed some uninteresting data to make it fit. # free -m total used free buffers cached Mem: 139 131 8 2 74 -/+ buffers/cache: 55 84 Swap: 133 26 106 The first line deals in physical memory. There is 139M of memory in this system, and 131M are used, leaving 8M free. Is this system starved for memory? No -- the answer lies in the the last two columns. 2M is taken up for disk buffers, and the OS has cached 74M of data in memory. These last two figures are dynamic, in that Linux will take memory away from them when applications need it. This way, all the memory is put to use in some form or another. The answer to "how much memory are my applications using" is found in line two. It gives the used/free figures without the buffers and cache calculations. So, I'm using 55M of memory (131-2-74), and 84M is free (8+2+74). Line three deals with swap. Swap is memory that has been temporarily stored on disk to free it up for other uses. Here, I've got 133M of swap, and am using 26M. Even though memory is free, the operating system will keep a certain amount of swap in use, such as memory that hasn't been touched in a long time, and some space just to keep track of the swap itself. Two big indicators of a memory problem will be the free RAM not including buffers (84M) getting low, and the used swap space (26M) getting high. Once you start digging into swap, your performance will suffer. You'll also be able to hear the drives churning (if the machine is close). The quickest way to find out who's taking up all that memory is, again, with top. Fire up top # top Then, tell it to sort by memory usage with the capital M key. PID USER PRI NI SIZE RSS SHARE %MEM TIME COMMAND 16765 fred 14 0 190M 98M 64 70.7 0:11 memsucker here, you can see that a process called memsucker is taking up 70.7% of the memory... The size column says that 190M have been allocated to this process. Some applications leak memory, ie they allocate it, but never free it. These programs will benefit from being killed and restarted every so often. Some applications are naturally memory intensive, in which case you may want to temporarily increase the size of the swap for the duration of the job. If it is a process that runs often, such as a database, you'll want to look at increasing the size of physical RAM, or getting other apps off that box. Keeping on top of the memory situation is critical to the smooth functioning of your machines. Get a feel for what gets used in normal operation so that you know when it's time to add some more RAM or take other action. Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ---------------------------------- Review of Checkpoint FW-1 on Linux ---------------------------------- "Check Point FireWall-1 is the 800-pound gorilla of the commercial firewall industry. Check Point Software Technologies has ported its popular, sophisticated and relatively easy-to-administer firewall to the Linux platform. FireWall-1 is further enhanced with integrated VPN functionality that's easy to deploy and manage. Such integration sets Check Point apart from both commercial Linux firewall suites and open source security alternatives." http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2806277,00.html ----------------- KOffice Rolls Out ----------------- Congrats to the KDE crew on releasing KOffice 1.1. It's a free integrated office suite, including a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation package, and more! Kivio, the Visio-like tool, looks especially interesting. http://dot.kde.org/999051134/ ---------------------------- Spot the Bugs, Win Some Loot ---------------------------- Ximian, packager of all things GNOME, are nearing completion of the Evolution mail reader. They're asking for your help in finding bugs, prizes range from $100 to a Palm V. There are different categories, so even if you only submit one bug, you could still be a winner! http://www.ximian.com/devzone/projects/evolution-devel.html ----------------------------------------- Corel to Sell Linux Operating System Unit ----------------------------------------- Xandros Corp has bought Corel's Linux division for around $2M US, and 5% stake in the company. I wish Xandros more luck than befell Corel... It's a tough market, and people are already well established. http://www.canoe.ca/MoneyNewsTechnology/aug29_corellinux-cp.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ------------------------------------------------------------ How to create a Linux-based network of computers for peanuts ------------------------------------------------------------ So, you know that an old computer can be revitalized with Linux. But just how old can that box be? For how cheap can you build a reliable network? You'd be surprised! This article is the first part in a series that looks at how to set up a complete network of old computers, but still have the performance of a new machine. http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2001/0823.xterminal.html ------------------------------------- How to View MSWord Documents in Linux ------------------------------------- Whenever someone emails me a .doc file, I have to fire up Star Office to read it. Kind of a pain; I'd prefer something smaller that I can tell PINE to associate with .DOC and save a lot of time. Luckily, I was able to find some good alternatives here. http://www.varlinux.org/article.php?sid=312 ------------------ UNIXHelp for Users ------------------ Courtesy of the University of Edinburgh, this link has helpful advice on how to perform tasks from email to shell commands. It even has tables to help those converting from DOS and VMS! http://www.dorsai.org/help/unix/UNIXhelp/index.html ------------ Free SuSE CD ------------ Grab yourself a free SuSE evaluation CD! Just tell them where to ship it, and wait by your mailbox. http://www.suse.com/cgi-bin/free_eval.pl ------------ Minimal Perl ------------ So, you think you want to learn Perl, but the learning curve is intimidating. The "Minimal Perl" approach teaches a subset of Perl that is designed to get the job done, rather than cutting elegant code. Once you figure all that out, you can get into the more esoteric parts of the language, or just stop there. This link points to a slideshow -- it's a gzipped postscript document, so after downloading it, gunzip it, then use "gv" to view it. http://www.consultix-inc.com/downloads/minperl_1a.ps.gz ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ H.323 is a standard used in voice and video conferencing systems such as VOIP. The Open H.323 project was formed to create an H.323 stack for Linux. Along with the main project are side projects to create gatekeepers and clients. http://www.openh323.org/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@poochie.ertw.com Thu Sep 6 15:09:04 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com (list.brainbuzz.com [206.112.74.59]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f86K93R31882 for ; Thu, 6 Sep 2001 15:09:04 -0500 X-Mailer: ListManager Web Interface Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2001 15:44:50 -0400 Subject: Party Like It's 999,999,999 To: sean@ertw.com From: "BrainBuzz.com" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 46 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, September 6, 2001 Read By 7,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Party Like It's 999,999,999 SUN to Break Mold on Star Office RHCE Exam Discount Is Linux good for UNIX? 3) Linux Resources Linux and UNIX, Together? Forgot your root Password? PostgreSQL vs. MySQL Demand for Security Administrators on the Rise Only 72 Hours? 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gain study time and enhance your learning! Hear hundreds of certification exam questions on audio CD or cassettes. Learn while you commute to and from work, exercise, or walk the dog. Ideal for those times when you can't read. 90-day money back guarantee if you are not happy. http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=2547 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ A common question I hear is, "Do I want to learn Linux or UNIX?" To answer that, it would be a good idea to define UNIX, and take a bit of time to examine its past. Don't worry, this history lesson will be entertaining. UNIX started out as a pet project of a couple of fellows by the names of Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie. You see, they got their hands on a PDP-7 (from DEC), and Ken wanted to play a game that existed on an operating system called Multics. Being the OS hacker he was, he wrote a small kernel for the machine that would allow him to run the game. Later on, he and Ritchie got a PDP-11, and wanted to port their work from the PDP-7. Alas, his work was all in assembly, so it wouldn't move over. Thompson, Ritchie, and a chap named Brian Kernighan decided the best way to attack the problem was to develop a high level language that could be compiled to any architecture. Thus, C was born by Ritchie and Kernighan (otherwise known as K&R C), and Thompson was able to rewrite his operating system using this language, allowing it to work on both the PDP 7 and 11 (and to be easily ported in the future). In most respects, this is when UNIX was born. AT&T, the employer of these hackers, was in a situation where it wasn't allowed to make money off of it. So, it was licensed very cheaply to universities, who really took a shining to this operating system. Soon, courses were offered using UNIX as the backdrop, with books being published with the source code and commentary. "Stop the presses!" said AT&T in the mid '70's. "It may be cheap, but it's still our licensed code!". This action only served to drive UNIX development underground, and to promote the hackish spirit that exists even today. Around this time, Berkeley University had made many extensions to the operating system, including TCP/IP sockets and signals. This spawned more legal wrangling, ending up in a Berkeley derived version of UNIX known as the Berkeley Systems Distribution, or BSD. So, at this point in time, we've got a couple different strains of UNIX with multiple paths ("flavors"), hackers developing like crazy, and lawyers suing anyone they can lay their hands on. The network that would later become the Internet was hitting Universities, and UNIX made a great server. Around 1991, AT&T spins off a company called "Unix Systems Laboratories", which owns the UNIX trademark. 1993 comes, and the rights to UNIX are sold to Novell. Novell turns around and transfers them to X/Open. Some time later, they get moved off to SCO. Quite recently, Caldera and SCO merge. X/Open is a group created to standardize APIs and such, and to protect the UNIX trademark. They are the ones that define what can be called UNIX (TM), and drive development of newer standards. Because of this standardization, most software can be easily ported between various flavors. At the moment, the following mainstream UNIX-like operating systems are registered as UNIX (TM): * SUN Solaris * HP-UX * IBM AIX * SCO Unixware (from Novell) * SGI IRIX * Digital UNIX/OSF/Tru64 UNIX (this one has gone through many name changes) What does it mean? Practically, it means that the companies have paid a whack of cash to have it certified that their work adheres to the standards put out by X/Open (who are now called "The Open Group"). Yep, you'll notice Linux isn't on that list, nor are the BSDs. What's stopping them from being called "UNIX (TM)"? Not much. Most of the development is geared around all the appropriate standards anyway, so all it would really take would be that whack of cash. Does it matter? Not really. Will it ever happen? Maybe. Linux and the BSDs have succeeded on their own merits thus far, being able to legally call them UNIX (TM) probably won't help. However, with the merger of Caldera and SCO, the coin is still in the air. So now you know what UNIX (TM) is, and how it differs from Linux. Which should you learn? It really doesn't matter. Unless you have a strong preference, or immediate need to learn a different flavor such as Solaris, Linux provides a good foundation for further UNIX knowledge. Through my experience, I've noted that: - 60% of what you need to know is common to all UNIX-like OSes. - 15% is the same, it's just called something different or is in a different location. - 25% is specific to the flavor, such as administration tools or hardware Not only does Linux run on cheap hardware, there are tons of people that can help you out. Besides, this is a Linux newsletter. I'd probably get fired if I told you to run Solaris. Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Learn more about the history: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/levenez/unix/ http://www.crackmonkey.org/unix.html http://www.unix-systems.org ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ --------------------------- Party Like It's 999,999,999 --------------------------- UNIX keeps time by counting the number of seconds since January 1, 1970, the date otherwise known as "epoch". On September 9 at 01:46:39 UTC, this number will hit 1,000,000,000, which by most people's reckoning would make UNIX one billion seconds old. http://www.electromagnetic.net/press-releases/unixonebln.php -------------------------------- SUN to Break Mold on Star Office -------------------------------- If you, like myself, run Star Office, you're probably annoyed at the way it takes over your desktop. It isn't the speediest thing going either, no matter how much RAM I throw at it, I'm always waiting for it to load libraries from disk. 6.0 promises to lighten it up a bit and move everything to its own window. Preview releases are available, the link is in the article. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2809857,00.html ------------------ RHCE Exam Discount ------------------ The Red Hat Certified Expert is a hands on exam that tests for proficiency in Red Hat Linux. Red Hat strongly encourages people to take one of their various courses before attempting the exam, going so far as to offer different packages for people with different skill levels. If you take one of their courses in September, and pass the exam before the end of October, they'll pay you back for the cost of the exam. I'm confused as to why the refund amount is different depending on which course you took, given that the exam is the same, but hey -- a freebie is a freebie. http://www.redhat.com/mktg/youpass_wepay.html ----------------------- Is Linux good for UNIX? ----------------------- This article by SUN Microsystems examines the impact of Linux on UNIX, and if SUN considers Linux to be a friend or foe. Linux drove SUN to give away non-commercial licenses of Solaris 8, so you know it weighs heavily in their plans. http://www.sun.com/software/cover/2001-0829/ ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ------------------------- Linux and UNIX, together? ------------------------- Yes, I know I just finished an article saying I didn't think they'd come together, but this free whitepaper discusses their vision of unification -- a UNIX kernel (SCO) with Linux utilities. That doesn't count in my books, but it's still worth a read. http://www.caldera.com/expertise6/ -------------------------- Forgot your root Password? -------------------------- It happens to the best of us: maybe we inherited a machine, or just plain forgot, but we can't log in as root. Here's the quick way to get back in, and also how to lock down the console so that bad guys can't use the trick. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU608 ------------------- PostgreSQL vs MySQL ------------------- Two of the more popular free SQL database platforms out there are PostgreSQL and MySQL. Each has their advantages over the other, and this article points them out. http://www.webtechniques.com/archives/2001/09/jepson/ ---------------------------------------------- Demand for Security Administrators on the Rise ---------------------------------------------- Security can be a challenging job, though it is stressful. Even with the slowdown in IT jobs, the security industry is still steaming ahead. If you're looking for that next step in your career, this may be it. http://www.itworld.com/nl/it_career_adv/08272001/ ------------------- Only 72 Hours? ------------------- The Honeynet project monitors machines in order to determine the tactics used by hackers to break in. They also publish a monthly challenge, inviting you to try your hand at figuring out what the hacker was doing. This one is worth noting, though, if only for the comment in the introduction "The expected life expectancy of a default RedHat 6.2 server is less then 72 hours. The last time we attempted to confirm that, the system was compromised in less then 8 hours." Ouch. Lock down those boxen! http://project.honeynet.org/scans/scan18/ ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ Stored procedures are pieces of code that can be executed within the server itself. Usually, they'll be in the form of a shared library that gets linked in at runtime, and is called via SQL commands. This nifty little application lets you run PERL code right out of the SQL server, either from a row or directly from a SQL query. http://freshmeat.net/projects/myperl/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@ertw.com Thu Sep 13 12:38:10 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com (list.brainbuzz.com [206.112.74.59]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f8DHc9R11108 for ; Thu, 13 Sep 2001 12:38:09 -0500 X-Mailer: ListManager Web Interface Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 13:27:28 -0400 Subject: Be Careful With Binaries To: sean@ertw.com From: "BrainBuzz.com" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 47 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, September 13, 2001 Read By 7,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Linux Running on Secure Cryptographic Coprocessor SuSE's President Calls it Quits Watch Out for the x.c Worm DMCA, eh? 3) Linux Resources Big Endian? Little Endian? Billion Second Bug Lots of Exploits Using the GNU Tools for Software Development UNIX and Programming Quotes 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gain study time and enhance your learning! Hear hundreds of certification exam questions on audio CD or cassettes. Learn while you commute to and from work, exercise, or walk the dog. Ideal for those times when you can't read. 90-day money back guarantee if you are not happy. http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=2547 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ I have to wonder if I'm getting lazy. When I first started out with Unix, I would download everything in source form and compile it -- no binaries. This had some advantages: - fewer conflicts - control over where files go and what options were selected - didn't have to trust an unknown binary These days, though, I find myself preferring to download an RPM package: - much easier - system keeps track of what files belong to what package - much faster, especially with multiple updates The conflicts I can deal with... Every so often, *cough* snort, gd, libc *cough* a package is dead set on a particular version of a library, so I'll download the source rpm and rebuild it on my system: rpm --rebuild package.src.rpm or even go as far as editing the .spec file to change the options before I compile. The advantage is the management you get with a packaging system. No more asking yourself what that file does, or trying to figure out how to get rid of that application that strews files all over. rpm -qf /path/to/file rpm -qil packagename How about the security aspect? With the source, I can check for naughty things. With a binary, I have to trust the guy who compiled it. Wait a sec, though... Am I going to go through every line of code looking for stuff that might do bad things? Not likely! Even then, there is no guarantee I'll find it, or that fixing it will have any effect. Take for example a classic example from Unix history. Ken Thompson, one of the creators of Unix, once inserted a bug into the login program. With a special username and password, anyone could log in as root. But with the source code to login.c, anyone could find that, fix it, and recompile it...assuming you can trust the compiler. Having also been in on the development of the compiler, he modified it so that it would recognize when it was compiling login.c, and insert the bug even if it wasn't in the source code. How about fixing the source code to the compiler? To do that, you'd need the compiler to compile the compiler source. Which had another bug in it. Guess what that did? That's right. Re-insert the compiler bugs. With that done, though, the compiler source didn't even need the bug in it. If someone recompiled it, the binary compiler would just add in the bug. Pretty clever, if you ask me, and it's a great demonstration of how the transitive aspect of trust can hurt you. He wrote it up in a paper called "Reflections on Trusting Trust", and is worth a read. http://www.acm.org/classics/sep95/ There's also no guarantee the source hasn't been tampered with by crackers. For a very brief period of time, the main distribution site of the TCP Wrappers was hacked, and a trojan inserted into the source. But, "since I can't trust anyone, I'll do what's easiest" won't fly in my books. When downloading binaries, I try to get them from larger sites, so anything funny will have a greater chance of being noticed. Depending on the program, taking some extra precautions such as running it as its own user, or using the strace program to watch it may be warranted. If you do download stuff from questionable sources (and some good programs have come from them), you may want to grab the source and give it a quick scan. Look for "printf" strings, if you see something like printf("I own your system!!!\n"); that's a bad thing. Strings like "unlink" (remove files), "sendmail" and "mail" (trying to mail out password files), and such should be setting off warning bells. Also, no matter what, I always look at shell scripts that are provided by source or binary packages. Not only is it the easiest place to put a trojan, it's also a good way to figure out where all the files are going to be installed. So, maybe I'm not lazy, I'm just...efficient. Binary packages offer package management and are much easier. Source packages require extra work to compile, even more to put under package management, but offer more flexibility. Before I sign off, I would like to send my condolences to those who suffered the loss of loved ones in Tuesday's disasters, and to wish the best to those who are working at repairing the damage and finding answers. Long live the Penguin, Sean mailto:swalberg@brainbuzz.com Visit the Linux News Board at http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbt.asp?b=962 ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ------------------------------------------------- Linux Running on Secure Cryptographic Coprocessor ------------------------------------------------- Small, isolated devices are nothing new to Linux. IBM has a coprocessor called the 4758, which is a tamper sensing secure processor designed for high security devices. Usually used with a proprietary operating system, IBM hacked Linux to run on it, giving developers a new target and getting more features out of the device itself. http://researchweb.watson.ibm.com/resources/news/20010828_mycroft.shtml ------------------------------- SuSE's President Calls it Quits ------------------------------- SuSE, a German based distribution, has garnered a lot of support from the community, likely due to its ease of use and powerful add-on tools. This press release announces the stepping down of the President, and calls for a positive outlook on the future. http://www.suse.com/us/suse/news/PressReleases/hohndel.html -------------------------- Watch Out for the x.c Worm -------------------------- Ignoring all the "This could be the next Code Red" hype, BSD and Solaris users should take note. There was a buffer overflow in in.telnetd (the telnet daemon) which this worm takes advantage of. But you're not worried, are you? You use TCP wrappers to limit telnet access from only trusted hosts, or replace it entirely with ssh. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2811517,00.html --------- DMCA, eh? --------- You've all heard me rant about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and how it stomps on the rights of people, and can be used to attack Open Source. If you thought you were safe because you don't live in the States, think again ...Canada is looking to enact much the same legislation. http://www.eff.org/alerts/20010907_eff_canada_cpdci_alert.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ -------------------------- Big Endian? Little Endian? -------------------------- Heard the term "Endian", and didn't know what it means? Well, you're using an operating system that can run across systems of different Endian-ess, so you really want to read this article. For those that do any programming, this is an essential concept to master, since it can introduce subtle bugs if not taken care of. http://www.cs.umass.edu/~verts/cs32/endian.html ------------------- Billion Second Bug ------------------- So the Billion Second anniversary went off without a hitch ...almost. OpenLDAP's replication daemon, slurpd, decided not to store the time as an integer, and wasn't prepared for the extra digit. Tsk, tsk. The fixes are in CVS, or watch the page for a new release. http://www.openldap.org ------------------- Lots of Exploits ------------------- Interested in what tools the bad guys use to hack into systems? This page offers a well-organized list of exploits, along with the source code. Studying the code is also a good way to learn security techniques. Be careful (and lawful)! http://www.cotse.com/linux.htm -------------------------------------------- Using the GNU Tools for Software Development -------------------------------------------- As we all know, Linux uses a free compiler called GCC. You may also know about some of the other tools, like make, autoconf, automake, the debugger, and the profiler. If not, you'll find out about them in this article. http://www.linux.com/learn/newsitem.phtml?sid=1&aid=12522 --------------------------- UNIX and Programming Quotes --------------------------- This is a page chock full of good quotes from Larry Wall, alt.sysadmin.recovery, and many more popular places. Most have to do with UNIX, programming, or making fun of MS. One of my faves? "If NT is the answer, you don't understand the question." http://www.it-umschueler.de/luebeck/public/humor/quotes.htm ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ RFCs (Request For Comments) define the Internet. Need to know how a protocol works? Chances are, there are RFCs dealing with it. Rather than using a web browser, this command line utility lets you search and read RFCs from a console session, which ends up being a fair bit faster than over the web. http://www.dewn.com/rfc/ ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@ertw.com Thu Sep 20 16:12:20 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com ([206.112.74.59]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f8KLC3R28694 for ; Thu, 20 Sep 2001 16:12:18 -0500 Message-ID: From: "BrainBuzz.com" To: sean@ertw.com Subject: Understanding DNS in a Linux Environment Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 13:14:07 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "BrainBuzz.com" Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 48 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, September 20, 2001 Read By Over 7,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Hacking Linux Exposed Linux+ Exam Details Write a Game, Win the Loot IPStor package lifts storage to new capacities 3) Linux Resources But Who Will Support it? And is it Supported? Separated by a Common Operating System Mandrake Demos and Tutorials Heat Emergency 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Are You the neighborhood hero by rigging your gaming system for network play? Do you prefer dealing with computers rather than people? (they don't talk back) Always wanted to be a computer network specialist? Learn Now at the International Academy of Design & Technology, Tampa. Interested? Hit our website at http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=4010 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ Going through my list of common questions, I found a good one: "I can ping a host by IP, but not by name". Many would immediately jump to the conclusion that something must be wrong with the DNS settings, and they'd probably be right. But, where do you set up the DNS server in Linux? Before I jump into all the configuration files, some things have to be said about naming. Like Windows, DNS isn't the only way to name a computer. NIS, the Network Information Service, can be used to store the mappings, as can NIS+ (an advanced version made by SUN), text files, and many others. As with Windows, there is a pecking order of sorts: one database is consulted before another, and the searching stops once a match is found. Unlike Windows, though, it's pretty trivial to change all of this by editing one file. The C library implements a call named "gethostbyname", which is used universally in UNIX to find out the address of a machine given its name. Note that "address" can be pretty much anything -- we're not limiting ourselves to IP addresses. One of the things that gethostbyname() does is to consult a line in /etc/nsswitch.conf to find out where it should start looking. nsswitch.conf keeps a line for each of several databases, including the password file, keys, protocols, and yes, hostnames. On my system, I see a line with hosts: files nisplus dns This is processed in order. First, my system will look in a particular file. For names, it's /etc/hosts. No match? Check out NIS+. I'm not using NIS+, so it will go to DNS. If it can find a match in DNS, then great, return that. Otherwise, the host isn't found. By playing with the order, you can change the precedence of the lookups, or even remove a map entirely (i.e., you can set up your computer to only use NIS+ for, say, name resolution). Once the library has decided to use DNS, it has to know what server to use. To find this out, it consults /etc/resolv.conf. This file can further alter the behaviour several ways. Nameservers are listed with the "nameserver" keyword: nameserver 1.2.3.4 nameserver 5.6.7.8 will allow the use of two nameservers for DNS resolution. By default, they are tried in the order listed, so 5.6.7.8 will only get consulted if 1.2.3.4 times out. The "options rotate" command will allow you to round-robin between your listed nameserver. Those who have configured DNS on Windows machines will likely remember the "domain name" and "search order" options. If my domain is "example.com", it would be desirable to try to find hosts within that domain if they fail elsewhere. Thus, a query to the name "test" will first be tried as "test", and then "test.example.com". Set your default domain name with domain example.com If you would like additional domains added to this list, use the "search" keyword. (note that "domain" is a special form of "search") search example.org Thus, if "test" isn't found in example.com, it will be tried in example.org. Be careful using this, though, as it will start to generate a lot of DNS traffic as the searchlist grows. So, in quick summary, /etc/nsswitch.conf tells the system where to look for various things. If it is to look in files, /etc/hosts is where the names are kept. If it has to go to DNS, /etc/resolv.conf is consulted for more info. Solaris users should be especially wary of nsswitch.conf, as by default, DNS isn't in there (at least before Solaris 7). Either add it in, or look at the other nsswitch.* files for a template to copy over. DNS is only part of the way that the system resolves names. Understanding the whole process of resolution can help you troubleshoot. Long live the Penguin, Sean swalberg@brainbuzz.com ============================================================ 2) Linux News ============================================================ ---------------------- Hacking Linux Exposed ---------------------- This time around, I review "Hacking Linux Exposed", a comprehensive book on Linux and network security. If you're in the market for a book on security, give this one serious consideration. http://itresources.brainbuzz.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?t=S1TU1442 -------------------- Linux+ Exam Details -------------------- Many of you are familiar with the A+ exam from CompTia, along with all the other certs they offer such as Server+, Network+, and more. Did you know they offer Linux+? The beta period closed some time ago, and the exam is almost ready to go live. Brainbuzz user bcabalic dug up all the details on the format and costs in case you were wondering. http://boards.brainbuzz.com/boards/vbm.asp?m=364351 --------------------------- Write a Game, Win the Loot --------------------------- No Starch press, Loki Software, and Linux Journal bring you a contest to go with the release of their "Programming Linux Games" book (review coming soon!). The best SDL based game that fits under a Meg gets some really neat prizes, not to mention the bragging rights. There are other restrictions to encourage people to join, so give it a look! http://www.nostarch.com/?games ----------------------------------------------- IPStor package lifts storage to new capacities ----------------------------------------------- If you thought SANs (Storage Area Networks) were limited to big systems, think again. This Linux based product acts as a SAN, providing geographically disperse, redundant disk storage. The cool thing is the way that it uses drivers on the clients to map the IP address to a local SCSI device... No expensive fibre channel cards! http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,2806610,00.html ============================================================ 3) Linux Resources ============================================================ ------------------------- But Who Will Support it? ------------------------- One of the harder things to pitch to the suits is the support aspect of Linux. There are many companies that will support your developers, desktop, and servers. ZDNet was kind enough to perform a detailed review of 12 different vendors, and even give us all the data. http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0%2c14179%2c2808791-1%2c 00.html --------------------- And is it Supported? --------------------- Making sure hardware is supported by Linux can be a daunting task. The Hardware HOWTO is a comprehensive list of hardware that is supported under the standard kernel, or by third parties. It's also good in that it tells you if the driver is distributed in binary or source format. Binary is fine, but imposes difficulties when trying to change your kernel version. http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/docs/howto/Hardware-HOWTO --------------------------------------- Separated by a Common Operating System --------------------------------------- This article starts off by following the author's trial of Debian and SuSE, and ends up finding out that they're completely different. Not only are they different from each other, but also he finds that most distributions have major differences and incompatibilities. Is this a sort of accidental fragmentation? At this point, the only common thing through distributions is the kernel itself, but is this necessarily a bad thing? http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/opinions/3543/1/ ----------------------------- Mandrake Demos and Tutorials ----------------------------- Not being a Mandrake user myself, I was impressed at the depth of this part of their site. They have demos of some of their software, basic tutorials for newbies, and other highlights. If you're interested in seeing what Mandrake has to offer, but don't have the time to try an install, this is certainly be a good place to start. http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/demos/ --------------- Heat Emergency --------------- As you might have deduced from the increasing size of heatsinks and fans, CPUs these days generate a lot of heat. What would happen if the CPU overheated? Someone decided to put this to the test by removing the fan and heatsink entirely. The results were surprising, to say the least. http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/01q3/010917/index.html ============================================================ 4) App o' the week ============================================================ With the advent of Microsoft Windows 2000 brings easier access to thin clients through the use of Microsoft's RDP protocol. Access a Win2K desktop from DOS, any version of windows, and now, Linux. Nope, it's not supported by Microsoft, but finally you can connect to a Terminal Server to get at those corporate apps from your Linux box. http://www.rdesktop.org ============================================================ (C) 2001 BrainBuzz.com. All Rights Reserved. ============================================================ _______________________________________________________ This message is from BrainBuzz.com. You are currently subscribed to the Hottest Linux News and Resources as: sean@ertw.com To un-subscribe from this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:leave-linuxnews-3825955Y@list.cramsession.com ------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe to this newsletter by e-mail: send a blank email message to: mailto:join-linuxnews@list.brainbuzz.com _______________________________________________________ From sean@ertw.com Thu Sep 27 11:43:34 2001 -0500 Received: from list.brainbuzz.com (list.brainbuzz.com [206.112.74.59]) by gateway.ertw.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with SMTP id f8RGhVq13051 for ; Thu, 27 Sep 2001 11:43:32 -0500 X-Mailer: ListManager Web Interface Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 11:57:49 -0400 Subject: NVIDIA Jumps On Linux Bandwagon To: sean@ertw.com From: CramSession List-Unsubscribe: Reply-To: "CramSession List Help" Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 49 ============================================================ LINUX NEWS RESOURCES & LINKS FROM BRAINBUZZ.COM Thursday, September 27, 2001 Read By Over 7,000 Linux Enthusiasts Weekly! ============================================================ ----------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Sean's Notes 2) Linux News Buy Two, Get One Free Review of Rune Gartner Group Reviews Red Hat Use Linux, Save a Bundle 3) Linux Resources Tricking RPM GNOME Autologin Serving Java From Linux Star Office Beta 6 Hackers Against Terrorism 4) App o' the week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADVERTISEMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We GUARANTEE you will pass your exam or you get your money back! Win2K Titles Only $99.95 each (normally $149.95) A+ Core & Elective Only $99.95 (normally $249.95) INET+ or Network+ Only $79.95 each (normally $149.95) Cisco 2.0 titles Only $149.95 each (normally $249.95) Add our Audio Quizzer for only $19.95 for each cassette or CD. CALL (800) 845-8569 FOR MORE INFORMATION OR VISIT US AT http://ad.brainbuzz.com/?RC=1006&AI=1170 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on how to advertise in this newsletter please contact mailto:adsales@BrainBuzz.com or visit http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/marketing/default.asp ============================================================ 1) Sean's Notes ============================================================ It used to be that manufacturers of computer equipment didn't care much about the Linux users. The XFree86 project had to beg and plead for specs that could be used to build accelerated X servers, and even then not all features could be used because of Non-Disclosure Agreements that limited what could be distributed in source form. Perhaps that's one reason I stuck with my Mach64 PCI card for so long. Between it and my Trident 9440, I could use X-Windows fairly effectively, though at a pretty pathetic 8 bit colour depth. Unfortunately, that gets tiresome, and after a monitor upgrade I was starting to wish I had the video hardware to drive my latest purchase. So, when I decided it was time for an upgrade, I started looking at the options, and people's experience with the card under Linux. One company that has hopped on the Linux bandwagon is NVIDIA. While XFree86 comes with an "nv" driver for NVIDIA chipsets, you can download newer drivers from NVIDIA directly: http://www.nvidia.com/?page=LINUX The drivers are distributed as a kernel module and an XFree86 driver called "nvidia". From the looks of it, they are making periodic updates to the driver, so this wasn't just a token gesture. Installation was as simple as changing Driver "nv" in /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 to Driver "nvidia" after installing the RPMs and re-running XConfigurator. The drivers are still given in binary format, which is not ideal, but is a great deal more than other people give. They've thoughtfully provided a wrapper in source code format so that people with custom kernels can still use it. (Binary distributed