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Yes they will - ive done it, it worked with Redhat 6.0 CD, but not with slackware 7.0 (But Patrick Volkerding said he had a lot of people asking about installin to a HD connected to a ata/66 port - said he had a BP6 and was toying with the idea of creating a boot disk) - anywhoo, i found out how to install redhat onto a ata/66 drive at http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/m ini/Ultra-DMA-5.html - all I have to do is pass ide2=0xd000,0xd402 to the kernel and wholla (though it probably doesnt run at full ata/66 speed) it still saves plugging the hd into an ata/33 port :)

Reading the HOWTO (the one I have printed is from 3rd Jan 2000) it does tell you how to install to slackware 3.4 (so one would assume 7.0)

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that they'll take "Mini-Howtos" written in HTML. So maybe I should've just called my stuff a "mini" and sent it in? Yeah, here's the policy from the HOWTO-HOWTO:

Also note that all HOWTO submissions must be in SGML format (currently using the LinuxDoc DTD). The mini-HOWTO submissions may be made in either SGML or HTML formats, but only SGML-formatted submissions will be included in printed versions of the HOWTOs.

It could be that this is the key development that will "lower the bar": Also from the HOWTO-HOWTO:

Programs like LyX (right now my LinuxDoc editor of choice) allow you to write in TeX format, then export it as SGML and render from SGML to whatever you chose.

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that they'll take "Mini-Howtos" written in HTML. So maybe I should've just called my stuff a "mini" and sent it in? Yeah, here's the policy from the HOWTO-HOWTO:

Also note that all HOWTO submissions must be in SGML format (currently using the LinuxDoc DTD). The mini-HOWTO submissions may be made in either SGML or HTML formats, but only SGML-formatted submissions will be included in printed versions of the HOWTOs.

It could be that this is the key development that will "lower the bar": Also from the HOWTO-HOWTO:

Programs like LyX (right now my LinuxDoc editor of choice) allow you to write in TeX format, then export it as SGML and render from SGML to whatever you chose.

They will need a lot of help.

The Linux Documentation Project will need all the help it can get; this at the moment can only be an uphill struggle. Linux software development is undoubtedly at its most prolific it has ever been so as soon as something is documented; it will have been revised (something that LDP have taken note of)
It seems therefore that the only way to win this is to increase the manpower available and signup to help...

I emplore /. readers who have knowledge and experience of related issues to get involed (get their keyboard dirty) and be part of the big picture :)
Linuxdoc.org has already proved invaluble to me so I will be doing whatever I can.....

I myself find myself constantly battling between taking care of LinuxPorts.Com. The OpenBook project and being the webmaster of the LDP.

Beyond that, I still have to find time to make a living and provide for a family. Not just financially but emotionally.

I know that this information can be found from somewhere, but haven't got the time to look for it.

Ok, I can't let this one go...

1. All the major (and most of the minor) distributions have easy access to get all the updates/fixes for their product. You have to make an effort to not trip over this information in the readme's and manuals and default web pages.

2. Everything you ever wanted to know about Linux is on the CD you got for your distribution and it's at the Linux Documentation Project site.

Ignorance is no excuse.

---

You can use a custom PPP script to connect to any ISP that allows access from Windows Dial Up Networking. Here are some examples. AT&T, Mindspring, Earthlink. These all allow a Windows machine to connect to them directly from Dial Up Networking, therefore, a custom PPP script will also allow you to connect to them (from any distro).

Check out the Linux Documentation Project for more info on setting up a PPP script.


Munky_v2
"Warning: you are logged into reality as root..."

Online documentation perhaps?

1. If you haven't previously contributed to an open source project, contribute something.
   
   • Write a brief HOWTO.
   • Translate the messages for your favorite program into your language if it hasn't been done already.
   • Post that Emacs Lisp package you've been playing with on your own machine.
2. Get the official release of Windows 2000 and review it against the most recent version of your favorite Linux distribution.
3. Benchmark the performance of some aspect of Windows 2000, or the software under it, against comparable free software. If you are doing it straight out of the box because you don't know how to tweek one or the other, say so. That's a valid comparison too.
4. Give a Linux or FreeBSD CD to a friend who has asked you about it. Help him install it.
5. Donate a book about some major piece of free software, or even The Cathedral and the Bazaar to your library.
6. Donate Linux or FreeBSD CDs to your library.
7. Spend a couple hours in the Linux newsgroups sending helpful answers to newbies.

Also the LDP is generally approachable, you can join in on the ldp-discuss list, or perhaps first peruse the archive and make your suggestions. Even simpler is the automated feature where you can submit your own links

Jeez, where to start.... Welp, you can start by checking the Linux Documentation Project for the Linux Security How-to. If you'd like more, check out Security Focus for a b*ttload of security texts. If you got even more spare time, do a search on Google for "Linux Security"

As for books, Maximum Linux Security is pretty decent. It's a little more fun to read as opposed to the Orielly books which are more technical. Hacking Exposed is good but it covers cracking in general, not just Linux. There is plenty of information out there if your willing to look.

Good Luck
LiNT

Alright. Can anyone read the first few pages of the Linux-PostgreSQL HowTo without bursting into laughter? This actually scared me away from PostgreSQL for some time: I was looking for an SQL database server, and found some bizaare document that looks like something "The Tick" would write. Anyone planning on either rewriting this thing or getting the author some medication?

Well, I just looked at the LDP site and I have to say, it looks good. Very navigable, the search engine seems to work. I have to say, though, that I've never been a huge fan of the style that seems to be dominating these days: the page full of news-boxes with a itsy-bitsy nav bar on one side. Nevertheless, it works.

Though I'd hate to make more work for them, I might make one suggestion for the LDP. Since they're hosting just about everything else, what about incorporating a subject indexed RFC archive? It would be nice to be able to get all these things from one place, and the LDP could perhaps do a better job of sorting them than most (ie. preferentially return protocol specs over obscure derivaties of said protocols). I generally use the archive at faqs.org, but their search results are a real pain to wade through.

Just a thought.

The IP Masquerading HOWTO is a good place to start.

Are you a moron?

I'll take this point by point:
I have no idea (please give me one) of what linux uses for a central user accounts
Have you ever considered reading documentation? There's loads of it over at http://www.linuxdoc.org/. And that's just a beginning.

Can "unix" clients logon to AD servers?
Not knowing what AD stands for (I admin UNIX and Novell servers, NT only as clients), I'd guess Samba might be able to, which would allow pretty much any UNIX to. However, like I said above, why don't you go read some docs and find out for yourself?

But i hate the novell client because it has a very retro feel.
Betcha hate bellbottoms, too. They're coming back, you know.

All the admin utilities do not have an easy gui and do not perform very well.
Dear Lord, save us from the CLI! We all know that pretty clicky buttons and checkboxes more than make up for actually learning your way around a system, don't we? Pretty pictures on our screens will save everyone from actually learning how to use computers, right? Oh, yes, did you completely miss out on NWADMIN.EXE?

You cannot get things done fast.
Maybe that's because you don't know what the hell you're doing.

Theres more but i'll just piss myself off.
You're sure pissing me off.

For instance, if they don't feel that NT is secure enough (compared to their macs) then they should use linux.
Right, with NFS? Now that's some REAL security! No, NCP beats the hell out of NFS. Unfortunately, there's not a really good way to integrate it with Linux.

I've also seen computers (including my precious laptop) fucked up when i tried to remove the Novell Client.
I'll grant you that. However, this is partially a fault of Windows in general- programs can't keep to their own directory; they have to go all over the system, and jack up libraries and the registry... but I'm sure you know how that is.

I will never do it again.
Good for you. Now do you have any real complaints about Novell?

Making a secure multi-user Unix box is difficult with any Unix. It requires a good clean start, perferably professionally audited, with as few services running as possible, as few setuid programs as possible, and as draconian as possible restrictions on the access and activities of users as possible. Then add robust monitoring of critical system files and users activities and be constantly vigilent to spot any abnomalities and apply security patches when vulnerabilites are discovered.

This is a job for a professional, and since you are asking for help in this forum, you would be wise to pay for some professional assistance. If you do not wish to do this, at least follow these steps:

First of all read the linux security HOWTO.

Start with a minimal install of a Linux you are comfortable with. RedHat is probably ok if you use the latest version and keep up with patches. I'd consider using OpenBSD for this kind of server since it's more secure by default, but it's not better if you don't know how to administer it properly. The only visible services you should need are ftp, apache, and sshd. That means no sendmail, nfs, linuxconf, talk etc. Edit /etc/inetd.conf and comment out every line except the in.ftpd line. Edit your rc scripts and disable all nonessential services. Check yourself with nmap. Don't install X or gnome/kde since they tend to have security problems. If you must have X (or even if you don't), make sure that you don't have any setuid programs on the system. You can find them with
find . -type f -perm ++s -print

In fact, you can gain a little peace of mind by running the command
chmod -R o-rwx *
Which will remove normal user read, write, and execute permissions from every file and directory.
Then reinstall the ftp daemon because otherwise people won't be able to list their files etc. Other things may break. Add things back as needed. For instance if you allow CGI scripting, you would need to give execute permissions on /usr/bin/perl.

If you use wu-ftpd (default with RedHat) then add '/./' (that's slash dot slash) to the end of their home directory path in /etc/passwd. This will lock their ftp sessions in a chrooted jail.

Secure apache with appropriate configuration. I don't recommend allowing CGI scripts, but if you do, at least use cgiwrap

Now that you have everything setup, freeze everything except /var. This could mean, minimally, using tripwire or something of that nature to monitor file changes, but it is a very good idea to use a read only (hardware read only is the best) file system.

Log the heck out of user activity, preferably onto a box that is not connected to the internet. Read Bugtraq religiously and follow your distributions security lists.

And finally, get help, really. Paying somebody upfront, even if it is only to review your actions and policies is a very good idea.
--

The Linux Advocacy mini-HOWTO

There, I have linked to my $0.02.

If anyone else is in my situation, you owe it to yourself to check out these pages, if you haven't already done so:

http://www.vpn.outer.net/2e/vpnssh.html - This site is basically a re-interpretation of the SSH VPN FAQ below, but it's better-written, IMO, and was extremely helpful. I followed its instructions and everything worked beautifully the first time.

http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/VPN- 4.html - Another helpful site, the original VPN HOWTO, has the proper location of some of the tools you'll need.

Good luck, and have fun busting huge, gaping holes in your school's firewall. :)

- A.P.
--

"One World, one Web, one Program" - Microsoft promotional ad

All I can do is suggest everyone do the same. The office in PA is (215) 981-8531. You may or may not get someone knowledgable right off the bat, so be polite (but really, you should be polite anyway!). You might want to even check out the Canons of Conduct from the Linux Advocacy mini-HOWTO for some good pointers.

Good luck!

To either fix bugs, or to gain features

is that something you need to do a lot?

not unless you need to fix a bug, or gain a feature. :)

if your system is running ok, do you still need to upgrade?

See above.

I'm not actually planning on doing it, as I'm not proficient enough to recompile and replace a kernel yet, but I need to know how soon I have to try and take this step.
You should look at the kernel HOWTO at www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO - it's a bit daunting at first, but it's really not that difficult. The main reason to recompile your kernel is to tailor it exactly to your needs, removing all the cruft that doesn't apply to your system. Plus, as someone said, you'll never be a real Linux user until you do. :)
----

I haven't read it and I don't know if it is useful in this situation. But it seems that there is support for Ultra DMA 66 under Linux.

Besided the suggestions for the ISDN router, which are good suggestions I think some mention should be made for the external terminal adapter option. The two best IMO are the 3com impact and the zyxel omni.net plus.

This option is really appealing if you are used to POTS modems because they behave just like them. They hook up to your serial port and they have dial out commands just like modems. They work seemlessly with ppp and do not require that one get involved in any isdn4linux stuff. It isn't that the isdn4linux stuff is bad it is a little hard to work with if you don't live in europe. And the isdn4linux debate on it's regular inclusion in the linux kernel is still not completely resolved.

The reason I like both the 3com and the zyxel product is because they both have the capability to do 230kbps or more across the serial port. This is important if you want to use all 128kbps of ISDN. USB would make the whole serial port discussion a null issue but it is not quite ready in linux. The 3com impact does 230kbps and the zyxel does 460kbps. Don't let the zyxel fool you 460kbps is better then 230kbps but only marginally. Instead, let the zyxel price lure you. The zyxel is generally cheaper then 3com but has just as high customer satisfaction (I own a zyxel myself and am very happy with it).

This brings up an important point. Most serial ports have the 16550A UART which does a smashing good job of 115kbps. This is more then enough for 56K modems. But for ISDN even at 115kbps one will find that the best throughput is really only 95kbps due to overhead on the UART. And if one can make a 128kbps connection the throughput is even worse. So if you go the route I describe I suggest picking up a serial port board with a 16750 or 16950 UART. These UARTs are supported in linux kernel 2.2.x or newer. A good manufacturer is pacific commware. Their turboexpress 920 board is isa pnp which will require isapnptools and a little elbow grease. I need to stress that the newer UARTs are not supported in the older 2.0.x kernels.

And now the URLs:

• 3Com Impact IQ
• Zyxel Omninet plus
• Pacific Commware's Turbo Express 920
• Serial HOWTO
• ISA PnP tools
• Theodore Tso's serial port driver, not necessary with 2.2.x kernels.

I completely agree! I still consider myself to be a Linux newbie, even though I've been using it on and off for about a year and a half or so now. (Haven't managed to keep it on any of the family computers for very long due to other space requirements).

Yes, Linux does have excellent documentation. The howto system, in particular, I found to be excellent. But I wanted something to help with generally learning it, and couldn't really find anything. I've tried two books (not Running Linux, that's next on my list), and neither were quite good enough.

On the other hand, I don't think getting rid of the howto system (or other documentation stuff currently in place) is a good idea. IMHO, this could run into one of the problems with an increasing userbase: keeping things powerful and complex enough for "advanced" users to still like it, but letting new users join in fairly easily.

(Apologies for vagueness/off-topic nature of the preceeding paragraph.)

The Linux documentation project's guides are quite helpful, but the user guide is really out of date.

When programmers write documentation for a program or system of programs, they usually organize it according to how the program is written, or how the modules of the system interact, or the functions of the modules.

For example, the chapters of the Linux System Administrator's Guide seem to be organized as follows:

• Introduction/overview (chapters 1 and 2)
• Files and disks (chapters 3, 4, and 5)
• Booting, shutting down, logging in, logging out (chapters 6, 7, and 8)
• Backups (chapter 10)
• Time (chapter 11)

• Introduction (preface and chapter 1)
• How TCP/IP and DNS work (chapter 2)
• Hardware configuration (chapters 3 and 4)
• Configuring Linux's implementation of the protocols (chapters 5 through 8)
• Various network applications (chapter 9)
• Services useful in a LAN (chapters 10 and 11)
• UUCP (chapter 12)
• Email (chapters 13 through 15)
• Netnews (chapters 16 through 19)

What's wrong with that approach, you may ask?

When non-programmers approach a computer system, they don't care about how it's put together; they care about doing something with it. The division of tasks that can be done with a computer system is mostly orthogonal to the division of modules in it.

For example, if you want to download mail from an ISP to a Linux box over a dial-up connection, that will involve booting the computer, logging in, executing a program that lives somewhere on my hard drive, making a PPP connection, etc., etc. The information relevant to that task is spread through the above two books. How can a newbie who wants to read mail with Linux, but doesn't want to become a Unix wizard, know where the relevant information is in those hundreds of pages -- not to mention HOWTOs and man pages? If something goes wrong, how can a newbie know where to look for the solution?
--
"But, Mulder, the new millennium doesn't begin until January 2001."

When programmers write documentation for a program or system of programs, they usually organize it according to how the program is written, or how the modules of the system interact, or the functions of the modules.

For example, the chapters of the Linux System Administrator's Guide seem to be organized as follows:

• Introduction/overview (chapters 1 and 2)
• Files and disks (chapters 3, 4, and 5)
• Booting, shutting down, logging in, logging out (chapters 6, 7, and 8)
• Backups (chapter 10)
• Time (chapter 11)

• Introduction (preface and chapter 1)
• How TCP/IP and DNS work (chapter 2)
• Hardware configuration (chapters 3 and 4)
• Configuring Linux's implementation of the protocols (chapters 5 through 8)
• Various network applications (chapter 9)
• Services useful in a LAN (chapters 10 and 11)
• UUCP (chapter 12)
• Email (chapters 13 through 15)
• Netnews (chapters 16 through 19)

What's wrong with that approach, you may ask?

When non-programmers approach a computer system, they don't care about how it's put together; they care about doing something with it. The division of tasks that can be done with a computer system is mostly orthogonal to the division of modules in it.

For example, if you want to download mail from an ISP to a Linux box over a dial-up connection, that will involve booting the computer, logging in, executing a program that lives somewhere on my hard drive, making a PPP connection, etc., etc. The information relevant to that task is spread through the above two books. How can a newbie who wants to read mail with Linux, but doesn't want to become a Unix wizard, know where the relevant information is in those hundreds of pages -- not to mention HOWTOs and man pages? If something goes wrong, how can a newbie know where to look for the solution?
--
"But, Mulder, the new millennium doesn't begin until January 2001."

I'm relatively a linux newbie myself, only having had exposure to it for the past year and a half or so. I took a crash-course so I could secure up my DSL firewall though, so now, among people I know, I'm an 'expert'.

This makes me a prime target for EVERYONE to ask me 'how do you do this' or 'how do you configure that'. Now, I don't mind doling out advice occasionally, but at one point I had this certain individual coming to me DAILY with problems he had. I'd patiently hold his hand and pat him on the back until he got the issue fixed...however for even the MOST serene person this can get bothersome.

What I'd personally like to see is more of the newbies RTFM'ing instead of instantly throwing up their hands in exasperation when they can't get the 3dfx.lib RPM to install without the dependencies. I usually troll the newsgroups (alt.linux.*) for information before I go and post, or hit the LDP. And I did this when I was a newbie, too.

Newbie-ism isn't bad, but they need to learn that learning isn't something they can grok from the resident expert ALL of the time. Do some research, LEARN it yourself insead of having someone else do it for you - otherwise you'll never really figure it out, and those of us in the know will eventually get tired of you, and you'll go back to windows.

(sorry for my lapse back and forth into talking 1st/3rd person. :)

Go to the Linux Documentation Project (www.linuxdoc.org) and read the LILO HOWTO. You can easily set up NT's OS Loader to boot linux, if that's what you use. I have two hard drives and I'm booting between Win95/NT4/NT2000/Linux/Solaris with no problem (well, a little work though).

Anyway, the most recent fruits of Creative's newfound enlightenment can be had here:

http://opensource.creative.com/

and here:

http://www.alsa-project.org/ Don't let the version # fool you, ALSA has been awesome on w/ my GUS Max since I started using it 6-8 months ago. You may want to save ALSA for a future go-round, though, until you're feel comfortable configuring drivers not included as part of the stock kernel, as it's completely redone (and backward compatible) sound support for Linux, which is planned to be the next generation drivers and API. Also, it has a user mailing list in case you'd like a helping hand.

Both have documentation about how to go about setting it up, so given the inclination, you can have sound right now instead of waiting for the next round of distro updates. :)

Btw, kernel configuration and compiling really isn't very difficult - it's primarily choosing what devices to support, and a few protocols (and each option has a friendly little help display if you're unsure). For more information, you can visit the Linux Documentation Project at http://www.linuxdoc.org/ and LinuxNewbie.org at (oddly enough) http://www.linuxnewbie.org/- home of the NHFs (Newbieized Help files "in plain english")

Here's a few things you might be interested in:
Why Yahoo uses FreeBSD written by David Filo, co-founder of Yahoo
Booting Linux and FreeBSD using BootEasy
Booting Linux and FreeBSD using LILO
Linux+FreeBSD mini-HOWTO Excellent resource for installing and using FreeBSD and Linux on the same system

The problems with configuring X don't end with modelines, they just start there. For instance, once you get that right, you probably have to specify the correct -dpi flag to get X to know the right size for things that actually try to size things (like fonts) since many folks are running 100dpi or better but the default is usually 75dpi. And once you do that, if you try to switch screens with Ctrl-Alt-+/- it'll be wrong again.

And back to fonts again, you invariably have to muck with your font path to get the right ones first for the given resolution. And of course then when you switch screens it will be wrong again.

Yes, most of the info is out there, but it's much harder than it should be. Just the name of the XFree86 Font Deuglification Mini HOWTO should be a tipoff.

Beyond that, I think there are some changes required to fix fundamental problems like the screen -> dpi one. Maybe the modeline should include the dpi for that resolution, or maybe the monitor section should list the physical size of the usable screen so the X server can calculate it.

It gets better refresh rates than KVideoGen or the other calculators I've found.

If you have Perl/Tk, you can run the X version with the command xvidcalc, or the command line version with vidcalc (try "vidcalc -h" first).

I did a lot of work on the caclulations to ensure that the resulting modeline was optimal in terms of refresh rate. You have to enter the specs for your monitor (either in the X interface or a settings file), so it's not for the faint of heart; you should probably look through ESR's VideoTimings HOWTO first.

Let me know how it works for you, ggbaker@sfu.ca.

Greg

Not a troll. I had no idea people had problems getting a monitor to work either. In my case, I found an easy was to find information by scanning dejanews for each monitor I set up. Setting up the maximum resolution and refresh rate is easy if you know how to use a search engine.

Here is the setup I use for 1600x1200 on my V775 monitor. ...oh, there's a little hack in that search query on deja to rid most of the advertising crap.

Else, break out the calculator and look at the XFree86-Video-Timing s-HOWTO and customize your own (and possibly exceed the performance limits of your monitor!) If you go beyond specs, the driver circuits can consume too much current and overheat. Not cool.

Actually, you can use ipchains to do that. See for example section 4.2 of the latest IPCHAINS-HOWTO where the author lists rules to drop all packets coming from doubleclick.net. Everytime a slow ad server is slowing down your connection, add it to your ipcahins "DENY" list. Make sure you also drop outgoing connections to doubleclick.net (or whatever the ad server is) so you'll get an immediate "broken image" icon rather than a long wait.

Hopefully, that should take care of your slow banner ad problem.
-----
The real meaning of the GNU GPL:

Newsgroup for RedHat Linux installation: http://www.deja.com/group/linux.redhat.install/

Beginners guide for installing Linux: http://www.linux.ie/beginners-linux-guide/

Remember, not everyone will be helpful if you post in a wrong area, like you did here :-) Try to find a relevant site and be sure you first read what's already there since no one likes duplicate postings or being asked a question that's already been answered. I'm jealous of your machine... what a piece of hardware! Did you build it yourself? If so this will help you since you will need a lot of information on your machine once you actually get into setting up Linux. If you didn't build the machine, write down everything you can about what's inside it before you start installing. You don't have any fancy setup to do this for you like Windows does. For an idea of what you need to know, see section 2.1.5 of Linux Installation and Getting Started. When I first installed Linux, I put it on a machine I had built myself and had a second machine next to it constantly logged onto the web for finding information. My "fun" started when the setup couldn't find my SCSI CD/ROM, so I bypassed the situation by plugging an old CD/ROM into a free IDE port and got started. The only other major hang-up after that involved the wrong video card being identified during setup, and my monitor got very hot and made an unwelcome whining noise that sounded like oncoming death (which made me glad it was an older monitor whose loss would be bearable)... fixing this required changing settings on the X-server.

Regarding the posts here on the "6.1" thing, here's a little sidenote. Linux distributors (such as RedHat) have their own numbering system that is best thought of as unrelated to the underlying Linux kernel. You may have RedHat 6.1, TurboLinux 3.6, and Slackware Linux 4.0 all out at the same time using the same Linux kernel, which is version 2.2. The second number indicates whether you have a "stable" or "development" version: if that number is even, it is stable. Thus Linux 2.2 is a stable version, while 2.3 is the current development (unstable) version. While you can download and install 2.3 and think you are getting a "newer" version, don't! Wait until you are way beyond the newbie stage to wander there.

Not that I want to push anyone's products here, but if you are planning to stick with it and get into Linux, you might consider getting a copy of Running Linux. I didn't buy it until I had Linux up and running - reading the first few chapters before I attempted an install would have been helpful, and it is great to have around afterwards to learn from. In the mean time, have fun and hang in there during the installation!

Actually, according to the Bogomips mini-howto's bogo guestimation chart, the K6-2 should be more like 21875x faster((350*2)/(8*0.004)), at least as far as bogos go. So even assuming bogos are wildly innacurate, the figure your benchmarker gave is pretty dang close, or at the very least an underestimate of the difference between the two chips.

Rather than pontificate here I'll rather direct you to some rather compreghensive documentation in the form of the Multi Disk HOWTO. It is part of the Linux Documentation Project but don't let that fool you, the HOWTO has examples of SunOS servers, practical implementations, clustering and more. It does look like what you are looking for.

There are guides, principles, a guided method and examples of several implementations. And if you need more you could try mailing the author

That really is a quite considerable cost, in much the same way that the production of "free" software requires substantial effort.

It is somewhat unfortunate that there have been such peculiar positions as:

A friendly dissuasion from this yielded the first posting of a document in electronic text, and Project Gutenberg was born as Michael stated that he had "earned" the $100,000,000 because a copy of the Declaration of Independence would eventually be an electronic fixture in the computer libraries of 100,000,000 of the computer users of the future.

A claim of $30K on the one hand, and $Billions on the other, do not reconcile very well.

Not unlike the situation with the FSF, they could probably more readily use contributions of time rather than of money, although some of both doubtless prove valuable to some degree...

The command for you the newer linux users is :

ipmasqadm portfw -a -P tcp -L [insert internet IP here] [insert port here] -R [insert private network ip here] [insert port here]

take out the "["'s

You can get the best encryption if you set up something called "Cipe" between 2 Linux Boxes using IP_MASQ. Its Virtual Private Networking that uses 128bit encryption. The info is here and here is the HOW-TO.

I feel safe with my data, and you can too. All you need is:
-Set up a dedicated secure linux firewall running IP_MASQ
-Install and configure CIPE. Here's the HOW-TO

That allows Virtual Private Networking with 128bit encryption. Its GPLed, and after you get it set up its incredibly fast (I use it over a cable modem). Its a lot more secure than a NFS+SAMBA solution.

I just finished reading the distribution howto by Eric Raymond - mostly because I've been thinking about switching distributions. The one thing that made me really sad is Eric's comments about the Redhat Package Manager, "The big selling point of this distribution is RPM, the Red Hat Package Manager. This piece of software is a remarkable advance; it allows you to cleanly install and de-install applications and operating-system components, including the kernel and OS base itself. RPM is now used as well by essentially all other distributions except Debian."

What bothered me was the name of the Redhat Package Manager. If Redhat wanted everyone to use it why not seperate itself from the product name. Anyways, I noticed that many other distributions do use rpms. It makes me equally sad that Debian, seemingly, has a more advanced package deployment, grouping system - but they had to go and make the extension .deb?! Why did these two great distributions make their package management systems so proprietary? Not in the sense of non-openness, but in the sense that other distributions having to rely on Redhat or Debian for their package management systems.

Oh wo is me. When will the LSB do something?
This is all probably flame-baiting, off-topic nonsense. Someone point me to slackware, are they still using tar.gz as their package managing system?
Joseph Elwell.

The Redhat FTP install doesn't install updates, and there is no option to do so. It is reasonably easy set an FTP server so it does so, but it takes a bit of tweaking. See RedHat CD mini-HOWTO
--

Another good resource for new users is http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ which is home the NHF (newbieized help file) and has web-based dicussion forums.

Other good resources for hard-to-find info are http://www.deja.com/ (a usenet search engine), http://www.google.com/ (THE search engine), and http://www.freshmeat.net/ (the canonical software search engine) .. Freshmeat itself doesn't necessarily have the info, but the software packages for any given type of application tend to have useful links. For instance, the xawtv site that I found by searching freshmeat had the drivers necessary for the WinTV 401 card I recently configured, and the cdrecord site, as found on freshmeat, has a ton of useful cd burning resources.

Regarding newbie-friendly docs, http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ has NHFs (newbieized help files). On the LDP, the Guides - particularly the Installation and Getting Started Guide and the Linux Users' Guide are informative and accessible.

here.

``People from outside (of your organization) can get at your software,'' said Anne Gardner, general manager of desktop systems for IBM. ``People from the outside can't get to your hardware.''

So there will probably not be a software flash-upgrade for this chip or anything like that: after all, if it can be software-upgraded, it can be cracked: witness the recent virus (forget its name) that wiped your BIOS chip if you had a Flash-BIOS capable motherboard and chip. So the only way to upgrade this thing will be to replace the chip -- and it'll likely be soldered onto the motherboard.

``We want this to become an industry standard,'' IBM's Gardner said. ``We want this on as many desktops as possible.''

Which means that if they get there wish, people who build <buzzword>E-commerce</buzzword> sites will start to rely on their customers having PC's with the chip installed.

The features of the security chip include key encryption, which encodes text messages,

What key length? Is it upgradeable? Considering the "can't get at it with software" statement above, probably not. So either it will have export-grade encryption (weak and insufficient, as most /. readers well know) or the U.S. government will restrict its export from the U.S. Furthermore, what happens when 128-bit keys are no longer secure enough and you need to move to 256-bit keys? Whoops, sorry, can't just get a software upgrade, you need a new computer. More lock-the-consumer-into-the-upgrade-cycle stuff here, even if it's not intentional (and it very well may be intentional).

and ``digital signatures,'' which act as unique ``watermarks'' that identify the sender of the document.

So everything made on a computer can be traced to that computer. Just like typewriters in the olden days (I seem to recall a few detective stories based on that fact). Great -- could be useful in some circumstances; law enforcement would love that, for example. This is where the privacy issues (which I'm not discussing here) come in. BUT this just identifies machines and is useless for identifying people. It will almost certainly, however, be misused for identifying people by what computer they use. What happens when (not if) Joe L. User sits down at one of the public-access PCs at his local library to surf the web, sees a cool "web shopping" site and registers as a customer? Assuming the site uses the chip ID the way IBM seems to be suggesting here, it will send Joe's computer (which is actually the library's) a digital certificate for Joe to make it "easier" for him to shop there since next time he won't even have to log in. Joe likes this, of course: it makes things easier for him. So Joe orders a few things and leaves. (Log out? What's dead trees got to do with things, anyway?) Now Carl Cracker comes along, uses the same computer at the library, and checks the Netscape history to see what he can find. He finds Joe's recent visit to the <buzzword>E-commerce</buzzword> site, checks it out, and sure enough, Joe didn't log out. So he visits the site and their software thinks he's Joe. He orders a bunch of stuff and charges it all to Joe.

Plausible scenario? You bet. Could <buzzword>E-commerce</buzzword> site designers be so clueless as to use a mechanism designed for computeridentification to identify people? No doubt about it.

The real solution to the <buzzword>E-commerce</buzzword> security issue is software. Ubiquitous, open-source, peer-reviewed software. Like, say, PGP (International version), or GNU Privacy Guard, or SSLeay. The hard part is that "ubiquitous" bit. You want real security? Here's how: Convince your boss to go open-source on the security aspects of the company's new <buzzword>E-commerce</buzzword> site. Read the Linux Advocacy mini-HOWTO first, then point out the advantages of using PGP or GnuPG or SSLeay rather than a proprietary solution. It'll be a hard sell, but stick with it. If everyone works at this, we'll eventually achieve the "ubiquitous" part.

The solution is out there, folks. Let's go implement it.
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New E-mail address! If I'm in your address book, please update it.

--Jamin Philip Gray
jamin@DoLinux.org

http://www.kernel.org is the home site for the Linux kernel distribution.

http://www.linuxdoc.org is the home site for the Linux Documentation Project, which is also useful.

The uncompressed kernel source is just under 60 megabytes. Compressed, it is around 12. Text compresses very well.

Note that, in the future, if you ask a question, leaving an email address for replies is a Good Thing. All I can do here is hope you check your info page and see my reply.

Another good one is http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ - It has what they call "NHF's", which stands for Newbie Help Files.

You may also want to have a look at Linux.Com which is working to provide articles and links to help newbies get established.

Once you understand the basics, learning how to do new things or handle new situations becomes much easier. Then your tools can become mailing list archives for particular things you may be looking for information on, and deja.com & google.com for that hard-to-find tidbit.

Good luck. :)