Re: [techtalk] Screen colours :-)

2000-02-14 Thread Tami Friedman


   Yellow on black is a big win for me.   After 15 years I still prefer
   it.

.Tami
 .signature: syntax error at line 1: `(' unexpected


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[techtalk] Installing New rpms using COAS

2000-02-14 Thread SallyCalich

Hello All;

I'm trying to install some new apps under Caldera OpenLinux 2.3 using KDE's 
COAS and keep getting dependency errors.
Here's a sample of the error message I get...
need libc.so.6(GLIB_2.0)
I think this is referring to some C libraries?
Where can I find these for download?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks   


[EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.linuxchix.org



[techtalk] career/family question

2000-02-14 Thread Jenny Brown (was Gable)

Hi, newbie delurking. :)  And I have a sort of general question for
an issue I'm struggling with right now.

I'm a programmer, my husband is a sysadmin; we're 22. I've recently
realized that most of the pressure I'm feeling is due to the expectation
that the woman takes care of the bills and cleaning and pets and
appointments and meeting the fix-it people, etc. It fell toward that
with us because he was working full time, and I was working part time
at a lower salary. Also he often had to work weekends and evenings
with server upgrades and maintenance, as well as working all weekdays;
and thus had less time available than me.

We're not much into tradition for its own sake; but things are still
tending that direction.

Now... we've considered getting a cleaning service to come take care of
basic housework; and another service (whose name I can't spell) to take
care of letting service people in to work on appliances and such.

But I feel oddly uncomfortable with that solution, like it means
I'm not doing a good job of making a home and stuff.  But I don't
really understand why that makes me uncomfortable as much as it does.
We planned previously that someday when we had kids, he'd take care
of them, and I'd work to support us both. We don't have kids yet, just
two cats.  But things feel awkward and I'm having trouble getting words 
for it.

So basically my question is... if you have dealt with a related
situation... how did you feel, how did you resolve it, what ideas or
suggestions can you provide? 

I just got hired full time so I'm under a little pressure to figure
out what I want to do. My husband will probably be supportive but
he's just not good at things like remembering to pay bills, feed himself,
go to sleep on time, organize stuff... (sort of classic hardcore geek).


Jenny




[EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.linuxchix.org



Re: [techtalk] Installing New rpms using COAS

2000-02-14 Thread Rik Hemsley

#if [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Hello All;
> 
> I'm trying to install some new apps under Caldera OpenLinux 2.3 using KDE's 
> COAS and keep getting dependency errors.
> Here's a sample of the error message I get...
> need libc.so.6(GLIB_2.0)
> I think this is referring to some C libraries?
> Where can I find these for download?
> Any help would be appreciated.
> Thanks   

I have a feeling it is looking for glibc 2.0 while I would guess
perhaps your version is 2.1

You can check this by doing 'rpm -q libc'.

On my (SuSE 6.3) system this gives:
libc-2.1.2-24

So I'm using 2.1.

If this is what your problem is you can either:

a) use the --nodeps option to rpm (don't know how to do this from COAS as
   I haven't used it)

or

b) Install glibc version 2.0 from your CD, if it exists. It should in
   theory sit side-by-side with 2.1 and work.

Personally I'd just install with --nodeps (= ignore dependencies).

I have installed a few packages that claim to need 2.0 but work
fine with 2.1.

Rik

-- 
Mix codes.


[EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.linuxchix.org



Re: [techtalk] career/family question

2000-02-14 Thread Rik Hemsley

#if Jenny Brown (was Gable)
[...]
> Now... we've considered getting a cleaning service to come take care of
> basic housework; and another service (whose name I can't spell) to take
> care of letting service people in to work on appliances and such.
> 
> But I feel oddly uncomfortable with that solution, like it means
> I'm not doing a good job of making a home and stuff.  But I don't
> really understand why that makes me uncomfortable as much as it does.
> We planned previously that someday when we had kids, he'd take care
> of them, and I'd work to support us both. We don't have kids yet, just
> two cats.  But things feel awkward and I'm having trouble getting words 
> for it.

Well I'd guess the reason it makes you uncomfortable is something
you already know, seeing as you said "like it means I'm not doing
a good job..."

In Victorian days, it was common in England to have a "maid of
all work." I don't know when people started being uncomfortable
with the concept.

I think that once you've had someone doing some household stuff
for you for a while you'll get used to it.

Think of it this way: If you stay at home your income is less
and you don't have any independence. If you go to work you can
afford to pay someone to do stuff for you, so why not ?

Ok, personally I'd find it quite embarassing to have someone
clean for me. I live in a house where a cleaner comes once a week
and I'm usually in. I spend most of my time then talking to her
and distracting her from her work. I feel a bit embarrassed about
watching her clean :)

Thinking of it the other way around though, she normally does
home-help stuff, which means looking after old people and
cleaning their dirty houses (I can say that because my great uncle
is one of those old people and he's a real slob.)

She looks forward to coming to my house (so she tells me) because
it's easier and better paid work than she's used to, and she gets
to talk to me 8)

Also think about the other services you use. Off the top of my
head, I can think of plenty. Someone cleans our windows. Someone
takes our rubbish away. Someone brings us milk every morning.
The streets are kept free from litter. When a car needs servicing
it goes to a garage.

You use services like these but yet it's still embarrassing to
employ a cleaner.

So, just let your conscience be a little flexible and see how
it works out. You can always change your mind but I think you'll
find that coming home to a clean house and being able to spend
your free time as you wish ends up feeling like your right.

After all, why do we bother going to work ? To get money to
allow us to survive while we get on with the rest of our lives.

Rik

p.s. Yes I know some people work because they just love it.
 Personally I'd rather be on a beach, but that's just
 me being a lazy hedonist, or a bum, whichever suits.

-- 
Negotiate identity.


[EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.linuxchix.org



[techtalk] SuSE -> Mandrake?

2000-02-14 Thread Linda Walsh

I'm thinking I'd like to convert my mail server
and laptop from SuSE to Mandrake.  Mandrake has better/easier to use
configuration (chkconfig) and security settings/options.  It's also
compiled for 586's and above, yielding speed improvements.

So the big question is how do I do it.  I have partitions /tmp, /var, /home
(/usr/src is a softlink to inside /home), /boot and /.  

So it seems I have to worry primarily about "/" and "/var".

I sorta dread the idea of re-setting back up the mail stuff and host
configuration, but I'm sorta thinking I may have to scratch / and /var
because even an upgrade from RH61 (supposedly compatible) to MDK 7.0 resulted
in alot of services not coming up due to errors (including networking).  
Fortunately that was on a scratch machine, so I could just mkfs and 
start over; icky idea, though, on my mail, source and build machine.

I think one thing that pissed my off about SuSE was it's non-standard
setup stuff -- putting all the scripts under /sbin/rc.d instead of in
/etc.  But then, to make it worse, they have a README about their startup
philosophy that talked about 'init' being the *father* of all processes.
I've always called it the parent process -- assigning a gender to a process
just seems downright silly -- processes use fission to reproduce.  It's 
an asexual process.  Anyway, the father thing bugged me. 

Ideas on conversion?  There is a linux filesystem hierarchy standard and
I'll just bet SuSE doesn't conform.

thanks,
-linda


[EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.linuxchix.org



Re: [techtalk] 1st time adding a modem to linux.

2000-02-14 Thread Tania M. Morell

Hi,

Thanks a lot for all the responses..   Getting all this help is really
cool.  Here are some answers to your questions.

--Um.. Why are you using 'uart 16450' ? IIRC that's for old, slow
--serial ports and new machines should have 16550.

I have a program called 'CheckIt' and it tells me that the modem's UART
is 16540. That's the only reason I used that number. My modem's
specifications don't refer to a UART at all.

--It's a pci modem, so it should get an irq given to it 
--automagically unless you play with your BIOS. This means you 
--just have to find it :)

There's a file "/proc/pci" which tells me it's on irq 5 now and that
it's first i/o address is something like 0xe40.  I've tried these
with setserial to no avail.

--What other serial devices do you have ?

I have no other serial devices and both serial ports are disabled so the
com1&2 ports and irq's3&4 are free. 

--There is, of course, the possibility it's a 'winmodem' but I
--don't know which modems are and aren't.

The manufacturer doesn't refer to the modem as a 'winmodem'. But it
could still be incompatible with linux..  I've spent hours trying to
find out but I can't come to a conclusion from the information I've
gathered.

--cua refers to a callout device.

What's a callout device?

--(IMHO hardware modems will ALWAYS be much better)USR 
--all the way!

What's IMHO? :)  Excuse my ignorance.  :(



Thanks for all the URL's !!  I will look at them tonight and let you
know what I find.

byw, I was kindof wondering whether or not "Ji" is a male or female
name.  ;)

later..  

-- 
Tania Morell
  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.shadow.net/~tania


[EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.linuxchix.org



Re: [techtalk] career/family question

2000-02-14 Thread Tania M. Morell


I was once in a relationship a tiny bit similar to yours.

My ex-boyfriend was a SysAdmin and I was a programmer up until I broke
up with him 2 months ago (which happened because of reasons totally
unrelated to this topic).  We lived one hour apart but whenever he'd
come and stay a few days, I would cook, wash the dishes, mop the floor,
make the bed, do the chores, AND clean up after him as well (he can be a
slob).  I hated not having ALL that time to do whatever I wanted or just
to sit by him to talk or just watch tv together.  I did the cleaning and
all that because 1) I had a BIG subconcious need to show him how good of
a housekeeper I can be, and 2) I hate living in filth and having to step
over dirty clothes on the floor, and I HATE wet towels on the bed!

Anyway, even though I loved him, I wouldn't have wanted that to become
an everyday affair.  I know he wouldn't have taken 50% responsibilities
and my time is extremely limited.  He, too, was 100% a geek with nothing
but SysAdmin t-shirts and hockey on his mind and a lot of (notice I said
"a lot of" and not "all") guys are really of a different mindset than
girls and good housekeeping is way low on their list of priorities.

Go with the cleaning service and feel confident that you'll be getting
used to that in no time at all.  As it is, I wish I could afford that
now for myself.  I'm a Unix SysAdmin now, and with all the learning and
work I have ahead of me, I hate wasting my little time on laundry,
cooking, and cleaning.  It's a pain.


-- 
Tania Morell
  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.shadow.net/~tania


[EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.linuxchix.org



Re: [techtalk] SuSE -> Mandrake?

2000-02-14 Thread moebius

Hey Linda,
  Just an opinion not really an answer. Why go with Mandrake? Yeah the
kernel is optimized for Pentium and greater, this is something you could
do for yourself. It's not to hard and if you have the docs in front of you
it makes it a little easier.
  Mandrake, again just my opinion, is the Microsoft of Linux. Yeah they've
got 'pretty'graphical config utils, but they release products that are
almost completely broken. Bad sym links, incorrect dep's, services not
ready to run 'out of the box' etc. Plus their supposed compatibility with
RH is just that, supposed. I would recomend RH, Debian, Caldera before I
would Mandrake. Even Slack which is still the hackers linux.
My $.02.
Harry

On Mon, 14 Feb 2000, Linda Walsh wrote:

> I'm thinking I'd like to convert my mail server
> and laptop from SuSE to Mandrake.  Mandrake has better/easier to use
> configuration (chkconfig) and security settings/options.  It's also
> compiled for 586's and above, yielding speed improvements.
> 
> So the big question is how do I do it.  I have partitions /tmp, /var, /home
> (/usr/src is a softlink to inside /home), /boot and /.  
> 
> So it seems I have to worry primarily about "/" and "/var".
> 
> I sorta dread the idea of re-setting back up the mail stuff and host
> configuration, but I'm sorta thinking I may have to scratch / and /var
> because even an upgrade from RH61 (supposedly compatible) to MDK 7.0 resulted
> in alot of services not coming up due to errors (including networking).  
> Fortunately that was on a scratch machine, so I could just mkfs and 
> start over; icky idea, though, on my mail, source and build machine.
> 
> I think one thing that pissed my off about SuSE was it's non-standard
> setup stuff -- putting all the scripts under /sbin/rc.d instead of in
> /etc.  But then, to make it worse, they have a README about their startup
> philosophy that talked about 'init' being the *father* of all processes.
> I've always called it the parent process -- assigning a gender to a process
> just seems downright silly -- processes use fission to reproduce.  It's 
> an asexual process.  Anyway, the father thing bugged me. 
> 
> Ideas on conversion?  There is a linux filesystem hierarchy standard and
> I'll just bet SuSE doesn't conform.
> 
> thanks,
> -linda
> 
> 
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.linuxchix.org
> 



[EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.linuxchix.org



Re: [techtalk] 1st time adding a modem to linux.

2000-02-14 Thread moebius

Hey Tania,

> I have a program called 'CheckIt' and it tells me that the modem's UART
> is 16540. That's the only reason I used that number. My modem's
> specifications don't refer to a UART at all.
If it's a pci modem I have some trouble believing that 'CheckIt' is
telling the truth. I don't know the program so I can't say for sure.

> 
> There's a file "/proc/pci" which tells me it's on irq 5 now and that
> it's first i/o address is something like 0xe40.  I've tried these
> with setserial to no avail.
Then the above IRQ,IO would be io=0xe400 irq=5

> --There is, of course, the possibility it's a 'winmodem' but I
> --don't know which modems are and aren't.
Who makes the modem? Also, check out linmodems.com(?)net Someone posted.

> --cua refers to a callout device.
> 
> What's a callout device?
A callout device is in ye olde Unix days I device that would initiate a
call outbound as opposed to a call inbound (terminal). So each device had
it's counterpart. ie=> /dev/cua0 /dev/ttyS0(?) Anyway if you had a modem
listening on /dev/ttyS0 then the program would have to break the lock file
and initiate a new one on /dev/cua0. Not all programs looked for both
devices, you can imagine how confusing this would become. They finally
adopted a standard for it. 
> 
> --(IMHO hardware modems will ALWAYS be much better)USR 
> --all the way!
> 
> What's IMHO? :)  Excuse my ignorance.  :(
In My Humble Opinion
> 
HTH,
Harry
PS=> think I got the second device wrong, it's been a while since I used
the old /dev/ entries so it might actually be something like pty0



[EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.linuxchix.org



Re: [techtalk] 1st time adding a modem to linux.

2000-02-14 Thread Jeff

On Mon, Feb 14, 2000 at 08:28:31PM -0500, Tania M. Morell wrote:
> Hi,

Hello.. this is my first post to the list, but I'll get my introduction done later ;)

> 
> Thanks a lot for all the responses..   Getting all this help is really
> cool.  Here are some answers to your questions.

<>
> 
> --cua refers to a callout device.
> 
> What's a callout device?

/dev/cua* used to be used for modems which would be used to ``callout'' to other 
boxen, like your ISP.  This was back in the grand old days of Linux 2.0.xx, since 
then, with the latest stable releases, ttyS* handles *all* serial line stuff, so you 
would use it as the mouse/modem/etc device file.

> 
> --(IMHO hardware modems will ALWAYS be much better)USR 
> --all the way!
> 
> What's IMHO? :)  Excuse my ignorance.  :(

In My Humble Opinion.  You might also see IMNSHO (in my not so humble opinion, I tend 
to use this one.. ;).

When you miss terms like that one, the jargon file might be helpful (online dictionary 
of all the funny terms many of us use, including those acronyms).  

Here's the URL: http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/index.html

> Thanks for all the URL's !!  I will look at them tonight and let you
> know what I find.

Go try minicom again, too.  When you get the main screen, hit 'Alt-z' and then 'e', 
this will turn the local echo on.  Clear the modem, and then play around a bit :), it 
really is a fun program.

> 
> byw, I was kindof wondering whether or not "Ji" is a male or female
> name.  ;)

Couldn't tell ya.

-- 
Jeff
-BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-
Version: 3.12
GCS/M/>P d-(pu) s+:- a17>? C++() L+++ UL@>$ P+ E--- W++@ N+ o? K++ w--- O? M 
V- PS+ PE(--)@ Y+@ PGP++ t+ 5 X++@ R++@ !tv@ b++ DI D- G e- h! r% y?
--END GEEK CODE BLOCK--

My Public Key -- http://24.5.73.229/pubkey.txt 

 PGP signature


Re: [techtalk] SuSE -> Mandrake?

2000-02-14 Thread Jeannette Vollmer

On Mon, 14 Feb 2000, Linda Walsh wrote:


> /etc.  But then, to make it worse, they have a README about their startup
> philosophy that talked about 'init' being the *father* of all processes.

I can't say anything about the relative strengths of SuSE v Madrake, but
as far as the sexism of the naming conventions goes, I would cut them a
little slack - German can be sexist language, and I think that is simply
reflected in their documentation. In general, they do a very good job.

> I've always called it the parent process -- assigning a gender to a process
> just seems downright silly -- processes use fission to reproduce.  It's 
> an asexual process.  Anyway, the father thing bugged me. 
> 


Jeannette




[EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.linuxchix.org



Re: [techtalk] career/family question

2000-02-14 Thread Rik Hemsley

#if Tania M. Morell
> used to that in no time at all.  As it is, I wish I could afford that
> now for myself.  I'm a Unix SysAdmin now, and with all the learning and
> work I have ahead of me, I hate wasting my little time on laundry,
> cooking, and cleaning.  It's a pain.

All this learning ahead of you will probably include:

1) Learning that you can get away with not ironing clothes if you're
   careful in your choice of material and remember not to sleep in
   them.

2) Leaning that cooking is something they do on TV. Sysadmins don't
   watch TV, so by day we have a liquid lunch. By night we eat whatever
   will come to us, which usually means the curry house that's open
   latest.

3) Learning that cleanliness is next to impossible.

4) Learning that 'killall' works differently on Real Unices.

Rik

p.s. :P

-- 
Dip into nihilism.


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Re: [techtalk] SuSE -> Mandrake?

2000-02-14 Thread Rik Hemsley

#if Linda Walsh
> I'm thinking I'd like to convert my mail server
> and laptop from SuSE to Mandrake.  Mandrake has better/easier to use
> configuration (chkconfig) and security settings/options.  It's also
> compiled for 586's and above, yielding speed improvements.
> 
> So the big question is how do I do it.  I have partitions /tmp, /var, /home
> (/usr/src is a softlink to inside /home), /boot and /.  

Back up your config files, i.e. /etc and your personal rc files.
Then you get to read them when you're playing with your new dist.
Nothing worse than losing your .vimrc, .muttrc and .zshrc.

> I think one thing that pissed my off about SuSE was it's non-standard
> setup stuff -- putting all the scripts under /sbin/rc.d instead of in
> /etc.  But then, to make it worse, they have a README about their startup
> philosophy that talked about 'init' being the *father* of all processes.
> I've always called it the parent process -- assigning a gender to a process
> just seems downright silly -- processes use fission to reproduce.  It's 
> an asexual process.  Anyway, the father thing bugged me. 

You'd wipe out your whole system because some SuSE employee followed
tradition and called init 'the father of all processes' ?

Sed that file and be happy.

Seriously, there is _very_little_point_ wiping out a system to install
a new one. They're so similar that you'll wonder why you bothered.

I have to do this every few months because I test SuSE for SuSE and
it's a pain in the arse. Now I have got used to doing it and know
what to back up, but it's not fun.

Assuming that pentium-optimised binaries will give you a speed
improvement is a fallacy. Binaries and libraries will be larger,
so you'll pay with disk space and load time. Energy may not be created
nor destroyed :)

BTW, SuSE link /sbin/rc.d to /etc/rc.d so there's no real difference.
Not one that would make be wipe out a drive.

BTW again, SuSE provide excellent security scripts these days. Check
out what's on your CD. You can 'harden' your system very easily.

They provide a 'firewall' script which, while not exactly a proper
firewall setup, does give you a good start in setting one up.

If you're really bothered about security, then you can sort it
out quite quickly. If your host only does mail, only open ports
for SMTP and (possibly) POP3, IMAP4 etc. Run qmail instead of
sendmail and be happy.

Rik

-- 
Question what belongs on the inside.


[EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.linuxchix.org



Re: [techtalk] 1st time adding a modem to linux.

2000-02-14 Thread Rik Hemsley

#if Tania M. Morell
> I have a program called 'CheckIt' and it tells me that the modem's UART
> is 16540. That's the only reason I used that number. My modem's
> specifications don't refer to a UART at all.

Right. It doesn't use your machine's UART things because it is
internal, not connected to a serial port.

> There's a file "/proc/pci" which tells me it's on irq 5 now and that
> it's first i/o address is something like 0xe40.  I've tried these
> with setserial to no avail.

Ok, this is a good start.
You now need to check your boot messages.

Z ~/work/cvs/kdepim/empath > dmesg | grep '^ttyS'
ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
ttyS01 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A

That's my mouse on ttyS0 (COM1) and my modem has taken ttyS1.

You should check in your BIOS that you have set at least some
of your PCI slots to be 'AUTO' rather than user-specified.

Sorry, I can't explain much because I don't understand myself :)
You should have a screen which allows you to look at a list
of IRQs and decide whether they're allocated automatically or
fixed.

Bah, I wish I knew what I was talking about. I don't _do_ hardware :)

Anyway, by default this stuff should be handled automatically.

> I have no other serial devices and both serial ports are disabled so the
> com1&2 ports and irq's3&4 are free. 

That's good.

> --There is, of course, the possibility it's a 'winmodem' but I
> --don't know which modems are and aren't.
> 
> The manufacturer doesn't refer to the modem as a 'winmodem'. But it
> could still be incompatible with linux..  I've spent hours trying to
> find out but I can't come to a conclusion from the information I've
> gathered.

If it doesn't actually say 'winmodem' on the box anywhere then
you can be a bit more optimistic. Still, you'll have to check
with the websites that were pointed to etc.

> --cua refers to a callout device.
> 
> What's a callout device?

It's just a normal port with a different name, but it's supposed
to be used to allow certain users to dial out (=call out) while
those that want to dial in will get the ttyS devices.

Someone in their great wisdom (ITO) (see below) decided that
we didn't need these anymore because there were other ways
of restricting users to dialling either in or out.

So, they're 'deprecated' but they hang around.

> --(IMHO hardware modems will ALWAYS be much better)USR 
> --all the way!
> 
> What's IMHO? :)  Excuse my ignorance.  :(

In My Humble Opinion.
Also:
IMO -> In My Opinion.
IMNSHO -> In My Not So Humble Opinion.
IMVHO -> In My Very Humble Opinion.
IYHO -> In Your Humble Opinion.

ad infinitum. If you don't know, guess. You're probably right.

Took me years to find out what LOL and ROTFL meant.

If you don't know, guess :P

Rik

-- 
Rework what others have exhausted.


[EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.linuxchix.org



Re: [techtalk] SuSE -> Mandrake?

2000-02-14 Thread Shad Young

I would have to second that assesment.

Shad

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> 
> Hey Linda,
>   Just an opinion not really an answer. Why go with Mandrake? Yeah the
> kernel is optimized for Pentium and greater, this is something you could
> do for yourself. It's not to hard and if you have the docs in front of you
> it makes it a little easier.
>   Mandrake, again just my opinion, is the Microsoft of Linux. Yeah they've
> got 'pretty'graphical config utils, but they release products that are
> almost completely broken. Bad sym links, incorrect dep's, services not
> ready to run 'out of the box' etc. Plus their supposed compatibility with
> RH is just that, supposed. I would recomend RH, Debian, Caldera before I
> would Mandrake. Even Slack which is still the hackers linux.
> My $.02.
> Harry

-- 
"Fear is the foundation of obedience." Vladimir Lenin
"Without fanaticism one cannot accomplish anything." Evita Peron
"...in order to punish less often, punish more severely." Napoleon
Bonaparte


[EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.linuxchix.org



Re: [techtalk] SuSE -> Mandrake?

2000-02-14 Thread Jeff

On Mon, Feb 14, 2000 at 05:23:49PM -0800, Linda Walsh wrote:
> I'm thinking I'd like to convert my mail server
> and laptop from SuSE to Mandrake.  Mandrake has better/easier to use
> configuration (chkconfig) and security settings/options.  It's also
> compiled for 586's and above, yielding speed improvements.

From what I've heard, having everything compiled native 586 isn't all that great of a 
speed improvement.  You'd get more out of recompiling the kernel to 586 native, and 
then recompiling some of the more often used components with heavy optimization, like 
the Xserver with -O6 or something crazy like that ;)

I haven't played with chkconfig, but then again, I'm a purist, my favorit config 
program is vim.

> 
> So the big question is how do I do it.  I have partitions /tmp, /var, /home
> (/usr/src is a softlink to inside /home), /boot and /.  

Hmm, I would heavily suggest backing up.  Other than that, I have no suggestions.  I'm 
going to be doing a massive reinstall of my machine (heavily upgraded SuSE 5.3 install 
to SuSE 6.3), my tactic is to install to a new harddrive and then migrate away from 
the old harddrive (moving the configuration files, my home directory, my source code, 
the webpage, etc).  It'll get used as raw storage, but I'm in a spot where I'm getting 
a new drive, and I will have the option to upgrade while maintaining my working 
install.

> 
> So it seems I have to worry primarily about "/" and "/var".
> 
> I sorta dread the idea of re-setting back up the mail stuff and host
> configuration, but I'm sorta thinking I may have to scratch / and /var
> because even an upgrade from RH61 (supposedly compatible) to MDK 7.0 resulted
> in alot of services not coming up due to errors (including networking).  
> Fortunately that was on a scratch machine, so I could just mkfs and 
> start over; icky idea, though, on my mail, source and build machine.
> 
> I think one thing that pissed my off about SuSE was it's non-standard
> setup stuff -- putting all the scripts under /sbin/rc.d instead of in

This, IMHO, is a matter of taste.  I like the /sbin location better.  A lot of the 
other Unixen use /sbin (DigitalUnix -- now Tru64, Solaris, HP/UX 10).  Then again, 
Irix and SCO both use /etc.  *BSD doesn't even use inittab (they have a handful of sh 
scripts, /etc/rc, /etc/rc.local, /etc/rc.boot, sometimes located in /sbin).  Then 
there are HP/UX 9 and AIX which make the SysV init act like a BSD init.  

Actually, you can get a BSD styled init for linux, it is called simpleinit, but I have 
never actually seen it used, I think Slackware was the last distrobution to use it 
(but I might be wrong on this).

> /etc.  But then, to make it worse, they have a README about their startup
> philosophy that talked about 'init' being the *father* of all processes.
> I've always called it the parent process -- assigning a gender to a process
> just seems downright silly -- processes use fission to reproduce.  It's 
> an asexual process.  Anyway, the father thing bugged me. 


> 
> Ideas on conversion?  There is a linux filesystem hierarchy standard and
> I'll just bet SuSE doesn't conform.

I haven't heard of one.  The LSB has one in the works, but nothing yet.  Besides, SuSE 
is a member of the LSB.  

As far as I can tell, SuSE doesn't have any file system quirks (I compile a lot of 
software myself, and I have yet to have a package that complains about anything.  All 
the standard include/ and lib/ directories are there, and included in the include 
paths for GCC, and ld.so.conf).

-- 
Jeff
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My Public Key -- http://24.5.73.229/pubkey.txt 

 PGP signature


RE: [techtalk] career/family question

2000-02-14 Thread Astraea

I've recently dealt with a similar issue...

I'm the sole parent of two children (ages 8 and 9).  I was trying to work full time, 
take care of two kids, keep up with two pets, clean, do laundry, pay bills, study for 
these certifications (cisco) that my employer wants me to get, a long list of other 
boring life details, and hopefully have a few spare minutes left for a social life.  
On top of that, there were some very good paying weekend overtime shifts I was missing 
out on, because I had no sitter and absolutely no energy left.  So I guess you know 
where my stress level was?

I finally hired a housekeeper/sitter to come on Sundays.  While she's there, I either 
go to work or hit a bookstore to study.  It was weird at first, but it's really nice 
to not have to think about cleaning.  I now have more time for my family, more time to 
study, and some time for friends.  With the reduced stress of not having to worry 
about cleaning, my work performance has improved.  I love it!  And financially... I'll 
break even as long as I work one Sunday a month, so the cost isn't an issue.  
Definitely the smartest thing I've done in a while, and I would recommend to ANYONE.  
Especially us technical people who would rather tinker with our home LAN than mop the 
kitchen anyday *grin*

I found my housekeeper through some placement agency that was listed in the 
classifieds.  They do all the interviewing and screening, then find someone that meets 
your needs.  And if the "regular" person isn't able to make it, they send an alternate 
for you.

~Michelle

PS. The other linux chick in my house (Danielle, age 9) installed redhat on her own 
for the first time last week. I figure since I've told everyone at work about it 
already, I might as well post to the whole world, right?

-Original Message-
From:   Jenny Brown (was Gable) [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent:   Monday, February 14, 2000 5:59 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject:[techtalk] career/family question

Hi, newbie delurking. :)  And I have a sort of general question for
an issue I'm struggling with right now.

I'm a programmer, my husband is a sysadmin; we're 22. I've recently
realized that most of the pressure I'm feeling is due to the expectation
that the woman takes care of the bills and cleaning and pets and
appointments and meeting the fix-it people, etc. It fell toward that
with us because he was working full time, and I was working part time
at a lower salary. Also he often had to work weekends and evenings
with server upgrades and maintenance, as well as working all weekdays;
and thus had less time available than me.

We're not much into tradition for its own sake; but things are still
tending that direction.

Now... we've considered getting a cleaning service to come take care of
basic housework; and another service (whose name I can't spell) to take
care of letting service people in to work on appliances and such.

But I feel oddly uncomfortable with that solution, like it means
I'm not doing a good job of making a home and stuff.  But I don't
really understand why that makes me uncomfortable as much as it does.
We planned previously that someday when we had kids, he'd take care
of them, and I'd work to support us both. We don't have kids yet, just
two cats.  But things feel awkward and I'm having trouble getting words 
for it.

So basically my question is... if you have dealt with a related
situation... how did you feel, how did you resolve it, what ideas or
suggestions can you provide? 

I just got hired full time so I'm under a little pressure to figure
out what I want to do. My husband will probably be supportive but
he's just not good at things like remembering to pay bills, feed himself,
go to sleep on time, organize stuff... (sort of classic hardcore geek).


Jenny




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 application/ms-tnef


Re: [techtalk] SuSE -> Mandrake?

2000-02-14 Thread GJS

Linda:

I think some of the negative comments about Mandrake are a bit
harsh, but since I'm not a technical expert I could be wrong.
Also, I can't tell you anything about Mandrake as a server since
I'm using it as a desktop system. However, I can comment on a
few things.

I don't think you'll find Mandrake's file system any more
"correct" than what you already have. I base that on the fact
that, 9 times out of 10, when I try to do something from a
howto, it doesn't work. (I'm sure it's nothing *I'm* doing
wrong. ;->)

For me, the biggest problem with Mandrake is the very fact that
it is optimized. Although I've generally found that Redhat apps
work fine on Mandrake, some won't--only the Mandrake version
will work (KDE is the most notable example). I know there are
certain system files that also fit into this category. That
means you have to wait for Mandrake to update the files--you
can't slap in any rpm or tarball. You may find this limiting.

There is some truth to the comments about odd behaviour.
Recently, I wanted to upgrade Window Maker 0.60 to 0.61. I
donwloaded the Mandrake version and tried to install it. The
system wanted me to change 3 or 4 libraries, even though I'm
using Mandrake 6.1, a recent version. Just to see what would
happen, I downloaded a Redhat i386 version of Window Maker 0.61
and tried that. It went on fine without a peep of protest.

If you really want a more correct distro, perhaps you should
look at the latest Debian when it comes out. I intend to. Maybe
then those howto's will work for me.



=
Glen Strom
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
__
Do You Yahoo!?
Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger.
http://im.yahoo.com


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Re: [techtalk] career/family question

2000-02-14 Thread Jenn V.


#if Tania M. Morell
> used to that in no time at all.  As it is, I wish I could afford that
> now for myself.  I'm a Unix SysAdmin now, and with all the learning and
> work I have ahead of me, I hate wasting my little time on laundry,
> cooking, and cleaning.  It's a pain.

Select no-ironing clothing that is all machine washable, and in a
minimal range of colours that don't leak dye (or don't show each
others' colours). Separate out underwire bras, throw all rest of the 
washing in together into the machine. Use a washer/dryer if you want 
to throw washing in in the morning and come back in the evening to 
fold it and but it away.

Use a dishwasher if feasible, otherwise put dishes into hot soapy
water, walk away. Come back during a long compilation and give them
a quick swipe over and dunk them in rinse water. Leave them stacked
to air-dry.

Arrange the house so that the place you use things is close to the 
place they're stored. Put things away immediately you've used them.
Example: set magazine racks near reading places. Read, put book in
rack. Every so often, when they're overflowing, empty the magazine 
racks back into the bookshelves.

Cook stews. Get a packet of mince, a selection of assorted frozen
veg, some pasta, and a big pot. Put all ingredients into pot, with
water and herbs/spices. Simmer while writing and/or testing a class
or module (depending on programming style). Check if it needs water
during each compilation.  Eat a bowlful, store remainder in freezer.


That limits other housekeeping to dust & dirt control, basically.
Which is annoying, but is also what maid services most commonly do.


Jenn V.
-- 
  "We're repairing the coolant loop of a nuclear fusion reactor. 
   This is women's work!"
Helix, Freefall. http://www.purrsia.com/freefall/

Jenn Vesperman[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.simegen.com/~jenn


[EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.linuxchix.org



Re: [techtalk] SuSE -> Mandrake?

2000-02-14 Thread Linda Walsh


> I haven't heard of one.  The LSB has one in the works, but nothing yet.  Besides, 
>SuSE is a member of the LSB.
> 
> As far as I can tell, SuSE doesn't have any file system quirks (I compile a lot of 
>software myself, and I have yet to have a package that complains about anything.  All 
>the standard include/ and lib/ directories are there, and included in the include 
>paths for GCC, and ld.so.conf).
---
See: ftp://ftp.xopen.org/pub/lsb/test/LSB-FHS-TS_SPEC_V1.01c

SuSE is non-compliant in several cases.  MDK was compliant in all the
cases SuSE wasn't.

>   Mandrake, again just my opinion, is the Microsoft of Linux. Yeah they've
> got 'pretty'graphical config utils, but they release products that are
> almost completely broken. Bad sym links, incorrect dep's, services not
> ready to run 'out of the box' etc. Plus their supposed compatibility with
> RH is just that, supposed. I would recomend RH, Debian, Caldera before I
> would Mandrake. Even Slack which is still the hackers linux.
---
I've installed Mandrake 7.0 and haven't noticed any problems.  All
services except "supermount' worked out of the box -- it failed due to
lack of kernel support.  

I'm coming from an IRIX point of view, and before that SunOS, so
I'm used to the run state info being in an /etc dir instead of the
system binary dir.  The chkconfig idea is lifted directly from IRIX --
so again, familiarity.  How does one easily turn services on/off?  Running
Vi on some obscure file or having to hunt around in the rc-scripts or
remove or add rc-scripts for a run-level seems error-prone.

When I went to compile the kernel with the pentiumpro options, the compiler
included with SuSE barfed on the first compile -- it defined some flag and
passed it to a later stage but did the -D with a space after it.  
Mandrake comes with the hardening stuff @ install time -- out of the box.
It provides all of the crypto stuff ready to rpm install -- sets up and
gen's keys and turns on sshd service, gens a host key and starts it up.
Cool!  It also includes a more secure kernel -- with the security patch
already in -- things like only letting users see their own processes,
non-executable stack, etc.  

> Seriously, there is _very_little_point_ wiping out a system to install
> a new one. They're so similar that you'll wonder why you bothered.
---
'cept that I can't just drop in RPM's from RH or MDK -- Things
like the sshd RPM.  I know how similar they are -- I've been running SuSE
since last fall when 6.3 came out.  Installed it on my laptop and my server.

I've installed RH 6.1 and have that running on my desktop at work.
I have mandrake 7.0 on two systems here at home.

I tried to run 'linuxconf' on SuSE -- just did horrible things.
If I remember I had to answer a ton of config questions for the SuSE 
install.  When I let suseconfig touch my sendmail.cf file -- it kept
taking it from functioning to non-functional -- the sendmail demons would
be started, but in ps, they'd all say "rejecting connections" -- thought
it was cute that they would start and then tell me they were rejecting
connections and then just stay around.

> Assuming that pentium-optimised binaries will give you a speed
> improvement is a fallacy. Binaries and libraries will be larger,
> so you'll pay with disk space and load time. Energy may not be created
> nor destroyed :)
---
686 optimized binaries would take up less space -- libraries
would be smaller -- fewer instructions to accomplish the same task.  The
analogy with energy is flawed.  We are talking space.  Space can be
conserved using more efficient instructions to accomplish the same
task -- like going from the 8085 to the 8086,
the heart of a string move went down to 1 instruction with a prefix.
Previously you'd have to maintain a counter, mov mem ->reg, mov reg->mem,
increment pointers, do a compare and conditional jmp.  

...
So, ok -- my plan at this point is I went to single user, unmounted
all 'cept root and mounted that ro, then I dd'd the entire disk to another.
I'll arrange my lilo so it boots from the 2nd HD, run mandrake install
reformating / and /var, then rebooting into the 2nd HD and copy over
the config files to mandrake before using it as my mail server.  I
think that would minimize my downtime -- I'll have to rebuild the MDK
kernel because 2214 has an aic7xxx driver that doesn't like my 2nd and 3rd
drives (western digi) -- but driver under 2213 works fine -- yes, 
the maintainer knows about and is looking at the problem but it may not
make 2215 either.  Still a pain, but should minimize actual downtime
while being fairly safe.

:seems like my best option, so far; but I'll give it some more
thought before doing it...

-l


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