More 2 Cent Tips & Tricks LG #78
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Tweaking the wily interface
Thu, 11 Apr 2002 00:39:48 -0400
Ben Okopnik (
The Answer Gang)
Well, I found a solution - but that solution is part of a package that's
interesting for more reasons than one. AccessControl, a package of useful
tweaks designed to help folks with disabilities, had what I needed and
more, along with a control panel that pulled it all together (of course,
the individual utilities could still be used as stand-alone programs.) It's
available at <http://cmos-eng.rehab.uiuc.edu/accessx/>.
Interestingly enough, Dan Linder (the author) says that a similar panel has
been incorporated into X11R6.6 - a Very Good Thing, in my opinion. However,
for those of us who'd like (or need) a bit more control over our keyboards,
mice, display, etc. and are not willing to chase the bleeding edge, this
package can be a useful tool in the sometimes confusing "battle of the
interfaces".
Clipping URLs
Mon, 8 Apr 2002 13:02:20 -0400
Ben Okopnik (
The Answer Gang)
After going back to my tried-and-true "icewm" (KDE was just too bloated
for my 366MHz/64MB laptop), I gave a bit of thought to "URL clipping",
which - if not over-automated - could be a handy feature indeed. Then, I
remembered the "xclip" utility.
See attached clipurl.bash.txt
All that was left was tying "clipurl" to a key sequence in "icewm". To do
that, I simply added the following line to my "~/.icewm/keys" file:
key "Alt+Ctrl+u" clipurl
Now, when I select a URL and want to launch it, I press "Alt-Ctrl-u", and -
presto! A new Netscape window pops up (if Netscape is already running, it
spawns a new one). It also works for files in your home directory, or
"clips" that contain the entire path as well as the filename.
One of these days, I might write a little "chooser" for "ftp://", etc.
URIs... but so far, it hasn't been a problem.
w3m to access CUPS configuration utility
Thu, 18 Apr 2002 00:34:16 -0700
Steven R. Robertson (
srobert from anv.net)
My tip concerns the CUPS configuration utility that is accessed through the
webbrowser at http://localhost:631/
My default browser, galeon, takes awhile to start on my machine. If all I
want to do is run the CUPS interface to change a printer parameter, then it's
much quicker to call it up with the w3m webbrowser in an xterm. Though text
based, w3m even supports inline images. I put a "printer" button on my gnome
panel that launches the following command when pressed:
"xterm -title CUPS -bg black -fg white -geometry 110x46+240+50 -fn 7x14 -e w3m http://localhost:631/printers"
Steve Robertson
Imagem linux_logo.h na Inicializacao do linux
Wed, 17 Apr 2002 10:40:44 +0100
Heather Stern (
LG Technical Editor)
Translated by Pedro Medas (editor from gazetadolinux.com)
Question from Alfredo Guimaraes Neto (alfredogn from bol.com.br)
Hi,
I'm the editor of the 'Gazeta do Linux', the portuguese version
of Linux Gazette.
We received the attached email with a question for you from
Alfredo Guimaraes Neto.
Cheers,
Pedro Medas
Ola,
Gostaria de saber se voces teem um tutorial de como mudar a imagem de
inicializacao do linux, aquele pinguinzinho com um copo de cerveja, pois
tentei varias vezes e estou com dificuldades, quando mando compilar o
kernel, da sempre erro nesse arquivo.
Grato,
Alfredo
Hi,
I would like to know if you have a HOWTO to change the boot image of
linux, that penguin with a beer cup, I tried several times and I'm
having difficulties, when I try to compile the kernel, it reports always
the same error.
Greetings,
Alfredo
Thank you Pedro. I have an answer for him. If you would be kind enough
to translate it back I think he'd appreciate it. -- Heather
Hi Heather,
Thanks for the answer to the 'Two Centavos Tip'.
I will translate it for him.
If you need any more info or help feel free to say so.
bests,
Pedro
Not precisely a HOWTO, but actually useful instructions, are at the Linux
Kernel Logo Patch Project:
http://www.arnor.net/linuxlogo/download.html
Apparently you are not the only one in the world who is inclined to change
the boot logo, but finds it hard to figure out where you would tweak the
kernel code to use your own. So these people have a patch that makes it
easy for everybody, not just kernel-hackers, to put in a new image.
I think they're looking for help on getting the non-intel platform logos
right.
For my own part, I like it, I think I'll be using it soon myself!
partial answer to euro-symbol question
Mon, 1 Apr 2002 15:38:48 +0200 (MEST)
rene.leeuwen (
rene from wxs.nl)
Hi Mailgang,
Concerning the question of Donal Rogers (rogers from clubi.ie) in the
Mailbag of LG76 I found the following in:
http://users.pandora.be/sim/euro/112/kde/kbdandbdf.html
http://www.interface-ag.com/%7Ejsf/europunx_en.html
So: you may start a new xterminal screen with the Euro-enabled font:
xterm -fn -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-ISO8859-15 &
In this terminal you can use the Euro-symbol (eg. echo -e "\244"). The
question I cannot answer is: how do you force all of your applications to
use this font (if indeed that is the best solution). But I hope it gives
you something to start working with.
--
groeten,
Rene van Leeuwen
PPP
Sun, 7 Apr 2002 23:40:06 -0400
Ben Okopnik (
The Answer Gang)
Question from cka74 (cka74 from yahoo.com)
Hi,
Please kindly advise me on PPP.
I'm using RedHat 7.2, somehow I having difficulties in getting the modem
setup and recognized.
I compiled the new kernel with PPP add-on: Network Device Support -> (Y)
PPP Support -> (Y) PPP Support for async serial ports
1. My external modem was connected to com1, so when I echo > /dev/ttyS0,
my TR on modem get lighted.
2. I set; setserial -g /dev/ttyS0, it shows: /dev/ttyS0, UART: 16550A,
Port: 0x03f8, IRQ: 4
OK - those numbers look fine, and the above test says that you're
definitely on the right port.
I ensured that IRQ 4 is not used by other program by cat /proc/interrupts
3. When I performed; wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf, the results show ttyS0
modem was not found.
I tested out on 2 external modems, same problem arise. but of course my
both modems (one of them was MERZ 566) were in working condition.
Where did I went wrong?
As far I can tell, you didn't; "wvdialconf" does not guarantee to detect
all modems. Try using "minicom" to test it: do the serial port setup (it's
pretty self-explanatory) and see if the modem will respond to simple
commands like "AT" (it should come back with "OK"), "AT&V" (show the
profiles), "ATDT5555555" (dial those numbers), etc. If it responds, just
use those values in your "/etc/wvdial.conf", and everything will be fine.
Mouse control in X
Tue, 9 Apr 2002 03:40:43 -0400
Ben Okopnik (
The Answer Gang)
xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 3 2 4 5"
If that works for you, you can place the expression (the part between the
double quotes) in a ".Xmodmap" file in your home directory - or launch it
directly by specifying the entire command line in your "~/.xinitrc" or
"~/.xsession" file, depending on how you start your X session.
More on NET4 (from LG 77, 2 cent tips)
Wed, 3 Apr 2002 07:07:38 -0600
Brian Finn (
brian from nacmsw.com)
replying to Chris Gianakopoulos' previous Tip
Hi,
In the 2 cent tips from LG 77, Chris Gianakopoulos writes:
"It is my belief that Net4, although it may be influenced by other
protocol suites, was written from scratch (other han being derived
from NET3.)"
I read recently in Linus Torvalds' "Just for Fun" (and again in
in Glyn Moody's "Rebel Code") that the TCP/IP implementation in
Linux was written from scratch in order to avoid being hassled by
AT&T, who owned UNIX at the time. I suppose AT&T was using their
legion of lawyers to go after other UNIX implementors for royalties.
Thanks,
Brian Finn
Hi Brian,
That makes sense. I've read somewhere that the book, "The Design of the Unix
Operating System" by Maurice Bach, influenced Linus Torvalds with respect
to his Linux stuff. The book described the algorithms of System V Release
2. Of course, other stuff influenced him also. Thanks for that info,
Brian.
Regards,
Chris G.
partition overlap = bad juju
Fri, 12 Apr 2002 01:30:51 -0400
Frank Brand (
fbrand from uq.net.au)
replying to the Gang's previous Thread
Hi there Ben,
I am responding to you as you were first on the list of answer people:-
I refer to "ntfs clobbered my ext3fs!!" in Linux Gazette 77 in which the
questioner asks about a partition overlap.
I have encountered this twice. Both times it has been with a mixed
Windows/Linux drive and using automated partitioning (ie Disk Druid or
DiskDrake). Your questioner has exactly this scenario.
Now, I never use automated partitioning and I partition the drive using
parted before I start the installation. I use primary partitions where
possible and avoid mixed Windows/Linux disk setup.
I have experienced the overlapping partition syndrome and have found it very
difficult to overcome. I have not been able to sort it out using fdisk as
either Linux or Windows fdisk can not do anything to such corrupted
partitions. I have only been able to recover using disk manager software and
this was a destructive recovery.
Regards
Frank Brand
Re: [LG 77] help wanted #1 private email
Wed, 3 Apr 2002 09:00:37 +0100
Neil Youngman (
n.youngman from ntlworld.com)
Hi there
I would like to know how to set up my email on my home network with win98
outlook express and Linux.
I would like to set it up so that I can email anybody else in the house on
the network and email via the internet when needed.
Thank You
Cheryl
There are a couple of linuxWorld articles describing Nicholas Petreley's
setup, which may be suitable for you requirements.
http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2002/0318.ldap1.html
http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2002/0401.ldap2.html
RPMs
Thu, 25 Apr 2002 07:06:04 +0100
Neil Youngman (
n.youngman from ntlworld.com)
Question from Lord of Wolves (Lord0Wolves from aol.com)
Simple question: What is a ".RPM" and how do I use them. I assume they
are a type of compression file, but what do I need to use them.
RPMs are RedHat Package manager files. They contain the necessary files for a
package, including setup scripts to be run pre- and post-install. They also
have a list of dependencies, so they can determine whether you have installed
the other packages on which this one depends.
Simple usage
rpm -Uvh pkg.rpm # install package from pkg.rpm
rpm -Fvh pkg.rpm # freshen (update) package from pkg.rpm
In both the above examples v is verbose and h is using a hash mark progress
indicator.
-
For examples of other usages see
- http://www.getlinuxonline.com/omp/distro/RedHat/rpm.htm
Neil Youngman
P.S. If you're asking questions of this list, please turn off MIME and HTML.
Re: [LG 77] help wanted #5 serial programming
Wed, 03 Apr 2002 22:54:48 -0500
Gary J. Wozniak (
gjwoz from 110.net)
Hi,
Check out www.linuxtoys.com. This site has some great examples of how
to read/write form serial ports in linux.
The
Radio Shack DVM with RS-232 <http://www.linuxtoys.com/dvm/dvm.html>;
article was of particular use for me.
Good luck,
G Wozniak
Re: [LG 77] help wanted #5 serial programming
Wed, 10 Apr 2002 14:35:24 +0200
Matthias Prinke (
matthias.prinke from sci-worx.com)
Hi,
check out the Serial Programming Guide for POSIX Compliant Operating Systems
at http://www.easysw.com/~mike/serial
You can find the answer in chapter 4.
Best regards,
Matthias
subsystem sftp
Mon, 8 Apr 2002 18:27:59 -0400
Ben Okopnik (
The Answer Gang)
QUestion from Francoise Guilbault (guilbaultf from em.agr.ca)
Why when starting SSH client does a subset of sftp open up in the
background by default?
Take a look at the last line of your "/etc/ssh/sshd_config":
Subsystem sftp /usr/lib/sftp-server
Also, from "man sshd":
Subsystem
Configures an external subsystem (e.g., file transfer daemon).
Arguments should be a subsystem name and a command to execute
upon subsystem request. The command sftp-server(8) implements
the "sftp" file transfer subsystem. By default no subsystems
are defined. Note that this option applies to protocol version 2
only.
I find the next-to-the-last sentence very interesting... on Solaris, for
example, it's defined but commented out. On Debian Linux, it's defined
and enabled by default. I suppose you could turn it off by commenting out
the line, but I'd make absolutely certain that I didn't have any need for
it first.
some email related problems
Wed, 3 Apr 2002 18:40:17 +0100
Neil Youngman (
n.youngman from ntlworld.com)
Question from amitava maity (amaity from vsnl.net)
Hello everybody,
I have emails with a MS-TNEF file and a humor.mp3.scr file as attachments
waiting in my inbox. How do I view/listen to these attachments?
You really don't want to open humor.mp3.scr. That's the Badtrans virus!
Fortunately, as a linux user you're immune
See http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_99069.htm for more info.
Neil Youngman
As a general point, anything which has two whole three letter extensions
(.jpg.pdf, .mp3.scr, and so on) especially when the second is one that
may be reasonable to auto-view, you should be immediately suspicious that
it's probably a virus. The same goes for MIME types which represent
auto-view type files but which do not match the extensions given on the
attachment (e.g. audio/wav but the attachment says .jpg).
However, there are 4 or 5 different small utilities that will deal
with a true "TNEF" attachment, easily found at freshmeat.net -- Heather
Linux Red Hat 6.2 Unistallation
Fri, 12 Apr 2002 01:46:11 -0400
Ben Okopnik (
The Answer Gang)
Question from Alok Garg (aalugarg from yahoo.com)
On Fri, Apr 12, 2002 at 06:02:39AM +0100, Alok Garg wrote:
Hello Sir,
I have 2 HDD of 20 Gig each, on the Primary drive I
have WinNT and on the secondary I have Linux RH 6.2 I
wanted to uninstall Linux from the system without
effecting my data on Win NT. I wanted to move my
secondary drive to other machine.
I'm sorry, but that's impossible.
Removing Linux from your machine would
utterly destroy (beyond any hope of recovery) the data on every WinNT
machine in a 60-mile radius of where you are. Note that everybody will know
exactly who is responsible: you'll be left in the center of a large charred
circle. Even if you removed the HD with Linux and carried it off, as soon
as you erased it, your NT would know.
It all happens magically, really.
(HINT: There's no magic. NT may be evil, but it does not watch your Linux
drive and explode if anything changes.)
See <http://www.linuxgazette.net/tag/kb.html#uninstall> for tips on
uninstalling Linux.
Make sure sshd is "always" there for you
Mon, 29 Apr 2002 19:16:33 -0700
James T. Dennis (
The Answer Gang)
Make sure sshd is "always" there for you.
Using OpenSSH (circa 2.95 or later?) you can configure the sshd to
run directly from your /etc/inittab under a "respawn" directive by
adding the -D (don't detach) option like so:
# excerpt from /etc/inittab, near end
ss:12345:respawn:/usr/sbin/sshd -D
This will ensure that an ssh daemon process is always kept running
even if the system experiences extreme conditions (such as OOM,
out of memory, overcommitted memory) or a careless sysadmin's
killall which kills the running daemon. So long as init can function
it will keep an sshd running (just as it does with your existing
getty processes).
This is particularly handy for systems that are co-located and which
don't have (reliable) serial port console connections. It just might
save that drive across town or that frustrating, time consuming and
embarassing call to the colo staff, etc.
Linux Journal Weekly News Notes tech tips
Python recursion limit
If Python's built-in recursion limit keeps your incredibly cool
recursive function from working, you can temporarily set a different
recursion limit with the sys module.
oldlimit = sys.getrecursionlimit()
sys.setrecursionlimit(len(big_hairy_list))
incredibly_cool_recursive_function(big_hairy_list)
sys.setrecursionlimit(oldlimit)
Ssh2 client to ssh1 server
If you have an account on a system where only your ssh1 key is
installed in your authorized_keys file, you can force your ssh
connection to use version 1 of the protocol with ssh -1 example.com.
Then you can use scp with the -1 option to transfer your ssh2 key
there, so that you can use version 2 to connect from now on. Paranoid
sysadmins are turning off version 1 access, so you should be using
version 2 everywhere by now to be on the safe side.
Making executables smaller
To make executables smaller, try running strip(1) with the options -R
Comment -R Note. This removes "comment" and "note" sections that the
compiler and linker may have added during the build process.
(source: MontaVista Software's MontaVista Zone customer support site.)
Headphone volume control
If you're running your headphones straight out of your sound card's
"Line out" jack, you might notice there's no volume control. Instead
of trashing your ears or firing up a audio mixer every time you need
to set the volume, just bind the commands
aumix -v+4 # crank up the volume!
and
aumix -v-4 # turn that crap down!
to two spare function keys. (In Sawfish, this is under the "Bindings"
menu in the sawfish-ui program.) Presto--free and easy volume control
straight from the keyboard.
There are also nifty little volume control applets for the KDE and
GNOME taskbars, but why spend pixels on a common task when you have
all those keys just sitting there?
This page edited and maintained by the Editors
of Linux Gazette
Copyright © 2002
Published in issue 78 of Linux Gazette May 2002
More 2¢ Tips!