LQWiki - User contributions [en]

Talk:Debian:CGI

2006-01-02T01:45:29Z

Digiot: pointer

I've tried the basic instructions for CGI scripts in this article, and get a 404 on the cgi script ("The requested URL /var/www/cgi-bin/navigating-change-workshop.cgi was not found on this server.").

One difference in my procecure is that I am running several servers under Apache (hnlc.org, hawaiianatolls.org), so cannot place the html form in /var/www as your instructions say; I must put it in a subdirectory (e.g., /var/www/hawaiianatolls).

Do I need to set something in my Apache definitions of these servers to allow each to access /usr/lib/cgi-bin correctly?

My only experience with CGI is under Solaris, now retired. -- DS

:Might try the [http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/forumdisplay.php?f=26 LQ Debian forum] or [http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/forumdisplay.php?f=3 networking forum] as that's the more appropriate (and more active) place to get help. However, if you discover a solution, updating the article here would be great. [[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 20:45, Jan 1, 2006 (EST)

DTD

2006-01-02T00:08:12Z

Digiot: stub-starting a 'most wanted'

==Definition==
According to the [[W3C]][http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#general]:

:DTD
::A DTD, or document type definition, is a collection of [[XML]] markup declarations that, as a collection, defines the legal structure, elements, and attributes that are available for use in a document that complies to the DTD.

==Usage==
Using [[XHTML]] Strict as an example, one would insert the following at the head of the document. This would tell user-agents what sort of document this was and in what terms to interpret it.

<pre>
<!DOCTYPE html
PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
</pre>

==Note==
Keep in mind that DTDs have nothing to do with browsers and XHTML as such. XHTML is one small family of innumerable DTDs and browsers are just one interpretative application. A spreadsheet file format may be in XML and a spreadsheet application may render that data and so on.

{{msg:stub}}

Run Levels

2006-01-01T22:25:12Z

Digiot: some more consistency tweaks

==What are run levels?==
Each of the  '''run levels''' of [[Linux]] is a different "operating mode". This means that it has different settings, independent of any other run level, allowing it to run different tasks and applications as required. Each run level can be configured to perform different tasks using a [[configuration file]] in the /etc directory (discussed later). If you are familiar with Microsoft's [[Windows]], it may be helpful to think of the run level system as being similar to the choice between "Safe Mode", "Safe Mode with Networking", "Command Prompt", etc, that you are presented with when the system has shutdown uncleanly - not that Linux needs to be shutdown uncleanly to change run level.

==What does each run level do?==
As was indicated, a runlevel is defined by the scripts executed in it, thus what a runlevel does is variable. Most frequently,

*Run level 1 provides [[single-user mode]]
*Run level 2 provides [[single-user mode]] with [[networking]] support
*Run level 3 provides [[multi-user mode]] with a [[command-line interface]], rather than a graphical [[window manager]]. This is convenient if you wish to work without the overhead of pretty anti-aliased windows
*Run level 4 has not yet been defined
*Run level 5 provides [[multi-user mode]] with a graphical [[window manager]]. This is the default run level that is booted on many [[distributions]] and the one that you are most likely to have for everyday use.
*Run level 6 shuts down the system, closing necessary [[applications]] and [[daemon]]s. For obvious reasons, this run level should not be used if you want to do anything productive.

However, these are the default runlevels in [[Slackware]]:
:0 = halt
:1 = single user mode
:2 = unused (but configured the same as runlevel 3)
:3 = multiuser mode (default Slackware runlevel)
:4 = X11 with KDM/GDM/XDM (session managers)
:5 = unused (but configured the same as runlevel 3)
:6 = reboot




==Configuring each run level==
Run levels are not configured so much as ''added to''.

The run levels are configured in the <tt>/etc/inittab</tt> config file. This file tells init what is the default runlevel, and what to do when entering or leaving each runlevel. That usually consists of executing <tt>/etc/rc.d/rc ''x''</tt>, where ''x'' is the runlevel.

This script, then, looks in a runlevel control directory (usually <tt>/etc/rc.d/rc''X''.d</tt>), where it will find a series of ''symbolic links'' with special names. The first letter of the name is S ("start") or K ("kill"). The next two characters are two digits -- used to control the ''order'' in which the files will be processed -- and the remainder of the name is the name of a particular service. (''Note:'' what Microsoft calls a "service," Linux/Unix people call a "daemon," but the idea is the same so take your pick...) This simple strategy allows you to make sure that, when one service depends upon another, they will be started and stopped in the proper sequence.

We said that each of these files (in <tt>/etc/rc.d/rc''X''.d</tt>) is a ''symbolic link,'' which means that it "points to," or "refers to," another file located somewhere else. That "somewhere else" will be the directory <tt>/etc/init.d</tt>. The symbolic link will point to a shell command-file which takes a single parameter such as "start" or "stop." When init is processing a "S"tart link, it will supply the parameter "start." When following a "K"ill link, it will supply "stop."

There can be any number of symbolic-links pointing to the same file, and very frequently there are. If a service (daemon) needs to be started in more than one runlevel, you simply have a symbolic-link in each of the appropriate <tt>/etc/rc.d/rc''X''.d</tt> directories.

As a quick example, my http daemon has a script in <tt>/etc/init.d/httpd</tt> and a symbolic link from each of the 7 run levels:

/etc/rc.d/rc0.d/K15httpd
/etc/rc.d/rc1.d/K15httpd
/etc/rc.d/rc2.d/S85httpd
/etc/rc.d/rc3.d/S85httpd
/etc/rc.d/rc4.d/S85httpd
/etc/rc.d/rc5.d/S85httpd
/etc/rc.d/rc6.d/K15httpd

When my machine enters run level 0, 1 or 6, then, the [[httpd]] process will be killed (<tt>/etc/init.d/httpd stop</tt> will be run), and rather early on in the process of shutting down (because "15" is a small number). Likewise, when moving to run levels 2-5, httpd will be started (<tt>/etc/init.d/httpd start</tt>) somewhat ''late'' in the potential list of scripts that are run (because "85" is a large number). This usually ensures that httpd is killed ''before'' networking, for instance, and started ''after'' it so that httpd will always have a run-time environment with networking enabled.

''(Note:'' if you are moving ''from'' a runlevel where (say) <tt>httpd</tt> should be running, ''to'' a runlevel where it also should be running, init may simply leave the service alone, recognizing that there is no need to stop it just to immediately restart it.)

Most often, one can tune the run level configuration via the <tt>[[chkconfig]]</tt> command, or start and stop these initialization scripts via the <tt>[[service]]</tt> command:
chkconfig --list httpd
chkconfig --levels 345 httpd on
service httpd start
service httpd restart
service httpd status

However, in Slackware (and it is closer to this on certain systems like [[Arch]] or the *[[BSD]]s  than it is to that described above) there are no directories full of numbered symlinks. /etc/rc.d/ contains a few scripts for several of the daemons or subsystems a system may run, and the scripts rc.{0,S,K,M,6}. rc.0 actually is a symlink to the rc.6 script because it's so similar: rc.6 reboots the system except when invoked as rc.0, in which case it halts the system. rc.S is the general system configuration script, rc.K is run for single-user mode, and rc.M is run in multi-user mode. The rc.? scripts do several things directly, as well as running the other scripts. The specialized tools chkconfig and service do not exist on Slackware, where runlevels are administered with <tt>vi</tt> or other editors. However, there is some [[SysV]] compatibility for programs that aren't intelligent enough to adapt to their environment.

==How to change run level==
To switch between run levels in the terminal you use the <tt>[[init]]</tt> command:

init [-a] [-s] [-b] [-z xxx] <Run Level Number>

or <tt>[[telinit]]</tt>

telinit [-t sec] <Run Level Number>

If already in X and using a graphical login,  one mechanism to switch between run levels using the keyboard is to first switch to a virtual console with this command:
Ctrl+Alt+F<Console Number>
(For example, to switch to console 1, you use <tt>Ctrl+Alt+F1</tt>)

Then you can acquire superuser privileges (.e.g, <tt>su</tt>) and issue the <tt>init</tt> or <tt>telinit</tt> commands to change the actual run level. You can switch run levels from within an xterm while still in X, but you may be surprised when your xterm goes away! It's less stressful for new people to first switch to the virtual console, but switching while still in X isn't harmful.

If in X having used the 'startx' mechanism, just shut down your window manager and invoke (tel)init or, as stated above, let init do it for you. If already on a virtual terminal, just invoke (tel)init directly.

==Determine the current run level==
To check the current run level use
$ who -r
This will report the current intended run level.

Integrated development environment

2006-01-01T22:18:23Z

Digiot: /* See also */ even wikier

An '''Integrated Development Environment''' ('''IDE''') is a software application designed to help develop new software more quickly and easily. It usually includes a [[source code]] editor (essentially a [[text editor]] with extra features such as syntax highlighting, code completion or structural navigation), a [[compiler]] and a [[debug]]ger. Some more advanced IDEs have features such as [[version control]], automatic [[refactoring]], integration with [[application server]]s, [[GUI]] builder and [[RAD]] tools.

==Popular IDEs==

* [[Anjuta]] ([http://anjuta.sourceforge.net/ Official website])
* [[Eclipse]] ([http://www.eclipse.org/ Official website])
* [[NetBeans]] ([http://www.netbeans.org/ Official website])
* [[Glimmer]] ([http://glimmer.sourceforge.net/ Official website])
* [[KDevelop]] ([http://www.kdevelop.org/ Official website])
* [[Emacs]] ([http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs.html GNU Emacs Official website])
* [http://dev.mainsoft.com/Default.aspx?tabid=45 Grasshoper]
* [[Lazarus]] ([http://www.lazarus.freepascal.org/ Official website])

=See also=

* [[Web Design#IDEs for Web Design| IDEs for Web Design]]
* [http://www.nabble.com/IDE-f788.html IDE Forum]

{{msg:stub}}

Integrated development environment

2006-01-01T22:08:16Z

Digiot: /* See also */ this is wiki markup; not xhtml strict - using entities on 'br' screws up the wiki parser

Run Levels

2006-01-01T22:03:47Z

Digiot: added some of 'the other way' in Sec.3 to match Sec.2, plus various tweaks

==What are Run Levels?==
Each of the  '''run levels''' of [[Linux]] is a different "operating mode". This means that it has different settings, independent of any other run level, allowing it to run different tasks and applications as required. Each run level can be configured to perform different tasks using a [[configuration file]] in the /etc directory (discussed later). If you are familiar with Microsoft's [[Windows]], it may be helpful to think of the run level system as being similar to the choice between "Safe Mode", "Safe Mode with Networking", "Command Prompt", etc, that you are presented with when the system has shutdown uncleanly - not that Linux needs to be shutdown uncleanly to change run level.

==What does each Run Level do?==
As was indicated, a runlevel is defined by the scripts executed in it, thus what a runlevel does is variable. Most frequently,

*Run level 1 provides [[single-user mode]]
*Run level 2 provides [[single-user mode]] with [[networking]] support
*Run level 3 provides [[multi-user mode]] with a [[command-line interface]], rather than a graphical [[window manager]]. This is convenient if you wish to work without the overhead of pretty anti-aliased windows
*Run level 4 has not yet been defined
*Run level 5 provides [[multi-user mode]] with a graphical [[window manager]]. This is the default run level that is booted on many [[distributions]] and the one that you are most likely to have for everyday use.
*Run level 6 shuts down the system, closing necessary [[applications]] and [[daemon]]s. For obvious reasons, this run level should not be used if you want to do anything productive.

However, these are the default runlevels in [[Slackware]]:
:0 = halt
:1 = single user mode
:2 = unused (but configured the same as runlevel 3)
:3 = multiuser mode (default Slackware runlevel)
:4 = X11 with KDM/GDM/XDM (session managers)
:5 = unused (but configured the same as runlevel 3)
:6 = reboot




==Configuring each Run Level==
Run levels are not configured so much as ''added to''.

The run levels are configured in the <tt>/etc/inittab</tt> config file. This file tells init what is the default runlevel, and what to do when entering or leaving each runlevel. That usually consists of executing <tt>/etc/rc.d/rc ''x''</tt>, where ''x'' is the runlevel.

This script, then, looks in a runlevel control directory (usually <tt>/etc/rc.d/rc''X''.d</tt>), where it will find a series of ''symbolic links'' with special names. The first letter of the name is S ("start") or K ("kill"). The next two characters are two digits -- used to control the ''order'' in which the files will be processed -- and the remainder of the name is the name of a particular service. (''Note:'' what Microsoft calls a "service," Linux/Unix people call a "daemon," but the idea is the same so take your pick...) This simple strategy allows you to make sure that, when one service depends upon another, they will be started and stopped in the proper sequence.

We said that each of these files (in <tt>/etc/rc.d/rc''X''.d</tt>) is a ''symbolic link,'' which means that it "points to," or "refers to," another file located somewhere else. That "somewhere else" will be the directory <tt>/etc/init.d</tt>. The symbolic link will point to a shell command-file which takes a single parameter such as "start" or "stop." When init is processing a "S"tart link, it will supply the parameter "start." When following a "K"ill link, it will supply "stop."

There can be any number of symbolic-links pointing to the same file, and very frequently there are. If a service (daemon) needs to be started in more than one runlevel, you simply have a symbolic-link in each of the appropriate <tt>/etc/rc.d/rc''X''.d</tt> directories.

As a quick example, my http daemon has a script in <tt>/etc/init.d/httpd</tt> and a symbolic link from each of the 7 run levels:

/etc/rc.d/rc0.d/K15httpd
/etc/rc.d/rc1.d/K15httpd
/etc/rc.d/rc2.d/S85httpd
/etc/rc.d/rc3.d/S85httpd
/etc/rc.d/rc4.d/S85httpd
/etc/rc.d/rc5.d/S85httpd
/etc/rc.d/rc6.d/K15httpd

When my machine enters run level 0, 1 or 6, then, the [[httpd]] process will be killed (<tt>/etc/init.d/httpd stop</tt> will be run), and rather early on in the process of shutting down (because "15" is a small number). Likewise, when moving to run levels 2-5, httpd will be started (<tt>/etc/init.d/httpd start</tt>) somewhat ''late'' in the potential list of scripts that are run (because "85" is a large number). This usually ensures that httpd is killed ''before'' networking, for instance, and started ''after'' it so that httpd will always have a run-time environment with networking enabled.

''(Note:'' if you are moving ''from'' a runlevel where (say) <tt>httpd</tt> should be running, ''to'' a runlevel where it also should be running, init may simply leave the service alone, recognizing that there is no need to stop it just to immediately restart it.)

Most often, one can tune the run level configuration via the <tt>[[chkconfig]]</tt> command, or start and stop these initialization scripts via the <tt>[[service]]</tt> command:
chkconfig --list httpd
chkconfig --levels 345 httpd on
service httpd start
service httpd restart
service httpd status

However, in Slackware (and it is closer to this on certain systems like [[Arch]] or the *[[BSD]]s  than it is to that described above) there are no directories full of numbered symlinks. /etc/rc.d/ contains a few scripts for several of the daemons or subsystems a system may run, and the scripts rc.{0,S,K,M,6}. rc.0 actually is a symlink to the rc.6 script because it's so similar: rc.6 reboots the system except when invoked as rc.0, in which case it halts the system. rc.S is the general system configuration script, rc.K is run for single-user mode, and rc.M is run in multi-user mode. The rc.? scripts do several things directly, as well as running the other scripts. The specialized tools chkconfig and service do not exist on Slackware, where runlevels are administered with <tt>vi</tt> or other editors. However, there is some [[SysV]] compatibility for programs that aren't intelligent enough to adapt to their environment.

==How to change Run Level==
To switch between run levels in the terminal you use the <tt>[[init]]</tt> command:

init [-a] [-s] [-b] [-z xxx] <Run Level Number>

or <tt>[[telinit]]</tt>

telinit [-t sec] <Run Level Number>

If already in X and using a graphical login,  one mechanism to switch between run levels using the keyboard is to first switch to a virtual console with this command:
Ctrl+Alt+F<Console Number>
(For example, to switch to console 1, you use <tt>Ctrl+Alt+F1</tt>)

Then you can acquire superuser privileges (.e.g, <tt>su</tt>) and issue the <tt>init</tt> or <tt>telinit</tt> commands to change the actual run level. You can switch run levels from within an xterm while still in X, but you may be surprised when your xterm goes away! It's less stressful for new people to first switch to the virtual console, but switching while still in X isn't harmful.

If in X having used the 'startx' mechanism, just shut down your window manager and invoke (tel)init or, as stated above, let init do it for you. If already on a virtual terminal, just invoke telinit directly.

==Determine the current run level==
To check the current run level use
$ who -r
This will report the current intended run level.

Groff

2006-01-01T13:40:00Z

Digiot: kind of a brain dump - cleanups, expansions, corrections welcome - needs more on actual usage, for one

[[Unix]] (and [[Multics]]) systems originally printed things with '''roff''' - they would '''r'''un '''off''' a copy on the printer. This was replaced by '''nroff''' ('''n'''ew roff) and '''troff''' (pronounced "t-roff" from '''t'''ypesetter '''roff'''. The new variants were originally written by [[Joseph Ossanna]] around 1973, originally in assembly and then in C, until they were extended and made more device-independent by [[Brian Kernighan]] in 1979. '''GNU roff''' (originally called 'gtroff' before coming to be known as 'groff'), was originally the result of a herculean effort by [[James Clark]] (around 1990) to recreate a compatible but extended [[GPL]] (and [[C_plus_plus|C++]]!) version of the Unix typesetting system.

What groff is, is actually a frontend (in application terms) and an extremely complex language (in user terms). It is a frontend for a host of pre- and post-processors and a language for producing formatted documents. On Linux systems, most people's main contact with groff is through the man pages which are printed on their terminals or terminal emulators. What man pages are, are plain text documents with text interspersed with formatting codes. As an example:

<tt>
$ zcat /usr/man/man1/man.1.gz | sed -n '20,30p' 
.\" 
.TH man 1 "September 2, 1995" 
.LO 1 
.SH NAME 
man \- format and display the on-line manual pages 
.SH SYNOPSIS 
.B man 
.RB [ \-acdfFhkKtwW ] 
.RB [ --path ] 
.RB [ \-m 
.IR system ] 
</tt>

Groff is so low-level and complicated that most work with it is done through ''macro packages''. These simplify the typesetter's task by providing shorthand markup codes that conceal all the complexity of precise specification. They generally begin with a period, followed by a two letter code, or may be done as ''inline escapes''. The first line above is the end of a comment. 'TH' might be read as 'title header', '.LO' might be read as 'let option' which seems to be a form of variable assignment I don't entirely understand, '.SH' defines 'section headings', '.B' specifies the following text is to be 'bold', '.RB' specifies the next arguments (separated by whitespace in the source text, but joined in the output) will be alternating 'r'oman ('r'egular) and 'b'old type, the '.IR' is alternating 'i'talic and 'r'oman, and so on. An example of an inline escape sequence would be '<tt>\fIitalicized text\fRregular text</tt>' where the backslash is the escape, 'f' indicates a font change, 'I' sets it to 'italic', and 'R' resets it to 'roman', if the alternating macros weren't working out for you and you didn't want to set off a separate '.I' command.

If this seems related to [[TeX]], [[HTML]], [[SGML]], [[XML]], and a host of other markup and typesetting languages, that's because it is. Groff is just one example of all these, but still relatively small (in comparison to TeX), and tried (in comparison to xml), and specially designed for and suited to "the Unix way" of doing things. That being said, it seems to be out of favor compared to the latest frenzy over x[ht]ml.

(As a sidenote on TeX, LaTeX is a popular macro package for TeX which bears a similar relation to it as the 'man', 'mdoc', 'mm', and 'me' macro packages do to groff.)

Groff works as a [[pipe]]line - sometimes a frighteningly long one. While it is possible to invoke it in excruciating detail or even to simply do <tt>zcat manpage | groff -Tlatin1 -man | less</tt>, there are some even more specialized frontends that let you do <tt>man manpage</tt> and that's it. With other elements of groff, one may plug [[tbl]] or [[eqn]] or [[pic]] into the pipeline (or have groff invoke them) to format tables or mathematical equations or pictures. An interesting element of groff is its 'device' options, which can output documents (even man pages) to postscript (with further processing to pdf possible) or to html (with remarkably good markup for an automatic converter) or to various other formats such as getting a quick and dirty graphical preview with [[gxditview]].

With the power of macros, it's possible to turn it into a quite readable and easy (easier) to use system. For instance, the 'mom' macros make use of groff's extension beyond earlier *roff's two character command code limit to produce almost plain-English markup.

For further information, documentation and data in the groff package is invaluable, especially the section 7 manual pages. There is also quite a bit of data on the web.

==External links==
*[http://www.gnu.org/software/groff/groff.html The groff homepage]
*[http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/groff/ Groff Mailing List Archives] - invaluable (people have already enocountered many of your problems. ;) )
*[http://cm.bell-labs.com/7thEdMan/ Unix 7th Edition Manual] - covers the complete classic system, with some man pages in volume one and many papers regarding *roff in volume two.
*[http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/cstr.html Bell Labs Technical Reports] - various papers, many on *roff
*[http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/papers.html More papers] - still more
*[http://www.kohala.com/start/#typesetting W. Richard Stevens' discussions] - how to typeset your own books.
*[http://www.kohala.com/start/troff/troff W. Richard Stevens' links]

LQWiki talk:Copyrights

2006-01-01T12:08:57Z

Digiot: typos

Typos: 
As of August 17th, 2005''',''' (comma, probably) 
how i'''t''' has been (repeated "is") 
other peoples' work (possessive apostrophe) 
[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 07:08, Jan 1, 2006 (EST)

For whatever it is worth at the bottom of each page where it says these pages are under a CC license the word license is misspelled. And sorry if this is the wrong place to put it, I just hope it gets noticed. [[User:Lamb|Lamb]] 00:34, Aug 18, 2005 (EDT)

:This has been fixed. Thanks. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 10:06, Aug 18, 2005 (EDT)

When I contribute am I the author under the creative commons license?
Who owns the copyright?
Who is issuing the license?
When I contribute to wikipedia I give ownership to them and they issue the license.
The license says to give credit to the author but this can be difficult with a wiki. Maybe you should state that all contributions are considered "work for hire" and therefore linuxquestions.org is the author.
Maybe you should use the license that wikipedia uses.
-Jeff

When you contribute, you are the author and the holder of the copyright. You are licensing your work to us under the terms of the [[Creative Commons]] license (the attribution-sharealike varient or by-sa for short). You hold the copyright to the material you contribute (but not the article as a whole if you're editing an existing article) so you can do anything you like with it. A "work for hire" clause might have been considered, but might have interfered with reuse of Creative Commons material (not that there are a lot of Creative Commons material yet to reuse) and discouraged people from contributing. There are reasons that we don't use the [[GFDL]] (the [[copyleft]] licensing that Wikipedia uses), and the main reason that the Wikipedia doesn't use Creative Commons is simply that it hadn't come out yet. (Under the GFDL, reusing a 1-2 page article could mean attaching 12 pages of legalese, with Creative Commons, all you have to do is say who you got it from and that you are releasing it under Creative Commons (by-sa).) [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 16:29, Jul 26, 2004 (EDT)

PS: please sign your posts with four tildes (~).

Command

2006-01-01T11:37:40Z

Digiot: /* External links */ - removed doubly-misplaced item

__NOTOC__
A '''command''', in the most general sense, is an executable file or a [[shell]] [[builtin]]. For example, <tt>[[cd]]</tt>, <tt>[[ls]]</tt>, <tt>[[echo]]</tt> and <tt>mozilla</tt> are commands.

Specifically for this section of the LQ Wiki, "commands" mean command line tools (or occasionally [[ncurses]] or other console utilities), rather than GUI tools which are covered in the [[Applications]] section.

The commands are presented by two means of organization: an alphabetical list of '''All commands''' to enable quick access to a known command, and a group of categorical topics to enable quick access to the appropriate command for a particular purpose or area of interest.

Additionally, there is a general usage section and sections on learning more.

The list is extensive, but probably always incomplete, and always growing. Additions are needed, with the caution that they shouldn't be simple copies-and-pastes of the man pages. These are intended to be more tutorial, howto, and 'real world usage' oriented, and not intended to assume the extensive knowledge of UNIX and Linux which man pages frequently presuppose.

'''''Note:''' details of commands vary from version to version and available commands vary from [[distribution]] to distribution.''

----

==Alphabetical list of commands==
*[[All Commands]]

==Categorical lists of commands==
*[[File Commands]]
*[[Text Editors]]
*[[Text Viewing and Processing Tools]]
*[[Directory Commands]]
*[[User Commands]]
*[[Compressing files]]
*[[Uncompressing Files]]
*[[Cryptography Commands]]
*[[Disk and Tape Drive Commands]]
*[[Internet and Network Commands]]
 
*[[Kernel Commands]]
*[[System Information]]
*[[Startup/Shutdown Commands]]
*[[Library-related Commands and Files]]
*[[Programming-related Commands]]
*[[Managing Sessions]]
 
*[[Shells]]
*[[Scripting]]

==General notes on commands==
Commands may be invoked as ''simple'' commands.

<tt>$ ls</tt>

Or they may be invoked as ''complex'' commands.

<tt>$ ls -l /bin</tt>

Here "-l /bin" are a pair of '''arguments''' (separated from each other and the command by [[whitespace]]) and "-l" is specifically an '''option''', since it modifies the behavior of ls (it produces a '''l'''ong listing), while "/bin" simply specifies a target for <tt>ls</tt> to act on.

They may also be invoked in multiples where the semi-colon is a '''command separator'''.

<tt>$ cd /bin; ls</tt>

That's two commands on one line. You may also execute one long command on two lines by escaping the carriage return with a backslash. (See [[shell script|scripting]] for further details on [[metacharacter]]s and escaping and quoting.)

<tt>$ cd really long command line \ 
that we would like to finish here</tt>

Another way to invoke multiple commands is conditionally, where (in [[bash]]) "&&" means to execute the second command only if the first returns with an exit code of 0 (i.e., it succeeds).

<tt>$ cd /bin && ls</tt>

With the semi-colon command separator, had the change of directory failed, <tt>ls</tt> would still have been invoked and simply listed the contents of the current directory. With the conditional operator, <tt>ls</tt> would not be invoked if <tt>cd</tt> had failed.

Similarly, "||" means to execute the second command only if the first returns a non-zero exit code (i.e., it fails).

<tt>$ cd /bing 2>/dev/null || echo 'I kinna do it, Cap'\<nowiki>''</nowiki>n!'</tt>

This will <tt>cd</tt> to the directory named "bing" if it in fact exists and the command will exit. Since it probably doesn't, being a typo, the second command will execute and print a somewhat more entertaining error message than is usual. (For an explanation of "2>/dev/null", see [[shell script|scripting]].)

==Learning about commands with local documentation==

A Linux system should have [[documentation]] in the form of [[man pages]] and possibly [[GNU]] [[info]] pages (see also [[texinfo]]). In a manner similar to this page's alphabetical list, if you know the command you wish to learn more about,

<tt>$ man ''command''</tt>

will show you the manual page of ''command''.

If you do not know the command but would like to see commands relevant to a topic, use

<tt>$ [[apropos]] ''subject''</tt>

or

<tt>$ man -k ''subject''</tt>

to find suitable commands.

Unfortunately, while most man pages will be informative and complete, many GNU utilities distribute very sketchy man pages whose primary purpose is to redirect the user to the info system. In that case,

<tt>$ info ''command''</tt>

will invoke that system of documentation.

Many commands have an "-h", "-H", "-help", "--help" option or some combination thereof. Unfortunately, some commands understand other things by "-h" or "-H" so unexpected and possibly unpleasant results may occur.

There are also extensive miscellaneous files usually found in /usr/doc, /usr/local/doc, /usr/src/linux/Documentation (kernel docs), and elsewhere.

==External links==
* [http://man.linuxquestions.org/ LQ Manual Pages]
* [http://man-wiki.net/ Linux Man Pages Online]

Command

2006-01-01T11:27:22Z

Digiot: /* General notes on commands */ - fixing an error (unless you monkey around with history settings) - (should probably be removed altogether)

File manager

2006-01-01T11:16:21Z

Digiot: /* Specific applications */ - re-categorized rox (it has no tree pane)

A '''file manager''' is a character-mode or [[GUI]] interface to common [[CLI]] file and disk management tools, either directly, by serving as a front-end and calling on those tools, or functionally, by performing the same or similar operations internally. Historically, DOS's command line was rather poor and many users sought file managers with some relief. In [[Unix|UNIX]], with its powerful and flexible command line, file managers didn't receive as much focus. Hence, most modern Linux file managers are modeled on DOS file managers (for example, [[Midnight Commander]] on Norton Commander - the classic dual-pane style) or Windows file managers (for example, [[Konqueror]] on Windows Explorer - the tree-style). While no substitute for the command line, they can make basic file management and certain tiresome repetitive operations more enjoyable.

File managers, or at least GUI-based ones, are also called file browsers. File browsers and [[web browser]] share surprising large amounts of code, and file browsers and web browsers are largely interchangeable. (Try typing <nowiki>file:///</nowiki> into the address bar of your web browser or <nowiki>file:///C:/</nowiki> if your using windows)

==Specific applications==
*Norton Commander Style
**[[Midnight Commander]]
**[[emelFM]]
**[[emelFM2]]
**[[Gnome Commander]]
**[[Krusader]]
**[[Tux Commander]]
**[[X Northern Captain]]
*Directory Opus/DirMaster Style
**[[Gentoo file manager]]
**[[Worker]]
**[[Filerunner]]
*Windows Explorer Style
**[[Nautilus]] (for [[Gnome]])
**[[Konqueror]] (for [[KDE]])
**[[Xfe]] (X File Explorer)
*Unconventional Style
**[[ROX]]

Command

2005-02-28T01:50:37Z

Digiot: typo

__NOTOC__
A '''command''', in the most general sense, is an executable file or a [[shell]] [[builtin]]. For example, <tt>[[cd]]</tt>, <tt>[[ls]]</tt>, <tt>[[echo]]</tt> and <tt>mozilla</tt> are commands.

Specifically for this section of the LQ Wiki, "commands" mean command line tools (or occasionally [[ncurses]] or other console utilities), rather than GUI tools which are covered in the [[Applications]] section.

The commands are presented by two means of organization: an alphabetical list of '''All commands''' to enable quick access to a known command, and a group of categorical topics to enable quick access to the appropriate command for a particular purpose or area of interest.

Additionally, there is a general usage section and sections on learning more.

The list is extensive, but probably always incomplete, and always growing. Additions are needed, with the caution that they shouldn't be simple copies-and-pastes of the man pages. These are intended to be more tutorial, howto, and 'real world usage' oriented, and not intended to assume the extensive knowledge of UNIX and Linux which man pages frequently presuppose.

'''''Note:''' details of commands vary from version to version and available commands vary from [[distribution]] to distribution.''

----

==Alphabetical list of commands==
*[[All Commands]]

==Categorical lists of commands==
*[[File Commands]]
*[[Text Editors]]
*[[Text Viewing and Processing Tools]]
*[[Directory Commands]]
*[[User Commands]]
*[[Compressing files]]
*[[Uncompressing Files]]
*[[Cryptography Commands]]
*[[Disk and Tape Drive Commands]]
*[[Internet and Network Commands]]
 
*[[Kernel Commands]]
*[[System Information]]
*[[Startup/Shutdown Commands]]
*[[Library-related Commands and Files]]
*[[Programming-related Commands]]
*[[Managing Sessions]]
 
*[[Shells]]
*[[Scripting]]

==General notes on commands==
Commands may be invoked as ''simple'' commands.

<tt>$ ls</tt>

Or they may be invoked as ''complex'' commands.

<tt>$ ls -l /bin</tt>

Here "-l /bin" are a pair of '''arguments''' (separated from each other and the command by [[whitespace]]) and "-l" is specifically an '''option''', since it modifies the behavior of ls (it produces a '''l'''ong listing), while "/bin" simply specifies a target for <tt>ls</tt> to act on.

They may also be invoked in multiples where the semi-colon is a '''command separator'''.

<tt>$ cd /bin; ls</tt>

That's two commands on one line. You may also execute one long command on two lines by escaping the carriage return with a backslash. (See [[shell script|scripting]] for further details on [[metacharacter]]s and escaping and quoting.)

<tt>$ cd really long command line \ 
that we would like to finish here</tt>

Another way to invoke multiple commands is conditionally, where (in [[bash]]) "&&" means to execute the second command only if the first returns with an exit code of 0 (i.e., it succeeds).

<tt>$ cd /bin && ls</tt>

With the semi-colon command separator, had the change of directory failed, <tt>ls</tt> would still have been invoked and simply listed the contents of the current directory. With the conditional operator, <tt>ls</tt> would not be invoked if <tt>cd</tt> had failed.

Similarly, "||" means to execute the second command only if the first returns a non-zero exit code (i.e., it fails).

<tt>$ cd /bing 2>/dev/null || echo "I kinna do it, Cap'n!"</tt>

This will <tt>cd</tt> to the directory named "bing" if it in fact exists and the command will exit. Since it probably doesn't, being a typo, the second command will execute and print a somewhat more entertaining error message than is usual. (For an explanation of "2>/dev/null", see [[shell script|scripting]].)

==Learning about commands with local documentation==

A Linux system should have [[documentation]] in the form of [[man pages]] and possibly [[GNU]] [[info]] pages (see also [[texinfo]]). In a manner similar to this page's alphabetical list, if you know the command you wish to learn more about,

<tt>$ man ''command''</tt>

will show you the manual page of ''command''.

If you do not know the command but would like to see commands relevant to a topic, use

<tt>$ [[apropos]] ''subject''</tt>

or

<tt>$ man -k ''subject''</tt>

to find suitable commands.

Unfortunately, while most man pages will be informative and complete, many GNU utilities distribute very sketchy man pages whose primary purpose is to redirect the user to the info system. In that case,

<tt>$ info ''command''</tt>

will invoke that system of documentation.

Many commands have an "-h", "-H", "-help", "--help" option or some combination thereof. Unfortunately, some commands understand other things by "-h" or "-H" so unexpected and possibly unpleasant results may occur.

There are also extensive miscellaneous files usually found in /usr/doc, /usr/local/doc, /usr/src/linux/Documentation (kernel docs), and elsewhere.

==External links==
* [http://man.linuxquestions.org/ LQ Manual Pages]
* [http://man-wiki.net/ Linux Man Pages Online]

Slackware-FAQ

2005-02-20T06:40:28Z

Digiot: expanded on vi elvis vim

== Slackware FAQ ==

== Version Specific ==

=== Slackware 8.1 ===

=== Slackware 9.1 ===

=== Slackware 10.0 ===
----
====Q) I'm running Slackware 10.0. I updated my kernel to 2.6.X. Where have all my devices gone? Why is 'man XYZ'/'less XYZ' not working and giving me errors?====

A) The 2.6 series of kernels use 'udev' to manage the devices. Unlike the devfs of old, udev works entirely in userspace and only creates nodes for devices that exist (and it does so dynamically, so if you remove the device, the nodes will be removed. Makes /dev a lot a smaller and easier to figure out what's what. For more, information on udev, see the udev FAQ)

udev also allows you to write rules, so that you can, theoretically, assign any name to a device that is plugged in, perhaps based on criteria such as it's name, or description (e.g. my Creative Muvo2 may be /dev/sda or /dev/sdb, but I have a rule that always creates a symlink at /dev/muvo to wherever the device is plugged in)

But what does this have to do with man page or less errors? Unfortunately, one of the rules in the udev-026-i486-1.tgz package that ships with Slackware 10.0 is wrong, causing problems with the terminals that less (which man uses) relies on. Either:

Taken from [http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=260641 this thread]:

In /etc/rc.d/udev.rules change:

KERNEL="tty[p-za-e][0-9a-f]*", NAME="tty/s%n", SYMLINK="%k"

to:

KERNEL="tty[p-za-e][0-9a-f]*", NAME="pty/s%n", SYMLINK="%k"

Alternatively, upgrade to the udev package in 10.1
----

=== Slackware 10.1 ===

=== Slackware -current ===

== Non Version Specific ==
----
====Q) How do I edit text files in a terminal?====

A. Often, you'll be told you need to "edit the file xyz and insert this, that, etc"

For system files (those stored in /etc) you need to be root to edit them, so you need to type 'su' in a terminal (either a real terminal, or one of the X terminals, such as xterm, konsole, gnome-terminal, etc) and enter the root password. For files in your home directory, you don't need to be root.

To edit files, Slackware comes with a variety of editors.

*Emacs (GNU Emacs, not XEmacs)
*Vi clones: elvis (default), vim
*joe
*pico (Note: nano is the GPL clone of pico.)

If you're not that comfortable editing files, pico is an excellent tool for making quick, small changes.

Just run it as (without the <> brackets):

''pico <yourfilename>''

Some basic pico commands (In pico, ^Letter means Control + Letter to call that command)

*Control + O to save your changes
*Control + X to close (if you haven't saved, you'll be prompted to)
*Control + W to search for a text string (if you want to find a specific thing in the file quickly)
----

====Q) (Related) Why does vi act funny?====

A. Slackware's default editor is elvis, which you can determine for yourself by doing

<tt>$ ls -l `which vi` 
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 5 NNNN-NN-NN NN:NN /usr/bin/vi -> elvis</tt>

You can access vim (if that's what you think of as vi) by invoking vim directly. (Slackware ships two versions of vim - a GUI-enabled (gvim) and GUI-disabled (vim) version which you can select at install time by picking either the vim or xvim packages.)

Alternatives are to change the symlink or install yet another vi clone. For further fine tuning, the answer probably boils down to editing your ~.[g]vimrc.
----

====Q) How do I create a new user?====

A) As root, run 'adduser'
----
====Q) Which groups do I need to belong to?====

A)
These groups are those that you will likely need to be a member of. They can be set either whilst creating your user, or by editing /etc/profile as root later and adding your username against them.

*users - the 'main' group that you are a member of
*disk - for accessing hard drives
*cdrom - accessing optical media (CD's, DVD's)
*audio - to access the sound card
*video - for video devices (e.g. TV tuner. May be needed for OpenOffice.org)
*wheel - if you plan to use sudo

Most of the other groups are 'special' groups for certain services/daemons to run, and you should not be a member of these.
----

====Q) How do I set up a wheel mouse?====

A) In X, a scroll wheel counts as two buttons - up is one, down is another. Clicking the wheel is a another button.

For any scroll mouse, as root you will need to edit:

/etc/X11/xorg.conf - Slackware 10.0 and above 
/etc/X11/XF86Config - Slackware 9.1 and below

You then just need to add these two lines under the mouse section (usually 'Identifier "Mouse1"' or something similar).

For a 5 button mouse (3 buttons with a scroll wheel):

''Option "Buttons" "5" 
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"''

Or, for a 7 button mouse (5 buttons and a scroll wheel):

''Option "Buttons" "7" 
Option "ZAxisMapping" "6 7"''

For a 7 button mouse, you also need to create the file /etc/X11/xinit/.Xmodmap and put the following in it for the wheel to be mapped onto the right buttons:

''pointer = 1 2 3 6 7 4 5''

If your mouse protocol is set to

''Option "Protocol" "PS/2"

You may have to change it to:

''Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"''

In either case, once the changes are made, restart X to use your scroll wheel.

(For some mice, more specific information can be found here: [http://www.linux-gamers.net/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=46 http://www.linux-gamers.net/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=46]).
----

====Q) How do I change my default window manager?====

A) To change the default window manager for all users, as root run xwmconfig.

To change the window manager just for your user, run xwmconfig as your user.
----
====Q) How do I get Slackware to boot straight into X?====

A) Edit /etc/inittab and replace:

id:3:initdefault:

with

id:4:initdefault:
----
====Q) My sounds not working - what do I do?====

A) You may have deeper problems, but the first step is to run <tt>alsamixer</tt> and unmute your soundcard. When you get the settings how you like, run <tt>alsactl store</tt> as root and they'll be re-stored from then on.

(I can't remember what versions this apply to but somewhere in the 9 and up area.)
----

====Q) What's the best way to upgrade?====

A) Some people like using the unofficial automatic tools and some people have had horrible experiences with them. Outside of those extremes, the best way is to read UPGRADE.TXT on your Slack discs or in the Slack tree of your nearest mirror and follow Pat's tips.

(This is a good general principle - there are many text files in the Slack tree full of useful information.)
----

== Application Specific ==

Slackware-FAQ

2005-02-18T23:31:56Z

Digiot: added alsa/sound and upgrade/UPGRADE.TXT

== Slackware FAQ ==

== Version Specific ==

=== Slackware 8.1 ===

=== Slackware 9.1 ===

=== Slackware 10.0 ===
----
====Q) I'm running Slackware 10.0. I updated my kernel to 2.6.X. Where have all my devices gone? Why is 'man XYZ'/'less XYZ' not working and giving me errors?====

A) The 2.6 series of kernels use 'udev' to manage the devices. Unlike the devfs of old, udev works entirely in userspace and only creates nodes for devices that exist (and it does so dynamically, so if you remove the device, the nodes will be removed. Makes /dev a lot a smaller and easier to figure out what's what. For more, information on udev, see the udev FAQ)

udev also allows you to write rules, so that you can, theoretically, assign any name to a device that is plugged in, perhaps based on criteria such as it's name, or description (e.g. my Creative Muvo2 may be /dev/sda or /dev/sdb, but I have a rule that always creates a symlink at /dev/muvo to wherever the device is plugged in)

But what does this have to do with man page or less errors? Unfortunately, one of the rules in the udev-026-i486-1.tgz package that ships with Slackware 10.0 is wrong, causing problems with the terminals that less (which man uses) relies on. Either:

Taken from [http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=260641 this thread]:

In /etc/rc.d/udev.rules change:

KERNEL="tty[p-za-e][0-9a-f]*", NAME="tty/s%n", SYMLINK="%k"

to:

KERNEL="tty[p-za-e][0-9a-f]*", NAME="pty/s%n", SYMLINK="%k"

Alternatively, upgrade to the udev package in 10.1
----

=== Slackware 10.1 ===

=== Slackware -current ===

== Non Version Specific ==
----
====Q) How do I edit text files in a terminal?====

A. Often, you'll be told you need to "edit the file xyz and insert this, that, etc"

For system files (those stored in /etc) you need to be root to edit them, so you need to type 'su' in a terminal (either a real terminal, or one of the X terminals, such as xterm, konsole, gnome-terminal, etc) and enter the root password. For files in your home directory, you don't need to be root.

To edit files, Slackware comes with a variety of editors.

*Emacs (GNU Emacs, not XEmacs)
*Vi clones: elvis (default), vim
*joe
*pico (Note: nano is the GPL clone of pico.)

If you're not that comfortable editing files, pico is an excellent tool for making quick, small changes.

Just run it as (without the <> brackets):

''pico <yourfilename>''

Some basic pico commands (In pico, ^Letter means Control + Letter to call that command)

*Control + O to save your changes
*Control + X to close (if you haven't saved, you'll be prompted to)
*Control + W to search for a text string (if you want to find a specific thing in the file quickly)
----
====Q) How do I set up a wheel mouse?====

A) In X, a scroll wheel counts as two buttons - up is one, down is another. Clicking the wheel is a another button.

For any scroll mouse, as root you will need to edit:

/etc/X11/xorg.conf - Slackware 10.0 and above 
/etc/X11/XF86Config - Slackware 9.1 and below

You then just need to add these two lines under the mouse section (usually 'Identifier "Mouse1"' or something similiar).

For a 5 button mouse (3 buttons with a scroll wheel):

''Option "Buttons" "5" 
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"''

Or, for a 7 button mouse (5 buttons and a scroll wheel):

''Option "Buttons" "7" 
Option "ZAxisMapping" "6 7"''

For a 7 button mouse, you also need to create the file /etc/X11/xinit/.Xmodmap and put the following in it for the wheel to be mapped onto the right buttons:

''pointer = 1 2 3 6 7 4 5''

In either case, once the changes are made, restart X to use your scroll wheel.

(For some mice, more specfic information can be found here: [http://www.linux-gamers.net/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=46 http://www.linux-gamers.net/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=46]).
----
====Q) How do I change my default window manager?====

A) To change the default window manager for all users, as root run xwmconfig.

To change the window manager just for your user, run xwmconfig as your user.
----
====Q) How do I get Slackware to boot straight into X?====

A) Edit /etc/inittab and replace:

id:3:initdefault:

with

id:4:initdefault:
----
====Q) My sounds not working - what do I do?====

A) You may have deeper problems, but the first step is to run <tt>alsamixer</tt> and unmute your soundcard. When you get the settings how you like, do <tt>alsactl store</tt> and they'll be re-stored from then on.

(I can't remember what versions this apply to but somewhere in the 9 and up area.)
----
====Q) What's the best way to upgrade?====

A) Some people like using the unofficial automatic tools and some people have had horrible experiences with them. Outside of those extremes, the best way is to read UPGRADE.TXT on your Slack disks or in the Slack tree of your nearest mirror and follow Pat's tips.

(This is a good general principle - there are many text files in the Slack tree full of useful information.)
----
== Application Specific ==

Execute programs

2004-08-05T07:34:11Z

Digiot: overhaul - maybe made it worse

New users sometimes have difficulty '''executing programs''', especially if they have [[compile]]d them from [[source]] or used methods other than their distro's standard [[package]] management routines.

Generally, there is no problem. Most programs install to /usr/local/bin or at least /usr/bin by default and you can declare this when compiling by issuing <tt>./configure --prefix=place/you/want/it</tt>. The [[makefile]] generally displays the defaults and shows the copy targets in the 'install' target and modifies the permissions for you. So it should be a simple matter of issuing <tt>program_name</tt>. If this fails, the following are some things to check.

* First, check to see if it is on your [[path]] and marked executable. Issue <tt>ls -l `which program_name`</tt>. If you get no results, it's not on your path and you'll need to add it or find it and [[cd]] to it. (See below.) If you do get a listing, make sure it shows the executable bit(s) are set.

:It should look something like:

:<tt>-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 763468 2004-06-22 07:51 /usr/local/bin/gkrellm</tt> 

:where the first 'x' represents 'executable by owner', the second by 'group', the third by 'all'. If you own it, just make sure at least the first is set. If you're in the group, make sure at least the second is set. Otherwise, the third will need to be set. (The usual case.)

* If you got no result, you'll need to find where it went to. As mentioned, you may know if you compiled it and specified the prefix or you may be able to find out from the makefile. Also, the [[find]] and [[locate]] programs can help. (You must update locate first).

* If you did get a result but the permissions/ownership are wrong, you can use the [[chmod]] command. <tt>chmod u+x file_name</tt> (or <tt>chmod 700 file_name</tt>) if you are the owner. If you are not the owner, [[su]] and assign ownership as you wish with [[chown]] or get the owner to chmod it if you do not have root access.

* If the [[file permissions]] and ownership are straightened out, you can now execute the program. If it is not on your path, you can issue the command <tt>./program_name</tt> from the program's directory or <tt>/full/path/to/program</tt>.

:(The reason for the './' at the beginning is that it specifies 'run the program in the current (.) directory. Most distributions do not put the current directory on the users path by default due to security concerns.)

* You can add it to your path if you want to, so you don't have to put the './' in front of it. For a permanent change, edit ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile to include <tt>export PATH="$PATH:/path/to/add"</tt> (or <tt>"/path/to/add:$PATH"</tt> if you wish it to take precedence over other directories).

: Lastly, you can make a [[shortcut]] or a menu entry to it in your favorite [[desktop environment]] or [[window manager]].

RAID

2004-08-05T06:35:18Z

Digiot:

''This article is a [[LinuxQuestions.org_Wiki:stub_articles|stub]] and needs to be finished. [[LinuxQuestions.org_Wiki:plunging_forward|Plunge forward]] and [[LinuxQuestions.org_Wiki:How_to_edit_a_page|help it grow]] !'' 

== What is RAID? ==

'''RAID''' stands for "Redundant Array of Independent Disks". It allows multiple physical hard drives to be used as one device. There are many different types or "levels" of RAID for different purposes.

=== Can I use it? ===

RAID capabilities are considered essential for most server-class computers and are widely implemented on servers. But there is no reason that RAID cannot be used on more basic PCs as well. Any computer capable of supporting more than one hard-disk can use RAID.

=== Why Might I Want it? ===
RAID capabilities can provide several benefits:
* Redundancy -- If one disk fails, one or more others have the same data and can prevent data loss until the failed drive is replaced.
* Performance -- Data can be written to more than one drive at a time, improving overall transfer rates.
* Convenience -- The space from several physical disks can be addressed as though it were single device. This can be done without RAID using [[symlink]]s and well designed [[mount point]]s, but may be easier to set up with RAID.

The different RAID levels provide these benefits in different combinations -- A linear RAID (sometime called "concatenation") provides convenience, but no performance or redundancy benefits. RAID 0 offers performance benefits, but no redundancy. RAID 1 offers redundancy but no performance benefit. Most other RAID types offer some combination of both performance and redundancy benefits.

=== What is the Difference Between Software and Hardware RAID ===
RAID can be implemented either by a dedicated hardware device or through software.

In hardware RAID, the drives are attached to a controller card with a dedicated processor chip. The controller card handles the creation of the RAID and any parity calculations that must be made and presents the storage to the operating system as though each array were a single drive instead of an array of several physical drives. Using hardware RAID, an operating system does not need to know anything about RAID since it simply sees what it believes to be physical disks.

In software RAID, the creation of the array and all of the calculations involved are handled by the OS.

== Simple RAID Levels ==

There are only a few basic RAID types although they can be combined together to produce combination types.

Basic RAID types supported by Linux software RAID include Linear, RAID-0, RAID-1, RAID-4, and RAID-5

=== Linear ===
A RAID in Linear mode offers no redundancy benefit and very little performance benefit. It would be used only because it allows the storage space on multiple physical hard drives to be addressed as a single device. As shown below, it fills the first device before writing to the next.

{| border=0
|
Physical
Disk 1
{| border=2
<pre>
data1
data2
data3
</pre>
|}

|
Physical
Disk 2
{| border=2
<pre>
data4
data5
xxxxx
</pre>
|}
|
Physical
Disk 3
{| border=2
<pre>
xxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxx
</pre>
|}

|}

The available space for this type of RAID is the sum of the space available for each of the participating disks. The disks do not have to be of the same size. So, if I form a Linear RAID of a 10 GB and two 20 GB disks, the usable size of the array is the full 50 GB.

In the event of a drive failure, only the files stored on the affected drive would be lost. For example, in the illustration above, if disk 2 failed, only data4 and data5 would be lost.

=== RAID-0 ===

RAID-0 is also known as "striping". It spreads data across several hard drives so that the system can be reading from several drives at once, increasing performance. Like Linear RAID, RAID-0 offers no redundancy.

RAID-0 is popular amongst gamers, for who performance is more important than 7reduced reliability.

{| border=0
|
Physical
Disk 1
{| border=2
<pre>
data1
data4
xxxxx
</pre>
|}

|
Physical
Disk 2
{| border=2
<pre>
data2
data5
xxxxx
</pre>
|}
|
Physical
Disk 3
{| border=2
<pre>
data3
xxxxx
xxxxx
</pre>
|}

|}

The available space for this type of RAID is the sum of the space available for each of the participating disks. So, if I form a RAID-0 of three 20 GB disks, the usable size of the array is the full 60 GB.

It is advisable, but not required, to use disks of identical size (the performance benefit to this RAID is reduced if one drive is substantially larger than the rest). In theory the speed of a RAID-0 array is roughly that of the slowest drive times the number of drives, although it will usually be slower in the real world.

In the event of a drive failure, since files can be spread across multiple disks, most or all of the data in the array will probably be lost.

=== RAID-1 ===

RAID-1 is also known as "mirroring". It creates a duplicate copy of data on another hard drive (or several more) so that if one of the drives fails, no data is lost. This RAID level offers good redundancy, but no performance benefit. In fact, while read performance is equivalent to that of a single drive, write performance is a bit lower than when using a single drive.

RAID-1 is most commonly implemented using only two drives, but Linux software RAID supports the use of multiple drive -- each an exact copy of the others.

{| border=0
|
Physical
Disk 1
{| border=2
<pre>
data1
data2
data3
</pre>
|}

|
Physical
Disk 2
{| border=2
<pre>
data1
data2
data3
</pre>
|}
|
Physical
Disk 3
{| border=2
<pre>
data1
data2
data3
</pre>
|}

|}

It is advisable, but not required, to use disks of identical size. However, the array will only use space equal to the size of the smallest drive in the array.

The available space for this type of RAID is the same as the space available on the smallest of the hard drives being used. So, if I form a RAID-1 of a 10 GB and a 20 GB disk, the usable size of the array is only 10 GB.

Since each disk in the array is an exact copy of the same data, a RAID-1 array can withstand the failure of one or several drives, so long as at least one remains intact.

=== RAID-4 ===

RAID-4 is also known as "striping with dedicated parity". It requires at least three disks to create. One of them is used exclusively for parity data and the rest contain striped data.

This RAID level offers both redundancy and performance benefits, but the performance advantage is not as significant as in RAID-0.

{| border=0
|
Physical
Disk 1
{| border=2
<pre>
data1
data3
data5
</pre>
|}

|
Physical
Disk 2
{| border=2
<pre>
data2
data4
data6
</pre>
|}
|
Physical
Disk 3
{| border=2
<pre>
parity1-2
parity3-4
parity5-6
</pre>
|}

|}

It is advisable, but not required, to use disks of identical size. However, the array will only use space equal to the size of the smallest drive in the array.

The available space for this type of RAID is <code> S * (N-1) </code> where 'S' is the size of the smallest of the hard drives being used and 'N' is the number of disks in the array. So, if I form a RAID-4 of two 10 GB disks and one 20 GB disk, the usable size of the array is 20 GB.

A RAID-4 can withstand the failure of any single drive without data loss. If the failed drive is the parity drive, the array can continue to function because all of the actual data is still intact on the other drives. If the failed drive is one of the data drives, the array can continue to function by using the parity information and the data on the remaining drive(s) to calculate what data the failed drive should be storing if it were functioning. Although the array continues to function, performance is significantly reduced and the data is at risk if a second drive should fail before the first failed drive is replaced.

=== RAID-5 ===

RAID-5 is also known as "striping with distributed parity". It requires at least three disks to create. Each of them is used for both parity data and striped data.

This RAID level offers both redundancy and performance benefits, but the performance advantage is not as significant as in RAID-0.

{| border=0
| Physical
Disk 1
{| border=2
<pre>
data1
data3
parity5-6
</pre>
|}

| Physical
Disk 2
{| border=2
<pre>
data2
parity3-4
data5
</pre>
|}
| Physical
Disk 3
{| border=2
<pre>
parity1-2
data4
data6
</pre>
|}

|}

It is advisable, but not required, to use disks of identical size. However, the array will only use space equal to the size of the smallest drive in the array.

The available space for this type of RAID is <code> S * (N-1) </code> where 'S' is the size of the smallest of the hard drives being used and 'N' is the number of disks in the array. So, if I form a RAID-5 of three 10 GB disks, the usable size of the array is 20 GB.

A RAID-5 can withstand the failure of any single drive without data loss. When any single drive fails the array can continue to function because all of the actual data is either still intact on the other drives or able to be reconstructed from the remaining data plus the parity information on the other drives. Although the array continues to function, performance is significantly reduced and the data is at risk if a second drive should fail before the first failed drive is replaced.

== Combination RAID Levels ==
Arrays can be built using other arrays just as they can from drives or partitions. This allows the creation of "nested", "multiple", or "combination" RAID types.

Combining simple RAID types with different strengths can often provide the best of both worlds. For example, RAID 0 offers great performance but no redundancy while RAID 1 offers redundancy but no performance advantage. Combining them into a RAID 0+1 or a RAID 10 offers both -- with even better redundancy that in a basic RAID 1.

Combinations can be formed of any RAID types supported by Linux, but the most common variations are probably:
* RAID 0+1 -- Mirroring of strip sets
* RAID 10 -- Striping across mirror sets
* RAID 50 -- Striping across RAID 5 sets

=== Naming Conventions ===
Although usage of these conventions is not always consistent, the general rule is that the first digit in the name describes the RAID type first or at the lowest level. The second digit describes the RAID type applied second or at the logically higher level.

For example, a RAID 0+1 (so named to prevent people from assuming that a RAID 01 is the same as a RAID 1) is created by first building two or more stripe sets (identical size and configuration) and then building a mirror from them.

A RAID 10 would be created in the opposite sequence -- building multiple mirrors from paired disks and then creating a strip set across them.

=== RAID 0+1: Mirroring of Stripe sets ===

RAID 0+1 provides better performance than simple RAID 1 along with the redundancy that simple RAID 0 lacks. It requires at least four drives to implement and provides usable space equal to S*N/2 where 'S' is the size of the smallest of the hard drives being used and 'N' is the number of disks in the array. So, if I form a RAID 0+1 of four 10 GB disks, the usable size of the array is 20 GB.

{| border=0
| RAID 0+1 (Mirroring of Stripe sets)
{| border=1
| First Stripe Set
{| border=1
| Disk 1
<pre>
Data1
Data4
xxx</pre>
| Disk 2
<pre>Data2
Data5
xxx</pre>
| Disk 3
<pre>Data3
Data6
xxx</pre>
|}
| Second Stripe Set
{| border=1
| Disk 4
<pre>Data1
Data4
xxx</pre>
| Disk 5
<pre>Data2
Data5
xxx</pre>
| Disk 6
<pre>Data3
Data6
xxx</pre>
|}
|}
|}

A RAID 0+1 can withstand the failure of a single drive (or multiple drives, so long as they are all from the same stripe set).

=== RAID 10: Striping across Mirror sets ===

RAID 10 provides better performance than simple RAID 1 along with the redundancy that simple RAID 0 lacks. It requires at least four drives to implement and provides usable space equal to S*N/2 where 'S' is the size of the smallest of the hard drives being used and 'N' is the number of disks in the array. So, if I form a RAID 10 of four 10 GB disks, the usable size of the array is 20 GB.

RAID 0+1 and RAID 10 are very similar but, by most measures of both performance and redundancy, RAID 10 is considered to be preferable.

{| border=0
| RAID 10 -- Striping across Mirror sets
{| border=1
| Mirror 1
{| border=1
| Disk 1
<pre>
Data1
Data4
</pre>
| Disk 2
<pre>
Data1
Data4
</pre>
|}

| Mirror 2
{| border=1
| Disk 3
<pre>
Data2
Data5
</pre>
| Disk 4
<pre>
Data2
Data5
</pre>
|}

| Mirror 3
{| border=1
| Disk 5
<pre>
Data3
Data6
</pre>
| Disk 6
<pre>
Data3
Data6
</pre>
|}

|}
|}

A RAID 10 can withstand the failure of a single drive (or multiple drives, so long as they are NOT in the same mirror set).

=== RAID 50: Striping across RAID 5 sets===

RAID 50 provides better write performance and improved redundancy over simple RAID 5 along with the redundancy that simple RAID 0 lacks. It requires at least six drives to implement and (assuming all drives are the same size) provides usable space equal to S * (N-1) * R where 'S' is the size of the smallest of the hard drives being used, 'N' is the number of disks in each RAID 5 array, and 'R' is the number of RAID 5 sets used in the stripe set. So, if I form a RAID 50 of six 10 GB disks, the usable size of the array is 40 GB.

{| border=0
| RAID 50 -- Striping across RAID 5 sets
{| border=1
| RAID 5
Set 1
{| border=1
| Disk 1
<pre>
Data1
Data5
Parity 9,11
</pre>
| Disk 2
<pre>
Data3
Parity 5,7
Data9
</pre>
| Disk 3
<pre>
Parity 1,3
Data7
Data11
</pre>
|}
| RAID 5
Set 2
{| border=1
| Disk 4
<pre>
Data2
Data6
Parity 10,12
</pre>
| Disk 5
<pre>
Data4
Parity 6,8
Data10
</pre>
| Disk 6
<pre>
Parity 2,4
Data8
Data12
</pre>
|}
|}

|}

A RAID 50 can withstand the failure of one drive in each RAID 5.

== Configuring Linux Software RAID ==

Linux software RAID can be configured in several different ways. Some installation tools allow for the creation of arrays during the OS install. An older (but still maintained) set of tools known collectively as ''raidtools'' can be used to create or modify an array after the OS install. A newer tool known as mdadm is considered by some to be easier to use.

Post-installation configuration of Linux software RAID consists of several steps:

* Create partitions for use. Configure them as Linux RAID Automounting partitions (hex code "fd")
* Use mdadm to create the array.
* Create the /etc/raidtab file (lsraid -R -p is useful to generate a template raidtab file, but it may require some editing).
* Create a filesystem on the partition
* Mount the partition and/or add the partition to /etc/fstab

=== Partition Drives ===
Partitioning is always a thorny problem. People have trouble with their root and boot file systems running in software RAID configurations, although both are possible. If hardware is managing your RAID, you probably won't be reading this. NB Some so-called RAID controllers are nothing more than a BIOS front for two IDE ports: e.g. [[Promise]] [[FastTrak]]. This is [[Software Raid]], like a [[WinModem]] is a type of modem.

You can use the partition type 'FD' (the hex value) for linux RAID autodetect. If you have the right stuff compiled in or a terribly complicated initrd setup), the arrays should be detected at boot time, then all your configuration is complete and you can refer to the drives as /dev/md*.
This is better than having post boot init scripts to sort out the raid, and allows the root partition to be raided.

=== Create the RAID ===
The raidtools/raidtools2 package seems out of date. Use the concise mdadm tool to build your software managed RAID arrays.

=== Create a filesystem on the RAID ===
Or duplicate one. A common strategy in migrating to RAID is to create matching partitions on the new empty disk, copy the data over, then set up 'degraded' arrays.

mdadm --create /dev/md0 --raid-level=raid1 -n=2 missing /dev/hdg5

where hdg5 is the newly create partition. "MISSING" will be added into the raid array once the configuration of the array is otherwise complete. This allows a lower-risk migration, although backups are essential.

=== Create an <tt>/etc/raidtab</tt> file ===
This is not necessary if you have the kernel autodetecting the arrays at boot time

=== Choose or create a mountpoint ===

=== Modify the <tt>/etc/fstab</tt> file to mount at boot ===

Talk:SFTP

2004-07-30T19:17:34Z

Digiot:

I'd like to know how to automate sftp interactions.

I'd like to do it properly, without forcing in a response to the password.

That is, I'd like to make a recognized public key using ssh agent, or whatever. I just have no clue where to start.

-- LionKimbro

{{msg:forums}} [[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 15:17, Jul 30, 2004 (EDT)

Template:Forums

2004-07-30T19:17:27Z

Digiot: wikify all links

The appropriate place for interactive help on Linux-related questions is the [http://www.linuxquestions.org/ LQ] [http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions forums]. If you are not already a member of the forums, you can register [http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/register.php here]. The LQ Wiki is intended as a database for research, as opposed to an interactive help forum, and contributions of knowledge are welcome. For more information about the Wiki, see the [[LinuxQuestions.org Wiki:About|About]] page.

Talk:Ld.so.conf

2004-07-30T04:43:28Z

Digiot:

Is this a stub page? Can I expand this out? Or do we really mean to say that Library-related_Commands_and_Files is the only place to talk about this stuff? -- LionKimbro

: Hm. I'd say to knock yourself out and just leave the 'See also'. It's not an actual redirect so it can certainly stand treatment. However, if it would naturally work into the main article you might as well do that. Whichever seems the most appropriate to the material. [[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 00:43, Jul 30, 2004 (EDT)

Floppy drive

2004-07-29T02:31:15Z

Digiot:

A '''floppy drive''' is a device that reads [[floppy disk]]ettes. (In the pre- and early- 1990s it used to be a 5&1/4" floppy). Other types of floppy drives can be [[LS120]] drives, and possibly (but less likely to be considered a floppy) [[Zip drive]]s. Floppy drives are just short of obsolescence - floppies are used just enough to justify the presence of a floppy drive on a computer.

Under Linux, a floppy drive is usually assigned to the [[special device file]] /dev/fdd0.

{{msg:stub}}

Talk:Main Page

2004-07-29T02:31:10Z

Digiot: rolling wikis gather no moss

==Talk:Main Page==

==Suggestions for links==
* [[Open source operating systems]] BSD, etc.

----

==Comments==

----
We need to have a link to the user contributed help page on the main page. maybe user contributed help should get it's own namespace? e.g. help:

[[User:Aaron Peterson/Alternate Main Page]]

==Bug Report==

Hi there,
I'm not sure whether I should add bug reports here. However I find it very disturbing that the adress http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Wine and http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/WINE doesn't take me to the same page just as [[Wine]] and [[WINE]] does.

This time I was lucky not to write a lot on the [[WINE]]-page, but I mean sometime someone will get really upset when they realised that everything they䶥 added to a page was written on a different page!

/Jens
:I have changed the WINE page to redirect to Wine. [[User:David ross|David ross]] 13:54, Mar 7, 2004 (EST)
----

That's because an excellent Wine page had already been contributed. You shouldn't be duplicating pages. Contributions are greatly appreciated, but please view all the help and documentation, study the wiki markup and the layout of the top levels, and search to see if your topic has already been covered before diving in. There is no bug - each of those two pairs of addresses goes to each of that pair of pages.

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 07:14, Mar 1, 2004 (EST)

----

On second thought, I was under-valuing the 'plunging forward' aspect. Yeah, better to post twice than not at all. :) My suggestions might be valid, but might have missed the spirit of things a bit.

Still didn't notice a problem with the links though. If there is an issue, reporting the post or possibly leaving a message on an admin's talk page would probably be the best way to go. They'll probably see it here but it's not the most direct way to address them and none of this is relevant to the main page.

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 07:41, Mar 1, 2004 (EST)

----

We should always encourage [[LinuxQuestions.org_Wiki:plunging forward|plunging forward]], but we need to make sure that we are not duplicating effort. The content from the WINE page should be integrated into the Wine page, links updated and WINE removed.

[[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 23:37, Mar 1, 2004 (EST)
==Forum?==

I was just wandering why isn't there a forum of www.linuxquestions.org (one that i can find anyway) for the wiki. I appreciate they are seperate in a way but a forum would be useful.

[[User:Geniarse|generic_genus]] 03:38, Mar 2, 2004 (EST)
----

Do you mean a place to discuss issues/directions about the Wiki itself? - if so, you can check out the new Wiki mailing list here:

http://lists.linuxquestions.org/mailman/listinfo/lqwiki-list

[[User:Skyline|Skyline]] 07:23, Mar 2, 2004 (EST)

==Pound sign question==

Hey all, I don't know what to think about the following issue. If you try to type hash(the thing above the number 3), it won't print. Instead, the number 1 apperars in it's place.

But the funny thing is, the sandbox also shows the number 1 instead of # but here, in the discuss page it shows # as #.

Strange...

[[User:Linuxlala|Linuxlala]]
----
Linuxlala,

The character # (when it is at the start of a line) is interpreted as the beginning of a numbered list and is replaced with a "1" (or another digit if it is one in a series). When it is embedded in a sentence (such as the previous sentence) it is rendered as a "#". If you want to show use it at the beginning of a line without it being interpreted as a list item, use the <pre> <pre> and </pre> </pre> tags around it like:

<pre> # this should show as a hash. </pre>
# this should begin a numbered list.
# a second entry in the numbered list.

[[User:Texastwister|Texastwister]] 15:31, Mar 5, 2004 (EST)
----

Right Texastwister,

I had also posted this in the wiki mailing list and jeremy replied explaining the same to me.

Thanks.

[[User:Linuxlala|Linuxlala]]
Hi all! Enjoy our summer! RESPECT TO ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR WORK! REALLY. Thhanx. I really appreicate your work! Research has to continue. My biggest respect goes to you.

==Spam links==
Just deleted what appeared to be spam links to german horoscope sites. If those were legit, someone let me know. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 03:19, Jul 3, 2004 (EDT)
:That's ok - In order to assess the appropriateness of material, all content must currently be in English, and any external sites which are linked to must also be English language based - [[LinuxQuestions.org_Wiki:Policies#General_policies|General policies]]

:-- [[User:Skyline|Skyline]] 06:23, Jul 3, 2004 (EDT)

==Advocacy article==
Should there be an Advocacy section linked from the Main Page?
--[[User:Bunyip|Bunyip]] 08:52, Jul 23, 2004 (EDT)

===Importing Advocacy article from Linux Documentation Project===
[[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 11:54, Jul 23, 2004 (EDT):Perhaps, but an Advocacy article doesn't exist yet. There's an advocacy article over at the [[Linux Documentation Project]], but we would have to get permission from the author of the article, because it looks like their license is not compatible with Creative Commons. Here's the copyright info:

===TLDP Advocacy HOWTO's copyright information===
This mini-HOWTO is Copyright © 1996-2000 by Paul L. Rogers. All rights reserved.

A verbatim copy may be reproduced or distributed in any medium physical or electronic without permission of the author. Translations are similarly permitted without express permission if it includes a notice on who translated it.

Short quotes may be used without prior consent by the author. Derivative work and partial distributions of the Advocacy mini-HOWTO must be accompanied with either a verbatim copy of this file or a pointer to the verbatim copy.

Commercial redistribution is allowed and encouraged; however, the author would like to be notified of any such distributions.

In short, we wish to promote dissemination of this information through as many channels as possible. However, we do wish to retain copyright on the HOWTO documents, and would like to be notified of any plans to redistribute the HOWTOs.

We further want that all information provided in the HOWTOs is disseminated. If you have questions, please contact Tim Bynum, the Linux HOWTO coordinator, at linux-howto@sunsite.unc.edu.

===Responses===
: The "Derivative work and partial distributions of the Advocacy mini-HOWTO must be accompanied with either a verbatim copy of this file or a pointer to the verbatim copy" bit would seem to indicate that we could add the HOWTO(s) to the wiki (it would become a "Derivative work" after the first edit), as long as we include a link to the original verbatim copy, which should not be a problem.
: [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 15:27, Jul 23, 2004 (EDT)

:Yes, but could we in good faith release it under the Creative Commons and let others reuse it from us? I think you might be right, but I would feel better if we got explicit permission from the author. At least there is a single author, unlike most Wikipedia articles. I was planning on trying to incorporate TLDP HOWTOs, as soon as I got to a certain point in the [[Jargon File]] incorporation, so I've had some time to think about this. Do you have any contacts at TLDP, or should I just email the guy myself? [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 18:34, Jul 23, 2004 (EDT)

===TLDP manifesto===
:: Looking at http://www.tldp.org/manifesto.html I see:
"5. LICENSE REQUIREMENTS

Anyone may copy and distribute (sell or give away) LDP documents (or other LDP works) in any media and/or format. No fees are required to be paid to the authors. It is not required that the documents be modifiable, but it is encouraged.

You can come up with your own license terms that satisfy these conditions, or you can use a previously prepared license. The LDP has a boilerplate license that you can use if you wish. Some people like to use the GPL, while others write their own. There is a project underway to create a special GPL license just for documents and this may turn out to be a good choice.

The copyright for each document should be in the name of the principal authors. "The Linux Documentation Project" isn't a formal entity and thus can't be used as a copyright owner. "

===Responses===
::This seems to fit exactly in with what we want to do. I'll contact TLDP just to verify, however. I'll post the outcome here.
:: [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 00:53, Jul 24, 2004 (EDT)
::: After discussing this with TLDP, I am going to revisit the ability to add GFDL items to the LQ Wiki. Stay tuned. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 12:17, Jul 25, 2004 (EDT)

How would that work? I thought that the Creative Commons/GFDL incompatibility was pretty well established. "East is East and West is West, and ne'er the twain shall meet." As the GFDL and the CC are presently written, material under one can't be released under the other without the permission of the copyright holder (the original author in most cases). There's rumors that the FSF and the Creative Commons people are working on that issue, but until then, we're pretty well stuck with just asking for permission. Not that I would ''mind'' an easier solution, but I just don't think it's possible.[[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 16:40, Jul 26, 2004 (EDT)

:It would work something like this. When you enter in a doc, there would be a "this is GFDL" checkbox. That doc would then be under the GFDL and *not* the CC. There are a few problems with this, and it could get complicated quite quickly, so It's not a definite addition at this point, just somehting we are exploring. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 17:50, Jul 26, 2004 (EDT)

Hmmm. That would be possible if it was a new article, and that the changes made to it were also GFDLed. But it would lead to some articles being GFDL, some being CC. A hack, but we're kinda in a corner. I think we'd still be better off contacting the original authors and getting CC permission, since this would increase the number of options available to downstream users (they would be able to use our version under the CC and the original under the GFDL), but I'd be willing to go along if there is consensus for it. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 15:32, Jul 27, 2004 (EDT)
----
How about changing the notice at the bottom of each edit page to ... "WITHOUT PERMISSION from the authors to post under LQWiki's [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0/ Creative Commons] license." You should add that each page is owned by the authors listed in its history. [[User:TomFrayne|TomFrayne]] 09:58, Jul 24, 2004 (EDT)

===Crazyeddie's extended post===
(added sectioning for readability) That would be an ugly hack. I think I'd rather roll our own HOWTOs than go through that. Anyway, I'm looking at this from the point of view of a general solution rather than just importing this one article. Some reasons I think we should contact the article authors and ask for explicit permission:
#The Manifesto is a suggestion or a guideline for the TLDP contributors to use when deciding what licensing scheme to use. It doesn't look like they're too big on enforcing it, or at least a few of the older articles didn't even bother appending a license. It is not a license in and of itself.
#Even if the contributors do follow the Manifesto's guidelines, they don't have to allow modifications.
#They may have released in under a copyleft modifiable license that isn't compatible with the Creative Commons such as the GFDL. I'm not sure, but I don't think the GPL is Creative Commons compatible either.
#Like the manifesto says, the LDP is not the copyright holder, so they can't unilaterally give permission.
#Even if we could use an article without permission, it would be good form to tell the author about it. For example, if the author can no longer maintain or host the original, he or she could tell their users where they could go to get an updated copy. It occurs to me that the LDP could see us as competition. It might be a good idea to stress that they can backport any changes under the Creative Commons. Anybody else have any ideas that might smooth the path?
#Letting an experienced technical writer know about this wiki is a Good Thing. This subproject gives us a good excuse.

:If you would like to start contacting authors of articles you think should be added, please feel free to do so. If you need anything from our end, let me know. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 17:54, Jul 26, 2004 (EDT)

:Okay. I'll use [[Talk:Linux Documentation Project]] as a sort of improvised "command center" in case somebody else wants to help out/take over. A good first step would be to send off a general email to their mailing list. (I'll make sure that I mention that I'm doing this as my own intiative, not as an 'offical' LQwiki project.) If you don't think it's confidental or something, could you send me a copy of the correspondence you had with them? After the general email, I'll try contacting the Advocacy HOWTO's author. If anybody has suggestions on what to incorporate next, head over to the LDP talk and let me know. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 15:23, Jul 27, 2004 (EDT)

:I have a draft email up on [[Talk:Linux Documentation Project]]. Please go idiotproof it everybody! [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 16:14, Jul 27, 2004 (EDT)

::Seems completely idiotless. :) [[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 17:17, Jul 27, 2004 (EDT)

:Have a list of LDP howtos up over at [[Talk:Linux Documentation Project]]. Take a look over and let me know if there is a howto you want me to put on the to-do list. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 18:50, Jul 28, 2004 (EDT)

::Seems like to me the best principle would just be to prioritize them into 'niche interest' and 'outdated for a reason' and then take the remaining generally important and relevant topics and do them in chronological order. A major problem is outdated data and attacking that first would probably be most useful and most suited to wikification. Also, those authors who have abandoned or rarely update their topics might be the most receptive to passing on the maintenance of them, including relicensing or whatever it takes. [[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 22:31, Jul 28, 2004 (EDT)

A bit off the main topic, but one thing I noticed over at the TLDP... It might be wise to have a "No Warranty, As Is" type notice at the bottom of the page, down in the copyright notices. Unlike the Wikipedia (who have a similar notice, but a bit more buried) we're handing out documentation which could cause serious damage if used improperly, or if it is incorrect. In addition to it being a just plain good idea, some of the TLDP articles have that as their sole condition for modification and redistribution. If we actually do have something like that already, well, my friends don't call me "Captain Oblivious" for nothing. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 13:24, Jul 24, 2004 (EDT)

:Good idea - a disclaimer has been added. Thanks. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 12:41, Jul 25, 2004 (EDT)

==Forum Revisited==
Several people have asked about a general LQwiki discussion forum. Does anybody have any objections to using this talk page as such a forum? [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 14:02, Jul 24, 2004 (EDT)

Talk:Main Page

2004-07-27T21:17:40Z

Digiot:

==Talk:Main Page==

==Suggestions for links==
* [[Open source operating systems]] BSD, etc.

----

==Comments==

----
We need to have a link to the user contributed help page on the main page. maybe user contributed help should get it's own namespace? e.g. help:

[[User:Aaron Peterson/Alternate Main Page]]

==Bug Report==

Hi there,
I'm not sure whether I should add bug reports here. However I find it very disturbing that the adress http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Wine and http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/WINE doesn't take me to the same page just as [[Wine]] and [[WINE]] does.

This time I was lucky not to write a lot on the [[WINE]]-page, but I mean sometime someone will get really upset when they realised that everything they䶥 added to a page was written on a different page!

/Jens
:I have changed the WINE page to redirect to Wine. [[User:David ross|David ross]] 13:54, Mar 7, 2004 (EST)
----

That's because an excellent Wine page had already been contributed. You shouldn't be duplicating pages. Contributions are greatly appreciated, but please view all the help and documentation, study the wiki markup and the layout of the top levels, and search to see if your topic has already been covered before diving in. There is no bug - each of those two pairs of addresses goes to each of that pair of pages.

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 07:14, Mar 1, 2004 (EST)

----

On second thought, I was under-valuing the 'plunging forward' aspect. Yeah, better to post twice than not at all. :) My suggestions might be valid, but might have missed the spirit of things a bit.

Still didn't notice a problem with the links though. If there is an issue, reporting the post or possibly leaving a message on an admin's talk page would probably be the best way to go. They'll probably see it here but it's not the most direct way to address them and none of this is relevant to the main page.

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 07:41, Mar 1, 2004 (EST)

----

We should always encourage [[LinuxQuestions.org_Wiki:plunging forward|plunging forward]], but we need to make sure that we are not duplicating effort. The content from the WINE page should be integrated into the Wine page, links updated and WINE removed.

[[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 23:37, Mar 1, 2004 (EST)
==Forum?==

I was just wandering why isn't there a forum of www.linuxquestions.org (one that i can find anyway) for the wiki. I appreciate they are seperate in a way but a forum would be useful.

[[User:Geniarse|generic_genus]] 03:38, Mar 2, 2004 (EST)
----

Do you mean a place to discuss issues/directions about the Wiki itself? - if so, you can check out the new Wiki mailing list here:

http://lists.linuxquestions.org/mailman/listinfo/lqwiki-list

[[User:Skyline|Skyline]] 07:23, Mar 2, 2004 (EST)

==Pound sign question==

Hey all, I don't know what to think about the following issue. If you try to type hash(the thing above the number 3), it won't print. Instead, the number 1 apperars in it's place.

But the funny thing is, the sandbox also shows the number 1 instead of # but here, in the discuss page it shows # as #.

Strange...

[[User:Linuxlala|Linuxlala]]
----
Linuxlala,

The character # (when it is at the start of a line) is interpreted as the beginning of a numbered list and is replaced with a "1" (or another digit if it is one in a series). When it is embedded in a sentence (such as the previous sentence) it is rendered as a "#". If you want to show use it at the beginning of a line without it being interpreted as a list item, use the <pre> <pre> and </pre> </pre> tags around it like:

<pre> # this should show as a hash. </pre>
# this should begin a numbered list.
# a second entry in the numbered list.

[[User:Texastwister|Texastwister]] 15:31, Mar 5, 2004 (EST)
----

Right Texastwister,

I had also posted this in the wiki mailing list and jeremy replied explaining the same to me.

Thanks.

[[User:Linuxlala|Linuxlala]]
Hi all! Enjoy our summer! RESPECT TO ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR WORK! REALLY. Thhanx. I really appreicate your work! Research has to continue. My biggest respect goes to you.

==Spam links==
Just deleted what appeared to be spam links to german horoscope sites. If those were legit, someone let me know. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 03:19, Jul 3, 2004 (EDT)
:That's ok - In order to assess the appropriateness of material, all content must currently be in English, and any external sites which are linked to must also be English language based - [[LinuxQuestions.org_Wiki:Policies#General_policies|General policies]]

:-- [[User:Skyline|Skyline]] 06:23, Jul 3, 2004 (EDT)

==Advocacy article==
Should there be an Advocacy section linked from the Main Page?
--[[User:Bunyip|Bunyip]] 08:52, Jul 23, 2004 (EDT)

===Importing Advocacy article from Linux Documentation Project===
[[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 11:54, Jul 23, 2004 (EDT):Perhaps, but an Advocacy article doesn't exist yet. There's an advocacy article over at the [[Linux Documentation Project]], but we would have to get permission from the author of the article, because it looks like their license is not compatible with Creative Commons. Here's the copyright info:

===TLDP Advocacy HOWTO's copyright information===
This mini-HOWTO is Copyright © 1996-2000 by Paul L. Rogers. All rights reserved.

A verbatim copy may be reproduced or distributed in any medium physical or electronic without permission of the author. Translations are similarly permitted without express permission if it includes a notice on who translated it.

Short quotes may be used without prior consent by the author. Derivative work and partial distributions of the Advocacy mini-HOWTO must be accompanied with either a verbatim copy of this file or a pointer to the verbatim copy.

Commercial redistribution is allowed and encouraged; however, the author would like to be notified of any such distributions.

In short, we wish to promote dissemination of this information through as many channels as possible. However, we do wish to retain copyright on the HOWTO documents, and would like to be notified of any plans to redistribute the HOWTOs.

We further want that all information provided in the HOWTOs is disseminated. If you have questions, please contact Tim Bynum, the Linux HOWTO coordinator, at linux-howto@sunsite.unc.edu.

===Responses===
: The "Derivative work and partial distributions of the Advocacy mini-HOWTO must be accompanied with either a verbatim copy of this file or a pointer to the verbatim copy" bit would seem to indicate that we could add the HOWTO(s) to the wiki (it would become a "Derivative work" after the first edit), as long as we include a link to the original verbatim copy, which should not be a problem.
: [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 15:27, Jul 23, 2004 (EDT)

:Yes, but could we in good faith release it under the Creative Commons and let others reuse it from us? I think you might be right, but I would feel better if we got explicit permission from the author. At least there is a single author, unlike most Wikipedia articles. I was planning on trying to incorporate TLDP HOWTOs, as soon as I got to a certain point in the [[Jargon File]] incorporation, so I've had some time to think about this. Do you have any contacts at TLDP, or should I just email the guy myself? [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 18:34, Jul 23, 2004 (EDT)

===TLDP manifesto===
:: Looking at http://www.tldp.org/manifesto.html I see:
"5. LICENSE REQUIREMENTS

Anyone may copy and distribute (sell or give away) LDP documents (or other LDP works) in any media and/or format. No fees are required to be paid to the authors. It is not required that the documents be modifiable, but it is encouraged.

You can come up with your own license terms that satisfy these conditions, or you can use a previously prepared license. The LDP has a boilerplate license that you can use if you wish. Some people like to use the GPL, while others write their own. There is a project underway to create a special GPL license just for documents and this may turn out to be a good choice.

The copyright for each document should be in the name of the principal authors. "The Linux Documentation Project" isn't a formal entity and thus can't be used as a copyright owner. "

===Responses===
::This seems to fit exactly in with what we want to do. I'll contact TLDP just to verify, however. I'll post the outcome here.
:: [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 00:53, Jul 24, 2004 (EDT)
::: After discussing this with TLDP, I am going to revisit the ability to add GFDL items to the LQ Wiki. Stay tuned. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 12:17, Jul 25, 2004 (EDT)

How would that work? I thought that the Creative Commons/GFDL incompatibility was pretty well established. "East is East and West is West, and ne'er the twain shall meet." As the GFDL and the CC are presently written, material under one can't be released under the other without the permission of the copyright holder (the original author in most cases). There's rumors that the FSF and the Creative Commons people are working on that issue, but until then, we're pretty well stuck with just asking for permission. Not that I would ''mind'' an easier solution, but I just don't think it's possible.[[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 16:40, Jul 26, 2004 (EDT)

:It would work something like this. When you enter in a doc, there would be a "this is GFDL" checkbox. That doc would then be under the GFDL and *not* the CC. There are a few problems with this, and it could get complicated quite quickly, so It's not a definite addition at this point, just somehting we are exploring. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 17:50, Jul 26, 2004 (EDT)

Hmmm. That would be possible if it was a new article, and that the changes made to it were also GFDLed. But it would lead to some articles being GFDL, some being CC. A hack, but we're kinda in a corner. I think we'd still be better off contacting the original authors and getting CC permission, since this would increase the number of options available to downstream users (they would be able to use our version under the CC and the original under the GFDL), but I'd be willing to go along if there is consensus for it. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 15:32, Jul 27, 2004 (EDT)
----
How about changing the notice at the bottom of each edit page to ... "WITHOUT PERMISSION from the authors to post under LQWiki's [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0/ Creative Commons] license." You should add that each page is owned by the authors listed in its history. [[User:TomFrayne|TomFrayne]] 09:58, Jul 24, 2004 (EDT)

===Crazyeddie's extended post===
(added sectioning for readability) That would be an ugly hack. I think I'd rather roll our own HOWTOs than go through that. Anyway, I'm looking at this from the point of view of a general solution rather than just importing this one article. Some reasons I think we should contact the article authors and ask for explicit permission:
#The Manifesto is a suggestion or a guideline for the TLDP contributors to use when deciding what licensing scheme to use. It doesn't look like they're too big on enforcing it, or at least a few of the older articles didn't even bother appending a license. It is not a license in and of itself.
#Even if the contributors do follow the Manifesto's guidelines, they don't have to allow modifications.
#They may have released in under a copyleft modifiable license that isn't compatible with the Creative Commons such as the GFDL. I'm not sure, but I don't think the GPL is Creative Commons compatible either.
#Like the manifesto says, the LDP is not the copyright holder, so they can't unilaterally give permission.
#Even if we could use an article without permission, it would be good form to tell the author about it. For example, if the author can no longer maintain or host the original, he or she could tell their users where they could go to get an updated copy. It occurs to me that the LDP could see us as competition. It might be a good idea to stress that they can backport any changes under the Creative Commons. Anybody else have any ideas that might smooth the path?
#Letting an experienced technical writer know about this wiki is a Good Thing. This subproject gives us a good excuse.

:If you would like to start contacting authors of articles you think should be added, please feel free to do so. If you need anything from our end, let me know. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 17:54, Jul 26, 2004 (EDT)

:Okay. I'll use [[Talk:Linux Documentation Project]] as a sort of improvised "command center" in case somebody else wants to help out/take over. A good first step would be to send off a general email to their mailing list. (I'll make sure that I mention that I'm doing this as my own intiative, not as an 'offical' LQwiki project.) If you don't think it's confidental or something, could you send me a copy of the correspondence you had with them? After the general email, I'll try contacting the Advocacy HOWTO's author. If anybody has suggestions on what to incorporate next, head over to the LDP talk and let me know. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 15:23, Jul 27, 2004 (EDT)

:I have a draft email up on [[Talk:Linux Documentation Project]]. Please go idiotproof it everybody! [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 16:14, Jul 27, 2004 (EDT)

::Seems completely idiotless. :) [[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 17:17, Jul 27, 2004 (EDT)

A bit off the main topic, but one thing I noticed over at the TLDP... It might be wise to have a "No Warranty, As Is" type notice at the bottom of the page, down in the copyright notices. Unlike the Wikipedia (who have a similar notice, but a bit more buried) we're handing out documentation which could cause serious damage if used improperly, or if it is incorrect. In addition to it being a just plain good idea, some of the TLDP articles have that as their sole condition for modification and redistribution. If we actually do have something like that already, well, my friends don't call me "Captain Oblivious" for nothing. [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 13:24, Jul 24, 2004 (EDT)

:Good idea - a disclaimer has been added. Thanks. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 12:41, Jul 25, 2004 (EDT)

==Forum Revisited==
Several people have asked about a general LQwiki discussion forum. Does anybody have any objections to using this talk page as such a forum? [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 14:02, Jul 24, 2004 (EDT)

Filter

2004-07-27T19:58:27Z

Digiot: This sucks, but I'm in a hurry. ;) (Such a hurry I'm posting backwards)

A '''filter''' is a program used to transform data in a [[pipe]]. For instance,

<tt>$ grep -v ^\# $IN | cut -d\/ -f6 | sort -k2 >> $OUT</tt>

[[Grep]] reads out only the uncommented portion of $IN and [[cut]] selects elements from each line, and [[sort]] processes them in order, resulting in $OUT. Filters are frequently used in Unix text processing, in anything from formatting man pages to preparing documents for printing.

{{msg:stub}}

Redirect

2004-07-27T19:57:23Z

Digiot: This *really* sucks, but I'm still in a hurry. (And I could swear this has been done.)

A '''redirect''' is an example of redirection and redirection is, for instance, the mechanism whereby output is sent to a different destination than its default. For instance, [[echo]]'s standard output is directed to the screen whereas the [[shell]], with a [[redirection operator]] can send that to, among other places, a file.

<tt>$ echo foo > bar</tt>

sends foo to bar rather than the screen.

{{msg:stub}}

Hardware

2004-07-27T19:39:33Z

Digiot: editing link for a move

Parent: [[Hardware TOC]]
==Hardware General==
===Hardware Compatibility List (HCL)===
*[[Hardware Compatibility List]]
*[http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/index.php LinuxQuestions.org HCL : Product Reviews].
===Hardware Recommendations===
*[[Hardware_Recommendations]]
===Hardware configuration===
*[[Hardware configuration]]
===New Hardware===
*[[New Hardware]]
===Linux Laptops===
*[http://www.linuxlaptops.org Linux Laptops]
===Linux On Laptops, Notebooks, PDAs and Mobile Phones===
*TuxMobil: [http://tuxmobil.org/ Linux On Laptops, Notebooks, PDAs and Mobile Phones]
===Ports of Linux===
*[http://perso.wanadoo.es/xose/linux/linux_ports.html Ports of Linux]

==Hardware devices==
===Input devices===
* [[Configuring mice (Serial, PS/2, USB)]]
* [[Configuring keyboards]]

===Graphics cards===
* [[3D graphics acceleration]]
* [[framebuffer]] device
* [[Configuring TV out]]
* [[Using multiple monitors with XFree86]]
* [[Video For Linux]]

===Sound===
* [[Open Sound System]]
* [[Advanced Linux Sound Architecture]]

===Printers===
* [[Adding local printers]]
* [[Adding network printers]]
* [[Troubleshooting printers]]

===Disks/Volumes===
* [[IDE]] vs [[SCSI]] vs [[SATA]]
* [[IDE Tree Mapping]]
* [[IDE CD Writer]] (ATAPI)
* [[LVM]]
* [[RAID]]
* [[File Systems]]
* [[USB Flash drive]]

===Busses===
* [[PCI]]
* [[PCMCIA]] (laptops addon cards)
* [[MCA]] (Micro Channel Architecture, old IBM PS2s)
* [[Firewire]] (400 and 800)
* [[ADB]] (old macintosh)
* [[Sun Peripherals]] type 3 type 4 type 5
* [[USB]] Universal Serial Bus
* [[AGP]] Accelerated Graphics Port
* [[IDE bus]] / [[ATA]] and [[ATAPI]].

===[[Power Management]]===
* [[ACPI]]
* [[APM]]

===Scanners===
* [[Scanners]]

== Tools/Tips ==
*[[lspci]]
*[[scanpci]]
*[[Hotplug|Hotplugging]] hardware
*[[Automatic Hardware Configuration]] tools.
*[[Quieting linux]]

Troubleshooting

2004-07-27T19:39:25Z

Digiot: moved to "Troubleshooting_printers"

#REDIRECT [[Troubleshooting_printers]]

Troubleshooting printers

2004-07-27T19:38:59Z

Digiot: formatting, wikification

==Note on basics==
Cables, paper and power: I didn't think I needed to say this but after confusing my card reader [[USB]] cable with my printer USB cable I decided to put in a note about checking the basics.

==Parallel ports==
If the [[printer]] is connected to a pc via a parallel cable you can test the printer and the cable by sending data directly to the port. A similar technique can be used for printers with other kinds of connections.

If this works with a three page document then it's probably safe to assume the hardware is working. If the printer only prints the first page of a multipage document then it is most likely a cable or [[BIOS]] setting issue.

Because most computers have a single [[parallel port]] your Linux distribution most likely installed it as the file /dev/lp0. The kernel modules parport, parport-pc and lp (character device) are required.

Dot matrix impact, PCL and [[postscript]] printers will usually take plain [[text]] as input. You can also try using a [[filter]] to create a file for these printers. Most programs in Linux create a postscript file when one prints to a file. This file can be sent directly to a postscript printer but most likely will lack any printer specific command such as changing the paper tray. If the commands don't work as a regular user try using them as [[root]] and check the [[permissions]] on the port and your files.

Example: 
<tt>root# cat test.txt > /dev/lp0</tt>

Most printers sold today will not take plain text files and a printer specific file must be created. Read the documentation and [[manpage]]s for the file or filter you are using. It is helpful to make a one line [[shell script]] to contain all the options for your filter. For my printer I have one line (that wraps) in a file. The [[gs]] command is used to convert the postscript file to a raw intermediate file that is then interpretted by the min12xxw filter program to create a file in the secret minolta language.

Note it is a single line. [[Redirect]]ing the postscript file into the pstomin shell script creates file.min which should be renamed to avoid overwriting.

One line shell script for a Minolta Pagepro 1350W:

<tt>
root# cat pstomin 
gs -q -dBATCH -dSAFER -dQUIET -dNOPAUSE -sPAPERSIZE=letter -r1200 -sDEVICE=pbmraw -sOutputFile=- -| min12xxw -r 1200 > file.min 
root# ./pstomin < threepage.ps 
root# mv file.min threepage.min 
root# cat threepage.min > /dev/lp0
</tt>

Progressively try a short one line file, a one page file and a three page file. If the printer works with the shorter files only then most likely you have a cable or physical connection problem.

The original parallel ports were rather simple unidirectional ports. They
are fine for dot matrix printers and probably work with PCL and Postscript printers however chances are you don't have one of these on your computer
unless your parallel port is from the early 1980's.

The bidirectional ports allow the device to send data back to the printer
and our higher speed. Modern computers usually have a setting in the BIOS that
allows switching of the port mode.
*SPP is the older slower style.
*EPP is intended for non-printing devices like scanners.
*ECP is intended for printers. Most "Windows" printers use this.
With only a printer connected to your parallel port try ECP first.
If you have a printer and scanner connected to the same port you can try ECP/EPP.

If a cable does not say ''IEEE1284'' then you can probably assume it is intended for unidirectional communication and will not work with many printers.

If your cable works with one printer and not another then it could be that the cable is not intended for higher speeds.

If the parport module is installed (use [[lsmod]] to check) then software is probably not an issue.

Print server note: A print [[server]] can be "regular" computer connected to the network or a little box with connections for a parallel port and the [[network]]. Using the same parallel cable connect the printer to a pc to test the cable and printer.

==USB ports==
The method above for sending a file to a parallel port can be used to send a file to a usb port. If you only have one printer the port is most likely /dev/usb/lp0.

Here is an example. pstomin is a little one line shell script for my printer. Your command line will be different. It is a single line.

Example: 
<tt>
jjm@debian:~$ cat pstomin 
gs -q -dBATCH -dSAFER -dQUIET -dNOPAUSE -sPAPERSIZE=letter -r1200 -sDEVICE=pbmraw -sOutputFile=- -| min12xxw -r 1200 > file.min 
jjm@debian:~$ ./pstomin < resume3.ps 
jjm@debian:~$ mv file.min file3.min 
mv: overwrite `file3.min', overriding mode 0644? y 
jjm@debian:~$ cat file3.min > /dev/usb/lp0
</tt>

Try it as root and check permissions on /dev/usb/lp0 if it doesn't work at all.

Make sure you are sending the kind of file you need for your printer. Many of todays printers will not take a plain text file.

==Serial ports==
You can cat a file like to the port just like with a parallel or usb port.
Printers with a serial connection usually use an add on card. Check to see if it is properly installed. You may have to remove a cover plate or the entire case of the printer to get to the card. Check [[dip switches]]. Many serial cables are wired for specific applications and may not be the proper cable for your printer.

==See also==
*[[CUPS]]
*[[LPD]]
*[[SMB]]
*[[Adding local printers]]
*[[Adding network printers]]

In the beginning was the command line

2004-07-25T00:04:41Z

Digiot: flip and modify end stuff

'''''In the Beginning was the Command Line''''' has been perceived by many as an excellent essay about the history of computing. Written in 1999 by [[hacker]] novelist Neal Stephenson, it's still seen as relevant today, and many would say it should be read by everyone with an interest or involvement in computers.

The orignal essay was written as [[slashdot]] post, and was later expanded by Stephenson into a small commerical book.

===See also:===

* [[command line]]
* [[history]]
* [[linux books]]

===External links:===

*[http://www.spack.org/wiki/InTheBeginningWasTheCommandLine The original slashdot essay of "In the beginning was the command line" ''(I think?)'']

*[http://www.cryptonomicon.com/beginning.html The expanded version]

TuxNES

2004-07-24T23:18:51Z

Digiot: format overhaul, general touching up

'''TuxNES''' is a work-in-progress. It is designed to emulate NES games on Linux. FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD support is coming. It only supports the x86 architechture.

==Features==

TuxNES has support for CPU overclocking, joysticks, multiple players (on the same machine, network multiplayer is coming), screen captures, battery saving, trainer support, multiple palettes, and has disassembler support.

It can save/read in the iNES file format, read ZIP and GZIP files, has up to 5 sound channels, and features a GUI.

==External links==

[http://tuxnes.sourceforge.net/ Main Page] 
[http://tuxnes.sourceforge.net/download.php Download] 
[http://tuxnes.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php Screenshots]

Netscape

2004-07-24T22:27:15Z

Digiot:

'''Netscape''', aka Netscape Communications Corporation, was a company that pioneered the commercial graphical [[Web browser]], following [http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ.html#browser other browser]'s graphical pioneering. It has since been bought out by [[AOL]] after it was crushed by [[Microsoft]] in the first [[browser wars]]. After it was realized that they would lose the browser wars against Internet Explorer, Netscape [[open source]]d their Communicator program suite, creating the [[Mozilla]] project. The community discovered that the code base was virtually unusable from the effects of too many hastily added [[feature]]s and [[hack]]ed [[bugfix]]es, so the codebase was scrapped, and work started over. The work finally paid off, years later, and the present day Netscape browser is based on Mozilla instead of the other way around. The Netscape browser has always worked on Linux and other Unix sytems though the current emphasis of the [[Mozilla Foundation]] (with the newer [[Firebird]] browser) is arguably targeted at [[Windows]].

==External links==
*http://www.netscape.com/

 
''This article is a [[LQWiki:stub_articles|stub]] and needs to be finished. [[LQWiki:plunging_forward|Plunge forward]] and [[LQWiki:How_to_edit_a_page|help it grow]] !''

Pypanel

2004-07-24T20:35:45Z

Digiot: init

'''PyPanel''' is a panel (or toolbar/taskbar) written in [[Python]] and [[C]]. Features include a desktop pager, clock, system tray, and task buttons. It also sports a great deal of configurability, including the positions of all those elements (and whether the panel as a whole is at the top or bottom), the colors of text, the presence or absence of icons in the bar as well as transparency and shading. Button actions are also configurable and it can be hidden to the right or left borders. Dependencies are only Python (naturally) and Python X Lib.

==External links==

[http://sourceforge.net/projects/python-xlib Python X Lib] 
[http://pypanel.sourceforge.net/ PyPanel]

Applications

2004-07-24T20:35:37Z

Digiot: added category

Use the pages leading from this section to collect notes and information on common Linux software!
Please read the [[LinuxQuestions.org_Wiki:Do's and Dont's]] before editing this page.

===Development===
* [[Compiler]]
* [[Integrated Development Environment]]
* [[Web development]]

===Multimedia Applications===
* 3D Graphics
** [[3D modeling]]
* 2DGraphics
** [[Image browser]]
** [[Image manipulation]]
* Audio
** [[Music player]]
** [[Sound server]]
** [[Midi]]
** [[Audio editor]]
** [[Synthesis]]
* Video
** [[Video capture]]
** [[Video editor]]
** [[Video player]]

===Networking===
* Client
** [[Email client]]
** [[Instant Messaging]]
** [[Internet Relay Chat]]
** [[Web browser]]

*Server
** [[Web Server]]
** [[Mail Server]]
** [[FTP Server]]
** [[Proxy Server]]

*Peer to peer
** [[File sharing]]

===Office and Productivity===
* [[Database]]
* [[Database tools]]
* [[Editor|Text Editor]]
* [[Office suite]]
* [[Personal Information Management]]
* [[Spreadsheet]]
* [[Text processing]]
* [[Word processor]]
* [[Presentation]]

===Utilities===
* [[Backup]]
* [[CD/DVD Burning]]
* [[File manager]]
* [[Installing Software]]
* [[System configuration]]
* [[System Statistics]]
* [[Terminal emulator]]

===Miscellaneous===
* [[Emulation]]
* [[PVR]]
* [[Scientific applications]]
* [[Silly applications]]

===X (GUI)===

* [[Desktop environment]]s
* [[Window manager]]s
* [[X utilities]]

* '''[[X Window System]]'''
**[[General Tips]]
**[[Programming in X]] 
**[[Configuring X|Configuring]] 
**[[Screenshots]]
**[[Remote desktop connection]]

----
* [[Useful Sites]]
* [[Linux software equivalent to Windows software]]

Hack

2004-07-10T01:29:33Z

Digiot:

A '''hack''' is usually used to describe any clever bit of coding. It may be used in a negative sense to mean an overly clever or insufficiently refined bit of coding as well (e.g.: this is a hack; I'll fix it later). More commonly in the mass media, a 'hack' is used to describe a means of breaking into a system. The same grouping of ultimately contradictory meanings applies to 'hacker'. And, as a 'black-hat' hacker is more usefully referred to as a '[[crack]]er', so the malicious hack is a crack.

LQWiki:FAQ

2004-06-24T03:40:01Z

Digiot:

As we get questions we will build a [[FAQ]] here.
----
Q: What is the best way to reach administrators? Where can I make suggestions/complaints? Where is general policy decided?

A: The [http://lists.linuxquestions.org/mailman/listinfo/lqwiki-list Mailing-list].

----
Q: I need a help link that explains the editing syntax of this wiki. Where is it?

A: [[Wiki markup]]

----
Q: How do you delete a redundant page? I accindentally created a page that was already covered. I now want to remove it. Nothing liks to the page anymore, but it still exists. I could not find it in the Wiki documentation anywhere.

A: Looks like it's an [http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta:Deletion_policy admin-only option]. Presumably there's some way to request a deletion. Meantime, I guess you could [http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/LinuxQuestions.org_Wiki:How_to_use_a_redirect redirect] your accidental page to the existing one. See also http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redirect redirect for more information.

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Q: What about #REDIRECTS(s) to pages that don't exist send you to that page in edit mode rather than displaying the soon to be redirected away from page with a list of the form:

1. REDIRECT Page To Redirect To?

A: Not sure I understand your question, but hopefully this will help:
You can create a redirect page to a page that doesn't exist yet. However, it will take you straight to the edit section of the nonexistent page. Until someone either changes the redirect or writes some content in the new page, it'll stay like that.

Note that you can't have a list of options on a redirect page, only one redirect is allowed, otherwise the redirect page is invalid.

See also [[LinuxQuestions.org_Wiki:How_to_use_a_redirect]]

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Q: What software is being used for this Wiki?

A: http://sourceforge.net/projects/wikipedia/

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Q: Why are all the articles in the root directory instead of being categorized like http://kb.mozillazine.org does it?

A: Mainly because we haven't set up a guideline for categorizing stuff. mozillazine uses the same software, just a different theme, so it all depends on how the users lay out stuff. If you wanted to categorize your stuff just stick a colon in the title like I did with [[IpodLinux]]'s documentation and screenshots. --[[User:Flonejek|Flonejek]] 16:38, May 3, 2004 (EDT)

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Q: How would I highlight code, is there any standard mechanism for highlighting code? (I already checked help pages) --[[User:Flonejek|Flonejek]] 09:25, May 3, 2004 (EDT)

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Q: How do I sign my messages?

A: With 4 tildes <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> goes to [[User:Flonejek|Flonejek]] 16:38, May 3, 2004 (EDT). I always stick two dashes in front of mine, I dunno why. --[[User:Flonejek|Flonejek]] 16:38, May 3, 2004 (EDT)
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Q: Which Wiki Version are you (wiki.linuxquestions.org) using?

A: 1.2.5.

LQWiki:Deletion log

2004-06-24T03:14:15Z

Digiot:

Re: PiC - Just a link shuffle with no actual contents really changed. Free up a redirect slot to switch around redirects.

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 18:18, Mar 19, 2004 (EST)

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Re: some file system redirect or another: it began life as a 'see also', became a redirect, has been edited five times and still shows up on the broken redirect page. Now it doesn't. Complete history follows.

* (cur) (last) . . M 23:38, Mar 19, 2004 . . Digiot
* (cur) (last) . . M 01:13, Mar 19, 2004 . . Digiot (broken redirect)
* (cur) (last) . . 03:50, Mar 15, 2004 . . Dysprosia (fix redir)
* (cur) (last) . . M 03:49, Mar 15, 2004 . . Dysprosia (redir)
* (cur) (last) . . 02:23, Mar 15, 2004 . . AaronPeterson (see instead ..filesystems..)

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 23:43, Mar 19, 2004 (EST)

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Removed "Wiki_war" from the main namespace. Page not needed.
[[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 12:08, Mar 24, 2004 (EST)
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Deleted "Shorewall configuration tool for netfilter" by request - does seem unlikely to be used. :)
[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 18:00, Mar 25, 2004 (EST)

Deleted "Finn" - like the similarly deleted "America", geography is just not the point. [[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 18:26, Mar 25, 2004 (EST)
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Oh. I thought I'd already done that, but it was "America" - now deleted "US" and "Philadelphia" and maybe some more geography.

Also a page whose title was a typo. The Nixius whoozits.

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 17:46, Mar 26, 2004 (EST)

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Removed "Wiki War I". Page not needed. [[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 05:04, Mar 30, 2004 (EST)

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Removed "Back_links". Nothing to do with Linux and a duplicate page.
[[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 00:32, Apr 1, 2004 (EST)
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Removed redundant 'Black hole wiki' - see [http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Special:Deadendpages Dead-end Pages].
[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 00:43, Apr 1, 2004 (EST)

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Removed "Configuring and using su and sudo" content has been moved to Su"
[[User:David ross|David ross]] 16:03, Apr 4, 2004 (EDT)

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Removed "Basic Linux filesystem permissions" - content dealt with similarly to "Configuring and using su and sudo"
[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 03:45, Apr 5, 2004 (EDT)

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Removed 'New:software development'. Article is a copy of one from the main namespace (Software development); article creates a new namespace
[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 03:48, Apr 5, 2004 (EDT)
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deleted LinuxQuestions.org Wiki:Recentchanges by initiator's request [[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 10:15, Apr 8, 2004 (EDT)
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Removed "Screen shot" - unnecessary duplication of page - the information could quite easily have been incorporated on the existing "Screenshot" page (have made a quick merge onto the existing page so the information is still all there)
[[User:Skyline|Skyline]] 09:11, Apr 9, 2004 (EDT)
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Deleted 'Wiki Housekeeping'

We have a help page accessible from the main menu with subsections that include
editing help and a discussion of features. We also have a page to deal with
section suggestions and anyone's free to create an article. Since these were the
sole points of the page, I'm deleting it.

Deleted 'Wiki Help'

There is an editing help page with many references to it. The LQ forums are
accesible via the icon at the top, the root of the navbar at the top, and
similarly have many references to it. Since these were the sole points of the
page, I'm deleting it.

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 06:42, Apr 20, 2004 (EDT)

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Deleted LQO: LQ Central since it didn't have the history of the original Help page, which should be preserved.

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 12:12, Apr 25, 2004 (EDT)

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Deleted Linux Questions Wiki History: orphaned page whose contents were redundant with LinuxQuestions.org_Wiki:History.

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 13:35, Apr 25, 2004 (EDT)

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Deleted 'LinuxQuestions.org Wiki:Copyright Information' - merged content with 'Copyrights'.

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 19:20, Apr 26, 2004 (EDT)

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Deleted 'Binary compatability' typo redirect

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 19:33, Apr 26, 2004 (EDT)

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Deleted 'User:Sbsummer' - spam

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 11:40, Apr 28, 2004 (EDT)
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Deleted 'User:Seoda' and its talk page - spam
[[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 11:21, May 3, 2004 (EDT)
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Deleted "Ppc" - we've already got a page on this from March 9th - any useful content has been merged onto that page - [[User:Skyline|Skyline]] 10:50, May 17, 2004 (EDT)
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Deleted some of my old ''demo'' pages on the Wiki markup guide ie Markup 1,2,3 - [[User:Skyline|Skyline]] 22:03, May 21, 2004 (EDT)
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Moved the ''content'' from "Housetier" to the member's own User page - more appropriately displayed there - deleted now redundant page - [[User:Skyline|Skyline]] 20:35, May 28, 2004 (EDT)
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Deleted page on "Oracle" and left note on member's talk page about this - questions are more appropriate for the forums - content was - ''I installed oracle developer in redhat linux 9 but I have a problem with arabic, arabic data is not coming properly in the forms'' - [[User:Skyline|Skyline]] 03:07, Jun 13, 2004 (EDT)
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Deleted a lone FAQ-like question, moving contents to [[LinuxQuestions.org_Wiki:FAQ]] --[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 23:14, Jun 23, 2004 (EDT)
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LQWiki:FAQ

2004-06-24T03:12:12Z

Digiot: moved content from deleted 'WikiVersion'

Mandriva

2004-06-24T03:11:59Z

Digiot: deleted irrelevant link

'''Mandrake''' Linux was created in 1998 with the goal of making [[Linux]] easier to use for everyone. At that time, Linux was still a developer's [[operating system]] and sound knowledge of the [[CLI]] was a must.

[http://www.mandrakesoft.com MandrakeSoft] (the company which produces the Mandrake [[distribution]]) saw this as an opportunity to integrate the best graphical [[desktop environment]]s and contribute its own graphical configuration utilities and quickly became popular for setting the standard in ease-of-use and functionality. In order to achieve this they forked from [[Red Hat]], retained the [[RPM]]-based [[package]] management, and evolved from there.

It was one of the first distributions to be optimized for [[i586]] [[processor]]s (and superior). It developed a graphical installation process recognized by many as the best available, with advanced and efficient hardware detection. Mandrake Linux was also the first rpm-based distribution to provide automatic resolution of dependencies, with urpmi, which debuted in version 7.2. urpmi is now capable of updating the entire distribution, installing security updates, and many other features. A graphical interface to urpmi is provided in rpmdrake (and the MandrakeUpdate tool specifically for security updates).

The [[GPL]] (General Public License) governs the development and redistribution of Mandrake Linux and Mandrake Linux is community-driven to a large degree. Non-MandrakeSoft contributors have write access to packages in the main distribution, commit access to Mandrake's own tools in [[CVS]], full bug tracking rights in [http://qa.mandrakesoft.com Mandrake's bugzilla] and the [http://qa.mandrakesoft.com/wiki Mandrake Development wiki]. Over half the packages in the entire distribution (combining "main" and "contrib") are maintained by the community. For non-developers, support is available from the unofficial [http://mandrake.vmlinuz.ca Mandrake community wiki] and the [http://www.mandrakeusers.org Mandrake Users Board].

Although many see Mandrake as only a desktop-oriented distribution (and one of the best [[distribution]]s for the home desktop), a number of features give Mandrake some advantages over other distributions on servers. Successful cases of the use of Mandrake in business settings (in both desktop and server roles) are documented at [http://mandrakebizcases.com/ this site].

Distributions similar to Mandrake include:

*[[Red Hat]]
*[[SuSE]]
*[[Lorma]]
*[[Libranet]]

==Latest major release==
The latest major release of Mandrakelinux is '''Mandrakelinux 10'''. You can find out more information about this in the [http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/features.php3 Mandrakelinux 10.0 Presentation & Features].

==External links==
*[http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en-us/ Official website]
*[http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en-us/concept.php3 Further information]
*[http://www.madpenguin.org/cms/html/47/1040.html Mandrake 10 review] - from Madpenguin.org

User talk:Digiot

2004-06-19T23:56:19Z

Digiot:

Okay, I think I understand what these pages are for now. [[User_talk:aaa|aaa]]'s got some nice rules but I only ask for <nowiki>----</nowiki> dividers and maybe a <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>. I'd appreciate any advice, opinions, corrections, feedback.

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 03:40, Feb 25, 2004 (EST)

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Horizontal dividers and Tildes should be sufficient to create readable Talk pages. (nice Unix history)

[[User:Skyline|Skyline]] 11:50, Feb 25, 2004 (EST)

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Thanks. :)

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 20:57, Feb 25, 2004 (EST)

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Could you please delete [[Pi in C]] so [[PiC]] can be moved there in its place? Thanks [[User:Dysprosia|Dysprosia]] 17:43, Mar 19, 2004 (EST)

I don't know that it really matters which direction a redirect points. But since its two links against one, I guess it might as well be unanimous.

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 18:20, Mar 19, 2004 (EST)

: Thanks for that. It's generally a matter of what looks better, and consistency - for example, "GoodCProgrammingPractice" or "Good C programming practice"... [[User:Dysprosia|Dysprosia]] 19:33, Mar 19, 2004 (EST)

:: I don't understand why people like the first one - I have seen other wikis where this is the norm and to me it looks BizarreAndTotallyUnreadable. [[User:LordK|LordK]] 15:01, Apr 5, 2004 (EDT)
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woah...
if external hyperlinks are not represented as such.. there is something wrong...
this wiki has no navigation structure... we need to keep an unobtrusive method of doing so.. i.e. compact, yet descriptive.

We really need [[back links]] but that doesn't look like it's going to happen...

If your following the Manual Of Style.. then I can't deal with this wiki, it's worthless to me... because of navigation issues

dude, you say you're ammeture with some computing stuff in your user page...
I've been doing wiki's intensly for about 2 years now... we need to have external links shown as such--> full URLs 
we are wasting a lot of time doing otherwise 

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External hyperlinks are represented with remarkable clarity by labelling them 'External links' as per the MoS. The site has a navigation structure of a topical main page and naturally included links, preferably in the main body of the article where actual ''content'' is presented and, failing that, in the 'See also' section - again, as per the MoS.

I'm sorry we don't meet your needs. Yes, strangely enough, we do follow the MoS that was worked on by several people and checked out with the community at large prior to adoption. It is still a work in progress. Perhaps one day it will suit you.

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 05:47, Mar 24, 2004 (EST)

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Nowhere did I say I was new to computing. I suspect I got my first computer before you were born but that's neither here nor there. My computing experience or lack thereof has nothing to do with the fact that I was charged by the owner of this site to help maintain it and I'm ''trying'' to do that and to help you out at '''this''' Wiki.

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 05:51, Mar 24, 2004 (EST)

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Amateur. Yes. Amateur does not mean 'new' - it means I do not administer Linux for pay. I do not participate at this site for pay. I do it because I love Linux. Could you please add comments rather than editing them into that single post?

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 05:55, Mar 24, 2004 (EST)

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The power of the wiki comes from our ability to fix errors... If ya'll wanted a forum, just grab a forum software suite.

The history of the errors is built into the wiki. It stores diffs. If you want to see what I said in haste, go ahead and view the diff... I know that you can see that, so I tagged a little: "I'm sorry" to my note.

(yes, I make mistakes, and many of them are agrevating, but I like to go fix them)

Note, there is nothing that says you are an administrator on this site from what I've seen... I believe you when you say that you are... but note, the "owner" of the wiki has placed the responsibility of maintaining the wiki to us all.

: Well, I guess I'd be the "owner" you speak of. While the power of wiki clear is in the ability for all to contribute, we need to have some sort of a standard format to keeps things readable and useful. Note that you do not neccessarily have to enter info into the wiki in the MoS format, but it *will* get changed into that format by someone. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 11:56, Mar 24, 2004 (EST)

I'm sticking to my guns about when to use fully formed links, and when not to.
note, it's not worth my time to go back continually and fix pages that get broken, neither is it for you.

Thank you for backing down temporarily on the midi page, we can resume this more civily, and I have other wiki's to work on if you don't want me here. I just know that empty pages well linked to eachother offer way more information to users than full articles with no navigation

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Just so you don't think I'm trying to deceive you: [[LQWiki:Administrators]].

I understand that regarding diffs, but Talk pages are a bit different from article pages. (We ''do'' already have forum software - [http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/index.php?s= LQ].

It's not at all that you're not wanted here. As I say, it's just a different manner of suggesting changes might be helpful. We want all the contributions we can get. It's not a question of whether this formatting or that formatting is right - yours may well be the better option. But until such time as explicitly stated policies (and we have so few that this not restrictive) are explicitly changed, it's best not to go trying to force those changes. That's my main point.

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 06:30, Mar 24, 2004 (EST)

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wow, you sure protected that markup page fast... but it is asking for fixes! geez.. at least make a clone of all of these protected pages that are editable, and choose from the changes that you like... it looks like you are blocking all changes.

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"but note, the "owner" of the wiki has placed the responsibility of maintaining the wiki to us all."

I forgot to comment on this while trying to find links. Your absolutely right and that's an excellent point. But it's all of us ''together'' - in discussion rather than conflict. :)

As far as the protection, that was only a temporary move. At that point I wasn't sure where things were going. ;) I agree it's not a casual or helpful thing to do in general.

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 06:34, Mar 24, 2004 (EST)

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509 332 7697 (WA USA) alpeterson@wsu.edu, (IM: incinerated@yahoo.com ICQ 2302806, aaron_pet@hotmail.com )

I need to go to bed, or move along with other projects, feel free to contact me over IM
--AaronPeterson

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Oh. Okay. I was going to say I'd unprotected the page and was just going to ask that if you see missing things feel free to add them but if you see things you want to explicitly ''change'' - in other words, a principle's already been expressed and you want something different - just please post your suggestions on the Talk page or to the mailing list to get a feel for how everybody else feels before making the change.

Take it easy. I'm going to be heading out, too. :)

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 06:40, Mar 24, 2004 (EST)

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When you redirected [[Books]] you effectively deleted the content that was there!
can those books be added to the list?

Forking is not bad!!! having similar names is a way to fork!!! If you would have just said See Instead: [[Linux Books]] I would have been totally happy... this is an example of nuking a page... even though it didnt' hurt anything!
[[User:AaronPeterson|AaronPeterson]] 22:39, Mar 29, 2004 (EST)
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That might be true if there had been any content to delete.

While 'plunging forward' and leaving 'stub pages' is encouraged to an extent, you have to understand that people will be coming here for knowledge. If they click on nothing but a dozen stubs in a row they're going to be rightly annoyed. Similarly, duplication of effort is not good. They don't want to read 16 pages of almost identical content and most of us don't want to write it.

And you can't be carving out your own little kingdom of Aaronland in the continent of LQWiki, Aaron. There is just one LQWiki and we all have to work together on a single collaborative work made up of divergent views. But the point is for those views to converge ultimately in the best Wiki we can make. Not to make a truly 80s Unix-like split of redundancy and incompatibility.

It sounds like you want your own web page rather than a Wiki, but you'll have to do that on your own time and with your own resources and not use this Wiki as a free webhost. Again, this isn't to say you're not welcome and not welcome to express your own opinions. But, as I've said several times, you need to build a consensus behind those opinions, not willfully enact them on your own.

I'm about to go on an editing binge. It is not personal. It is not any 'wiki war'. It is just enacting principles that were established before you got here and which the community has yet to see fit to change and that you've been told about repeatedly.

[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 05:01, Mar 30, 2004 (EST)

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We are obiously on line at the same time right now, irc.freenode.net @linuxquestions, we'll make a private chat, I'm MrDarkUser (or some variant there of) or call me 509 332 7697, or IM me, My contact info should be up on this page somewhere, and it's on the list. It's not right to be flaming without actually talking... call me and do a callerid block if you don't trust me, or I'll freakin buy you a phone card and you can use a pay phone.
: This excludes everyone else from the conversation. That's why we have the mailing list. [[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]] 13:53, Apr 7, 2004 (EDT)
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See the Sysop mailing list for were we're up to ;) - Sky

[[User:Skyline|Skyline]] 12:00, Apr 25, 2004 (EDT)
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==Community Commons==
I've set up a prototype "Community Commons" page that you might want to check out. [[LQWiki:Community Commons]] I'll eventually send an email to the mailing list about it, but it'll be at least Monday before I do. I guess that gives me time to repent ;-) I also made a prototype Village Pump-style Forum: [[LQWiki:Forums]] [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 01:45, Jun 19, 2004 (EDT)

:Interesting stuff. It may well generate some extra work and it somewhat overlaps some other areas of the site, but I can see how it would be useful. Kind of a mix. I left some more comments on the talk page of the Commons page. --[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 19:56, Jun 19, 2004 (EDT)

LQWiki talk:Community Commons

2004-06-19T23:56:13Z

Digiot:

==Who's Who==
Er, to take pre-emptive action against possible flames regarding a potential gaffe of mine:

After poking around looking for a list of admins, I've come to the conclusion that my categories of admin/mod may differ from everbody else's. By admin, I mean the people who run the actual underlying machinery that keeps the Wiki alive: the web server, the sql database, the wiki code, etc. By mods, I mean the people who cleanup the average contributor's messes. From the mailing-list, I've gotten the impression that Jeremy is at least the main admin, might have some help (Mike possibly?)

Sorry for any confusion. I suppose that my confusion is a good reason for this section.[[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 01:39, Jun 19, 2004 (EDT)

:Jeremy's the most exalted supreme cheese. David is the grand vizier. That dynamic duo handles the backend. So they're admins and the rest of the sysops just op the sys.

:I've been kind of out of the loop lately so I don't know how much of this will fly, but I figured I could straighten that much out. And, if I'm wrong, maybe Jeremy or somebody will straighten me out. ;) --[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 19:56, Jun 19, 2004 (EDT)

LQWiki:Community Commons

2004-06-19T23:56:04Z

Digiot:

==Intro==

''This page is a prototype of a Community Commons page. In theory, this page will be locked down as a special page, and pretty-uped with actual html. But for now, feel free to edit it. The purpose of this page is to give a glimpse behind the scenes of the main wiki, and to encourage a feeling of community amongst the contributors. (Not that there isn't plenty already!)''

==Tourist Information==

''A counter of how many articles there are total''

''A link to a list of recent changes, requested articles, etc, in addition to the links from the main page''

==Contacts==
You can go to our parent site for your Linux questions:

http://LinuxQuestions.org

Or talk to your fellow contributors:

[[LQWiki:Forums]]

Or subscribe to the Wiki's mailing list:

http://lists.linuxquestions.org/mailman/listinfo/lqwiki-list

You can also talk with individual contributors on their personal talk page. ''insert information on how to actually get there''

==Behind the Scenes==

[[LQWiki:Admin's Log]]

''Despite the name, I don't really expect a "fixed bug foo today". But given that the average contributor has a strong interest in Linux, but might not have much actual real world experience, it might be good if admins could give a look behind the scenes of the wiki, and give the contributors a glimpse of what it's like to be a webadmin/wikiadmin. Assuming of course, they can do this in their, heh, copious spare time.'' [[User:Crazyeddie|Crazyeddie]] 00:48, Jun 19, 2004 (EDT)

[[LQWiki:History]]

==Who's Who==

===Admins===

*[[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]]
*[[User:David ross|David ross]]

===SysOps===

*[[User:Jeremy|Jeremy]]
*[[User:David ross|David ross]]
*[[User:Digiot|Digiot]]
*[[User:MikeCapone|MikeCapone]]
*[[User:Ugen64|Ugen64]]
*[[User:Skyline|Skyline]]
*[[User:Dysprosia|Dysprosia]]

===Notable Contributors===

'''Top Contributors''' ''This would be a link to a list of contributors sorted by number of contributions, but this requires a admin or possibly a mod to actually implement.''

'''Oldtimers''' ''A list of active contributors, sorted by when the account was activated.''

Talk:Firewall

2004-06-15T05:43:25Z

Digiot: redirect ;)

How do I check if I have a firewall running already? Does Linux (Fedora Core 1 in my case) come with a firewall running out of the box? Or do I have to turn it on?

:I'm unfamiliar with Fedora but the appropriate place for questions is the LQ [http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/index.php?s= Forums]. You'll get a lot of help there. This is more for knowledge base articles. --[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 01:43, Jun 15, 2004 (EDT)

List of Linux distributions

2004-06-13T22:08:01Z

Digiot: Oops. It's confusing in there.

[http://kernel.org Linux] is a [[kernel]], in itself not an extremely useful piece of software, but very important: it provides hardware resources management, and access to the hardware is necessary to get anything done, of course. To have a fully functional [[operating system]], some basic software is needed as well. A [[GNU/Linux]] [[distribution]] is the complete package. Most modern distributions also come with graphical installers to help with the initial setup.

===Special categories===
*[[Live CD distributions]]
*[[Source distributions]]
*[[Firewall distributions]]
*[[Embedded Linux]]

===Alphabetical distribution listing===
*[[AMSEL]]
*[[Arch Linux]]
*[[Ark linux]]
*[[Aurox]]
*[[BasicLinux]]
*[[BioKnoppix]]
*[[BLAG]]
*[[Buffalo]]
*[[cAos]]
*[[ClusterKnoppix]]
*[[CollegeLinux]]
*[[Conectiva]]
*[[Core Linux]]
*[[Crux]]
*[[DamnSmallLinux]]
*[[Debian]]
*[[Devil-Linux]]
*[[DragonLinux]]
*[[Dyne:Bolic]]
*[[Feather]]
*[[Fedora]]
*[[Floppix]]
*[[Gentoo]]
*[[Gnoppix]]
*[[IPCop]]
*[[IpodLinux]]
*[[Kanotix]]
*[[KnopILS]]
*[[Knoppix]]
*[[Kurumin]]
*[[Libranet]]
*[[Linspire]], formerly [[LindowsOS]]
*[[Linux From Scratch]]
*[[LNX-BBC]]
*[[Lorma]]
*[[Lunar Linux]]
*[[Lycoris]]
*[[Mandrake]]
*[[Mandows]]
*[[MEPIS]]
*[[Morphix]]
*[[muLinux]]
*[[Peanut]]
*[[PCLinuxOS]]
*[[PHLAK]]
*[[Red Hat]]
*[[ROCK Linux]]
*[[Rubyx]]
*[[Skole Linux]]
*[[Slackware]]
*[[Slax]]
*[[SmoothWall]]
*[[SOL (Server Optimized Linux)]]
*[[SOT Linux]]
*[[Source Mage]]
*[[SPB-Linux]]
*[[Sun JDS]]
*[[SuSE]]
*[[SystemRescue]]
*[[Thiz]]
*[[Trustix Secure Linux]]
*[[TurboLinux]]
*[[VectorLinux]]
*[[Whitebox Linux]]
*[[Yellow Dog Linux]]
*[[Xandros]]

===Family-Tree distribution listing===
*[[AMSEL]]
*[[Arch Linux]]
*[[Core Linux]]
*[[Crux]]
*[[Debian]]
*#[[DamnSmallLinux]]
*#[[Floppix]]
*#[[Knoppix]]
*##[[BioKnoppix]]
*##[[ClusterKnoppix]]
*##[[Feather]]
*##[[Gnoppix]]
*##[[Kanotix]]
*##[[KnopILS]]
*##[[Kurumin]]
*##[[MEPIS]]
*##[[Morphix]]
*###[[PHLAK]]
*#[[Libranet]]
*#[[Linspire]], formerly [[LindowsOS]]
*#[[Xandros]]
*[[Devil-Linux]]
*[[Dyne:Bolic]]
*[[Gentoo]]
*#[[SystemRescue]]
*[[IPCop]]
*[[IpodLinux]]
*[[Linux From Scratch]]
*[[LNX-BBC]]
*[[Lunar Linux]]
*[[Lycoris]]
*[[Mandrake]]
*#[[Mandows]]
*#[[PCLinuxOS]]
*[[muLinux]]
*[[Red Hat]]
*#[[Ark linux]]
*#[[Aurox]]
*#[[BLAG]]
*#[[cAos]]
*#[[Conectiva]]
*#[[Fedora]]
*#[[Lorma]]
*#[[SOT Linux]]
*#[[Thiz]]
*#[[Trustix Secure Linux]]
*#[[TurboLinux]]
*#[[Whitebox Linux]]
*#[[Yellow Dog Linux]]
*[[ROCK Linux]]
*[[Rubyx]]
*[[Skole Linux]]
*[[Slackware]]
*#[[BasicLinux]]
*#[[CollegeLinux]]
*#[[DragonLinux]]
*#[[Peanut]]
*#[[Slax]]
*#[[VectorLinux]]
*##[[Buffalo]]
*[[SmoothWall]]
*[[SOL (Server Optimized Linux)]]
*[[Source Mage]]
*[[SPB-Linux]]
*[[SuSE]]
*#[[Sun JDS]]

Don't know what distribution is right for you? See [[Choosing a Linux distribution]].

== Sites with distro lists ==
*http://www.linux.com
*http://www.linux.org
*http://www.linuxiso.org
*http://www.distrowatch.org

Talk:Choosing a Linux distribution

2004-06-13T22:01:07Z

Digiot: question, comment

I dunno that I'd recommend Debian to the newbie in the same breath as Mandrake. :D Not until the new installer, anyway.

Somebody know of a micro-distro that '''isn't''' dead? Probably shouldn't have even added them. --[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 18:01, Jun 13, 2004 (EDT)

List of Linux distributions

2004-06-13T21:59:10Z

Digiot: added some micro-distros

[http://kernel.org Linux] is a [[kernel]], in itself not an extremely useful piece of software, but very important: it provides hardware resources management, and access to the hardware is necessary to get anything done, of course. To have a fully functional [[operating system]], some basic software is needed as well. A [[GNU/Linux]] [[distribution]] is the complete package. Most modern distributions also come with graphical installers to help with the initial setup.

===Special categories===
*[[Live CD distributions]]
*[[Source distributions]]
*[[Firewall distributions]]
*[[Embedded Linux]]

===Alphabetical distribution listing===
*[[AMSEL]]
*[[Arch Linux]]
*[[Ark linux]]
*[[Aurox]]
*[[BasicLinux]]
*[[BioKnoppix]]
*[[BLAG]]
*[[Buffalo]]
*[[cAos]]
*[[ClusterKnoppix]]
*[[CollegeLinux]]
*[[Conectiva]]
*[[Core Linux]]
*[[Crux]]
*[[DamnSmallLinux]]
*[[Debian]]
*[[Devil-Linux]]
*[[DragonLinux]]
*[[Dyne:Bolic]]
*[[Feather]]
*[[Fedora]]
*[[Floppix]]
*[[Gentoo]]
*[[Gnoppix]]
*[[IPCop]]
*[[IpodLinux]]
*[[Kanotix]]
*[[KnopILS]]
*[[Knoppix]]
*[[Kurumin]]
*[[Libranet]]
*[[Linspire]], formerly [[LindowsOS]]
*[[Linux From Scratch]]
*[[LNX-BBC]]
*[[Lorma]]
*[[Lunar Linux]]
*[[Lycoris]]
*[[Mandrake]]
*[[Mandows]]
*[[MEPIS]]
*[[Morphix]]
*[[muLinux]]
*[[Peanut]]
*[[PCLinuxOS]]
*[[PHLAK]]
*[[Red Hat]]
*[[ROCK Linux]]
*[[Rubyx]]
*[[Skole Linux]]
*[[Slackware]]
*[[Slax]]
*[[SmoothWall]]
*[[SOL (Server Optimized Linux)]]
*[[SOT Linux]]
*[[Source Mage]]
*[[SPB-Linux]]
*[[Sun JDS]]
*[[SuSE]]
*[[SystemRescue]]
*[[Thiz]]
*[[Trustix Secure Linux]]
*[[TurboLinux]]
*[[VectorLinux]]
*[[Whitebox Linux]]
*[[Yellow Dog Linux]]
*[[Xandros]]

===Family-Tree distribution listing===
*[[AMSEL]]
*[[Arch Linux]]
*[[Core Linux]]
*[[Crux]]
*[[Debian]]
*#[[DamnSmallLinux]]
*#[[Knoppix]]
*##[[BioKnoppix]]
*##[[ClusterKnoppix]]
*##[[Feather]]
*##[[Floppix]]
*##[[Gnoppix]]
*##[[Kanotix]]
*##[[KnopILS]]
*##[[Kurumin]]
*##[[MEPIS]]
*##[[Morphix]]
*###[[PHLAK]]
*#[[Libranet]]
*#[[Linspire]], formerly [[LindowsOS]]
*#[[Xandros]]
*[[Devil-Linux]]
*[[Dyne:Bolic]]
*[[Gentoo]]
*#[[SystemRescue]]
*[[IPCop]]
*[[IpodLinux]]
*[[Linux From Scratch]]
*[[LNX-BBC]]
*[[Lunar Linux]]
*[[Lycoris]]
*[[Mandrake]]
*#[[Mandows]]
*#[[PCLinuxOS]]
*[[muLinux]]
*[[Red Hat]]
*#[[Ark linux]]
*#[[Aurox]]
*#[[BLAG]]
*#[[cAos]]
*#[[Conectiva]]
*#[[Fedora]]
*#[[Lorma]]
*#[[SOT Linux]]
*#[[Thiz]]
*#[[Trustix Secure Linux]]
*#[[TurboLinux]]
*#[[Whitebox Linux]]
*#[[Yellow Dog Linux]]
*[[ROCK Linux]]
*[[Rubyx]]
*[[Skole Linux]]
*[[Slackware]]
*#[[BasicLinux]]
*#[[CollegeLinux]]
*#[[DragonLinux]]
*#[[Peanut]]
*#[[Slax]]
*#[[VectorLinux]]
*##[[Buffalo]]
*[[SmoothWall]]
*[[SOL (Server Optimized Linux)]]
*[[Source Mage]]
*[[SPB-Linux]]
*[[SuSE]]
*#[[Sun JDS]]

Don't know what distribution is right for you? See [[Choosing a Linux distribution]].

== Sites with distro lists ==
*http://www.linux.com
*http://www.linux.org
*http://www.linuxiso.org
*http://www.distrowatch.org

Choosing a Linux distribution

2004-06-13T21:58:53Z

Digiot: change toc/order; add micro-distros; Gentoo note; stubify

One of the first questions that you probably have about Linux is "What [[distribution]] do I use?" Indeed, this is one of the most frequently asked questions on our [http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/ forums].

The question is a little harder to answer than it looks. Linux distributions (or ''distros'') come in a wide variety of packages, each with their own quirks and specialties. Some are designed for ease-of-use, some for the power user or [[hacker]], some for powerful computers with lots of [[RAM]] and some for older hardware with slow [[CPU]]s.

Some of the possible answers to this question are:

* Try a few distributions and see what you like
* Use the distribution that the Linux [[guru]] next door uses, so if you have any problems you can ask him or her for help
* (other possible answers?)

==Introductory and general purpose==

=== What distro for just trying Linux out? ===

If you aren't yet prepared to set aside a portion of your hard drive for Linux, or if you just want to take Linux for a spin without any long-term commitments, try one of the [[Live CD distributions]] like [[Knoppix]] or [[DamnSmallLinux]], or the [[Suse]] 9.1 evaluation CD. These can be booted and run directly from a CD, and are a great way to see what Linux can do without affecting any existing operating systems you may have installed. Such distributions tend to run more slowly than a fully-installed Linux, however, so if you are thinking of using Linux regularly, you may want to consider doing a real installation. Many Live CD distributions can be installed to the hard drive if you so choose.

=== What distro for a total newbie? ===

If you are very new to the Linux world and have no interest in learning a lot of technical details just to get it running, you may want to go with one of the mainstream distributions such as [[Mandrake]], [[Fedora]], [[SuSE]] or [[Debian]]. If you can spare the money, it may be worthwhile to purchase a commercial version, since you may get tech support from the vendor.

=== What distro for the power user? ===

If you consider yourself a power user, and would like to learn a lot of technical details about Linux as you are installing and using it, you would be well served to try out one of the more do-it-yourself distributions. [[Gentoo]] and [[Slackware]] might be among your choices here. If you are already an experienced Linux user and really want to get your hands dirty, there is [[Linux From Scratch]], which is not really a distribution so much as a set of instructions for building your own distribution (though this isn't recommended unless you already know what you are doing).

==Special purpose==

=== What distro for an old computer? ===

There are a number of minimalistic distributions, such as [[VectorLinux]] and [[Peanut]] that are designed for computers without much hard drive space or CPU speed. It's quite possible to install Linux on an early 386 with 2 to 4 [[megabytes]] of [[RAM]], though if you hope to install a [[GUI]] you may need a bit more memory or CPU; a 486 with 8MB RAM is probably the lowest you can go with [[XFree86]]. For acting as a [[firewall]], [[e-mail]] client, or basic machine for text editing and scripting, this might be the way to go. However, distributions like Vector and Peanut, while minimal, are not "micro" - they still require 100+ MB hard drives and really need a 586 or fast 486. For even smaller distributions that may run in under 100MB (or even from floppy) on a 386/486, distros like [[BasicLinux]], [[muLinux]], [[Floppix]], and others may be suitable.

''More to be written''

=== What distro for games? ===

Gentoo has modified kernels and other elements that probably make it a good gaming platform. 

''More to be written''

{{msg:stub}}

Umount

2004-06-11T20:43:14Z

Digiot:

'''umount''' (''not'' "u'''n'''mount") detaches a volume from the file hierarchy - unmounting it. For example, if /dev/hdc1 is mounted as /mnt/onedisk then you will be able to browse the contents of hdc1 as though it were just another directory. However, once you "umount" it, it will appear devoid of content. It doesn't mean that there isn't anything on hdc1 - it just means that the kernel is no longer associating /mnt/onedisk with hdc1. This can be remedied by using [[mount]] to restore this association.

A common issue when attempting to unmount devices currently mounted is that umount will refuse, stating that the device is currently busy. One must close the file in all the processes that are using the device (that is, accessing files or using the device directly). If you don't know what is using the device, see [[lsof]]. Alternatively, if the device is mounted in the filesystem, and you are currently in that filesystem, simply changing directory first will often allow umount to do its work.

Talk:Internet Explorer

2004-06-11T20:43:06Z

Digiot:

Is Lynx still considered the default browser? Nearly all Linux workstations use desktop environments these days, and most of those include a web browser based on Mozilla. [[User:Sploo22|Sploo22]] 23:13, Jun 8, 2004 (EDT)

:Well, workstations are still a minority of Linux installations (I think) and even workstations sometimes have no X. So Lynx is still probably installed on more boxes than any other browser. But, as the article says, that still doesn't make it 'default' - just the closest thing in the sense of being the most widespread - and the article does say Mozilla etc. are 'very popular'. --[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 16:43, Jun 11, 2004 (EDT)

Rcp

2004-06-06T20:52:05Z

Digiot:

The '''rcp''' ('''r'''emote '''c'''o'''p'''y) command is part of the Berkely RPC (Remote Procedure Call) package. (See rsh and rdist for other examples.) It lets you copy a file from one machine to another, almost as easily as copying a file between two directories.

==Caveat==
One word of warning, though. The RPC protocols were written in the days when the [[Internet]] consisted of a few hundred people, most of whom knew each other. [[Security]] was never part of the design. The RPC protocols are ok to use on a local [[LAN]]. NEVER use them across the Internet, especially if you care at all about your data. [[Ssh]] (and it's cousin scp) were partly written to be secure replacements for rsh and rcp. Use them if you have any doubts about how safe your [[network]] is.

==Copying to/from remote machines==
The basic form of the rcp command is very simple. Say we have a file called "books" that we've edited on our local machine, and we need to give Greta a copy. The sysadmin values utility over everything else, so Greta's machine is called "greta". We're going to assume we're on a small LAN, so we don't need to worry about a domain name. To copy the file from our home directory on the local machine, to our home directory on Greta's machine, we'd type:

<tt>rcp books greta:</tt>

Let's say we don't have an account on Greta's machine. We could write it to /tmp:

<tt>rcp books greta:/tmp</tt>

Now let's go the other way. Greta has been doing some work on the file called "tapes" and we want a copy of that for ourselves:

<tt>rcp greta:/home/greta/tapes .</tt>

(The "." means "the current directory).

Finally, just to show what the whole thing looks like, we'll assume we're in our home directory, but we want to copy something to a different directory.

<tt>rcp greta:/usr/acctng/gl/inventory/tapes /usr/acctng/gl/inventory</tt>

If you don't put a "/" in front of the file name (but after the colon), it will assume you're in your home directory. If we had run:

<tt>rcp greta:usr/acctng/gl/inventory/tapes /usr/acctng/gl/inventory</tt>

it would have tried to go to our home directory, and then the usr/acctng/gl/inventory directory under that. If what you want IS somewhere in your home directory, that's fine. If it's not, be sure to remember to put the "/" right after the colon.

Talk:Hardware configuration

2004-06-06T20:51:57Z

Digiot:

''The kudzu command checks and modifies the hardware configuration.''

Isn't kudzu an RH-specific tool? Or at least not widely used otherwise. Distro-specific commands need to be described as such.

--[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 16:21, Jun 5, 2004 (EDT)

:Yeah, developed by RH, but also available in other distros. Mentioned that on the Kudzu page. Also moved the stuff from Automatic Hardware Configuration page and redirected. --[[User:Jor|Jor]] 07:13, Jun 6, 2004 (EDT)

:: Okay, thanks. I thought it was something like that. [[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 16:51, Jun 6, 2004 (EDT)

Talk:Slackware

2004-06-05T20:22:20Z

Digiot:

wouldn't it be helpful to add some tools for slackware. 
e.g. swaret 
helpful pages for newbies: 
e.g. slackware book, linuxpackages, etc.

(-- GEnTi)

:Sure. Don't use swaret myself, but adding anything useful for Slack sounds good to me. :) Don't forget to sign your name on discussion pages with the tildes and to use <nowiki> </nowiki> for line breaks. The last two in this [[LinuxQuestions.org_Wiki:LQ_Central#Guidelines|section]] may help. --[[User:Digiot|Digiot]] 16:22, Jun 5, 2004 (EDT)