Linux Gazette MailBag Issue #21

#### "Linux Gazette...making Linux just a little more fun!"

## The Mailbag! Write the Gazette at gazette@ssc.com | ### Contents: Help Wanted -- Article Ideas General Mail

### Help Wanted -- Article Ideas

Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 00:25:47 -0400
From: Anthony Wilson anthony@pisces.globalserve.net
Subject: Difficulty running programmes

I am using Linux Slackware 3.0 with kernel version 2.0. I am running a LAN and whenever I try to run a script or a program that I created on the server, I get a command not found error, even though I have read write permissions on the file in my own directory. If I transfer that same file to another Linux box on this LAN, I can run it without any problems.

Is there an easy fix to this problem?

Thank you.

Anthony Wilson

Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 06:00:38 +0200
From: Denny denny@ele.kth.se
Subject: Connecting to dynamic IP via ethernet

Hello. I want to connect my Linux box to our ethernet ring here at my company. The problem is that they(we) use dynamic IP adresses, and I don't know how to get an adress. I use win95 on one partition on my pc, from where it works fine to connect. I know the IP adress to the DCHP-server (that the one who distributes the IP-adresses, right?) but how do I do to get assigned an IP-adress from Linux? I got so tired of trying, that I finally just assigned an adress myself and hey, somethings work. I can use telnet and ftp but X takes 15 minutes to start, and emacs likewise. I can't wait that amount and also I'm sure there are several thing that don't work. Please, if you know how to do, explain carefully, I'm not all that good at linux and tcp/ip hacking.

Denny

Date: Fri, 15 Aug 1997 09:47:03 -0500
From: Cory Sticha csticha@apci.net
Subject: Printing PostScript to a DeskJet 682C

I've got a question that I'd to have answered. I've got an HP DeskJet 682C printer that I'd like to use to print pages out from Netscape. Unfortunately, the printer only recognizes text and PCL 3, while Netscape only uses PostScript. Is there a filter that is capable of converting PostScript to PCL 3. Also, to print text to this printer, I have to pipe the file that I want to print to todos and then pipe that to the printer. How can I automate this? Thank you very much in advance for any help that you can give me.

Cory Sticha, SrA, USAF

Date: Mon, 04 Aug 1997 14:12:42 +1000
From: Marcus B marcus@cwi.net.au
Subject: Problem with adaptec 2940U

Answer: RedHat versions <4.0 use older kernels which don't have aic7xxx support, I found this out the hard way, back when the aic7xxx driver was only being developed, if you are talking about a version of RedHat that uses 2.0.x kernels, then they get loaded in as a module (when it asks what type of SCSI host adapter you have), if this is not loading then it might be an idea to check if it is sharing an IRQ with another device in windows 95 (if you are unlucky enough to have it!), and manually change it. The aic7xxx driver is very new (>2.x kernels only) but there are problems on some hardware configurations.

Date: Wed, 6 Aug 97 20:55:49 BST
From: George russell george.russell@clara.net
Subject: Linux Help needed to connect to Internet

I am a new Linux user, and inexperienced in Unix environments. My aim in using Linux is to connect to the internet without needing to use Windows, in order to learn about Linux and update my linux setup (Slackware Linux Toolkit March 1997, which I will install again soon). I have had X Windows and Netscape Navigator 3.01 installed,and will do so again after a hard disc upgrade. I am unable to connect to the internet. Could anyone help me to do this? My modem is on COM2, and works under windows as a generic modem. I know the number of my ISP, that my IP address is server assigned. I have the IP addresses of the primary and secondary DNS, and have my own username and password. Is there anyhing else I need to know, and can anyone help me with this? I would be very grateful for all assistance given.

Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 15:35:20 -0700
From: Luke luke@holdens.org
Subject:LILO Problems

I have this 2 gig scsi drive. I have Linux and Windows 95 on my system. 95 is on the first gig and Linux is on the 2nd. Lilo gives me problems with booting Linux from the second gig. And windows just will not see it. Its a old scsi disk. So I cant use sector compadibility mode. Right now. I use Lodlin (and some 95 proggy) to drop out of 95 and kick linux in. Eather this or I have to use a installation floppy (I cant load lilo on a floppy because it gives me disks problems there too) You know of any boot managers that I can gain access to that can read the entire disk? I know the NT boot loader can do this. But there is no point in loading NT for this task. Another problem I have is this. I have a Windows NT box as a proxy server for my internet connection. (I can't convert it to Linux, it's not my box) I can get Windows 95 to send all ip requests threw the proxy using the ms proxy client. (ex: quake over the net) But with Linux I can't seem to do that. I have used Netscape a bit for this purpose. But I still can't do anything else. Is there a way to get Linux to work over a proxy itself? I could just dail into my ISP va PPP. But I already have a 10 megabit connection to them. What's the point of using a modem. Is there a way I can get around this problem? Another question I have is can I make a swap from an image or some other media. I don't want to kill my Linux partition to gain this. But, I have a 16 meg swap partition and 16 megs of ram. Trying to run progams like Wabi is of no use. They don't seem to have enough memory. Is there a way to add more swap space with out disturbing the exsisting partitions? Well thank you for your time. Long live LINUX!!!
Luke Holden

Date: Sat, 09 Aug 1997 23:14:04 -0400
From: David Nghiem klaks@bu.edu
Subject: Pointers

Hey all,

Do you guys know of any information regarding programming a game in Linux on the X11 platform? I want to use it as a cross developer for some DOS games. The main issue here is this: How do I display my output?

Laterz,
Dave.

Date: Fri, 08 Aug 1997 20:03:21 -0400
From: Raymond E. Rogers rrogers@voyager.net
Subject: Apllixware -- Fax

I bought applixware some time ago and found that I was supposed to roll my own Fax interface. Somebody at work suggested just setting up a "printer" for fax. Logical to me. As I don't do Linux for a living or a hobby; it would be nice if somebody could write and article on how to do it. Or point me to instructions. I looked around and was unable to find any.

There is supposed to be instructions in how to make netscape do standard PGP/RSA digital signatures that can be verified on any PGP system, not just inside of netscape. Simple instructions on this would be nice.

If I get around to doing these things first, I will write an article on how I did it.

Enjoy
Ray

> (An article entitled "Faxing from the Web" will be included in the upcoming November issue of Linux Journal. While the magazine won't be out until next month, the listings that go with it (including his front end) are available at http://www.ssc.com/pub/lj/listings/issue43/2044.tgz. Since the author was not using Applixware, I'm not sure how much his code will help, but check it out, it may be just what you need. --Editor)

### General Mail

Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 12:22:41 -0700
From: Tom Schenck tschenck@concentric.net
Subject: Organize and overtake!

Well, I'm pretty sure there are people doing this, but not very fast or efficiently. We need a stable, friendly, easy-to-install system that comes equiped with applications that allow the user to begin working right away, and configure without programming knowledge!

Yes, it's *nix. Yes, it's a programmers environment. Yes, it doesn't HAVE to be terse, hard to configure, etc.

Hell, maybe I'll have to do it!

Date: Fri, 22 Aug 97 21:09:09 BST
From: Duncan Simpson feynmen.ecs.soton.ac.uk
Subject: M$ word

Those who need to read a word document might like to get the latest version of wqord2x by anonymous ftp from amil.telstar.net in the pub/duncan directory. Note the machine's main job is a mail redirection service, which sends me the logs, amoung other things!!

Duncan

Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 13:56:23 -0600 (MDT)
From: Michael J. Hammel mjhammel@csn.net
Subject: MS quote

This comes via a Mac friend of mine. We should look closely at aligning with the Mac users of the world. They hate MS almost as much as we do. :-) From: EvangeList evangelist@apple.com This tidbit is from: Dave Reiser, dbr@ptd.net In a page 1 article in the July 28, 1997 Computerworld there's an article ENTITLED "Microsoft Declares War" about how MS has announced that it will not ship the Java class libraries. I absolutely howled when I read this quote: "'We have no intention of shipping another bloated operating system and forcing that down the throats of our Windows customers'" [attributed to Paul Maritz, Microsoft Group Vice President] Are they feeling guilty about the fact that they've already rammed one bloated operating system down their customers' throats? -- Michael J. Hammel

From mjhammel@csn.net Fri Aug 8 21:48:52 1997
Date: Fri, 08 Aug 1997 23:00:22 -0600
Subject: Descent 3D for Linux?

Linux has always been the perfect platform for games, it's just very few developers (id and Crack.com are the only two worth mentioning that I know of) know that.

Actually I think many of the developers know the value of Linux, but there is no marketing proof that a Linux port will make money. As many others have said in the past, we need certifiable numbers to prove the market exists and that its willing to spend money on commercial products. I don't have any info on it, but I'd love to know if either Id or Crack.com made any money on their Linux ports. And I'd like to know if it was enough, in their eyes, to warrant future ports. I've a gut feeling the Id guys may have done their port simply because they liked the idea and did it for fun, but thats just an unsubstantiated hunch.

I just got back from SIGGRAPH today and after having talked to many engineers from lots of different companies I can say that nearly all are *very* aware of Linux and most (that I talked to) are using it. One engineer from Cosmos Software, the new division at SGI, said they'd probably be happy to let someone do the port of the new Cosmo Player 1.0 to Linux (although he wasn't sure how to go about getting that done). Most of the companies at the conference who are Unix aware are also Linux aware. They just need a little proof that the market will return their investment within a reasonable time frame.

One of the things I decided to do while I was at SIGGRAPH was to write an article outlining how to begin to get reasonable market figures for Linux with respect to graphics tools and games (other vertical markets are a bit out of my league). I'm sketching this out now and will probably submit it to the Linux Journal in September or October. Much of it resolves around the use of simple Multimedia applications. Anyway, once we have the numbers to back us up, it will be a little easier to convince game developers to include Linux ports of their software.

-- Michael J. Hammel

Date: Fri, 08 Aug 1997 22:36:23 -0600
From: Michael J. Hammel mjhammel@csn.net
Subject: Firewire and DV

I just got back from SIGGRAPH. To my knowledge there are no plans for Firewire support for Linux, but I have to admit I didn't specifically go looking for it. I'm not even completely sure what it is (although thought it was just another 3D chipset). I've been on a personal crusade to get Linux noticed as a terrific platform for image processing and graphic arts tools, and that includes (eventually) Digital Video (DV) tools. However, although there are quite a large number of tools for doing computer graphics (including plenty of support for OpenGL, both commercially and in the freeware MesaGL package), I've not seen any DV style tools. I'd say its a little early for such tools on a commercial basis since more basic tools are not commercially supported yet. But its certainly something I'll continue to keep an eye on and do my best to encourage.

DV tools would work as well on Linux as any other high-end Unix system, but tools like graphics tablets and scanners need better support before we'll get into DV tools. We also need a decent GUI toolkit. Motif is ok, but a bit bloated. Most of the other toolkits don't have enough printed documentation available yet. While at SIGGRAPH, Mark Kilgard told me that there is a new toolkit that sits on top of GLUT that might be a good basis for a more advanced toolkit. I haven't had time to look at it yet (I just got back today). Anyway, I hope this helps a little. If you find any DV tools or have contacts that could use a little polite prodding, feel free to drop me a line.

-- Michael J. Hammel

Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 09:04:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: Riley Eller RILEYE@datalight.com

It took Linus to make it happen
It took everyone to make it right
It takes HOWTOs to make it work
It takes the Gazette to make it FUN
Thank You Linux Gazette :-)

Riley Eller
Newbie Jihad Warrior

Published in Linux Gazette Issue 21, September 1997

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