[aclug-L] Fw: [Lockergnome Penguin Shell] Reviewer's Respite

[Anthony A Bogardus <abogardus@xxxxxxxx>]

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From: Lockergnome Penguin Shell<subscriptions@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: abogardus@xxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 15:07:12 -0600
Subject: [Lockergnome Penguin Shell]  Reviewer's Respite
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  01.10.2002 PenguinREPORT

Even as a longtime RedHat user, I have to admit to a bit of surprise at
the bulk of the 7.2 Pro box. Ten CDs and three books of documentation
make this a hefty distribution, indeed. The number of CDs included in
these box sets always strikes me as a bit excessive, and RedHat was no
exception. Then again, there wasn't a DVD, as was included in the Suse
box. That's some consolation.
When I opened the box, though, I found what amounts to a pretty standard
install. Two install discs, two source discs, and lots of third-party
applications and tools. If you choose to stick with the default install
from the install discs alone, you end up with an application base that's
only marginally oversized.
Let's look at the various application types in the basic install discs
first:
Desktop 
Gnome and KDE are available as desktop managers, though RedHat has chosen
Gnome as the default. If you prefer KDE, you'll need to explicitly select
it from the install options. Fvwm2 is also available for the true Linux
hardcore. The Enlightenment and Sawfish window managers are included.
Office 
AbiWord, KOffice 1.1 and StarOffice 5.2 (on a separate disk) are the
primary office tools in RedHat 7.2. Also available is Gnumeric, the Gnome
spreadsheet program. For the size of this install, I was frankly
surprised at the minimal focus on the office. 
Internet 
Commercial Linux distributions have, for the most part, landed on a
standard package of Internet applications. Galeon, Mozilla and Netscape
are the primary browsers. Konqueror, the KDE-based browser is also
available. Nautilus, the fine Gnome file manager, also has Internet
browsing capabilities, though they're a bit more limited.
Reading and sending email is accomplished with KMail, the Mozilla or
Netscape mail clients, Pine, or Mutt. Receiving and filtering mail is
handled by Sendmail, formail, procmail, and fetchmail. 
Multimedia 
Sound duties are handled by ALSA, cdrecord and XMMS. Image manipulation
applications include GIMP and ImageMagick. XMovie is available for
viewing mpg files. 
Those are just the highlights of the applications you'll find on either
the downloadable RedHat version or the consumer-oriented purchase
version. The purchase version, of course, comes with a full set of
documentation and install guides. This version version also includes a
Loki Games demo CD, with the games Kohan and Rune. The purchase version
is prices at $59.95 from the RedHat site, though you'll find it cheaper
at retail.
RedHat Professional adds four more CDs - Workstation Applications, Web
Server Applications, Utilities and Games, and a System Administrator CD.
Among the workstation applications are IBM's JDK 1.3 port, Intraline's
Channel One groupware program, Sophos antivirus, and a custom version of
Yahoo! Messenger. The Web Server Application CD includes ColdFusion and
JRun demos from Macromedia, and RedHat's own Interchange, a fine
e-commerce platform. The Games and Utilities CD adds more games than can
be described, plus the Firestarter firewalling tool. The System
Administrator CD is a handy wallet-sized disc with tools for fixing
broken filesystems and support services tracing.
All in all, the basic two-disk install of RedHat should serve most
purposes. The application base is well-planned and focused on the average
home user. At $59.95 or less, the documentation and paid support is worth
the price. The Professional version adds considerable flexibility to the
enterprise - the focus of most commercial Linux distros. Personally, I
could do without the demo games and commercial applications found on two
of the ten-CD Pro set, but many of the full version apps are more than
just mere throwaways. They clearly help to further the advance of RedHat
in the enterprise.
That, my friends, is the end of the Great Distro Review. There was very
little along the way that I found startling, short of the advances in
graphical installers. Even though this go-around is over, I hope to be
able to do similar reviews as new versions of each major distribution are
released. It's nice, from a personal perspective, to get back to a stable
Linux install on my machine. The weekly install-change-install routine
has been interesting, to say the least. And, who knows? I may even yet
throw in a surprise review here and there (read: 'something
Debian-based').
Tony Steidler-Dennison       

 GnomeTWEAK

Webmin
I spent yesterday's GnomeTWEAK talking about my favorite browser-based
administration tool, linuxconf. Almost as soon as the issue went out, I
received several emails from readers noting that RedHat has deprecated
linuxconf. I was shocked. I searched the RedHat site and, sure enough,
linuxconf has been deprecated as of RedHat 7.1. From the RedHat Support
site: 
In Red Hat Linux 7, Red Hat made the decision to disable (not compile in)
several of the linuxconf tools. This decision was made because these
sub-applications were problematic. Red Hat recommends that you utilize
alternative graphical configuration tools such as SWAT for Samba (which
is included in Red Hat Linux 7), or Webmin to configure your system
graphically. freshmeat.net and rpmfind.net also have a variety of
programs listed for administrative purposes. 
In short, linuxconf is quickly moving toward being unsupported by RedHat.
At the time I read this article, several readers had already made note of
webmin. I'd seen an earlier version of the program, choosing at that time
to stick with linuxconf. Last night, I downloaded and installed webmin on
my box at home. I'll just say this - what a difference a year or two
makes.
Webmin provides all the tools found in linuxconf and many more. A quick
rundown shows that webmin provides browser-based configuration for: 
Access control 
Apache configuration 
Editing cron jobs 
Editing Samba shares 
Modifying printers 
Managing disk partitions 
Configuring Sendmail 
File manager 
DNS entry management 
Editing disk quotas 
Viewing lilo partitions 
I was impressed. This is a truly useful tool, nestled in an easy-to-use
browser interface. The screens are laid out logically and provide ample
description of each function. I used it last night to reconfigure
sendmail exactly as I want it. It all went off without a hitch.
If you're currently a linuxconf user, you might consider webmin, instead.
I'm certainly sold on the power of webmin to tweak and configure the
settings on my machine.
Send This to a Friend

 GnomeCORE

Samba Client
We've talked about setting up Samba to share files and printers from a
Linux server to a Windows client. SWAT is an outstanding tool for
configuring your Samba server. But once you've set up the server, how can
you be sure it's doing what it's supposed to be doing?
smbclient is a built-in tool for accessing remote servers to browse, to
store or retrieve files, or to print. As a command line tool, it's
extremely flexible and lightweight. It can be used to connect to other
Samba servers or to Windows NT/2000 servers.
To connect to a remote server using smbclient, issue the following
command:     smbclient -L hostname
You'll be returned a message noting that the ip address, broadcast
address and netmask have been added. You'll also be returned a password
prompt. If the server allows browsing, a password will not be required.
Simply press [enter] and you'll be on the server. If the server is
configured to prevent browsing, you'll need to enter the password
assigned you for the server.
A more elegant way to access the remote server is with the following
command:
    smbclient //server/sharename
This will connect you directly to the share on the remote server, though
you may still be required to enter a password. Once you're connected,
you'll be able to put files on the server with put or mput (batch putting
files) and retrieve with get or mget (batch getting files).
As I've already mentioned, you can use smbclient to print to remote
printers, as well. If the remote printer is attached to a Windows NT/2000
machine, the server only needs to be configured to share the printer with
other Windows machines via SMB. To make the connection to the remote
printer, enter the following command:
    smbclient //server/lp -p
You're now connected to the SMB share as a printer. Issue the command to
print a document as:
    print doctoprint.txt
You can see how Samba can make the networked environment, whether at home
or on the job, a much easier place to navigate. Samba and smbclient make
it possible for two very different OSs to share files and printers
seamlessly.
Send This to a Friend

 GnomeFILE

Hasciicam [70 KB]
http://freesoftware.fsf.org/download/hasciicam/hasciicam-0.9.tar.gz
http://ascii.dyne.org/
"Hasciicam makes it possible to have live ASCII video on the Web. It
captures video from a TV card and renders it into ASCII, formatting the
output into an HTML page with a refresh tag or in a live ASCII window or
in a simple text file as well, giving anyone that has a bttv card, a
Linux box, and a cheap modem line the ability to show a live asciivideo
feed that can be browseable without any need for a plugin, Java, etc."
Send This to a Friend

 GnomeVOICE

Win RPM Checker
Scribbled by Ismo
"I am just starting to get to understand Linux, so you can call me a
newbie and as so many I still use next to a Linux Machine a Windows
machine.
"My Windows machine is connected to Internet and so every download comes
on it's hard drive. I was looking for a way to check and examine the rpm
files I downloaded on my windows machine.
"I found the following program: RPM Browser for Windows is a Windows tool
for Linux users. This FREE utility will allow you to examine the
structure of RPM files. While binary files aren't too useful from the
Windows platform, source files can be viewed from within your favorite
editor.
http://www.laysi.com/rpmbw/
"It may be a useful tool for other Lockergnome Penguin Shell readers.
"I currently am testing Smoothwall and Mandrake security Single Network
Firewall For Pentium. Two great linux firewall & router products. So I
can share my Internet connection with others."
http://www.smoothwall.org/
http://www.mandrakesoft.com/products/snf
Send This to a Friend

 GnomeCLICK

Network Configuration Using the Command Line
http://www.linuxheadquarters.com/howto/networking/networkconfig.shtml
For the brave of heart, today's GnomeCLICK is a complete and thorough
description of the process for setting up basic Linux networking
configuration via the command line. This link is ready to get you up and
running as quickly as your brave command line fingers can type. Also
included are related links to cable modem configuration, dialup
configuration and RedHat's netcfg.
Send This to a Friend

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