[aclug-L] Fw: [Lockergnome Penguin Shell] Guru Gratitude

[Anthony A Bogardus <abogardus@xxxxxxxx>]

this format, some or all of this message may not be legible.


-- Attached file included as plaintext by Ecartis --


----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Lockergnome Penguin Shell<subscriptions@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: abogardus@xxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 19:26:43 -0600
Subject: [Lockergnome Penguin Shell]  Guru Gratitude
Message-ID:
<LISTMANAGERSQL-2219370-1386717-2002.02.22-19.28.05--abogardus#juno.com@s
procket.lockergnome.com>

  

  02.20.2002 PenguinREPORT

FREE TROUBLESHOOTING UTILITY from NetIQ Got performance problems? Get
Qcheck. Network performance problems come with the territory, but Qcheck
can help you get to the bottom of those problems quickly, easily and best
of all, for free. Download this valuable network troubleshooting utility
today. 

You've heard it from the news personalities. "We interrupt this program
... " It's my turn, now. "We interrupt this distro review for a
late-breaking news item."
Iowa City, Iowa - At approximately 10:35 p.m., CST Thursday evening, Tony
Steidler-Dennison, author of Lockergnome's Penguin Shell newsletter, was
stunned to find his desktop in a state of Debian. The successful OS
install brought to a close a chase that had lasted some three months, a
pursuit that had taken a drastic toll on the author's sleep patterns,
eating habits and consumption of high-caffeine beverages. "It's like
winning a marathon," a gaunt Steidler-Dennison noted. "I've been after
this thing for more than just the past few months. I'd begun dreaming of
that little swirly Debian logo in the past few weeks. I've become so
obsessive that my wife thought it possible I was having an affair with
someone named Deb. Man, it's good to have this thing done."
Steidler-Dennison could not be reached for follow-on comments. His
answering machine, while garbled, repeated a single phrase ad nauseum.
"The search for Nirvana is over. The search for Nirvana is over. The
search ... " 
I hope you don't mind if I take a few weeks to tell you all about Debian.
It has, indeed, been a dogged pursuit. It was one I simply wasn't willing
to give up on. With your good graces, I'll push ELX back for the few
weeks Debian takes, basking and, hopefully, playing in the fruits of that
pursuit. It's what I'd intended to begin with.
Something else I'll be basking in during the Deb review is the spirit of
the Linux community personified in a newfound personal guru. I have grave
doubts about whether I'd be looking at Debian on my machine tonight
without the "beyond the call" spirit of Penguin Shell reader Steve
Waterman. As soon as he finished reading Monday's Penguin Shell, he fired
off an email, volunteering to put in writing his own step-by-step Debian
install guide. I took him up on the offer. Two days, a half-dozen emails
and several stumbles later, he too celebrated electronically at this
successful install. The guide was perfect. Even more important were the
side comments - land mines to watch for and explanations of the process.
With his permission, that install guide will become part of Penguin Shell
over the next week, committed to the archive for the good of those yet to
come. That one-to-one mentoring, rooted in a rock solid desire to share
this great tool we call Linux, is the hallmark of our community. Thanks,
Steve, from me and the others who'll benefit from your spirit.
Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go play for awhile. Have a great
evening. I'm sure I will.
Tony Steidler-Dennison       

 GnomeTWEAK

Grand and Unified
We've begun this week to talk about Grub, the GRand Unified Bootloader
that's winning the hearts and minds of many Linux users. With a little
history and background in our pockets, it's time to get down to the
nitty-gritty - installing Grub on a system that doesn't already leverage
its great bootloading power.
First things first. If you're using a current commercial distribution,
check your install CDs for a Grub .rpm file. If none exist, you can
download it from here. Pick your distro, download and install the
package.
After installing, you'll need to configure Grub to take over the initial
bootloading duties on your machine. Remember, Grub also has chain-loading
capabilities, so it may pass off some of the work to the native
bootloader in your other OS. As root, open the /etc/grub.conf file in
your favorite editor. Here's a pretty standard simple configuration and
some comments on what it all means:
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Linux
  root (hd0,0)
  kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.17 ro root=/dev/hdb2
  initrd /initrd-2.4.17.img
title Windows 2000
  map (hd0,0) (hd0,2)
  map (hd0,2) (hd0,0)
  rootnoverify (hd0,2)
  chainloader +1
default is the default OS to boot. In this case it's Linux, as it's shown
in position 0 of the OS list (the first title line). timeout is the
length of time Grub will wait, in seconds, before booting to the default
OS. splashimage is, as we've talked about, the background image for the
Grub boot screen.
The real meat of Grub starts in the following line, with the first OS.
The title line tells Grub that this section is the beginning of a set of
parameters for a single OS. The root parameter defines the location of
the root partition for this OS. In this case, it's the first partition
[0] of /dev/had [hd0]. Zero is significant in Grub so these notations may
look a bit odd. kernel is exactly as it appears, directing Grub to the
kernel image named vmlinuz-2.4.17 and to mount the root partition on
/dev/hdb2 as read-only [ro]. This differs from the root line in that it
uses an actual Linux partition name. initrd, as you'll remember, is
loaded into RAM while the rest of the system boots, then released. This
is the name and location of the initrd image.
map is an interesting piece of work in Grub. In essence, it tricks
Windows into believing that it's installed in the first partition of the
first hard disk. This prevents Windows from overwriting the partition
table. rootnoverify instructs Grub to boot from the Windows partition but
to leave it unmounted. Finally, chainloader is that mystical piece of
code that passes the boot process to the native Windows bootloader.
You'll notice some similarities with Lilo in Grub. Overall, though, Grub
is a much more robust and flexible boot manager. Tomorrow, we'll talk
about some of the potential gotchas when using Grub to dual boot your
system.
Send This to a Friend
Send us a GnomeTWEAK 

 GnomeCORE

Configuring Multimedia Applications
Multimedia apps in Linux come in all shapes and sizes, and for a broad
variety of purposes. Today, we're going to talk about setting up your
scanner using sane, the console-based program for Linux that stands for
"Scanner Access Now Easy."
True to Linux form, sane works its magic by separating the GUI from the
device driver. This marriage of the two in Windows and Mac applications
made scanning in Linux nearly impossible until sane was created. It's
consistent with the overall approach in Linux, where the X Window (GUI)
system is not actually a part of the core operating system code.
As always, we'll assume that you've either installed sane as part of the
initial install process, or that you've downloaded it and have
successfully installed.
Once installed, you may need to create specific instructions for the
program based on the manufacturer of your scanner. For the purposes of
this article, we'll talk only about HP and Epson scanners, as they cover
the broadest consumer ground.
With sane installed, you'll first need to find the configuration file.
Where this is located will depend on whether you installed sane as a
standalone program or let your distribution install it as part of the
initial package. For standalones, the default location is
/usr/local/etc/sane.d/. Remember, that's a directory not a file. Most
commercial distros create this directory at /usr/etc/sane.d/. Within the
appropriate directory, you'll need to create a manufacturer-specific
configuration file in order to be able to use sane with your USB scanner.
This file should appear as follows:
HP
  create /usr/local/etc/sane.d/hp.conf
  containing the lines:
    /dev/usb/scanner0
    option connect-device
Epson
   create /usr/local/etc/sane.d/epson.conf
   containing the line:
    usb /dev/usb/scanner0
Now, with the drivers loaded and the configuration files configured,
you'll be able to use sane to enhance your multimedia library. As always,
I'll cut you loose at this point to explore and learn on your own. I
will, however point you a relatively recent list of supported scanners
and some further instruction on the process.
Send This to a Friend
Send us a GnomeCORE tip 

 GnomeFILE

Simple X CDR [160 Kb]
http://ogre.rocky-road.net/files/simplecdrx-1.1-rc2.tar.gz
http://ogre.rocky-road.net/cdr.shtml
"SimpleCDR-X is a GTK+ based frontend for CD writing, mastering, and
audio manipulation. Its design goals include ease of use and a clean
interface without compromising functionality. SimpleCDR-X utilizes many
common utilities such as cdrecord, cdrdao, mkisofs, cdparanoia, cdda2wav,
mpg123, ogg tools, and lame. SimpleCDR-X supports on-the-fly CD track
ripping to MP3 or OGG and importing of MP3 or OGG files to CD in Audio CD
Mastering. SimpleCDR-X also features CD Copying, burning from a saved
ISO, and Data CD Mastering."
Send This to a Friend
Send us a GnomeFILE suggestion 

 GnomeVOICE

Debian
Scribbled by dazed
"If you ever try installing Debian again, what consistently works for me
(on different machines) is: 
Install a minimal Debian Potato from CD, make sure to forget X completely

Download the latest kernel (the whole thing) from another machine and
burn the tgz to CD 
Compile the new kernel with the right config stuff for your net card and
your weirdo motherboard 
Reboot with the new kernel and get your net card to work - the ethernet
howto seems to work with the updated kernel....and if it doesn't, do
yourself a favor and buy a $20 Linksys Tulip card or something.... 
Change your sources.list; make room for woody 
apt-get install apt-utils debconf 
in debconf's configuration, choose medium (default, i think) 
apt-get update && apt-get update --fix-missing && apt-get -f install 
apt-get dist-upgrade 
NOW: 
apt-get install x-window-system 
configure using dexconf (it comes up as a debconf choice option) 
choose basic settings that should work 
use xf86cfg to make a better config file 
move it to the right place 
"startx and be happy."
Send This to a Friend
Speak your GnomeVOICE 

 GnomeCLICK

Debian GNU/Linux FAQ
http://www.debian.org/doc/FAQ/
As the "official" FAQ of Debian GNU/Linux, this site is chock full of
useful information about this alternative to the alternative OSs. It
includes a brief history of Deb, discussion on how it differs from
"regular" Linux, a brief installation guide, and much else that a new Deb
user could use and treasure. It's really intended to start you down the
Deb path, rather than to provide pat answers for every problem. It serves
that purpose well and provides some interesting reading along the way.
Send This to a Friend
Suggest a GnomeCLICK 

http://www.lockergnome.com/issues/penguinshell/20020220.html 
Your subscribed e-mail address is: [abogardus@xxxxxxxx] - To unsubscribe
or change your delivery address, please visit the subscription management
page. Use of the Gnome moniker by Penguin Shell does not imply
endorsement of the Gnome Desktop Environment. Penguin Shell is an
equal-opportunity desktop employer. For further information, please refer
to the GnomeCREDITS in the sidebar.

LOCKERGNOME

 Latest Windows Daily
 Latest Penguin Shell
 Latest Digital Media
 Latest Tech Specialist
 Latest Bits & Bytes
 Latest Wacky Snaps
 Latest Audio Show


 Recommend Us!
 Advertise With Us
 High-Tech Job Search
 Chat With Gnomies
 View Our Media Kit
 Watch The Webcams

 Visit Our Forums
 Submit Your Opinion
 Read Past Issues
 About Lockergnome
 Our Privacy Policy
 View More Options
 Get Chris's Book

 Questions / Help
 General Feedback
 Submit Suggestions
 Rants & Raves
 E-mail the Editor


GNOMESPECIALS

 Pretty Good Solitaire
 Visualize Color Combos
 FirstStop WebSearch
 Ecobuilder
 Tag&Rename
 Financial Advisor
 Back-Office Solutions
 MP3 Collector
 500+ PC Tips
 EbooksWriter LITE
 Web Tools You Need

Get Listed Here
Question: which group is 250,000+ strong and always looking for stuff to
make their personal and professional lives run smoother? 


CLICK HERE TO ZOOM


GNOMECREDITS

©2001, Lockergnome LLC. ISSN: 1095-3965. All Rights Reserved. Tony
Steidler-Dennison spits out all the content. Please read our Terms of
Service. Our Web site is hosted by DigitalDaze.
PenguinArchive

November, 2001
December, 2001
January, 2002
6 

 Search Past Issues:
       


-- This is the discussion@xxxxxxxxx list.  To unsubscribe,
visit http://www.complete.org/cgi-bin/listargate-aclug.cgi