1237e10bfb7d
tech



Hello Wayne - 

--8<--cut 

CA>> There are many Linux executables that operate at a lower
CA>> level than is wise IMO. I realize there are purists that
CA>> insist this is a good thing but really, for general use,
CA>> it's not IMO. 

WC> I'll do the low level stuff as root and create a user
WC> account for myself after I setup my permissions for the use
WC> of things like printer, network and modem. This should keep
WC> me out of harms way. 

I'm told that is a wise thing to do. I've never setup a 'user
account' for myself and have always been 'root' on all of my
machines since I am the only 'user'. :-) 

I was referring to the necessity to un-mount devices etc.
rather than the automated way that Windows (and other OS) do it. 

WC> Well the CD you sent is safely tucked away and Knoppix
WC> installed flawlessly onto my hard drive dual boot. About
WC> the same installation time as for Win 98!!! Got it dual
WC> booting as well :-) 

Very good. This should make for a considerable speed difference
now that it is installed on the hard drive. 

--8<--cut 

WC>>> There's a Linux InfoZip? I use Pkzip 2.50 in DOS here. 

CA>>> Yes, you use pkzip in DOS but you won't have access to
CA>>> that when using KNOPPIX. ;-) 

WC>> That much I knew, GZIP 

Nope. Neither GZIP nor BZIP are compatible with Pkzip, Infozip
_is_ compatible with Pkzip though it is not a replacement for
GZIP or BZIP or BZIP2. You need all of them.  Most FIDO BBS will
be sending you Pkzip'd archives not GZIP'd nor BZIP'd archives.
:-)

--8<--cut

WC> MultiMail binaries are available from William McBrine/s web
WC> site with the .GZ extention. "Man GZIP" should have me on
WC> my way. Expect I'll have to setup the configuration file
WC> for MM so I set up a third Linux partition hda2 I'll mount
WC> to experiment with until I find out what's what. 

Yes, you need all of the versions of 'zip' in order to
uncompress various Linux archives but for FIDO only InfoZip
will generally be of use for compressing/uncompressing echomail
packets (QWK etc.). 

--8<--cut 

CA>> If you intend to _create_ files you will need Windows for
CA>> the foreseeable future. 

WC> I'll pickup Abiword as word proccessor so I can have MSWord
WC> compatibility and WP can convert. 

Word processing is only one way to create files. I was thinking
of graphics file manipulation/creation, sound/music file
manipulation/creation, and others. :-) 

WC> The Peanut Linux abbreviated Partition Magic made setting
WC> this up after scandisk and defrag a breeze but I fdisk'ed
WC> the drive with ramdrive Basic Linux 1.8. 

Steven did a good job on that mini-install. :-) 

WC> Gave the command to launch the interactive GUI script from
WC> root and off she went like a charm :-) hda1 - Win 98, hda2
WC> experimental Linux native, hda3 256 Meg swap and hda4 3 Gig
WC> Linux native for Knoppix. 

WC> So smimplee a cihld kood due it ;-) 

Not quite that simple. You've had time to acclimate yourself to
the 'hda' and other Linux terminology while using the other
mini-installs. From ground zero the terminology would be a bit
of a stumbling block I suspect. 

CA>> If you only intend to use other peoples files then you can
CA>> drop Windows. 

CA>>> Image copies of the partitions would be safer but, yes,
CA>>> I've done that here for my multiboot to DOS and W2K. 

WC>> I've used xcopy32 with appropriate switches as well. 

CA>> That might work for FAT partitions but won't do much good
CA>> for the Linux partitions. :-) 

WC> You know that's one of many things I'll have to look into.
WC> No bother now the man pages and HOW_TO's are on the local
WC> drive :-)

Linux only installs manpages for installed binaries (each
archive of a binary includes it's own manpages).  If the binary
is not installed you will not find it's manpages either.

WC> I may yet delve into that imagining software you mentioned
WC> I've on the FAT 32 partition when I obtain a second drive. 

Before you can create image copies of your partitions you will
need another empty drive to write them to. :-) 

BooitNG compresses the image files but I would think that Linux
can also compress the image on-the-fly as it is being created.
I _think_ the general consensus has been to use 'dd' for
creating image files for backup purposes from a Linux install? 

WC> Next month it's a 56K hardware modem, following month hard
WC> drive and Ultra 133 drive controller card. 

Hard drive speed (or lack of) is the weak link in the 'chain'
for many systems. 

WC> For March I may change ISP's to 1/2 price local outfit or
WC> go DSL where I'm at not sure which yet. 

If you're considering going DSL then there is no need for the
56k modem. Any decent modem is OK as a 'backup' for emergency
use once you have DSL. 

--8<--cut 

WC>> SMTP, POP3, Newsgroups and all that's left is telnet and
WC>> some multimedia apps. 

The Winamp lookalike included with KNOPPIX seems quite good
here for most music files. I would recommend either CuBase or
Timidity (I prefer Timidity myself) for MIDI music files (there
are links to Timidity at my website MIDI page). There are 5 meg
and 8 meg GUS patch files available for CuBase and Timidity,
you don't _have_ to use the 30 meg EAW GUS patch files. I vaguely
remember some talk of a RealAudio Linux app but no name comes
to mind for that one. 

I'm still wondering about graphics. I have GIMP from GNU/Win
here and it's not an easy program to use IMO. I'm looking for
another user interface that is more familiar (to me). 

CA>> --8<--cut 

WC>>> Another favorite is "Catch 22", the book not the movie. 

--8<--cut 

CA>> The part where the old man in the brothel explains that he
CA>> is a 'survivor' who will support any government that is in
CA>> control just to survive made a lasting impression on me. I
CA>> recall a quote "There are no heros here, they are all
CA>> dead, we are just soldiers". Somewhat similar. 

WC> I took that movie to be a indictment of war in general and
WC> the Vietnam war in particular. Set in WWII to avoid
WC> controversy and make it palatable to theater goers. I
WC> vaguely recall the old man's cynical but practical take on
WC> life. 

Jon Voight's character stealing from the military and trying to
blackmarket as much as possible is something Putin recently
mentioned as one of our 'mistakes' in Iraq. Putin said the
smaller countries contributing military to Iraq were mainly
such characters who were more interested in stealing artifacts
and smuggling than in peace keeping. I believe him. 

>
>        ,                          ,
>      o/      Charles.Angelich      \o       ,
>       __o/
>     / >          USA, MI           < \   __\__
 

--- * ATP/16bit 2.31 * 
... DOS the Ghost in the Machine! http://www.undercoverdesign.com/dosghost/