Mailbag

Aditya Nag and Samuel Kotel Bisbee-vonKaufmann · revitalized

-- 
* Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *

-- 
* Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *

-- 
"Nothing is ever so bad that it couldn't be worse, and if it could be
worse than it is, maybe its not so bad!"... me

Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 14:47:19 -0800
To: [email protected]
From: Rick Moen <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Debian install gui

> There was a thread running a while ago about the alleged difficulty of
> installing Debian, and much was mode of the lack of a GUI installer. 
> 
> Actually it does exist, and has for a while. It has been updated for
> the Etch RC1, but its a bit of a secret. If you burn the install iso
> and boot, it looks the same as it always has, but if you type
> installgui instead of just hitting enter you get the new install
> interface. 
> 
> Its a direct mapping of the old dialogue, so if you expect it to hook
> gparted to help with partitioning, get used to disappointment. The
> only significant difference, so far, is that it does sometimes ask
> multiple questions on one page - e.g. for password verification.

$ grep Package: /var/lib/apt/lists/*Packages | wc -l

RM:  A dozen.  How many are enough office suites?  Two dozen?  A hundred?
Mr. Windows:  Well, I thought there weren't any at all.
RM:  And why did you think that?
Mr. Windows:  Well, I looked on the shelves in my corner software store.
RM:  So, because you can't conceive of getting software any other way
     than in a separate, extra-cost retail package, you simply 
     assumed that Linux "needs more applications".  By the way,
     how many office suites do you use?
Mr. Windows:  {face turning red}  One.

-- 
Cheers,                 "Heedless of grammar, they all cried 'It's him!'"
Rick Moen                       -- R.H. Barham, _Misadventure at Margate_
[email protected]

GRUB Disk Error 

       localhost]# pwd

       /usr/local/test

       localhost]# ln -s .. cirlink

       localhost]#  ls -l cirlink

                 cirlink -> ..

> I'm having a problem with the downloadable pack of linuxgazette.net
> issue this month(132).  It`s probably in my side as long as someone
> managed to compress it but when I do
>
> tar -xvzf  lg-132.tar.gz
>
> it spit some errors about being unable of creating filenames like
>
> Talkback:100_lg_tips_html_tips_14.html
>
> As long as not having internet at home (so that's the downloadable
> package for) and not being able of getting  linux machine in the
> university I haven't the original error mesagges.
>
> the tar version is the one with debian sarge r1 I've been thinking
> about it being some filesystem name limitation but again you have done
> it in your end.  I can manage to get why it happens or how to extract

                       ^^

> them (without cheating)

> Sorry for the strange enclish
> Jorge

-- 
Jorge

> 
>    Sorry...  won't happen again

-- 
* Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *

Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2006 12:16:25 -0800
To: [email protected]
X-Mas: Bah humbug.
User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.11+cvs20060403
From: Rick Moen <[email protected]>
Subject: [conspire] Puzzle: How do you sort IP address lists?

  Back in the early days of computer security, there were only a
  relatively small number of well-known security holes. That had a lot
  to do with the widespread adoption of "Default Permit" because, when
  there were only 15 well-known ways to hack into a network, it was
  possible to individually examine and think about those 15 attack
  vectors and block them. So security practitioners got into the habit
  of "Enumerating Badness" - listing all the bad things that we know
  about.  Once you list all the badness, then you can put things in
  place to detect it, or block it.

  Why is "Enumerating Badness" a dumb idea? It's a dumb idea because
  sometime around 1992 the amount of Badness in the Internet began to
  vastly outweigh the amount of Goodness. For every harmless,
  legitimate, application, there are dozens or hundreds of pieces of
  malware, worm tests, exploits, or viral code. Examine a typical
  antivirus package and you'll see it knows about 75,000+ viruses that
  might infect your machine. Compare that to the legitimate 30 or so apps
  that I've installed on my machine, and you can see it's rather dumb to
  try to track 75,000 pieces of Badness when even a simpleton could track
  30 pieces of Goodness.  [...]

sd 5:0:0:0: SCSI error: return code = 0x08000002
sdb: Current: sense key=0x3
    ASC=0x11 ASCQ=0x0
end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 598730

-- 
Brandon Reynolds                Ph: 330-644-3059
Systems Engineer                Fax: 330-644-8110
CTI, a Poling Group Company     Email: bmr at comtime.com

> Hi,
> i am a student and have just seen ur Ada tutorial at this website.
> http://linuxgazette.net/issue81/adam2.html

> from what i have learned i only know that Put is used to display things
> on
> the screen. could you please explain what these Put camands do .

> (1)
> Put("Count=");
> Put(Count,5); New_Line;

with Ada.INTEGER_IO(INTEGER)

Put(Count,5); New_Line;

> (2)
> for Index in 1 .. 4 loop
> Put("Doubled index =");
> Put(2 * Index,5); New_Line;
> 
> i have to submitt my work today, i shall be grateful for any help.

-- 
 byte-byte,
    grin

vi Firstshellscript.sh

#!/bin/sh
echo "Hello World"

chmod 744 Firstshellscript.sh

chmod +x Firstshellscript.sh

bash$ ./Firstshellscript.sh
Hello World

sh -x Firstshellscript.sh
+ echo 'Hello World'
Hello World

bash$ cat Firstshellscript.sh
#!/bin/sh
echo Hello World

# This is a comment line.
# This is another comment line.

: 'This is a comment line.

Again, this is a comment line.

My God, this is yet another comment line.'

bash$ SCRIPT_PATH=/home/blessen/shellscript
bash$ export SCRIPT_PATH

bash$ export SCRIPT_PATH=/home/blessen/shellscript

bash$ echo $define_tempval 
blessen

#!/bin/sh

username=blessen
echo "The username is $username"

#!/bin/sh

echo "The first variable is $1"
echo "The second variable is $2"

bash$ ./commandline.sh blessen lijoe
The first variable is blessen
The second variable is lijoe

bash$ cat test

bash$ echo $?
0

bash$ cat xyz1
bash$ echo $?
1

#!/bin/sh

display()
{
    local local_var=100
    global_var=blessen
    echo "local variable is $local_var"
    echo "global variable is $global_var"
}

echo "======================"
display
echo "=======outside ========"
echo "local variable outside function is $local_var"
echo "global variable outside function is $global_var"

======================
local variable is 100
global variable is blessen
=======outside ========
local variable outside function is 
global variable outside function is blessen

read <variable_name>

echo "statement to be displayed"

sum=`expr 12 + 20`

$[expression operation statement]

echo $[12 + 10]

if [ conditional statement ]
then
	... Any commands/statements ...
fi

#!/bin/sh

echo "Enter your username:"
read username

if [ "$username" = "blessen" ]
then
	echo 'Success!!! You are now logged in.'
else
	echo 'Sorry, wrong username.'
fi

for ((initialization; condition; increment/decrement))
do
	...statements...
done

#!/bin/sh

for (( i=1; $i <= 10; i++ ))
do
	echo $i
done

for <variable> in <list>
do
	...statements...
done

#!/bin/sh

count=0
for i in `cat /etc/group`
do
	count=`expr "$count" + 1`
	echo "Line $count is being displayed"
	echo $i
done

echo "End of file"

#!/bin/sh

for i in `seq 1 5`
do
	echo $i
done

while [ condition ]
do
	...statement...
done

#!/bin/sh

num=1

while [$num -lt 5]; do num=$[$num + 1]; echo $num; done

select <variable> in <list>
do
	...statements...
done

case $<variable> in
	<option1>) statements ;;
	<option2>) statements ;;
	*) echo "Sorry, wrong option" ;;
esac

#!/bin/bash

echo "***********************"
select opt in apache named sendmail
	do
	case $opt in
		apache) 	/etc/rc.d/init.d/httpd restart;;
		named) 		/etc/rc.d/init.d/named restart;;
		sendmail)	/etc/rc.d/init.d/sendmail restart;;
		*) 			echo "Nothing will be restarted"
	esac
	echo "***********************"

	# If this break is not here, then we won't get a shell prompt.
	break

done

<name of function> ()
{	# start of function
	statements
} 	# end of function

#!/bin/sh

sumcalc ()
{
	sum=$[$1 + $2]
}

echo "Enter the first number:"
read num1
echo "Enter the second number:"
read num2

sumcalc $num1 $num2

echo "Output from function sumcalc: $sum"

root@1[knoppix]# tune2fs -o ^has_journal /dev/hda2
tune2fs 1.39-wip (09-apr-2006)
root@1[knoppix]# mount /dev/hda2 /mnt
root@1[knoppix]# vi /mnt/etc/fstab
root@1[knoppix]# head /mnt/etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: filesystem table.
#
# filesystem  mountpoint  type  options  dump  pass
#/dev/hda2  /  ext3  defaults,errors=remount-ro  0  1
/dev/hda2  /  ext2  defaults,errors=remount-ro  0  1         <<=== here 

proc  /proc  proc  defaults  0  0
/dev/fd0  /floppy  vfat  defaults,user,noauto,showexec,umask=022  0  0
usbfs  /proc/bus/usb  usbfs  devmode=0666  0  0
sysfs  /sys  sysfs  defaults  0  0
root@1[knoppix]# 

web@lohgoamd:~$ tail -3 /etc/fstab
/dev/hda1 /media/hda1 auto noauto,users,exec 0 0
# added by knoppix
/dev/sda1 /media/sda1 vfat noauto,users,exec,umask=000,shortname=winnt,uid=knoppix,gid=knoppix 0 0
web@lohgoamd:~$ su
password:
root@lohgoamd:/home/web# vi /etc/fstab
root@lohgoamd:/home/web# exit
web@lohgoamd:~$ tail -3 /etc/fstab
/dev/hda1 /media/hda1 auto noauto,users,exec 0 0
# added by knoppix
/dev/sda1 /media/sda1 vfat noauto,users,exec,umask=000,shortname=winnt 0 0
web@lohgoamd:~$ mount /media/sda1/
web@lohgoamd:~$     

sudo dd if=/dev/hda of=/media/sdb1/mbr_pc2 bs=512 count=1

sudo dd if=/media/sdb1/mbr_pc2 of=/dev/hda bs=446 count=1

 set terminal png size 600,600 \
     x000000 xffffff x404040 xff0000
 set output "fig-spiro02.png"
 set size ratio -1
 set nokey
 set noxtics
 set noytics
 set noborder
 set parametric
#
 x(t)=(R-r)*cos(t) + p*cos((R-r)*t/r)
 y(t)=(R-r)*sin(t) - p*sin((R-r)*t/r)
#
 R=100.0; r=2.0; p=80.0
 set samples 2001
#
 plot [t=0:2*pi] x(t),y(t)

png size 600,600
png picsize
    600 600
#! /bin/csh
set code = $0:t
if ($#argv < 3) goto help
set n1 = $1; set n2 = $2; set n3 = $3
set a1 = 1.0; set a2 = 1.0; set a3 = 1.0
set s1 = 0.0; set s2 = 0.0; set s3 = 0.0
if ($#argv >= 4) set a1 = $4
if ($#argv >= 5) set a2 = $5
if ($#argv >= 6) set a3 = $6
if ($#argv >= 7) set s1 = $7
if ($#argv >= 8) set s2 = $8
if ($#argv >= 9) set s3 = $9

cat << EOF | gnuplot
 set size ratio -1
 set nokey
 set noxtics
 set noytics
 set noborder
 set parametric
#
 n1p = {0,1}*2*pi*${n1}
 n2p = {0,1}*2*pi*${n2}
 n3p = {0,1}*2*pi*${n3}
 s1p = {0,1}*2*pi*${s1}
 s2p = {0,1}*2*pi*${s2}
 s3p = {0,1}*2*pi*${s3}
 z(t) = ${a1}*exp(n1p*t+s1p) \
      + ${a2}*exp(n2p*t+s2p) \
      + ${a3}*exp(n3p*t+s3p)
#
 set terminal png size 600,600 x000000 \
     xffffff x404040 xff0000 xffa500 x66cdaa \
     xcdb5cd xadd8e6 x0000ff xdda0dd x9500d3
 set output "fig-spiro03.png"
#
 set samples 2001
 plot [t=0:1] real(z(t)),imag(z(t))
EOF

xv fig-spiro03.png
exit(0)

help:
cat << EOF
USE:     $code n1 n2 n3 [a1 a2 a3 [s1 s2 s3]]
PURPOSE: Plot Farris wheels on wheels on wheels
         curve for (n1,n2,n3,a1,a2,a3,s1,s2,s3).
         Default value for a1, a2, a3: 1.0.
         Default value for s1, s2, s3: 0.0.
EXAMPLE: $code 1 7 -17 1 0.5 1.0/3 0 0 0.24
EOF

{0,1}
plot
plot
   nturns = abs(rsmall) / gcd(Rbig,abs(rsmall))
   M = nturns * resolution
   inumber = {0,1}
   for (k=0; k<=M; k++) {
      ang1 = inumber * k * 2*pi/M
      ang2 = ang1 * (rsmall-Rbig)/rsmall
      z[k] = (Rbig-rsmall)*exp(ang1) + p*exp(ang2)
      if (k>0) { PLOT LINE from z[k-1] to z[k] }
      }

resolution
nturns
gcd()
samples
a?b:c
b
a
c
gcd()
 set size ratio -1
 set nokey
 set noxtics
 set noytics
 set noborder
 set parametric
#
 x(t) = (R-r)*cos(t) + p*cos((R-r)*t/r)
 y(t) = (R-r)*sin(t) - p*sin((R-r)*t/r)
#
# Greatest common divisor:
 gcd(x,y) = (x%y==0 ? y : gcd(y,x%y))
#
 R = 100; r = -49; p = -66; res = 10
#
 rr = abs(r)
 nturns = rr / gcd(R,rr)
 samp = 1 + res * nturns
 set samples samp
#
 plot [t=0:nturns*2*pi] x(t),y(t)

 set terminal png size 600,600 x000000 \
     xffffff x404040 xff0000 xffa500 x66cdaa \
     xcdb5cd xadd8e6 x0000ff xdda0dd x9500d3
 set output "fig-spiro05.png"
 set size ratio -1
 set nokey
 set noxtics
 set noytics
 set noborder
 set parametric
#
# General parametric equations:
 x(t,R,r,p) = (R-r)*cos(t) + p*cos((R-r)*t/r)
 y(t,R,r,p) = (R-r)*sin(t) - p*sin((R-r)*t/r)
#
# Values for the dummy parameter:
 t(i,n) = i*2*pi/n
#
# Greatest common divisor:
 gcd(x,y) = (x%y==0 ? y : gcd(y,x%y))
#
# The different curves:
 R1 = 100; r1 = 2; p1 = 70; res1 =  75
 R2 = 100; r2 = 2; p2 = 70; res2 = 125
 R3 = 100; r3 = 2; p3 = 70; res3 = 175
#
 nseg1 = res1 * abs(r1) / gcd(R1,abs(r1))
 nseg2 = res2 * abs(r2) / gcd(R2,abs(r2))
 nseg3 = res3 * abs(r3) / gcd(R3,abs(r3))
 n12 = (nseg1 * nseg2) / gcd(nseg1,nseg2)
 nsamp = (n12 * nseg3) / gcd(n12,nseg3)
 nsamp1 = nsamp + 1
 set samples nsamp1
#
 plot [i=0:nsamp] \
    x(t(i,res1),R1,r1,p1),y(t(i,res1),R1,r1,p1) \
  , x(t(i,res2),R2,r2,p2),y(t(i,res2),R2,r2,p2) \
  , x(t(i,res3),R3,r3,p3),y(t(i,res3),R3,r3,p3)

plot
set terminal table
{real_part,imaginary_part}
pi*{0,1}/12
tmp
png size 600,600 x000000 xffffff x404040
      ...
{x,y}
style lt
      1
style
      with points pt -1
         var = var_ini
         while (var does not reach var_end) do
            # compute and draw a new installment
            # of the current curve
            var = var_ini + (var_inc)
         end

plot freal*real(z(t)),
      fimag*imag(z(t))
freal = fimag = 1.0
(x,y)
   project example01
   terminal png size 600,600 x000000
   curve 10
      addterm trochoid 100 -49 76

   project example02
   terminal png size 600,600 x000000
   curve
      #style lt 1
      loop kkk 0 20 1
      addterm wheel 4*0.98**kkk  -3   kkk/200.
      addterm wheel 5*1.02**kkk   2   kkk/200.

   project example03
   terminal png size 600,600 x000000
   curve
      style lt 1
      loop kkk 0 20 1
      addterm wheel 4  -5   -kkk/60.
      addterm wheel 3   2    kkk/60.
      addterm wheel 2   9    0.

gfactors
 project example04 terminal postscript eps enhanced color
"Helvetica" 48 gfactors 1.4 0.7 curve style lt 1 loop kkk 0 10 1 addterm wheel
200*0.96**kkk   1   0.  addterm wheel  10*0.96**kkk   9   0.  addterm wheel
9*0.96**kkk  23   0.  label 0 0 G_nuplot rules!  
tar
--days x
$config
/etc/pack.list
pwd >> /etc/pack.list

essential()
$config
sub essential {
  open( ESSENTIAL, ">$tmpconf") || die "can't store essential files in $tmpconf: $!\n";
  print ESSENTIAL "/home/gerrit/.{bash?[place]*,alias,functions,dircolors}\n";
  # ...
  print ESSENTIAL "${config}\n";
  close ESSENTIAL;
}

$confdir = $flashdir/.conf.d
--days x
anacron(8)
$confdir/timestamp-hostname
alias seconds_to_timestring="perl -le 'for (<STDIN>) { print \$_=localtime(\$_) }'"

pack --info
--days x
localhost.localdomain
--delete
rsync
cmds=$confdir/commands
while read -p'#' line; do  eval $line && echo $line >> $cmds; done

su
$confdir
pack
execute_cmds()
sub execute_cmds {
  (-s $cmds) || return;             # ignore empty files
  # ...
  system "bash $cmds";              # execute commands
  system "mv $cmds /tmp/commands";  # store in /tmp
}

pack --show
$pret
$addt
-j
-P
tar
tar -jcpPvf  /vol/flash/add.2    /usr/src/patches/  /home/bin

~/.kde/Autostart
/etc/init.d
/etc/rc2.d/S30unpackUSB
chkconfig
start
pack --unpack
/var/log
$confdir
idfile=$confdir/.idfile
serialnum=$confdir/.serialnum
md5sum $0 | tee ${serialnum} | tee "$(<${idfile})"

$serialnum
$confdir
$idfile
echo `pwd`/mysecretfile > $idfile
$idfile
$serialnum
if ! [ -e "${serialnum}" -a -e "${idfile}" ] || [ "$(<$(<${idfile}))" != "$(<${serialnum})" ]
then
   echo "Authentication procedure failed." >&2
   exit 1
fi

$serialnum
$idfile
"$(<$(<${idfile}))" != "$(<${serialnum})"

$idfile
$serialnum
$confdir
function note() {
   test -t 0  &&  echo "Type in text, terminated by CTRL-D."
   if note=$(fold -s) && test -n "$note";  then
      echo "at $(date): ${note}"  >>/vol/flash/.conf.d/notes
   fi
}

echo "CVS commit ID was $(cat /tmp/commit-id), done at $(date)" | note

pack --read
~/.kde/Autostart
kedit --caption "PACK NOTES" $notes &

save_mbr
$confdir
rdev(8)
sub save_mbr {
  my $rdev = qx{/usr/sbin/rdev 2>&1}; 
  # ...
  system("dd if=$rdev of=$mbr bs=512 count=1") == 0 ||  warn "Cannot save MBR";
} 

struct
task_struct
    701 struct task_struct {
    702         volatile long state;    /* -1 unrunnable, 0 runnable, >0 stopped */
    703         struct thread_info *thread_info;
     .
     .
    767         /* PID/PID hash table linkage. */
    768         struct pid pids[PIDTYPE_MAX];
     .
     .
    798         char comm[TASK_COMM_LEN]; /* executable name excluding path

state
volatile long
#define TASK_RUNNING            0
#define TASK_INTERRUPTIBLE      1
#define TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE    2
#define TASK_STOPPED            4
#define TASK_TRACED             8
/* in tsk->exit_state */
#define EXIT_ZOMBIE             16
#define EXIT_DEAD               32
/* in tsk->state again */
#define TASK_NONINTERACTIVE     64

 struct list_head {
         struct list_head *next, *prev;
 };

struct
list_head
struct task_struct
struct list_head tasks;

extern struct task_struct init_task;

for_each_process()
#define for_each_process(p) \
        for (p = &init_task ; (p = next_task(p)) != &init_task ; )

next_task()
#define next_task(p)    list_entry((p)->tasks.next, struct task_struct, tasks)

list_entry()
/*
 * list_entry - get the struct for this entry
 * @ptr:        the &struct list_head pointer.
 * @type:       the type of the struct this is embedded in.
 * @member:     the name of the list_struct within the struct.
 */
#define list_entry(ptr, type, member) \
        container_of(ptr, type, member)

container_of()
#define container_of(ptr, type, member) ({                      \
        const typeof( ((type *)0)->member ) *__mptr = (ptr);    \
        (type *)( (char *)__mptr - offsetof(type,member) );})

    /* ProcessList.c 
    Robert Love Chapter 3
    */
    #include < linux/kernel.h >
    #include < linux/sched.h >
    #include < linux/module.h >

    int init_module(void)
    {
    struct task_struct *task;
    for_each_process(task)
    {
    printk("%s [%d]\n",task->comm , task->pid);
    }

    return 0;
    }

    void cleanup_module(void)
    {
    printk(KERN_INFO "Cleaning Up.\n");
    }

current
task_struct
current
current_thread_info()
asm/thread_info.h
   /* how to get the thread information struct from C */
   static inline struct thread_info *current_thread_info(void)
   {
           struct thread_info *ti;
           __asm__("andl %%esp,%0; ":"=r" (ti) : "0" (~(THREAD_SIZE - 1)));
           return ti;
   }

current
task
thread_info
asm/thread_info.h
current_thread_info()->task;
   struct thread_info {
           struct task_struct      *task;          /* main task structure */
           struct exec_domain      *exec_domain;   /* execution domain */
           unsigned long           flags;          /* low level flags */
           unsigned long           status;         /* thread-synchronous flags */
           __u32                   cpu;            /* current CPU */
           int                     preempt_count;  /* 0 => preemptable, <0 => BUG */

           mm_segment_t            addr_limit;     /* thread address space:
                                                      0-0xBFFFFFFF for user-thread
                                                      0-0xFFFFFFFF for kernel-thread
                                                   */
           void                    *sysenter_return;
           struct restart_block    restart_block;

           unsigned long           previous_esp;   /* ESP of the previous stack in case
                                                      of nested (IRQ) stacks
                                                   */
           __u8                    supervisor_stack[0];
   };

current
init_task
/*
Traceroute to init
   traceinit.c
Robert Love Chapter 3
*/
  #include < linux/kernel.h >
  #include < linux/sched.h >
  #include < linux/module.h >

  int init_module(void)
  {
  struct task_struct *task;

   for(task=current;task!=&init_task;task=task->parent)
   //current is a macro which points to the current task / process
   {
   printk("%s [%d]\n",task->comm , task->pid);
   }

   return 0;
   }

   void cleanup_module(void)
   {
   printk(KERN_INFO "Cleaning up 1.\n");
   }

     obj-m +=ProcessList.o
     obj-m +=traceinit.o
     all:
             make -C /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build M=$(PWD) modules

     clean:
             make -C /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build M=$(PWD) clean

Sep 17 19:58:47 Fenrir kernel: usb 4-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
Sep 17 19:58:47 Fenrir kernel: usb 4-1: Product: Geek Squad
Sep 17 19:58:47 Fenrir kernel: usb 4-1: Manufacturer: SanDisk Corporation
Sep 17 19:58:47 Fenrir kernel: usb 4-1: SerialNumber: SNDK14050503CBF08502
Sep 17 19:58:47 Fenrir kernel: usb 4-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Sep 17 19:58:47 Fenrir kernel: scsi1 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Sep 17 19:58:47 Fenrir usb.agent[4021]:      usb-storage: already loaded
Sep 17 19:58:52 Fenrir kernel:   Vendor:           Model: Geek Squad        Rev: 0.2 
Sep 17 19:58:52 Fenrir kernel:   Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Sep 17 19:58:52 Fenrir kernel: SCSI device sda: 2001888 512-byte hdwr sectors (1025 MB)
Sep 17 19:58:52 Fenrir kernel: sda: Write Protect is off
Sep 17 19:58:52 Fenrir kernel: SCSI device sda: 2001888 512-byte hdwr sectors (1025 MB)
Sep 17 19:58:52 Fenrir kernel: sda: Write Protect is off
Sep 17 19:58:52 Fenrir kernel:  sda:<7>usb-storage: queuecommand called
Sep 17 19:58:52 Fenrir kernel:  sda1
Sep 17 19:58:52 Fenrir kernel: sd 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi removable disk sda
Sep 17 19:58:53 Fenrir scsi.agent[4058]:      sd_mod: loaded successfully (for disk)

ben@Fenrir:~$ dpkg -l hotplug
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Installed/Config-files/Unpacked/Failed-config/Half-installed
|/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name                       Version                    Description
+++-==========================-==========================-=====================
ii  hotplug                    0.0.20040329-25            Linux Hotplug Scripts

ben@Fenrir:~$ ls -l /proc/sys/kernel/hotplug
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 2006-09-17 20:32 /proc/sys/kernel/hotplug

ben@Fenrir:~$ su -c '/etc/init.d/hotplug start'
Password: 
Starting hotplug subsystem:
   pci     
     intel-agp: already loaded
     uhci-hcd: loaded successfully
     uhci-hcd: already loaded
     uhci-hcd: already loaded
     ehci-hcd: loaded successfully
     snd-intel8x0: already loaded
     ignoring pci display device 01:00.0
     b44: already loaded
     ipw2200: already loaded
     yenta_socket: already loaded
     ohci-hcd: loaded successfully
     ohci-hcd: already loaded
   pci      [success]
   usb     
     usb-storage: already loaded
     cdc-acm: already loaded
   usb      [success]
   isapnp  
   isapnp   [success]
   ide     
   ide      [success]
   input   
   input    [success]
   scsi    
     sd_mod: loaded successfully (for disk)
   scsi     [success]
done.

Sep 17 19:43:08 Fenrir kernel: usb 4-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2
Sep 17 19:43:08 Fenrir kernel: usb 4-1: Product: Geek Squad
Sep 17 19:43:08 Fenrir kernel: usb 4-1: Manufacturer: SanDisk Corporation
Sep 17 19:43:08 Fenrir kernel: usb 4-1: SerialNumber: SNDK14050503CBF08502
Sep 17 19:43:08 Fenrir kernel: usb 4-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Sep 17 19:43:08 Fenrir kernel: scsi0 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Sep 17 19:43:09 Fenrir usb.agent[3687]:      usb-storage: already loaded
Sep 17 19:43:13 Fenrir kernel:   Vendor:           Model: Geek Squad        Rev: 0.2
Sep 17 19:43:13 Fenrir kernel:   Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Sep 17 19:43:13 Fenrir scsi.agent[3730]:      sd_mod: can't be loaded (for disk)

# SCSI device support
#
CONFIG_SCSI=y

...

# SCSI support type (disk, tape, CD-ROM)
#
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD=m

ben@Fenrir:~$ grep sd /etc/fstab
/dev/sda   /mnt/sda   vfat  user,noauto,gid=103,rw,fmask=113   0   0
/dev/sda1  /mnt/sda1  vfat  user,noauto,gid=103,rw,fmask=113   0   0
/dev/sdb   /mnt/sdb   vfat  user,noauto,gid=103,rw,fmask=113   0   0
/dev/sdb1  /mnt/sdb1  vfat  user,noauto,gid=103,rw,fmask=113   0   0
/dev/sdc   /mnt/sdc   vfat  user,noauto,gid=103,rw,fmask=113   0   0

ben@Fenrir:~$ mount /mnt/sda1
ben@Fenrir:~$ mount|grep sda1
/dev/sda1 on /mnt/sda1 type vfat (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,gid=103,fmask=113,user=ben)

On Sun, 17 Sep 2006, Benjamin A. Okopnik wrote:
>
> The Monthly Troubleshooter: The USB Subsystem

From Personal Experience:

	There are two types of mathematics books.

        There are those where the author has taken great pains to
        construct the most illuminating exercises for the student
        to solve at the end of each chapter.

	... And then there are the books where there are mistakes
	in the text.

Kapil Hari Paranjape <kapil at imsc.res.in> wrote:
> 
> Of course, the question does arise: How will people learn about
> GNU and Linux once everything starts working smoothly? I can
> certainly vouch for the fact that many of the things I learnt about
> computers, I learnt because the computer was not doing things the
> way I wanted it to.

Kapil Hari Paranjape wrote:
> 
> Of course, the question does arise: How will people learn about
> GNU and Linux once everything starts working smoothly?

# usb module         match_flags idVendor idProduct bcdDevice_lo bcdDevice_hi bDeviceClass bDeviceSubClass bDeviceProtocol bInterfaceClass bInterfaceSubClass bInterfaceProtocol driver_info
yepp                 0x0003      0x04e8   0x5a03    0x0000       0x0000       0x00         0x00            0x00            0x00            0x00               0x00               0x00000000

#!/bin/sh
. /etc/hotplug/hotplug.functions
mesg setting permissions of $DEVICE
chgrp staff $DEVICE
chmod g+w $DEVICE

> I can
> certainly vouch for the fact that many of the things I learnt about
> computers, I learnt because the computer was not doing things the
> way I wanted it to.

> From Personal Experience:
> 
> 	There are two types of mathematics books.
> 
>         There are those where the author has taken great pains to
>         construct the most illuminating exercises for the student
>         to solve at the end of each chapter.
> 
> 	... And then there are the books where there are mistakes
> 	in the text.

On 20/09/2006 Benjamin A. Okopnik wrote:
> 
> http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/2437/

Martin Hooper wrote:
> On 20/09/2006 Benjamin A. Okopnik wrote:
> 
> > http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/2437/
> 
> I don't know if anyone else is using Firefox to view that page 
> but it doesn't work.

ben@Fenrir:~$ mozilla-suite -v
Mozilla 1.7.13, Copyright (c) 2003-2004 mozilla.org, build 2006080919
ben@Fenrir:~$ firefox -v
Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.6, Copyright (c) 1998 - 2006 mozilla.org
ben@Fenrir:~$ dillo -v
Dillo 0.8.5-i18n-misc

> I'm guessing that if I use IE then it would...

Benjamin A. Okopnik wrote:
> Have you tried scrolling down? The text doesn't start until well down
> the page.

On Wed, Sep 20, 2006 at 01:41:27PM +0100, Thomas Adam wrote:
> Kapil Hari Paranjape <kapil at imsc.res.in> wrote:
> > 
> > Of course, the question does arise: How will people learn about
> > GNU and Linux once everything starts working smoothly? I can
> > certainly vouch for the fact that many of the things I learnt about
> > computers, I learnt because the computer was not doing things the
> > way I wanted it to.
> 
> They don't need to worry about that anymore.  With the use of GNOME and
> KDE, all of those worries are hidden behind flashy buttons and dialogue
> windows.

"Benjamin A. Okopnik" <ben at linuxgazette.net> wrote:
> In my opinion, KDE and Gnome are very nice tools... but the intended
> use for those tools has nothing to do with administering or
> maintaining Linux. It has to do with easing people from the Wind0ws
> world past the oh-so-terrifying idea that another OS will slit their
> throats, rape their Chihuahuas, and run away to Monaco with their
> money - and into using the same applications in pretty much the same
> way as they always have, marketing hype to the contrary
> notwithstanding.

> It's possible to debate the long-term usefulness of this approach. I,
> for example, have strong reservations about it maintaining the
> irresponsible mindset that is trained into many Wind0ws users by the
> shiny, glitzy interface ("just put gas into it, and leave Complicated
> Stuff like checking the oil to the professional mechanics!") - this is
> what allows viruses, etc. to propagate - but there are many people
> whose only reason for switching to Linux was the ability to "keep
> doing the same thing as before". Perhaps the question is, would it be

> Something that comes in very useful when troubleshooting USB is the
> 'usbfs' virtual file system. To get access to it, compile this option
> into the kernel (CONFIG_USB_DEVICEFS=y) and list it in
> '/etc/fstab' (the relevant line reads "none /proc/bus/usb usbfs
> noauto 0 0", and it is loaded by the kernel when the USB subsystem is
> detected.) 

> Assuming that you have your "/etc/fstab" properly configured - i.e.,
> you have entries that look something like this:
> 
> ``
> ben@Fenrir:~$ grep sd /etc/fstab
> /dev/sda   /mnt/sda   vfat  user,noauto,gid=103,rw,fmask=113   0   0
> /dev/sda1  /mnt/sda1  vfat  user,noauto,gid=103,rw,fmask=113   0   0
> /dev/sdb   /mnt/sdb   vfat  user,noauto,gid=103,rw,fmask=113   0   0
> /dev/sdb1  /mnt/sdb1  vfat  user,noauto,gid=103,rw,fmask=113   0   0
> /dev/sdc   /mnt/sdc   vfat  user,noauto,gid=103,rw,fmask=113   0   0

	Description: mount removable devices as normal user

On Thu, Sep 21, 2006 at 08:58:33AM +0100, Thomas Adam wrote:
> "Benjamin A. Okopnik" <ben at linuxgazette.net> wrote:
> > In my opinion, KDE and Gnome are very nice tools... but the intended
> > use for those tools has nothing to do with administering or
> > maintaining Linux. It has to do with easing people from the Wind0ws
> > world past the oh-so-terrifying idea that another OS will slit their
> > throats, rape their Chihuahuas, and run away to Monaco with their
> > money - and into using the same applications in pretty much the same
> > way as they always have, marketing hype to the contrary
> > notwithstanding.
> 
> That is as maybe -- and whether or not KDE and GNOME are out on a
> mission to wean people using Windows to Linux, the fact remains that
> with GNOME (especially in Ubuntu, for example), the de facto
> functionality is to automount and run Nautilus for any device that
> you can shove into one of the many orifices your computer comes with
> nowadays; USB included.  :P

> I think one of the
> biggest issues that throws people is the lack of consistency between
> the device mappings between unplugging and replugging the devices --
> especially if it is a mass-storage device (c.f. /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2,
> etc.)

r!ls -FAlS /mnt
total 36
drwxrwxr-x 2 root staff 4096 2005-11-22 16:19 hda1/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root  4096 2005-11-22 16:09 hdc/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root  4096 2005-11-22 16:09 sda/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root  4096 2005-11-22 16:09 sda1/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root  4096 2005-11-22 16:09 sdb/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root  4096 2005-11-22 16:09 sdb1/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root  4096 2006-04-26 13:28 sdc/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root  4096 2005-11-22 16:09 sr0/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root  4096 2004-05-10 20:26 test/
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     4 2005-11-22 16:10 olympus -> sda1/
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     4 2005-11-22 16:19 puppy -> hda1/
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     4 2005-11-22 16:12 sdcard -> sdb1/
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root root     3 2005-12-08 12:31 dvd -> sr0/
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     3 2005-11-22 16:11 dvd-scsi -> sr0/
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     3 2005-11-22 16:11 flash -> sdb/

> This gets slightly better if you're one of these people who
> subscribes to the whole "udev" experience.  But as I am known for
> making my views all too clear about why I hate udev, I do not use
> it.  :P

On Thu, 21 Sep 2006, Pedro Fraile Pérez wrote:
> El Sun, 17 Sep 2006 21:47:54 -0400
> "Benjamin A. Okopnik" <ben at linuxgazette.net> wrote:
> > 
> > The Monthly Troubleshooter: The USB Subsystem
> > =============================================
> > 
> ... until I (correctly)
> installed udev. Your message has finally impulsed me to try to find out
> for sure what happened, and the answer seems to lie withing these
> threads (please correct me if I am wrong)
> 
> http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/08/msg01454.html
> http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/09/msg00732.html

> One thing I am still missing is the knowledge on how to troubleshoot
> the combination udev / hal / sysfs (Does hal has something to do with
> the other two?).

Q: Can I use udev to automount a USB device when I connect it?
A: Technically, yes, but udev is not intended for this. All major distributions
   use HAL (http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software_2fhal) for this, which also
   watches devices with removable media and integrates the Desktop environment.

> I have minor glitches with a couple of things: an USB
> stick that is automounted on a back slot of a Dell box, but not on a
> front one - and no hardware problem here, for sure -,

> In the all days, I would have
> modified some script under /etc/hotplug.d/ to log some information on a
> temporary file, but I do not know of a similar strategy with udev. I
> have to admit that I have not invested tons of time on it though ...

  Scripts in /etc/dev.d/ and /etc/hotplug.d/ are not supported
  anymore unless the hotplugd.rules rules file is manually enabled.
     -- Marco d'Itri <md at linux.it>  Thu, 17 Aug 2006 14:40:34 +0200

> The net result being that (under gnome, at least) any removable media
> gets mounted on an ad-hoc created /media/whatever with the right
> user permissions, without any entry in fstab. Cannot say I dislike
> it ...

Quoting Kapil Hari Paranjape (kapil at imsc.res.in):
> Absolutely. HAL is the AI in the system . To quote from the udev FAQ:
> 
> Q: Can I use udev to automount a USB device when I connect it?
> A: Technically, yes, but udev is not intended for this. All major
> distributions use HAL (http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software_2fhal) for
> this, which also watches devices with removable media and integrates
> the Desktop environment.

On Thu, 21 Sep 2006, Rick Moen wrote:
> 
> Ugh.  That's repulsive -- if only because of the dependency on glib 
> (about which it's said "this dep will be dropped soon").  Something with
> the smell of GNOME about it has no business getting anywhere near my
> kernels.

	USBmount is intended as a lightweight solution which is
	independent of a desktop environment. Users which would
	like an icon to appear when an USB device is plugged in
	should use the pmount and hal packages instead.

Kapil Hari Paranjape <kapil at imsc.res.in> escribi?:
> 
> On Thu, 21 Sep 2006, Pedro Fraile P?rez wrote:
> 
> > I have minor glitches with a couple of things: an USB
> > stick that is automounted on a back slot of a Dell box, but not on a
> > front one - and no hardware problem here, for sure -,
> 
> Actually this is probably a hardware problem as I discovered.
> 
> The problem is that there are two types of USB ports. Those that
> supply suficient power and those that do not. If you have a device
> which requires power to be supplied through the USB socket and you
> connect to a USB port that does not supply power (or does not supply
> enough of it) then the device will not work.

> > The net result being that (under gnome, at least) any removable
> > media gets mounted on an ad-hoc created /media/whatever with the
> > right user permissions, without any entry in fstab. Cannot say I
> > dislike it ...
> 
> I think the problem is what-if. What if there is a device that I do
> not want automounted? There is perhaps not an easy way to prevent
> that from happening.

On Fri, 22 Sep 2006, Kapil Hari Paranjape wrote: (quoting from the udev FAQ)
>    Alternatively, it is easy to add the following to fstab:
>      /dev/disk/by-label/PENDRIVE /media/PENDRIVE  vfat user,noauto 0 0
> 
>    This means that users can access the device with:
>      $mount /media/PENDRIVE
>    and doen't have to be root, but will get full permissions on the device.
>    Using the persistent disk links (label, uuid) will always catch the
>    same device regardless of the actual kernel name.

   	mount -L <your label> <mount point>

	LABEL=DOST  /media/DOST  vfat  rw,user,noauto  0  0
	LABEL=LEAN  /media/LEAN  ext2  rw,user,noauto  0  0

On 29/09/2006 Kapil Hari Paranjape wrote:
>        mount -L <your label> <mount point>
> 
> Alternatively your fstab could contain entries like:
>     LABEL=DOST  /media/DOST  vfat  rw,user,noauto  0  0
>     LABEL=LEAN  /media/LEAN  ext2  rw,user,noauto  0  0

On Thu, Sep 21, 2006 at 09:16:57PM +0200, Pedro Fraile P?rez wrote:
> 
> One thing I am still missing is the knowledge on how to troubleshoot
> the combination udev / hal / sysfs (Does hal has something to do with
> the other two?).

> > Something that comes in very useful when troubleshooting USB is the
> > 'usbfs' virtual file system. To get access to it, compile this option
> > into the kernel (CONFIG_USB_DEVICEFS=y) and list it in
> > '/etc/fstab' (the relevant line reads "none /proc/bus/usb usbfs
> > noauto 0 0", and it is loaded by the kernel when the USB subsystem is
> > detected.) 
> 
> No usbfs entry in my /etc/fstab either, but procbususb
> gets mounted on /proc/bus/usb at boot anyway ...

Benjamin A. Okopnik <ben at linuxgazette.net> wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 21, 2006 at 09:16:57PM +0200, Pedro Fraile P?rez wrote:
> > 
> > One thing I am still missing is the knowledge on how to troubleshoot
> > the combination udev / hal / sysfs (Does hal has something to do
> > with the other two?).
> 
> Hmmm, you've got me; I'm still using hotplug. Anybody else care to
> comment?

On Fri, 29 Sep 2006, Martin Hooper wrote:
> On Fri, 29 Sep 2006, Kapil Hari Paranjape wrote:
> > When you make the file system give it a "label". Most filesystem
> > types (even DOS and Windows types like FAT and VFAT) allow you to
> > set a label.
> How do you create labels then??  I guess its an option to mkfs...

	mkdosfs -n <your label> <other options>
	mke2fs -L <your label> <other options>

On Sat, 30 Sep 2006, Kapil Hari Paranjape wrote:
> On Fri, 29 Sep 2006, Kapil Hari Paranjape wrote:
>> When you make the file system give it a "label". Most filesystem
>> types (even DOS and Windows types like FAT and VFAT) allow you to
>> set a label.
>
> To make this more clear:
> 	mkdosfs -n <your label> <other options>
> 	mke2fs -L <your label> <other options>
> Perhaps those who use other file systems can pitch in with
> what is required for xfs, jfs, reiserfs, ...


(a)	(b)

(c)	(d)

1 O	2 W	3 N	4 E	5 R	*	6 S	7 P	8 A	9 M
10 C	R	I	M	E	*	11 H	U	G	E
12 T	R	I	A	L	*	13 I	B	U	M
*	*	*	14 C	E	15 R	N	L	I	B
16 B	17 O	18 N	S	A	I	*	19 I	D	U
20 R	S	U	*	21 S	P	22 A	C	E	S
23 U	P	K	24 E	E	P	D	*	*	*
25 T	R	I	G	*	26 E	D	27 G	28 E	29 S
30 E	E	N	G	*	31 R	O	O	T	S
32 S	Y	S	S	*	33 S	N	O	O	P

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14								*	*
15						*	16	17	18
19			*	20		21
*	*	22	23
24	25				*	26
27					*	28
29					*	30

1	2	3	4	*	5	6	7	8	9
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15						*	16	17	18
19			*	20		21
*	*	22	23
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29					*	30

December 2006 (#133):

Mailbag

This month's answers created by:

Gazette Matters

To everyone who helped to produce LG#132...

Aaaand... one more time, with gusto!

Still Searching

Issue with evolution on FC6

max. viewer for paperport

Our Mailbag

Get HW and SW inventary

Stuck at April 2005 on Debian Etch

To split DVD video stream according to DVD menu - how ?

Uninstalling Linux

RS 422

Debian install gui

Don't know which days are better

Web Search Option

Grub Disk Error

Find circular simlinks

tar doesn`t like colon in the filename

Top posting

How do you sort an IP address list?

USB Drive Bad Sectors

Talkbacks

Talkback:132/pfeiffer.html

Talkback:126/savage.html

Talkback:132/renker.html

Talkback:81/adam2.html

Talkback:128/adam.html

Talkback:65/tag/12.html

NewsBytes

Contents:

News in General

Novell and Microsoft sign agreement... and then agree to disagree

Oracle Announces Support for Red Hat Customers

Conferences and Events

Distro News

Fedora Core 6 "Zod" Released

Slackware 11.0 out

Linux Mint combines Ubuntu and Mulitmedia

Xandros 4 for Thanksgiving

Mark Shuttleworth attempts to lure OpenSUSE developers

Software and Product News

Sony Playstation 3 Launches, and Linux is quickly installed on it

SMART Releases Updated Linux Client

First Integrated Open Source Mobile Platform Launched

Firebird 2.0 Announced

Digital Filing Cabinet Now Available

Easy Shell Scripting

Introduction

Comments in a Shell

Variables

System Variables

User-Defined Variables

Commandline Arguments

Exit status variable

Scope of a Variable

Input and Output in Shell Scripting

Arithmetic Operations in Shell Scripting

Conditional Statements

Variable Comparison

Loops

The "for" Loop

While Loop

Select and Case Statement

Functions

Debugging Shell Scripts

Installing Knoppix

Polemic

Installing Knoppix on an 8-Year-Old Notebook

Preparations for Installation

Installation

Problems

Philosophy

Installing Knoppix in a Partition on a PC

Conclusion

Plotting the spirograph equations with 'gnuplot'

I. Introduction

II. The hypotrochoid and some related curves

1	2	3	4	*	5	6	7	8	9
10				*	11
12				*	13
14								*	*
15						*	16	17	18
19			*	20		21
*	*	22	23
24	25				*	26
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29					*	30