The Ultimate Linux Thread
 

How about we start a Linux thread?

The Linux forums are waaayyy too slow to respond to questions, and I trust you "dark side" escapees much more.

So, for the sake of starting this thread, I just wanted to say I downloaded and am currently typing on Knoppix 3.6 - the latest available from Knoppix's public FTPs. A 3.7 version is out, but I can't find it anywhere online.

Anyway, I downloaded the 700mb 3.6 release in record time - 90 minutes using broadband. :eek: And it comes complete with wireless capability: even for my overtly proporietory IBM embedded wireless system.

You guys should check into Knoppix. It's very sweet. It also includes a new version of Office.org.

I was looking into Mepis (sp?) but for some reason their ftp site is on the fritz.

So how's your Linux running these days?

SmileWavy

I've been trying to get Fedora Core 2 (they just came out with Core 3) to work with my IBM T41's wireless...I just red an article on how to do it with Core two but I updated it to Core 3 today...so now I have to go back.

If you're having trouble downloading from FTP sites and the like, try out BitTorrent (just google...). ISO files of all the latest dists are easy to find. If I need something I just google for "something torrent" and you can find file you need to begin d'ling...

I lost my Linux virginity last week. Ive got Knoppix 3.6, but I havent tried it yet.

dd, I can send you a SIMPLY MEPIS disk if you cant find anywhere to download it.

I run various "flavors" of Linux (SuSE, Red Hat, Knoppix, etc...) on VMWare that's running on my WinXP PC. We do alot of vulnerability testing and VMWare makes it really easy to load multiple operating systems to see which one you like...

VMware Rulez

Shuie - that'd be great if it won't be any trouble. Thanks!

Mike and others: explain to me VMware, please...

I have an old(er) machine that I tried to teach myself Linux with. Used SuSe. Got most of the stuff working (laptop) but couldn't go online. Left it alone for a while, went back and realized I forgot my root password. Duh.

A while ago someone here posted that there was a good new good OS to use? Forgot what the name was.

Back to the topic, I could definitely like to get some general/basic help or resource for Linux. The linux forums are waaaay over my head.

I use to use linux a lot, I took a class in it, but later lost interest. RedHat was our version of choice.

I'm glad that Knoppix seems to be getting more popular, I've been using it for maybe a year and it's just great. Who needs a hard drive?
I've been using slackware and FreeBSD for a while as well, although at work we're on IIS servers so I'm forced back into the windows world.

Well, the problem I have with not having a hard drive is I'm not able to save anything I'm working on. However, my Knoppix disks are on CD-R. Maybe if I put them on CD-RWs, I can save some of my work - I mean, it's worth a try.

As of now, whatever I would like to save I end up transferring via email to my account, then downloading on the XP side. It's a PITA for several reasons - one being the whole "save as" issue in Microsoft Word from Office.org. Plus, I don't like my work going out into cyberspace.

Then, of course, when working off a live CD like Knoppix 3.6, one ends up re-entering all their values like email addressing and peripheral set up like printers, etc.

Otherwise, if one can deal with all that, Knoppix 3.6 is terrific. In my case, I guess I'm just going to have to install it permanently on a real hard drive.

Dave - if you don't feel like taking the time to download Knoppix, PM me your address and I'll send you out a copy. It's really easy, and as fast, if not faster than Windows, even while working off the CD drive. :)

http://www.vmware.com

Basically it is software that emulates another computer. The emulation is very autonomous from the computer you're running it on with the exception that it will be dependant on your resources of course. It's more like a parasite. I use it at work to test configurations of different OSes and security and such.

At the moment I am running Windows XP as my desktop OS with two instances of VMware up running Redhat AS 3.0 and Windows XP Pro. They both have their own IP addresses and they both can communicate out to the rest of the world as if they were in fact real.

Beautiful, Mike. Thanks for the information.

Been using it since '97 exclusively at home (started with RH 5.2), currently using Debian -testing on both my dual AMD rig and my iMac server. At work I use Fedora Core 2 on a Dell GX270.

As to good forums, try www.linuxjunior.org and www.justlinux.com . Also, don't forget www.tldp.org, and learn how to use the built in help systems (man, info, /usr/doc/, etc).

I've got a linux Q...

I have a box running RH9, and when I start it up and ps -A, I can see tons of mysql processes running. I have a java program that uses a mysql database, but it won't pick up those mysql processes... either they're some other type, or they're running on the wrong port, or there's a bigger problem. Anyway, if I /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe & from root then run my java prog, it all works fine.

Anyway... I added my mysqld_safe command to my /etc/rc.local and rebooted, but didn't see it in my process list, and my java prog didn't see it either. I tried running the startup command from the terminal, and it yelled at me saying that it was already in use.

What I need to do, is have it so when the computer's turned on it will start the mysql server, then run my java program. I'd like to have the java program run as user "weather" and the mysqld started as root.

Well... I found how to start the java program as another user: http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/Solaris/Q_21169208.html

any ideas about my mysql issue?

Update: Dave - Knoppix is on its way. I've just been preoccupied lately.

Secondly: Bluesky: how the hell does one use Bit Torrent? I'm trying to get hold of Gentoo since they have an X86 and PPC version, which I imagine respective versions can run on PCs and Macs? The damn ISO keeps stalling during download. I've tried three time now - and going for a fourth since I'm so mule-headed.

I did just download Yellow Dog. So I'm a-hankerin' to try that. :)

Thank you :D

You can use a program like eDonkey2000 to download a bittorrent. I haven't seen a lot of linux stuff on it though.

So, you do a ps, and don't see your processes; have you validated that they really are running?

What are the perms on /proc?

To start something as root as another user, use su

su weather -c "/your/comand/here "

Here's an idea: tell me if I'm misguided...

I can purchase a good external drive dedicated to testing out flavors of Linux. Just hook the drive up to one of my laptops, download the latest flavor, ISO format it to CDR or CDRW, then execute onto the external. Plug and play afterward.

What do you guys think?

SmileWavy

dd, did you get the MEPIS disk?

Not yet. I'm sure it's just a little held up with the post office. I'm patient. :)

Jeff uses Linux for his OS. He loves Linux, so if you have a question he can't answer I guarantee you he will find the answer. I think his brain is in binary code! ha He has even taught his teachers some tricks at the technical college he attends. He is currently working on his A+ certification and Cisco certification. The questions will also help him learn more and possibly teach you something too....
He's my son, so I think more of him than most if you can't tell! ha

*

Thom -

Yeah, when I ps -A to see everything, I don't see the java command running, but I finally did get the correct sql service going. In my /etc/init.d (I think... may need to check that) I have an entry like...

su -c weather - "/home/weather/java/run.sh"

and my run.sh looks something like:

#! /bin/sh
cd /home/weather/java
java -noverify DataGrabber

If I run the .sh from terminal, it runs fine... I'm just not getting it to run at startup correctly...

Remember that in the init scripts, there isn't much of an evironment. Add an explicit "PATH=(your path here); export PATH" to the 2nd line of your startup script.

You can also turn on debugging, redirect stderr to a file, reboot, and look at the contents of the file to see what's going on.

#! /bin/sh
PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin
export PATH
set -x
exec 2> /tmp/weather.log
cd /home/weather/java
java -noverify DataGrabber

Its just not finding the java executable to run the java program with. At a command prompt, type

which java

And it may return something like
/usr/local/j2sdk/bin/java

Edit the startup script that is calling the weather app (in /etc/init.d from your earlier post) and change the last line from

java -noverify DataGrabber

to

/whatever/which/output/for/you/java -noverify DataGrabber

And it should work.

Count me in, brothers. I bought an older laptop (366mhz) on a lark just to see if I could get Linux to make it sing. Tried a couple of the popular Live CD Distros (Slax, Knoppix 36, Knoppix 3.7, Mepis, Knoppix-STD) and now I am hooked. Finally settled on Mepis and installed it on the hard drive. Works like a champ - even on my ancient laptop. Now I'm burning Linux CD's and giving them away to friends to share the love. I can't believe how well this system works on just 128meg of RAM. So I haven't bothered to investigate any Linux speed tweaks - but I'll probably get around to it some day.

Just curiosity, does anybody have a handle on how secure or insecure Linux is? I tried Mepis mainly because it comes with a firewall that automatically installs itself. So that seemed sweet. Fell in love with it when it auto-configured all of my hardware without any human interference (well, except for my scroll mouse which is still DOA).

Anyway, I am a convert. Seems to be the only case where you don't get what you pay for. I've used the free web browsers, FTP app, text processor, calculator, graphics viewer, etc etc and it all seems to be pretty top quality stuff. I can find nothing to complain about. :D

Hmm... I downloaded Knoppix a few months back to hack into some files that Windoze wouldn't let me delete...

Prollum is, I use a bootable CD-ROM and it won't let me access anything on my drives... Is there a way to point to your DOS partitions with it?

Chris, I believe you should be able to map the DOS drives to knoppix, but it's been a while since i tinkered, so hopefully one of the other fellas will give you the specifics.

VMWare rocks. If you get a Linux session running in VMWare you can map your Windows partitions, put files in them, and then they are accessible in your host OS.

Linux is much more secure than Windows if you take some time to make it that way. Some distributions can leave lots of open ports during install. Getting a firewall running on the box is a good idea on any OS.

You should be able to mount the hard disk partitions. If i remember correctly knoppix provides mount points. Also, I was under the impression that it automounted whatever disk partitions it could. If you could give me the output (command line) of the 'mount' command. Also, is the disk IDE or SCSI? There are a number of things that could be contributing to this. E-mail me at mjb8@lehigh.edu or AIM s/n bombardius. We'll figure this out

-mike



baby on the way
(and by 'baby' i mean '72 2.0 914)