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Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 10:47:53 -0800 (PST)
From: root
To: root
Subject: Register with the Linux counter project
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.53.0303101047080.843@midas.slackware.lan>
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   (Adapted from a question in the Linux-FAQ)

   9.8. How Many People Use Linux?

   Linux is freely available, and no one is required to register with
   any central authority, so it is difficult to know. Several businesses
   survive solely on selling and supporting Linux. Linux news groups are
   some of the most heavily read on Usenet. Accurate numbers are hard to
   come by, but the number is almost certainly in the millions.

   However, one brave soul, Harald T. Alvestrand <Harald@Alvestrand.no>,
   has decided to try, and asks that if you use Linux, you visit this Web
   site to register:

   http://counter.li.org

   If you don't want to use the Web, send E-mail to
   counter@counter.li.org with the subject line, ``I use Linux at home,''
   or ``I use Linux at work.''

   The current count is posted monthly to comp.os.linux.misc, and is
   always available from the Web site.

From root  Mon Mar 10 11:09:56 2003
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Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 11:09:55 -0800 (PST)
From: "Patrick J. Volkerding" <volkerdi@slackware.com>
To: root
Subject: Welcome to Linux (Slackware 9.0)!
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.53.0303101048060.843@midas.slackware.lan>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Status: O
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X-UID: 4



Welcome! Glad to see you've made it this far! :^)

Here are a few hints to help you navigate through the Linux operating
system a little bit better:

-- Remember those screens you saw while each package was installing? You
   can see all the information (and more) again. The simplest way is to use
   the 'pkgtool' utility to view the package contents. Another way is to use
   'less' or a text editor to read the files in /var/log/packages and
   /var/log/scripts (this is the method I use).

-- You may need to make some changes to the /etc/rc.d/rc.serial script if
   you're using serial ports other than /dev/ttyS0 or /dev/ttyS1 (com1: and
   com2: under DOS), or if these ports use non-standard IRQs.

   I suggest using the section about halfway through that lets you set up
   the ports manually. Here's an example of how I set up the ports on my
   machine for /dev/ttyS0 and /dev/ttyS2:

   # These are the standard COM1 through COM4 devices
   #
   ${SETSERIAL} /dev/ttyS0 uart 16450 port 0x3F8 irq 4
   # ${SETSERIAL} /dev/ttyS1 uart 16450 port 0x2F8 irq 3
   ${SETSERIAL} /dev/ttyS2 uart 16450 port 0x3E8 irq 5
   # ${SETSERIAL} /dev/ttyS3 uart 16450 port 0x2E8 irq 3

   You'll also need to uncomment the line in /etc/rc.d/rc.S that starts the
   rc.serial script.

-- If you've got hardware such as a CD-ROM drive or ethernet that doesn't
   seem to work with Linux, it's possible that the kernel you're using
   doesn't contain the needed support.  In that case, you can do one of
   two things:

      1.  Recompile your kernel, including the needed driver(s).
      2.  Load the support with kernel modules.  This is probably the
          simplest way to handle the situation.  Just edit
          /etc/rc.d/rc.modules so that it loads the modules you need.

-- If you're on a standalone LAN without a nameserver, make sure you
   don't have a nameserver line in /etc/resolv.conf, or you may experience
   delays with many network commands as they attempt to query the bogus
   nameserver.

-- Want to run NFS? You'll to install the portmap and nfs-utils
   packages.  Then, edit your /etc/exports to allow NFS access. (see 'man
   exports' for examples)  Once you've set up /etc/exports, the NFS
   daemons should run automatically at boot.

-- Do you have an IDE based CD-RW drive?  If so, you'll need to use
   the SCSI emulation kernel module, which will allow your drive to look
   like a SCSI CD burner to cdrdao, cdrecord, and other Linux CD
   burning applications.  This module is loaded by default, but you'll
   also need to pass an option to the kernel telling it to use SCSI
   emulation for a specific device, otherwise the ATAPI driver will be
   used.  Let's say your CD-RW drive is /dev/hdc, then you'd want to pass
   the "hdc=ide-scsi" option to the kernel.  You can do this with an
   append command in /etc/lilo.conf:
     append="hdc=ide-scsi"
   After editing lilo.conf, you must run lilo to reinstall it.
   You can also pass the hdc=ide-scsi option on a bootdisk command line.
   Once you do this, your CD-RW device will appear as a SCSI device
   (/dev/scd0) rather than an IDE device (/dev/hdc).  If this is the only
   CD-ROM type device in the machine (there's no DVD drive, for instance),
   then you'll probably also want to change your /dev/cdrom symbolic link
   to point to the new SCSI device instead of the old IDE device:
     cd /dev
     rm cdrom
     ln -sf scd0 cdrom

-- A lot of people ask me how to set up their printer under Linux.  In my
   opinion, the best method is to set up Apsfilter, a system that allows
   you to print many file formats (DVI, PS, PDF, text) by just sending
   them to the print spooler with lpr.  To set this up, do the following
   steps:

   1.  Make sure you're loading the parallel driver in /etc/rc.d/rc.modules.
       This should be done by default.
   2.  Install the LPD printer software.  This is the "lprng" package on the
       A series.  Odds are it's already been installed.
   3.  You'll probably want to have the TCP/IP subsystem installed and
       configured (at least for loopback).  The "tcpip" package is part of
       the N series, and the "netconfig" script is used to do a basic TCP/IP
       configuration.
   4.  Apsfilter uses a variety of other filters that it expects to find
       installed.  You'll want to install the "espgs" (Ghostscript) and
       "gnu-gs-fonts" packages on the AP series to add Ghostscript if you
       want the ability to print PostScript documents.  If you want to
       print DVI files, install at least the default teTeX packages from
       the T series.
   5.  Install the apsfilter package.  This package is part of the AP series,
       so if you've done a full installation then it's already installed.
       Otherwise, find the package in the ap directory and install it:

           installpkg apsfilter-*.tgz

   6.  Change into the /usr/share/apsfilter/ directory, and run the SETUP
       program:

           ./SETUP

       It'll write your /etc/printcap, and you'll be all set to start
       printing.  Once you've got it working, you can also use netatalk and
       Samba to provide print services to Macs and Windows machines on the
       local network with your Linux box.

   There is also another printing system called CUPS that's becoming more
   popular.  CUPS takes the place of lprng to spool print jobs.  It also
   does many of the same things as apsfilter.  If you're interested in
   using CUPS as your print system, install the CUPS pacakge in the extra/
   packages directory and see the documentation in /usr/doc/cups-*/.

-- If you have a busmouse, you'll need to load a mouse driver module
   before your mouse will work.  These days, most mice are PS/2 (with a
   6 pin round plug), USB, or serial (with a 9 pin trapazoidal plug).
   These kinds of mice don't require any special setup as the system
   should detect and activate them automatically. If you think your
   mouse might need a special driver (if it's not working), read the
   comments in /etc/rc.d/rc.modules to see which one is needed, and edit
   the file to load it at boot time.  It's also possible that the
   /dev/mouse link may need to be changed to point to the proper mouse
   device. Or, compile a new kernel with built in support for your mouse
   and install that.

-- To get your machine on the net with a modem and PPP, you need to install
   the "tcpip" and "ppp" packages.  Your machine should be configured at
   least with loopback using the "netconfig" utility.  Also, be sure the
   serial port your modem uses is correctly configured.  If in doubt,
   take a look through /etc/rc.d/rc.serial.  Then, use "pppsetup" to
   configure the dialup process.  Additional documentation on pppsetup
   can be found in /usr/doc/pppsetup-*/.  DSL/Cable users who need to use
   PPPoE (PPP over Ethernet) should see the docs in /usr/doc/rp-pppoe-3.5/.

-- If you installed the F series, there will be lots of FAQs (lists of
   Frequently Asked Questions with answers) /usr/doc/Linux-FAQs/, and
   HOWTOs (files explaining how to do a particular Linux task), in
   /usr/doc/Linux-HOWTOs/ and /usr/doc/Linux-mini-HOWTOs/. These should be
   helpful in getting you going with Linux.  They cover most system admin
   tasks in a lot more detail than this little email does. :^)

Have fun!

---
Patrick Volkerding
volkerdi@slackware.com

From root  Mon Mar 10 10:47:55 2003
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	for root; Mon, 10 Mar 2003 10:47:55 -0800
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 10:47:53 -0800 (PST)
From: root
To: root
Subject: Register with the Linux counter project
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.53.0303101047080.843@midas.slackware.lan>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
X-IMAPbase: 1047276928 4
Status: O
X-Status: 
X-Keywords:                       
X-UID: 3


   (Adapted from a question in the Linux-FAQ)

   9.8. How Many People Use Linux?

   Linux is freely available, and no one is required to register with
   any central authority, so it is difficult to know. Several businesses
   survive solely on selling and supporting Linux. Linux news groups are
   some of the most heavily read on Usenet. Accurate numbers are hard to
   come by, but the number is almost certainly in the millions.

   However, one brave soul, Harald T. Alvestrand <Harald@Alvestrand.no>,
   has decided to try, and asks that if you use Linux, you visit this Web
   site to register:

   http://counter.li.org

   If you don't want to use the Web, send E-mail to
   counter@counter.li.org with the subject line, ``I use Linux at home,''
   or ``I use Linux at work.''

   The current count is posted monthly to comp.os.linux.misc, and is
   always available from the Web site.

From root  Mon Mar 10 11:09:56 2003
Return-Path: root
Received: from midas.slackware.lan (IDENT:25@localhost [127.0.0.1])
	by midas.slackware.lan (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id h2AJ9t3c000875
	for root; Mon, 10 Mar 2003 11:09:55 -0800
Received: from localhost (root@localhost)
	by midas.slackware.lan (8.12.8/8.12.8/Submit) with ESMTP id h2AJ9t6A000872
	for root; Mon, 10 Mar 2003 11:09:55 -0800
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 11:09:55 -0800 (PST)
From: "Patrick J. Volkerding" <volkerdi@slackware.com>
To: root
Subject: Welcome to Linux (Slackware 9.0)!
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.53.0303101048060.843@midas.slackware.lan>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Status: O
X-Status: 
X-Keywords:                  
X-UID: 4



Welcome! Glad to see you've made it this far! :^)

Here are a few hints to help you navigate through the Linux operating
system a little bit better:

-- Remember those screens you saw while each package was installing? You
   can see all the information (and more) again. The simplest way is to use
   the 'pkgtool' utility to view the package contents. Another way is to use
   'less' or a text editor to read the files in /var/log/packages and
   /var/log/scripts (this is the method I use).

-- You may need to make some changes to the /etc/rc.d/rc.serial script if
   you're using serial ports other than /dev/ttyS0 or /dev/ttyS1 (com1: and
   com2: under DOS), or if these ports use non-standard IRQs.

   I suggest using the section about halfway through that lets you set up
   the ports manually. Here's an example of how I set up the ports on my
   machine for /dev/ttyS0 and /dev/ttyS2:

   # These are the standard COM1 through COM4 devices
   #
   ${SETSERIAL} /dev/ttyS0 uart 16450 port 0x3F8 irq 4
   # ${SETSERIAL} /dev/ttyS1 uart 16450 port 0x2F8 irq 3
   ${SETSERIAL} /dev/ttyS2 uart 16450 port 0x3E8 irq 5
   # ${SETSERIAL} /dev/ttyS3 uart 16450 port 0x2E8 irq 3

   You'll also need to uncomment the line in /etc/rc.d/rc.S that starts the
   rc.serial script.

-- If you've got hardware such as a CD-ROM drive or ethernet that doesn't
   seem to work with Linux, it's possible that the kernel you're using
   doesn't contain the needed support.  In that case, you can do one of
   two things:

      1.  Recompile your kernel, including the needed driver(s).
      2.  Load the support with kernel modules.  This is probably the
          simplest way to handle the situation.  Just edit
          /etc/rc.d/rc.modules so that it loads the modules you need.

-- If you're on a standalone LAN without a nameserver, make sure you
   don't have a nameserver line in /etc/resolv.conf, or you may experience
   delays with many network commands as they attempt to query the bogus
   nameserver.

-- Want to run NFS? You'll to install the portmap and nfs-utils
   packages.  Then, edit your /etc/exports to allow NFS access. (see 'man
   exports' for examples)  Once you've set up /etc/exports, the NFS
   daemons should run automatically at boot.

-- Do you have an IDE based CD-RW drive?  If so, you'll need to use
   the SCSI emulation kernel module, which will allow your drive to look
   like a SCSI CD burner to cdrdao, cdrecord, and other Linux CD
   burning applications.  This module is loaded by default, but you'll
   also need to pass an option to the kernel telling it to use SCSI
   emulation for a specific device, otherwise the ATAPI driver will be
   used.  Let's say your CD-RW drive is /dev/hdc, then you'd want to pass
   the "hdc=ide-scsi" option to the kernel.  You can do this with an
   append command in /etc/lilo.conf:
     append="hdc=ide-scsi"
   After editing lilo.conf, you must run lilo to reinstall it.
   You can also pass the hdc=ide-scsi option on a bootdisk command line.
   Once you do this, your CD-RW device will appear as a SCSI device
   (/dev/scd0) rather than an IDE device (/dev/hdc).  If this is the only
   CD-ROM type device in the machine (there's no DVD drive, for instance),
   then you'll probably also want to change your /dev/cdrom symbolic link
   to point to the new SCSI device instead of the old IDE device:
     cd /dev
     rm cdrom
     ln -sf scd0 cdrom

-- A lot of people ask me how to set up their printer under Linux.  In my
   opinion, the best method is to set up Apsfilter, a system that allows
   you to print many file formats (DVI, PS, PDF, text) by just sending
   them to the print spooler with lpr.  To set this up, do the following
   steps:

   1.  Make sure you're loading the parallel driver in /etc/rc.d/rc.modules.
       This should be done by default.
   2.  Install the LPD printer software.  This is the "lprng" package on the
       A series.  Odds are it's already been installed.
   3.  You'll probably want to have the TCP/IP subsystem installed and
       configured (at least for loopback).  The "tcpip" package is part of
       the N series, and the "netconfig" script is used to do a basic TCP/IP
       configuration.
   4.  Apsfilter uses a variety of other filters that it expects to find
       installed.  You'll want to install the "espgs" (Ghostscript) and
       "gnu-gs-fonts" packages on the AP series to add Ghostscript if you
       want the ability to print PostScript documents.  If you want to
       print DVI files, install at least the default teTeX packages from
       the T series.
   5.  Install the apsfilter package.  This package is part of the AP series,
       so if you've done a full installation then it's already installed.
       Otherwise, find the package in the ap directory and install it:

           installpkg apsfilter-*.tgz

   6.  Change into the /usr/share/apsfilter/ directory, and run the SETUP
       program:

           ./SETUP

       It'll write your /etc/printcap, and you'll be all set to start
       printing.  Once you've got it working, you can also use netatalk and
       Samba to provide print services to Macs and Windows machines on the
       local network with your Linux box.

   There is also another printing system called CUPS that's becoming more
   popular.  CUPS takes the place of lprng to spool print jobs.  It also
   does many of the same things as apsfilter.  If you're interested in
   using CUPS as your print system, install the CUPS pacakge in the extra/
   packages directory and see the documentation in /usr/doc/cups-*/.

-- If you have a busmouse, you'll need to load a mouse driver module
   before your mouse will work.  These days, most mice are PS/2 (with a
   6 pin round plug), USB, or serial (with a 9 pin trapazoidal plug).
   These kinds of mice don't require any special setup as the system
   should detect and activate them automatically. If you think your
   mouse might need a special driver (if it's not working), read the
   comments in /etc/rc.d/rc.modules to see which one is needed, and edit
   the file to load it at boot time.  It's also possible that the
   /dev/mouse link may need to be changed to point to the proper mouse
   device. Or, compile a new kernel with built in support for your mouse
   and install that.

-- To get your machine on the net with a modem and PPP, you need to install
   the "tcpip" and "ppp" packages.  Your machine should be configured at
   least with loopback using the "netconfig" utility.  Also, be sure the
   serial port your modem uses is correctly configured.  If in doubt,
   take a look through /etc/rc.d/rc.serial.  Then, use "pppsetup" to
   configure the dialup process.  Additional documentation on pppsetup
   can be found in /usr/doc/pppsetup-*/.  DSL/Cable users who need to use
   PPPoE (PPP over Ethernet) should see the docs in /usr/doc/rp-pppoe-3.5/.

-- If you installed the F series, there will be lots of FAQs (lists of
   Frequently Asked Questions with answers) /usr/doc/Linux-FAQs/, and
   HOWTOs (files explaining how to do a particular Linux task), in
   /usr/doc/Linux-HOWTOs/ and /usr/doc/Linux-mini-HOWTOs/. These should be
   helpful in getting you going with Linux.  They cover most system admin
   tasks in a lot more detail than this little email does. :^)

Have fun!

---
Patrick Volkerding
volkerdi@slackware.com

