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- Subject: Linux Frequently Asked Questions with Answers (Part 5 of 6)
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- Last-modified: 12/04/2001
-
- If the system uses Red Hat-style configuration files, the respective
- time zone info files are /usr/share/zoneinfo and /etc/localtime.
-
- The manual pages for tzset or tzselect describe setting the time zone.
- Some programs recognize the "TZ" environment variable, but this is not
- POSIX-correct.
-
- You should also make sure that your Linux kernel clock is set to the
- correct GMT time. Type date -u and check that the correct UTC time is
- displayed. ("The Computer Has the Wrong Time.")
-
- 7.11. Dial-up PPP Configuration.
-
- This information is mainly for people who do not have a wrapper
- utility like kppp or pppconfig, or are not able to get those utilities
- to work correctly. If you need to manually configure PPP to dial in to
- your ISP, you will need the following information:
-
- * The port that your modem is connected to: /dev/ttyS0-/dev/ttyS3,
- which correspond to COM1-COM4 under MS-DOS.
- * The phone number of your ISP's data connection.
- * The user name and password that your ISP gave you.
- * The IP addresses of the primary and possibly secondary Domain Name
- Service that you will use when dialing in to the ISP. This assumes
- that you will not be using a DNS that you installed on your
- system.
-
- When you have all of this information, make sure that the programs
- pppd and chat, at the very minimum, are installed correctly. In most
- current distributions, they are installed in the /usr/sbin/ directory,
- and you will need to be logged in as root to use them. In addition,
- the following programs are also useful for configuring network
- connections, determining network status, and diagnosing problems:
- /sbin/ifconfig, /sbin/route, /bin/ping, /usr/sbin/traceroute.
-
- These are the basic steps that you need to follow to configure PPP.
- You must be logged in as root.
-
- * Make sure that the serial port and modem are operating correctly.
- Using a program like minicomm or kermit, you should be able to
- send AT commands to the modem and receive the OK string in
- response from the modem.
- * Enter the primary and possibly secondary Domain Name Server IP
- addresses in the /etc/resolv.conf file, using dotted quad
- notation, with the nameserver label. For example:
-
- order hosts,bind
- nameserver 196.182.101.103
- nameserver 196.182.101.104
-
- The nameserver addresses in the example above are examples only.
- They don't correspond to actual network hosts.
- The first line, order hosts,bind, tells your networking software,
- when it resolves network domain addresses, to first look in the
- /etc/hosts file, and then use the bind service; i.e., the DNS
- servers, which are specified on the lines that begin with
- nameserver.
- * Locate the chat script that PPP will use to dial the modem and
- connect to your ISP. In many systems, this is either in the
- /etc/chatscripts or /etc/ppp directory, and will be called
- provider or something similar. You can store a chat script
- anywhere, provided that you tell pppd to use it rather than the
- default script. Refer to the chat and pppd manual pages, and the
- information below, for details. Here is a sample chat script:
-
- ABORT BUSY
- ABORT "NO CARRIER"
- ABORT VOICE
- ABORT "NO DIALTONE"
- "" ATDT<your_isp's_phone_number>
- ogin <your_user_name>
- word <your_password>
-
- This is a chat program for a simple, script based login. The chat
- program uses the pair of strings on each line as a match/response
- pair. When it starts, it sends the string
- "ATDTyour_isp's_phone_number," where you have substituted the
- actual phone number of course. It then waits for the string ogin
- (a substring of the word login) and sends your user name. It then
- waits for word (a substring of password) and sends your password.
- If your ISP uses a different login and password prompts, and any
- additional prompts, you will need to edit the script accordingly.
- Again, refer to the chat manual page for details.
- If your ISP uses PAP or CHAP authentication, you will need to edit
- the pap-secrets or chap-secrets files in /etc/ppp directory as
- well. Refer to the manual pages for these files, as well as the
- instruction in the files themselves.
- * The configuration of pppd, the program that maintains the actual
- connection, is usually contained in two or three separate files.
- The first is usually /etc/ppp/options, which contains options that
- all of your system's PPP connections will use. (Yes, you can have
- more than one; as many as your computer has serial ports,
- generally.)
- Here is a sample /etc/ppp/options file:
-
- # /etc/ppp/options
-
- asyncmap 0
- auth
- crtscts
- lock
- noipx
-
- # ---<End of File>---
-
- The options may be given on one line or each on a separate line.
- Many options files are much longer, and come with a description of
- each option. Here, the options mean, in order, don't remap any
- characters between the PPP client and server; always use password,
- PAP, or CHAP authentication when making a connection; use the
- modem's hardware handshake lines for flow control; lock the serial
- port when in use so no other programs can access it; and do not
- use the IPX network protocol.
- * For connection set-up on each individual serial port or PPP host,
- there will either be an /etc/ppp/options.ttyS1, for example,
- options file for /etc/ttyS1, or a file for your ISP in the
- /etc/ppp/peers directory. The default is often called
- /etc/ppp/peers/provider. Here is a sample of the default provider
- file:
-
- noauth
- connect "/usr/sbin/chat -v -f /etc/chatscripts/provider"
- defaultroute
- /dev/ttyS1
- 38400
- persist
-
- There might be an explanation of these and other options in the
- /etc/ppp/peers/provider file itself. You can also refer to the
- pppd manual page for details. Briefly, they mean: do not use PAP
- authentication for this connection; use the chat program and the
- /etc/chatscripts/provider script, which is described above, to
- dial the phone and log in; set the network default route to the
- PPP connection (so when your network software needs to resolve an
- network address that is not on your local machine(s), it will use
- the PPP connection to the Internet); use /dev/ttyS1 as the serial
- port for the connection; set the modem speed to 38400; and keep
- the pppd daemon running even if the connection fails.
- * That is all of the configuration you need. To actually start and
- stop PPP, there are often /usr/bin/pon and /usr/bin/poff scripts
- (in Debian), or something similar, and they are usually very
- simple, and only contain the command:
-
- $ /usr/sbin/pppd call ${1:-provider}
-
- This will start pppd and use the call option to call the server
- that you type on the command line, or the provider given in the
- /etc/ppp/peers/provider file if you do not specify a remote
- server. After making the call and logging in (about 30 seconds),
- you should be able to use the /sbin/ifconfig program to determine
- that the connection really did establish a PPP interface (the
- first will be ppp0, the second will be ppp1, etc., depending on
- how many simultaneous PPP connections you have. If something goes
- wrong, you can look at the /var/log/ppp.log file to determine what
- happened. You can also view the log as the connection is being
- made, by "tailing" it in another window; that is, viewing it as
- pppd logs the connection's status information. To do this, use the
- command (again, as root):
-
- $ tail -f /var/log/ppp.log
-
- On some systems the PPP output is directed to /var/log/messages,
- in which case your system may not have a dedicated PPP log file.
-
- You should be also able to ping one of your ISP's domain names (e.g.,
- mail.isp.com) and receive a response.
-
- These are the most basic steps for configuring a PPP connection. You
- will also need to take into account what other network connections may
- be present (for example, if there's an Ethernet connection that has
- already been assigned the default route), as well as various security
- measures at your ISP's end. If you're having trouble making the
- dial-up connection, usually the best way to determine what may be
- going wrong is to use Seyon, minicomm, kermit, or some other program
- to dial and log in manually to the ISP, and determine just exactly
- what you have to do to log in, then duplicate that in the PPP scripts.
-
- Most Linux documentation also has additional instructions for
- configuring PPP connections. Refer to ("Where Are the Linux FTP
- Archives?") ("Where Is the Documentation?")
-
- 7.12. What Version of Linux and What Machine Name Is This?
-
- Type:
-
- $ uname -a
-
- 7.13. What Is a "core" File?
-
- A core file is created when a program terminates unexpectedly, due to
- a bug, or a violation of the operating system's or hardware's
- protection mechanisms. The operating system kills the program and
- creates a core file that programmers can use to figure out what went
- wrong. It contains a detailed description of the state that the
- program was in when it died.
-
- If would like to determine what program a core file came from, use the
- file command, like this:
-
- $ file core
-
- That will tell you the name of the program that produced the core
- dump. You may want to write the maintainer(s) of the program, telling
- them that their program dumped core.
-
- [Eric Hanchrow]
-
- 7.14. How To Enable or Disable Core Dumps.
-
- By using the ulimit command in bash, the limit command in tcsh, or the
- rlimit command in ksh. See the appropriate manual page for details.
-
- This setting affects all programs run from the shell (directly or
- indirectly), not the whole system.
-
- If you wish to enable or disable core dumping for all processes by
- default, you can change the default setting in linux/sched.h. Refer to
- definition of INIT_TASK, and look also in linux/resource.h.
-
- PAM support optimizes the system's environment, including the amount
- of memory a user is allowed. In some distributions this parameter is
- configurable in the /etc/security/limits.conf file. For more
- information, refer to the Linux Administrator's Security Guide.
- ("Where Is the Documentation?")
-
- 7.15. How To Upgrade/Recompile a Kernel.
-
- See the Kernel HOWTO or the README files which come with the kernel
- release on ftp.cs.helsinki.fi/pub/Software/Linux/Kernel/ and mirrors.
- (See "Where Are the Linux FTP Archives?") You may already have a
- version of the kernel source code installed on your system, but if it
- is part of a standard distribution it is likely to be somewhat out of
- date (this is not a problem if you only want a custom configured
- kernel, but it probably is if you need to upgrade.)
-
- With newer kernels you can (and should) make all of the following
- targets. Don't forget that you can specify multiple targets with one
- command.
-
- $ make clean dep install modules modules_install
-
- Also remember to update the module dependencies.
-
- $ depmod -a
-
- This command can be run automatically at boot time. On Debian/GNU
- Linux systems, the command is part of the /etc/init.d/modutils script,
- and can be linked appropriately in the /etc/rcx.d/ directories. For
- more information on depmod, see the manual page.
-
- Make sure you are using the most recent version of the modutils
- utilities, as well as all other supporting packages. Refer to the file
- Documentation/Changes in the kernel source tree for specifics, and be
- sure to consult the README file in the modutils package.
-
- Remember that to make the new kernel boot you must run lilo after
- copying the kernel into your root partition. The Makefile in some
- kernels have a special zlilo target for this; try:
-
- $ make zlilo
-
- On current systems, however, you can simply copy the zImage or bzImage
- file (in arch/i386/boot/ to the /boot/ directory on the root file
- system, or to a floppy using the dd command. Refer also to the
- question, How do I get LILO to boot the kernel image?
-
- Kernel version numbers with an odd minor version (ie, 1.1.x, 1.3.x)
- are the testing releases; stable production kernels have even minor
- versions (1.0.x, 1.2.x). If you want to try the testing kernels you
- should probably subscribe to the linux-kernel mailing list. ("What
- Mailing Lists Are There?")
-
- The Web site http://www.kernelnotes.org/ has lots of information and
- links to other sites that provide information about Linux kernel
- updates.
-
- Also refer to the questions, "The PCMCIA Card Doesn't Work after
- Upgrading the Kernel." and "How To Get LILO to Boot the Kernel Image."
-
- 7.16. Can Linux Use More than 3 Serial Ports by Sharing Interrupts?
-
- Yes, but you won't be able to use simultaneously two ordinary ports
- which share an interrupt (without some trickery). This is a limitation
- of the ISA Bus architecture.
-
- See the Serial HOWTO for information about possible solutions and
- workarounds for this problem.
-
- 7.17. Configuring Emacs's Default Settings.
-
- Create a file in your home directory named .emacs with the Emacs Lisp
- commands that you want to run every time Emacs starts up. You won't
- see the file in the directory listing. (The leading '.' tells ls not
- to display it, unless you use the -a command line switch with ls.)
-
- Any kind of Emacs Lisp statement will work in the .emacs file,
- including entire defuns. Emacs uses lisp variables and statements
- extensively, and many of the editing functions are written in Emacs
- Lisp. For example, to enable word wrapping whenever you edit a file
- that ends with .txt, add the following statement. This is from the
- Emacs Texinfo help document ( F1-i, then m Emacs Return):
-
- (add-hook text-mode-hook
- '(lambda () (auto-fill-mode 1)))
-
- This adds a statement that calls a hook function whenever a text
- editing mode is entered for that buffer. The value of text-mode-hook,
- which is a variable, to auto-fill-mode, which is a function.
-
- If you want to turn off the menu bar at the top of each Emacs frame,
- add this statement:
-
- (menu-bar-mode -1)
-
- And if you want to include an Emacs Lisp program that someone has
- written, like msb.el (an enhanced, pop-up buffer menu), make sure the
- lisp file is in a directory where Emacs can find it (usually it will
- be named Site-lisp), and add these statements in the .emacs file:
-
- (require 'msb)
- (msb-mode 1)
-
- Most tasks have several possible solutions in Emacs Lisp. Any task
- that can be programmed in Emacs Lisp is valid in the .emacs file. For
- more information, consult the Texinfo documentation. There is also a
- FAQ list for Emacs (refer to: What other FAQ's are there for Linux? ).
-
- 7.18. How To Make a Rescue Floppy.
-
- Make a file system on it with bin, etc, lib and dev
- directories--everything you need. Install a kernel on it and arrange
- to have LILO boot it from the floppy (see the LILO documentation, in
- lilo.u.*.ps).
-
- If you build the kernel (or tell LILO to tell the kernel) to have a
- RAM disk the same size as the floppy the RAM disk will be loaded at
- boot time and mounted as root in place of the floppy.
-
- See the Bootdisk HOWTO.
-
- 7.19. How To Remap a Keyboard to UK, French, Etc.?
-
- For recent kernels, get /pub/Linux/system/Keyboards/kbd-0.90.tar.gz
- from ftp://metalab.unc.edu/. Make sure you get the appropriate
- version; you have to use the right keyboard mapping package for your
- kernel version. For older kernels you have to edit the top-level
- kernel Makefile, in /usr/src/linux/. You may find more helpful
- information in The Linux Keyboard and Console HOWTO, by Andries
- Brouwer, at ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/.
-
- 7.20. How To Get NUM LOCK to Default to On.
-
- Use the setleds program, for example (in /etc/rc.local or one of the
- /etc/rc.d/* files):
-
- for t in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
- do
- setleds +num < /dev/tty$t > /dev/null
- done
-
- setleds is part of the kbd package ("How do I remap my keyboard to UK,
- French, etc.? "). Alternatively, patch your kernel. You need to
- arrange for KBD_DEFLEDS to be defined to (1 << VC_NUMLOCK) when
- compiling drivers/char/keyboard.c.
-
- 7.21. How To Set (Or Reset) Initial Terminal Colors.
-
- The following shell script should work for VGA consoles:
-
- for n in 1 2 4 5 6 7 8; do
- setterm -fore yellow -bold on -back blue -store > /dev/tty$n
- done
-
- Substitute your favorite colors, and use /dev/ttyS$n for serial
- terminals.
-
- To make sure they are reset when people log out (if they've been
- changed):
-
- Replace the references to getty (or mingetty or uugetty or whatever)
- in /etc/inittab with references to /sbin/mygetty.
-
- #!/bin/sh
- setterm -fore yellow -bold on -back blue -store > $1
- exec /sbin/mingetty $@
-
- [Jim Dennis]
-
- 7.22. How To Have More Than 128Mb of Swap.
-
- Use several swap partitions or swap files. Linux kernels before
- version 2.2 supported up to 16 swap areas, each of up to 128Mb. Recent
- versions do not have this limitation.
-
- Very old kernels only supported swap partition sizes up to 16Mb.
-
- Linux on machines with 8KB paging, like Alpha and Sparc64, support a
- swap partition up to 512MB. The 128MB limitation comes from
- PAGE_SIZE*BITSPERBYTE on machines with 4KB paging, but is 512KB on
- machines with 8KB paging. The limit is due to the use of a single page
- allocation map.
-
- The file mm/swapfile.c has all of the gory details.
-
- [Peter Moulder, Gordon Weast]
-
- How To Prevent Errors when Linking Programs with Math Functions.
-
- Older run-time libraries included the math library in the C run-time
- library. It was not necessary to specify the math library separately
- when compiling. If the compiler generates a message like this when
- linking a program that uses math functions:
-
- /tmp/ccDUQM4J.o: In function `main':
- /tmp/ccDUQM4J.o(.text+0x19): undefined reference to `sqrt'
- collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
-
- You need use the -lm option with GCC to link with the math libraries:
-
- # gcc -o program program.c -lm
-
- Make sure also to use the statement #include <math.h> in the source
- file.
-
- [Florian Schmidt]
-
- 8. Miscellaneous Information and Questions Answered
-
- 8.1. How To Program XYZ Under Linux.
-
- Read the manuals, or a good book on Unix and the manual pages (type
- man man). There is a lot of GNU Info documentation, which is often
- more useful as a tutorial. Run Emacs and type F1-i, or type info info
- if you don't have or don't like Emacs. Note that the Emacs libc node
- may not exactly describe the latest Linux libc, or GNU glibc2. But the
- GNU project and LDP are always looking for volunteers to upgrade their
- library documentation.
-
- Anyway, between the existing Texinfo documentation, and the manual
- pages in sections 2 and 3, should provide enough information to get
- started.
-
- As with all free software, the best tutorial is the source code
- itself.
-
- The latest release of the Linux manual pages, a collection of useful
- GNU Info documentation, and various other information related to
- programming Linux, can be found on
- metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/man-pages/.
-
- 8.2. What's All This about ELF? glibc?
-
- See the ELF HOWTO by Daniel Barlow. Note that this is not the file
- move-to-elf, which is a blow-by-blow account of how to upgrade to ELF
- manually.
-
- Linux has two different formats for executables, object files, and
- object code libraries, known as, "ELF." (The old format is called
- "a.out.") They have advantages, including better support for shared
- libraries and dynamic linking.
-
- Both a.out and ELF binaries can coexist on a system. However, they use
- different shared C libraries, both of which have to be installed.
-
- If you want to find out whether your system can run ELF binaries, look
- in /lib for a file named, "libc.so.5." If it's there, you probably
- have ELF libraries. If you want to know whether your installation
- actually is ELF you can pick a representative program, like ls, and
- run file on it:
-
- -chiark:~> file /bin/ls
- /bin/ls: Linux/i386 impure executable (OMAGIC) - stripped
-
- valour:~> file /bin/ls
- /bin/ls: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1, stripped
-
- There is a patch to get 1.2.x to compile using the ELF compilers, and
- produce ELF core dumps, at ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/packages/GCC/. You
- do not need the patch merely to run ELF binaries. 1.3.x and later do
- not need the patch at all.
-
- The GNU glibc2 libraries are essentially more recent versions of ELF
- libraries that follow most of the same processes for dynamic linking
- and loading. Upgrade information is contained in ("How To Upgrade the
- Libraries without Trashing the System.")
-
- 8.3. How To Determine What Packages Are Installed on a System.
-
- For distributions that use RPM format packages, use the command:
-
- $ rpm -qa
-
- You need to be logged in as root. You can save the output to a text
- file for future reference, a command like:
-
- $ rpm -qa >installed-packages
-
- For Debian systems, the equivalent command is:
-
- $ dpkg -l
-
- 8.4. What Is a .gz File? And a .tgz? And .bz2? And... ?
-
- gz (and .z) files are compressed using GNU gzip. You need to use
- gunzip (which is a symlink to the gzip command that comes with most
- Linux installations) to unpack the file.
-
- taz, .tar.Z, and .tz are tar files (made with tar) and compressed
- using compress. The standard *nix compress is proprietary software,
- but free equivalents like ncompress exist.
-
- tgz (or .tpz) is a tar file compressed with gzip.
-
- bz2 is a file compressed by the more recently introduced (and
- efficient) bzip2.
-
- lsm is a Linux Software Map entry, in the form of a short text file.
- Details about the LSM project and the LSM itself are available in the
- subdirectory on ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/.
-
- deb is a Debian Binary Package--the binary package format used by the
- Debian GNU/Linux distribution. It is manipulated using dpkg and
- dpkg-deb (available on Debian systems and from
- ftp://ftp.debian.org//).
-
- rpm is a Red Hat RPM package, which is used in the Red Hat and
- similar distributions.
-
- sit is a compressed Macintosh archive made with StuffIt, a commercial
- program. Aladdin Systems Inc., the manufacturer of StuffIt, has a free
- expander utility that will uncompress these archives. You can download
- it at http://www.aladdinsys.com/expander/.
-
- The file command can often tell you what a file is.
-
- If you find that gzip complains when you try to uncompress a file, you
- probably downloaded it in ASCII mode by mistake. You must download
- most things in binary mode: "get," to download the file.
-
- 8.5. What Does VFS Stand For?
-
- Virtual File System. It's the abstraction layer between the user and
- real file systems like ext2, Minix and MS-DOS. Among other things, its
- job is to flush the read buffer when it detects a disk change on the
- floppy disk drive.
-
- VFS: Disk change detected on device 2/0
-
- 8.6. What is a BogoMip?
-
- "BogoMips" is a combination of Bogus and Mips. MIPS stands for
- (depending on who you ask) Millions of Instructions per Second, or
- Meaningless Indication of Processor Speed.
-
- The number printed at boot time is the result of a kernel timing
- calibration, used for very short delay loops by some device drivers.
-
- According to the BogoMips mini-HOWTO, the rating for your machine will
- be:
-
- Common BogoMips Ratings
-
- Processor BogoMips Comparison
- Intel 8088 clock * 0.004 0.02
- Intel/AMD 386SX clock * 0.14 0.8
- Intel/AMD 386DX clock * 0.18 1 (definition)
- Motorola 68030 clock * 0.25 1.4
- Cyrix/IBM 486 clock * 0.34 1.8
- Intel Pentium clock * 0.40 2.2
- Intel 486 clock * 0.50 2.8
- AMD 5x86 clock * 0.50 2.8
- Mips R4000/R4400 clock * 0.50 2.8
- Nexgen Nx586 clock * 0.75 4.2
- PowerPC 601 clock * 0.84 4.7
- Alpha 21064/21064A clock * 0.99 5.5
- Alpha 21066/21066A clock * 0.99 5.5
- Alpha 21164/21164A clock * 0.99 5.5
- Intel Pentium Pro clock * 0.99 5.5
- Cyrix 5x86/6x86 clock * 1.00 5.6
- Intel Pentium II/III clock * 1.00 5.6
- Intel Celeron clock * 1.00 5.6
- Mips R4600 clock * 1.00 5.6
- Alpha 21264 clock * 1.99 11.1
- AMD K5/K6/K6-2/K6-III clock * 2.00 11.1
- UltraSparc II clock * 2.00 11.1
- Pentium MMX clock * 2.00 11.1
- PowerPC 604/604e/750 clock * 2.00 11.1
- Motorola 68060 clock * 2.01 11.2
- Motorola 68040 Not enough data (yet).
- AMD Athlon Not enough data (yet).
- IBM S390 Not enough data (yet).
-
- If the number is wildly lower, you may have the Turbo button or CPU
- speed set incorrectly, or have some kind of caching problem (as
- described in ("When Adding More Memory, the System Slows to a Crawl.")
-
- For values people have seen with other, rarer, chips, or to calculate
- your own BogoMips rating, please refer to the BogoMips Mini-HOWTO, on
- ftp://metalab.unc.edu/. ("Where Is the Documentation?")
-
- [Wim van Dorst]
-
- 8.7. What Online/Free Periodicals Exist for Linux?
-
- There are a number of recent additions to the list of periodicals
- devoted to Linux and free software:
-
- * geek news. http://geeknews.cjb.net/. Headlines for articles about
- Linux, like the comp.os.linux.announce and Techweb postings, and
- general interest, like Associated Press stories.
- * Linux Gazette. http://www.linuxgazette.com/. This is the
- longest-running of the on-line periodicals, and the only one that
- publishes source code.
- * Linux Today. http://www.linuxtoday.com. News and opinion related
- to the Linux community, updated daily.
- * Linux Weekly News. http://lwn.net. News about the Linux community,
- updated weekly.
- * Slashdot. http://www.slashdot.org. News about the free software
- community and culture.
- * Freshmeat. http://www.freshmeat.net/. Notices of new and updated
- software for Linux and other free OS's.
-
- Please send additions to this list to the FAQ maintainer.
-
- [Jim Dennis, Robert Kiesling]
-
- 8.8. 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, people can register as Linux users at the Linux Counter
- project, which has been in existence since 1993. In August, 1998, the
- project counted more than 70,000 users.
-
- Visit the Web site at http://counter.li.org/ and fill in the
- registration form. 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.
-
- [Harald Tveit Alvestrand]
-
- 8.9. How Many People Use Linux? (Redux.)
-
- In 1999, International Data Corporation released its first commercial
- forecast of Linux sales. The report quantifies Linux vendor sales in
- 1996, 1997, and 1998, and forecasts through the year 2003.
-
- To obtain the report, contact IDC at ctoffel@idc.com. Their Web site
- is http://www.itresearch.com/.
-
- 8.10. What Is the Best (Distribution|SCSI Card|Editor|CD-ROM Drive|....)
-
- The "best" of anything depends on your particular needs. Discussions
- like these frequently occur on Usenet. Most often they're flame bait.
- Answering is generally a waste of time. Free software licensing is
- unrestrictive enough, that, with a little experience, you can perform
- your own testing on your own hosts.
-
- A better way to phrase a specific inquiry might be: "Where can I
- find...."
-
- 8.11. How Does One Pronounce Linux?
-
- This question produces an outrageous amount of heated debate.
-
- If you want to hear Linus himself say how he pronounces it, download
- english.au or swedish.au from
- ftp.funet.fi/pub/Linux/PEOPLE/Linus/SillySounds/. If you have a sound
- card or the PC-speaker audio driver you can hear them by typing
-
- $ cat english.au >/dev/audio
-
- The difference isn't in the pronunciation of Linux but in the language
- Linus uses to say, "hello."
-
- For the benefit of those who don't have the equipment or inclination:
- Linus pronounces Linux approximately as Leenus, where the "ee" is
- pronounced as in "feet," but rather shorter, and the "u" is like a
- much shorter version of the French "eu" sound in "peur" (pronouncing
- it as the "u" in "put" is probably passable).
-
- 9. Frequently Encountered Error Messages
-
- 9.1. Modprobe Can't Locate Module, XXX, and Similar Messages.
-
- These types of messages mostly occur at boot time or shutdown. If
- modprobe, insmod, or rmmod complain about not being able to find a
- module, add the following to the /etc/modules.conf or
- /etc/modutils/aliases file, whichever is present on your system.
-
- $ alias <module-name> off
-
- And use the name of the module that appears in the error message.
-
- [J.H.M. Dassen]
-
- 9.2. Unknown Terminal Type "linux" and Similar.
-
- In early kernels the default console terminal type has changed from
- "console" to "linux." You must edit /etc/termcap to change the line
- reading:
-
- console|con80x25:\
-
- to
-
- linux|console|con80x25:\
-
- (there may be an additional "dumb" in there--if so it should be
- removed.)
-
- To get the editor to work you may need type:
-
- $ TERM=console
-
- (for bash and ksh), or
-
- $ setenv TERM console
-
- for csh or tcsh.
-
- Some programs use /usr/lib/terminfo instead of /etc/termcap. For these
- programs you should upgrade your terminfo package, which is part of
- ncurses.
-
- The same is true for X terminal displays. If your distribution sets
- the TERM to something strange like xterm-24-color, you can simply
- reset it to a generic value from the command line:
-
- $ TERM="xterm"; export TERM
-
- 9.3. INET: Warning: old style ioctl... called!
-
- You are trying to use the old network configuration utilities. The new
- ones can be found on
- ftp.linux.org.uk/pub/linux/Networking/PROGRAMS/NetTools/ (source only,
- I'm afraid).
-
- Note that they cannot be used just like the old-style programs. See
- the NET-2 HOWTO for instructions on how to set up the old-style
- networking programs correctly. Even better, see the NET-3 HOWTO and
- upgrade your networking software.
-
- 9.4. ld: unrecognized option '-m486'
-
- You have an old version of ld. Install a newer binutils package that
- contains an updated ld. Look on tsx-11.mit.edu in
-
-