From root  Wed Sep 17 10:47:55 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 h2AIlt3c000848
	for root; Wed, 17 Sep 2003 10:47:55 -0800
Received: from localhost (root@localhost)
	by midas.slackware.lan (8.12.8/8.12.8/Submit) with ESMTP id h2AIltnS000845
	for root; Wed, 17 Sep 2003 10:47:55 -0800
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 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; Wed, 17 Sep 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; Wed, 17 Sep 2003 11:09:55 -0800
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 11:09:55 -0800 (PST)
From: "Patrick J. Volkerding" <volkerdi@slackware.com>
To: root
Subject: Welcome to Linux (Slackware 9.1)!
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 card 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've done a full
installation and you want to use CUPS, you might want to reinstall
the CUPS package to set various links (like /usr/bin/lpr) to point
to the CUPS versions -- these locations are shared between LPRng and
CUPS, and all of the links will be pointed to the programs from
whichever package (cups or lprng) was installed last.  Normally this
will be LPRng.

   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/.  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

