2002 March

Routing Cable Modems and Network Printers
http://www.rit.edu/%7Epcm6519/linux.html
Today’s GnomeCLICK should help immeasurably in setting up and configuring multiple internal IP addresses from a single cable connection. This guide is also a useful tool for setting up a network printer on an internal network. The instructions are thorough and concise. They’re written in a language everyone can understand […]

Powertweak-Linux [62.8 Kb]
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/powertweak/powertweak-0.99.2-1.i386.rpm
http://powertweak.sourceforge.net/
“Powertweak-Linux is a tool to tune your system to its optimal performance settings. It started life as the replacement for the now obsolete kernel option ‘tune PCI bridges’, and has been extended to provide more features and support more chipsets. It can also tune network/filesystem performance using /proc/sys entries, disk elevator settings, […]

dd’ing a File
This is truly a geeky core function today. If it’s a bit beyond your current understanding of Linux, don’t worry - stick with us and you’ll understand before you know it. Just like the tar trick in today’s GnomeTWEAK, today’s GnomeCORE is a command that will cover all your copying needs and do […]

Moving Directory Trees
Sometimes you need to copy every file in a directory to another. The copying needs to include symbolic links, permissions, etc. As could be expected, you have several options in Linux for accomplishing this task.
First, you could use the cp command, adding the -r option to assure that everything is copied recursively. That […]

Man, we’ve covered a lot of ground this week. We’ve posted more Linux tweaks and core functions than any other Penguin newsletter on the ‘Net. We’ve looked at five great sites, found five cool programs, and listened to the voice of the real backbone of Penguin Shell - you, the readers. Along the way, we’ve […]

Linux Game Development Center
http://lgdc.sunsite.dk/
While focused primarily on Linux game developers, today’s GnomeCLICK is a great fountain of information for anyone who’s interested in gaming in Linux. With a project database and a news page filled with articles about current and upcoming Linux games, the Linux Game Development Center has info on the latest and greatest […]

Sentry Firewall CD [85 Mb]
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/sentry/sentrycd.iso.bz2
http://www.sentryfirewall.com/
“Sentry Firewall CD-ROM is a Linux-based bootable CD-ROM, suitable for use as an inexpensive and easy to maintain firewall or IDS(Intrusion Detection System) node. The system is designed to be immediately configurable for a variety of different operating environments via a configuration file located on a floppy disk or a […]

The Zero Files
Writing data to a device that ignores it. Reading empty data from a device. Sounds like a trip into the Twilight Zone, huh? Or a visit to a Linux nightmare. Believe it or not, these can actually be useful activities in Linux. In fact, there are two device files in Linux created specifically […]

Guiless Installs
You know I love the command line. Come on, admit it. You’re starting to get a feel for it, too. If you are, you’ll love today’s GnomeTWEAK - downloading and installing programs in one quick step without a GUI.
The lynx program in many Linux distributions is a great way to save time and GUI […]

It looks like Thursday by my calendar. That means we’re taking a swing through the security issues that cropped up in the various major distributions during the past week.
RedHat
Problem: PHP Vulnerability
Description: PHP is an HTML-embeddable scripting language. A number of flaws have been
found in the way PHP handles multipart/form-data POST requests. Each of
these flaws could […]

DOS/Win to Linux Command Guide
http://octoped.net/linux/lx-translate.html
I’ve simply lost track of how many emails ask the same question: “What are equivalent DOS commands in Linux?” It’s a question that’s really too big to answer in a single newsletter. It’s also just ambiguous enough to be unanswerable over a series of articles. The truth is that Linux commands […]

Sentry Firewall CD [85 Mb]
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/sentry/sentrycd.iso.bz2
http://www.sentryfirewall.com/
“Sentry Firewall CD-ROM is a Linux-based bootable CD-ROM, suitable for use as an inexpensive and easy to maintain firewall or IDS(Intrusion Detection System) node. The system is designed to be immediately configurable for a variety of different operating environments via a configuration file located on a floppy disk or a […]

Shadow Passwords
You’ve probably all seen the shadow password option during your Linux system setup. What is this mysterious feature, a throwback to 1940s radio? “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows.” Not quite. Shadow passwords are an additional security layer in Linux intended to protect your system from those […]

Autoloading Modules
As we’ve noted on several occasions, the Linux kernel has the ability to load and unload modules, or device drivers, as needed. While this seems to move away a bit from the monolithic kernel model, it does allow users to build a smaller chunk of kernel code.
These modules can be loaded either manually, using […]

Sometimes a pleasurable experience comes at the most unexpected time.
Take, for instance, the security audit of Libranet I performed last night. You’ll recall how this process went with our previous Distro II contender, ELX. We found many, many holes. So many, in fact, that I’d be hard pressed to recommend it to a new Linux […]

A Complete History of Tux - So Far
http://www.woodsoup.org/~sbaker/tux/doc/
This site details the history of our favorite Antarctic native, Tux the penguin. The timeline follows the creation of Tux as the Linux mascot and its acceptance by Linus in various emails and newsgroup messages. Linus’ reasons for rejecting the early designs of Tux are interesting and humourous. […]

Adonthell [681 Kb]
http://adonthell.linuxgames.com/cgi-bin/dwnld.cgi?src
http://adonthell.linuxgames.com/
“Adonthell is a role playing game in development that aims to combine the best features of the Final Fantasy and Ultima series with an epic plot. It is set in a detailed virtual world. With the current engine, a small demo game (Waste’s Edge) is available.”

Absolute Permission
We’ve talked some about permissions in Linux and the most commonly used syntax for setting or changing those permissions. Using the symbolic mode for setting permissions means that your changes can be as simple as:
    chmod u+x somefile
This example grants the [u]ser e[x]ecutable permissions on the somefile file. If you’re not already the owner of […]

A Taste of Wine
What I most often hear as the reason for not switching to Linux is the perceived inability to run Windows programs. People have shelled out lots of hard-earned cash and sweat equity in purchasing and learning their Windows applications. They’re just not quite ready to leave those sacrifices behind and make the […]

Yep. It’s Tuesday news day.
Rather than peeking into the broad Linux/computing world, today I wanted to tip you off to some Penguin Shell and Lockergnome-specific news.
If you’ve ever wondered what a Penguin’s handwriting looks like, you can now find out for yourself by downloading the Tony Steidler-Dennison font. Weighing in at a mere 30k, it’s […]