VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY, ST. AUGUSTINE CENTER
MEETING STARTS - 09:30 - FEB 12 th
Might Programming be your bag ?
As in recent meetings, following the announcements, we'll take the time for golks to share experiences, problems and get questions answered. We'll also see if any Y2K hangover items have been noticed now that some six weeks of the New Year - after Y2K - will have transpired. Members are urged to take good notes and share as much detail as possible on glitches they may be able to convey to the rest of us.
Then, we will explore the topic of "programming for your PC" - something I think that most of us coming from the 8-bit world may not have expected to do. However, there are opportunities even for the novice without having to become a C++ guru. So, join us - and see!
MAIN LINE AMIGA USERS - John's Place
BEGINNING last month, the Amiga SIG members met in more friendly surroundings, namely my home, AND AT A NEW TIME, 9:00AM to 11:30AM! For travel directions, first time attendees should call me at home at 610-828-7897 evenings, email me on the club BBS (610-828-1359), or email me at jwdeker@voicenet.com. The location is Lafayette Hill, PA and only a couple of blocks from the intersection of Ridge Pike & Joshua Road, and 1.5 miles from the intersection of Ridge Pike and the Blue Route (I-476).
More friendly surroundings included a telephone link to the BBS and the Internet. No longer were we operating in isolation. January's emphasis was on telecommunications after having been
Many Commodore users have gravitated to other platforms - notably the PC/clone system - in the last decade; but have not lost their interest in the old 8-bit stuff. For some, their dual interest has been satisfied by using their new, more powerful computers to run emulators. These utilities then let them run their old, favorite software without the need to keep both old and new computers in spiffy condition (or provide the desk space!!). In March, we hope to start exploring the emulator trade - mayhap it will interest you??? Gather your ideas for next month ....
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The shutdown command also gives you quite a bit of flexibility in terms of
timing. If you want the shutdown to proceed right away, just enter the word
'now'. If you want to shut the system down five minutes from now, you can enter
'+5'. Therefore, this command:
shutdown -r +15
means, 'shut the system down starting fifteen minutes from now, and reboot
after the shutdown has completed'
Three Finger Salute!!!
The X Window System
Starting X Manually
In order to get X started, you'll first need to log in. then enter the
"startx" command.
When you're done, and you'd like to leave X, you can click on any part of the
desktop (in other words, the part of the screen without any windows) using your
mouse's primary button. Select the 'Exit Fvwm', 'Quit', or 'logout' menu entry,
and X will shut down, leaving you at your original character-cell shell prompt.
You can then logout as usual.
Starting X Automatically
It is possible to configure your Linux system such that X will start
automatically whenever the system is booted. When configured in this manner,
xdm will run, which will present a graphically-oriented login screen. After
logging in, you will have a regular X session running, just as if you had
issued a startx command manually. Pretty neat, eh?
Here's a quick overview of how it's done:
* Test xdm using telinit.
* Edit /etc/inittab.
* Reboot.
Testing xdm Using telinit
-- The telinit command is used to change your Linux system's 'run level'. It is
the run level that controls various aspects of system operation, including
whether xdm should be started or not. Newly-installed Linux systems use run
level 3 as their default; this results in the character-cell login prompt
you've seen. Since xdm is started at run level 5, you'll need to issue the
command:
/sbin/telinit 5
you can go back to run level 3 using telinit (ie, '/sbin/telinit 3'), or by
rebooting.
Editing /etc/inittab
-- The file /etc/inittab is used to, among other things, determine the system's
default run level. We need to change the default run level from 3 to 5;
therefore, we'll need to edit /etc/inittab. Using the text editor of your
choice, change this line in /etc/inittab:
id:3:initdefault:
When you're done, it should look like this:
id:5:initdefault:
Virtual Consoles and X
Note that even if you're running X, you still have access to the regular
character-cell user interface. That's because Linux uses virtual consoles while
X is running. To switch to a virtual console, press [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Fn], where
[Fn] is any one of the first six function keys. When switching virtual
consoles, you should see a standard login prompt; at this point you can login
and use the system normally on any (or all) of the virtual consoles.
When you'd like to go back to your X session, simply press [Ctrl]-[Alu]-[F7].
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LOADSTAR 128 - well, it is looking more like the end is looming for the
LOADSTAR 128 quarterly disk publication. I recently had occasion to email with
Fender Tucker and he told me that the last issue is expected to be #42 - the
NEXT issue. I sent in my money with regrets - as this has been the only forum
for significant stuff for the 128 mode!
Lo, these many years ago, while I was making heavy use of my PET 8032 (the
"business" computer with the 12-inch, 80 column screen), I bought a VIC-20 for
my younger son to use - for the new raft of COLORful games not possible on the
monochrome PET. I never really used the VIC, with its 22 column screen and
really crowded display when you were trying to program it (and it had such a
sloooow disk drive compared to the then-speedy PET dual floppy drives).
The VIC was followed not too much later by the purchase of a C-64 - again
mainly for my son and for its even better games. Since MLCUG was starting to
convert from PETs to mainly 64's, having one of the beasts let me test stuff in
prepping for meetings. But, that 40-column screen and the even sloooooweeeeer
disk drives did not endear the 64 to me.
But, in 1985 - some seven years after I got my first PET - along came the C-128
with 80-column screen, full C-64 compatibility and faster, more capacious disk
drives. So, I made the switch and the 128 has been my mainstay home computer
ever since. I'm not a diverse program user so a half dozen or so key
applications have helped me do what I wanted and needed. Unfortunately, the
Commodore world did not really see it that way; so the 128 never became the
mainstream Commodore platform, as I had really hoped it would be. This meant a
limited range of apps for the machine and a lack of programmers to really
stretch the limits of its technological capability (as they are stretching the
64 to tiis day). The Loadstar 128 was a standout in support of the machine,
but even it never had the number and variety of offerings as its Loadstar 64
counterpart. Having it leave the scene will be a true loss .....
NEWSLETTERS PASSING AWAY! - the Philadelphia Area Computer Society (PACS), one
of the oldest of computer clubs, has opted to discontinue their newsletter.
They expect to have the material on their website and send out only a single
page meeting announcement to their members.
I'm afsaid it won't be the same - but many clubs are moving in the same
direction (and they are NOT all computer clubs!). Cost of the NL against
dwindling membership is the prime driving force. Of course, if you do not go
to the meetings (as I generally do not for PACS), then your dues do not buy you
much!
As for MLCUG, we hope to keep the newsletter a bit more than just a meeting
announcement; so even non meeting goers will be getting something for their
dues.
How long we can keep it going depends on you - the members. If you hang in AND
if you can bring in some occasional new blood, then we have a continued,
hopefully useful future ahead .....
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More than any time in history, mankind now faces a crossroads. One path leads
to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us pray
that we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
-- Woody Allen --
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Elsewhere in this issue is my update on the SETI program - the most popular of
several efforts underway to use the power of zillions of idle personal
computers to tackle some really worthwhile computing chores.
The January 13th issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer had a very nice article on
this endeavour. It highlighted SETI and two other efforts: breaking encryption
systems and hunting for Mersenne prime numbers. This latter being one where
you could win some serious money, if your computer happens to be the one that
makes a find (there is a prize of $250,000 for a billion-digit prime - now that
will take some SERIOUS computing!!!).
I'll have the article at the next meeting. You can check their respective
websites for followup: setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu or www.distributed.net or
www.mersenne.org.
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by Emil Volcheck
Back in October-December of 1998, we had a series of articles on the
preparation of bootable disks for Win95 that provide capability to recover from
"disasters" and be able to perform repair functions or re-install your Windows
95 OS.
However, one deficiency of the normal Win95 startup disk, and of other boot
disks, is their inability to provide access to your CD-ROM drive - a necessity
to re-install the OS. Work arounds were suggested for that deficiency.
But, a vastly easier solution has been identified - from Microsoft no less!
That is the Windows 98 Startup Disk. When you prepare this disk - analogous to
the Win95 startup disk - it provides access to the CD drive directly.
I've tested this startup disk on several Windows 95 - NOT Windows 98 for which
it was intended - machines. It has worked very nicely to provide CD drive
access. On my own desktop PC, which has a 4-slot CD changer, it even provided
access to ALL FOUR of the CD slots!
I've prepared one of these disks and updated the readme file to correct for
some typos and grammar errors provided by the Redmond folks. I will have
copies available at the next meeting (and subsequent meetings) for members to
have for use on their Win98 or Win95 systems (there will be a $1 copy fee -
that goes into the club treasury).
I'd like to have as many folks as possible try it on their machines (and tell
us how well it works) to see how many CD-ROM drives fool it
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
FOR SALE: the club still has a very large inventory of Commodore stuff -
software, computers, disk drives, monitors, printers, etc. We have recently
been getting a number of sales via the info posted on the MLCUG web page. But,
those sales have just scratched the surface of our inventory!
So, if you are in need of replacements or augmentation, please contact Charles
Curran - he has most of the stuff and the prices are VERY reasonabme!!!
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The new year dawned! Y2K came and passed and all the old (and not so old)
hands were at VU for ourfirst meeting of the new year!
As in recent past meetings, we held about an hour of roundtable discussion plus
Q&A. Folks appear to be enjoying the opportunity to talk about problems they
have or other questions that they are seeking other's input on. And, as long
as it has value, we shall continue to talk!
Then, we moved to our Linux guru, Pete Whinnery, who conducted the "Linux
moment" - see the item immediately following.
The last portion of the meeting was devoted to folks experiences with the just
past Y2K.
A run round the table confirmed that the Y2K event had been relatively
uneventful - thru the world and for each of us as individuals! None of the
attendees could really report any noticeable problems. So, it looks like we'll
just have to watch as tie days go by to see if some subtle troubles show
themselves. But, all in all, we had pretty good luck ...
Tune in again next time. We hope more of the shrinking membership will avail
themselves of the opportunities to share that the meetings uniquely offer - one
of the main reasons we still hang on!
OUR LINUX MOMENT
Unbeknownst to himself, Emil had managed to mess up the hard drive boot sector
on the club PC (thru the good offices of Norton Anti-virus!); so it would not
boot, period, end of report! With a tip from Pete Whinnery, Emil was able to
get her to boot properly into Windows 95, but could not regain the dual boot to
Linux.
So, at the meeting, Pete's "Linux Moment" had as it's first act the restoration
of the LILO dual booter. Accomplished by a short command (lilo -C
/etc/lilo.conf) after booting to Linux with the Red Hat 6 boot disk. Note:
there had been no corruption of any of the Windows or Linux files, directories
or partitions - only the MBR (master boot record) had been. From then on
things were hunky-dory...
For the second act, Pete set Linux up so that we could access the internet and
the web from that side of the system - as we have been doing for the last year
+ with Netscape (or IE) in Windows. We can expect a short article on this in a
future issue of the newsletter.
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A novel approach is to remove all power from the system, which removes most
system overhead; so that resources can be fully devoted to doing nothing.
Benchmarks on this technique are promising; tremendous amounts of nothing can
be produced in this manner. Certain hardware limitations can limit the speed
of this method, especially in the larger systems which require a more involved
& less efficient power-down sequence.
An alternate approach is to pull the main breaker for the building, which seems
to provide even more nothing, but in truth has bugs in it, since it usually
iniibits the systems which keep the beer cool.
[ Source: the internet, where else? ]
---------------------------
The Feb 2000 issue of PEI (PhotoElectronic Imaging) has a wonderful portayal of
the Knoll Bros. and the colorful history of Adobe Photoshop. (Photoshop was a
home-grown product and pitched to Apple before being taken on by Adobe.)
It's not often you see an article humanizing technology in this manner, so
enjoy it while you can.
www.peimag.com
[Randy M. Zeitman randzman@chesco.com]
---------------------------
by Emil Volcheck
The SETI folks have updated their software to version 2 - for both Windows and
Mac systems. Interestingly enough, one of the key changes in the new version
is a self-checking procedure to make sure that users have not modified the code
and/or analysis procedures. Apparently, even in this field of distributed
computing, there are cheaters trying to make themselves look good - without
regard to whether they have compromised the scientific results being generated
by their computers!!!
As of this writing, my complement of machines had processed 145 SETI data
packets. This level of accomplishment has placed the mtcuba account at the 94%
level - amongst the 1.6 million contibutors. The company is getting more
rarified....
As noted before, you can check my progress at any time, by logging onto the
website (setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu), selecting User Accounts, then Account
Status. At the dialogue box, enter: mtcuba@udel.edu. When you press return,
you'll see my stats!!!
If you would like to learn more, ask at the next meeting. Or just download the
software and GO!
BEGINNING last month, the Amiga SIG members met in more friendly
surroundings, namely my home, AND AT A NEW TIME, 9:00AM to 11:30AM!
For travel directions, first time attendees should call me at home at
610-828-7897 evenings, email me on the club BBS (610-828-1359), or
email me at
jwdeker@voicenet.com.
The location is Lafayette Hill, PA and only a couple of blocks from the intersection of Ridge Pike & Joshua Road, and 1.5 miles from the intersection of Ridge Pike and the Blue Route (I-476).
More friendly surroundings included a telephone link to the BBS and
the Internet. No longer were we operating in isolation. January's
emphasis was on telecommunications after having been without that
capability for so long. Specifically, the focus was on the the Term
terminal program software, TCP/IP stacks, ao HTTP proxy, HServ, Amiga
Internet browsers, and IE and Netscape for the Shapeshifter based Mac
emulator. We also covered some Y2K issues.
For February we'll pick up with SSL, FTP clients, an FTP server, and
the Thor newsreader and mailer and a little bit more discussion of
Y2K.
We enhanced our meeting experience with a bit of delite for the
appetite with donuts, orange juice, and some cinnamon-raisin bread
for a real change of pace!
MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL TIME
Just a reminder, meeting attendees are urged to become club members.
Membership gets you a monthly newsletter mailed to your home. The
annual fee of $15 covers the cost of mailings.
THE FUTURE OF OUR AMIGA SIG
Please see the introduction paragraphs on the first page of this
newsletter about the Amiga SIG's new meeting location. We will no
longer meet regularly at Villanova University. We will also be
trying to start our meetings a half hour earlier at 9:00AM instead of
9:30AM. So, please note the change of starting time.
MEETING REVIEW...
Y2K ISSUES
At least one desktop clock utility was discovered to have an
unexpected Y2K display. DCCLOCK which some members have been using
was found to display the new year in 3 digit form as 100. One member
switched to NISCLOCK as an alternative. Another member opted to use
the embedded clock in DIRECTORY OPUS 5.8x.
Both of the Amigas most popular archivers were found to have Y2K
related issues. LHA's problems tend toward the cosmetic. The
archive creation date for archives created this year displays as 100.
100 does come after 99 doesn't it? More serious were the problems
of LZX. The creation date year displays as 256 for archives created
this year. Year 2000 files within the archive list as year 128.
When extracted, files originally date-stamped year 2000 by the OS
assume the then current date and time of the OS while pre-Y2K files
retain their original system dates.
The Amiga INet News discussion groups are currently focused on
discussions og mailer and net news reader Y2K compliancy. We'll
discuss this issue at our next meeting.
FOR THE LONG TERM
THE BEST Amiga terminal program, IMHO, is TERM. It is currently at
version 4.7c. It has to be the most full featured terminal program
available for the Amiga. Because of its many features, it can be a
daunting program to configure for the novice terminal program user.
Its speech capability makes it somewhat unique.
We briefly demonstrated TERM by connecting to the club BBS.
HOW TCP/IP STACKS STACK UP
There are 3 different TCP/IP stacks available to Amiga users. They
are TERMITE TCP, MIAMI, and GENESIS-AMITCP.
The least capable, but possibly the easiest to setup is TERMITE TCP.
I say least capable only because there is some client software that
does not work with TERMITE. Otherwise, it performs just fine for a
single interface installation, which is all most of us need. TERMITE
TCP is a commercial product. The parent company, HiSoft, does not
appear to be furthering development of this software.
For quite awhile MIAMI has been considered the best TCP stack around.
It has always been relatively easy to configure and is the only
Amiga TCP/IP stack to support SSL, Secure Socket Layer. Its one
limitation has been support for only one interface at a time. That
is changing with MIAMI DELUXE. MIAMI DELUXE is currently in an
advanced beta phase state. The author, Holger Kruse, continues to
develop the software, albeit, somewhat slowly. MIAMI is shareware.
AMITCP has been around for quite some time as a port from the Unix
environment. For quite awhile it was freeware. As it matured, it
was first marketed by VillageTronic. AMITCP's early interface was
quite unfriendly, but it has always supported the use of multiple
interfaces.
Today, AMITCP has been given a facelift and is called GENESIS-AMITCP.
It is marketed by Active Technologies. The facelift consists
primarily of a friendly configuration interface. Most Amiga netware
has been designed with AMITCP in mind, and thus setting up a
relatively capable mini LAN is easiest with the AMITCP stack.
HTTP HEAVEN
We took a brief look at 5 browsers, namely AWEB, IBROWSE, VOYAGER,
INTERNET EXPLORER, and NETSCAPE. The last two browsers were
demonstrated running within the SHAPESHIFTER Mac emulator. Bill
Bacon pointed out the MS unique marquee capability of IE.
Of the three Amiga browsers, AWEB is currently the best in my
opinion. Its display comes closest to Netscape and IE in appearance.
It also has the best Java Script support among the three Amiga
browsers. However, unlike VOYAGER and IBROWSE, it does not have any
direct support for Secure Socket Layer (SSL). It depends on a TCP
stack like MIAMI to provide SSL support.
If you're a writer of HTML code, you'll likely find the unique editor
feature of AWEB very handy. With it you can easily export the HTML
source code to your favorite editor.
The latest 2.x version of IBrowse is a bit buggy. It fails to
display certain Web pages, but it is the only Amiga browser to
support postscript printing using TURBOPRINT 7. A bug fix is
supposedly in the works.
My experience with VOYAGER is ho-hum. I find it the least stable of
the browsers, but it probably has the best built-in SSL support.
PROXY SERVED
For the browser portion of our meeting, we networked 2 Amigas through
a single modem over an Ethernet LAN. We made use of a small piece of
software called HTTPPROXY to make this happen.
A more universal approach would have been to use a Socks Proxy with a
Socks server and Socks Wrapper clients or Socks aware applications.
None of the current netware applications on the Amiga are Socks
aware. Therefore, a Socks Wrapper client is needed. However, the
Amiga Socks Proxies I've tried seemed somewhat buggy and were not
demonstrated.
If you have either software or hardware for your Amiga that has taken
your fancy, please bring it to our attention. I'm sure your specific
interests will be of interest to others. Let me know if this is the
case at the next meeting, or leave me email on our BBS. Remember, a
user group is only as rewarding as the sum of the efforts of its
individual members.
THAT NETMASK MAN
(Getting Network Technical)
[Part 2 of 2 - by John Deker]
So, how does the netmask get determined? Here's an example for the above
situation for my LAN. We will work with the last number in the IP address. For
example, the "?" in 192.168.0.? is the number we'll focus on. We'll also be
converting this number to BINARY format.
1. In BINARY, decimal 255 looks like 11111111; and decimal 0 looks like
00000000.
2. We want the binary form of the subnet address to end in "0" as in 11111110;
and the broadcast address to end in "1" as in 00000001.
3. For each subnet, we need to allow enough addresses for the number of
machines on the subnet by selecting a proper netmask.
4. The binary form of the netmask number will always be allocated 1's starting
from the left position.
For the network example given above, the ethernet will accommodate IP addresses
192.168.0.0 to 192.168.0.7, including the subnet & broadcast addresses. In
binary form the first and last available address numbers look like this:
IN FACT, ANY IP ADDRESS IN THE SUBNET ANDED WITH THE NETMASK RESUMTS IN THE
SAME SUBNET ADDRESS!
For the AmigaLink subnet our IP addresses, including subnet & broadcast
addresses, range from 192.168.0.8 to 192.168.0.15. In binary they look like
this:
NOTE the patterns. The Netmask has 1's on the left & 0's on the right. Only
the 1's on the right side of the IP addresses change. A subnet address range
begins with an even value & ends with an odd value just as if we weren't using
a smaller subnet than the standard IP addressing provides. The netmask value
determines the maximum number of device addresses that can be used on a
subnetwork.
Getting Started with Linux - IV
ANNOUNCEMENTS & COMMENTS
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Your fortune for today
DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING
BOOT/EMERGENCY/STARTUP DISKS
$ TRADING POST $
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
PC/128/64 MEETING
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ELEMENTARY TROUBLESHOOTING
Nickel Knowledge
SETI @ HOME - Continuing Saga!
MAIN LINE AMIGA USER HAPPENINGS
by John Deker
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_ __ _ <>_ __ _
/\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\
/__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\
/ \\_| \/ ||_||_ \__//_/ \\_
======================================
FUTURE MEETINGS
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 = 1 decimal; host address of first computer on subnet
0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 = 6 decimal; host address of last subnet computer
1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 = 248 decimal in netmask 255.255.255.248
----------
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 0; we AND the 6 (last machine in subnet) & 248 (Netmask) to
get our subnet or network address.
0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 = 9 decimal; first computer host address available
0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 = 14 decimal; last computer host address available
1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 = 248 decimal in netmask of 255.255.255.248
----------
0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 = 8; we AND the 14 & 248 together to get our subnet address.