Category : Operating Systems (archive 1)

PowerUsers.info - Paul Doherty Askme Archive of Questions and Answers

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Category : Operating Systems

QAId : 51020
Asker : lrsides52229
Subject : Internet Explorer
Private : No

Question : I got a scanner for Christmas and when I went to install it I dwonloaded IE4.0off the CD that was with it. Now my Internet Explorer is gone and I had to go to Netscape and now I can't use my scanned. someone told my I could download IE5.0 and it would fix it without blowing it out and starting over. What should I do?

Answer : I'm not sure from your description what happened between installing IE 4.0 off the CD and IE disappearing from your drive (or for that matter what that has to do with your scanning hardware or software). Nonethless my siggestion to you would be to reinstall IE 4.0 from the CD as you did originally, which should get you back to IE working. Next I would suggest you reinstall your scanner's drivers (including Twain drivers if you have them) and see if the scanner works again at that point. The as an optional step I would update IE to 5.01 by visiting http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.htm and clicking the "Download Now" button. If you get to this stage and you're still functional with the scanner and IE then you're done. If not and you're running Windows 98 I'd suggest a visit to Microsoft's Update site ( "Windows Update" on your Start menu or http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ ). There are some patches to Windows 98 including a Service Pack 1 that may help get your machine back into spec. Good luck!
Rating : 4.9
Rating : 4.9

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QAId : 52337
Asker : marc3
Subject : Linux Connectivity to Novell 4.x server
Private : No

Question : Hi there all,

I would like to connect me linux workstation to a novell server, and access the volumes on it.

Having cut my teeth on Win95, I wish to progress to a REAL Operating System, but still need access to my files that are currently on a novell server. I would like the connection to be as seamless as possible, so that i will be able to save files to the novell server, as well as open them from my linux workstation.

My novell server as bindery enabled, but this will be turned off soon, in favour of running NDS only.

Help me PLEASE.

Regards
Marc

Answer : You will want to consider Caldera's OpenLinux as last time I checked it is the only distribution that comes with Novell client software in the package. You can order the full thing from http://www.linuxmall.com or hop onto the FTP server ftp.linuxberg.com, enter the ISO directory and grab a single CD version of Caldera (or almost any other Linux distro) for free - you will need a burner obviously and a fast connection to make this worthwhile.

Paul Doherty, CNA (3 & 4), CNE (4), MCP+I, MCSE, B.A.Sc.
Rating : 0

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QAId : 52346
Asker : ptarik
Subject : Novell's Server 3.12
Private : No

Question : I have two hard disk in a Novell's Server with insufficient space .Then I would like to know how to do change them after making a copy on the new . And what is limit
( capacity ) of partition with a Novell 3.12 I can do?

Answer : I'm not sure what you're asking about the two drives. Are you saying you will replace the two small drives with one large one? After which you want to change them how?

As far as maximum sizes go, for both Netware 3.x and Netware 4.x the limit is 32TB (Terabytes- that's 32,000 GB).

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 52392
Asker : drew52034
Subject : Dos Batch (.bat) programming question
Private : No

Question : In the interest of saving money (by not buying a RAID controller), I was wondering if it was possible to write a batch program that would execute the following when run:

copy c:\(all files and directories) d:\

I know copy c:\*.* will only get me the files in the root, so I really have two questions. One: How do you copy all files and directories, including sub-directories in DOS, and Two: Is it possible to make it copy only the files modified within a certain time period, like maybe the same day or within the past X number of hours? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer : To copy all the files on the whole disk you can create a batch file and use the 'at' scheduler (add the scheduler service first before using 'at' on the command prompt under NT Server). The batch file could look as follows:

@echo off
c:
cd \
attrib -r -h -s *.* /s
xcopy c:\*.* d:\*.* /e /m /q /y >nul

The above batch file will copy only the files that have not already been copied, or ones that have changed since the last copy. The first time you run this I would suggest you do the following and then run our batch file one time manually:

c:
cd \
attrib -r -h -s +a *.* /s

Now run the batch file one time manually - this will ensure that all files got copied at least once. From here on out they will be picked up based on modification or being new.

Now you can set this up to be automatic with the 'at' scheduler (under NT Server) or with Task Scheduler (on systray in Win9X). We'll call our batch file backmeup.bat) and schedule it to run at night:

at 01:00 /every:M,W,F,Su "d:\wherever\backmeup.bat"

The above line would run the backmeup.bat file at 1:00 AM every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

Have fun!
Paul Doherty, CNA (3 & 4), CNE, MCP+I, MCSE, B.A.Sc.
Rating : 5

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QAId : 52396
Asker : kdamin
Subject : server selection
Private : No

Question : Need Solution for small network of 2 computers. would like to have remote access via laptop. considering a refurbished compaq proliant whose specs are: pent 133, 64ram, 2(4.3gig) scsi hd's, & m1 nt/array(?) for $410. also available is a refurbished compaq proliant p166, 64ram, 2(4.3gig) scsi hd's, & a 4x scsi cd for $670. are these computers sutiable? or should i spring for a new machine?

Answer : Both of those machines are capable of running anything from Windows NT 4, to Windows 2000 Pro, to Netware 5.

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QAId : 55295
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : Partitioning in WINNT
Private : No

Question : Hi Paul,

I just have one question:

I have an 8GB HDD and I want to partition this in a way that at least 5GB will be alloted to my system's drive. Is it possible? Because I am having some error messages when installing Windows NT.

Thanks!

Answer : I assume you are referring to the creation of a partition during installtion? If so then I know what you are talking about and I believe the largest partition that can be created at boot-time is 4GB. Don't ask me why; that was an MS decision. best bet is to do the base install on the 4GB partition (as FAT or NTFS) and then run something like Partition Magic under a DOS boot floppy to expand the partition to the size you want it to be in the end.

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 55540
Asker : ptarik
Subject : About The Hard disk
Private : Yes

Question : I would like just the change The old Two hard disk by another ( 2 )with more capacity . When you make a partition with Novell.312,
Can you use the totality of the Hard disk for a Novell Partition ? after you assign a 100 Mg for a DOS Partition.

Answer : Yes you can. As I mentioned in the previous post Netware 3.x and 4.x both have a 32TB (32,000 gigabytes) limitation per volume. You should have no trouble splitting the disk as you desire. you will need to make one Netware partition of the whole disk and then you can split that into logical volumes if you need more than one.

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 55547
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : Novell system date
Private : No

Question : Dear Paul,

I have a Novell 3.11 server which is not Y2K compliant (for business reasons). As a result our server date is set to 1994. The PCs in my office are Y2K compliant though and I am using 3Com's 3C509A/B NICs using VLMs to attach to the server. The problem is that, everytime I attach to the server, the PC date changes (synch's) to the server false date (of 1994). How can I overcome this please??

SK

Answer : If you will edit the clients net.cfg and add the line

SET STATION TIME = OFF

I believe that will disable the client using the server as a time and date synchronization source.

Good luck!

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5

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QAId : 58657
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : Windows CE and W2K
Private : No

Question : Hello,
I'm curious if you've had any experience with using any CE based terminals with W2K, or NT 4.0 for that matter. Specifically, I'm wondering what type of performance can you expect on the following setup: Vadem Clio (handheld CE based) w/standard 10/100 ethernet card accessing W2K Server running Metaframe. I'd like to use the handheld to run IE 5.0 using ICA protocol. Is there lag? Will running an app such as Windows Media Player appear to be seamless? Will the screen updates allow for decent frame rates and audio quality? Thank you for your time and help!

Answer : I have no experience with this type of setup, but if network traffic were slow I see no reason why you shouldn't get good throughput here.

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 63584
Asker : Yuri.F.L65439
Subject : NTFS
Private : No

Question : I am trying to install Linux in my Second hard drive which is NTFS formatted. I have Windows NT and Windows 98 installed in my 1st hard drive. I tried to reformat that drive to FAT from the NT Disk Administrator unsuccesfully. Is there any way for me to reformat that drive to FAT16 (or Could I use FAT32 too?) short of buying Partition Magic. My understanding is that Linux can not be installed in a NTFS file system. Thanks.

Answer : If you don't care about the data on the second disk and intend to use it solely for Linux you can use a utility such as the Disk Administrator or delpart (ftp://ftp.islandnet.com/blunder/DELPART.EXE) to delete the NTFS partition on the second disk. Be sure you don't want anything on it before doing this, or move it to the first drive!

After the NTFS partition is gone the drive will have no defined partitions and that's just dandy for a Linux install. Just pop in the CD or boot floppy for your distribution and away you go...

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5

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QAId : 71460
Asker : l_lotter
Subject : disaster recovery
Private : No

Question : I'm responsible for my Company's server and has installed Backup Exec For Windows NT.

What can you tell me about intelligent disaster recovery, And disaster recovery procedures ?

Can I trust IDR, How much time will it
typically take to recover a server, to "point in time" and how much of my time will typically be taken up each day if I want to be able to recover a system to the day before the disaster.

Answer : I'm not familiar with "IDR" as a product, but if you mean the same type of single boot floppy and tape one-step backup like ARCServe uses then I would say they are excellent concepts and likely to save your buns and time as well.

Can you trust it? Not until you try it yourself. Build a test server, copy some data to it, create some users, make some NTFS rights assignments, install this backup app on it, back it up and then do something horrible. :-) Then test it. I NEVER trust a tool I haven't seen work.

As far as time each day it should be next to zero unless you think you will need to do restores every day (in which case I would suggest you look into your systems as they have major problems). Normally the backups will be an automated event and you will be doing nothing more than switching tapes and ensuring jobs got done successfully (and perhaps doing an occasional non-destructive restore of a few files to ensure integrity).

Paul Doherty

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5

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QAId : 84480
Asker : kamal_sehra
Subject : NFS Mounting
Private : No

Question : Can u tell me exact procedure when creating the user's home directory
and how it is shared and exported in a NFS environment

Also Can you tell me the generic shell scripts which are used in general NIS/NFS /DNS environment
((you can telll me the site where from I can get eh sample shell scripts))

Regds
Kamal Sehra
Sr Support Engineer
Compaq India Ltd

Answer : No I can't, since you didn't indicate what version of UNIX you're referring to. Once you've added the directory in question to the list of NFS "shares" mounting it from a remote system is nothing more than a modified standard mount command:

mount -t nfs remotesystemname:nfssharedir /mnt/whereyouwantitmounted

As far as your second question - you've asked about three broad areas and still have not indicated an OS you're referring to so I can't help you on scripts that may be used here. DNS is manually adjusted in all instances I've done it (named.boot, named.data, named.rev are all in /etc) and NIS is another story altogether and one which I don't use too often.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 1.4
Rating : 1.4
Rating : 1.4

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QAId : 101292
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : PC Systems
Private : No

Question : I'm purchasing a PC. Which is faster on a Pentium III 600Mhz machine 1)512 Off-die transfer cache or 2) 256 Advanced Transfer Cache? Thanks.

Answer : You're asking about the difference between a P3 standard versus a P3 Coppermine I suspect. A Coppermine is faster for a lot of reasons, but one of them is for having the 256K on-die cache that runs at full core speed, as opposed to P2/older-P3 512K off-die 1/2 speed cache. This is the same reason why Celerons run so well against esame-clocked P2's - they only have 128K of cache but again it is at full core speed, not 1/2, and even with this disparity is cache size the Celerons can best P2's of the same speed in many tests and equal them in almost every area.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 4

Need More Information : Hey - I accidentally didn't answer your last question on the difference between SDRAM and RDRAM. What I did was not notice the subject of the message appeared to be this question, so I submitted before answering it. Then I wrote a fairly length document explaining it but it wouldn't let me answeer it again (makes sense). So would you me the question again - I saved the text I wrote off to a file and can then give you your answer.

Thanks,
pauldoherty

FUQuestion : This is getting confusing. It's saying that you are asking for clarification on the "coppermine" question. But, what you're really asking for is clarification on the "SDRAM" question. So, what I'll do is re-submit my original SDRAM question to you. I'm new to this site -- so bear with me.

Thanks.

Answer : The reason I used the "Coppermine" question was that the other question RAM differences doesn't appear in my list on answered questions. Since I knew you were the same person who had asked about Coppermines I just used that one to get to you since you are Anonymous. They still have a few bugs in the site it appears.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 4

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QAId : 102951
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : thanks
Private : Yes

Question : Thanks for the off-die/Coppermine answer. That'll help me in my computer purchase. Thanks again!

Answer : You are very welcome... glad to be of service to you!

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5

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QAId : 103016
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : Novell 5 Max Physical receive Packet size
Private : No

Question : I am running a netware 5 server over a token ring network. I am using compaq netintelligent 4/16 TR PCI card. The server communication drops some times and uses lose connections.

is their a recommended Maximum Physical Receive Packet size for Token ring or for the compaq netintelligent cards

Thanks

Answer : It appears Novell suggests 4096 for Token Ring as a maximum since applications that use WinSock are not aware of packet sizes; only the NIC driver does. See this URL for a symptom/solution to a Lotus Notes issue for more info on the Token Ring packet size issue.

http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/search.pl?database_name=kb&type=HTML&docid=%03%81%05F105057%3a949631118%3a%20%28%20token%20ring%20netware%205%20maximum%20packet%20receive%20size%20%29%20%20AND%20%28%20productClass%20%3d%20%28%22NetWare%22%29%20%29%20%20AND%20%28%20docGroup%20%3d%20%280%29%20%29%20%20%07%01%00&byte_count=12311

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 107031
Asker : siddhartha_khemka
Subject : postmaster on linux
Private : No

Question : Hi,

The following is the desc. of a utility called postmaster available for windows.

" The PostMaster is mail-server software that gives you unlimited personal email IDs over a single Internet account. It works with any SMTP/POP3 email client, including Netscape and Internet Explorer clients, Outlook Express, and Eudora. Features include the ability to download mail from multiple POP3 accounts, user mail statistics, virtual accounts, tracking of ISP usage time, automatic responders, real-time displays, and logging facilities "

Is any such utility available for linux ?

regards
sid

Answer : Try here:

http://www.linuxapps.com/?page=category&category=mail

Paul Doherty
Rating : 4

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QAId : 107068
Asker : john.hung@...
Subject : Networking Win 95 and Win NT 4.0
Private : Yes

Question : I have two computers networked together (peer to peer)here are the specs:

First Computer is a Dell Pentium III runing Win NT 4.0 with SP 5.0. Microsoft Office Suite, and some accounting software. No games or anything fancy at all because it is strictly a business machine. It has an internal modem (U.S. Robotics) on Com 2 for interenet access, an external modem on Com 1 for Faxes (WinFax 9.0) they share a dedicated phone number. This computer is connected to an APC UPS.

Second computer is an IBM Pentium business box also running Microsoft Office Suite and some accounting software. The purpose of this machine is for backing up the first computer. It is running WIN 95.

Here is the problem, every once in a while (approx. once a day sometimes more) the Dell computer reboots for no apparent reason. Event Viewer shows some errors (SAP) and event ID 52 codes.

What exactly should I have for my networking settings on these computers? When the PC came from the manufacturer it had TCP/IP, RAS, and a host of other network protocol on it and I didn't want to delete anything because the system seems to be working fine except this reboot sequence every once in a while.

Could there be something else that is causing this?

Thanks.

John

Answer : Hmmm... a lot of specifics, but not much detail of the crashes.

When you say "SAP" I think "Service Advertising Protocol" which makes me thing IPX/SPX protocol is installed. If it is, remove it as you do not need it. Right-click Network Neighborhood and select Properties on both machines and find anything with IPX and root it out. I assume you have TCP/IP installed as well so this should not interfere with your LAN communication/file-sharing. NetBeui can also be booted from the protocol list.

Finally two suggestions:

1) Upgrade to SP6a - SP5 is not current and may have some bugs in it (besides the normal conglomeration MS provides with each "fix" :-) SP6 and the additional SP6a can be gotten at:

http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/nts/downloads/recommended/sp6/allsp6.asp?FinishURL=%2Fdownloads%2Frelease%2Easp%3Freleaseid%3D12378%26redirect%3Dno

2) Can you not either install a secondary disk or a large-capacity tape drive for backups on the NT machine? This would free up the other machine for more tasks.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5

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QAId : 108438
Asker : keighmy
Subject : 10/100 vs. 10 Baset
Private : No

Question : I'm just getting to know this forum... excuse the duplicity...
What is the difference between 10/100 and 10 Baset? A little technically speaking, I mean.

Answer : 10BaseT is nothing more than this (broken down):

"10" = means 10 Mbit (MegaBit/sec) transfer

"BaseT" = means it is "twisted pair" cabling, as opposed to coaxial cable (10Base2) which is also 10Mbit.

10/100 is usually a reference for a card, hub, or switch that can "autosense" whether another device can receive at 100Mbit or only at 10Mbit and will set itself accordingly for the fastest possible transfer rate. So literally speaking 10/100 merely means that the card can talk at *both* 10Mbit or 100Mbit (some 100Mbit cards only do 100Mbit but they're rare - for example the NetGear starter kit comes with a 100Mb 4 port hub, and 2 100Mb cards - all of which cannot transfer at 10Mb - only 100Mb)

Paul Doherty
Rating : 4.9
Rating : 4.9
Rating : 4.9
Rating : 4.9

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QAId : 108451
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : Another question
Private : Yes

Question : Hi. Can I ask you one more question regarding PC's? (I'm the one who asked the Coppermine question.) I'm trying to decide which will be of better performance for the price: a 128mb RDRAM (newer stuff = more money); or a 512mb SDRAM (current stuff = more reasonably priced). Actually, I'd buy the 128mb SDRAM now and upgrade another 128mb later to get the 512 if I need it. Would the 2 - 128mb be comparable to the 1 - 128 RDRAM?

Thanks for your help.

Answer : After you only rated me a 4 on that Coppermine question, where you said I totally answered the question with the info you needed you ask me another!? The nerve... you trying to ruin my rating or something? ;-)

I have not seen any benchmarks with the new Intel i820 chipset which as far as I know is the only chipset that can utilize the RamBus memory you refer to. This brings up a little conundrum - buying an i820 chipset based motherboard *can* be done in such a way so as to use standard SDRAM DIMMs in it (some mobo manufacturers make them). Problem is there is a penalty for using non RDRAM in an i820 mobo. Seems the i820 has to use a memory translator to use the SDRAM DIMMs so you incur a 10-20% penalty reading and writing to this memory. But this could be offset by running a Coppermine CPU on one of these with a 133Mhz FSB and PC133 SDRAM (still cheap compared to RDRAM). You also may want the i820 chipset-based mobos for their enhanced feature sets like ATA66, AGP4x, etc. To further muddy the water (hey you asked the question! :-) soon you will be able to buy DDRAM (Double Data-rate) memory like the kind that comes on high-end NVidia GeForce video cards for your primary system memory which will double the throughput of that PC133 spec to 266Mhz, giving Rambus a run for it's money (literally and figuratively since the Rambus is $pricey$ from all I've heard). So in the end I would go with some PC133 and an i820 chipset mobo with a nice Coppermine P3 myself...

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5

FUQuestion : OK I'm hoping that the original question, your answer, and now this follow-up 'question' all appear together. You can read my original question and answer again. I must confess that I read over your answer last night and printed it out to 'study' it as I didn't fully grasp it. I remember the ending giving advice on the PC133 -- so I assumed that that was the answer. I await your response and I'll re-read your original response. Thanks for your time.

Answer : Ok here goes...

SDRAM is Single Data-Rate RAM. It runs at speeds of 100, 133 and 150Mhz. It is on a 64-bit bus.

RDRAM is RAMbus memory - a new spec by Intel that is utilized by their new motherboard chipset the i820. Rambus mainly differs from SDRAM in it's clock speeds. It is a clock-doubled RAM that can send and receive data on the rising and the falling of each clock tick. So RDRAM that runs at 100Mhz for instance effectively really moves data at 200Mhz. Rambus speeds are even higher than that - I'm not sure of the highest clock speed but I believe it's 400Mhz - which when clock-doubled makes for a whopping 800Mhz of speed. Sounds good, doesn't it? 800 vs 133 on SDRAM? But it ain't so. The missing piece of the puzzle I left out is that, while SDRAM has a 64-bit bus (which means 8 bytes per clock tick can move back or forth across the bus), RDRAM is only a 16-bit bus (which means 2 bytes per clock tick). So, RDRAM at 8 times the frequency, when this 1/4 sized bus is taken into consideration is now only (all other things being equal) twice as fast as 100Mhz SDRAM. And as I mentioned there is 133Mhz SDRAM available now. On top of that RDRAM is expensive. And I do mean expensive. A 128MB stick (DIMM) of SDRAM will run you about $150.00. The same capacity of RDRAM will set you back a cool thousand bucks! And to fit the final nail into the coffin on it's way to your RAM slots is a new memory standard DDRAM. It's clock-doubled memory just like RDRAM is, but it's like the SDRAM with it's wider 64-bit bus. And it will likely be a lot less than comparable RDRAM 9and right now now RDRAM would touch it at a clock-doubled 133Mhz (266Mhz effective, 64-bit)) speed. DDRAM is on video cards with the NVidia GeForce card and will be coming to PCs in the form of DIMMs very soon I suspect.

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Thanks. This is much more clearer. I'm off to buy my system!

Answer : None required - this was a response to an answer, not another question.

Good luck on the system!

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QAId : 110729
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : netware 4,0
Private : No

Question : when working with NetWare 4.0, why should you avoid creating an alias that points to a container in the same or parent context?

Answer : Netware 4.1 and up do not allow this behavior for the obvious reason (and why I suspect you're asking) - it creates problems. It creates an "alias loop" where the alias points to the current container (in which case there was no reason to use an alias in the first place). If you attempt to do this under Netware 4.1 or higher it will not allow you to create the alias.

More info on the subject at:
http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/People/Diana/network/tutors/ndsplan.html

Do a CTRL-F and search for "alias"

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 115345
Asker : caseyy
Subject : install linux
Private : No

Question : hi, i have problem w install linux.i like to install dual os system , i have 13g hd & partition to c:(2000mb) d:(2000mb) e:(4000mb)and the rest for linux.
when ask for partitioning my hd for linux ---
then i partition to /a(3000mb) /swap(128mb)/boot(i try 1mb to 16mb then the msg ---boot partition too big!!!!!!then i can't cont' can u help me???
thanksssss

Answer : You may just be running into the maximum number of primary partitions available on a disk. Since you already have the Windows partitions in place and it's a lot more work to blow them away and start over, here are two ways to get around this quite easily:

Try one of two things:

1) create the /boot filesystem *first*, making it around 20-40MB in size

2) make only one filesystem and make it the full capacity (minus what you'll want for the swap partition). So in this case with 8GB of a 13Gb allocated before starting the Linux install you will likely want a 4.5GB or so "/" filesystem and then create a 128-256MB swap partition. Then /boot will simply be a subdir off of the root filesystem which is fine and dandy (not mandatory that it be separate).

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 117785
Asker : caseyy
Subject : linux
Private : No

Question : the 1st time i install is ok
when i reinstall it with more hd space the problem come...after few step of installation program (redhat 6.1) when ask for partition for linux....
i ty to create / or /boot from 1mb to 16mb then 100 to 1000mb then up to 4000mb...
the same msg given 'boot partition too big'

thanks

Answer : I'm not sure if you are the same one who asked me about Linux and the "/boot" and "/" filesystems, but as I said you may have run out of partition entries (there is a maximum for primary partitions and it's quite low - like 3 or 4). If I recall you already had 3 partitions for Windows NT or Windows 95/98. And as I said in my last message you should stop trying to make a separate "/boot" and simply make one *extended* (when asked for type) partition for the "/" filesystem, which will then contain the /boot filsystem. /boot does not have to be a separate filesystem.

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 119153
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : SDRAM vs. RDRAM
Private : Yes

Question : Thanks, once again for your helpful answer. Now, this time I gave you a '5'. If I'd have given you a '5' the first time, you'd have no goal to obtain on this second try, now would you?? :). Anyway, thanks. I think I'm ready to take the plunge...

Answer : hehe - harsh critics - my advice is worth every cent you paid for it... ;-)
Rating : 5

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QAId : 161386
Asker : ryand
Subject : can't install Corel Linux OS
Private : No

Question : My system specs are below:

Compaq LTE Elite 4/75CX laptop
Toshiba (serial#: MK2104MAV)(cylinders: 524 heads: 128 sectors per
track: 63) 2.0 gig HD (1.16 free)
24 Mb of RAM
1.44 floppy
(Matshita KME CD-ROM05) Panasonic KXL-783A External SCSI PCMCIA CD-ROM
drive
Panasonic KXLC003 SCSI controller
PCMCIA 3COM Megahertz X-JACK 33.6 modem
Also, I don't have a soundcard in this machine and the video adapter is
a Compaq Notebook Display adapter (WD).

Keep in mind that I have absolutely NO partitions setup yet. Win98 is the only OS currently running on this machine. When I put the CD in theCD-ROM drive and the BOOT/INSTALL disk in the A: floppy drive, and then reboot the computer, it freezes during the installation process when it says "Installing Corel Linux...". It was working just fine when it said "Loading Corel Linux...", but as soon as "Installing Corel Linux..." comes up, it locks up. The CD does NOT spin the drive and there is NO activity from the floppy drive. I've tried installing Corel Linux 3 times already and have had the same result all 3 times. I've tried holding down SHIFT while it's loading, and have chosen the EMERGENCY SHELL option. But I don't know what to do from there. If you need any more information, please email me back and I'll tell you. Thanks for your help. Bye.

Answer : Linux is a lot less friendly to hardware than Windows - meaning it won't run on as many combinations of hardware as Windows will.

Some systems are *not* compatible with Linux - I had an AMD 300 system myself that would get halfway through a SuSE Linux install and somwhere in the middle just crater every time. And not at the same point either. Best bet to see if your machine is compatible with Corel's Linux by removing as many superfluous devices you can - external SCSI, any PCMCIA adapters, etc. then try an install with this "bare as you dare" config - if it still locks up you can do one of two things:

1) EBay that Corel CD and buy a different distro - or download one for free from ftp://ftp.linuxberg.com/pub/ISO - you can also buy those same free distros for a few bucks if you don't have the bandwidth and a burner to download it yourself from
http://cart.cheapbytes.com/cgi-bin/cart/scan/mp=category/se=101?qtRszfdS;;2

2) Build yourself a desktop (dsktops are better supported than notebooks) to put Linux on and try the Corel with that.

Good luck!
Paul Doherty

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QAId : 166214
Asker : rdias
Subject : Server choice
Private : No

Question : Hi ...
Need your help to choose Network OS's for my company !
From these servers we need :
- File and Printing services
- Proxy (and possibly a firewall)
- Mail

In the File and Printing Server I would like to push software to the clients ...

What is your advise ???

Thnxs !

Answer : You didn't mention the number of clients but I'd probably suggest NT since I don't know of any firewall solutions on Netware. Netware 5 and up can run Java apps but I doubt that's sufficient for a firewall - performance could be off a *tad*. :-)

With all the functions you've chosen to do here (and the fact you likely have the file and print *inside* the firewall :-) it stands to reason you're looking at at least 2 machines, more likely three.

One for file/print/authenticaion (PDC)

One for mail (Exchange/Lotus Notes)

One for Proxy or firewall

What you may end up doing is running file and print on the (faster and more stable) Netware 5, and run the proxy and email systems on NT. I don't know how you feel about mixing NOS's in an environment but it isn't a bad idea sometimes.

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : OK ...
No problem in mixing NOS's ...
It's like that that we have our network now !
I just wanted to know if you have any advise in the Exchange/Notes and Proxy and Firewall software ...
Also I'd like some links to study how to push software to clients in NW5
Thnxs

Answer : CheckPoint has a good reputation as a firewall provider. See info on their products at:

http://www.checkpoint.com/products/firewall-1/index.html

As far as the pushing software to clients goes with Netware it's quite easy - you'll use ZenWorks - it has a lot of the abilities of SMS (the MS solution to this problem), and then some.

http://www.novell.com/products/zenworks/

http://www.novell.com/advantage/zen/zen-qanda.html

Setup correctly this type of system can show users a special folder of application icons, based on group memberships and rights. You can calso have their desktop follow them so it doesn't matter where they login, they see the same thing.

Pretty cool - and while Windows 2000 will offer some of this it *is* MS's first shot a directory service (which is the backbone for things like this), while Novell has NDS for oh, the last 8 or 9 years... do you really want to beta test MS's directory service?

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5
Rating : 5

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QAId : 167266
Asker : davidm
Subject : Input devices
Private : Yes

Question : Hi,
I have an assignment (dip. in comp. studies) and I need some information of these two input devices:
-Palm readers (for identification)
-Bar code readers

I need enough information covering the basic principles of how these work, about 400 words on each. I have been looking for this on the net and it seems I cannot get any relevant info. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
David Micallef

Answer : I found you a site on barcodes (came up empty on sites explaining palm readers, but found one selling them):

Barcode readers - how they work:

http://www.taltech.com/Bar_Code/bckb/howabar.htm

The palm readers I'd expect work much like any other analog-to-digital device (voice recognition, flatbed scanners) - they have a stored digitized copy of what they expect to see (the person's hand scanned under secure procedures) and compare that to what they see now. If the whorls and lines on the hand match significantly the person is authenticated. Sorry I couldn't find you a website on the specifics.

I want to mention, however, that I am somewhat concerned by your asking for a specific-length dissertation on each subject. I hope this does not mean you intend to plagiarize the content of any of these websites. That is not the point of my helping you...

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Wow, that was quick!
Thanks so much. Very good site on barcodes.
Thanks again. I would also like to put your mind at rest about the 4oo word thing. That was because when I asked for the same thing without mentioning the number of words I usually get a couple of lines, with material directed at 10 year olds!
By what u sent me, it seems the trick has worked
Thanks again
David Micallef
Rating : 5

Answer : Great! I'm glad to hear the information will be of use to you!

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 171005
Asker : furman187
Subject : Learning web/networking
Private : No

Question : I have some computer experience, and am wanting to learn more about internet (website design and security), and also networking. I started with learning HTML and I am currently learning JAVA and Red Hat Linux. I am teaching myself using some books and the internet.

My goals are to become a security conscious webmaster and/or Sysadmin.

My questions are: what books or websites would you recommend? What other programming languages or operating systems will be important for me to learn?

Thanks, John

Answer : Well you'd be neglect if you don't cover Windows NT, since it's unlikely you will not see it in your chosen profession. As far as languages go Java is the only one you've listed - if that's the only one you're familiar with you may want to pick up some experience with C/C++ as C++ is similar to Java (classes, inheritance, etc). But if you delve into the Java thing you will be becoming more of a web developer than a webmaster. As I understand the term (which I think is a bit ridiculous of a term BTW - sounds like a term Apple would come up with *) a "webmaster" (should be "web administrator") is a person responsible for organizing the content and maintaining backups and security on web servers. This same person could be responsible for main file and print servers too if there are not too many.

So if you want to a web developer (or a web admin with a broad background - never a bad idea - gives you options) go with Java and a networking background. If you want one or the other drop either the networking background (if you go web developer) or the Java (if you go networking).

Good luck!

Paul Doherty

* Apple Corp actually tried to get people to pronounce the then-new acronym SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) as "SEXY" instead of the already common "SCUZZY". A bit of PC nostalgia for you... :-)
Rating : 4

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QAId : 176270
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : Windows NT and Linux interoperability
Private : No

Question : I am looking at a LAN design that will use Windows NT / Windows 2000 as the operating system for the server and most of the clients. One existing client OS, however is Linux. What is the best approach to achieve interoperability and communicate between this client and the Windows-oriented server?

Answer : With the Linux machines being used as clients there are two ways to go at it - you can make them speak the native SMB protocol of Windows with Samba (commonly included with all recent Linux distros), or you can install on the Linux machines a "Windows emulator" the best of which I've seen is VMWare, which really isn't a Windows emulator - it's an entire PC emulator. VMWare can be installed with *either* Linux OR Windows as the host OS (so maybe you can get them to run their BASE OS as Windows and run Linux inside VMWare?) and then when VMWare is launched you have a nice little PC, doing a RAM test and POST, asking you to press F2 to enter the BIOS setup (which you can do if you're so inclined) and with no OS installed. At that point you can do a clean Windows 95/98 install (or Win2K if you want with the latest version), or if you are hosting on a Windows machine you can do a fresh install of Linux right there in the window. No repartitioning is required - VMWare merely sets aside a large file (of the size you specify) that will represent the hard disk of the guested OS. Very sweet - I tested it a week or so ago with Linux as the host OS (Mandrake 7.0) and had a trial version of VMWare installed with Windows 95 OSR2 happily running my Lotus Notes client piece (which is not available in Linux yet). So I didn't have to reboot into my (real) Windows 98 partition to get my email if I didn't want to leave Linux yet. Pretty sweet. Maybe you should get your Linux users to switch to base Windows/VMWare'd Linux?

It's that or a buy a couple of Samba books and get them mapped to the shares and printers they need on the MS network (and that's assuming there are no *apps* that are Windows-based that they need).

VMWare main page:
http://www.vmware.com

A nice screenshot of VMWare running under Windows NT 4 Workstation host, hosting Linux *and* Windows 2000 virtual machines simultaneously! :
http://www.vmware.com/products/presentations/tour/img/tour_slide04_full.gif

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5
Rating : 5

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QAId : 193089
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : IP/TCP
Private : Yes

Question : im having trouble trying to find the correct difference between Transmission Control Protocol +Internet Protocol .
if IP is an eg of a conection-oriented protocol+it sets up connections between two host computers then what does TCP do

Answer : TCP and IP together make up the TCP/IP protocol suite. TCP is at a higher layer of the network stack, being at the Transport layer (alongside UDP) both of which are one level above IP, which sits at the Network layer. IP is strictly involved with routing of information across the network (HOW the packet should get there), while TCP is concerned with ensuring that the data arrives intact (THAT it gets there).

More info can be found in the following FAQ:

ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc1180.txt

Paul Doherty
Rating : 4

FUQuestion : i have a hard drive that was 2gb it was formatted at low level is there anyway to recover the drive +with what software
Declined (Reason) : This is not a follow-up to the previous question. If you want to ask another question then create a new one.

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QAId : 196030
Asker : codesigned
Subject : Redirection
Private : No

Question :
We are using Microsoft's Internet Information Server software to run our site. Currently we are migrating the site to another location and would like to redirect users of the old site to the new site. Is there a way of doing this globally using IIS without having to put Meta tags on all of the old pages?

Answer : Maybe I'm not catching the question, but if the web site (the web "root" directory) is moving to a new location it will also have a new IP address. So just change the DNS entry for the web URL people use to get to the "old" site and point that DNS name to the new IP address of the server it will reside on.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 3
Rating : 3

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QAId : 196818
Asker : robino150948
Subject : ServerX (linux)
Private : No

Question : Hi!
I use RedHat (5.2)

Ican't log (with xdm)

Before all was working correctly .....

When I log until root : no problem
but for all users I've got this message :
Linux 2.0.34 i686 [ELF]
Configured drivers
Mach64 : accelearted server for ati Mach64
Fatal server error :
xf86OpenConsole : Server must be running with
root permissions _X11TransSocketUnixConnect:can't connect errno111 giving up

xinit:connection refused
----------------------
Before I install php3.rpm, all was ok.
I have verified if all the programs (xinit,X,XF86_Mach64) had the
permissions (not setUID)

If you can help me because I use it to work and it's not good to work under root

Thanks
Robino

------------------
robino

Answer : It sounds like ownership on one of your X Server files has been changed. Check the following same-named files on your system (I'm using Mandrake 7.0 currently, which is a hopped-up version of RedHat).

cd /usr/X11R6/bin
[root@bohr bin]# ls -l X
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Feb 8 10:57 X -> Xwrapper*
[root@bohr bin]# ls -l Xwrapper
-rws--x--x 1 root root 6416 Jan 9 12:42 Xwrapper*?

[root@bohr xinit]# cd /usr/X11R6/bin
[root@bohr bin]# ls -l startx
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1428 Jan 9 12:40 startx*
[root@bohr bin]#

[root@bohr bin]# which xauth
/usr/X11R6/bin/xauth
[root@bohr bin]# ls -l xauth
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 32376 Jan 9 12:42 xauth*

Notice these are all owned by root - yours should be the same. Note the special permissions "s" on Xwrapper.

Paul Doherty

Answer : I realized that last statement wasn't of much help. Of course the "s" refers to setuid for super-user. With that bit set it enables non-root users to run this executable *as* root - withoit it you would get an error message - sounds very similar to what you are experiencing, no?

chmod u+s /usr/X11R6/bin/Xwrapper

will add the "s" bit to the permissions mask.

Paul Doherty

Question : Hi !
Thank you for your response, it helps me ...
but it doesn't really work !
I used the SetUid (Xwrapper & xdm).
If I don't use xdm all works with startx..
(For that it works with startx I had to remove XClients from /etc/X11/xinit !! and the keyboard doesn't work correctly but it's
not a big problem)

Before when I was looking at the xdm-errors
I had errors relative to Xwrapper (when I try
Xwrapper alone, now it works well).
but now the message is AUDIT: clients was refused by the server.

So... I ask me if it's not a problem with
xauth ??? (I don't understand very well how
it works!!!)

Resume :
startx works not too bad
xdm : root ok !
all other users :Xwrappers starts correctly
and after I have got the error "AUDIT"
and come back to xdm

Thanks

Robino

Answer : Well it looks like we got past part of the error anyway - and moved right along into another!

What did you do to start this cycle of events anyway? You mentioned an RPM you installed but I don't recognize what it is...

What you may want to do that may straighten this all out is to use the RPM manager (or do it from failsafe mode with the rpm executable) and uninstall X-Windows entirely and then add it back in.

Barring that - here is the settings on my 'xauth' executable - owned by root but no setuid set.

[root@elfstone /]# cd /usr/X11R6/bin
[root@elfstone bin]# ls -l xauth
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 32376 Jan 9 12:42 xauth*

(elfstone is a different Linux box than the last one I used but they both run Mandrake 7.0)

Paul Doherty

----------------------------------------------------------------------
QAId : 202828
Asker : whigga
Subject : How do you...
Private : No

Question : set up a web server? I'm interested in getting my own server set up, but have no idea where to even get started.

Answer : Well depending on your operating system (I'll assume Windows) you can get a web server set up and running pretty easily. If you are in Windows 98 put the CD in the drive and drill down into the CD and run X:\add-ons\pws\setup.exe where "X" is your CD drive letter.

That's got the web server installed - now just create a file named index.html and put it at the beginning of your web space (the directory on your hard disk identified as the "root" of your web server). This is the page that will load by default when someone types your address in a web browser so make a basic page that you will easily recognize (use FrontPage Express to make a basic page - also comes with Windows 98).

Now that you have a web server and a basic page have someone else try to load it - first you need to know your IP address - Start/Run/winipcfg and the IP address will be reported in a window. From the other machine on a web browser just type in your IP address - as in:

24.5.12.98

and hit Enter - they should see your basic web page if all goes well. From here you can add links to other pages within your web server (or to other sites), pictures, etc. The only major thing you're missing with a web server at home is you have no domain name registered to you - that is, no one can type "www.imsocool.com" and get to you machine because there is no matching entries in the DNS servers on the net to pair up "imsocool.com" with "24.5.12.98" so you are resigned, in the continued absence of a DNS entry, to having users and your own web pages refer to the web server machine with it's IP address and not it's friendly name. but for playing around and learning it makes no difference at all.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5

FUQuestion : How do you get a DNS to recognize the IP address? I am seriously interested in setting up my own server.

Answer : You don't get the DNS server to recognize the IP address. You have to purchase a static IP address from your ISP and then purchase a domain name (assuming your isn't taken) from a site like:

http://www.register.com/

Once you purchase the domain name then the domain name and IP address can be linked on the internet's DNS servers.

Paul Doherty

----------------------------------------------------------------------
QAId : 210203
Asker : genieee59593
Subject : server
Private : No

Question : How do u link the domain name and IP address on the DNS servers?

Answer : When you pay for the static IP address with your ISP ask them how much they charge (and the procedure) for getting your registered domain name associated with your IP address. Even if they don't directly handle it they can certainly point you to who does.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 2
Rating : 2

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QAId : 212272
Asker : clint1
Subject : slow clock
Private : Yes

Question : Paul,
My system resourses are only 37%free. Could this be why my clock loses time and my mouse is slow? If so, what can I do to figure out what is using up all of resourses and free it up? Please advise.

Answer : 37% is very bad. You didn't indicate whether this is Windows 95 or 98, or what your machine is like (avaiable RAM, etc). But the simple quick answer is you have a resource-stealer. A driver or app that is allocating memory for use, using it, and never giving it back up. More likely a driver than a program but to make sure it's a program watch how many apps you have loading in your systray (at the bottom-right of the taskbar - has the clock and volume control). Use the Start/Programs/Startup folder to control how many of these get run (there are other ways to run them but just police these for a start). Get rid of any you know you don't need - any you aren't sure of make another folder under Startup and move them there for safekeeping).

Most important thing for you to do is to get the latest video and audio drivers for your system (and modem if needed). Go to your manufacturer's web site - if you have an S3 or NVidia-based card (or any of Diamond's products) go to http://www.diamondmm.com - if you have any Creative Labs stuff go to http://www.creaf.com - in both instances find the support section and downloads, find the right ones for your cards and download and install them.

Paul Doherty

Answer : Oh you also asked what you can do to find the offender - load up your Resource Meter (Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Resource Meter - if not there add it from Add/Remove Programs control panel, Windows tab, Accessories, Details).

Once the meter is open you can get a running status on your resources (likely you are already using it as you knew you were at 37%). Now load and unload apps you use frequently, noting the resources before loading and after quitting. They should be the same (or darn near - some will load DLLs that stay resident in memory so the first load may show a bit lost but subsequent loadings of the same program should NOT decrease the available resources below this new lower level).

Watch for programs that eat some resources every time they load and quit, always leaving the system with less. More likely it's a driver issue as I mentioned above but in case you want to check it - there you go.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5

FUQuestion : Thanks Paul for the info. I have win98 a Dell XPS T500. 128.0 mb of ram.
I checked for the latest drives like you suggested and I have the current drives.
I shut down the computer and rebooted it a hour later. I checked the system resources and it now it says I have 63% free.
Its better than 37% and I can tell a difference. Should it be more than 63% free or is it ok at this level?
Do you think the problem corrected itself or will it be recurring.
Thanks so much for your help!

Answer : 63% isn't bad - depending on what is loaded - and since I don't know that I can't really comment except maybe to give you a comparison. My system has been running mostly all day and I have 5 IE browser windows open and Lotus Notes email client (a beast of an app) open as well (also my systray stuff and the resource meter are running). I have System at 59%, User at 68%, and GDI at 59%.

Unfortunately computer problems rarely go away by themselves. Did you get rid of some of the startup stuff I mentioned you should look at? Did you do anything to the system at all (reinstall the same version of some drivers, etc)?

If you haven't done anything I'd suggest you get in that Start/Programs/Startup folder and root out what you don't really need (my systray has only three icons and the clock - Windows Task Scheduler, special mouse drivers and the volume control).

If you really want to get serious about rooting out the garbage you can do a Start/Run, type in regedit.exe and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ and look into the "Run" and "RunServices" sections for suspicious programs being loaded at boot-time. Be careful in here - you may delete something and not know what it does. Note the path to the executable (if full path is used) and scope out what the item is before getting rid of it. But this is a prime location for cutting down on garbage you don't need. You can also check your win.ini for "load=" and "run=" lines - they should be blank like the ones I typed - if not then they are loading something and that something may not be something you want loaded. between these three areas you will have covered the vast majority of ways for resource-stealers to load.

Paul Doherty

----------------------------------------------------------------------
QAId : 231999
Asker : gary_clark
Subject : Setting up LPT1 port on a NT4 using Netware 5 network
Private : No

Question : I have a novell 5 network with printers attach via jetdirect print servers. I have software that runs on our NT 4.0 system that uses the lpt1 port to print. The workstation can print to the network printer fine but I can not capture the lpt1 port to the network printer. I use IP not IPX. In netware 4.1 I could use the net.exe command to capture the lpt1 port but not in the version Im on now. It looks for passwords that are not there or gives access denied statements when doing this.

Answer : You didn't mention the technique you are using to print without capturing the printer first, but since you also did not mention the client version you are using on the NT machine I will recommend that you download the latest client (4.7) for NT which should have a working GUI capture.

http://webapps.novell.com/cgi-bin/custom/corp/esd/vrtlbox.pl?NOVELL_PID=87000395.01d

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Thanks Paul,

for responding so quickly. I am sorry I thought I had included the client I was using which is the novell client for netware 5.

The message I left earlier is below
I have a novell 5 network with printers attach via jetdirect print servers. I have software that runs on our NT 4.0 system that uses the lpt1 port to print. The workstation can print to the network printer fine but I can not capture the lpt1 port to the network printer. I use IP not IPX. In netware 4.1 I could use the net.exe command to capture the lpt1 port but not in the version Im on now. It looks for passwords that are not there or gives access denied statements when doing this.

Answer : The "net.exe" command is a Windows command - the printer you are connecting to is a Netware printer and is not seen by the net.exe command. You more likely need to pursue the capture.exe command located in SYS:PUBLIC on your Netware server.

If you are using the 4.7 client it should work with pure IP have an option within the GUI to capture printers. Have you tried this or looked for this option within the client - I had not seen you mention trying anything but net.exe so I don't know if you have exhausted this avenue.

Paul Doherty

----------------------------------------------------------------------
QAId : 237323
Asker : hshearer
Subject : Trouble with BootMagic and LILO
Private : No

Question : I've got two hard drives on my computer. One holds nothing but Win 98 programs and the other has only OpenLinux 2.3. The problem is that I'm having trouble With BootMagic. When I try installing Boot after installing the rest of Linux I get an error message saying that "1.There is no visible FAT16 or 32 primary partitions that are below cylinder 1024 on the first hard disk or 2.Bootmagic is already installed on a hidden partition." During installation last time I checked the option to have LILO installed on my MBR since the systems are on seperate operating systems but during startup all I got was a screen full of "01"s. Windows doesn't recognize my second hard drive but partition utilities see it as hdd. What is the most secure way for me to be able to choose an operating system when starting up? Thanks for any help.

Answer : I'm not sure of the difference between "Boot Magic" and LILO and you seem to use them interchangably in your question. I have always used LILO on all distros so I suspect Boot Magic is some kind of Caldera special add-on. Here is what I found on your error:

Description:

When I try to install BootMagic I get the error no Fat16 or Fat32 partitions under 1024 cylinders available.

Solution:

BootMagic requires that there be a FAT16 or FAT32 partition that exists under 1024 cylinders. If one does not exist, BootMagic will not install. Try going into the computer's bios and set the harddrive to LBA mode and also make sure that a FAT16 or FAT32 partition exists on the harddrive.

http://support.calderasystems.com/caldera?solution&11-990629-0001&130-930651812&14-0&2715-0&15-0&2716-0&57-search&58-&25-7&3-FAT16%2520cylinder%25201024

If you do try the LBA setting for your hard disk(s) be sure and write down the settings before changing it - then try booting the machine normally without changing anything to ensure you can still access the disks properly under LBA. If so then go back into Linux, login as root and type "lilo" and hit enter to aplly the current /etc/lilo.conf settings and write to the MBR.

Paul Doherty

Rating : 5

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QAId : 259390
Asker : grog1191761
Subject : WINDOWS 98 MTU REGISTRY SETTING CHANGE
Private : No

Question : I AM WONDERING JUST HOW TO CHANGE MY MAXIMUM MTU VALUE MANUALLY IN MY WINDOWS 98 REGISTRY TO 576.I HAVE HAGGIES BOOST INSTALLED AND IT KEEPS RESETTING TO CUSTOM CONFIGURATION FROM MTU VALUE OF 576.IF I CHANGE MANUALLY IN THE REGISTRY WILL THIS SOLVE MY PROBLEM?

Answer : I am unfamiliar with "Hagiies Boost" but it sounds like one of those internet connection optimizing apps. I would remove it from your startup as the only thing those apps usually do is to change the registry values associated with the network connection, which only needs to be done *once*. After removing or uninstalling the Haggie's Boost app then you can open regedit and make your changes which should then remain constant.

Paul Doherty

Question : For the last year or two I've been running a little apartment network with just
two computers, one with Linux and the other Windows 98. They each had a 10 Mbps ethernet card. I would use a modem for internet connectivity and I had IP masquerading set up on the one with the Linux one with the modem.

Last month I started getting cable modem service. At first I had a little hub
that the cable modem plugged into and then each computer would get an IP address by DHCP. Only one thing bothered me. I used to be able to play mp3s stored on either computer using mp3 players on either computer on the network, but since having the cable modem installed the internal network traffic has been too slow from the Linux computer to the Windows computer to allow that. The music comes out all choppy. I was using Samba on the Linux machine to implement the file server. Oddly enough, I can play mp3s stored on the Windows computer using a player on the Linux one.

I thought that the problem was that since the cable modem gateway was on the same broadcast network as both computers in the apartment, the traffic would end up traveling through the cable modem as well as internally and that was the reason for the poor
network speeds.

In an attempt to remedy this situation, I put another network card in the Linux computer and connected the cable modem directly to the new card. I then reconnected the two computers as they were before (with IP masquerading), with no hub in the middle, just a single cable with two T connectors. The problem, my normal (mp3 playable) network speeds did not return.

Could it be that having two network cards is slowing the traffic down enough to cause this problem? Does anyone have any other ideas about what's going on or how to get my network speed up to par? The computer with the two network cards is a little old, a Pentium Pro 150 with 96 Megs of RAM. I'm wondering if tweaking the buffer settings in the smb.conf file will help, but I'm not sure how to go about optimizing them.

Any insight?

Thanks.

Tyson.

Answer : Having the cable modem on the network would not cause any slowdown on the LAN at all, *unless you were actively using the internet at the time*. That would be why even after isolating it you still get the same behavior. Being in a broadcast segment means really only one thing - all NICs see all packets. But having an extra recipient (who drops the packet since it's not for him) does not affect speed at all.

My best guess here is that:

1) The P150 is barely aqequate to play MP3s across the network to begin with

2) Something has become less than optimal in it's configuration that has pushed it over the brink into a lower-performing situation.

Defragging the Windows macxhines hard disk, and configuring WinAmp (or whatever player you use) to use as large of a buffer as possbile could help. You may also want to look for updated drivers for your NIC here:

http://winfiles.cnet.com/drivers/network.html

Paul Doherty

Rating : 4

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QAId : 274081
Asker : go_cowgirl
Subject : A class task
Private : No

Question : Hi,
Im having problems finding an explanation to this task
"Describe briefly how an application access files on a had disk using The Disk Operating System and ROM BIOS"

Answer : Well a brief description would be along ths lines of:

The operating system retrieves the file allocation table (FAT), a table of contents, essentially from the hard disk. Once this information has been retrieved a file can be chosen (to read or write). The FAT table at a high level contains the names ofall the directories and files on the disk (a directory really being just a special kind of file). At a low level the FAT contains the specific locations of all the clusters on the disk (clusters being the smallest addressable location to store data) that constitute a file. Once the application (either automatically by design, or by user choice in a dialog) knows what file it wants it generates an interrupt in the BIOS (sometimes this may not be true in envrionments that usurp the BIOS like Linux and Windows) passing it the name of the file to retrieve, at which point the hard disk controller is instructed to seek out and read the clusters for the file requested.
Rating : 4

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QAId : 277156
Asker : wmichael
Subject : Rat hat Linux 6
Private : Yes

Question : Hello,
I have installed the Rat Hat Linux 6 last week and today the first time can run the X window, but I find that there are Gnome, KDE, Window Maker + Gnome, Enlightenment+Gnome. I am confusing with them. Are they all different? Would you please point me direction to go with them.

It seems I do not have my network card correctly set. Should I adjust it in text mode with netconf or in X window?
Best regards,
Michael

Answer : It's 'RED' Hat BTW, not 'Rat' Hat... :-)

X Windows uses KDE, GNOME, WInowMaker and Enlightenment as window managers to handle the actual graphics involved in the placement and display of the items that make up your desktop. You should pick the one whose look and speed (and stability) you like the best. none of them change the abilities of the underlying OS so it really doesn't matter which you choose.

Yo edit your network card settings open a shell (terminal) prompt inside X-Windows and run 'linuxconf' to get into the graphical version of the linuxconf utility. Here you can set all the parameters of your network card. Despite claims to the contrary you will either need to reboot, or enter the appropriate /etc/rcx.d directory and manually run the SXXnetwork (where 'XX' is a number) item as follows (as root):

./SXXnetwork stop
./SXXnetwork start

Paul Doherty
Rating : 4

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QAId : 279172
Asker : eleanor_bordeaux
Subject : NWamin Tabs
Private : No

Question : One of my system admins doesn't have the proxy authentication, remote access 1 and remote access 2 tabs in her NWADMIN. She is running Client32 v.3.2. We have tried editing her HKEY_Current_USER...ENGLISHpewPrefs file and adding this tab through the see also tab in NWADMIN but no luck. Any suggestions?

Answer : I have not come across this problem before, but Novell has, and has submitted it to engineering as a bug. Here is some info on the error and some work-arounds:

http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/search.pl?database_name=kb&type=HTML&docid=%03%81%12F156237%3a952384375%3a%20%28%20nwadmin%20missing%20proxy%20remote%20tabs%20%29%20%20AND%20%28%20productClass%20%3d%20%28%22NetWare%22%20%22Novell%20Directory%20Services%22%29%20%29%20%20AND%20%28%20docGroup%20%3d%20%280%29%20%29%20%20%07%01%00&byte_count=7687

http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/search.pl?database_name=kb&type=HTML&docid=%03%81%12F130809%3a952384375%3a%20%28%20nwadmin%20missing%20proxy%20remote%20tabs%20%29%20%20AND%20%28%20productClass%20%3d%20%28%22NetWare%22%20%22Novell%20Directory%20Services%22%29%20%29%20%20AND%20%28%20docGroup%20%3d%20%280%29%20%29%20%20%07%01%00&byte_count=3891

Interstingly, this next one indicates that DELETING that registry key should fix you up... easy to try.

http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/search.pl?database_name=kb&type=HTML&docid=%03%81%12F140425%3a952384375%3a%20%28%20nwadmin%20missing%20proxy%20remote%20tabs%20%29%20%20AND%20%28%20productClass%20%3d%20%28%22NetWare%22%20%22Novell%20Directory%20Services%22%29%20%29%20%20AND%20%28%20docGroup%20%3d%20%280%29%20%29%20%20%07%01%00&byte_count=3663

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 285822
Asker : STEVEWIN
Subject : HARD DRIVE
Private : No

Question : I HAVE A LOW LEVEL FORMATTED HARD DRIVE IS IT POSSIBLE TO RESCUE IT AND RESET IT UP
+HOW

FUQuestion : ITS A 1.7GB HARD DRIVE IT HAD NO PARTITIONS ON IT I WANT RUN WINDOWS 95 ON IT AGAIN I WAS TRYING TO FORMAT IT BECAUSE IT WENT BONKERS I ACCIDENTLY LOW LEVEL FORMATTED IT AND NOW IT WONT SET UP FROM THE CD ROM AS IT DOESNT EXIST THERE IS NO INFO ON IT AT ALL I TRIED F/DISK ECT TO NO AVAIL

Answer : You have not indicated the type of disk but I am guessing you are using IDE. By "low level format" I am not sure you could have done that as it takes special utilties to low-level an IDE drive. More likely you simply formatted. But since you say fdisk can't see it you may indeed have low-leveled it (why is a question that comes to mind - you *never* low-level IDE drives).

Go to the manufacturers web site and get their low-level utility, make a boot floppy and put the utility on there, boot on the floppy and run it.

For example here is Maxtor's relevant web page:

http://www.maxtor.com/library/main.html

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QAId : 303357
Asker : cqnel
Subject : Netware Client 32 3.2
Private : No

Question : I have upgraded a few test workstations to 3.2 Client, can't get my DOS aps to run correctly, inside Win 98. I go back to Client 2.2 and all OK. Am finding the new client does not fully release files (multiuser) at the server, even when DOS session ends, and those things that do run are super slow. Have set all client advanced settings parameters to match the 2.2 settings. What might it be and/or how do I troubleshoot?

Need More Information : I need some more detail - give me an example of what the user tries to do and the unwanted (abnormal) behavior you are getting.

FUQuestion : Multiple open files are not released by the DOS ap. If one looks at server/monitor/connections/files it shows files open even after DOS session is closed. File locks only released when user logs out of network. Have now a few TIDs from Novell (10024875, 10017333, 10020788) all mentioning REVFHRFX.NLM that comes with SP7 as solving trouble. Patching to SP7 this weekend, will let you know how things change. Thanks for your help so far!

Because of that (apparently)

Answer : Good! I hope this SP fixes that for you...

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 304435
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : internet question
Private : No

Question : Could you tell me what a server is? I do alot of downloading with my 56k. What kind of connection to the internet should i chose if i want something faster but not rediculously expensive?

Thank you for your time

Answer : A server is just a computer (sometimes with esoteric hardware options or in form factors not found on desktops) that mission is to provide resources for other machines (awfully noble of them, isn't it?). Some servers provide secure file respositories on LANs; some provide printing services; some host applications; some serve web pages (quite similar to file servers really).

As far as bettering your connect speed your best bet beyond 56k modems is a Cable modem or ADSL modem. Check with your local cable TV company and your local phone provider and see if either (or if you're lucky) both are options. If so jump on whichever is cheapest - they're both excellent. If you can't get either the next best bet is ISDN. ISDN isn't as fast as either of the above (ISDN is 128k full duplex (meaning it can send and receive at 128k simulatenouesly)). Here's some example prices and speeds so you'll know generally what you're after:

Tech_________Speed__________Price

---------------------------------------------

ISDN_________128k___________55.00 + ISP fee

ADSL_______768k down/128k up__49.95 (includes ISP)

CABLE______500k-2500k down/128k up___39.95 (includes ISP)

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Thank you for your very informative answer. I aslo have 1 more question for you. I am about 14 and i am very interested in computers. Listening to you answer my question i can tell that you know computers. I was wondering, where is the best place i can learn about computers and the internet. I am at the stage when i want to know more than "What that button does."
Thanks for your time

Answer : The best thing you can do is to have a secondary machine for you to practice on - on this machine you can do what you like, not caring if you cause a problem (and in fact hoping you will so you have to fix it - it's how you learn).

Another place to get some info would be a book, like

"How Computers Work - Millenium Edition" by Ron White

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789721120/qid=952879034/sr=1-1/102-0177395-0948837

AND/OR

"Winn L. Rosch Hardware Bible"

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789717433/o/qid=952878989/sr=2-1/102-0177395-0948837

Either or both of these will do well at getting your knowledge of how computers work at a lower level. These are mostly hardware-oriented - once you get this information down you can work on your operating system and application knowledge.

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 324183
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : NT Partitioning
Private : No

Question : How can I partition NT on one partition?

Answer : That question is totally bereft of details but I'll assume you are referring to the inability of NT to create a partition greater than 4GB (?) during installation. If that is the case simply make the first partition 4GB during install, then reboot with a DOS-bootable floppy with a copy of Partition Magic (or a similar tool) and resize the partition to the full capacity of the disk.

For what it's worth I usually setup NT as follows:

C: - FAT - 25MB or so (makes your boot.ini and other startup files accessible since NTFS will not be readable without NT or special tools like NTFSDOS)

D: - NTFS - 1GB (install the actual NT OS here)

E: - NTFS - Rest of disk (this is where your data resides - separating the boot, OS, and data in this fashion makes for cleaner segmentation and backup/recovery is greatly aided. Also you can keep your swap and user shares on the E: partition so that their growing cannot influence the OS).

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5

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QAId : 325010
Asker : curtv
Subject : sever?
Private : No

Question : Hi. My friend and I have made a website, but now we are stuck. We made a lotto website, where the users must click a banner in order to confirm they get their numbers.

We are stuck with the database part of our site. Users must register in order to play lotto. After registered they must login and click a banner (up to 3 times per day) in order to get their numbers and a confirmation email.

Here is my question:
How do we set up a database, keep track of our registered users, and track how many times they have clicked in one day. After they click we also want to send them an email with their numbers.

Do you know how we could do all of this. Or of any programs that may help?

Thanks

Answer : Looks like you need some good CGI scripts or ASP scripts.

Check here

http://www.lqidskin.com/

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 360336
Asker : madcrutch
Subject : Netscape upgrade-Caldera 2.3
Private : No

Question : I downloaded the latest Netscape 4.72 and went through the install routine (ns-install). After I was finished I could see that some files were upgraded and had a new date but when I opened Netscape it still had 4.61 as the version. My question is why did it not overwrite the older files as it does in windows. I am sure that I can remove the old files and make a clean install but I did not want to go through finding my bookmarks, mail and nesgroup files to save. Can you help?

Answer : I just did the same procedure on my Mandrake 7.0 machine and my 'About' screen did not change from "4.7". What makes you suspect Netscape wasn't updated other than the screen not changing? Your concerns over a wipe and clean reinstall are largely unfounded as if you'll look in your home dir you will see that you have a hidden directory called ".netscape" that contains your newsgroup, bookmarks and all other Netscape files oyu need. So feel free to wipe and reinstall if you think your install isn't complete.

Paul Doherty
End :
Rating : 1

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QAId : 373707
Asker : krazyfll
Subject : no operating system
Private : Yes

Question : PacBell Legend 2440, running windows 95. Son-in-Law in his infinate wisdom, used the FDISK for some un-known reason, now there is no operating system, no media on c and several other problems. I can use the restore disk and Master CD to get started, but all those funny messages start popping up. Won't run Windows 95. If he used the FDISK to lose all the information, can I use it to get it back? I am using an IBM PS/1 with windows 95, anything I can copy to get him up and running? If there is no chance of "fixing" it, I do have a rather large magnet I can set on top of the PC over night and really fix it.

Answer : fdisk is a disk partitioning tool - if he used it on the disk (for instance to delete the partition(s)) then you are hosed for real. No chance of getting any data back this side of a data recovery service and from your tone I assume this machine has no critical data on it so this is not an option.

What you need to do now is to use fdisk again to create a partition that is the whole disk, reboot on a bootable floppy (make one FIRST before fdisk'ing with "format a: /s", also copy fdisk and format commands and your CD-ROM driver to it), and then "format c:" to start over again.

If you need more detail ask another question or search my answers (or check my FAQs) as I have detailed CD-ROM access from DOS several times.

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Well, tried your suggestion and being the good Packard Bell computer that this is, it would not do what I told it to. However, you made me think. I put my EZ Drive disk in and got almost everything going. Now, "not reading from drive a" and unable to determine CD Rom" I can boot with no problem if I leave the restore disk in, take it out and have to hit "abort or fail" to get in. Any more ideas. Windows 95 re-installed, but have a feeling won't have sound. Still think PacBell should make paper weights out of some of these things.
Rating : 5

Answer : If this thing works like I suspect it does you need to follow my first directions and nuke the site from orbit and *then* restore. Restoring is a "gentle" process in that most of the time they try not to disturb what's already there (including your messed-up audio drivers). You need to fdisk and format and *then* use the restore CD.

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Okay, Paul, we must be getting close. Everything but sound is working. As a matter of fact, I am talking on the PacBell instead of the IBM. Went into add new hardware, nothing. Now to do it manual, I guess. If I remember right, Soundblaster should be on the Windows 95 disk, somewhere. How do I even know if the sound card is working on this thing? Are we having fun yet?

Answer : Forget the drivers on the CD - they're out of date anyway by now. Go to http://www.creaf.com and snag the latest ones for your card. before installing go to your System control panel into the Device Manager tab and remove the sound card entry that's there (if it's there at all). Note whether it was marked as having a conflict or not.

A good way to test your sound is to merely click the volume control icon on the systray (lwer-right corner) and change the volume up or down slightly - it should 'ding' if it's working. You can also go to the Sounds control panel and test the sounds with the small play button.

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Just to let you know, I "dumped" everything and re-installed windows 95, still no sound. A friend of mine who worked on computers for a firm here in Indiana is going to stop by Sunday and see what the problem is. I am sure it is staring me right in the face, but can't see it. Thanks for all the help you gave me.
Always thought I was as dumb as a rock about the simple things, this proves it.
Have a nice day, Phil

Answer : I hope you get it worked out OK...

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 385021
Asker : mansari
Subject : RAS
Private : No

Question : I'm planning to use the NT RAS for allowing users to dial in to the local lan thru the RAS server. Do I need to have special modem to allow multiples users dial in . Any recommendation and how roughly this need to be setup
Thanks

Answer : You could hook up two lines and two modems (one on COM1 and the other on COM2). Standard modems are fine - there's nothing special about RAS's needs there.

A few good sites for base install and other info:

http://www.lebarge.com/clark/WinNT4/RAS/installing.htm

http://www.syncon.net/techsupport/knowledge/nt.htm

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 389982
Asker : pdoerler@...
Subject : os-loader gone
Private : Yes

Question : hi dear experts,
I had win98 on fat16 on c and winnt4srv on ntfs on d running. I somehow fucked up win98 (mbr was gone) and reinstalled win98. win98 worked again, but I can't get nt now. the os-loader doesn't show up anymore. the file ntldr (that's the osloader, right?) is on c root.
in fdisk (started under win98) the ntfs-partitions are not visible. i've tried bootmagic from powerquest, there the two ntfs-partiotions are there (d and e) but I cannot boot from these.
I've tried the repair function from the winntsrv-bootdisk, skipping the massstorage detection but setup halts as it can't find no disk. i am reluctant to reconfigure the disks as I've had major troubles with this shit some time ago.
please, please, how do get my nt back. win98 doesn't matter as I need to install it from scratch anyway.
thanx so much for your help, phil

Answer : This is taken from MS Support database:

Insert the Windows NT Setup Boot Disk into drive A and restart your computer.

Paul's note - if you don't have this set of disks you can make them by going to the i386 subdir on the install CD and running:

WINNT /OX

Insert Setup Disk 2 when prompted.

When the Setup options appear, press R for Repair.

Four options appear and all four are selected by default.

Clear the selection of all options except Inspect Boot Sector by pressing ENTER to select or clear the options. Be sure that Inspect Boot Sector is the only option that has an X in front of it.

Select Continue and press ENTER.

If you want Setup to detect mass storage devices in your computer again, press ENTER. If you want to skip the mass storage device detection, press S.

Insert Setup Disk 3 when prompted.

If you have the Emergency Repair Disk, press ENTER, insert the disk, and press ENTER again. If you do not have the Emergency Repair Disk, press ESC to allow Setup to locate Windows NT 3.5x or 4.0 and the Repair information.

Remove the disk from drive A and press ENTER to restart your computer.

The Windows NT Flex Boot Loader appears and the dual boot ability is restored.

Try this and let me know if it helps...

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 393493
Asker : KISSES
Subject : Unix on Sun Solaris
Private : No

Question : Hi I am trying to break into this side of Unix. I was a Unix HP admin. when I was in Mass. Everybody here (NC)it seems like runs Sun Solaris Why? I do not know the first thing about Sun Solaris and where do I go to get cerfited in this area, and to learn more ETC, Books, programs in school, . What? Please tell me the differents in the two programs so I will aleast know what is going on ..THANKS.

Answer : I've never worked with HP's Unix so I can't really compare them, but generally speaking most Unix OSs are alike in most ways. There are two branches that Unix took - one is the AT&T Sys V branch and the other is the Berkley standard. These two differ mostly in their startup scripts and switches on command-line apps (same app on diff OSs use different switches - annoying), and a few different utilities. Mostly you'll find that the combination of the hardware and the OS produce some differences - for instance the handling of disks is quite different from Unix to Unix, with Sun not being the best. The best at disk handling is probably IBM's AIX. Another area every Unix differs (commercial ones anyway) is in their admin tools. NCR has sysadm, Sun has admintool, and AIX has smit. they all vary but generally I'd put them in this order (best to worst):

smit
admintool
sysadm

Hope that's what you are after... here's Sun's training site with info on Solaris:

http://suned.sun.com/

Paul Doherty
Rating : 3

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QAId : 399380
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : icons in windows 98
Private : No

Question : I am working with windows 98 and would like to change the folder icon? Some icons when you look at the properties offers a choice of changing the icon; however, the folder icons created by "new folder" option does not. How can I change that folder to something else?

Answer : Here you go... if I can find some nice drive and dir (folder) icons I may play with this myself. Could improve Windows' looks.

How to change the icon from the default:
http://www.io.com/~kmellis/folder-icons.html

Replacement icons:
http://digitalwave.softseek.com/Desktop_Enhancements/Icons/System_and_Shell/index.shtml

Tools for editing and installing icons:
http://jetlink.softseek.com/Desktop_Enhancements/Icons/Utilities_and_Tools/Review_4153_index.shtml

A better way than the first URL above to install new icons, especially if you do it a lot:
http://jetlink.softseek.com/Desktop_Enhancements/Icons/Utilities_and_Tools/Review_20515_index.shtml

Paul Doherty

Answer : Don't forget to rate the answers you receive on AskMe.com
Rating : 2

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QAId : 435735
Asker : artjgarcia
Subject : Computer system information
Private : No

Question : How can I find out how much memory my computer has? Also,the speed 486 etc..of the computer. Is there a dianostic test that I can run and get a printout of the results?

Answer : The memory total can be gotten from a couple of places. Th easiest is to right-click the My Computer icon on your desktop and select Properties. On the screen that comes up you will see a small summary and at the bottom will be "XX MB RAM" with "XX" being the amount. You can also open a DOS prompt and type "mem /c /p" to see the total of RAM. On my system this one is wrong and indicates 64MB when I have 128MB. Another way to see the RAM and the CPU type as well is to run:

Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information

Paul Doherty

Rating : 3

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QAId : 445670
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : operating systems
Private : Yes

Question : Hi friend

- I am taking a survey on what the top ten major responsibilities of an operating system should be. Your input on this subject would be very helpful in my survey, as you seem to be an expert on this subject. Please respond if you would like to participate.

-thanks very much for your time

Answer : Hmmm. Well off the top of my head:

1) Disk management - being able to handle disks for both reading and storing information.

2) File System - A method of organizing information on media should be provided.

3) Provide a stable environment for running applications.

4) Efficiency - the OS should not eat all the systems resources just to boot.

5) Stability - the OS must be able to shield the inner workings of itself and hardware from troublesome or poorly-written apps.

6) Environment/Presentation - an OS should provide an environment for the user - this could be a GUI like Windows or a command-line interface for someone else. A personal choice.

7) Tools for manipulating the OS's preferences - a method should be provided whereby a user can tailor (and save for next use) the OS to their needs and tastes.

8) Tools for maniupulating the file system and programs - a language/method should be provided so that users can access and manipulate the files that make up the file system.

Well I only have 8 - but a few can be broken down into multiple items...

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 456130
Asker : ejwilliamson11@...
Subject : Linux server set up
Private : No

Question : Can you tell me the steps I need to go thru to configure my Linux server to connect to an outside ISP and collect our internet email.

Thanks so much.

Elizabeth

Answer : You didn't say what version of Linux but since RedHat is the most likely here is a website that walks you through setting up for PPP dial-in to an ISP in Linux:

http://www.redhat.com/support/docs/tips/PPP-Client-Tips/PPP-Client-Tips.html

Paul Doherty

Answer : Don't forget to rate the answers you receive on AskMe.com
Rating : 5

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QAId : 465048
Asker : mister_sandman
Subject : Set up after Formatted the hard drive
Private : Yes

Question : Hello,
I have a problem finding the ide-cd.sys
I went to http://members.home.net/iqueue/ide-cd.sys but no page found.
I can access the A: drive but not the CD-ROM drive.
Please send me more information.
The hard drive is clean(not much in it).
I need to re-install window98 and others.
Please help.
This computer is a Pentium II 333MHz 4 GB.
Thank you,
Paul S.
mister_sandman@altavista.com

Answer : The filename is

idecd.sys

not ide-cd.sys - maybe I wrote it wrong...

So to get it put this into your browser:

http://members.home.net/iqueue/idecd.sys

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 500429
Asker : geaney@...
Subject : Performace of different operating systems
Private : No

Question : can u tell me some of the differences between 95, 98, nt and 2000 operating
systems.....
from a benchmarks(i.e performance) point of view.
cheers,
Donal

Answer : Well without citing specific tests the following can be said to be true of each OS:

Win95/98 - fast for gaming, support the latest hardware gadgets (USB, DVD, controllers of all sorts, best video cards, drivers). Will benchmark faster at 3D gaming chores than Win NT/2000.

Win NT/2000 - Better security features for sensitive data - enforced user logins (in MS-ese "logons" - I hate that) - faster networking code - more stable (less crashes). Ranges from horrible for gaming/latest software&hardware (NT4) to reasonably not great (2000 - really "NT5").

So in summary NT/2000 will be faster at networking and some file system-related tasks (disk access) but gaming and 3D will be won by WIn95/98. Maximum PC has a Win 2000 on trial this month that may interest you as it performs some benchmarks on Win2000 and 98 to compare their speeds. The mag is on newstands now.

http://www.maximumpc.com

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 500463
Asker : geaney@...
Subject : Performace of different operating systems
Private : No

Question : can u tell me some of the differences between 95, 98, nt and 2000 operating
systems.....
from a benchmarks(i.e performance) point of view.
cheers,
Donal

Answer : Don't forget to rate the answers you receive on AskMe.com
Rating : 4

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QAId : 503238
Asker : sabbakwa
Subject : Linux Question
Private : Yes

Question : I am an Asst. Unix Admin in need of assistance. My boss has just asked me to set up dial up access on our Linux system, and I got nervous and said I could do it. Can I get some help on steps and procedures necessary to get this done? Thanks.

Need More Information : Dial-up access? Do you mean so the Linux machine can dial out or so others can dial-in?

FUQuestion : Thanks for your quick response. I mean so that the Linux machine can dial out to one of our remote servers. Thanks.

Nathan

FUQuestion : We are looking to install this on a machine that already has UNIX. Is that possible? If not, we don't mind getting a server that will be the dedicated dial up access server.

Nathan

Answer : Here is an entire section of RedHat's website devoted to setting up PPP - this is a highly documented process for Linux distros as it is a pain...

http://www.redhat.com/support/docs/ppp.html

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5

FUQuestion : Paul, thanks for your previous help. Just wanted to know if you can help me with one other thing. I have a server that is running Windows NT Server. On that machine, my company also had a CD-Writer, and the program DirectCD installed. We moved the CD-Writer from one machine to the another (a workstation) and then now our server doesn't work. It freezes up. And sometimes then says, "Cannot locate RPC" What is that? Anyway, it stopped saying that. But now, it is like frozen. What steps can I take in resolving this matter? Thanks.

Nathan

Answer : RPC is Remote Procedure Call unless I miss my guess. I would suggest that you need to boot in Safe mode (spacebar at boot time) and once in run the Add/Remove Programs from the control panel to remove the software (DirectCD, Easy CD creator, whatever else came with the CDR). Then also go to the Devices control panel and see if you find an entry for the CDR and remove it.

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Paul, thanks for your advice. I did all of the above except go to Device in the control panel. The reason for that is because the server is still freezing. It is taking about 10 minutes to access each window; from Start, then to Control Panel, then to Devices. It is just 1 ten minute wait after another. I click on one window, and have to wait for it to come up, and so on. And yet, all the users are accessing their files fine on the server. I need an explanation. What is going on here?

Answer : I really can't say - it seems like a driver is still loaded (hence the need to remove it from Devices) and it is timing out trying to contact the drive that is no longer there. you could reinstall the disk to speed uninstalling. Moral of this story is don;t take hardware out of an NT box without removing the drivers first.

Paul Doherty

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QAId : 509545
Asker : Gary_Kelley
Subject : animated GIF's
Private : No

Question : for some reason all of a sudden animated GIF's do not work on my Microsoft IE browser anymore, they work fine in Netscape, any ideas?

Answer : Try going to the View/Internet Options menu, open the Advanced tab and scroll down to Multimedia and check the "Show Animations" box.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5

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QAId : 512027
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : NT Server 2000
Private : No

Question : 1) Will NT Server 2000 have the speed and capacity to compete against Mainframes, Unix on mini-computers?

2) NT 2000 has millions of lines of code and has become very complex. Who will be able to manage these NT networks?

Thanks!
Josh

Answer : 1) Yes and no... a mainframe will always have advantages over any small system like an NT Server. There's just too big a difference in cost to compare them. Against UNIX Win2000 will fare better although some will argue the point, obviously.

2) Well managmement doesn't increase as the code does (at leats not linearly). Windows 2000 does have more to manage since it's addition of a directory service (finally) and the DS's reliance on DNS will require more from those who administer it.

Paul Doherty

Rating : 5

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QAId : 539284
Asker : kakazi
Subject : command to find the physical memory on a Sun server
Private : No

Question : what is the command to find the physical memory on a Sun server in GB?

Answer : The first few lines of a 'prtconf' command will show you the physical memory size.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5

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QAId : 578924
Asker : ndphan
Subject : Linus
Private : No

Question : How difficult to install Linux to a Windows 98 existing system? Should I delete Windows before installing Linus? What freeware already available for Linux that you recommended for downloading - I have no experience with Linux at all. Would you think that if Internet is the main task I should install Linux to my computer?

Thanks.

Answer : If you haven't dealt with Linux your first concern should be:

1) Get it installed without nuking your disk and Windows installs (unless you don't care about it)

2) Pick your favorite Linux distro from the myriad of choices.

Almost all the distros have a few things in common:

-They all have nearly the same software

-They all have more than enough to keep you busy for a while, including all you need to access the internet.

Go to http://www.cheapbytes.com and order yourself a distro - I'd suggest RedHat, Mandrake or SuSE. They have one-disk versions of all of these for 2 or 3 dollars each.

You can install alongside Windows if you have free space on the disk (unpartitioned space) or if you first use Partition Magic (or similar) to shrink your Windows partition down enough so you can make some free space (at least 800-1000MB).

Paul Doherty

FUQuestion : Thank you, Paul. I've read a review highly rating Linux OS released by Corel recently. Any personal opinions?

Answer : For people new to Linux the Corel is nice, but the graphical install that set off the Corel distro when it first came out (it's getting a little old compare to the 3-4 month upgrades on other distros) has been equaled by most of the other distros.

Other than that it's about the same as any other. Try a few and see which you like best.

Paul Doherty
End :

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QAId : 623726
Asker : hershey93401
Subject : Win98 Boot Fails on Dual w/NT4
Private : No

Question : Perhaps this is an easy one, but it's had me stumped for over a day now.

Dual boot P3 PC with Win98SE and NT4 Wkstn SP6. NT4 boots fine, but when trying to boot to Win98, the HD LED just comes on steady, I get a blinking cursor on a blank, black screen, and I'm hung there.

I've tried redoing the MBR with the Win98 boot disk by doing FDISK /MBR. I've tried redoing the Win98 system files with the SYS command with no success. This of course required that I then do an NT repair from the Workstation boot disks to get NT bootable again.

It's a 13GB ATA-66 disk, partioned 2GB FAT-16 and 10.6GB FAT-32. NT has the Winternals FAT-32 driver installed to see the larger partion. This setup is working on serverl identical PCs. I've run into this twice before, but in both those cases turning off the CD-ROM boot capability fixed the problem. The dual boot was setup conventionally by doing Win98 first and then NT. The BOOT.INI file looks normal, but here it is just in case I'm having a senior moment.

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version 4.00"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version 4.00 [VGA mode]" /basevideo /sos
C:\="MS Windows 98 SE"

My thanks in advance.

Phil Hershey
CNA, CNE4, MCP

Need More Information : So even after an fdisk /mbr Win98 still doesn't boot? What is the situation after you fdisk /mbr'd and repair the NT MBR?

Paul Doherty

Answer : P.S. they're all easy ones when it's someone else doing the answering... ;-)

FUQuestion : After the Win98SE "fdisk /mbr" = no boot of anything. Just sits on the black screen with the blinking cursor.

After then doing the NT Workstation Repair process, I again get the NT boot menu, NT boots fine, but any attempt to boot to Win98 sits on the blank screen with the HD LED on steady.

Aargh.

I think I'm going to have to redo the PC, and when I do I'll setup the FAT16 partition to be slightly smaller than the max, just in case something in the NT install has horsed around with that partition and made it unbootable for Win98. I knew not to go for NT's 4GB FAT16 max, but I don't normally have problems with a 2046MB partition.

I'll try decreasing the size of the partition using Partition Commander and see if that has any effect, although it will mess things up vis-a-vis NT. Either way it's a do-over.

If you're interested I'll let you know.

Thanks again.

Answer : Ok good luck...

(no question asked but reply needed since it was submitted as a question)

Paul Doherty

Answer : Don't forget to rate the answers you receive on AskMe.com
Rating : 4

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QAId : 636294
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : System Resources
Private : No

Question : I hope you can tell me how to fix this problem.I'm lost.I keep getting errors saying "system resources are low"."Not enough memory to run this progrom." What do I do about this? Thank You !

Answer : Well there is memory (RAM) and there's resources. They are different animals.

System resources are a few limited-size stacks of memory that Windows uses to do things like draw the widgets (controls for dialogs like the minimize/maximize/close buttons, icons, etc) on your screen. If you exhaust those resources beyond a reasonable point it doesn't matter if you have 20 gigs of RAM - you're done. So the things you need to do are:

1) Install (from Control Panel/Add Remove Programs/Windows Setup tab/System Tools/Details/System Resource Meter) or run if already installed, the System Resource Meter. If installed it is at:

Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Resource Meter

This tool will tell you, percentage-wise, how much is left in each of the stacks Windows uses. If these numbers are much below 65% after a boot (with nothing having been loaded by you) you will want to start pruning the extra "features" you have loading from the Startup menu and other areas.

For detailed instructions on removing items from your config see an answer I gave a couple of months ago:

http://www.askme.com/ViewAnswer.asp?vid=454214

Paul Doherty

Rating : 4.3
Rating : 4.3
Rating : 4.3

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QAId : 660845
Asker : Donna904
Subject : Apple and PC
Private : No

Question : Hi Paul, Our school is running NT4, the Elementary school is getting up this summer and the Principal wants Apple Server. The Admin Office is NT4. I wish to create a WAN eventually. I'm the Tech Coordinator without any letters after my name. I run the system now but am concerned about going Apple and trying to integrate. How much of a problem, and will the district be able to find someone in the future when I leave to easily run both platforms. Funding is low, $20. part time with no outlook for any more in the near future.I'm fact finding for arguments (persuasions)
Thanks, Donna

Answer : There needs to be good reason to diversify your servers. What specific benefits does the principal think he/she will gain from having a Mac on the back end? You shouldn't be the one having to justify - they are the ones adding complexity so there should be some compelling reason or you shouldn't do it.

The good news for you is that other than administering the unique aspects of an Apple and it's apps the network part will be easy. TCP/IP that Mac abd you're done just like with a Windows box.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5

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QAId : 672264
Asker : brian.sh28868
Subject : Operating Systems
Private : No

Question : Please explain in the most simplistic words what a operating system is and what does. I'm trying to write a three page essay on operating systems.

Answer : OK, in simple terms an operating system is the software that provides insulation from the hardware you are working on, for both you and the programs you run. It provides a user interface (usually text or GUI), file storage and retrieval functions (handles disks), and handles memory and storage allocation for programs.

That's it, in a nutshell.

Paul Doherty
Rating : 5
Rating : 5

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QAId : 676817
Asker : Anonymous
Subject : running win2k on netware5 server
Private : No

Question : I'm having some performance issues
when transferring files from an as400 box via win2k desktop to a novell drive. for example copying a 40 record file from as400