Lockergnome's Compendium of Linux Knowledge Focusing on the core functionality built into every Linux distribution, these tomes contain a wealth of information on everything from the kernel, to core services, to networking and printing issues. Find your way around the command line functionality, so that your Linux install works the way you want it to. You won't be an expert overnight, but it will certainly lead you in the right direction. Dowload your Linux tips today.

The Download edition of Mandrake is a three-disc set. It offers two installation CDs and an international disc. It should be suitable for most home users who already have some level of comfort with Linux. There is, of course, no paper documentation.

The Standard Edition adds documentation and a quick install guide. It also includes an electronic reference manual and server guide. Further, Mandrake provides 30 days of support with the Standard Edition. Overall, it's very reasonably priced, as well, with a suggested retail of $30, US. Though I've not seen it, I've hear rumor that this version of Mandrake can be purchased a bit more inexpensively at Wal-Mart.

Mandrake 9.0 PowerPack is where the real differences in editions starts to show. This edition adds two commercial apps CDs, a Supplementary (contributed) Apps CD, install source, and an Install Guide/User Guide. The paper documentation is very thorough and probably well worth the price difference alone if you're new to Mandrake. The ProPack also includes the electronic reference manual and server guide. Mandrake doubles the support option on the ProPack, offering 60 days support. The ProPack lists at $69 US.

Finally, at the top of the line, is the Mandrake 9.0 ProSuite. This is clearly the enterprise-oriented version, and it includes all the whistles and bells you'd expect to find in a commercial Linux distribution. In addition to the tools I've already mentioned, the ProSuite adds the IBM DB2 relational database application, a two-disc Mandrake Server, a Workstation DVD install, and a commercial apps booklet. Support is extended to 90 days for the ProSuite, as well. The commercial apps include:

• Aladdin Stuffit
• BeeWeeb
• Code Forge
• CodeWeavers CrossoverPlugin
• Hancom Office
• Internet Exchange Messaging Server 6.0
• Intel Compilers for Linux
• Kaspersky Anti Virus
• Opera 6.0.2
• Communigate Pro Messaging
• Storix Backup Administrator
• VariCAD

Tomorrow, we'll look into some of the small pitfalls in Mandrake and arrive at a newbie-focused recommendation.

Have a great Monday.

                 
Tony Steidler-Dennison       

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Keyboard Shortcuts

New Linux users are often just plain intimidated by the command line. Even old DOS users quickly find out that the command line in Linux is much richer, much more powerful and, to some, that much more intimidating. There's little you can't do with the command line in Linux. As you get more comfortable with this powerful tool, you'll find yourself in the console more and more often. It becomes a choice at some point, rather than a necessity.

The Linux shells, bash in particular, utilize a variety of keyboard shortcuts that make using the command line much much easier. Like any set of tools, the real value arises when you've mastered a handful of shortcuts that are relevant to your everyday use. No one can remember them all from day one, but making an attempt to put them to use as you need them will certainly help make your console life much more efficient.

Here are some of the more interesting keyboard shortcuts for the bash shell:

• ArrowUp: scrolls to the previous command.
• ArrowDown: scroll to the next command.
• clear: clear all output from the console window
• Ctrl+c: kills the current process
• Ctrl+d: log out of the current terminal
• Ctrl+d: send the current process to the background.
• fg: return the backgrounded process to the foreground.
• Ctrl+Alt+Del: reboot the system
• Ctrl+Alt+Backspace: restart X Window
• Shift+PageUp: scroll up in the console
• Shift+PageDown: scroll down in the console

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Get your favorite Linux flavor on CD: Pick your favorite Linux flavor and get it on CD for as low as $1.95. Find Linux gear, books, and software for Linux at Linux Central . Check out the selection today!

This week we're looking at printing in Linux, including sharing a printer on a network and using the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS). Before we dive into these topics, we'll spend a few days with the necessary background of printer setup and control.

The Line Printer Daemon (lpd) is a program that normally starts at boot. Like the other daemons in Linux, it established the printer settings and listens for requests to use the printer both from your local machine and from other machines on the network. In a Red Hat-style system, lpd can be started, restarted or stopped manually with the command:

    service lpd (start|restart|stop)

(where the pipe symbol represents "or").

lpd needs first to know about all the printers on the system. It grabs this information from the /etc/printcap file. Once this configuration data is read in, lpd listens for requests to print files the files in the queue, move files to the spool, remove print jobs from the queue, or to display the queue's status.

queues and spooling are important concepts in printing. A printer (especially a networked printer) may receive several requests to print simultaneously. Obviously, it can only handle one print job at a time. These jobs are written to the spool and are generally processed on a "first in, first out" basis. Collectively, these jobs comprise the queue. There are, in fact, ways to override the order of the queue, but we won't cover them in this series. lpd also spawns a child process for each printing request, keeping track of when these jobs are started and completed by way of a lock file. This file is written when the job is started and destroyed when the job is completed. The presence of a lock file indicates that a print job is pending.

So, in essence, lpd is the first step in the printing process. It makes the system ready to print and serves as the traffic cop for the printer.

It's also pretty easy to check the status of the print queue in Linux. Tomorrow, we'll look at the tool that makes it possible.

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JBidWatcher 0.9pre5

http://www.jbidwatcher.com/

"JBidwatcher is a powerful eBay-user tool implemented in Java. Its features include tracking of auctions, bidding, sniping (automated bidding in the last moments of an auction), and a unique multisniping feature that allows you to snipe on a group of auctions, but stop the sniping as soon as you win one. It also includes remote Web-based management, XML-formatted save files, drag and drop support, some support for auction sellers, and dozens of other useful auction features."

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Mandrake Compression
Scribbled by Keith Pickett

"My job requires me to use several *nix platforms (like Solaris, HP-UX, Tru64, AIX, and LINUX). We began supporting LINUX on our product only recently (Red Hat 7.x). I personally use Mandrake 9.0 to serve my X session (recently upgraded from 8.2). I'm a big fan of it, by the way. Your review of 8.2 steered me toward Mandrake). My only real beef with Mandrake is that, by default, Mandrake doesn't install the "compress/uncompress" utilities. And, I can't find it as part of the available packages to install. Now, before you try to sell me on gzip, bzip, and zip (and any other compressor), let me say I understand and agree with you. They are all better and more efficient than the regular compress utility. My problem is, that working in a mixed *nix environment, compress is the most commonly used compressor and I use it quite frequently when I'm transferring files back and forth across our network. It is embedded in all of my 100+ scripts laying around my personal bin/ directory. And, sometimes, we provide a .Z file to a customers. We cannot and do not assume they have gzip or some other compressor installed (unless it is a LINUX platform). Can you tell me why there is no default install for compress on Mandrake (or any other distro)? I'm not sure about Red Hat and the other distros. And, also, trying to find it on the net is like pulling teeth. I was able to find ncompress in a src.rpm format. When I ran rpm -i on the file, I got the command line back with no verbage. And I still don't know where the files were installed. But, thats another story altogether. You can consider me a LINUX newbie when it comes to things like installing packages and such. If there is something I have obviously missed, I would appreciate some help. Thank you for publishing the Penguin Shell. I get lots of useful information from it. Keep up the great work.

"Oh, by the way, I'm glad you mentioned the part of the Mandrake install for creating the floppy. I had the same problem and had assumed my drive was bad since it was a hand-me-down."

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O'Reilly Linux Devcenter

http://linux.oreillynet.com/linux/

O'Reilly has long been the publisher of the most necessary Linux books. My most-used Linux books, Running Linux and Linux in a Nutshell are both published by O'Reilly. The O'Reilly Linux Devcenter continues the useful offerings. Current articles on the front page of the site include "Top Five Open Source Packages for Administrators", "Real Hacking Rules!" and "Abuse Attack." These articles are written in a concise style that's easy to follow and easier still to put to use in your daily Linux world. This is, really, what every publisher's online presence should be - a useful extension of the paper product.

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