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Dear Lina
Archives
May 08, 2000--
Lina shows a scripting sysadmin how to wrap a script to allow it to run setuid. She also discusses Netscape's occasional bus errors, what causes
them, and how to avoid them.
May 1, 2000--
Lina uses the awk and file commands to create a wrapper script to verify file types. She also gives introductory security advice for a Linux user who just got hooked up with a cable modem.
April 24, 2000--
Lina shows a user how to permanently set the permissions on a device node in the /dev filesystem hierarchy. She also gets scp working so a user can
perform remote system administration for his father.
April 17, 2000--
Lina helps a user configure the colors for color ls. She also illustrates how to change the default hostname on a Linux system.
April 10, 2000--
This week, a user in Como asks about the IPv6 protocol option in the kernel's configuration list. Lina explains what it's all about, and whether or not it
is needed.
April 3, 2000--
Lina helps a systems administrator at an ISP set up password expiration for user accounts. She provides a reference for using the chage utility to manage password expiration on systems using the shadow password suite. She also discusses the best methods to install new applications.
March 27, 2000--
Lina helps an incoming sysadmin learn bash to advance his skills. She also provides some key advice about shutting off insecure console access to the root account.
March 20, 2000--
Lina shows Power-User in Polacca how to duplicate the functionality of Windows' startup folder on Linux. She demonstrates three different ways to do it.
March 13, 2000--
Lina helps a traveling laptop user stay connected to the Internet. She also discusses switching a Linux machine from Red Hat to the Debian distribution
without installing from scratch.
March 06, 2000--
Lina explores a misbehaving floppy disk that doesn't want to mount correctly. She also suggests where to start in tuning samba for optimal file transfer performance.
February 28, 2000--
Lina provides some key advice to "usr/local in Utah" with a recommendation for ssh. Lina also offers some clues about the cause of a faulty network
connection.
February 21, 2000--
This week, Lina helps the sysadmin of a competitive firm with xautolock,
a solution for securing staff desktops and running a screensaver program.
February 14, 2000--
Lina helps a user find real time from a network time server. Also, Lina's
sweet tooth helps an X user understand cookies and security.
February 07, 2000--
A Windows-to-Linux convert finds a core file that won't go away. Also,
Lina helps a webmaster perform a search-and-replace task with a short
script and one command, saving hours of manual work.
January 31, 2000--
Lina shares a filtering script to help system administrators scan the most
important syslog messages. Also, she explains how cryptography and
authorized signatures can make email more secure.
January 24, 2000--
"Advancing in Athens" writes in with a question about managing an upgrade
while preserving critical configuration data. Also, "Empty-Handed in
Edinburgh" asks for an explanation of the lost & found directories on
a Linux system.
January 17, 2000--
Lina's advice column this week points a user on the right track to masquerading setup, by explaining two common types of masquerading. Also, she proposes a file backup strategy for a heterogeneous workstation environment.
January 10, 2000--
This week, Lina delves into her inventory of web
browser recommendations. She also explores the issue of Linux
installations via CDROM booting and how your PC doesn't initially
distinguish a floppy disk from a bootable CDROM.
January 3, 2000--
This week, Lina looks at /etc/shadow and the shadow password system. To save
a frantic administrator's hair, she recommends tha autopasswd tool as an easy
and reliable way of assigning default passwords.
December 27, 1999--
This week, Lina plans "moving day" to help a system administrator grow his
Linux system with an additional hard drive. She helps him format the new
drive, create partitions, and migrate the /usr partition to the new drive.
December 20,
1999--This week, Lina writes a page about getting those
printers on the network in a jiffy. She also helps a system administrator
choose a disk partitioning scheme that can be used on different types of
systems.
December 14, 1999--This week Lina walks a user through the path from startup to shell-prompt; then explains how to give an inexperienced yet trusted user access to certain root priviledges, without giving them enough rope to hang themselves and you too.
December 6, 1999--This week Lina demonstrates how to save important files and directories from even the sometimes-slippery hands of the root user. She then gives her readers the tools to make their multitasking, CPU-intensive processes play nicely together.
November 29, 1999--This week Lina delves into the mysteries of the /proc directory--a place few users venture. She opens up the major files in /proc and demonstrates many slick tricks for controlling the system--and the kernel itself--with simple yet largely unknown commands.
November 22, 1999--
This week Lina explains how to get voice recognition working as a general
user interface, then shows a font-deprived Linux crusader how to set their
browser up to display all the best fonts
November 15, 1999-- On her way to Comdex, Lina stops to answer a reader's question about log files filling up their disk, a condition that can result in data loss and other problems; she provides a quick emergency fix, and then a long-term solution.
November 8, 1999--This week Lina helps a reader that pinged her for advice on configuring those ever important login prompts, and then boldly leads a reader through the man pages.
November 1, 1999--Lina responds to a reader's question about a Linux box that always picks the most inopportune moment to crash. Having saved the day, Lina uses her keen knowledge of hardware to help a reader installing Linux "rediscover" his mysterious Ethernet card.
October 18, 1999--This week Lina helps a reader connect two laptops in the most unlikely of places. An ethernet to the heart, of sorts. Mission accomplished, Lina brings a laptop up to speed through some handy booting tricks.
October 11, 1999--This week Lina comes to the rescue of an IP masquerading server that was dropping connections at random intervals. That accomplished, she moves on to solve a contradictory message from --surprise --a Windows formatted floppy.
September 20, 1999--This week Lina helps show you how to let an untrusted user shut down your system in a more-or-less secure way, and then helps get the cron daemon off a reader's shoulder.
September 13, 1999--This week Dear Lina solves a problem that was preventing a Perl script from executing, and saves a friendship between a Linux user and a FreeBSD user in the bargain. On a roll, she goes on to help a Mandrake user understand why his PPP connections are timing out.
September 6, 1999 -- Lina helps a reader that pinged her for advice on pinging, and then explains system diagnostics for migrating to Linux from Windows.
August 30, 1999 -- Lina helps a Linux convert dual boot back into Windows (she'll explain), and then guides a reader through X in a successful attempt to configure keycodes.
August 23, 1999 -- This week Lina tells a harassed email user how to filter unwanted mail, and then explains to a reader how to control animated GIFs in Netscape -- all while defending our yo-yo'ing version of Tux.
August 16, 1999--
Lina tells a harried sysadmin how to solve WAN timeout issues that have the boss on her case, and she helps a Web wonk win an argument--and improve Web server performance--by explaining a swap partition trick.
August 9, 1999--
Lina syncs up the system clock for Out of
Time in Seattle, and finds a backdoor into the root password
for Hacked in Hackensack.
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LinuxWorld Press
Check out the latest Linuxcare press releases straight from the frontlines of LinuxWorld. (16 Aug)
eTest from Linuxcare Labs
eTest assesses your computer system components for compatibility with Linux. (15 Aug)
T3 Linux Drivers
Open-source project site for the Sun T3 StorEdge(tm) high-availability device drivers. (15 Aug)
Giving Linux Enterprise Strength
Learn what the upcoming release of Linux kernel 2.4 will offer the enterprise in this new, richly researched white paper. (15 Aug)
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