[Sussex] Re: Gentoo problems.

[Thomas Adam]

 --- "John D." <big-john at dsl.pipex.com> wrote: 

> As "a child of the Thatcher years", it's more to do with that I can see
> the MS 
> point of view, in respect of their business case/justification.

Thatcher. Hmm, let us not go there.
 
> At the same time, given the advances that have been made by the Linux
> world, I 
> don't always follow why those whose business relies heavily on IT
> haven't 
> bothered to look into open source alternatives. MS product's do rather

It's not that they don't bother -- it's more that businesses are more
comfortable with reliability and support. If a business *pays* for its
product then they have a legal standpoint for suing them if it goes wrong.
Open Source doesn't give them that edge.

Of course, there is always the flip side in that companies are afraid of
change.

> seem 
> like an expensive luxury, but I don't have a full understanding of this,
> more 
> of a "peripheral view"

Peripheral or otherwise, things are changing very quickly.

> After reading Geoff's post, I've put some thought to this point, and
> have to 
> correct myself, inthat "the reformed user" point of view, was where I
> was 
> when I first looked into linux/MS alternatives, I feel that I want more.
> Not 
> huge amounts more, "bite sized chunks" really (British Rail - I'll get
> there 
> eventually as well). 

You'll get there because you are *willing* to. That, is something you
should be very proud of.

> Apart from mandrake, I haven't got anything to go back too (yet) but, a
> good 
> while ago, Steve Dobson came over and showed me how to install debian on

Debian is very powerful. I have been using it for a number of years now. I
certainly have not looked back.

> my 
> system in addition to mandrake. He showed me the "error of my ways" :P 
> insofar as I'd really opted for the wrong version i.e. I got a "stable"
> dvd, 
> I should have really gone for something more "up to date" (Hindsight?
> hum, 
> yes. Always helpful). 

No, you're learning, as we all are.

> A couple of weeks later, I started to appreciate it, but then had a look
> at 
> knoppix - now that's some "piece of kit"! I was so impressed with how
> clever 
> their hardware detection was, that I installed that over the top of the 
> "proper" debian.

Yes, Knoppix (which is based on debian) has what I would consider the best
HW detection mechanism of any distro going.

> Hampshire eh! Portsmouth 1 Liverpool 0 come to mind after this last
> weekend. 
> But as I'm ex Royal Navy, you are definitely forgiven :P

Football? I do not like sports.
 
> Seriously though, linux documentation is a bit of a "soap box" subject
> for me. 
> When you consider the incredible amount of effort that linux developers
> of 
> all flavours put in to producing truely amazing software, it constantly 
> suprises me when I see the fragmentary nature of documentation. I
> suppose 
> it's easy to stand on the outside and moan (not my intention).

I disagree there. The key is knowing where to look for the *correct*
documentation.

> > Syslog is a standard thing. Did you want me to explain it in more
> detail
> > for you?
> 
> Thanks for the offer.  I was quite suprised not to be able to locate a 
> "syslog", it was my impression that it was one of those things that all 
> distro's, however basic "just had". If it's there (it must be!), I'll
> find it 
> eventually.

Ok, /dev/console is a device to which all running programs are attached to
when they are ran. Consequently, any messages that are sent out from the
program (usually via stderr (standard error)) are sent via this
/dev/console, to which syslogd listens, and is able to pick up on. These
errors are logged and stored in /var/log/messages. You can see this for
yourself. If you run X, type in:

xconsole &

keep the window open, and then do:

logger "hello"

and you'll see it appear. You can also do:

echo hello > /dev/console

just for kicks. Look into the xconsole window. What do you see?

> > There is -- "bootlogd". If my memory serves me (and it has been a
> while
> > since I last used/installed gentoo), bootlogd is in the "baselayout"
> > package.
> >
> > The difference between bootlogd and syslog is that the former mearly
> logs
> > init stuff to /var/log/boot, whereas the former will log all
> kernel/system
> > messages to /var/log/messages (hint: see "man logger").
> 
> Hum, curious. I still haven't managed to find /var/log/boot - is this 
> something that would be in my /boot partition ? (sorry if that sound's
> like 

/boot has nothing to do with bootlogd. The former, is a usually a small
partition of 10-15MB which holds nothing but the kernel image and a few
lilo/grub (whichever you use) configuration files (the main one being in
/etc/).

bootlogd is started at init and its script is /etc/init.d/bootlogd. I
would check that this is linked correctly to your default run-level.

> I'm "clutching at straws"). man logger? I haven't managed to decypher
> man man 
> yet (not for the lack of trying, it seems that the "penny hasn't
> dropped").

"man" is *hugely* extraordinary. If you would rather just save the output
from man, and read it as plain text, here's a tip for you:

man <name> | col -b > ~/manpage.txt

(obviously you would replace "<name>" with the name of the manpage you
were wanting to read. The result of that is stored in ~/manpage.txt which
you can then print off or read).

> >I'm off to University now. Sigh -- more lectures to attend ;)
> 
> Oh, the luxury of full time education. At least you will have good
> "earning 
> potential" when you finish. Whereas, in my case, the national lottery
> looms 
> quite large in the current pension plan  :)

Hmm, but surely being ex-navy you have an ok pension? I do very much enjoy
the course I am on (BSC (Hons) Software Engineering).

> Again, thanks for the continued assistance (which applies to all on the
> list 
> really, quite a lot of people have helped get me this far - It's
> greatfully 
> appreciated).

No problem, John. Anytime.

-- Thomas Adam

=====
"The Linux Weekend Mechanic" -- http://linuxgazette.net
"TAG Editor"                 -- http://linuxgazette.net

"<shrug> We'll just save up your sins, Thomas, and punish 
you for all of them at once when you get better. The 
experience will probably kill you. :)"

 -- Benjamin A. Okopnik (Linux Gazette Technical Editor)


	
	
		
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