storage.sgml100644 5347 141 15150 7212725570 13143 0ustar sgjoenvalidated
Storage Application Note <author>Stein Gjoen, <tt/sgjoen@nyx.net/ <date>v0.02, 17 November 2000 <abstract> <nidx>storage</nidx> This Application Note gives an overview of how a Linux based system can serve in various storage applications and where to get more information </abstract> <!-- Table of contents --> <toc> <!-- Begin the document --> <sect>Introduction <p> <nidx>storage!introduction</nidx> Storage is becoming cheaper with time while storage requirements are ever increasing. With the increased amounts of data as well as access speed the demands for reliability is also coming into focus. With the Linux operating system all these requirements and more too are met, making high performance solution cost efficient. The latest version number of this document can be gleaned from my plan entry if you <!-- do "finger sgjoen@nox.nyx.net" --> <url url="http://www.cs.indiana.edu/finger/nox.nyx.net/sgjoen" name="finger"> my Nyx account. The latest version of this Application Note will be available on my web space on Nyx in a number of formats: <itemize> <item> <url url="http://www.nyx.net/˜sgjoen/storage.html" name="HTML"> <item> <url url="http://www.nyx.net/˜sgjoen/storage.txt" name="plain ASCII text"> <item> <url url="http://www.nyx.net/˜sgjoen/storage.sgml" name="SGML source"> </itemize> <sect1>Copyright <p> Copyright (c) 2000 by Stein Gjoen <P> Please freely copy and distribute (sell or give away) this document in any format. It's requested that corrections and/or comments be forwarded to the document maintainer. You may create a derivative work and distribute it provided that you: <itemize> <item> Send your derivative work (in the most suitable format such as sgml) to the LDP (Linux Documentation Project) or the like for posting on the Internet. If not the LDP, then let the LDP know where it is available. <item> License the derivative work with this same license or use GPL. Include a copyright notice and at least a pointer to the license used. <item> Give due credit to previous authors and major contributors. </itemize> <P> If you're considering making a derived work other than a translation, it's requested that you discuss your plans with the current maintainer. <sect1>Disclaimer <p> Use the information in this document at your own risk. I disavow any potential liability for the contents of this document. Use of the concepts, examples, and/or other content of this document is entirely at your own risk. All copyrights are owned by their owners, unless specifically noted otherwise. Use of a term in this document should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark. Naming of particular products or brands should not be seen as endorsements. You are strongly recommended to take a backup of your system before major installation and backups at regular intervals. <!-- <sect1>Credits <p> In this version I have the pleasure of acknowledging <tscreen><verb> </verb></tscreen> --> Any comments or suggestions can be mailed to my mail address on Nyx: <htmlurl url="mailto:sgjoen@mail.nyx.net/" name="sgjoen@mail.nyx.net"> <p> <!-- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% --> <sect>Hardware <p> <nidx>storage!hardware</nidx> Linux supports today most current storage related hardware that can be connected to the ATA or SCSI bus such as hard disks CD-ROMs and CD writers, DVD ROM and tape storage. Please refer to the hardware guide and Linux distribution vendor references for details. There is also a <url url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/Hardware-HOWTO/" name="Hardware RAID"> with extensive lists of hardware supported by Linux. There are also some HOWTOs for specific hardware such as for <url url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/Jaz-Drive-HOWTO.html" name="Jaz drives">, <url url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/DPT-Hardware-RAID.html" name="DPT SCSI RAID controllers">, <url url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/Large-Disk-HOWTO.html" name="Large disk drives">. There is also information on interfacing devices to the <url url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/SCSI-Programming-HOWTO.html" name="SCSI bus">. <p> Naturally many manufacturers of controllers, such as IDE, SCSI, RAID etc, also support Linux <p> For convenience it is possible to buy fully integrated Linux based turn key systems from a number of vendors. <sect>Software <p> <nidx>storage!software</nidx> In addition to Linux based device drivers Linux also supports extended functionality such as <url url="http://ostenfeld.dk/˜jakob/Software-RAID.HOWTO/" name="Software RAID"> for extended performance and reliability and <url url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/LVM-HOWTO.html" name="Logical Volume Management"> for ease of scaling storage systems <p> Disk configuration optimising is detailled in the <url url="http://www.nyx.net/˜sgjoen/disk.html" name="Multi Disk HOWTO"> <p> Often high availability is an important issue and again Linux supports this extensively, refer to the <url url="http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/ALPHA/linux-ha/High-Availability-HOWTO.html" name="High Availability HOWTO"> for more information. <sect>Integration <p> <nidx>storage!integration</nidx> Linux can integrate well with a number of other system, not just by networking but also in storage. For instance Linux is capable of reading and writing a number of file systems as used by other operating systems. This is outlined in the <url url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/Filesystem-HOWTO/" name="File System HOWTO"> which includes a connectivity map. <p> Also Linux can coexist with other operating systems on the same hard disk making multi boot possible. More information is found in the <url url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/Linux+DOS+Win95+OS2.html" name="Linux+DOS+Win95+OS2 HOWTO"> and the <url url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/Linux+FreeBSD.html" name="Linux+FreeBSD.html"> to mention but a few. <sect>Further Information <p> <nidx>storage!information</nidx> More information of guides and supporting documents can be obtained free and on line from the <url url="http://www.LinuxDoc.org" name="Linux Documentation Project">. <sect>Summary <p> <nidx>storage!summary</nidx> Large scale Linux based storage systems are already in widespread use in the industry, showing Linux is a working solution for storage and reliability scaling from personal use to global internet based providers such as <url url="http://www.Google.com" name="Google"> and <url url="http://www.deja.com" name="Deja">. </article> ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������template.sgml���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������100644 � 5347 � 141 � 140360 7472263053 13335� 0����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ustar �sgjoen��������������������������validated��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������<!doctype linuxdoc system> <!-- The line above starts a comments section A changelog is useful if you don't use cvs etc. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Changelog: 010200: Created this Template for big HOWTOs 070500: Continued writing, no release yet. 280500: Released. Added examples for diagrams 050600: Clarified intent, added acknowledgements and note on conventions, moved samples to the end, added table sample, added small section on style 190600: Updated and corrected copyright section 240700: Added Troubleshooting section, cleaned up Getting Help and Bits and Pieces, fixed typo 161000: Added sample scripts to generate outputs from SGML-file and removed typos 291000: Updated sample scripts to generate outputs from SGML-file and removed old copyright 311000: Fixed a typo 200502: New copyright The line below ends the comments section. --> <article> <title>HOWTO-template for big HOWTOs <!-- insert your title here --> <author>Stein Gjoen, <tt/sgjoen@nyx.net/ <!-- insert your name here --> <date>v0.09, 20 May 2002 <!-- always have a version number and a date --> <abstract> <!-- the abstract: a short and precise description --> <nidx>(your index root)</nidx> <!-- add indexing keywords as you go along --> <!-- nidx means the indexed word is not in output of main text, only in the index --> This is a fully working template for big HOWTOs. The source contains fully described slots to make a convenient framework for you to fill in for making your own HOWTO, suggesting some names, conventions and contents for the chapters. </abstract> <!-- Table of contents --> <toc> <!-- Begin the document --> <sect>Introduction <p> <!-- always use a p tag (paragraph) immediately after a sect tag --> <nidx>(your index root)!introduction</nidx> <!-- here introduction is a sub entry of template, exclamationmark is separator --> <em>My comments to the reader is in this style (emphasized)</em>. Example lines are in plain roman style. <em>Note that extra comments and advice is found in comments within the SGML source.</em> <!-- such as this comment --> For various reasons this brand new release is codenamed the <bf/release/ release. New code names will appear as per industry standard guidelines to emphasize the state-of-the-art-ness of this document. <p> This document was written when I read a feedback asking for a template to fill in to make new HOWTOs. This template is made by extracting the skeletal structure of the Multi Disk HOWTO which is a rather large HOWTO. <em>This Template is a suggestion and a starting point, a check list and examples for authors; it is not a requirement to be followed slavishly. Over time HOWTOs might also outgrow any template since in the end the goal is to inform readers efficiently.</em> Stating the background is a simple way to getting started writing the intro. First of all we need a bit of legalese. Recent development shows it is quite important. <sect1>Copyright <p> <em>Copyright is a source of much and continuous debate on the LDP mailing list. For more in depth information please consult the Manifesto at the </em> <url url="http://www.LinuxDoc.org/" name="LinuxDoc"> site. <em> The purpose of having a license is to allow appropriate distribution. You can use any license that meets the Manifesto. What follows is a boilerplate licence. </em> This document is Copyright 2000 by John Doe (change to your name). Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license can be found in Appendix A. <em>Replace with your name, or supply a new license, when you use this template for a new HOWTO.</em> <!-- Old style copyright removed --> <!-- Copyright (c) 2000 by John Doe (change to your name) <P> Please freely copy and distribute (sell or give away) this document in any format. It's requested that corrections and/or comments be forwarded to the document maintainer. You may create a derivative work and distribute it provided that you: <itemize> <item> Send your derivative work (in the most suitable format such as sgml) to the LDP (Linux Documentation Project) or the like for posting on the Internet. If not the LDP, then let the LDP know where it is available. <item> License the derivative work with this same license or use GPL. Include a copyright notice and at least a pointer to the license used. <item> Give due credit to previous authors and major contributors. </itemize> <P> If you're considering making a derived work other than a translation, it's requested that you discuss your plans with the current maintainer. --> <sect1>Disclaimer <p> Use the information in this document at your own risk. I disavow any potential liability for the contents of this document. Use of the concepts, examples, and/or other content of this document is entirely at your own risk. All copyrights are owned by their owners, unless specifically noted otherwise. Use of a term in this document should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark. Naming of particular products or brands should not be seen as endorsements. You are strongly recommended to take a backup of your system before major installation and backups at regular intervals. <sect1>News <p> <nidx>(your index root)!news on</nidx> <em>This is where you make a summary of what is new. When a HOWTO exceeds 20 pages it takes more than a casual read to find the updates. This is where you help your readers with that, alerting them to specific and important news.</em> This is the second release featuring more samples and an improved structure. <!-- This is the first release. No news yet. --> <!-- Note that you might wish to keep old news commented out for reference and perhaps state news as latest and next to latest update. --> <em>Tell people where the document home page is so the very newest release could be found in case of problems with the main <url url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/" name="Linux Documentation Project"> homepage. </em> The latest version number of this document can be gleaned from my plan entry if you <!-- do "finger sgjoen@nox.nyx.net" --> <url url="http://www.cs.indiana.edu/finger/nox.nyx.net/sgjoen" name="finger"> my Nyx account. <em>If you have the capacity it would be nice to make the HOWTO available in a number of formats.</em> Also, the latest version of the Template will be available on my web space on Nyx in a number of formats: <itemize> <item> <url url="http://www.nyx.net/˜sgjoen/template.html" name="HTML">. <item> <url url="http://www.nyx.net/˜sgjoen/template.txt" name="plain ASCII text">. <!-- consider PostScript and perhaps also PDF formates <item> <url url="http://www.nyx.net/˜sgjoen/disk-US.ps.gz" name="compressed postscript US letter format">. <item> <url url="http://www.nyx.net/˜sgjoen/disk-A4.ps.gz" name="compressed postscript European A4 format">. --> <item> <url url="http://www.nyx.net/˜sgjoen/template.sgml" name="SGML source">. </itemize> <em>Note that paper sizes vary in the world, A4 and US letter differ significantly.</em> <sect1>Credits <p> <em>It is always nice to acknowledge people who help you with inputs, it is also regarded by many as important in the Linux world new economy</em> In this version I have the pleasure of acknowledging <tscreen><verb> corff (at) ZEDAT.FU-Berlin.DE dwood (at) plugged.net.au lcl (at) spiretech.com kgh12351 (at) nifty.ne.jp dave (at) lafn.org name (at) site.org </verb></tscreen> <em>Scramble the addresses so email harvesters cannot get addresses from your HOWTO and then spam people. That has happened in the past.</em> <sect1>Translations <p> Not everyone speaks English, pointers to translations are nice. Also your translators tend to give very important inputs. <itemize> <item><url url="http://linuxdoc.org/" name="German Translation"> by <tt/someone (at) somewhere.de/ <item><url url="http://www.swe-doc.linux.nu" name="Swedish Translation "> by <tt/someone (at) somewhere.se/ <item><url url="http://linuxdoc.org/" name="French Translation"> by <tt/someone (at) somewhere.fr/ <item><url url="http://linuxdoc.org/" name="Chinese Translation"> by <tt/someone (at) somewhere.cn/ <item><url url="http://linuxdoc.org/" name="Italian Translation"> by <tt/someone (at) somewhere.it/ </itemize> Also Somecompany is acknowledged for sending me documentation on their gizmos as well as permission to quote from the material. These quotes have been approved before appearing here and will be clearly labelled. Any comments or suggestions can be mailed to my mail address on Nyx: <htmlurl url="mailto:sgjoen@nyx.net/" name="sgjoen@nyx.net">. <p> <!-- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% --> <sect>Structure <p> <em>A quick overview on how all parts fit together in the structure. Here I use an example from my Multi Disk HOWTO.</em> As this type of document is supposed to be as much for learning as a technical reference document I have rearranged the structure to this end. For the designer of a system it is more useful to have the information presented in terms of the goals of this exercise than from the point of view of the logical layer structure of the devices themselves. Nevertheless this document would not be complete without such a layer structure the computer field is so full of, so I will include it here as an introduction to how it works. <sect1>Logical structure <p> <nidx>(your index root)!structure, I/O subsystem</nidx> This is based on how each layer access each other, traditionally with the application on top and the physical layer on the bottom. It is quite useful to show the interrelationship between each of the layers used in controlling drives. <tscreen><verb> ___________________________________________________________ |__ File structure ( /usr /tmp etc) __| |__ File system (ext2fs, vfat etc) __| |__ Volume management (AFS) __| |__ RAID, concatenation (md) __| |__ Device driver (SCSI, IDE etc) __| |__ Controller (chip, card) __| |__ Connection (cable, network) __| |__ Drive (magnetic, optical etc) __| ----------------------------------------------------------- </verb></tscreen> In the above diagram both volume management and RAID and concatenation are optional layers. The 3 lower layers are in hardware. All parts are discussed at length later on in this document. <sect1>Document structure <p> Most users start out with a given set of hardware and some plans on what they wish to achieve and how big the system should be. This is the point of view I will adopt in this document in presenting the material, starting out with hardware, continuing with design constraints before detailing the design strategy that I have found to work well. I have used this both for my own personal computer at home, a multi purpose server at work and found it worked quite well. In addition my Japanese co-worker in this project have applied the same strategy on a server in an academic setting with similar success. Finally at the end I have detailed some configuration tables for use in your own design. If you have any comments regarding this or notes from your own design work I would like to hear from you so this document can be upgraded. <sect1>Reading plan <p> <em>As you go beyond 50 pages or so there will be a lot of text that experts and even the experienced do not need to read. Keeping in mind that we wish to care for all kinds of people in the Linux world we might have to make a reading plan. Again example follows from my HOWTO.</em> Although not the biggest HOWTO it is nevertheless rather big already and I have been requested to make a reading plan to make it possible to cut down on the volume <descrip> <tag/Expert/ (aka the elite). If you are familiar with Linux as well as disk drive technologies you will find most of what you need in the appendices. Additionally you are recommended to read the FAQ and the <ref id="bits-n-pieces" name="Bits'n'pieces"> chapter. <tag/Experienced/ (aka Competent). If you are familiar with computers in general you can go straight to the chapters on <ref id="technologies" name="technologies"> and continue from there on. <tag/Newbie/ (mostly harmless). You just have to read the whole thing. Sorry. In addition you are also recommended to read all the other disk related HOWTOs. </descrip> <sect>Technologies <label id="technologies"> <p> <nidx>(your index root)!technologies</nidx> <em>Introduction of technology for the newbie with a few references to detailled works. Remember that not everyone has Internet access so you have to explain in sufficient details so even the newbie can get by.</em> <sect>Implementation <p> <nidx>(your index root)!implementation</nidx> <em>Now your readers should have a sufficient knowledge of what this is about and now we come to the hands on of implementing your clever scheme.</em> <sect>Maintenance <p> <nidx>(your index root)!maintenance</nidx> <em>Few systems and designs are maintenance free, here you explain how to keep the system running.</em> <sect>Advanced Issues <p> <nidx>(your index root)!advanced topics</nidx> <em>You can get most things up and running in a quick and dirty fashion, useful for testing and getting used to how things work. For more serious use you would need to be a little more advanced. This is the place to explain it all, if applicable.</em> <sect>Troubleshooting <label id="troubleshooting"> <p> <nidx>(your index root)!troubleshooting</nidx> <em>Many problems can be solved by a simple structured approach, analysing the symptoms, finding the cause and determining the solution. The following is an excerpts from the Multi Disk HOWTO.</em> <sect1>During Installation <sect2>Locating Disks <p> <descrip> <tag/Symptoms/Cannot find disk <tag/Problem/How to find what drive letter corresponds to what disk/partition <tag/Solution/Remember Linux does not use drive letters but device names. More information can be found in section "Drive names". </descrip> <p> <descrip> <tag/Symptoms/Cannot partition disk <tag/Problem/Most likely wrong input to the command line for <tt/fdisk/ or similar tool. <tag/Solution/Remember to use <tt>/dev/hda</tt> rather than just <tt>hda</tt>. Also do not use numbers behind <tt>hda</tt>, those indicate partitions. </descrip> <sect2>Formatting <p> <descrip> <tag/Symptoms/Cannot format disk. <tag/Problem/Strictly speaking you format partitions not disks. <tag/Solution/Make sure you add the partition number after the device name of the disk, for instance <tt>/dev/hda1</tt> to the command line. </descrip> <sect>Further Information <p> <nidx>(your index root)!information resources</nidx> <em>A HOWTO cannot describe everything, some times the user has to venture out on the net to get more information or just updates. Here is the place to tell where and how. Again examples from my HOWTO, replace as needed.</em> There is wealth of information one should go through when setting up a major system, for instance for a news or general Internet service provider. The FAQs in the following groups are useful: <sect1>News groups <p> <nidx>(your index root)!information resources!news groups</nidx> Some of the most interesting news groups are: <itemize> <item><url url="news:comp.arch.storage" name="Storage">. <item><url url="news:comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage" name="PC storage">. <item><url url="news:alt.filesystems.afs" name="AFS">. <item><url url="news:comp.periphs.scsi" name="SCSI">. <item><url url="news:comp.os.linux.setup" name="Linux setup">. </itemize> Most newsgroups have their own FAQ that are designed to answer most of your questions, as the name Frequently Asked Questions indicate. Fresh versions should be posted regularly to the relevant newsgroups. If you cannot find it in your news spool you could go directly to the <url url="ftp://rtfm.mit.edu" name="FAQ main archive FTP site">. The WWW versions can be browsed at <url url="http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/FAQ-List.html" name="FAQ main archive WWW site">. Some FAQs have their own home site, of particular interest here are <itemize> <item><url url="http://www.paranoia.com/˜filipg/HTML/LINK/F_SCSI.html" name="SCSI FAQ"> and <item><url url="http://alumni.caltech.edu/˜rdv/comp_arch_storage/FAQ-1.html" name="comp.arch.storage FAQ">. </itemize> <sect1>Mailing Lists <p> <nidx>(your index root)!information resources!mailing lists</nidx> These are low noise channels mainly for developers. Think twice before asking questions there as noise delays the development. Some relevant lists are <tt/linux-raid/, <tt/linux-scsi/ and <tt/linux-ext2fs/. Many of the most useful mailing lists run on the <tt>vger.rutgers.edu</tt> server but this is notoriously overloaded, so try to find a mirror. There are some lists mirrored at <url url="http://www.redhat.com" name="The Redhat Home Page">. Many lists are also accessible at <url url="http://www.linuxhq.com/lnxlists" name="linuxhq">, and the rest of the web site is a gold mine of useful information. If you want to find out more about the lists available you can send a message with the line <tt/lists/ to the list server at vger.rutgers.edu ( <htmlurl url="mailto:majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu" name="majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu">). If you need help on how to use the mail server just send the line <tt/help/ to the same address. Due to the popularity of this server it is likely it takes a bit to time before you get a reply or even get messages after you send a <tt/subscribe/ command. There is also a number of other majordomo list servers that can be of interest such as the EATA driver list ( <htmlurl url="mailto:linux-eata@mail.uni-mainz.de" name="linux-eata@mail.uni-mainz.de">) and the Intelligent IO list <htmlurl url="mailto:linux-i2o@dpt.com" name="linux-i2o@dpt.com">. Mailing lists are in a state of flux but you can find links to a number of interesting lists from the <url url="http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/" name="Linux Documentation Homepage">. <sect1>HOWTO <p> <nidx>(your index root)!information resources!HOWTOs</nidx> These are intended as the primary starting points to get the background information as well as show you how to solve a specific problem. Some relevant HOWTOs are <tt/Bootdisk/, <tt/Installation/, <tt/SCSI/ and <tt/UMSDOS/. The main site for these is the <url url="http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/" name="LDP archive"> at Metalab (formerly known as Sunsite). There is a a new HOWTO out that deals with setting up a DPT RAID system, check out the <url url="http://www.ram.org/computing/linux/dpt_raid.html" name="DPT RAID HOWTO homepage">. <sect1>Mini-HOWTO <p> <nidx>(your index root)!information resources!mini-HOWTOs</nidx> These are the smaller free text relatives to the HOWTOs. Some relevant mini-HOWTOs are <tt/Backup-With-MSDOS/, <tt/Diskless/, <tt/LILO/, <tt/Large Disk/, <tt/Linux+DOS+Win95+OS2/, <tt/Linux+OS2+DOS/, <tt/Linux+Win95/, <tt/NFS-Root/, <tt/Win95+Win+Linux/, <tt/ZIP Drive/ . You can find these at the same place as the HOWTOs, usually in a sub directory called <tt/mini/. Note that these are scheduled to be converted into SGML and become proper HOWTOs in the near future. The old <tt/Linux Large IDE mini-HOWTO/ is no longer valid, instead read <tt>/usr/src/linux/drivers/block/README.ide</tt> or <tt>/usr/src/linux/Documentation/ide.txt</tt>. <sect1>Local Resources <p> <nidx>(your index root)!information resources!local</nidx> In most distributions of Linux there is a document directory installed, have a look in the <htmlurl url="file:///usr/doc" name="/usr/doc"> directory. where most packages store their main documentation and README files etc. Also you will here find the HOWTO archive ( <htmlurl url="file:///usr/doc/HOWTO" name="/usr/doc/HOWTO">) of ready formatted HOWTOs and also the mini-HOWTO archive ( <url url="file:///usr/doc/HOWTO/mini" name="/usr/doc/HOWTO/mini">) of plain text documents. Many of the configuration files mentioned earlier can be found in the <htmlurl url="file:///etc" name="/etc"> directory. In particular you will want to work with the <htmlurl url="file:///etc/fstab" name="/etc/fstab"> file that sets up the mounting of partitions and possibly also <htmlurl url="file:///etc/mdtab" name="/etc/mdtab"> file that is used for the <tt/md/ system to set up RAID. The kernel source in <url url="file:///usr/src/linux" name="/usr/src/linux"> is, of course, the ultimate documentation. In other words, <em>use the source, Luke</em>. It should also be pointed out that the kernel comes not only with source code which is even commented (well, partially at least) but also an informative <url url="file:///usr/src/linux/Documentation" name="documentation directory">. If you are about to ask any questions about the kernel you should read this first, it will save you and many others a lot of time and possibly embarrassment. Also have a look in your system log file ( <htmlurl url="file:///var/log/messages" name="/var/log/messages">) to see what is going on and in particular how the booting went if too much scrolled off your screen. Using <tt>tail -f /var/log/messages</tt> in a separate window or screen will give you a continuous update of what is going on in your system. You can also take advantage of the <htmlurl url="file:///proc" name="/proc"> file system that is a window into the inner workings of your system. Use <tt/cat/ rather than <tt/more/ to view the files as they are reported as being zero length. Reports are that <tt/less/ works well here. <sect1>Web Pages <p> <nidx>(your index root)!information resources!WWW</nidx> <nidx>(your index root)!information resources!web pages</nidx> There is a huge number of informative web pages out there and by their very nature they change quickly so don't be too surprised if these links become quickly outdated. A good starting point is of course the <url url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/" name="Linux Documentation Project"> home page, an information central for documentation, project pages and much, much more. Please let me know if you have any other leads that can be of interest. <sect>Getting Help <p> <nidx>(your index root)!assistance, obtaining</nidx> <em>Your reader might still end up in a situation where extra help is needed from someone else, perhaps on the net. In order to get fast and efficient help it is best first to get some details on your system. What details matter depends on type of problem. For disk problems you need to know the disk controllers etc, for networking problems you have to know what ethernet card is used and version of drivers etc. Here is the place to suggest what details to have ready when asking for help.</em> In the end you might find yourself unable to solve your problems and need help from someone else. The most efficient way is either to ask someone local or in your nearest Linux user group, search the web for the nearest one. Another possibility is to ask on Usenet News in one of the many, many newsgroups available. The problem is that these have such a high volume and noise (called low signal-to-noise ratio) that your question can easily fall through unanswered. No matter where you ask it is important to ask well or you will not be taken seriously. Saying just <it/my disk does not work/ is not going to help you and instead the noise level is increased even further and if you are lucky someone will ask you to clarify. Instead describe your problems in some detail that will enable people to help you. The problem could lie somewhere you did not expect. Therefore you are advised to list up the following information on your system: <descrip> <tag/Hardware/ <itemize> <item>Processor <item>DMA <item>IRQ <item>Chip set (LX, BX etc) <item>Bus (ISA, VESA, PCI etc) <item>Expansion cards used (Disk controllers, video, IO etc) </itemize> <tag/Software/ <itemize> <item>BIOS (On motherboard and possibly SCSI host adapters) <item>LILO, if used <item>Linux kernel version as well as possible modifications and patches <item>Kernel parameters, if any <item>Software that shows the error (with version number or date) </itemize> <tag/Peripherals/ <itemize> <item>Type of disk drives with manufacturer name, version and type <item>Other relevant peripherals connected to the same busses </itemize> </descrip> Remember that booting text is logged to <tt>/var/log/messages</tt> which can answer most of the questions above. Obviously if the drives fail you might not be able to get the log saved to disk but you can at least scroll back up the screen using the <tt/SHIFT/ and <tt/PAGE UP/ keys. It may also be useful to include part of this in your request for help but do not go overboard, keep it <em/brief/ as a complete log file dumped to Usenet News is more than a little annoying. <sect>Concluding Remarks <p> <nidx>(your index root)!conclusion</nidx> <em>Just summing up... Also a place for general recommendations.</em> <sect>Questions and Answers <p> <nidx>(your index root)!FAQ</nidx> <nidx>(your index root)!frequently asked questions</nidx> <em>Check the newsgroups and try to determine some frequent problems and cover them here. Again an example from my HOWTO.</em> This is just a collection of what I believe are the most common questions people might have. Give me more feedback and I will turn this section into a proper FAQ. <itemize> <item>Q:How many physical disk drives (spindles) does a Linux system need? <p> A: Linux can run just fine on one drive (spindle). Having enough RAM (around 32 MB, and up to 64 MB) to support swapping is a better price/performance choice than getting a second disk. (E)IDE disk is usually cheaper (but a little slower) than SCSI. <item>Q: Are there any disadvantages in this scheme? <p> A: There is only a minor snag: if even a single partition overflows the system might stop working properly. The severity depends of course on what partition is affected. Still this is not hard to monitor, the command <tt/df/ gives you a good overview of the situation. Also check the swap partition(s) using <tt/free/ to make sure you are not about to run out of virtual memory. <item>Q: OK, so should I split the system into as many partitions as possible for a single drive? <p> A: No, there are several disadvantages to that. First of all maintenance becomes needlessly complex and you gain very little in this. In fact if your partitions are too big you will seek across larger areas than needed. This is a balance and dependent on the number of physical drives you have. </itemize> <em>(rest deleted.)</em> <sect>Bits and Pieces <label id="bits-n-pieces"> <p> <nidx>(your index root)!miscellaneous</nidx> <em>This is basically a section where I stuff all the bits I have not yet decided where should go, yet that I feel is worth knowing about. It is a kind of transient area.</em> <sect>Examples <p> <nidx>(your index root)!examples</nidx> <em>Example designs and sample configuration files and other relevant details is always handy. Keep large samples at the end to avoid breaking the flow of the HOWTO reading. Small samples are useful within the main body of the HOWTO.</em> <sect>Samples <label id="samples"> <p> <em>This section gives some simple SGML examples you could copy. Read the source to see how it was done.</em> <!-- you can also have comments in the SGML source --> <sect1>Lists <p> <em>Lists appears many times, in a number of formats:</em> <p> Unlisted bullets: <p> <itemize> <item>Apples <item>Oranges <item>Bananas </itemize> <p> Tagged lists <p> <descrip> <tag/Fruits/ such as apples, oranges, and more. <tag/Nuts/ Don't eat too many; you are what you eat. <tag/Vegetables/ Potatos are spelled with care. </descrip> <sect1>Links <p> <em>Links can be used within your documents to refer to different sections and chapters or to refer to documents external to yours.</em> <p> Internal links <p> Click on <ref id="samples" name="this"> link to jump to the top of this chapter. Note the anchor at the section tag. <p> External links <p> Click on <url url="http://www.LinuxDoc.org/" name="this"> link to jump to the LDP site. Note you can use http, ftp, news and other protocols in the locator if required. Note that the character ˜ has to be escaped, see the source for details. <!-- ˜ is the way of writing the tilde character --> <sect1>Images <p> <em>Avoid diagrams if possible as this cannot be rendered in the ascii outputs which are still needed by many around the world.</em> <figure loc="tbp"> <eps file="somegraphics.eps"> <img src="somegraphics.jpg"> <caption>Graphics Test Image</caption> </figure> <!-- <img file="/usr/src/linux/logo.gif"> --> <sect>Table Samples <label id="tblsamples"> <p> <em>This section gives an example of writing a table.</em> <table loc=p> <tabular ca="rll"> Line No.<colsep>Country <colsep>Capital <rowsep><hline> 1 <colsep>Norway <colsep>Oslo <rowsep> 2 <colsep>Japan <colsep>Tokyo <rowsep> 3 <colsep>Finland <colsep>Helsinki <rowsep> </tabular> <caption>Some capitals</caption> </table> <sect>Notes on Style <label id="style"> <p> <em> Not much here yet but I would like to suggest a few points. </em> <descrip> <tag/Tags/ Try to use tags extensively <tag/Types/ Try using functional tags such as em rather than it. <tag/Files/ Try using functional links to files such as <tt><htmlurl url="file:///usr/doc" name="/usr/doc"></tt> rather than just /usr/doc. <tag/Commands/ Try to refer to man pages including section number <tt>df (1)</tt> rather than just df. </descrip> <sect>Converting the SGML File <p> Having made the SGML file we are now ready to convert it to the various output formats we need. The following is my script to process my Multi Disk HOWTO: <code> sgml2txt -f disk.sgml sgml2html disk.sgml sgml2latex --papersize=a4 --language=english --output=ps ~stein/doc/disk.sgml mv disk.ps disk-A4.ps gzip -9 disk-A4.ps sgml2latex --papersize=letter --language=english --output=ps ~stein/doc/disk.sgml mv disk.ps disk-US.ps gzip -9 disk-US.ps </code> The template can be converted as is, substitute "disk.sgml" with the filename of this template to see what it looks like. If your document is small (such as this template) you might find it more convenient to keep formatted versions in one single file rather than splitting it for every chapter: <code> sgml2html --split=0 template.sgml </code> <sect>Appendix A: Copyright <p> <tscreen><verb> GNU Free Documentation License Version 1.1, March 2000 Copyright (C) 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed. 0. PREAMBLE The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other written document "free" in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for modifications made by others. 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If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we recommend releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of free software license, such as the GNU General Public License, to permit their use in free software. </verb></tscreen> </article> ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������updated.sgml����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������100655 � 5347 � 141 � 72615 7472261376 13147� 0����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ustar �sgjoen��������������������������validated��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������<!doctype linuxdoc system> <!-- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Changelog: 091197 SRG : Framework created 291197 SRG : Added info on mailing lists 301197 SRG : Added more info on mailing lists by web subscription as well as usenet news groups. Mostly adapted from the LDP web page (sunsite.unc.edu/LDP) 101297 SRG : Added more local info, archie, mail servers and mail access 171297 SRG : Added link to research in the Internet 030298 SRG : Added link to how to find persons and more mailing lists 120298 SRG : Merged in indexing from Redhat 100598 SRG : New address for project coordinator, and notes on quality of documentation 110598 SRG : Cleaned up list and fixed minor typos 210598 SRG : More links to online news magazines 190798 SRG : More links to online news magazines 010299 SRG : More links to online news magazines 040299 SRG : More links to online news magazines ->0.20 180499 SRG : Renames to Metalab ->0.20a 240699 SRG : Minor updates and note on translator ->0.21 190999 SRG : Added link to Polish translation ->0.22 121299 SRG : Added link to Linux Magazine ->0.23 230100 SRG : Added link to French and Japanese translation and more online resources ->0.24 310100 SRG : Added link to Portuguese translation 100200 SRG : Corrected for link rot and typos, expanded on advanced searching ->0.26 200200 SRG : Added Penguin Magazine to the zine list and the LDP ->0.27 290500 SRG : Linkcheck ->0.28 300500 SRG : Linkcheck ->0.29 240700 SRG : Added PAML ->0.30 291000 SRG : Added PAML ->0.31 200502 SRG : New License ->0.32 --> <article> <!-- Title information --> <title>HOWTO: How to stay updated <author>Kjetil Bakkeskaug, Kjell Sundby and Stein Gjoen, <tt/sgjoen@nyx.net/ <date>v0.32, 20 May 2002 <abstract> <nidx>updated, staying (see up-to-date)</nidx> <nidx>up-to-date</nidx> This document describes how to stay updated and abreast of the development that takes place in the Linux world of development. Although most of this text is Linux specific there is also a lot of general information on searching efficiently for specific information that can be useful for a wider audience. </abstract> <!-- Table of contents --> <toc> <!-- Begin the document --> <sect>Introduction <p> <nidx>up-to-date!introduction</nidx> Development in the world of Linux takes place at an incredible speed and it can be difficult to keep abreast with the latest development. This HOWTO gives you a few guidelines on how to get the information you need, fast and efficiently. Most are quite familiar with using the World Wide Web (WWW) and Usenet News but as will be shown here there are many other methods that can be as good or even better. There are now many new translations available and special thanks go to the translators for the job and the input they have given: <itemize> <item><url url="http://www.ict.pwr.wroc.pl/jtz/Html/mini/Update.pl.html" name="Polish translation"> by Tomasz Sienicki <tt/tsca (at) cryogen.com/ <item><url url="http://www.freenix.org/unix/linux/HOWTO/" name="French Translation"> by Jean-Albert Ferrez <tt/Jean-Albert.Ferrez (at) epfl.ch/ <item><url url="http://www.poli.org/LDP-PT/mini-HOWTO/" name="Portuguese Translation"> by Duarte Loreto <tt/dnloreto (at) esoterica.pt/ <item><url url="http://www.linux.or.jp/JF/" name="Japanese translation"> by Satoru Takahashi <tt/hisai (at) din.or.jp/ </itemize> <sect1>Copyright <p> This HOWTO is copyrighted 1998 Kjell Sundby, Kjetil Bakkeskaug and Stein Gjoen. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. If you have any questions, please contact <{linux-howto@metalab.unc.edu}> <!-- Changed 020520 Unless otherwise stated, Linux HOWTO documents are copyrighted by their respective authors. Linux HOWTO documents may be reproduced and distributed in whole or in part, in any medium physical or electronic, as long as this copyright notice is retained on all copies. Commercial redistribution is allowed and encouraged; however, the author would like to be notified of any such distributions. All translations, derivative works, or aggregate works incorporating any Linux HOWTO documents must be covered under this copyright notice. That is, you may not produce a derivative work from a HOWTO and impose additional restrictions on its distribution. Exceptions to these rules may be granted under certain conditions; please contact the Linux HOWTO coordinator at the address given below. In short, we wish to promote dissemination of this information through as many channels as possible. However, we do wish to retain copyright on the HOWTO documents, and would like to be notified of any plans to redistribute the HOWTOs. If you have questions, please contact the Linux HOWTO coordinator, at linux-howto@metalab.unc.edu via email. --> <sect1>Disclaimer <p> Use the information in this document at your own risk. We disavow any potential liability for the contents of this document. Use of the concepts, examples, and/or other content of this document is entirely at your own risk. All copyrights are owned by their owners, unless specifically noted otherwise. Use of a term in this document should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark. Naming of particular products or brands should not be seen as endorsements. You are strongly recommended to take a backup of your system before major installation and backups at regular intervals. <!-- News Section goes here when appropriate --> <sect1>News <p> Updated links to LinuxNetMag Did a major link check but linkrot sets in quickly. Added link to Penguin Magazine. Added more information on the workings of mailing lists. Also proper indexing is now added. Renamed Dejanews to Deja and one chapter title. Also added note on translation now underway. Minor typos fixed. Added link to Polish translation Added link to Linux Focus and Linux Magazine. Added links to French and Japanese translations as well as several online resources. Link rot is setting in, numerous corrections made. Also expanded on searching choices. <!-- Credits Section goes here when appropriate --> <sect1>Credits <p> <tscreen><verb> Tomasz Sienicki | tsca <tsca (at) cryogen.com> Satoru Takahashi <hisai (at) din.or.jp> </verb></tscreen> <!-- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% --> <sect>Documentation Installed on Your Hard Disk <p> <nidx>up-to-date!information resources</nidx> <!-- Quote: <it> What do you want!?<p> Information!<p> - Number 6 in The Prisoner<p> --> When you start out with a Linux installation you will normally get quite a bit of information along, not just the installation pamphlet but also substantial online help and information files as well as HOWTO files. This gives you a good starting point but after a while you will find yourself interested in knowing more, updating your system and basically staying informed. For simplicity this kind of information is here divided into several types, the type you subscribe to, information you search for as well as a bit on getting more specific help efficiently. Even if you don't get printed information of some kind with your Linux packages you will along with any self respecting distribution get a number of directories with documentation of some kind, ranging from the tersest <em/README/ files for most software packages to the more in depth <em/HOWTOs/, of which this is one. Have a look in the <url url="file:///usr/doc" name="document archive"> where most packages store their main documentation and README files etc. Also you will here find the <url url="file:///usr/doc/HOWTO" name="HOWTO archive"> of ready formatted HOWTOs and also the <url url="file:///usr/doc/HOWTO/mini" name="mini-HOWTO archive"> of plain text documents. The <url url="file:///usr/src/linux" name="kernel source"> is, of course, the ultimate documentation. In other words, <em>use the source, Luke</em>. It should also be pointed out that the kernel comes not only with source code which is even commented (well, partially at least) but also an informative <url url="file:///usr/src/linux/Documentation" name="documentation directory">. If you are about to ask any questions about the kernel you should read this first, it will save you and many others a lot of time and possibly embarrassment. The online documentation is excellent for browsing and searching but don't dismiss the printed version altogether; if you cannot even get the machine to boot, how are you going to be able to read that piece of information you need to get the system going again? <sect>Subscription <p> <nidx>up-to-date!information resources</nidx> This basically means you set up a subscription of some sort and then follow the news as they come in. Be careful not to bite over more than you can chew, <em/information overload/ is more than a buzzword. There is also rather more junk out there than is just annoying, it is a real problem these days. Read critically and be prepared to unsubscribe. There are two distinct medias for getting continuous updates: news and mailing lists, though sometimes news is gatewayed to mail and vice versa. In general news is a larger volume, larger noise source compared to mailing lists. Trying to follow too many newsgroups is like drinking from a fire hose. <sect1>Usenet News <p> <nidx>up-to-date!information resources!news</nidx> Getting access to Usenet News is outside the scope of this HOWTO, there are others that will help you with getting and reading News directly from a Linux system. If you have never used News before you should be careful to read the introductory information thoroughly. In spite of looking like an anarchy it does have its own distinct culture, follow a newsgroup for some time before posting yourself. Most importantly, look out for postings called <em/Frequently Asked Questions/ or <em/FAQ/ as they will show you the ropes for the group it is posted to, and most likely give you the answer to what you are looking for. Asking an FAQ will earn you severe negative credibility points as well as a place in many killfiles. FAQs should be posted regularly but if you cannot find it you can always find it at the <url url="ftp://rtfm.mit.edu" name="main FAQ archive"> at MIT. These are also available as <!-- <url url="http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/" --> <url url="http://www.faqs.org/" name="web pages">. Still, there is a lot of noise, spam and junk in News and this is where killfiles come in. You will need a news reader with killfile capability and when properly set up it will scan through a newsgroup according to a search key of your own design and mark all flagged postings as already read so you don't have to be bothered by the noise. This improves the signal-to-noise ratio and lets you concentrate on the important parts. Similarly, if you make noise in News others will killfile you so if you later were to ask for help they will never see your post. Now to business: the following is a list of useful newsgroups: <itemize> <item><url url="news:comp.os.linux.announce" name="announcements"> <item><url url="news:comp.os.linux.answers" name="answers, HOWTOs, FAQs etc."> <item><url url="news:comp.os.linux.development.apps" name="development of applications"> <item><url url="news:comp.os.linux.development.sys" name="development of the system"> <item><url url="news:comp.os.linux.hardware" name="hardware"> <item><url url="news:comp.os.linux.misc" name="misc"> <item><url url="news:comp.os.linux.networking" name="networking"> <item><url url="news:comp.os.linux.setup" name="setting up linux"> <item><url url="news:comp.os.linux.x" name="X11 on linux"> <!-- <item><url url="news:comp.os.linux." name="">. <item><url url="news:comp.os.linux." name="">. --> </itemize> Many national hierarchies also have Linux groups, such as the <url url="news:no.linux" name="Norwegian"> Linux groups. If you cannot find your national or local group you might be able to use <url url="http://www.deja.com" name="Deja"> to find the names for you. <sect1>Mailing Lists <p> <nidx>up-to-date!information resources!mailing lists</nidx> Unlike Usenet News a mailing list is centralised, someone sends a mail to the server and the server in return mails everyone that is subscribed to that particular list. These lists are generally low volume but also very low noise. Any breaches of the charter will be looked harshly upon. Equally seriously it will delay the development or the project that the list is dedicated to. When you subscribe you will normally get an introductory mail describing the charter, again you are strongly recommended to read this very carefully. There are many types of mail servers that can handle a list and you will need some information on how and where you can subscribe. One of the most common list servers is <em/Majordomo/ which is what the list server at <url url="mailto:majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu" name="vger.rutgers.edu"> is running. To learn how it works you send a mail message with the word <tt/help/ in the body. If you send it something it cannot parse you will get this help message anyway. If you instead mail it the word <tt/lists/ you will be returned a list of all mailing lists it serves, and that can be a considerable number. Other mailing lists use several addresses, one where you send your requests such as <tt/subscribe/ and <tt/unsubscribe/, and one where you send your contributions to the list which is usually also the address from which the list is also redistributed to you. Again, sending it the message <tt/help/ or something it cannot parse will give you the help information. An example: you send the word <tt/subscribe/ to the address <tt/corned-beef-requests@somelistserver.org/ and then you get mail from and contribute to the list address <tt/corned-beef-list@somelistserver.org/ until you unsubscribe. A few tips before you start sending in to mailing lists: <itemize> <item>Do not send <tt/subscribe/ etc. to the list itself, only to the server address, otherwise you will look silly and you will annoy people. There can be several thousand subscribers to a list and if such errors were to pour in the noise would be too much. <item>When you subscribe you will often get an introductory message sent to you automatically. Read it carefully as this should answer most of the initial questions. <item>Do not gateway mailing lists to news without asking first as this can cause mailing loops as well as spam. </itemize> As mentioned above, <url url="mailto:majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu" name="vger.rutgers.edu">. is one of the main mailing list servers and here is an abbreviated index of what is available for the Linux community: <itemize> <item> linux-8086 (Linux on Intel 8086 processors) <item> linux-admin (Administration of Linux systems) <item> linux-alpha (Linux on the Alpha processor platform) <item> linux-apps (Applications) <item> linux-arm (Linux on the Arm processor platform) <item> linux-bbs (Linux Bulletin Board Systems) <item> linux-c-programming (C-programming with Linux) <item> linux-config (Configuration) <item> linux-console (Console) <item> linux-diald (Dial on demand daemon) <item> linux-doc (Linux documentation) <item> linux-fido (Linux fido network) <item> linux-fsf (Linux and the Free Software Foundation) <item> linux-ftp (Linux File Transfer Protocol) <item> linux-gcc (Linux and the GNU C compiler) <item> linux-gcc-digest (Digests of the above) <item> linux-hams Amateur Radio and Linux discussions <item> linux-hppa (Linux on the HP Precision Architecture processor platform) <item> linux-ibcs2 (Linux and the Intel Binary Compatibility system) <item> linux-ipx (Linux and Novell IPX networking protocol) <item> linux-isdn (Linux and Integrated Services Digital Network) <item> linux-japanese (Linux and Japanese extensions) <item> linux-kernel (Linux kernel) <item> linux-kernel-announce (Announcements for the above) <item> linux-kernel-digest (Digests of the linux-kernel list) <item> linux-kernel-patch (Linux kernel patches) <item> linux-laptop (Linux on laptops) <item> linux-linuxss <item> linux-lugnuts (Linux User Groups) <item> linux-mca (Linux and the IBM Micro Channel Architecture bus) <item> linux-mips (Linux on the MIPS processor platform) <item> linux-msdos (Linux and MSDOS) <item> linux-msdos-devel (Linux - MSDOS development) <item> linux-msdos-digest (Digest of the linux-msdos list) <item> linux-net (Linux and networking) <item> linux-new-lists (New mailing lists for Linux) <item> linux-newbie (Linux and the inexperienced) <item> linux-newbiew <item> linux-nys <item> linux-oasg <item> linux-oi <item> linux-opengl (Linux and the OpenGL graphics system) <item> linux-pkg <item> linux-ppp (Linux and the Point-to-Point Protocol) <item> linux-pro <item> linux-qag <item> linux-raid (Linux and Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives) <item> linux-scsi (Linux and Small Computer Systems Interface) <item> linux-serial (Linux and the serial system) <item> linux-seyon (Linux terminal system) <item> linux-smp (Linux Symmetric Multi Processing) <item> linux-sound <item> linux-standards <item> linux-svgalib (Linux and the SVGA library) <item> linux-tape (Linux and tape storage) <item> linux-term (A Linux communications program) <item> linux-userfs (Linux User File System) <item> linux-word <item> linux-x11 (Linux and the X Window System, Version 11) <item> linux-x25 (Linux and the X25 Networking Protocol) <item> sparclinux (Linux on the SPARC processor platform) <item> ultralinux (Linux on the Ultra-SPARC processor platform) </itemize> There are of course a number of other lists on other server. As this is in a constant state of flux there is little point in naming all but the most important here. Instead you could check out a web page that maintains such a <!-- http://summer.snu.ac.kr/˜djshin/linux/mail-list/index.shtml" --> <url url="http://oslab.snu.ac.kr/˜djshin/linux/mail-list/index.shtml" name="list of lists"> on various servers of interest to Linux users. It also offers an user friendly interface to subscribe or unsubscribe to the various lists directly. There is also a web page listing a huge number of lists concerning much more than Linux at <!-- http://www.NeoSoft.com/internet/paml/" --> <url url="http://paml.net/" name="Publicly Available Mailing Lists">. <sect1>Magazines <p> <nidx>up-to-date!information resources!magazines</nidx> Many have been disappointed at the lack of information on Linux in the trade press. This is probably because certain commercial products would not stand up for any comparison and the advertisers would not stand it at all. Fortunately there is one Linux specific journal, called the <em/Linux Journal/. More information on subscription etc. can be found at the <url url="http://www.ssc.com" name="SSC"> home page. A table of contents is usually also available online. Another commercial paper magazine is the <url url="http://www.linux-mag.com" name="Linux Magazine"> which also offers table of contents and some excerpts online. Also <!-- <url url="http://www.performance-computing.com" name="Performance Computing"> --> <url url="http://www.unixreview.com" name="Unix Review"> (formerly known as Performance Computing) gives a lot of Linux coverage. Some popular e-zines are <itemize> <item> <url url="http://www.linuxgazette.com/" name="Linux Gazette"> <item> <url url="http://www.linuxfocus.org/" name="Linux Focus"> (available in a number of languages) <item> <url url="http://www.linuxresearch.de/" name="Linux Research"> <item> <url url="http://linuxtoday.com/" name="Linux Today"> <item> <url url="http://www.linuxnews.com" name="Linux News"> <item> <!-- <url url="http://www.linuxsupportline.com/˜netmag/" name="Linux Netmag"> (available in a number of languages) --> <url url="http://www.linuxnetmag.com" name="Linux Netmag (English)"> and <url url="http://www.linuxnetmag.de" name="Linux Netmag (German)"> <item> <url url="http://www.penguinmagazine.com" name="Penguin Magazine"> </itemize> and probably a few others as new ones seem to pop quite frequently. Check out <url url="http://www.linuxhq.com" name="LinuxHQ"> for up to date information on current news services. New web pages with literally daily news on linux are popping up everywhere, many are quite professional in layout as well as in scope. One of the bigger ones is <url url="http://freshmeat.net" name="Freshmeat"> which serves out news daily. For those who cannot afford the time to follow the net on an hourly basis yet need the important news quickly there is the <url url="http://lwn.net" name="Linux Weekly News">, which gives you a weekly update of important news, including securities alerts and also announcements of new and updated software. You can also find directions to IRC online chat lines at <url url="http://linux.com" name="Linux.com">. <!-- One the other extreme there are the those who practically live on the net and who might like to watch all sorts of news as they are reported on <url url="http://slashdot.org" name="Slashdot">, on a minute by minute basis using the ticker service or web interface. --> There are also a number of more hardware oriented web sites worth visiting, such as <url url="http://www.tomshardware.com" name="Toms Hardware">, <url url="http://www.Anandtech.com" name="Anandtech"> for general hardware reviews, and <url url="http://www.storagereview.com" name="Storage review"> for the latest in disk, tape and other storage technology.. <sect>Meetings <p> <nidx>up-to-date!information resources!meetings</nidx> Linux has been created through a massive networked effort, mostly by heavy use of the Internet. Still, there is the chance of meeting real people, face to face, in Linux user groups (LUG) that are all over the world. Search the lists that are published regularly, there could be one near you. Conferences, install fests, creating new user groups and more is regularly announced on Usenet News <url url="news:comp.os.linux.announce" name="announcements">. Such events are excellent venues for staying on top of events and also for getting help. <sect>Searching <p> <nidx>up-to-date!information resources!search engines</nidx> There are many avenues open when searching for something particular. Remember you can also use the web search engines and that some, like <itemize> <item><url url="http://www.altavista.com/" name="Altavista"> <item><url url="http://www.excite.com" name="Excite"> <item><url url="http://hotbot.lycos.com/" name="Hotbot"> </itemize> can also search Usenet news. There are numerous search engines available but they are not all equal neither in method of rating relevance nor in size of database. For established, authoritative pages I recommend using <url url="http://www.google.com" name="Google"> since it scores pages by the number of links pointing to them. People often link to pages they find important or useful and Google uses this. Google takes time to score a page properly so it is not that useful for searching for the newest or more exotic topics. For that I normally recommend either the very fast and wide spanning <url url="http://www.alltheweb.com" name="AllTheWeb"> or meta engines, web systems that forwards your request to a number of other search engines, receives the results, collates and scores before presenting you with the result. My favourite meta engine is <url url="http://www.go2net.com" name="Go2Net"> formerly known as MetaCrawler. Such preferences are all subjective and the systems improve continuously so you need to experiment yourself. There is no perfect search engine and as less than 10 percent of all pages are indexed you need to try several engines if you don't succeed at first. Also remember that <url url="http://www.deja.com" name="Deja"> is a dedicated news searcher that keeps a news spool from early 1995 and onwards. Even though more and more things take place of the web these days, do not forget that there is a lot of information available on the various ftp servers around the world. Some web search engines also index ftp servers but the tool of choice is still the Archie servers, systems that regularly scan major ftp servers around the world and keep lists of files. These can be accessed in many ways, either by Archie clients like <tt/archie/ or the X11 version <tt/xarchie/ which should be available on any well maintained linux system. Failing that you can access archie servers using telnet to any of the servers listed <itemize> <item> <url url="telnet://archie.au" name="Australia"> <item> <url url="telnet://archie.univie.ac.at" name="Austria"> <item> <url url="telnet://archie.belnet.be" name="Belgium"> <item> <url url="telnet://archie.funet.fi" name="Finland"> <item> <url url="telnet://archie.th-darmstadt.de" name="Germany"> <item> <url url="telnet://archie.kornet.nm.kr" name="Korea"> <item> <url url="telnet://archie.unipi.it" name="Italy"> <item> <url url="telnet://archie.kuis.kyoto-u.ac.jp" name="Japan"> <item> <url url="telnet://archie.icm.edu.pl" name="Poland"> <item> <url url="telnet://archie.luth.se" name="Sweden"> <item> <url url="telnet://archie.rediris.es" name="Spain"> <item> <url url="telnet://archie.doc.ic.ac.uk" name="United Kingdom"> <item> <url url="telnet://archie.bunyip.com" name="United States"> <item> <url url="telnet://archie.internic.net" name="United States"> </itemize> Of course you should try to use the server closest to you, and to see the list of current server you can either start the Archie client with no arguments or, if telnetting, by querying the server. Online help is available. Unfortunately not all servers are synchronised, so you might have to search a few before finding what you are looking for. Recently a more user friendly ftp index server entered the net, the <url url="http://ftpsearch.lycos.com/" name="ftpsearch"> engine, featuring many options and with a rather stark interface, in the best Unix tradition. Most of these offer help on efficient searching techniques, reading this can speed up your searches enormously. Investing a little time here will pay off in the long run. If you have trouble getting onto the Internet but have mail then you should have a look at the <em/access via mail/ FAQ. Naturally you can get it over e-mail using the <url url="mailto:mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu" name="US, Canada and South America server"> entering only this line in the BODY of the note: <tt>send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email</tt> or <url url="mailto:mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk" name="Europe, Asia etc server"> entering only this line in the BODY of the note: <tt/send lis-iis e-access-inet.txt/ or look through your news spool if you have one locally in <url url="news:news.answers" name="news.answers newsgroup">. Finally, you might wish to get more information from a person, say an author of a software package. usually you can find the e-mail address in the accompanying documentation which normally would be in the <url url="file:///usr/doc/" name="documentation subdirectory"> but failing that and also if the given address is no longer valid you could find help in the FAQ for <url url="http://www.qucis.queensu.ca/FAQs/email/finding.html" name="finding e-mail addresses">. <sect>Conclusion <p> <nidx>up-to-date!conclusion</nidx> Finding information fast and efficiently is more of an art than a science and we still have not touched on the really difficult part: how do you determine the actual <em/quality/ of the information? It is outside the scope of this HOWTO to tell you that but it is still something you should keep in mind. You should at least check the information is recent enough to be current to your problem. As a bare minimum you should ensure a minimum of validity of the documentation to avoid misleading or malicious advice. A surprising number of people suggests things like <tt>rm -rf / </tt> as a solution for a given problem. Some see it as an obvious prank, the unaware can end up destroying his or her setup. Just to avoid such things you should check out a few things before rushing ahead: <itemize> <item>Is there a name attached to the document? If people are serious about what they write it should not be anonymous. <item>Is it dated? Documents tend to evolve as the technology advances. Be sure you are reading the latest version. Internet search engines can help you here. <item>Are there any followups? Be sure to check any followups or comments to what you read, otherwise you might miss a warning or a correction. </itemize> If you keep this in mind you should not fall for too many of the scams that circulate on the net, from get well-cards for Craig Shergold, chain letters to the more recent problems of Trojans for Linux that tries to trick you into mailing off your password. There is a number of FAQs available that deals with more serious research method topics and you can also see a comprehensive <url url="http://cn.net.au" name="on-line version">. Finally, do not forget the <url url="http://www.LinuxDoc.org/" name="Linux Documentation Project"> site that coordinates documentation for Linux. Updates and new documents are issued regularly, reflecting the development in the field. Quoted from someone's signature:<p> <em>Be alert! The world needs more lerts.</em> </article> ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������