- WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

Progress and success

by Marie I MacDonald

Greetings all, I thought I'd write and update you on my newbie experience with Linux et. al. To refresh your memory, my old laptop died just as I had been given a new Linux box and just before the Spring semester had started. I really was feeling stressed. But here are some high points of the past month: * Novell distro installed (and reinstalled (twice!) after a glitch) and updated without a hitch. * Evolution is now my email client of choice for two reasons: I couldn't figure out how to install Thunderbird and I wanted to sync my Palm to something. * I'm successfully popping all my Gmail and myrealbox accounts (13 total). I've never seen my filters run so fast (for junk and legit mail). * Palm Zire 21 now works beautifully with Evolution. I keep it simple and don't need more than the personal calendar. * Open Office installed and updated. I'm using 2.0.1.3 and have begun using Impress to create a presentation for school. * I have taken advantage of the desktop functions, using five work spaces and putting buttons on the tool bars. I love how smoothly my desktop works and allows me new workspaces. * Novell client for Linux working beautifully to connect me to the server upstairs (thanks Bob!) * I've been playing around with the GIMP image editor and in my opinion it is as robust as Photoshop (which I know very well). * I have successfully completed all the Novell Linux Desktop 9 Learning Center modules. The training was good and I would recommend it for new users. * I am successfully running Music Player and copying my CDs to the network. I can now burn a CD/DVD. Here are my observations/complaints: * While I've used both YaST and Red Carpet to install programs, I'd like to see something developed to click and run installation programs, much like the .exe files most are used to. Coming from that environment into a Linux environment, this is critical. If you want to make Linux more attractive for desktop users, software installation has to be easier. The average office user *ME* does not know how to work with code and such to install programs. * I'm still trying to find video capture and editing software. Any recommendations? * Now I also need software to create a business plan. Any recommendations? * I would love to listen to radio station web streams. I live in the boonies and get no radio reception. I do have RealPlayer on this but so far it hasn't worked for grabbing a radio web stream. I miss my Boston radio stations. Well, that's all I can think of for now. Oh, I did meet a wonderful teenager from Worcester who is very knowledgeable about Linux. His name is Stephen and I just wanted to send a shout out to him. I urged him to joint WLUG--he's a gem. Finally, I appreciate everyone here for all the marvelous advice, encouragement and patience. I consider it an honor to be part of your group. Thanks for letting me in! All my best, Marie

Feb. 22, 2006

Re: [Wlug] Meeting followup

by Andy Stewart

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Mike wrote: > For the curious, here is a not-so-complete list of links that were > mentioned this evening: > > Ubuntu's upcoming Dapper Drake: > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DapperDrake > https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/dapper/+specs > > OpenWRT: > http://openwrt.org/ > http://wiki.openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs/Hardware/Asus/WL500G > > SSH Public Key encryption: > http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/excerpt/ssh_8/ > > Dropbear SSH: > http://matt.ucc.asn.au/dropbear/dropbear.html > > Gentoo Linux - Satire poster > http://funroll-loops.org/gentoo.jpg > > I'll let Andy send out the rest :) > > Cheers, > Mike > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > HI everybody, Mike: thanks for posting these links that were discussed at the WLUG meeting. Everybody: I have just posted the slides from the Routerboard talk. There were about 15 people at the meeting. I received several compliments regarding the presentation, for which I thank you. Later, Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFD+NiVHl0iXDssISsRAjC9AJ9J96+DO1bmgcKPApLMugvnGlBzsQCeI9ap ZVm9zW5WvO/vIEKdqAW1rN0= =y5qS -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Feb. 19, 2006

Re: [Wlug] Specify which nic gets named eth0

by Andy Stewart

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Keith Wright wrote: > Is anybody else noticing that wlug messages are repeating? Yes Yes - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFD9rc2Hl0iXDssISsRAiAfAJ480WmZIoj5yYtm3n5vl1hRoTVqBgCcDvvC s2YsbjuGCEJY/kAgCBM8amM= =Hzc5 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Feb. 18, 2006

Re: [Wlug] Specify which nic gets named eth0

by Keith Wright

Is anybody else noticing that wlug messages are repeating? > From: Mike Leo <mleo963(a)yahoo.com> > > Looks like you're right! > > >From Redhat support: > > If you look in the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ directory you'll > see a number of scripts named ifcfg-eth0, ifcfg-eth1, etc... Inside > each of these files you should see a line > HWADDR=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx. Pluging in the MAC address for the desired > NIC should allow you to specify which card uses which > interface. Restart networking and you should be good to go. > > --- Chuck Anderson <cra(a)WPI.EDU> wrote: > > > On Fri, Feb 17, 2006 at 12:41:21PM -0800, Mike Leo wrote: > > > yes, but that will only assign the right mac to the wrong NIC. > > > eth0 will still be assigned to the "extra" nic port, not the one I want. > > > but thanks for replying. > > > > HWADDR doesn't assign MAC addresses to NICs. It just matches the > > NIC device with that hardware address. > > > > MACADDR actually reprograms the MAC used by a NIC. I think he may be right too, but the quote from Redhat actually says he is wrong. Redhat says HWADDR specifies which card goes in that slot; Chuck says MACADDR does it. I guess it depends on what you mean by "specify". I think the HWADDR just gives you error messages when it is wrong, but doesn't actually change the name. It may depend upon your specific version. I think both the kernel and the start-up scripts have been changing the way they do this. Here's what works for me: in /etc/init.d/network add the lines: # Check that networking is up. [ "${NETWORKING}" = "no" ] && exit 0 # set the ethernet names from the MAC addresses nameif || echo "Can not rename ethernet cards" in /etc/mactab: #The eth on the Intel motherboard is for the lan ethlan 00:13:20:1e:5b:1d #The Realtek in the pci slot is for the internet ethdsl 00:50:FC:A7:56:0F try "man nameif" for explanation, and then change mactab to contain the names you like instead of ethlan and ethdsl, the MAC addresses of your cards, and more interesting comments. /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ethlan # Intel Corp.|82562EZ 10/100 Ethernet Controller DEVICE=ethlan BOOTPROTO=static BROADCAST=192.168.1.255 HWADDR=00:13:20:1e:5b:1d IPADDR=192.168.1.111 NETMASK=255.255.255.0 NETWORK=192.168.1.0 ONBOOT=yes TYPE=Ethernet /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ethdsl # Realtek|RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ DEVICE=ethdsl BOOTPROTO=static BROADCAST=66.92.74.255 HWADDR=00:50:FC:A7:56:0F IPADDR=66.92.74.188 NETMASK=255.255.255.0 NETWORK=66.92.74.0 TYPE=Ethernet ONBOOT=no # uname -a Linux fcs12 2.6.9-1.667 #1 Tue Nov 2 14:41:25 EST 2004 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux # cat /etc/fedora-release Fedora Core release 3 (Heidelberg) Like I said, it works for me but YMMV, You Might Muck-up your Version. -- -- Keith Wright <kwright(a)free-comp-shop.com> Programmer in Chief, Free Computer Shop <http://www.free-comp-shop.com> --- Food, Shelter, Source code. ---

Feb. 18, 2006

Re: [Wlug] Specify which nic gets named eth0

by Mike Leo

Looks like you're right! >From Redhat support: If you look in the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ directory you'll see a number of scripts named ifcfg-eth0, ifcfg-eth1, etc... Inside each of these files you should see a line HWADDR=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx. Pluging in the MAC address for the desired NIC should allow you to specify which card uses which interface. Restart networking and you should be good to go. --- Chuck Anderson <cra(a)WPI.EDU> wrote: > On Fri, Feb 17, 2006 at 12:41:21PM -0800, Mike Leo wrote: > > yes, but that will only assign the right mac to the wrong NIC. > > eth0 will still be assigned to the "extra" nic port, not the one I want. > > but thanks for replying. > > HWADDR doesn't assign MAC addresses to NICs. It just matches the > NIC device with that hardware address. > > MACADDR actually reprograms the MAC used by a NIC. > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

Feb. 18, 2006

Re: [Wlug] pubkey authentication in openssh

by Theo Van Dinter

On Fri, Feb 17, 2006 at 05:15:55PM -0500, Eric Stein wrote: > automated account: public key login only (no password authentication > allowed - yeah, I know I can just set the password to something really > big and hope nobody guesses, but the point of pub/priv key auth is > higher security) You can put a "*" in the password field of the user and then it's a locked account, but pubkey will still work. There's no per-user config to specify what authentication methods are allowed. It's a global setting. -- Randomly Generated Tagline: "Abnegation is un-American. We're going to drive the vehicle we want, wear what we want, consume as much as necessary, worship whomever we choose, and show as much cleavage as possible in beer commercials." - http://www.fool.com/News/Foth/2003/foth030203.htm?source=EDNWFH

Feb. 17, 2006

Re: [Wlug] pubkey authentication in openssh

by Eric Stein

I already know how to do what you guys suggested - example of what I'm looking for: automated account: public key login only (no password authentication allowed - yeah, I know I can just set the password to something really big and hope nobody guesses, but the point of pub/priv key auth is higher security) my personal account: both public key and password auth (for at my computer or not) daemon accounts: shell is /sbin/nologin Eric

Feb. 17, 2006

Re: [Wlug] running scripts as someone else

by Michael Zarozinski

I ran into a similar problem when getting "hooks" in subversion to work... The shell script was run as "user1" and I needed it to run as "user2" so I wrote a shell script (owned by "user1") that kicked off a small C program which ran the script I need run by "user2". Something along the lines of: #include <stddef.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <unistd.h> int main(void) { execl("/home/user1/script", "script", (const char *) NULL); return(EXIT_FAILURE); } * NOTE: I had no success using "exec", it only worked with "execl" Then make the program and the key is the "chmod +s" gcc test.c -o test chown user2:user2 test chmod +s test Obviously there may be security risks with this method! Hope this helps! Michael Z Mike Leo wrote: >I brought this up last night, but the suggestions did not help. > >Basically i have a "thing" i need to run at boot as someone else. > >init scripts are launched at boot as root, so somewhere in the script, I have to become someone >else to execute this "thing". > >sample thing: > >su -l LNVAPP008SSH -c "/usr/local/bin/ssh2 -p 32497 -R51180:LNVAPP008:80 -l LNVAPP008SSH n2web043" > > >This works just fine when logged in as root or as the LNVAPP008SSH user from the command line. >The ssh has been setup so that this user (LNVAPP008SSH) does not need to pass a password to >initiate the ssh tunnel. > >However, when this is called from a script, it fails trying to look for a password. > >I am surmizing that the script is still acting as root when it makes the ssh connection. When i >put a printenv in the script, it reports me as still being root, not the LNVAPP008SSH user. > >I also have another situation that I need to apply this too. This seems like it should be >something someone else in the world has done before. > >So any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. > >Thanks >Mike >_______________________________________________ >Wlug mailing list >Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org >http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > > >

Feb. 17, 2006

Re: [Wlug] pubkey authentication in openssh

by Mike Leo

yes....have only the users you want to use pubkeys generate keys and share the public one by putting it in that users ~/.ssh(2) on each server. ssh-keygen is the command to make the keys. --- Eric Stein <eastein(a)WPI.EDU> wrote: > Does anyone know a way to force pubkey authentication for only certain > users but allow password for others? > Eric > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

Feb. 17, 2006

running scripts as someone else

by Mike Leo

I brought this up last night, but the suggestions did not help. Basically i have a "thing" i need to run at boot as someone else. init scripts are launched at boot as root, so somewhere in the script, I have to become someone else to execute this "thing". sample thing: su -l LNVAPP008SSH -c "/usr/local/bin/ssh2 -p 32497 -R51180:LNVAPP008:80 -l LNVAPP008SSH n2web043" This works just fine when logged in as root or as the LNVAPP008SSH user from the command line. The ssh has been setup so that this user (LNVAPP008SSH) does not need to pass a password to initiate the ssh tunnel. However, when this is called from a script, it fails trying to look for a password. I am surmizing that the script is still acting as root when it makes the ssh connection. When i put a printenv in the script, it reports me as still being root, not the LNVAPP008SSH user. I also have another situation that I need to apply this too. This seems like it should be something someone else in the world has done before. So any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Mike

Feb. 17, 2006